Tour de Christiana

Good times were had at the Tour de Christiana this past weekend. The ToC is a 2-day, 3-stage race in the heart of Lancaster county. Amish cycling fans abound; I always enjoy racing in Lancaster because all the little Amish kids come out of their houses and cheer on the racers as they fly by. Being out there also gives you a chance to really appreciate the different culture and the lifestyles that they choose to live; it's really quite amazing.

Anyway, back to the racing. Christiana's Pro/1/2 field was pretty well-stocked, with the likes of Olympian Colby Pierce, Bobby Lea, Tyler Wren, the Empire team, and all the strong local teams in full attendance. And then representing the Human Zoom/Pabst Blue Ribbon Cycling Team: me and... well, just me. It was going to be some tough racing for sure!

First up - 70 mile road race on Saturday. Two laps into the race a group of 5 including Colby get off the front. I see it go, thinking "Relax, it's still too early. I'm alone here and I have to conserve for the right time." Well, turns out that move WAS the right time, because they stayed away. Colby attacked the group on the last lap and came in for the victory. Two minutes back in the main pack on the last lap, the group just got finished pulling Bobby Lea back from an attack on Creek Rd., right before the big climb on the course. Everyone sat up for a second, and I took this opportunity to make my move. I blasted out of the pack: sprint, sprint, sprint. Sit to shift. Sprint, sprint. I took a look back to see who I brought along with me and to see what the damage was. But when I turned around all I saw was... nothing. I was off the front solo with a gap big enough that I couldn't even see the pack! I got to the base of the climb and rode hard all the way up. Turned around at the top to see where the chasers are, and what do my eyes behold but Tyler Wren stringing out the pack on the climb pulling me back. Great, so much for that move. Now I had to try to sit in and recover for the finish. But rolling in the pack was anything but tame and I had to keep covering attacks just for the chance that one of them might stick. Coming to the finish the sprinters took over and I came in 20-something.

Sunday was then a combined time trial in the morning and crit in the afternoon. I won the 10.5-mile time trial by a good margin of 20 seconds despite feeling not too hot. I kept telling myself that I should be able to push 10 more watts at any time, but when I tried my body refused. Luckily I was still able to give enough for the win. The crit was hard but not stupid hard. Again, riding solo, I had to time my move to perfection. That time was with 6 laps to go up the finishing climb. There was one guy about 10 seconds up the road and I exploded out of the pack to catch him and hopefully work together to the finish. When I attacked I ended up taking Dan Zmolik from CRCA/Empire with me. This was good because he is a strong rider, but then I realized that it was bad because he was sitting 2nd on GC. We got reeled back pretty quickly! Bobby Lea was an aninal in the crit though. He soloed off the front soon after and took the win. I came in with the group.

Despite not having the best road race and crit, I still managed to finish 8th on GC; sandwiched between Bobby Lea and Tyler Wren in the results. The good news of the day is that I got an invite from CRCA/Empire to race with them at the Univest Grand Prix! They are one of the few amateur teams invited to this mostly-Pro event, and they asked me to fill in the one open spot that they had. Groovy.