Jiminy Peak Cat 3 - Roy Van Cleef - 5-7-07
the gang:
Roy Van Cleef
Dave Chiu
Chris Hong
John Broussard
After the two and a half hour drive out to the Berkshires it was nice to see the clouds dissipating to reveal some sun and blue skies even though the temperature never quite got above the mid fifties. We had three 19 miles laps ahead of us with the only climb worth mentioning, in the final mile of the course which was composed of three smaller climbs separated by short, less steep sections and a summit finish.
Less than a mile into the race four or five riders had gone off the front. The first 30 minutes were relatively fast but still the riders were staying away. Halfway through the first lap we caught two or three single riders who couldn’t stay with the break and I was sure we would catch the others pretty soon. Before the end of the first lap we saw the Cat 1 field up the road but as soon as they realized we were gaining on them they upped the pace.
In the second lap Dave and I, along with some others moved to the front and tried to increase the pace a little but people were quite happy to sit in and enjoy the ride probably not realizing there were still 2 guys up the road. Dave made a small break attempt and then later in the lap Chris (our new Harvard recruit) went up the road with a small group but the pack was starting to wake up. As we came up the hill to finish the second lap I heard Gio shout that the break was 2-3 mins ahead.
There was still no sign of the break and a few riders went off the front with 2 or 3 miles to go and the pace didn’t really increase that much until we saw the final bend at the start of the climb. I was sitting about 20-30 riders back and the group went flying through the turn and up the first climb. The momentum soon stopped and on the second rise I put in a steady effort to work up to 10th wheel. Riders were tiring quickly and we were catching those who had tried to stay away in the last few miles. On the last rise with 400m to go I moved up further and got on the wheel of the leader. He put in a big effort and with 150 to go I accelerated past him along with one or two others but managed to stay ahead of them in the group sprint.
Unfortunately we never did catch those two riders in the break who managed to stay away for 55 miles (an impressive feat) and one other rider who crept away from the bunch with 2 miles to go and was tiring fast up the final stretch but managed to hold us off to finish just ahead of the group sprint by a few yards so I settled for fourth and Chris Hong wasnt too far behind. Unfortunately John was having some mechanical issues and Daves tire politely decided to wait till after the race to explode.