Tuesday, October 12, 2004 I'm a ChesapeakeMan  Yes I am. I swam, bike and ran my way to my first every Ironman! Wow what an event it was. As you probably are aware my bike season is over. My last race of the season was 3 weeks ago a very uneventful rain soaked Univest, with many stories to tell, but none worthy enough to post, or at least I could post in a positive manner. Lets just say I'm counting down the days till I can make a return next year. However, as many of you are aware, once my bike season is over I pick up another sport to use up the rest of the beautiful fall sunlight we can still enjoy. The past few years its been running. I first started off with the marathon, and then last year went to the 50 miler with only 2 days of running beforehand! And now this year I wanted to test the waters in a new sport. Water it was, after Univest on September 20th I started my training for the Chesapeake Man October 9th. What is the ChesapeakeMan. It is the full born Ironman Triathlon, 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, 26.2 mile run! I had a lot of work to do in the 2.5 weeks until my first triathlon. I need to run again, get a wetsuit and some goggles, and learn how to swim in open water? Not a problem I thought? First day out was a 6 mile run, next day I was at the pool for some laps then an easy bike ride. By the 1st weekend I was swimming 100 laps, biking 50 miles and running 10 miles! Then the wetsuit arrived, after some difficulty figuring out which way was front I got it on and headed down to the lake. I lasted 10 minutes before I scared myself. The waves were huge, how the hell are you suppose to see ahead when your head is always to the side, is sidestroke not a real stroke? After a few more times in the water I realized the swim was not going to be my strong point. Race day! I was ready. I 'tapered' for the past week with my training, I learned how to put on the wetsuit appropriately, I actually practiced a transition, and I even bought a new pair of running shoes! I was all set? 7am was show time, 2.4 miles out in the Chesapeke Bay, point to point, I can do it! Well after a 2.5 hour fog delay I was more than ready. And we were off I was a little worried that I was doing something wrong, I was the only one swimming breast stroke? Is this allowed I thought, am I going to get disqualified? I tried swimming freestyle put my arms just couldn't muster it for more than 20 strokes. It was back to the breast stroke for me. 1 hour and 42 minutes later and not much energy left to swim any further I made it out of the water and onto the bike, my home turf. Ah the bike, something I'm more at home with, now all I have to do is ride my bike for 112 miles and run a marathon and I'll be all set. Forget about the fact that I just swam 5X further than I ever had before, lets go. The bike was fun, I cruised around the scenic course eating my Clif bars and Gu thinking I'm going to go run a marathon tonight what the heck. I finished the bike portion in 5 hours 18 minutes, a fairly good pace. I ended up passing 130 riders along the way! I definitely wasn't thinking about speed though, I was thinking about what people told me was the Brick. The brick was still to come. The brick is the transition between the bike and the run. Many hit the wall hard when the get off the bike and start the run. Luckily for me though the wall wasn't that bad, I found the door and opened it before I hit. 7 plus hours have past and now I was on to a run, 26.2 miles to be exact. The first few miles went by fairly fast as I was worried more about how my body was going to react then the actual distance I was going. After the realization I was ok, I thought about keeping my pace going. That lasted until mile 8 when the insides were putting up a pretty good fight and needed some roadside assistance. Mile 11 and they were up again. Mile 16 and I was actually thinking I was going to be able to do this! Mile 19 and I was back to the Start/Finish for 1 more short lap out. This is where the real event took place. Everything in the past 10 hours before this was just a build up for the last 1 hour. 6 miles to go and I was in the dark on the lonely road. I kept on running, I was afraid to stop, if I did I might not be able to keep going? 5 miles to go and I was still running, but I could see the wall it was dead in my face and this time I didn't see the door to go through. I hit the wall hard. I ended up walking for the next 2 miles as I tried to keep a forward momentum. Finally with 3 miles to go I could see the lights. I knew the family was in the stadium waiting for me. They've been waiting the past 11 hours, cheering me on the entire time. I will make it, and I will run. I started running again, not exactly sure how, but I did, and I ran straight through the wall and into the arms of victory! I made it, 11 hours and 25 minutes, 17th place of the day, what an accomplishment! The next few minutes were amazing, the feeling of accomplishment of an event like this is untouchable. The next few hours and day were a different story. The body shut down pretty quickly, the legs stopped working, and the real pains came out, however these only last a few days, the memories of the event will last a lifetime. Even today 3 days later, the joy of the event and the agony and triumph of the last 6 miles, and first few minutes after the event way overshadow the pains, and all I can think about now is what am I going to do next year?  Monday, September 13, 2004 Multi-Laser Grand Prix  This past weekend was one of my favorite races all year. Multi-Laser Grand Prix, 2-days 3.5 events located at the gateway to the 1,000 Islands in Canada. Saturday starts off with a 126km road race, Saturday evening are street sprints and dinner, Sunday is a 9km TT and then a downtown Crit, followed by a BBQ. All events are located within 1km from our hotel. The LG team for this weekend consisted of myself and Josh Dillon, and our 2 beautiful supporting staff members of my fiance Lori and her friend Valentina. The rest of the LG team was either racing (and winning) at a road race by Albany NY (congrats again AL) and Topsfield Mass (congratulations Damon). Saturday morning started off with a breakfast at the host hotel, an easy warm up 1X around the course and then heading over to the start to check out the competition and get ready to race. Our strategy for the race was a little different with only 2 of us here compared to some of the other weekends when we had 10+ riders. We were going to be seen, stay close to the front, follow moves, but in no way be agressive, wait till the race really starts, wait at least the 1st hour and then think about getting into the winning move. We don't need to be represented in every move, there are plenty of other teams to chase. Don't flex our muscles to early and be forced to chase, wait it out. This is exactly what we did, after the first 10km of very agressive racing with attack after attack after attack, the move finally went with 6 riders. Immediately the counter went with Josh trying to bridge across to it. Unfortunetly though the front group was to motivated and pulled ahead. 3 laps into the race (out of 10) and the gap was set at 2 minutes. A very impressive chase was taking place at front with a group of 5+ riders. Me and Josh were cruising in the back actually suffering quite a bit as the chase was hammering it. I was thinking they were going out way to hard and if we didn't catch the break in the next 2 laps they would sit up. This however did not happen as they kept the pressure on. Lap 5 and the gap was still pegged at 2 minutes. We were contemplating going up and helping, but they were still doing a great job without us.....so we sat on. Lap 7 and not much changed, break at 2:15 or so and the same guys chasing, but they finally started to fizzle a little. Right at this point me and Josh went up front and helped out. Less than a lap later and the break was back! Awesome! No we weren't super studs that chased hard, we just went up there at the right time, gave the little extra fuel that was needed and finished off the job, making us look like hero's, and still be fresh to race. Next lap and the attacks were flying, in 10km there must have been 30 attacks, we tried to be in the front and stick them and we did a pretty good job of this. Unfortunetly though we missed the lucky one. 2 Jetfuel guys attacked from opposite sides of the field exactly at the same time. They quickly looked at each other thinking which should go and then both went. Immediatly the gap was open....and I had the perfect view of this, sitting in first wheel in the middle of the road, coming back from the last move. Right at this point it seemed as though everyone else got hit by dead legs. Nobody was chasing. A few kms later and I went to the front and strung it out a little, thinking we need some action. Josh realized this and realized everyone's dead legs and jumped immediatly after. He opened up a slow gap and with no one chasing the gap went up. Last 1/2 a lap and he motoroed ahead with 1 other rider. He attacked the last rider with 1km to go and finished a solid 3rd, 40 seconds off the first 2, but 30 seconds ahead of the pack. I finished in the pack and tied for 5th place. Later that evening was the Street Sprints. Neither of us were to motivated for it, as I opted out and sat there watching and eating the 'free' dinner and watching the race. Josh went through the first round and was eating dinner fairly quickly as well. Sunday started off early with a flat, tailwind, 9km TT. Neither of us are great at TT's, but we knew this was going to be very desicive for the overall GC. We both but in what we thought were our max efforts, with Josh tying for 3rd place in a time of 10:03, with myself a disappointing 1 minute behind. I though I was going fast? I went hard? I guess I just don't train to do these type of efforts? I like riding my bike and racing with others. These solo efforts are not my thing...I guess? But don't get me wrong, I did go as hard as I possibly could, I will never give up in a TT, eventually I'll get the hang of it? Maybe by year 15 on the bike? Sunday afternoon was the downtown Crit. 8/10 of a km loop, 8-90 degree turns. Fast, fun and furious course. Our objective was to follow the key riders, then be aggressive and take the chance, attack, make others suffer. We like hard races! This is exactly what we did. 1st 10 laps were fast and furious with a prime each lap. We didn't get any primes as Josh was marking the GC riders and I was a consisted 4th wheel chasing hard after each prime to keep things together. Eventually things eased up and the GC riders came forward. Josh told me to initiate, he was feeling good and wanted to attack. This we did, I attacked, time and time again, and then Josh went. Each time we both opened up good gaps and had the field on the limit, but every time we couldn't get it to snap. Josh was being followed by at least 2 shadows all day, and everyone seemed to catch onto our strategy and wouldn't let me get up the road either. It was fun though, every time that Josh countered off of my move I would get in 3rd wheel and look like I was hanging on and then soft pedal through the turn letting a nice gap open. I did this around every turn till I was back to 10th position or so. Man was it fun watching other people have to close my gap. Unfortunetly though we needed that next attack to get the move away. Last part of the race and it became fairly obvious why things weren't getting away. Jetfuel was the strongest team, had 4 riders, 1st and 2nd place overall, they were animate about keeping it together. Gearsracing.com was another strong Canadian team had nobody in GC, but had a brother on Jetfuel in 2nd, so they were "paid off" to keep it together. Itala/Pasta the other strong team with 5+ riders in the race who we thought would try and open things up and go for the break also had a brother on Jetfuel and would not help out when there were more than 2 riders off the front. Count these riders up and it was 1/3 of the field....and near the strongest 1/3....and we were the fat lazy Americans racing on their home turf, just think of the chase that ensued when we tried to get off the front! Last few laps and the same situation insued, a field sprint was in order. In the end Josh ended up 4th in the Crit, myself 11th. Overall GC did not change as Josh ended in 3rd, myself in the exact place as last year 17th. Another great weekend for LG, and a fun one. What a great relaxed atmosphere it was, we did 3.5 races and lots of time to hang out, had a great cheering and support crew, and had plenty of time to go back to 'freshman year'. Josh did you find those rocks? Thanks for reading, Jason  Tuesday, September 07, 2004 GMSR...Criterium, Day # 4  The last day of the GMSR. The downtown Burlington Criterium, 6 corner fast fast fast tight crit, with bricks, bumps, bars, and spectators galore. What more can you ask for in your own town. Yes spectators, this race actually has a lot of spectators, I saw at least 30 people I knew before I lined up, 30 people, there were some crits I did this year that there weren't even 30 people at total! Ok so today I broke down into 2 races. The 1st one was to the line, the second was the actual 50 lap event. Positioning is key in the race, with the fast pace, tight corners, and lots of fast pro's here getting up front is essential. I don't like being the instigator of the pack drift to the start line, but its the way it goes if you want to make it to the 2nd race of the day. Usually they do call ups for this race with the top 10, however the pack was already at the line before the announcer could get the 1st call up started. I was at the front line! On the start line as the Canadian and US National anthem were played the nerves were building. I was nervous! Why? I've done this race 5 times now, I've never not done well, I can do this, I do have a sore throat coming on, no I don't just race your bike. And were off. I get a good start and after the 1st 2 turns of neutral (that was dumb) I hit it hard and pulled the 1st lap. Yes it was a great picture opt. Hopefully there were some good ones! Next up was Mukunda, he pulled the next lap, then another LG rider. That's awesome. I knew it might be a waste of energy pulling at the front, but then again I realized how hard it is in the back and within 3 laps 30 riders were already gone! Next few laps and things stayed about the same. This race definetly sorts its riders out. The strong stayed in the front and every one else just tries to move up and not get dropped. I was able to stay in front for awhile, but was not strong enough to stay up there. I kept drifiting way back and having to waste way to much energy moving up. This was my entire race I felt. Mark McCormack on the other had did not seem to go farther back then 3rd wheel. That was until he went of the front. 1st sprint and the gap was open. Mark and Charles Dionne were off the front, (I was way back) the next few laps were fast as a few more riders slipped away to catch the front riders. LG was at their limit and could not get anyone up there, we were hanging on, definetly not driving the pace. Eventuall the group was 8 riders up the road with 20 second lead, nearly all teams had somebody up there except for us. We tried to chase, but it was nothing like yesterday, we could only get 1 rider up there at a time, no big bright green train like we hoped. The last laps of the race were uneventful as our futile chase ended. A local rider went up the road to get some press time, but that was about all. The pack finished together with many of us finishing in the top 30, but nothing to exciting. In the end our GC riders only lost a place or 2. Josh finished in 9th, Dan V. in 12th, and Robbie in 19th, Andrew in 25th. GMSR is over, but the season is not. We still have a couple big races to go with the grand finale UNIVEST in 2 weeks! Thanks for reading. Jason   GMSR....Road Race, Day # 3  Mad River Road Race. The epic day, in past years its been a hard race, and that was when it was only 65 miles. This year we (yes I helped out designing the course) decided to make the Pro/1/2 race take a little detour and head over Bethel Mtn. road, this detour included at least another 3,000ft of climbing and 40 miles. It was a great course, great roads, but we were actually worried that it was going to make the race to hard, riders won't like it. The organizers made the course as friendly as possible with a 2nd feed zone and a neutral vehicle following the race with water. The past few weeks when we did not have a race my team road the course, and Andrew the freak that he is went through a good 15 water bottles each time, so we knew we had to do something? Luckily on race day the weather wasn't as bruttle, 65 degrees and a cloudy, the perfect day for a bike race. Our team knew the course pretty well and came up with a strategy to be able to race and hopefully survive the day. Don't race early was our slogan, let the break get away, we don't have anybody who will be able to last the entire time in the break, so why go up there. If we miss the move we can chase, we have 10 riders in the field! From the start things were fast, it was obvious it was going to be the same until something slipped away. Eventually 2 riders got away, and then a few more bridged up to them. The pack went tempo over the 1st climb with Dan V. setting the pace. Over the top, the lead 10 riders had 5 minutes. This was a little discouraging as the next 30 miles were relatively flat with a tailwind. It would have been a really long day for LG if we went to the front at this point to chase. Luckily for us though it wasn't our responsibility at this point. Jet Fuel had the yellow jersey and were not represented up front. So for the next 30 miles until Middlebury Gap Jet Fuel, along with a few other Canadians they seemed to have recruited on the road set the chase. Up Middlebury Dan V. set the tempo again. This time however many riders could not hold the pace and were falling of the back. Luckily for our team, we still had a lot of fresh legs and all of us made it over the climb. Sidenote: the last 1km up the climb I was riding behind Dominique Perres, the best climber by far in the race, so he was very anxious to hit it hard and catch the break, he was asking every spectator whats the time gap, whats the gap to the leaders. The spectators thought he was asking were's the gap, so they kept saying your almost there, 200meters ahead, keep going. He was pissed! The rumor was though that the gap was between 6 and 8 minutes not exactly sure? Ok, we made it over the climb, were at mile 70, its time to chase. LG went to the front on the decent and started the chase. We put 4 of us up there and started hitting it hard out of Middlebury up route 116. 6 minutes, and 25 miles to go, this is going to be a close one. The good thing was we had numbers, LG still had 8 riders in the front group which was now down to 50 or so. Myself, Ian, Al, Ted, and Andrew went to the front and strung the field out single file at 30mph for the next 15 miles and we reeled the break back in. We were amped as the moto came back to us with time checks of 4:30, and then 3:30. Over Bristol Notch we pulled off and thought the race was going to explode, however it didn't and we made it through the Notch and the dirt road to follow. So it was back to the chase. I was the first back up there on the roll in to Bristol. I was pulling hard at the front coming into the little Bristol wall before town when a rider attacked hard. I could feel myself going backwards before he even passed me. I was pissed so I started yelling at him for attacking me. It was Mark McCormick, woops. I made it over this part and the field sat up again. LG made it back up to the front as we continued the chase to the base of Baby Gap. When we pulled off with 10 miles to go, the break was at 1:30...doomed! We did our job, now its up to the rest of the team to hopefully stay up there and race with the big boys, glad I'm done I thought! 10 miles to go and the race was up the road. I pulled off and cruised up the gap. I finished 17 minutes down on the winner (Mark) 17 extra minutes to climb the Gap, a total of 47 minutes, that must have been a record. However that record was shattered by Al Donahue who took over 1 hour to finish the last 10 miles. That deserves an award! The great part of it was even though I finished 17 minutes down, I was still in the points! I finished 48th! Our other riders, had great days with Josh finishing 8th, Dan V. 10th, and Keith and Andrew shortly after. It was great day for LG, we did it, we raced smart! Next up is the last day of the GMSR. The Burlington Criterium. Thanks for reading, Jason  Sunday, September 05, 2004 GMSR...Circuit Race, Day #2  Another amazing day in Vermont. This entire weekend is suppose to be picture perfect weather. 60's- 70's and sunny, what better weather can you ask for. Today's race is 3.5 laps for a total of 71 miles, the course has a good hill in it with a long downhill and than fast flat rollout into a headwind finish. In past years the race has been agressive with an early break going and then another bridging across to it for the winning move. This year I predicted the same. However once things started off, it was obvious many other teams had the same strategy as us. Race hard, get in the early move. With a number of strong teams here this year, and all of them racing hard up front today to get in the early move it was way to many strong riders looking to get away that nothing ever did of significance. Over the climb each time the pack went tempo, never any hard attacks. Finally with a 1.5 laps to go a move did get away, but with OFOTO not represented Scott Zwinsanski went hard at the front and brought the 10 rider break back solo. The race ended up getting neutralized with 10km to go since we were catching the women who had a 25 minute lead on us? After this neutral, Josh Dillion hit it hard and got away with Joe Papp. They had a nice gap and I was to scared to jump on the next acceleration fearing the entire pack would go, so I let them slip away as 2 more riders bridged up to Josh. The break kept a 3 second lead at the finish with Josh getting worked over by the sly Papp and taking 4th. The rest of the LG team finished in the pack.   Saturday, September 04, 2004 GMSR...Prologue, Day # 1  Its finally here, one of the last races of the season. I feel like my team has been built around this race. It is in our own backyard. It has lots of climbing, we have lots of climbers. It has long hard road races, we have hard road racers. It has a short fast uphill prolouge, we have fast uphill prologue guys. It has a fun fast technical downtown crit, we have fun fast technical crit riders. It has great race support, we have great race supporters. It is organized incredibly well, we are organized incredibly well. It has an exceptional number of porta-potties at the start, we use an exceptional number of porta-potties at the start. You get the idea. Friday afternoon, I finally leave work and head over Ap Gap 1 more time to Kenyon's field to help out at registration. In past years and past races, I'm always anxious to see who will be at the start line. This year however I looked at Bikereg on an hourly basis to see who was registered, no big surprises. The field is stacked with 112 riders, a full Colivita squad, another 15 or so pros, the standard New England teams who you would expect, and at least 30 Canadians. 5:45pm and the Pro/1/2 race is off, through Waitsfield, onto 17 to the top of Ap Gap, a short 8.1miles. The field cruised for the first 5 miles on the flats before we hit the base of Ap Gap. Here things finally went hard, I was near the back so I had a great view of the first people getting popped. I was climbing farily well feeling pretty good as I was cruising around these riders 1 by 1 for the first mile or so. However when we hit the 1/2 way mark at the Mad River Ski Area I definetly felt the effect of riding faster than I ever have before up this climb. I cramped up badly, in my stomach, it was over for me. I sat up and knew there was still a long way to go and its better to ease of now, getting top 50 (and in the points) isn't a reality for me. My teammates did a phenominal job though. Robbie was the 2nd amateur in 6th, then Dan, Andrew, and Keith were all in the top 20 with Josh and Ted making it into the points as well. Great race guys, it shows who really is a climber and who just pretends and suffers a lot just to hang on. Next up is the Circuit Race tomorrow. Its a big day with the most points given out. Mark McCormack has gone 3 for 3 in this race, always slipping of the front at some point. Thanks for reading, Jason   Tuesday, August 24, 2004 Saco Main...Road Race Time  Ok today I'm going to race. No more sitting in mid-pack? I'm going to race hard, make the moves, the right moves and race for the win! That was my thought at least, what happened wasn't exactly the case, but that's how things work out. Here is the story. Today's race is 80 miles, 6 laps of a rolling to flat course. The pack was 50 riders or so. LG had the same guys as yesterday plus Josh and Andrew. The goal of the day was to have 2 guys race early and then save the rest of us for a little later on. I've raced this course a few times and thought that the early move is a good one, but something usually does bridge up to it. There are always a lot of 'dead' legs in the last 2 laps. This is when I wanted to race hard. First lap and it seemed like there was way to many other teams having their guys race up front as well. The race went hard, but with too many guys up front nothing was getting away. I was sitting mid-pack and just watching the guys up front building up their 'dead' legs. I was planning on waiting till at least lap 3 to start racing if things stay the same. Middle of lap 2 and I flatted over the top of the little climb. Damn this isn't good, getting a wheel change in a race like this and catching back on is nearly impossible. The wheel change went fairly smoothly (after taking someone else's wheel) but I was a good 2 plus minutes back with a pack of 50 going at 27mph. Quick calculation and I have to go over 30mph for the next 15 minutes to get close to getting back on? No way is this happening. Luckily though the guy driving the wheel vehicle knew the same thing and helped me out a little! Thank you very much you made my day! After I got back to the field and a little recovery I was ready to race. Unfortunetly though the race had just gone up the road. (I got a good view of it from the back of the pack) 9 guys off the front, all teams represented. Next 2 laps and it was a lot of negative racing with no team organizing a chase, the lead built up to 3+ minutes and not coming back. Last lap and a lot of small stupid attacks (but fun) broke the field up. 5 miles to go and it was a 3 on 1 battle in the front of the field (the break was up the road) with 3 LG riders against BB. We did get the better of him at the end, but wow can he pull like a mack truck on the flats. The front of the race ended with Ted King taking 3rd. Another podium for the LG team! After I crossed the line (in 12th), the dude who's wheel I 'borrowed' was at the finish, so I abruptly stopped and gave him the wheel back. This lead me with no wheel, no cool down, nothing. Basically I crossed the line and then got in the car and drove 5 hours home, not the ideal recovery. Maybe that's why monday mornings 7am commute was rough...as was the rest of the day. This next week and this coming weekend is all about the Green Mountain Stage Race. Hopefully I'll get some really good training in Friday-Sunday and be ready to go all out at GMSR. This is a big deal for our team. Well have a full plus team in the Pro/1/2 race (11 riders!) After that its Multi-Laser and then Univest! All the big races of the year still to come! Bring it on, I'm ready. Thanks for reading, Jason  Sunday, August 22, 2004 Saco Maine...Crit time  Today's Race was the Saco Maine crit. 1 mile loop, 6 turns, wide roads, almost all flat, and at least a 200meter straight away to the finish. My type of race for sure?? The best part of the course was the closeness it was to our wonderful host house, Dan Vallincort's parents! They put us up for the weekend, and man oh man did they do an awesome job. Food food food! So back to the race. The start line was 40 riders deep (or shallow). Wonder where everyone else was? If this was the spring the field would be 100+? What happens to everyone else during the year? LG had a full team today consisting of the Kings, Damon, Dan, and myself. Our other riders were either winning the road race in Albany (way to go Al) or finishing up in 3rd and 4th at Mt. Washington (way to go Josh and Andrew). First 2 laps and the skies opened up. Rain rain rain, just like Poughkeepsie this year. Next few laps and flood flood flood. For myself the race was fairly uneventful. I sat midpack and rode around in circles. Luckily though my teammates were more motivated to race. Robbie made his impressive classic move and bridged across to the break 1/2 way through the race, and that was about it. The rest of us watched the field roll along. Robbie finished it off with an impressive lead out sprint for the win. Congratulations Robbie, the 2004 undefeated Maine Crit Champion (he hasn't lost a crit in Maine this year!) What a day for LG. We raced in 3 states, and had 5 podium apperances! Damn that's impressive. After the race we headed back to the Vallincort's, washed up, ate and watched the Olympics. Tomorrow is suppose to be beautiful, 75 and sunny for the 80 mile road race. Thanks for reading, Jason  Tuesday, August 10, 2004 Se Preparer au PEEEEEEDALER.  Let's get ready to PEEDAL! Or something like that is the translation, and that is how the race started at 8am Sunday morning in downtown Montreal. Yes this past weekend we raced in Canada, the Classique du Montreal au Quebec was the race. 270 km point to point road race from Montreal to Quebec City, the longest 1 day road race in North America, sponsored by our own Louis Garneau sponsor. The weekend of racing started out on Saturday afternoon as we loaded the car and headed north across the border. Even though we were traveling to another country it was the closest race most of us had to drive to this year. After a few missed turns and a couple 1 way streets we made it to our host hotel. Next up was the registration and the riders meeting. After a long line and what seemed like a lot of confusion to pick up our numbers and get Lori a 1 day license to drive in the caravan the meeting started. After an hour plus meeting and learning next to nothing since they talked (and yelled to each other) in french for 10 minutes and paraphrased it in english for 30 seconds we were out of there for dinner. The only thing we did find out was that our caravan position was 26th out of 28! Yeah probably about 1/2 a kilometer back is where our support staff of Lori and Crystal will be feeding us from, not quite the 3rd car slot we had last week at Tour De Toona. The other information we did learn was that this race was big time, 50 plus police support, 18 towns, full rolling enclosure, 400 volunteers, Louis Garneau himself set up an amazing race! Luckily next up was dinner and Lori was prepared as we headed out to an amazing place and then back to the hotel to prepare the bottles get organized and out to bed. The next morning started early with a quick breakfast, a check out of the hotel and then off down the road to the race start. Going down the long line of the caravan lineup we finally found our spot (at the back). After a short team meeting, a disaster of a problem trying to find a porto-pottie, the race was off! 270km in the saddle, estimated time 6 hours. The course however is nearly all flat with the only hill coming 5km from the finish and a prevailing tailwind it will be a fast fast day. 28km into the race and the official start began, the first part was a neutral paced rollout of Montreal. 29km and the race was on full force nobody, or at least the riders in the front not caring that they still had 250km to go. It was race time attack attack attack. I was up front covering these moves, and making them, along with Al and Andrew. Yeah it was going to be a long day for us as we were the ones designated to race from the beginning, keeping Josh, Damon, Mukunda, Ian for a little later on, and then Robbie to finish it off if it stayed together for most of the day. After 20km of attacking action finally Andrew slipped off the front. This was perfect, but only if a little group bridged up to him. Staying out in front with a 199 person field chasing you down and 210km to go is not to good odds, but hey we were represented off the front putting in some press time. 70km into the race and Andrew was still cruising at about 1:30 off the front. The team car (go Lori) went wizzing by the field to roll up to him for support. A few kilometers later and we finally had the car and Andrew in view, the time was slipping down. Oh no, Andrew was holding onto the car? Was he hurt? Mechanical? Yes a mechanical his seat was slipping, he got the professional service support and adjusted his seat on the fly. However he lost his lead and came back to the field. Next 30km or so and the attacks were flying, Al, myself and Ian were covering the moves. At one point when I was coming back from a few second split, Ian hit it hard with an EspoirDeLaval guy on his wheel and opened up a nice gap. The gap kept opening and soon they were a comfortable 1:30 off the front. This stayed the same as the field chased at a steady/hard pace for the next 30km. This was perfect LG was represented in the next major move of the day. Back in the field Mukunda and Damon were doing an awesome job dropping back to the team car and getting bottles for the team. Also during this time Andrew had another mechanical, (flat tire) and had to get a wheel change. Luckily Mukunda and Al stayed with him and the caravan was long enough that they worked their way back up and into the field as we were going at quite a fast pace. 130km into the race, nearly the half way point and Ian was still of the front. Awesome, lets hope he can take the 1/2 way prime! And he did! Way to go Ian!!! After the half way point a group of 4 slipped of the front and joined Ian. Next move and LG was represented! 10km later and the move was back. Next 30km and a it was racing hard again, probably everyone was represented in a move for the next 50km or so, but nothing was slipping away to far. 200km to go and the legs were getting tired, the field was thinning, and the bigger teams were definetly at the front racing hard. Josh and myself were up front for a number of km's over some of the rollers covering some moves when things were looking dangerous. Finally at 1 point a small group slipped off the front and Josh went hard taking 2 others with him as they bridged across. A group of 20 or so was up the road, but only 20 seconds, I figured it was coming back, but Robbie doubted it as he jumped hard and went across to the move. I was sitting in the front when he went and discourgaed a chased. All of a sudden the main pack dead leg effect hit in hard. I think it was a combination of a group of 20 up the road, the little rollers we just raced hard over, and the 230km we raced, but it was over the race went up the road. Up front Josh and Robbie raced hard as Robbie made the split into the front 5. The rest of us were still in the pack coming into the last 10km. I was feeling pretty good and jumped away. I bridged across to the next group up the road with Josh as we hit the 2km 18% climb up to the finishing circuit with 5km to go. Amazing I felt good and went away from this group and up the the next group of 10 riders. 2km to go and I was racing for top 10! A few riders did catch us from behind and I ended up in the middle of my bunch finishing it off in 18th. Damon came in a group or 2 back in 28th, and Robbie raced hard up front and finished an impressive 5th! Another great show for the LG team! Way to go team! Next up was the banquet dinner, awards ceremony, and then off to Louis Garneau's "Club House" for the evening, and a night out in Quebec City! The next day we took a tour of the Louis Garneau factory in the morning and then headed back across the boarder back to VT and the real life. Thanks for reading, next weekend is a rest from racing weekend as we do some training up here in VT before we head down to Saco Maine in 2 weeks. Jason   Saturday, July 31, 2004 Tour De Toona...Day 6  Today is the day, 100-mile road race. Oh boy do I have some epic stories of this day. I can remember every spot on the course through the years that I’ve been dropped caught back on dropped again and so on, lets just say that today’s event is going to add to the stories. Today’s day was early again, 5:45am and we were up making breakfast, filling up water bottles, loading the car and heading to the Jaffa Masque (start of the race). 7:55am and I was at the start line listening to our good old Star Spangled Banner for the last time this week from our morning guitarist. During this time I was thinking and visualizing what experiences and pains I’m going to be in for the next 4 plus hours on my beautiful Louis Garneau. 8:02am and I was at the front feeling like a rock star as I covered a move from Colivita and was off the front for a good 100meters. Well that didn’t last long, Webcor was not going to let anything get away today. Mile 2 they had all their guys lined up at the front setting tempo eliminating almost any attempt of the little amateur me going off the front for any amount of time. Next 20 miles and Webcor was setting a hard tempo not letting anything up the road. It was turning out to be an epic day at the Tour De Toona once again as a lot of riders were already suffering at the back. Next few miles and I was riding a slow leaking front wheel while we were cruising along at 30mph. Not looking good for me. I rode it out the next few miles just waiting for it to slow up. All of a sudden I saw a little letting up and went back for the wheel change. I was thinking it was going to be over for me, but then I realized my awesome teammates Ian and Ted were waiting up for me, they were waiting! Awesome! Right when we started to get back going we didn’t have to go anywhere since the entire pack stopped! Yes they stopped for me! Ok, maybe not, maybe it was the fact that Chris Horner the race leader had to stop for a little nature break, but it really didn’t matter to me. I was psyched. Next few miles we went back through town and were spit out the other side pretty quickly. At this point in the race Health-Net (I guess) saw some weakness in the Webcor train and started attacking hard. For the next 10 miles we were lined up; maxed out full speed ahead, 53X11 all out effort as the attacks were flying off the front. Webcor put in a good effort covering the moves when finally they were happy to let a move of 4 rides get away. This move didn’t last long as they sat up through Claysburg before the approach to Ski Gap road, which was the approach to big Blue Knob Monster. Going up the false flat Ski Gap ascent Webcor was on the front keeping the pace high. As we approached the Blue Monster I was sitting on Andrew’s wheel thinking I’m going to stick his wheel whatever I can do. However, just before we hit the climb I realized I was already near my max as I rode up to him and said I think I might get dropped before the damn climb even starts. As we hit the climb the front of the pack shattered as the leaders hit it hard while the middle of the pack exploded while the back of the pack detonated completely with instant DNF’s. For me I made it with an unbelievable suffer fest into the 2nd group on the road of 12 riders with Robbie. Andrew and Josh were in a group of 7 in front of us and made it back to the front group which then totaled 20 riders, with another 4 (Leiswyn, Moniger, Horner, and 1 other) in front of this pack. The front group was still racing hard for the win over the next 2 climbs. Josh and Andrew hung on desperately over the last climb but got gapped off just over the top and raced hard all the way to the finish, putting in a 25th and 26th place. Robbie and myself cruised a little easier in the next group back over the last climbs. On the descent Robbie was having some fun and hit it hard in the rain on the descent and opened up a gap and held it off to the finish. I came in with the group in 29th place. Finally the Tour De Toona is over! Nearly 500 miles of riding in 6 days! What a week! When the dust finally settled for the week, Team Louis Garneau finished 6th in the Team GC, (betting a number of pro teams) and the 2nd place amateur team. Josh finished 15th, Andrew 16th, Robbie 20th, myself 34th, and Ian 40th. The week started with 108 riders of the best Professional and Category 1 riders in the country with only 54 finishers. Thanks for reading, we have now recovered a little bit from today’s race with the riders’ dinner and much needed stop at the local Milky-Way. Tonight is some fun shenanigans at Blue Knob before we pack up tomorrow and head back home for another week of work. Next week we are headed to the famous Montreal-Quebec 260km race sponsored by none other than Louis Garneau himself. Jason   Friday, July 30, 2004 Tour De Toona...Day 5  5:45am and the alarm goes off. What the heck, I thought I was on vacation? Oh yeah we are racing today at 8am in Martinsburg, 80 mile road race, fast rolling farm roads, 4 laps of a 20 mile loop with a few fast turns through town for the sprint. 8:10am and it feels like I’ve been racing all day already, I’ve tried to follow a few moves, I’ve maxed out a few times out of some of the turns, and I’ve butted heads with a few pros. Luckily by 8:11am the break had established and the tone for the next few hours was set. Webcor lined it up at the front (followed by Health-Net, Colivita, Ofoto) setting tempo making sure the break didn’t to far up the road. First 60 miles and the same situation existed. Webcor was at the front with all other teams lined up in near perfect order behind them. The break was at 3 minutes with 30km to go, the exact Phil Ligget calculation that is needed to bring the break back. (1minute per 10km) 15km to go and it was still at 2 minutes, over the little climb on the backside of the course and Webcor blew spectacularly. It was now Chris Horner at the front down the backside. It was time for Health-Net to reel it in. All of a sudden though at about 20 guys back and 40mph a number of riders went down. It looked like Snow Valley had the worst of it with 3 of them down. All our rides were up, but a split immediately opened. I ended up cruising about 20 meters off the road into the cornfield. I stayed upright and was bringing it back to the road, but there was a huge drainage ditch I needed to dismount for. Anyways, 10km to go and a group of 30 split up the road with another 20 chasing 10 seconds down chasing HARD. When all of a sudden from about 10 riders’ back, the explosion of Robbie King hit. Robbie jumped hard and bridged across the gap solo, and that was it. At least 10 on 1 and Robbie came out on top. By the end the front group was 30 seconds ahead of my little group. And that was a day, by noon we were back in the condo for a long nap and recovery before our epic last day at the Tour De Toona. Thanks for reading, Jason   Thursday, July 29, 2004 Tour De Toona...Day 4  Tour De Toona….Day 4 This morning we woke up to a beautiful day here at our condo atop Blue Knob. To bad it was 6:30am, or legs were still hurting from yesterday, and we had a race start at 9am. Too bad I said, heck no, we might be complaining, but we are loving it! Today’s course was 60 miles, 3 loops of a 20 mile circuit, a lot of rollers, fast turns, and the 1 KOM per lap followed by a fast decent into town and Sprint in all less then 5km. At 9am the race was off, it was Thursday and it was no Thursday morning group ride, it was full on racing. Attacks from every direction came fast and furious for the first lap. Colivitta was attacking hard trying to get a guy up the road. Over the first KOM and things were going ballistic, down the climb through town for the sprint and it was strung out single file, 1st lap (20 miles done in under 22 minutes) At this point I was about blown, barely able to hold onto a wheel. I was sitting in 40th spot or so and was thinking how many people were going to yell at me when I opened up the gap. Luckily though I managed to hold the wheel for the next few miles as we finally sat up (speed went down from 32mph to 28mph) This I guess is also the point where the break got away. The funny thing was that at the start I was thinking I was going to try and race up front today and make a move or two. Ha I was laughing at myself at the time and instead of looking to get away, I was praying for the move to get away so things eased up. Next time over the KOM and things were a little more settled as Webcor was setting the tempo at the front. Last lap and things were the same as Mark McCormick was still amazingly out in front with Webcor chasing him down. Last 10km and everything was back together. Last time up the climb and it was all out over the top, down the other side and single filed strung out to the line. Again Robbie, Josh, and Andrew held onto the front group of 40. I was a few seconds off this group coming over the climb, but descended hard to get back on. Unfortunately though with 600meters to go out of the last turn I was cooked and opened the gap. I ended up 28 seconds down.  I was wondering though if I crashed in these last 6oo meters if I would get the time of the pack since I did roll across the 1km to go banner in the pack? (there is a lienency policy that if you crash in the last 1km you get the same time as the pack) Ian rolled in shortly after that with Ted coming in a ways back as he had a flat and ended up not being able to get back to the pack. Good news for the LG team though is we moved up a little on team GC. We are now 6th placed team, 1st amateur team, Robbie is sitting in 15th, Josh is in 20th, Andrew is in 28th, all within stricking distance of the top 10, but more impressively they are sitting in 3rd, 5th, and 9th placed amateurs. Oh yeah I’m in 43rd overall! Thanks for reading, Jason   Wednesday, July 28, 2004 Tour De Toona...Day 3  Finally we woke up and it seemed like things were drying out. Today was the only morning that we could sleep in. The race start wasn’t until 1pm (every other day is 8 or 9am). After figuring out car drop offs for this point to point road race, we loaded the car and headed out to Johnstown for the start. Today’s stage is 100 miles with 2 marked KOM’s, but at least another 5 KOM’s that I would have counted. 1pm and the race was off, 1:02pm and we hit the first climb, 5 miles up out of Johnstown. The pace was set fairly hard as a number of riders went off the back early and had a long long day. Over the crest of the 1st climb and some groups were splitting off the front, Josh went with a move or to, but then everything came back together (I guess he was a marked man) After a short descent, we hit another 4 mile climb and a few more riders went out the back. Over the top of this climb a group did split off the front with 7 riders, and then another 2 bridged up too it. Our team was just off this move, but there wasn’t much we could do about that. Mile 18 and it felt like we already had a long day in the saddle. Andrew and me drifted back through the caravan to get feeds. Yes for one of the 1st times we had support at the feed zone and in the caravan, very beneficial for this race. We both went back and within no time we were back in the pack. For Andrew he needed a feed so soon because he is a freak and already went through 2 bottles (I think 12 for the race), but for me, I only went through ½ a bottle so far. Yes I only started with ½ a bottle. I knew how much climbing there was in the first 10 miles and there was no way I was going to carry that extra weight (other years I did and was dropped and had a long chase) Mile 18 – 70 was fairly uneventful, the break gained at most 5:30 and the pack was cruising along with Health-Net rolling in the front. The one exciting part of the course was after the 1st KOM the 65mph descent. Mile 70 and we were at Blue Knob, the big climb of the day. Everyone was ready for it. Over the top and the pack caught the break and things were nearly all back together up front, Andrew, Josh and Robbie made this front group of 45 riders. I was close making it within 1km to go but was done when Colivitta hit it hard over the top. Ian and me were in the next group back of 7 riders. From here on in, it was full on racing with another major (dirt) climb to come and a few smaller climbs before the finish in Altoona. I don’t really know what happened in front since I wasn’t there, but Colivitta set a hard pace for most of it and then Chris Horner attacked hard on the dirt climb to stick it to the finish with John L. from Health-Net. Robbie rode really strong and finished an impressive 6th, Josh won the pack sprint he was in (over Mark McCormick) to finish 18th and Andrew rolled in after a cramping session with 5km to go in 18th. I attacked the group I was in on the dirt climb (just like Horner! but just a little further back) and held them off by 40 seconds to the finish. This put me in 51st for the day and 51st overall. Nothing to stellar, but I was happy that I raced hard till the end. Next through the finish for LG was Ian followed closely by Ted. Unfortunately allergies got the best of Al and finished a little further back from that. Actually he officially didn’t finish as he refused to roll across the line and have any temptation to start the next day. (He took the evacuation route back to New England this morning) Thanks for reading, next up is a fast 60-mile Circuit race in less that 12 hours time! 160 miles of racing within 24 hours. Jason   Tuesday, July 27, 2004 Tour De Toona Day 2  Today’s stage is 72 miles, 3 laps around Johnstown, fast rolling course, slightly up hill on the way out with a KOM on the far side of the course. Then followed by fast rolling sections back into town with the last 6 miles through town with a number of turns before crossing the start/finish line for a sprint. The race started and it was raining, another wet day. First 10 miles and it was full on racing, and full on raining. The harder we went the harder it seemed to be raining. Then all of a sudden crash, from the front of the field riders went down. When the dust cleared it seemed as though a number of the top pro riders, including GC leader Nathan O’Neil was out. The pack rolled slow for the next 10 miles or so waiting for anyone who went down to come back. Finally once things were organized the race was on. 1st KOM and it seemed like the race was already taking shape for the week. HealthNet was setting tempo at the front, and this they did for the rest of the race. All 7 of them were the first 7 guys of the race. There were a few moves that got away, 1 move with 2 of our guys, Ted and Al. However with HealthNet on the front nothing was seeming to stick, except for the 2 guys who at some point in the 2nd lap slipped away and stuck it till the end by a few seconds. Last lap and it finally stopped raining, but then the monsoon started, so that didn’t make things any better. Last 6 miles coming back into town and some more crashes. Luckily all of us stayed up right and we think we all finished with out losing any time. Race Note: Josh Dillon did the entire race without brakes, somehow during the rain he realized his brakes weren’t working to well, so he tried to adjust them. Unfortunately he adjusted them the wrong way and didn’t realize this so he had no brakes. He did the entire race using his feet to slow him down before the turns and then clip back in and accelerate like hell out of the turn. Old fashion Fred Flinstone style! Lets just say the riders around him weren’t too happy with his riding technique. Luckily though he didn’t need to worry about these riders since he was in the back of the pack and these people were working like hell just to stay on, or went off the back so had no chance to yell. After the race, we cleaned up, tried to dry out, hit the riders tent, then M-T-O at Sheetz, and then decided to drive the 95 mile road race course we are about to encounter tomorrow. Oh wow are we in for a big one tomorrow! The race starts off with a 5-mile climb out of town. Then another huge climb 5 miles later. Then a few more up and down before we finally hit the fake KOM climb. Next we get to the 1st KOM climb and this is all before the 1st feedzone at mile 50. Which is followed by our ascent of Blue Knob and some dirt road action! Hopefully I’ll be able to write tomorrow to let you know the adventure. Thanks for reading, Jason   Tour De Toona…Day 1  Today’s stage is 3.5 mile slightly uphill Time Trial. Start time is at 6pm. This means we had the entire day to lounge around, get the bikes ready, pin the numbers and fine tune (or strap on the air bars) bikes. The day started off foggy, wet and rainy. No way could it stay like that the entire day could it? The only real event of the day was the Hi-Speed Wi-Fi access at the host hotel were we picked up our numbers and had the riders meeting. He we found out (among many other things online) who we were racing against in this weeks fun filled event, and to no surprise it was everyone in the US who you would have guess would have been here. All the pro teams with their full A-squad, and the top ranked amateur teams in the country. HealthNet, Webcor, Colivitta, Jelly Belly, Ofoto, and others were the pro representation, and then the top amateurs were FiorrDiFrutta, Broadmark Capital, Snow Valley, LandRover, Sakonnet, AG-Edward/Lexus, and a few other. So it was 1 hour before start time and the rain was coming down hard. I guess we are getting wet today. Luckily it is close to warm out, 65 degrees. First off for LG was Andrew Knight, our TT specialist. He posted the fastest for the team that stuck on the leader board for near the entire time. Why do you ask we had our #1 guy go first. Well after his TT, he rode back down and past the TT bike onto Josh for his ride. Ok, I don’t need to go through the entire event, but in the end Andrew posted an impressive 5th place finish. 1st amateur, 10 places higher then the next amateur. With this result and an impressive ride from Josh and Robbie, this put the team in 5th place on Team GC, 2nd place amateur team. Oh yeah it did rain on us the entire time, no letting up, full on rain the entire time. After the race, we changed, packed the car and made it back up to Blue Knob to try and dry out eat some food, and prepare for the next day. Thanks for reading, Jason   Monday, July 26, 2004 Tour De Tuna (Toona)....Day 0  It’s Sunday and I’m sitting in our nice relaxing Condo at the top of Blue Knob Ski area in Claysburg PA.  This weekend so far has been all about relaxing.  Yesterday I started off with a relaxing bike ride along the Burlington Bike Path and across the new Winooski Bike Bridge.  Then me and Josh drove south to Franklin Lakes NJ were we spent the night, but on the way stopped in Harriman State Park and did a nice relaxing ride on the Bear Mtn Road Race course.  Next up was a ‘Market Basket’ dinner and evening in Franklin Lakes.  This morning we drove out to our spot in Blue Knob took a nap and am getting ready to go for a ride, out to the grocery store and then an early evening and maybe even some time to sit down and read a book.  Wow is this what people do when they don’t race on the weekend, relax?  It sure is feeling good. Why all this relaxing you ask, well the Tour De Toona, (or Tuna) Stage race starts on Monday.  6 day, 436 mile, National Racing Calendar event full on Pro race is upon us.  The next 6 days are big for us, it’s another chance for our little amateur team to step it up and race hard with the pro’s.  This event is usually bigger than Fitchburg or Conneticut. This race has real money, $45,000 in our race.  We are planning to be just as successful if not more successful than we have been so far this year, so hopefully we are starting it off right.  Getting here early, being fully rested, unpacked the clothes, have the bikes ready, have at least a little bit of support lined up.  It time to race!  The Louis Garneau Team for this week consists of myself, Jason Baer, team leaders and directors Josh Dillon and Andrew Knight, the King express Robbie and Ted, and Ian Bielby and Alec Donahue.  In my opinion on of the strongest up and coming teams around!  So I’ll try and keep you posted throughout the week, but Internet access might be a little hard to find up here on the Mtn.  If I can’t post a diary, you should go to www.cyclingnews.com and check out the results of how were doing. The other exciting part of the weekend is our Cat. 2 and 3 teams that are coming out here.  Starting on Friday, they are out here racing for 3 days on some of the same courses, and I know there will be some good race action from them to write about as well. Monday – Stage 1 – 3.5 mile slight uphill TT Tuesday – Stage 2 – 70 mile, 3 lap circuit race, fast fast fast, with a minor KOM climb, but hard last 10km through town each lap Wednesday – Stage 3 – 95 mile, Johnstown to Altoona road race.  Hard hard hard, lots of climbing, then more climbing, then a final climb before ending in Altoona. Thursday – Stage 4 – 65 mile, 4 lap circuit race, rolling fast course with 1 KOM per lap followed 3k later before a sprint through town. Friday – Stage 5 – 80 mile, 4 lap circuit race, fast fast fast, mainly flat and fast through town, probably the fastest 80 miles I’ll ever do. Saturday – Stage 6 – 95 mile road race, twisty up and down first 35 miles, then flat, then climb climb climb thorugh Blue Knob, then 3 more climbs before a fun fast descent back to Altoona. Sunday – Stage 7 – 35 mile optional technical downtown Criterium, yes optional good thing because in the past 4 times I did this race I have never made it to the sprint in the Crit, getting pulled anywhere between 7 laps and 20 laps into the race. Thanks for reading, Jason   UnionVale Road Race....Poughkeepsie NY  What a hard day this one is.  Its not even the course that makes it hard it’s the mental part.  A 78 mile road race, its historically been hot humid and hot, a prize list that doesn’t even pay for gas if you get 2nd, and a course that really feels like it is all uphill.  The field was 60 riders Pro/1 riders ready to battle it out at 1pm on an actually nice Sunday not to hot afternoon.  From previous years experience the race seems to warrant an early break get away and suffer for a few hours off the front as the pack gets widdled down until the last lap when everyone seems to suffer up the last 3km climb with a much to appealing parking lot pull of back to your car just before the climb starts.  So we pulled out of the parking lot and through the first 2 miles of a neutral rollout when a group already tried to roll off the front.  LG was represented in force at the front of the pack with 8 of us in attendance.  Next 2 miles when the race was suppose to begin the attacks started to fly.  There was 3 of us who were designated as the early breakaway representatives, me being one of them.  Mile 3 and I already followed 3 moves and it was time to go again.  Larry Perera from Mathis brothers attacked hard, I went with him and shortly therafter Chris Rozdinsky from CRCA-Sakonnet and Josh Gerwitz joined us.  Immeditatly we had a gap as Larry was going hard, over the feedzone climb there was no letting up, he wanted this move to stick, and why not, he had 3 guys from 3 strong team represented in the break, there wasn’t much back in the pack to chase us down, (except for Mike Jones and Hayden Godfrey from Health-Net)  So this is how the race played out, the group of 4 of us worked will together opening up the gap.  Lap 2 and the time gap was 2:30 and no chase had started.  Lap 3 had the gap was up to 4:00, without a chase.  At this point in time we tried to be a little strategic, we eased off a little for the next 10 miles or so trying to rest up for the last part of the race when the chase was going to be on.  This worked perfectly for us, as on the next lap we got word that the field was chasing hard and the break was back down to 2:30, so we upped the pace again and kept the time gap hovering around 2:30 for the next lap as the field chased hard.  Luckily this worked as by the last lap the field sat up discouraged that they weren’t closing the gap and we opened it back up another minute or so. 3km to go and we were at the climb.  Beforehand Larry, by far the strongest of the breakaway attacked us hard.  I chased him down and we all decided to wait till the climb.  We were on the climb and still had about a 2 minute advantage on the field.  Now it was time to suffer, before this point I was going at a nice pace rotating through and doing my share of the work, but never suffereing, why should I.  I still had at least 5 guys behind me who could climb better than me.  Ideally sometime in the race they’ll get of the front and bridge up to us, that’s what I was thinking?  Anyways it didn’t happen that way and it was my turn to get the result for the team today.  So we hit the climb and I knew Larry was the strongest and he was going to attack us hard, and right away at the bottom he did.  I tried to follow and for the 1st pitch I was holding a few bike lengths behind him.  However I cracked hard, and he rode away.  Ok relax, hold pace with Chris now as he comes by and go for 2nd.  I tried, but failed.  Now I was on my own again, all I have to do is get to the top.  Luckily about 1.5km to the finish Lori (my fiancé) and her family were there cheering me on.  This gave me a little extra motivation as I pushed on.  Finally I made it with the last 1km praying that I was going fast enough to not get caught from behind.  In the end I was about 40 seconds up on the 1st guy in the pack.  My teammates rode strong and Robbie finished 6th, Dan Vallincort another LG new upgrader finished 7th and Andrew finished 9th.  A great day for LG Racing. After the race it was another long drive and late night back to Vermont.  This week is a full work week, some hard training (if I’m recovered) and then off to Altoona for a 6 day 436 mile stage race! Thanks for reading, Jason   "The Main Event"....Poughkeepsie Crit  I still can’t figure out what the “Main Event” is, it might be the sponsor, it might be the big event for the weekend, I’m not quite sure, but I did know 1 thing.  It was time to race my bike again.  Today’s event is a 38 lap, .9 mile lap 8 corner, flat bumpy Criterium in downtown Poughkeepsie NY.  Last year my team placed 1st, 2nd and 5th, something I our LG team was going to try and repeat and not let my former team come close to those numbers.  This event has gotten bigger and bigger each year, this year the prize money has gone up and has drawn a bigger and better field.  The LG team was well represented with 9 of us.  At the team meeting beforehand we reviewed our game plan and were anxious to start the race.   However 15 mintues before the start the skies opened up, a huge storm came in and lasted a good ½ hour while we waited to start the race.  Once we lined up the sun did come out and I was figuring it was going to another fast action aggressive crit like last year.  This however was far from the case.  The gun went off and I was sitting in the back of the pack thinking things really aren’t going to break up.  Yes it’s a hard race, but not in the first few laps.  Boy oh boy was I wrong.  The race strung out immediately as we hit the wet/flooded turns.  Crash after crash happened in front of me on the 1st lap and before I knew it on lap 2 there was no getting back up to the front.  The race was over for me before it even started.  What a fool I was!  Stupid Stupid Stupid, I’ve been racing my bike for 10 years now, and for some reason I thought it was ok to start in the back of the pack on an 8 corner wet crit course.  What was I thinking???  Oh yeah also our race strategy, that was a joke, how can you have a race strategy when you can’t even race in the front.  Lets just say next time its raining and wet in a crit I won’t be starting in the back, hopefully I’ll remember that one. Anyways after numerous crashes on the first few laps the race was set.   A group of 12 was up the road with 5 of my teammates, then there was a group of 20 that I was in, then a heck of a lot of stragglers behind my group who never made it in a group and eventually got pulled.  First half of the race and I was just thinking how stupid that was as I sat near the back of my group and rode non-aggressively watching people continue to crash ahead of me.  Finally with 10 laps to go the front group lapped us and actually started racing again.  I know some people would be annoyed at me to race at the front with the guys who just lapped me, but I felt I was there for a good reason.  I was covering every possible move there was from the other guys to help out my teammates.  And this I did well, I was fresh, feeling good and actually racing the last 10 laps.  (boy it’s a lot easier racing against guys who just worked the past 25 laps to lap you)  4 laps to go and the perfect move was made.  I was sitting 3rd wheel with Robbie and Hayden Godfrey from Health-Net sitting in front with 2 guys sitting behind me who just pulled off the front.  Coming out of the top turn I yelled at Robbie to hit it hard and he did.  Immediately Robbie and Hayden had a gap.  The 2 guys who were behind me hesitated way to long and couldn’t close the gap fast enough and the field sat up.  I rode in front covering the next few moves for the next lap in a half as Robbie was riding away.  2 laps to go and crash, Robbie slipped on a still wet part of the course and was down, and back in the pack.  Oh shit, I started the chase for another ½ lap, but Hayden was already way to far ahead, he had the win.  Last lap and on the back side the newly upgraded, but already successful LG rider Keith Jennings put in a solid attack and held it to the line for 2nd, then the pack shortly thereafter.  I can’t remember the exact places the team ended up, but it was something like 2nd, 6th, 9th, 11th, 18th, and 19th, all in the money!  Not a bad day.  Tomorrow it’s the UnionVale road race a hard hilly 78 mile ordeal. Jason   Fitchburg Stage Race...Day 4  It’s Crittin day here at Fitchburg, the last day of the 4 day stage race for us.  The course is a 1 mile loop, lollipop course with a u-turn at the top of the course, and 2-90 degree turns at the bottom with a long straight away to the finish.  The course is challenging and fast, but not a course that really splits the field. Our team really had no plans for today, race your bike and have fun was the basic idea.  Try and get up front and get off the front if you can for a move or two if you want.  The race started and it was obvious that there wasn’t much we were going to be able to do, Colivitta was setting the presence at the front.  The didn’t even have to set the tempo, all they had to do was follow the moves that were going off the front and not let anything slip away.  And this is what they did for the entire race.  Lets just say it was fairly uneventful.  We rode around at 30mph moving up and back in the pack, but trying to go off the front for any type of successful move was all but worthless.  How the hell do you plan to stay away at 32mph?  Anyways, the race finally had some action with 10 laps to go, but only strung the field out.  Last lap and the sprint was on.  I have no idea who was up there since the person who won had already crossed while I was somewhere in the middle of the pack still a good 200 meters from the finish.  So the day was over, Fitchburg was over.  It was time to get back in the car and head home for a week of relaxing, work, and a much needed off weekend of racing before our next big adventures.  Oh yeah in the end Josh finished 19th on GC and I was 26th, definitely another good finish for our up and coming LG amateur team racing at the National level with the top professionals out there! Thanks for reading, Jason   Fitchburg Stage Race...Day 3  Today is the day. The course is 103 miles, over 8,000 feet of climbing with a finish climb up Mt. Watchusett, not to mention a decent at over 50 mph that has taken out way to many to mention.  At 12:30pm and 85 degrees the race started.  First lap up the climb and it hit me; the new black pavement, the still air in the middle of the pack, the steady tempo pace, and the heat, yes the first time this year that the heat was on, it was hot!   Luckily we went through the feedzone every 11 miles or so, so hydration wasn’t a problem, and a lot of the course was shaded, but it was hot this first time up. After the first 2 laps and the race was falling into the same situation as played out every other year here.  A group gets away without the designated GC rider for one of the top teams and they go to the front and set tempo the rest of the day, bringing the break back in the last lap or 2.  Mark McCormack from Colivitta got up the road with a little group including our own Robbie King.  This seemed perfect, the day was set, and we had somebody in the move.  It was Navigators turn to get to the front and set tempo the rest of the day.  This however was not the case today.  Shortly after Robbie was up front he came back, I guess Mark just didn’t want him there?   Next lap and Naviagtors were at the front setting tempo, however Colivitta being the dominant team and realizing the strength they had over Navigators decided to attack on the climb, this split the field dropping some of the hard working Navigators.  Eventually the entire race came back together by lap 4.  This is where we had some major problems.   Andrew, our GC rider had a cable snap, after a slow bike change and a few other problems he was back chasing with Ted.   The rest of us were sitting in the back of the pack hoping to see him somewhere close enough behind the field that we would be able to drift back and help him out.  However after 5 miles or so of drifting back through the caravan and being able to see a good 3 minutes back, he was nowhere in sight.  By the time the lap was through we had to give up our chances and get back to the field.  Luckily we did this just in time as the pack was hitting it hard on the climb and things were breaking up.  Once over the top a group of 6 or so was up the road.  However it wasn’t the race yet, the GC guys were still in the field.  Lap 5 and the break was going away as the field was cruising along fairly easily.  Here I thought was my chance.  On the bottom of the course I cruised away with 2 others and we opened up a 2 minute gap by the base of the climb.  Perfect I thought, now I’m ahead of the race and when the fireworks go off behind hopefully I’ll still be ahead!  This is exactly what happened, the next lap the GC riders put the hammer down and bridged across to my little group.  I was ecstatic I made the first major split.  I was in the top 20 of the race, riding with all the real GC threats.  I was even able to cover some moves for a short time.  And a short time it was, I was definitely hurting trying to race up front here at this level.  Eventually a group of 5 split off the front with Colivitta and Navigators and were gone.  I can’t say I was too disappointed since I don’t think I would have been able to hold on to anybody if the attacks went on the climb.  Next lap and another group of 10 or so bridged up to us, it included a few FiorDeFrutta riders and my teammate Josh Dillon, and the race was set for the last lap.  A lead group of 15 up the road, my group of 20 and then a few other groups splintered behind, nothing really resembling a pack.  Here we go it was the final 4km up Mt. Watchusset.   I didn’t really care what place I was up the climb I was going to go as hard as I can there was nothing to hold back on.  Lets just say my time wasn’t one of the fastest times up the climb, I ended up near the back of my pack, but kept a solid 24th place for the day.  My teammate Josh finished 18th. A big day was over, it was fairly successful for myself, but as a team we lost some ground.  Our GC rider Andrew was out of contention, and we lost a top 10 spot, but it’s always a learning experience for us.  Next day up is the last day, the downtown Fitchburg Crit.   Fitchburg Stage Race...Day 2  Fitchburg Circuit Race Day.  25 laps, 77 miles for the Pro/1/2 race.  Today is the day when you realize that this race isn’t a local New England Race.  This is the real thing.  Over the top of the climb through the feed zone and the first few miles on the backside is one of the hardest parts of road I’ve ever ridden.  The accordion effect is in full effect!  Today’s race the Louis Garneau team had a 2 part strategy when it came to the race.  Part 1 was to protect our GC leader Andrew and make sure he was safe, close to the front, and ready to make the front split if there was any real action.  The other part was for some of the rest of us to race hard, and race hard at the front.  We wanted to animate the race and show the pro’s we were here to race, not just sit in and race once their done. After a pushing match for position at the start line the race was on.  1st half of the 1st lap and it was obvious what the day had entailed.  Anybody from any team attacks hard at the front and Colivitta pushes it hard at the front to bring it back, sit on the tail end or let it drift off the front by a few seconds and let others jump around to close the gap.   Basically they weren’t going to let anything get away, and with an average speed of 28mph nothing did get away the entire day.  This was good for our GC rider Andrew as he had a nice steady race finished in the group and lost no time.  On the other hand for Josh, Robbie, and the rest of the LG riders who tried to race hard at the front, it was hard as hell.  Attack at 30mph, try and follow some moves, but nothing would slip away.  Colivitta just brought it back.  So the day was over, it was back to the hotel, shower change and out to dinner and early too bed for tomorrow is the big day!   Fitchburg Stage Race...Day 1  Were back, racing our bikes again.  We took a 3 day vacation in Vermont and our other homes after the very successful Tour of Ohio and recharged the batteries to get ready for the July 4th Classic.  Fitchburg!   (Ok maybe we actually went to work during the week, but were not pro or anything like that, we need to pay the bills!) So today’s stage was the Time Trial 8.3 miles. Louis Garneau had a near full team, 10 in the Men Pro/1/2 field.  Myself, Andrew Knight, Josh Dillon, Robbie and Ted King, Sam Silver, Damon Parke, Keith Jennings, Ian Bielby and Dan Vallincort were all in representation for this fun filled weekend.  There isn’t much race report notes to tell you about, it’s a time trial, but as others have said in the past the TT is the Test of Truth, there is no hiding, the strong come out and will shine.  This is exactly what our team leader Andrew Knight did.  He shined, and shined strong, just like his TT win last week in Ohio, he knew the speed he needed to go, he’s been riding the TT bike and has the position dialed in, it was only a matter of turning the pedals.  Sounds easy?  Maybe I should try it out?  Obviously it isn’t as easy as it is to write it!  Anyways after the smoke cleared and the last riders came in our own amateur, 40 hour a week worker, Team Director,  Louis Garneau rider Andrew Knight was a close 2 seconds off the podium.  Andrew placed 4th, only 2 seconds behind US Pro Champion Mark McCormick!  Amazing ride.  Congratulations!  Next up is the Circuit Race tomorrow at 3pm.  With a full LG team at this race, you better believe were not going to be sitting behind the pro’s following their wheels being content to stay in the pack.  We came here to race, and were going to race hard! Fitchburg Stage Race – 8.3 mile TT 1st – Nathan O’Neil :15’58– Collavita Professional Cycling Team – (Australia National Time Trial Champion) 2nd – Victor Rapinski :16’20– Navigators Professional Team – (U23 WORLD Time Trial Champion) 3rd – Mark McCormick :16’31– Collavita Profession Cycling Team – (US Pro National Champion) 4th – Andrew Knight :16’33– Louis Garneau Racing – (GMBC* Time Trial Champion) 5th – Mike Creed :16’45 – Unites States Postal Service Professional Cycling Team (U23 National Time Trail Champion) *GMBC – Green Mountain Bicycle Club   Monday, June 28, 2004 Tour of Ohio....Day 8  The last day of the Tour of Ohio 8 day stage race is upon us. Today's course is a 1.5 mile crit course in downtown Chagrin Falls consisting of 6 turns, 1 swithback, 2 small climbs with false flat tops and a screaming descent back to the Start/Finish. Also of importance to note of the course was the spectators, lots of them, every house was out having a barbeque and cheering us on, the start/finish area was lined with spectators! In the morning, we packed the room up, loaded up the cars, checked out and headed north. The plan for the day was to be aggressive, Josh felt that he had a good chance of being able to slip away if the race went hard. From the gun the race was hard, and it was obvious that other teams had the same strategy we did. Sierra Nevada attacked from the gun, and nobody was going to wait around. First lap down and things were strung out single file, we all had good position and were sitting in the top 30. Don't know how many people were done after the first lap or two, but it was definetly a good portion of the back of the pack. The team raced how we wanted too, we were agressive, I made the first move and slipped away for 2 laps, then Andrew went hard at the front opening the gap, then Robbie, and Ted all had a go off the front on numerous occasions. Nothing however seemed to be slipping away, Jelly Belly was controlling the front of the field hard, and Josh was being marked wheel for wheel with any incling of a chance at moving. 1/2 way through the race and things were no different. Single file field with Jelly Belly controlling the front with a number of other teams trying to break things up. The race was down to about 50 riders or so with 10 laps to go. The amazing thing to me was at one point I realized that the single file line through the field sorted itself out almost identically to what the GC placing was. I guess after 8 days of racing the racers really seemed to know where they sat in the field. (Unlike the crashfest day 1, were everyone thought they were the # 1 guy gunning for the front!) Last lap and it was a single file strung out sprint to the finish. Josh put in a few hard efforts to get a gap on Mike Dietrich, but to no avail. We all ended somewhere in the pack, Josh finishing it out in 8th place for the day and 3rd on GC. Andrew kept his 7th place GC, and I finished in 24th for the week. Robbie and Ted also finished strong racing extremely well the last 2 days, but not in contention for the GC since they crashed out the first day. Matt Moon and Sam Silver also put in a solid performance finishing out the week strong and representing the team well. The LG Team has meet our goals for the week at the Tour of Ohio, race hard, have fun, and represent the team well. This we did, many riders, as well as spectators, came up to us on the last day and congratulated the team on the way we raced, the strength of the team, and the overall appearance and professionalism we showed racing our bikes. Something we strive to always improve on, but definetly happy that we made a National appearance on this. After the race it was off to Subs, Ben & Jerry's, Krispy Kream Factory, more ice cream, and then homemade chocolate cake and strawberry rubarb pie back out our host house in Rochester NY. Today we are finishing our commute back to New England, and few days rest, and work, and then were off to Fitchburg. Were looking forward to Fitchburg as we all feel the 8 days of racing has not fried us put has strengthend us, and with the full team racing at Fitchburg, 13 in the Pro/1/2 field, and 6 in the Cat. 3/4 field, we want to continue our improve on our National representation of being one of the best amateur team in the country! Thanks for reading, Jason  Saturday, June 26, 2004 Tour of Ohio...Day 7  After yesterdays decisive stage we now knew what was going on in the Tour of Ohio. Who was in contention and who were just joking around thinking they were in contention. Today’s stage was a 14 mile rolling time trial, 2 laps, riders going off at 1 minute intervals starting from 121st place up to 1st. Our first Louis Garneau riders came in with times just over 30 minutes. They gave us the scouting report on what to expect, where the wind was blowing, what to watch out for and how fast you can take the turns. At 11:30am, I was off, sitting in 22nd place overall. I’m not known for being able to time trial very well, but today I was determined, I don’t have the TT bike, but it’s not all about the bike right? I wanted a good time, no letting up, stay focused; I’m still in contention for cracking the top 20 in GC. Well my TT went just like every other one that I’ve done in the past 3 years (oh yeah that’s right, I’ve only done 3 TT’s in the past 3 years) I was thinking, am I going hard enough, am I in a big enough gear, should I spin more, is the person in front of me really that fast, look at the pretty scenery, I’ll go faster the 2nd lap, Andrew is starting 5 minutes behind me, can he catch me? Anyways that’s how my TT went, but lets get to the real racing of the day. Andrew Knight, the man who has been tearing it up on his TT bike, he’s set records on 17 of the last 18 courses he’s done in Vermont. He’s done the calculations, he has his position dialed in, this is his event, and yes he did it! A few seconds over 28 minutes was his time, average speed 28 mph, he posted the fastest time so far of the day. There were 20 more riders to come in though, all the GC leaders. The next few riders and they weren’t even close, then the top 5 came in, and they couldn’t get within 30 seconds. Andrew Knight takes his first Pro/1/2 win of his career and to top that it is a NRC win, way to go Andrew! The other side of the news is the ‘D’ part of the DK Cycling Team. Josh Dillon, in his 1st TT since Fitchburg 2 years ago, riding with no special bike, no disk wheel, and only clip-ons rode an impressive: 29’12, placing him in 4th for the day. Another impressive day yet again for Louis Garneau, another day, another podium appearance, I’m thinking that the team has topped 50 for the year, is there a record? The GC has shaken up yet again at the Tour of Ohio, I am sitting in 25th, Andrew has moved up to 7th overall, and Josh is sitting in 3rd place, 8 seconds out of 2nd. Tomorrow’s stage will thus be big! There are a few sprint time bonuses and a bonus for the victory, so it’s game on between Louis Garneau and FiorDeFruitta to see if LG can get Josh those precious 9 seconds that he needs! Thanks for reading again. Tonight is our last night in our Extended Stay America, and the Changes Day Spa. Tomorrow we are headed north to near Cleveland for the last day of the Tour of Ohio, and then it’s back to the real world, and our primary ‘real-life’ sponsors, Vermont Teddy Bear, Gardner’s Supply, and IBM. This event could not have been done though without our Louis Garneau Cycling Team Sponsors. Thank you all again for your support in our quest to be the best on and off the bike!   Tour of Ohio...Day 6  This is the day. This is what the Tour of Ohio is known for. Granville Circuit Race! Today’s event consisted of 20 loops of the short course followed by 10 loops of the long course, total distance 50 miles. The short course is just over a mile, consisting of 6 turns, 1 U-turn, a small cobbled wall section, and someone’s driveway for 200 meters. The long course consisted of the same short course plus another cobbled climb and 2 switchbacks for a 800 meter climb, another 15 turns or so through Dension University, another climb, and a descent down someone’s backyard with 2 jumps in it before hitting the town again with an off camber turn, another brick section and then back onto Main Street. No kidding this was the course! At the lineup you could tell people were antsy to go. 2 groups were staging, one where the officials asked us to stage and one 50 meters up at the start line. Eventually everyone decided that the one at the start line was the way to go. 5pm and the race was underway, 1st lap and things were strung out. You could tell this by the long single file line that was ahead of me, but also the single file line that was lined up going the other way behind me on the U-Turn section. 10 laps in and it seemed like everyone was deciding were they belonged in the pack. The front group of 20 riders seemed pretty content to stay were they were and then a long line behind them of single filed riders trying to get to the front. 15 laps in, 5 laps to go until the large Circuits and it seemed like it was down to 70 or so riders. Bell lap on the short circuits and it was game time. People were jockeying for position like it was the end of the race, but it wasn’t even ½ over. 1st time up the cobbled climb and a lead group of 30 riders had already formed. Behind the field was shattered. There were 3 of us still up front, myself, Andrew, and Josh, as well as all the real contenders. The next 4 laps and things were about the same, a few more guys fell of the back, (myself included, but I got back on) Then with 6 laps to go, the leaders decided it was time to start racing. Caleb from Jelly Belly the race leader hit it hard on the climb and tore the legs off the rest of us. I ended up in the 3rd group back of 6 riders, Andrew made it in the 2nd group back with 13 others, and Josh made the split with the top 7 to make the race! My group lasted until 2 to go; we then got pulled, still placing in a respective 22nd place. Andrew was crashed in the feed zone on the 2nd to last lap and had to get a wheel change and start chasing. He finished a few seconds off his group. Josh on the other hand stepped it up a notch, just like he has done all week. Up front with 5 laps to go, Caleb attacked the group and rode an impressive minute plus off the front to finish solo. 2 laps to go and Josh realized that Mike Dietrich sitting in 2nd place was vulnerable. Josh attacked hard from behind; he stuck it and finished nearly 45 seconds ahead of Mike to take 2nd for the day and moved up to 2nd overall in GC. Another great day for Louis Garneau, Josh raced strong up front to defend his position, Andrew held on in the next group to not lose too much time before the time trial, and the rest of us came in respectively in the front part of the peloton. After the race it was off to ‘Baha Fresh’ for some burrito’s then back to the hotel for some chocolate chip pancakes and then off to bed, tomorrow’s stage is early.   Thursday, June 24, 2004 Tour of Ohio....Day 5  Five days down, four more to go, and things are only looking better for the Louis Garneau Team. This morning we actually were able to sleep past the normal hour we usually start work and sleep in like real bike racers. This morning consisted of cleaning the bikes, checking some e-mail, making lots of food, and preparing for the days event. Josh ended up heading over to our local salon establishment to do some work (borrowing their Internet again), but ended up getting his mop chopped off, something about an attractive women? Today’s race was another rolling road race, 60 miles, the map had 6 fairly large climbs and a lot of rollers in between, and then a technical finishing loop with another major climb. At the start we realized the course was going to be 50 miles with only 3 climbs and no major finishing loop, thus as the promoter said, it’s a day for the sprinters. Little did they know the team plan for Louis Garneau, we wanted a hard race, and if wasn’t going to be hard, we are going to try and make it hard, but wait till the 2nd half of the race. The race started with a 2 mile climb out of town to open up the legs. Nothing too much was going on until Tunnel Hill, another 2 mile rolling climb to a false flat windy section, and the race was on full speed ahead. 5 of us were sitting near the back thinking things were going to stick together, over the top of the climb we were a little shocked, 3 full on echelons were up the road! Oh shit! 5 miles later and a large group of 25 was up the road. Luckily some other team missed the move as well and chased hard. 20 miles into the race and things were back together. It was time for us to start racing. Robbie took off and got a nice gap with a FiorDeFrutti rider, Jelly Belly chased it down hard. Next up was Ted and then myself. I pulled away for a few miles, but then got caught fairly quickly. Josh went but everyone followed quickly. I was next up again and bridged to a little move that slipped off the front, but got caught again. Another few moves went with Andrew, Ted, Josh, myself, and then Ted again which finally opened up. This split lasted until the bottom of the last KOM climb. Here the race took off, Mike Dietrich hit it hard and Josh was right there. Josh took the KOM and they kept going. It was here that Mike Dietrich, the race leader from Jelly Belly Caleb and Josh put the hammer down. The gap opened to near a minute with only 7miles to go. CRCA-Sakonnet put their guys on the front to chase it down, but didn’t seem to be gaining any ground. We finally seemed to be on the same page with FiorDeFrutti and were sitting the next wheels back trying to discourage any chase. Finally with less than 4 miles to go, Sierra-Nevada realized the move might stick and started the chase in full force. They put the hammer down and pulled it nearly all the way to the line. The 3 leaders stayed away though and kept a 10 second gap! This put Josh back up to 3rd place overall. Another amazing day for Louis Garneau Racing, and Josh Dillon. I guess the 2 extra large burrito’s and cheesecake didn’t slow Josh down at all! The race has only begun though; tomorrow’s day is a big one. Things are going to shatter. This is where the tired legs will really begin to show. Thanks for reading, Jason   Wednesday, June 23, 2004 Touur of Ohio....Day 4  Ok, so I'm back to the "Changes Salon & Day Spa". It is currently 10pm and me and Andrew are sitting outside in the parking lot 'borrowing' their wireless Internet connection. There is a very loud motorcycle that has been driving some sort of loop around the area. The salon is closed and we are watching the cleaning crew clean up the place, little do they know why we are sitting outside their place. The chopper just went by again, but this time he's picked up a lttile friend to ride on the back. Anyways so lets get to the action of the day. Today's race didn't start until 5pm today, so we had a nice relaxing morning. Some went to Panera to do some work, some went for a little ride, I spent some time updating my bike journal and then watching daytime TV. Judge Judy, Judge Joe Brown, Maury, Millonaire, Price is Right, all the good daytime shows! Ok so lets get to the actual racing of the day. Today's course was 55 miles, 40 mile road race loop and then 4.5 mile inside loop we did 4 times. The course was fairly rolling, no big climbs, but a total of 5,500 feet of climbing. The plan of the day was to be aggressive, make sure we get a rider (or 2) in the move. It is a dangerous course, easy for moves to slip away. From the start things were fast, me and Ted were racing at the front making sure we were represented. A move of 8 did slip away, but Ted did a mondo pull on a downhill section to start to pull it back, I tried to finish it off, but couldn't, luckily there were some other teams who wanted to make sure it didn't stick. A few miles later Andrew went off the front. It was looking good for awhile, but it was only a few miles before the KOM so nobody wanted to let him take it that easy. Up the KOM and it was the first time that it was actually a hard pace set. Don't know who got the KOM since about 2/3 of the way up I dropped my chain. Luckily I had a quick off the bike adjustment and was back on pacing through the caravan to get back on. Next 25 miles or so and it was aggressive, I finally made it back up to the front, and me and Josh were covering the moves. Nothing was slipping away. 6 miles or so to go to the circuits and Josh was pushing it hard over some of the bigger rollers. I was 15 back and was amazed at what was happening. Josh has become a marked man! When he goes other's follow! He did get a good gap at one point and a group of 10 made it up the road coming into the circuits. It didn't last long though as everyone else knew this was the move. 1st circuit and FiorrDiFrutta was putting in the attacks, we were covering them pretty well. Josh then tried a few more times to get away, but nothing successful. Finally Andrew rode off the front with 2 others for 1/2 a lap, but that then came back. Next up was Matt Moon, our own Cat. 3 stepping it up and putting in his own attack, he stayed away for 1/2 a lap as well taking some sprint points and a time bonus. Last lap and a few more last ditch efforts from some other teams to slip off the front, but nothing succesful, it was coming down to a sprint. A sprint it was, don't really know the results, except the dude who has the leaders jersey won and put another 20 seconds on the pack. Josh finished strong in 5th, the rest of us rolled in with the pack. You can check out the real results at www.bikereg.com Another day in Ohio is over. We cooled down, packed the car and drove away enroute to Burritos! Tomorrow's Stage (day 5) we are racing in Roscoe village. It is an awesome course, 60 miles, about 6 climbs, and lots of rollers. Previously the race ended in a crazy fast downhill sprint, but is also a very good course for a break to stick. This year I heard that we are ending up a steep climb and then a fast descent back into town? Well see how it shapes up tomorrow. Thanks for reading, oh yeah the chopper has gone by another 3 times seeminlgy making louder and louder noise each time. Hopefully were not on their turf, yes there is more than 1 now. Time to move one I guess.  Tuesday, June 22, 2004 Tour of Ohio....Day 3  Currently I am sitting in a Panera bread using their free high-speed wireless connection to post this entry. Why am I telling you this, well yesterday we were driving around the area with Andrew's new Net-Stumbler and 'finding' random wireless connections. It took a little while since most of the hotels are password protected, but then we found one. But then it was gone? We were sitting outside what we thought was 'PaulJ' house using his wireless, but then it disappeared? We drove on and found it again, woops PaulJ was the cop car that was sitting across from us! Eventually we found "Changes - Beauty Salon" we sat in our car and used their wirless, pretty cool stuff. Anyways onto the race report for today. Old Man's Cave stage race, outside Logan OH. It was listed as an 80 mile road race, but ended up being 55 when we got there? Always in for a surprise at the Tour of Ohio. So the race started, within the first 10 miles a group got away. Robbie was represented up front for us so we were looking good, while CRCA-Sakonnet and some other teams were driving it hard to try and chase it down. The time gap never got over 1.5 minutes, but always felt like it was going to be the move that was going to stick. However with about 10 miles to go it came back together. Louis Garneau was ready to race! We had 4 of us up front covering the moves, making the moves, putting the pressure on the field, Josh was away for a little, I got away for a few miles, and then Andrew hit it hard after a false move at the front. About 7 miles to go and Jelly Belly was chasing hard, but Andrew was in his mode, if there was anybody who could hold it out front, he would be the man. It was looking good, until about 2.5 miles to go when we hit the last large climb before the finish. He was swallowed up. Mike Dietrich then went hard and opened up an immediate gap, 4 other riders stuck his wheel over the top. Josh realized that was the move and went for it solo. He was close, but couldn't close it. Josh stuck it out and finshed 2 seconds ahead of the charging pack for 6th place. The rest of us finished in the next group. Another satisfied race for Louis Garneau, we were represented early, we raced hard the rest of the time, we made our moves. We did what we could. Josh is still up there in 4th place overall. Andrew and myself are tied in 16th with the rest of the field who has not lost any real time yet. Tomorrow's race is another 70 mile road race, its a new course so nobody really knows what the course will be like, but no big climbs. But now it is time for LG to step it up and make sure we are represented, or else were going to dig a hole for ourselves and end up chasing, not something I think we are up for yet. 3 days down, 5 more to go, the race has only begun, the hardest days are yet to come. Thanks for reading. Tomorrow's race is late, so I probably won't post anything until Thursday. Jason   Tour of Ohio....Day 2  Day 2 at the Tour of Ohio. Monday, we should all be at work, instead we are racing at the Tour of Ohio, and what an awesome day it was. Much different from the day before that was crash-fest, unselected racing. Today started off with a long drive down to southern Ohio, Wilkesville, pop. 100. The race consisted of 70 mile road race on a clover leaf type of course, with progressively harder climbs and larger rollers coming back into town for the finish. First 25 miles, not much excitiment, a few crashes occurred, mainly from the inexperienced moto-support, and a break of 6 or so went up the road. Jelly Belly was working hard to try and bring it back, eventually after a few more attacks from the main group, it all came back together. Next 25 miles and things started heating up. Louis Garneau was racing hard at the front, covering the moves, making the moves and making sure we were represented. Each of us were probably in a move or too, but nothing was sticking for more than a few miles. 10 miles to go in the race we were at the last KOM. Things started splitting up from behind, but not up front. Over the top there was still a large group of 25 riders. Down the backside and into the run in to the finish LG was putting the pressure on with some massive pulls and attacks from Ted King. 4km to go and Josh Dillon went hard over a little riser. Nobody went with him! He opened up the gap. 2.5km to go and Mike Dietrich from FiorDeFrutti bridged across with no one able to cover him. 1.5km to go and I was riding hard at the front covering any moves trying to discourage any sort of chase. Surprising a solo rider with no team support, and former roomate and teammate of mine decided he was going to try and bring it back solo, and then win the sprint? He hit it hard on the descent and up the next riser with 1km to go. I went ballistic and eventually he sat up as well as the rest of the pack listening to the argument. This is excatly what we needed. Josh was still off the front and turned it up out of the final turn and stuck it to the finish! Taking the win! Josh Dillon taking an NRC race win in his first season of racing in the Pro/1/2 field! Amazing! The rest of us rolled in with the front group keeping not losing any time. Josh is currently sitting in 3rd place overall! Next up is Day 3, 80 mile road race with some good climbs and a rolling finishing climb. Thanks for reading, Jason   Monday, June 21, 2004 Tour of Ohio....Day 1  Day 1 of the Tour of Ohio, Orrville Circuit race, 50 miles fast flat 10 mile circuits. The day started off with a drive from Rochester NY to Orrville. We misjudged the time it was going to take and had to step on it for awhile and eat gas station Subway for lunch to make it to the start with enough time to prepare. We ended up in Orrville with 1.5 hrs to spare. We even had enough time to take a tour of the camp village of the Great Ohio Bicycle Tour group that was also in town. At registration was the first glimpses of what the week was going to have in store for us, the pre-registered list was posted. 140 or so riders, teams represented from all over the country, with a number of pro teams represented with a full squad. Sierra Nevada, FiorDeFrutti, Jelly Belly, CRCA-Sakonnet, Crystal Racing, Long John Silvers, and a number of other teams I’ve never heard of had full squads that looked like they could be the main contenders for the week. At the staging area I was instantly impressed at the additional support that the race had this year compared to last. 5 cop cars, a number of moto’s, a number of officials, more than 1 follow vehicle. It looked like this race was going to actually feel like the NRC race that it is scheduled to be like. So the race was off at 4pm on Sunday June 20th, the 1st day of the Tour of Ohio. After the couple mile neutral rollout the race was on, 30mph aggressive racing, on narrow farms roads, with 140 fresh strong riders, seemed like it was going to take shape. 15 minutes later and we were halted, off course, riding aimlessly into the corn fields. It seems as the cop cars in front weren’t quite sure of the course and decided to go a different way. We turned around and started over. 20 minutes later and crash, a number of riders down, no idea how it happened? We kept going, ½ a lap later and crash, more riders down, ½ a lap later and a number of very close calls with oncoming traffic and crash, more riders down. This seemed to continue to happen for some reason? Don’t really know why? The course was fairly safe? The roads were narrow, but nothing unusual? There was oncoming traffic, but all riders were fully aware? Maybe we were just too aggressive? Maybe the field was too large? Maybe we weren’t aggressive enough and things kept bunching up way to much? Whatever the case, the race ended with a lot of pushing and shoving cat. 5 race feel coming into the last 5km. I sat up realizing I had a lose cleat and was going to be nowhere near the sprint, rolled in and watched the pushing and shoving going on up front. In the end it felt like the pack was down to 90 riders or so. What happened to the others? It seemed like they crashed out somewhere along the route? Not a good day. Louis Garneau had 2 mishaps. Robbie ended up going over the bars hard and has some sore shoulders and a chipped tooth. Ted ended up blowing out a tire, crushing a rim and ended up with a slow wheel change and rolled in off the back. The rest of us stayed up right, but not too happy with how things went down. Oh well I guess that’s bike racing. After the race we picked up Robbie at the local hospital, (which was full of other cyclist) and headed down to Columbus to our hotel. After fairly impressive meal at a smoke filled truck stop restaurant, we made it to the Extended Stay America in Columbus. We unpacked cleaned up and made our home for the week. Today we are heading south to Wilkesville for a 70 mile very fun rolling to hilly course. I’ll keep you posted on how we do, and hopefully I’ll actually have a race report of the racing and not just the ‘other’ action. Jason   Sunday, June 20, 2004 Tour of Ohio....Day 0  It has begun, the trip to Ohio is on. Currently the team is staying at Matt Moon's family residence in Rochester NY. Yesterday consisted of a 6 hour drive through the Adirondaks to our current location, the only eventful part of the drive was trying to convince Andrew that his car was 2.5% slower than he thought it was, this took 50 miles or so, the other exciting part was seeing how enraged Josh got when we decided to get off the thruway to get gas and support our Oneida Indian Reservation instead of getting gas at a rest stop. When we arrived we were greated to a warm welcome, and the a quick change before we were on the bikes for a Tour of Rochester, or actually somewhere 5 miles east of Rochester. Our ride consisted of the first 1/2 going at 25+mph with a tailwind, and then a meander through the hills with some harder efforts to try and open up on the way back. We did stop to see Georgina Terry, the president of Terry sadles, one of our great Louis Garneau Racing Team sponsors, she was very excited to see us and we were the same. We chatted about the season, our races, how we actually try and work full time and race our bikes, but most importantly, how we loved our saddles! The evening events consisted of at least a six course meal, topped off with chocalate cake and Strawberry shortake, then off to bed. This morning looks like another amazing meal and then we are off...5 hours further west to Orrville, Ohio for our first day of the 8 day Tour of Ohio Stage race! The team for this event consists of myself (Jason Baer), friendly team director Andrew Knight, I only pack dirty clothes boy when I go to a race Josh Dillon, The King Express, Ted and Robbie, exploding Sam Silver, and Matt Moon. Joining us in our travels is also the never ending story teller, Mike Cody. The next 8 days will be a full 'Tour of Ohio' today we start off racing near Cleveland in Orrville with a 50 mile road race. We then head to our docking port for the week of Columbus, from here we will be traveling each day to our races in Westerville, Somerset, Granville, Coshocton, and a few other places. Hopefully I'll be able to write a daily update on how we ar doing. Currently we don't know too much, I've done this race the previous 3 years, so I know kind of what to expect, but with different courses, some representation from the Pro's this year, and a fairly vague race bible we won't know how things will shape out until we hit the start line later today. Thanks for reading, Jason  Wednesday, June 16, 2004 Ballon Festvial....Cox Charities Crit.  This past weekend the team raced on Saturday at the Ballon Festival in Cambridge NY and the Cox Charities race in Providence RI. The weather was amazing, in the 70's and beautiful sunshine! On Saturday at the Ballon Festival, the sunshine and the amazing course, and the spectators is what I want to remember, not the race itself. Lets just say it was a learning experience for the LG team. From the beginning we thought today was going to be our day, the field was small, and we had the numbers. It was the first race that I think we all felt that we will be the ones dominating what happens today. Well lets just say that didn't happen. I don't want to go into too many details but lets just say we were racing at least 1 step behind the entire race. In the end the results don't look to bad for the team, Damon made it on the podium for 3rd, Al took a flier in the last 2km and finished 6th, and I made it in there for 12th, so LG got another podium apperance, but not quite the way we thought we should. Lets move on. The drive out of Cambridge to Northampton Mass. was absolutely amazing. Prestine skies, perfect temps and great roads through the Berkshires. This area is beautiful with lots of great riding opportunites. Next day was Cox Charities in Providence RI. For the LG team the morning consisted of Luke Krisch dominating the Cat. 3 field by taking numerous field sprints, pulling at the front just to get a workout he says? and taking 2nd at the end, only outsprinted by a 15 year cat. 3 veteran. (Luke has been racing cat 3 for all of 6 races at most!) He is now onto the Pro/1/2 fields to race with the rest of the LG team! The Pro/1/2 race was fairly full, a number of pro's made their appearance as well as full representation from all the top New England amateur teams. The race was much different from last year, a shorter race and less technical course, with a few less pro's brought the racing down to more of a New England classics race than a NRC feeling race. Our plans were to be aggressive, stay up front, cover moves, be represented, make the split and then see who's up there to see what we can actually do. Well the 1st half of the race was aggressive, with a stiff headwind on the backstreach things seemed to be sticking together much more than previously. Finally a move stuck with about 10 guys, we had Josh represented for LG. We definetly wanted another guy up the road, but weren't going to do any chasing. This was the race though. Josh raced hard at the front and finished it up in 3rd. The rest of us came through in the splintered back as Mark McCormick broke things up with 2 laps to go. Another great day was over. It was then back to VT. 4.5 hour drive and a return just before Monday morning was on tap. This week for me is a rest week before we head out to Ohio for the 8 day Tour of Ohio stage race! Thanks for reading. Jason   Friday, June 11, 2004 LA Racing Weekend  This past weekend we raced in LA. No, not the LA in California, but the LA in Maine. Lewiston-Auburn area. The weekends events consisted of 1 road race on Saturday and 1 crit on Sunday. This is the same weekend as the USPro Championships in Philly, so we were looking for a battle between the head New England Amateur teams. Saturday’s road race started off a little hectic for the team. A few of us arrived a little bit late, and parking was an issue (way to far away). Getting bottles to the feedzone, pinning numbers and making sure the bike was in check and ready to go seemed like it took the rest of the time. The team de-briefing on strategy and warm-up definitely suffered. Before we new it we were on the line ready to go. First problem, some of our teammates were missing? Second problem, hard road race starting off climbing right away! This for me was a major problem, my training this past week consisted of recovery rides and ‘testing’ to make sure the shoulder was ok. No hard efforts in the past 8 day occurred. This I suffered dearly for during the race. From the start on the easy cruise pace up the first climb it was obvious this was not going to be my day, hr. already 170! First lap and things were aggressive after the first 5 miles of riding piano. A group of 15 or so already split off the front. We had 3 guys in it, but basically for the rest of us we were realizing the race was already up the road. During the next lap the group was 20 up front with 4 LG riders represented, this was the race. Since I was in the pack and not up front in the 1st pack, my race report will consist of the back of the race perspective since I had a prime viewing spot of who was slipping off the back. During the next few laps, the riders who still wanted to race split off the front and chased for 3 more laps to bridge up the the front group. The back group which was down to 20 or so riders kept a steady pace with guys cruising off the pack till there was only 6 riders left. Here it was my turn, lap 4 and I called it quits. Definitely a rough day for me, I was never really in the race, just sitting in the back thinking why the heck my legs hurt so much and had no ambitions to go hard? Well lets get back to what actually happened in the race. A number of riders in the front group of 20 got dropped and a number of riders bridged up after a 3 lap chase. Last lap, Jon Hamblen from Fiordifrutta team had an amazing 7 minute gap on the rest of the field. The rest of the field consisted of another 5 Fiordifrutta riders, 5 LG riders, a couple of Ibex riders and a few others. Don’t know what happened besides this, but LG finished 2nd, 5th, 9th and 13th. Fiordifrutta took the win, 3rd, and a couple of top 10 places? Sunday’s race was a downtown Crit. 1km loop with a 4 turns, and a short steep climb. The field lined up and we were ready to go. First lap and a break of 5 was already gone. No Fiordifrutta guys represented. Dan Cassidy chased it down hard for a lap and before we realized it there was a split and he took 3 others across. 10 guys or so up the road, 2 from each team represented. (Fiordifrutta, LG, Ibex, LandRover) who was going to chase? And that’s what happened, nobody chased it down, it was close for awhile, but with big guns from Fiordifrutta not represented up front, everyone was content to let it stay away for their teammates. It was a good decision on our part with Robbie King taking the win for LG! I rolled in with the pack in 17th place or so. Another race weekend down and some more bike racing knowledge learned. I need to do some efforts during the week or else I’m in real trouble for the race on Saturday. Sunday’s Crit was a different story. I was feeling good, it was easy, I was up front covering the moves. I just wasn’t aggressive enough the 1st few laps to make the needed split. Oh well that’s bike racing. It was then time to pack up the car and head back to Vermont. For me it is only 2 days of working before I have to drive to PA for a family event and then back to VT on Thursday, work on Friday, and then off to The Balloon Festival Race in Cambridge NY on Saturday and Cox Charities Race in RI on Sunday. Yes a lot of driving, but I still plan on getting in 20hrs on the bike this week. The last real week of training before Ohio and Fitchburg. Thanks for reading. Jason   Tuesday, June 01, 2004 Bound Brook....King Express at the Crittin Crash Fest  Bound Brook NJ. Another day for another crit. The course, just over a mile, 4 turns, a couple twists, and a number of potholes and manhole covers just to make it interesting. The race sart time was "to follow", to follow the finish of the last race which was the 3rd race of the day when the races started at 1pm, doing some quick math we felt we needed to be safe by being there around 2pm, however it wasn't until near 5pm when we hit the start line. During our extended pre-race viewing and warm up the team talked strategy for this race. Who was feeling strong, what happened in the race before, who else is here, how many guys we have etc. Going through all the scenarios we realized with the numbers we had and the strenght we have there is no way we want it to come down to a field sprint. This is what these guys do, they sprint, they sprint in Central Park every weekend, we climb hills, were on their turf today. We wanted to be animnated, be up front, if the race isn't aggressive, we want to make it aggressive, make the moves, get the guys off the front, even if its 1 guy solo, all the other guys are ready for the "real move" the move thats going to stick, we'll already have a guy up the road. Well at the start line we were a little shocked. We thought more big names would be represented, Navigators is going to stroll to the line shortly? However the field was only 60 riders or so, not the 100+ field stacked with numerous pros as in years past. Our strategy however was still the same, but we knew we were going to be the ones being aggressive as over 1/2 the field looked like they would already be content with a field sprint. 5 Laps into the race and the tone was already set. LG had 2 guys off the front for 4 laps now with the field chasing slowly reeling them in, they came back and off went another LG rider for a lap or 2. With an average pace of 28mph for the race being out in front with a nice long headwind section wasn't ideal for a solo rider at all, but we kept at it, sending rider after rider away. The thought was that when the race finally heats up and a split or 2 happens, we'll already have a guy up the road. This however never seemed to happen. From my perspective what ended up happening was a classic Northern New England team rivalry unfolded in of all places Bound Brook NJ. LG attacked and the strong Land Rover Team who had a top field sprinter wanting it to stay together chased hard to bring us back, and this they did, lap after lap after lap. The only difference was there were 50 NJ sprinters sitting in realizing the chasing efforts the Land Rover was doing and were content to let them continue. We added it up and LG was off the front for just over 20 of the 33 laps. 5 laps to go and the same was continuing. A LG rider was off the front for 2 laps and Land Rover brought it back with just under 3 laps to go. But then it happened. The King Express of brothers Ted and Robbie hit it hard on the back side and opened up the gap that stuck. They brought 2 others with them in tow, but were definetly happy with the move. Teddy drove hard for his brother and made the move stick. Roosevelt "Polo" Marte from GS Mengoni came around to win the sprint with Robbie finishing 2nd, Jermey Powers from Jelly Belly coming in 3rd and Ted King finishing it out in 4th. The field was a different story. Just like previously it seemed to be Land Rover controlling the front with 1.5 laps to go. However with a loss of horsepower things sat up with 1/2 a lap to go and the rest of the field got antsy. The pushing and shoving for position occured with 3 major crashing occuring in the last 1/2 lap taking out another 10 riders. Don't know exactly what happened in the remaing field sprint, since I was one of the guys taken out, but basically it seemed whoever stayed upright and put in a sprint made it into the top 20. LG finished with 4 guys in the prize money. An impressive day we felt. We seemed to be the annimators in the race, people were watching us, something we didn't think would happen in a Crit in NJ. It was a little shocking, this being the first time that we got to race a Crit at this level together we realized we aren't just a road race powerhouse, we can mix it up with everyone. Some seemed to question our race tactics and that we were chasing our selves down, and making worthless moves, but all I can say is that it worked for us, the strategies we had for this race and all the races we did this weekend in NJ were a success. The previous day the team posted a 2nd and 10th in the Hills of Somerset Road Race, and a 2nd and 3rd in the Cat. 2 Crit. Then on Monday at Somerville Josh Dillon won the Cat. 2 Crit, and we had 2 other riders place in the money. A very good weekend for this new team racing on foreign soil. To top all of this good news off is that it looks like LG Racing has hit, or near, the 40 podium appearance mark for 2004 race season in the Pro/1/2/3 fields, and thats before June 1st! Thank you for reading, next up LG racing is back in New England at Auburn Maine. Jason  Saturday, May 29, 2004 Somerville NJ.....Tour of Somerset County  And what a tour it was. 87 mile race and I have no idea where the hell we went. All I can tell you is we started in downtown Somerville and finished in a large industrial park 5 miles away, in between there was 87 mile of road, probably 100 turns, 400 manhole covers, 7,000 potholes, and a couple really nice pedestrian crossing signs in the middle of the road. After a little bit of inorganization, figuring out feedzone issues (no pro team caravan like last weekend) The race was on. The race promoters do an amazing job with this event. At least 20 cop cars, 20 motos, (1 extremly loud one) and being able to race on main roads through crowded Somerset County NJ is very cool. So to the race, first 20 miles or so and it was fast, lots of attacks, lots of agression at the front, but definetly not full on. We were there, but not wasting too much energy. After an hour or so of racing and then things started heating up. Single file field and 30+mph for 15 minutes or so, you know something is going to snap soon, and soon it did. We had at least 3 guys in the front at this point in time pushing the pace when it happened. A little easing of the pace and the break was gone. 8 riders up the road, exactly how we thought it would happen. They were gone, a number of the larger stronger teams represented, we knew this would stick for awhile. Next 20 miles or so and a 1/2 harded amateur chase persued. What do I mean by this, well we were still going a decent pace, but no team could organize to chase, it was indviduals chasing. 1 person at the front burying them self and then pulling off. It's a good workout, but its not going to catch a break. There needs to be organization. Finally we hit the only major climb in the course and Ofoto and UPMC dudes hit it hard, real hard up it. A group of 15 split of the front and they were gone. We had Robbie and Ted make this split leaving only me and Andrew in the main pack. We were pretty happy with this and figured the real race was up the road, but just stay ready for the next move. After some more potholes, turns and manhole covers the main field was down to 60 riders or so? Were did everyone else go? Well 20 guys up the road, 60 guys in the field and the rest of they guys well some of them were dropped, but mostly the field thinned out because of flats, crashes and railroad track crossings. 20 miles to go and 10 or so guys from the front came back. LG still had 2 up there so we were looking good. 10 miles to go and it was hard, some good rollers the rest of the way in. The front group had 2 minutes, so they were gone, it was a race for 12th or so. LG was following everything at the front. Coming into the finish was fast, a rough few turns and we rolled in top 25 just outside the top 20, but a very successful day. Robbie finished 4th (1st amateur) and Josh was 10th. 2 top 10 places was a very good day. Navigators dominated the finish with 4 guys in the top 6. After a ride back on the highway, some food at subway, we came back to the industrial park and watched our other teammates crushing the competition in the cat 2 race finishing 2nd and 3rd. 2 more podium places for the LG team. We think we might be hitting the 40 podium appearance mark shortly! And its not even June. What an amazing team! Next up is Bound Brook Crit and The Tour of Somerville Crit. Currently we are staying in Franklin Lakes at the Knight residents relaxing and enjoying our Memorial Day weekend. Thanks for reading, Jason  Tour of Conneticut Days 2-5  So after the 1st Stage of the Tour of Conneticut it was a few days back at work (the real world that actually funds my bike racing) and then back down to the Tour of Conneticut for days 2 through 5. Stage 2 was on the Lime Rock Speedway - Skip Barber Racing School and all. The day was perfect for our mid-afternoon bike race. Unlike last weekend nearly all pro teams in the US were represented with full squads. It was game, and Louis Garneau Racing was ready to go! The plan for today was be aggressive, show representation at the front and maybe, just maybe something will happen and we'll get a guy in the move, but most likely it will be a mass sprint on the racetrack, going head to head with Olympic gold medalist Marty Northstein. The race was off, we were agressive covering moves, making moves, and racing full on with the pros, at 35mph! As expected nothing really got up the road and a full on sprint was on. Can't give you much race report about the sprint except that I rolled in around 50th or so and had to have been going 40+mph on the flats! If you want to really know what happened in the race please go to www.ariatv.com and check out the 30 minute video clip of the race, there quite a bit of coverage of LG at the front. It is awesome! John Eustice (race promoter) does an amazing job promoting this event. Stage 3 was downtown New Haven Crit. Fast flat 4 corner less than 1km course. Another day for the sprinters, but hopefully we could show our stuff again and be up front covering moves and be well represented. This is what we did for the 60 minutes that race lasted for and then before we realized it, it was over. Fast fast fast! Stage 4, Waterbury Climbers Cup. 5 mile loop 2 miles up, 2 miles down, and maybe 1 mile of flat somewhere throughout the course. Last year only 14 riders finished on the lead lap. I finished around 50th and was pulled 6 laps into it, and only made it 3 laps in the front group. I was definetly putting the fear in my teammates about this event. Don't start with a full waterbotttle, you won't need it, the downhill is crazy bumpy 50+mph, last year there was a crash less than a mile in and 1/2 the pack was done. So the race as on, but this year was a little different, the course had some new pavement and the uphill part was full road so it made it a little easier for a large group. For me however the race was about the same, dropped 3 laps in, pulled lap 6. Fortunetly though my teammates are riding amazingly well and we had 3 guys stay up there for the entirety of the race! Only 30 guys finishing with 3 LG riders up there, what a day! The one bummer was the excitement that my teammates had for being able to race 1 on 1 with Chris Horner (the best US rider) and taking him in the sprint. Unfortunetly though Chris pulled out with 1/2 a lap to go, not wanting to get any points giving him a better chance to not get chased down the next day. Before I go on to the next day I must mention the spectators, the spectators on this course are awesome, some of the best and loudest cheering crowds I've heard. And those yeshiva students, wow can they cheer. Stage 5, Housatonic Classic. This race has quickly become the classic. It was worth significatly more point in the TOC overall. 80 miles road race and a 20 mile circuit race 2 mile loop back in town. Previous years the race has shattered (or at least most of the amateurs are dropped) before we hit the circuits. So my goal like all the other years was to make it to the circuits (which I haven't been able to do in previous years)and this is what most of my teammates goals were as well. Race was on and it was the typical Housatonic race as years past, fast fast fast, and then we hit the climbs. 1st major set of climbs and I was holding on mid pack over the top, single file field going max effort. What happened next was amazing. A few guys up (not mentioning any names, but an impressive pro rider) decides to sit up over the top. Before we could do anything the gap was open, that easy. 10 minutes later, and way to much effort we finally closed that little gap, thats how easy it was to get dropped! The damamge over the first set of climbs, 60 riders left, 80 riders dropped, LG still had 6 of us of there! Mile 40 or so and we finally got to drift back to the caravan and get feeds. this was a first for the LG team. A Pro Team Caravan, no feedzone necessary. We got at least a dozen bottles for the team and nearly no wasted energy! (Thank you very much John, Crystal and Lori) Next 20 miles or so and some more large climbs, we were all hanging in there. Mile 70 or so, the break and 4 minutes and it was game on. The pro teams didn't want to enter the circuits a lap down so they picked up the pace and set a hard tempo into town. All my teammates made it to the circuits. Myself well over the last set up climbs I cracked, cracked hard. I put in everything, but just couldn't hold it, I drifted through the caravan paced the cars for awhile, but just couldn't hang. I was dropped, another year of not making it. The last miles into town were rough, lets just say I made some new friends on the course and they let me use their bathroom....multiple times. Back to the race, the circuits were on, and the race was on. From what I heard the first few laps were brutal and dropped 1/2 the guys left. LG still had 3 guyson the circuits. 1/2 way to go and the skies opened up! An epic day in the saddle. Robbie King and Josh Dillon stuck it out and finished 12th and 20th to represent LG proudly (and impressively!!!) way to go. After the race it was back in the car, 5 hours back to Vt. Another weekend, 3rd in a row getting back minutes before Monday, a quick unpack clothing was and fast to sleep for 6:30am Monday morning was soon to arrive. Thanks for reading. Sorry it wasn't very informative of what actually happened in the race, but it was a fast hard race and I really didn't see much of the front. But if you really want to get a true race report, go to www.ariatv.com and watch the TV coverage, it is awesome! Next weekend its down to NJ for the Tour of Somerville events. Jason   Monday, May 17, 2004 Tour of Conneticut_Day 1  Tour of Conneticut_Day 1, and what a long day it was. Day 1 of TOC was 137 miles, further than any race I've ever entered before. Oh yeah it was also a National Racing Calendar Race, which means lots of top pros! For Louis Garneau, we had a team of 7 ready to race, and for most of us, the first NRC race of the year, and for some their first NRC race ever! So the day started out with a huge 2 meal breakfast at a greasy spoon, a couple of eggs, pancakes, potates, bagel, and some more goodies and we were off. On the drive to the course we drove the first 15 miles of the course. Oh boy, this was going to be a dousy of a day. Within those 15 miles it went up for about 5 and down for 10, no flat parts, no wide open roads, just a lot of suffering. We got to the course, and tried to park in the cool pro-parking lot, but got shut out pretty quickly and had to park somewhere else. (Maybe if we had all our matching bikes together and had them clean with a sticker of anything on the side of the car we would have been all set, but that wasn't the case, my teammates had dirty bikes!) After the registration, manager's meeting, water bottle filling session and rider intro's we were off, in the saddle for a solid 5 plus hours. The day started out with a nice 5 mile uphill roller, luckily we took it fairly easy, but somewhere a group rolled off the front. For the next 10 miles or so we were riding less than piano, 12-14 miles an hour. The break gained over 5 minutes in less than 20 minutes of them being off the front. Eventually Wheelworks organized at the front and set a vicous tempo to bring them back by mile 50 or so, when the larger climbs started. We finally hit the first major climb when the action started. Can't say I know who was pushing it hard in the front, but I do know I was mid pack and things were shattering all around me. Over the top I realized that I was nearing my limits as well and knew it was going to be a long hard day, and this was before we hit the first KOM of the day. Mile 60 or so after some more tempo setting in the front by Wheelworks and another group with Colivita and Navigators slipping off the front the action slowed down. Here was my chance I thought, the next KOM is less than 10 miles away. It is crazy steep, things are going to shatter! I need to do something now to stay in this race, and that is what I did. I put in a little attack and rolled off the front with 3 others. We worked well together, but not going to hard, and made it to the foot of the climb with a 2.5 minute gap, exactly what I needed! I set my own tempo up the climb and made it over the steepest parts by the time the leaders of the pack were coming up on me! Damn they were going fast. I luckily had the advantage of being a little fresher and could drift back through the top 30 over the last part of the climb and not have to suffer to much. Over the climb and it was down to 60 riders or so. Mile 85 a few more long rollers, steep ascents and decents, a covered bridge and we were up to the next KOM. I made it over this one with a little extra help over the top from the draft of the Navigators car, and was starting to think I might make it back to the circuits! Mile 95 or so and I'm suffering, the pace isn't that intense, but I'm tired, my legs are hurting and it seems like every time I need to accelearate it takes me an extra 10 pedal strokes just to get up to speed to hold the wheel in front of me. Luckily my teammates were riding super strong and that was giving me some extra motivation to hold out and see what I could do for them. Mile 105 and we were at the 2nd feed zone. I was near the back of the pack and rolled into the feedzone thinking I'll get my bottle quickly and roll out, refresh and get ready for the last little part before the circuits. Well that didn't quite happen, I got a bottle almost immediately, but just kept rolling through the feedzone looking for another bottle. I got one at the end of the feed zone and realized I was off the back! What the heck, nobody else really slowed down to get a bottle, the just kept the pace going, (damn team cars). Anyways I was dropped, and dropped hard, dropped on the flats. I kept it going though thinking they could sit up, but they just kept rolling away from me in slow motion. The last little kicker before the long gradual downhill into town I thought I would be able to get back on, but I had no juice left. I was done. I rolled into town (mile 117) with 2 of my other teammates and were amazed when we realized they let us on the course. We weren't lapped yet? What the heck. In realilty we were only 2 or 3 minutes down on the pack. We put in another 4 laps and were finally lapped and pulled ending a long day of racing at 125 miles. As I sat in the shade trying to rehydrate I watched the rest of the race unfold as Mark McCormick rode away from everyone else. Other impressive rides were from my teammates Al and Josh, both of them hung in there with the front group to place in the top 25! And this was Josh's first NRC race ever, and to top that he rode a near flat tire for the last 10 miles of the race! After a long drive home, we finally made it back to Vermont, just a few minutes before Monday. Yes Monday, time to go to work. 3 days of work this week, then a long drive back to Conneticut for the rest of the TOC Thursday through Sunday. Wonder what the pro's are doing on their 3 days in-between? Thanks for reading, Jason  Sunday, May 02, 2004 Jiminy Peak  Another New England Classic. Jiminy Peak. To me this race feels like the opening of the summer racing series. Its finally almost warm out in Vermont. College is nearly over and the collegiate season is over so all those riders are back at the USCF races, and the race is long. 90 miles, a true road race distance. None of these 45 mile circus races that somebody calls a road race. So the day was perfect, 70 degrees, windy and a field of 130 Pro/1/2 racers. Louis Garneau had almost a full squad with 9 of us in attendance. At the start the game plan was devised and we were off. First lap and a break of 10 or so was up the road, we weren't represented, but weren't to worried about it, 90 miles of racing with a field of 120, no way could it stick. Oh yeah it was windy as well! The backside of the course has a 5 mile false flat/uphill was a killer sidewind on the flat part then a headwind after that. Laps 1 and 2 the field was clear across the road. It wasn't just a yellow line rule violation it was a white line rule on the other side of the road violation! Luckily after the first 2 laps the wind did switch a little to more of a headwind and the echelon across the road wasn't a necessity as much, (making the officials much happier, and saved our chances of having this race in the future) Back to the race report. Next lap and the break was caught, we had a few guys up in front looking for the next moves. Kevin (fresh off of Georgia) (but finishing school this week, recovering from being sick, promoting a race, and running a bike team, and making plans for a European adventure) decided to give it a go. He opened it up a little and started things off, I tried to follow next, but nothing was slipping away. Finally on the backside a group got up the road, more from a split then anything else, Kevin was in there. Eventually another group bridged up to it and we missed the move. Louis Garneau tried as hard as we could to get a guy or two across to it, but to no avail, we were killing ourselves. And why were we? Or more importantly why the hell were the people sucking our wheels not trying to get across. Thats what made me madder, we got 85% of the way, but couldn't close it. Why were the riders (not mentioning any names here) not going across. They didn't have good representation up the road. Why the hell sit in and let the race get away from you. Anyways thats what happend. The front group finally merged and the pack looked like it was giving up. Until another group slipped off the front after softpeddaling for awhile. We had a guy in this, but still most of us were sitting back not doing much. Finally I realized the race is up the road and I'm going to be in the laughing pack soon, but what the hell am I going to do about that? Luckily Chris Peck from Wheelworks realized the same thing and attacked hard brining Dan Cassidy and myself across to the next group. I barely held on, but made it to the next group and rested for a few minutes before we hit the climb and they went again, 1/2 the guys bridging up to the break and the other 1/2 getting caught in no mans land. This is where I ended up with my temmate Josh. The next lap we worked it hard, bringing us with in 6 seconds or so to the break when they went again. Some guys got dropped, we picked them up but never made it to the front group. Eventually our chase group swelled and we stopped working together and the race was definetly gone, up the road. (sidenote here: One of my pet peeves, if you get dropped from the break and fall back to the chase group, don't try and breakaway again from the chase group, you already got dropped, how the hell are you going to be able to chase back to something you couldn't hang with in the first place!) Ok, here was the situation, 20 guys up the road and the pack was basically back together. This is how it was going to end. Coming around for the last lap we picked up a bunch of dead legs coming off the back. (sidenote: can't give you the real race report of what was happening up ahead with the leaders since I wasn't even close to being there, so back to my race report) The race split some more on the final wind section and I was in the first group with a teammate. I wanted to work for him, but was fried. Dan Cassidy and a NERAC guy slipped off the front and I should have chased it down, but didn't. They stayed away for 10th place or so and the rest were going for 12th. Josh Dillion slipped in there for 16th, and I followed around 25th with the rest of my teammates right around there. The good news of the day though was, KBH stuck it out in the break and pulled of the WIN! (sidenote: lots of other action happened up there, but have no idea since I wasn't even close to there) Congrats again to Kevin. Luke (another Louis Garneau rider) won the Cat. 3 race. And we had 2 other Louis Garneau riders up in NH take 2nd and 3rd in the cat. 3 race. The next day, the team headed to Florida Ma, for a crazy hilly road race. I wasn't in attendace, but heard it was a crazy hard race, tons of climbing and a true dual betweeen Louis Garneau and Wheelworks. Don't know much of the details, but I know that Wheelworks got the win with Peter Hult, but Louis Garneau got 2nd and 3rd with KBH and Andrew Knight, and an oustanding performance from Al Donahue (Louis Garneau) for making Wheelworks suffer the whole day by being up the road! Next weekend is Sterling Road Race and Bear Mtn. Thanks for reading, Jason   Wednesday, April 28, 2004 Palmer Road Race  Palmer Road Race, the other classic of New England Cycling. I haven't done this race to many times, but I know there is a lot of history here. Well the weather was near ideal, 50 degrees and sunny. I think we deserved that considering the awful awful conditions last year. (40 deg and lots of rain the entire 3 + hours) Well after a rough time negotiating the bathroom situation at the school, we were ready to race. The team strategy was much different today, and much more structured. I can't give it away, but it definetly gave responsibility to some, and was a good way to see the strengths of our team and teammates. Out of the school and it was neutral, under the scary bridge up through the rolling climb and it was on. From the gun just like last year it was attack after attack. I was sitting in mid pack and watching the moves in the front. Damn were they going hard. After 10 minutes of this the move was gone. 8 guys up the road and we were represented with Josh. Next 30 miles or so were steady and fairly aggressive, but with 50 guys in the field with a representative up the road no organized chase was going happen, nobody was really satisfied with the move, but nobody was going to chase. My teammates were doing an awesome job covering moves and trying to get in the move that bridges across. Nothing was going though. 1/2 way through the race and I was finally up front covering the moves. I was feeling good and being aggressive, but after awhile I realized nothing was going to bridge. If the break comes back it is going to roll back to us, and then an attack over the top of that. Race down to 10 miles or so and the break had 50 seconds, it was close but we were thinking it might stick. And then the crash, somebody a few wheels ahead of me got there wheel sucked by the pavement. Brett from Hawley went down and I hit him pretty good. I didn't go down but had a good minute chase back on. Our team was a little unorganized coming into the finish. I guess we were unsure if the break was going to get caught or not, and we were watching that and not thinking about how we were going to finish. What I thought was we didn't have a real finisher to work for and we were probably going for 9th place or so, so it we were on our own. Well the break held it off by the tip of the nose. Josh rode strong and finished 7th. Well that was about all for the race. Another one down. Next up is Jimminy Peak another new England Classic. Thanks for reading. Oh yeah I have a disclaimer with my diary/race reports. These reports are from my view, I know there is a hell of a lot of other dynamics that go on in the race that I don't see or even know about, so somebody else's race report could tell about the race completely different. So don't get upset if I don't write about the other moves that happened or the other teams that controlled the race or what actually happened during the race. This is all from my view, this is a biased race report. Jason   Monsoon Race  This past weekend was the classics, Monsoon and Palmer, yes Monsoon/Palmer, not Palmer/Monsoon like its been in the past. Don't know why they changed it up, but it really doesn't make a difference. This weekend was our first weekend with a near full team, 8 of us represented in the Pro/1/2 field. The weather was near ideal, 60 deg and breezy. After the 4 hour drive down and bike talk for quite awhile, I was ready to get rolling on the road. After a short team meeting of race strategy and thought we were ready to go. The race was off out of the parking lot and so was I. It wasn't really in the plan to attack from the gun, but I was up there and it just doesn't seem right to start a spring New England race off slow. After I opened up a little gap and nobody was doing anything I put it down a little and was off. 3 others bridged up to me, a Canadian VW dude, Sean Nealy, and my teammate Mukunda. The perfect move. 2 of us already up the road this was looking good. We were riding hard and well together, (with Nealy pulling through just that much harder then the rest of us). Right before the climb the Pedros dude rolled up to us and I thought he said 3:30. What we already 3:30 on the pack, they must be doing nothing. Over the top of the climb my temmate fell off the pace and it was only 3 of us. I tried to sit on for awhile to see if he would come back, but he was gone. Down the backside and before I realized it we were caught. I guess it wasn't 3:30. I presume he was telling us there were 3 riders at :30 seconds, makes more sense. Next few laps were fairly uneventful, my team stayed near the front and we covered the moves that went. It was looking like nothing was getting away, it seemed like no matter how hard you went over the top or what gap there was, everything came back together on the backside. 3 laps to go and I was still feeling prettty good. On the bottom of the climb Curt Davis started rolling up through the field, picked up Peter Hult and was setting the tempo pretty hard. I thought this is the move I need to stay on. 300 meters from the top Peter hit it hard and went. I was lucky I was there and was right on his wheel, we opened up a huge gap. (Actually he did, all I did was suck his wheel and suffer) over the top it was looking good. On the backside 2 more bridged up to us and I though that was it, we were gone. 2 miles later and it was over. Oh well thats it, I put in my effort I need to sit in the next lap and try and help my teammates out for the finish. Then it happens next time up the climb when I'm just crusing trying to save some energy drifting back through the pack, the move was gone. 10 guys away over the top of the climb! What the hell, I thought nothing as going to get clear? The pack sits up, get stuck behind a crash from the 3/4 field and the race is well over. Coming into the finish (for 11th or so) the Hawley boys were playing at the front trying to lead it out. I had good position, but knew I was going to get wipped in the finish. And thats what happened, 200 meters from the finish I was done. I sat up and nearly everyone was going by me....yes I was one of those sitting up near the front and getting in the way while everyone else was sprinting for 20th, 30th, 40th position. Another day was done, we rode an easy cool down lap as a team and talked about what happened. It was our first race together so we couldn't expect that much, but going into the next day we knew we had to do something different. Oh yeah, we definetly rode on the far right side of the road on our cool down lap. What does that mean? Well I just got the e-mail that said that the police didn't like the bike race, we were rude, in the way and didn't mix to well with the traffic. Another race ruined! That sucks! But I do have to admit there was quite a bit of traffic and we were pretty obstructive, and what was with the rolling enclosure during the race? That wasn't the case at all? Thanks for reading, next up is the re-cap of Palmer. Jason  Thursday, April 15, 2004 Gallup New Mexico  The past 8 days I have been in Gallup New Mexico for a little break from work and the cold of Vermont, where I visited my friend Pete and did some long solo training. Gallup New Mexico is in the northwest corner of the state, elevation 6,500, population very small and unemployment rate in the surrounding area over 75%. Yes 75%, Gallup N.M. is surrounded by thousands of miles of the Navajo and Zuni Indian Reservations, and suffices to say there isn’t much going on in the area. My friend Pete and his wife Ida live there and work on the reservation for Indian health services at the hospital. (nearly the only acceptable reason for Non-Native American to live on the reservation) I flew out to N.M. on Monday after the Tufts Crit. and Marblehead Circus race. 15 hours later and 4 airports I finally arrived, bike and all without incident. So for the next 7 days I’m staying at Pete’s house, going for some long solo rides on the reservation. I would write all about the rides, but that gets a little boring, so I’ll sum it up. 7 days, 6 rides, total of 525 miles and 28.5 hours later I finished. I rode on every paved rode that is within a 50 mile radius of Gallup. I was on some roads that a car didn’t pass me in over 5 miles. There were points where I could see the road 10 miles ahead of me. I crossed the continental divide 2X’s. The max elevation I was at was 9,320 ft. One day I went on a 100 mile ride and only had to make 1 turn. The weather was cool temps in the mid 40’s to 60, but it was absolutely beautiful sunny days. I had no mechanicals, got lost only a few times, (but you can’t get lost too much since the road ends in dirt shortly after you make the wrong turn), and saw some amazing scenery that not too many people go slow enough to see. Talking about the scenery, yes there were some amazing sights; most of the land was in the high desert terrain, very rolling terrain, lots of beautiful cliff structures, just like in the movies. Oh yeah and lots, I mean tons of beer bottles, soda bottles, and your daily trash all along the side of the road for all 525 miles of travel. This was very disappointing, I’m out in the middle of nowhere, nearest town of a population over 5 is 20 miles away and the side of the road is full of broken beer bottles. What a shame, I don’t understand this one, the land is so beautiful and it is being trashed. I’m not too sure of the reason for this except your standard social economic reasons, but one thought- the reservation is suppose to be dry. No bars, no alcohol allowed in a house. So what everyone does is drive out of the reservation, pick up their beers and drink them in their cars on the way home and throw everything out their windows! Drunk driving runs rampant on the reservation, signs of drunk driving line the road every few miles, along with a cross and some flowers of the last victim. The local stores post signs of the consequences of DUI, but all this doesn’t seem to help. What should be done? Allow alcohol on the reservation, or have more severe consequences? (the list of consequences runs 10 long, meaning you can get caught 7, 8 and 9 times and still be able to get a license again? Oh well that’s my rant, but then again I would probably drink pretty heavily as well if my doctor just told me its unhealthy to eat my daily mutton cooked in lard, with fry bread, that I need to exercise, and the chances I get a job or do something worthwhile with my life are virtually nil. But back to the positive. During the week I was also working. I put in a few days of work at Vermont Teddy Bear. I was fortunate enough to be able to have a ‘work at home’ option on the last project I was doing. This was perfect for me; I got to see my friends out in N. Mexico, train somewhere that was very interesting and warm (compared to Vermont) and get a few days of work in. Currently I am on an airplane heading back to Vermont. This next week, I’ll be playing catch up at work, get some more base training in and get back to my actual life with my girlfriend Lori. Jason….   Sunday, April 04, 2004 Marblehead Madness....  So today was Marblehead. The season opener for some, others it is their season. I can’t say this race is very exciting, it’s a circus race, just in a really cool place. I was excited for this race though, today is when you see the new jerseys the new teams, hear from the racers you haven’t seen since the fall, and see who made the new big team transfers in New England. Well when we got to the race I was already turned off. The first thing I look at when I head to a race is the Porta-pottie, if there is one that gets a point, if the line is more then 3 long it’s minus a point, if the line is over 10 people long I want to go and yell and the damn promoter. Anyways when I rolled in the line was definitely 10+. Well I stood in line for registration which was also 10+ and the drove to Dunkin D’s to use the bathroom. (The line at DD was also 10+, but that was for coffee not the bathroom) I made it back to the parking lot and the person who was at the end of the line was the next one to head in to the blue beauty. I was smart enough to park in the lot before the main lot and not down the sandy puddle filled parking lot. I was then wondering why the field limit is the size it is…fairly small. My first thought was because it was a fairly tight course at parts with head on traffic, but then I figured it was because there is no decent parking. Anyways the weather wasn’t as bad as it has been in the past and stayed dry so it was a good day at Marblehead. During the warm up on the road I saw some of the new teams, Hawley-Racksmith-LandRover-1k2go.com-BobbyBailey Team was out in force with a new team kit a some new riders (I rode with them last year), then there was the Mathis-Sportsbook-SharperImage-Cycle-Smart-Adam Myerson Pro Team out as well, the other new team that was out there (beside my team of Louis Garneau) was the IBEX/Fitwerx team which consists of a lot of the defunct Papa-Wheelies team in their wool jerseys. And then the rest of the teams were looking fairly similar with a few notable team transfers. Wheelworks-Cannondale-Fruit something team wasn’t out in force like I thought they were going to be yet. Ok well the race was on. Louis Garneau only had 3 of us in the race today since the other guys are enjoying the warmth out West, racing collegiate, or are on some super secret training plan. Our thoughts were to sit in the first ½ of the race and then start to race the 2nd part. If something gets away in the first half well, we missed the move, but with only 3 of us we can’t be in everything and race the entire race and actually think we are going to be able to do anything. Well the 1st half of the race turned out exactly how we thought. Fast fast and fast with a lot of groups going off the front for at the most 1 lap by always being caught. It was very easy to sit in, but I knew it wasn’t easy in the front. Lap 9 we were ready to move up and start to race. We started to race and boom we were hitting it in the moves. In the next 5 laps or so I was in 3 different moves all gaining a 5 to 10 second gap and then coming back fairly quickly after we all took our 2nd turn at the front at 35mph and couldn’t pull again. 3 laps to go and nothing different was happening. I made it into another move with some of the Burlington VT. Representatives of myself John McKone and Bobby Bailey. It was nice to try and work with some friends, but we were caught pretty quickly. 2 laps to go and I was in another move with an NCC rider (I think Matt White) I was pretty fried by then and he was towing me around. We actually stayed away until 1.5 to go and were caught. Bell lap and it was coming down to a field sprint. I was up in the top 10 with 3/4 of a lap to go and the Hawley boys were trying to line it up at the front but couldn’t quite keep the speed up that was needed and a CCB train coming up on the left side and Kurt Hackler and teammate coming up on the right…..and the click click click click…..front wheel went into Kurt Hackler skew, broken skew and I was out that’s the race for me. The race ended with Mark McCormick hitting it hard up the little climb and blowing everyone else away. Don’t know how anybody else did, but check out bikereg.com for full results. Thanks for reading again. Next up is possibly a crit out in New Mexico next weekend, if not its not until Palmer and Monson for me. I’m heading out to Gallup New Mexico for 8 days of training….and some working. Yeah I worked out a nice deal with my work (Vermont Teddy Bear) and have a project that I didn’t really need to be around work for, but needed to get done, so I asked to go on a little vacation to do the work. So for the next 1.5 I get to tele-commute in to get my job done. Pretty sweet deal I think! Jason   Tufts Crit...  Tufts Crit. 6 corner 1km course with a nice little climb. It should be a huge race, its an awesome course. It's real crit racing, not some silly circus race around an industrial park that you did the past 2 weekends. Oh wait, it's in the beginning of April, the course is technical and hard, and it's cold out, why would you want to get dropped in your first race of the season. Well that's why I think the field was only 40 or so and not 100 like the course and the promoters deserve. Just think of it. You've been so proud of yourself for training all winter, you've lost those 5 extra pounds that made you get dropped last year, you have the new bike and it shift perfectly....and then you get dropped on lap 2. Yes that is exactly why I think people don't do this race. Their scared, scared to crash, scared to be to cold but most importantly scared to get dropped in the first race you do that year! Why not save it for the next day, its Marblehead Circus race its a spring classic you can't miss Marblehead! Ok enough ranting and raving why people don't show up for this race. But maybe at least someone will read my writings and decide that Tufts is an awesome race and they should go next year. Oh wait one more thing before I continue about the how the race went down in my words. I talked about 'people' not showing up. Let me define 'people' I mean the people who would do the USCF races. Definitely not the collegiate racers. The collegiate racers who show up are AWESOME. They have so much fun, they race their hearts out and they come from hours away to do it! They love it! Also let me also give a little congratulations to the UVM Cycling Team. This guys kicked some butt in this race. All the categories the UVM team had somebody well placed, but outstanding racing came from Luke in the Men’s B race who solo lapped the field. And then there was the Men’s A race. 6 laps into the thing there were 12 riders in the front…6 of the UVM riders. Then it was down to 6 riders, 4 UVM riders. They ended up working Mike Barton over and finished 1,2,4,5 one of the most impressive performances I’ve ever seen. Ok back to my race. I did the Pro/1/2/3 crit. There were probably about 40 of us maybe 50 at the most. From the gun it was on. Strung out with Mike Barton and the Mathis/Sportsbook.Sharper Image boys leading the charge. After 3 laps the field was already split to 20 or so. Next 15 laps, the moves came left and right, a group of 4 or so got up the road then they came back nothing stuck for too long. I was pretty aggressive during this part trying to represent Louis Garneau in the moves since there was no way we were going to be able to chase with only 2 of us left up front. I made it in a few moves I though could stick, but nothing held. Then Larry Perera hit it hard and was out solo on lap 20 or so. I was there for it, but just couldn’t go with it, or maybe just hesitated anyways he was gone. After another few laps of some attacks going nowhere, my teammate Andrew Knight started putting the hammer down, a gap opened up with 3 other riders and they were gone. 6 were up the road and then the pack of 15 or so we left. Up the road I can’t say I really know what happened except the Adam Hodges Myerson got a free ride for a good 10 laps while Larry Perera as putting the hammer down. And Adam won it in the end. My teammate Andrew ended in 3rd. I made it into the next group of 3 with Phil Wong and Ken Dille. I tried to wind it up for the sprint, but was more or less just trying to hold their wheels then wind it up for the sprint. Tufts crit over. Another good race down. I was pretty satisfied. Me and Andrew rode a fairly good race, I was aggressive early, then Andrew got in the move I got in the next move, not a bad day. I felt pretty strong for my first real race of the year. Next up is Marblehead the next day and then I’m off to New Mexico for a little solo training camp in the warm weather. Thanks for reading. Jason   Sunday, March 28, 2004 So Close........  So this past weekend (March 20th) was my second race of the year. It was a training race down in Albany NY. This weekend the conditions were a little bit different than last. Last weekend it was 33 deg, 30 mph winds and a good 6" snowpack still around. This weekend it was 60 degrees almost sunny and wind probably 1/2 of last weekend. As different as the temperatures were was how I was going to race the race. Last weekend I was just out there had no plan didn't really care if I was in the top of the field just was out riding my bike. Well about 1/2 way through the race last weekend when the break was 5 minutes up the road and my group were attacking each other like morons and not working and either go all out for 2 minutes or sitting up and doing nothing I realized I didn't want to race like that this weekend. So I didn't, my plan was to be agressive, be in the top 10 at all times and really not have a move get away without me in it! Sounds easy right, well I thought it would be, see the course is fairly flat I thought to myself, there is no time I really have to worry about saving it for the attack on the climb, I can be near the red zone the entire time its going hard and be with every move right? Well after the neutral roll out the game was on we hit 35mph single file no looking back. I feel a little bad for the people who weren't ready for that. I know there must have been people dropped in the first few minutes. But I liked it, those Quebec dudes who came down really know how to race agressively. I like that! Well within the first 15 minutes of the race I must have gone into the red zone a good 5 times covering moves here or there, or starting one myself. I realized that my strategy might be a little to aggressive and I need to chill a little. Well right when I did a move was off, 6 guys up the road. Man was I kicking myself. Luckily with a few surges from the pack it was back. I then went and did a good job stringing out the field so a group could counter what I just did and get a nice gap, yeah I wasn't in that either, but luckily it was at the base of the little riser (no there were no climbs on this course) and some others surged up to them. Then I followed some more wheels and we were off a group of 4 of us up the road. For the next lap (lap 2) we were pushing it pretty hard gaining some nice time on the field. 1/2 a lap later 2 more joined us and I thought this was going to be the move of the day. 6 of us off the front working pretty well together. Well after a lap of this I was realizing we weren't putting it down hard enough. I was rollling through and the other guys couldn't hang. Was this my day? Was I feeling it today? Well on lap 4 we were caught, but just as we were caught I went again and caught the wheel of Eric Jusyzka who was throwing it down. I managed to hold his wheel and we were off. 3 laps of us really pushing it. We couldn't get more than a 1.5minute gap, but I was the move. I was happy. Somewhere on lap 6 John McKone (CCB) bridged up to us and then there were 3. 2 laps to go and we had our same gap. I was suffering like mad, full body cramps and all, but was still doing my fair share of the work. Bell lap, 6 miles to go we still had a cushin of 1-1.5 minutes or so. We were all pretty cooked, me probably the worst, but we were all thinking we might make it. 1km to go over the last rise, its all downhill (into a headwind) to the finish, we tried to attack each other but we all had dead legs. Into the last 250 meters the sprint started, Eric led it out, I was 2nd wheel Mckone was third, McKone jumped first on the far right and went for it, I then went and just when I was winding it up going around Eric having the finish line in sight I was swarmed!!! The field caught us 20 meters to go to the line!!!! Just like in the tour, they planned it perfectly. I was eaten alive I sat up and rolled across probably still in the top 20, McKone kept it going for 3rd. I made it back to the car cross-eyed and thinking did I have it? could we of pushed that little bit harder over the climb, could we have rotated through that much more efficiently? Did we play cat and mouse just a little bit? Oh well there is always another race, and hell this was just a training race right? Thanks for reading, next up is Tufts Crit on Saturday and Marblehead RR on Sunday. Then I'm off on a little solo training camp to Gallup NM, for 10 days. Jason

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