2016 season kickoff: Bloomfield Spring Classic

So after a long fall and winter of training, I was finally able to race again. This is my first full season with the PK-Express team. We are waiting for the new kit (which looks awesome), with Phi Hotels being the major backer of the team, helping us out a lot! 

This was a nice rolling course just south of Rochester NY. The roads were quiet, and no potholes or cracks in the roads to worry about. I would definitely recommend this to anyone within driving distance of the race. It also ended up being much closer than the only Ontario race in Calabogie.

 

All smiles rolling up to the start line. And yes that is a girl. No idea who she is, but she is strong!

Racing in a new area, you have no idea who anyone is. I knew which names to watch out for, but without knowing who was in each jersey, it wasn’t much help. I went up on the Saturday with my mom and sister and did a pre-ride of the course while they shopped. The first few km’s were mainly downhill, with the first real kickers coming about 7km into the lap (each lap was 18km). I figured there wouldn’t be a break that would get away on the first lap on the downhill, so I could sit in and start making a move after that.

Might look like a smile, but I am hurting here.

The race started and we had a 3km neutral start up to the start line from Bloomfield Elementary school. We had to tell the pace car where to turn… luckily he knew where he was going once we got to the course. Once we crossed the start line, the attacks started. I knew Nalgene was the team to watch with Brendan Housler who had won it previously. A break of 3 guys got away on the downhill while I was sitting back in the peloton. This was a big mistake as there was a ton of fire power in that break. I just had no clue.

No one really wanted to pull the peloton ahead to chase, but rather people were hoping to bridge across. There was no luck for anyone trying such a thing, that included me and my teammate Alex. I was thinking with no one from Nalgene in the break, there was no way it would stick.

Each lap, those 3 kept putting in around a minute into us. The race was 6 laps total, and after 3 laps they have 3.5mins on us. I started to move up here, realizing Nalgene didn’t have the firepower to bring it back, and one of their guys was starting to get dropped on the hills. A took a couple pulls, then on the fourth lap a put in a solid pace on one of the steep kickers. At the top I turned and they let a gap open up. I kept the hammer on. I rode a couple kilometers by myself until 4 others bridged up. Only one guy was helping at first. I got dropped and climbed back on. Then no one wanted to work. Brendan was too tired from chasing all day, and two of the guys had someone in the break. I figured it was better to lose to 4 guys in this chase group, than gamble it in the full pack knowing the finish didn’t suit me.

A quarter of the way into the last lap I put in another effort, and only one person came with me. We worked together for a short time until the chasing 3 caught back on. At this point no one else would work and I was stuck on the front. With two km’s to go, we hit the steep hill on Oakmount and they popped me. I tried to ‘sprint’ back up but I was too late. I ended up finishing 8^th.

 

Finishing! Nice quads though...

Overall I was happy with the experience. This is my best result so far in a Cat1/2 (/3) race! Bigger things will come as I figure out this whole racing strategy thing. Big thanks the GVCC for putting on the race. Great race venue, and the motos were super helpful giving us time splits. My mom was also helping with time splits in the feed zone. And I am thankful to my mom and sister for manning the feed zone for Alex and I, and being great race support.

My sister and I on the 'family' road post race.  

Next up for me is either Springbank or Hollenbeck on May 1^st. I don’t have a great track record at Springbank so I am leaning towards heading back to NY.

Results: Here
Garmin data: Here

If you want quicker updates, check out the teams facebook page! Here

Thanks again for checking in!