The Fast/IF powered by Lionette's Elite Team headed north into the hinterlands of Maine to compete in the Auburn Race Weekend. Saturday's event was a 60 mile road race on a new circuit with a few rolling hills. The events highlights were, racers no longer had to park on a narrow dirt road a mile from the start and the finish was actually the same place as the start. Go figure.

The venue was great, the sun was shinning, the heat was on 80, and the team was ready. We met for our pre-race talk and I told everyone to do something they haven't done before. That was about it. Get into breaks and have fun. We had about 60 starters in the Pro,1,2 field so we were prepared for some heavy attacking. All the New England Teams, sans Nerac, were represented. The attacking started quickly and repeatedly. FAST/IF pb Lionette's was represented in all the breaks. After a spectacular crash that saw a racers bike hit by a car and smashed into five pieces (he was fine) we started to attack. FAST/IF pb Lionette's riders continuously went off the front and we counter attacked each time they were pulled back. At about the halfway mark I followed an attack off the front. A couple of us got a gap and a few more bridged up quickly. I looked around, noticing that most teams were represented and we had a gap, and yelled at the others to pick up the pace. We quickly pulled away from the lackadaisical field. The eight of us settled into a smooth pace line, increased our lead to over two minutes and never looked back.

No one dared to attack the break until about 10k left when one of the two Kenda/Raleigh guys jumped us. He was obviously trying to set up his teammate, but we slowly reeled it in. On the final up hill, 2k from the finished they attacked again, to no avail. It looked like it would be a sprint. I am not much of a sprinter but I managed to get 4th.

Next stop, Tour of Ohio.

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