Sturbridge RR / Pro1,2,3 - Peter Bradshaw 4-28-08
Attending : Peter Bradshaw
Saturday April 26
Sturbridge was a new course this year. No more spinning out your 11 for a 55mph sprint this year. Instead we got exactly the opposite, a long 3 mile climb to the finish. Besides this climb there was only one other significant climb on the course and the rest was fast and rolling.
The race. We started with a 5 mile neutral section, through town center and up and over the finishing climb. It gave everyone a good opportunity to see what we were in for. As the race started I tried to stay in the forward half of the pack, my strategy as the only NEBC rider in the field was: I wasn’t looking for a long break with a few riders, but if something big went I could hopefully get there. For the first lap things were pretty active and I ended up doing more than I wanted to, nothing was going anywhere. I tried to settle down a little bit and keep my eyes on some of the more well know riders. During the second lap a break of 2 or 3 got away. I was content to let it go as I still thought it was too long to go. A few miles later another 3 or so got loose and then they were followed by maybe another 5-6! I was completely stuck in the pack and just had to watch them ride away. Once I realized the move was gone I tried to survey the situation… who was left behind? what teams had missed the break? Unfortunately with such a large group off it seemed like most teams were well represented. I did notice that Robbie King (Rite-Aid) had also missed the break. I figured if something was going to happen, he’d be part of it. So I took a gamble that a late move would be in the works and floated to the back of the pack. I spent the next lap and a half chilling out on the back just hoping that nothing would go off the front. I took in a few snack bars and some scenery. There were a few attacks but the pack was content to just roll. Lucky.
Coming up the 3 mile hill for 1 to go R. King began moving up and I
went with him. On the last rise of the climb I attacked with a few
others, we didn’t get the break I was hoping for and it looked like we
were going to be immediately countered, but I figured I could hand it
out a little on the downhill and maybe something would start
happening. I accelerated again and Brendan Cornett (Mechanical Services) came
with me followed by Adam Sullivan (Kenda-Raleigh). A. Sullivan had a
few people in the break so he was just looking to protect and I don’t
think B. Cornett was feeling a 2 man break/bridge. They started to fade
but I just kept pushing, we had a gap and I was hoping if I dangled
out there long enough R. King would come up to us. I knew Todd Rowell
had been in the break with him the week before, so maybe if he
recognized the kit he would assume we would have the power to bridge
to the leaders. Sure enough, all of a sudden R. King came flashing by
with a MazurCoaching.com rider on his wheel followed by B. Cornett
and A. Sullivan. We had five people up and the gap was growing! I knew this was my only
chance to get a good finish, so I put everything into the bridge. A. Sullivan would not pull through and the MazurCoaching.com rider was taking light pulls, with their teams already up the road, but I didn’t care.
Between R. King, B. Cornett and I we caught the break, which had become one large group of all the smaller breaks, with maybe 6 miles to go. Once we hit the climb to the finish the games began. We were all waiting to see who would do what. With maybe 2k to go I took a hard dig to try and see who still had legs, or if I could slip away with people watching the other big names. No go. No one was going to get away easy. Then the real attacks started and I managed to stay with the first few people, a little sitting up and then Bam! We were on the sprint with 250 meters to go everyone who was left unleashed.
A few people went backwards and I saw Aidan Charles (Nerac) and Ward
Solar (Nerac) come by me. I dug deep and stuck to A. Charles’s wheel to the line. 6th
Place and the top placed Cat 2! After an early season of flats and mechanicals I was thrilled to have a good finish! I
finally got a decent result to show that my legs are good and I’ve been able to do my part to show that NEBC is going to be very strong this year.
peter