For the first time ever I can say I felt strong in this race. Before it has always been a struggle for me, but this time on the climbs I was able to ride within myself and yet maintain a strong pace. And my endurance was good.
As usual the race split up on the first climb but within a few miles several of us BMVs, with a few other riders, were together and we chased down the front group, while a break of two – John Barton one of them – was up the road. When our group hit the first big climb on 200 it split up again. Bill Gasteyer and Brett made the front group; those of us in the chasing group never saw the front group again.
There were 4 BMV (Tom, Phil, Joe Lemere and me) in the chase with two or three others. When we arrived at the last significant climb about 3 miles from the finish, it was just me and Tom. The non-BMV riders drifted away in the climbs. Joe and then Phil succumbed to cramps. We caught Robert Ray, let him tow us up a couple of climbs before dropping him on the third to last hill. And then on the last climb before the finish, where it was my intention to ride away from Tom, Tom rode away from me. It was frustrating because I still felt pretty good, but I simply could not match his pace. I partially closed the gap on the downhill but once the road flattened out and Tom went into TT mode…need I say more?
BMV had a great day overall. John Barton won Masters A for us and Brett took 4th I think. In B’s Bill Gasteyer won, Tom was second and I got third.
