Syracuse Race Weekend

Monday, June, 9 2008

Project Freeride was back at Syracuse Race Weekend this year for a chance to try out the new race courses. They added a crit and TT to the existing Road Race to make it well worth the drive out. The race hotel being the other big draw - there is something about a big firm bed and a marble bathroom that says "bike racing".

The race field was small this year so they pushed together the Masters 35+ and 45+. While the number of competitors was less than usual, the strength of the field didn't seem to be lacking.

The road race was the same 2-lap course as last year - about 96 km with a long climb for KOM that 25 km into the circuit. A small but strong group took off at the line and opened up a significant gap almost right away. By the climb, they had over 2 minutes on the field. The first climb played out like last year with a small group stretching out the field and then leaving the rest behind. I made the selection and, looking back, made the decision to go for it. We pulled together a chase pack of 6 and went hard for the next 40 km to close the gap to the lead group. David Gazsi of Team Ultralink was in the field and pushing hard so I figured we'd have a solid chance of both staying away and catching the break.

We met and merged with the break on the next climb and settled in for a slightly more sedate ride up the hill. The group had some serious issues coordinating and with 10K to go we all took a stab at getting away. Looked like there wasn't going to be an opportunity. 8 of us came to the final hill to the finish (an unpleasant 400m at 5%) and I managed to hang on for 5th. Andrew had a good day and managed to stick with the chase group including Charlie Squires, rolling in shortly after the lead group.

The afternoon of our first day was the TT - 5 km in freezing cold rain. Not fun. My legs (and other body parts) were feeling the morning ride but I managed to hang on for 5th in the TT and moved up to 4th on GC. Andrew did a roll around to save his legs for the crit.

It didn't seem possible for the weather to get any worse the next day. But it did. 9C and pouring rain, just the kind of conditions I really don't like to see for any race, crits least of all. A small field lined up at the start and we took off at a very hard pace. I took a couple of pulls in the first two laps but it was clear the field wasn't going to snap. After that, it seemed everyone took a shot at getting off the front. With 10K to go, I accelerated hard into corner number two up the overpass and managed to gain a few seconds on the field. It looked like they weren't interested in chasing so I made the decision to give it all ... in for a penny, in for a pound. I'm not a big fan of crits - they're painful and usually dangerous so I always look to get in a break. Seems the safest way to race. Being out there alone might have been safe but it definitely wasn't fun. 10K and 15 minutes later, I still had my 20 seconds on the field. First in the crit and moved up to 2nd on GC. Andrew had some help in breaking up any chase attempts from David Gazsi - his first on GC put him in a good position to let me gobble up the big points while his competitors had to duke it out for whatever was left on the line.

Notwithstanding some very bad weather, it was a great weekend of riding!

by: Cary Moretti