Peter has been unstoppable finishing in the top five of every crit he’s entered since July 1. Photo: Pedro at the Beverly Grand Prix.

Returning to the east to clean up some business after moving out west, Nick grabbed a second place at the Beverly Grand Prix.

Landen continues to improve and impress, finishing in the top ten at the Beverly Grand Prix and providing crucial support for races like the Norwell Circuit shown here.

Ryan proved once again that he’s a threat in any race. Seen here racing with Andrew at the Workingman’s Stage Race, where he finished fourth overall.

Gabe Lloyd, pictured here on the startline of the Ironhill Twilight Crit, continues to defend his top ten overall position in the USA crits series with race after race of impressive riding.

The season isn’t done. Check back soon for more!

The USA Cycling Elite National Championships are an annual opportunity for the nation’s best amateur cyclists to pit themselves against each other in a road race, a criterium, and a time trial. For months I had been entertaining the possibility of heading to Nationals. They were taking place within driving range in Augusta, GA, and the road race course looked hilly and hard, which suits me. But the weather was sure to be unbearably hot, and it was clear that I would need serious support to make sure that I stayed hydrated and cool. So I wrote it off as something that wasn’t likely to happen until a few weeks before the races, when my parents let me know that they would be interested in going to Augusta and spending some time together. I was sure that I could teach them to pass me bottles, so there was the support I was looking for. I started spending time on my time trial bike, and made plans to travel to Augusta.

The Northeast has had almost no hot days this year, and unfortunately the weather in Augusta lived up to my expectations and was delivering consistent temperatures in the upper 90s and 100s. I was worried about how I would stand up to the heat. I made the 12-hour drive to Augusta on Tuesday, and set out Wednesday at mid-day to experience the time trial course in the hottest part of the day. The results weren’t encouraging. After about an hour on the bike, I tried to do some opening efforts, and my legs wouldn’t respond at all. I was dying in the heat. After a couple of more aborted attempts, I packed it in and hoped that after one day of riding in the heat, I would feel better for the next day’s time trial.

My start time was schedule for just after 1:00 on Thursday afternoon. I made my way to the course and started warming up an hour before I went off. As my start time approached, a line of thunderstorms started delivering sporadic rain and gusts of wind. Fortunately, they also dropped the temperature a few degrees, which was a welcome development.

I got off to a good start, and felt strong pushing into the headwind on the way out. But as I hit the turnaround and started to make my way back, I could feel myself start to lose it. I did what I could to minimize the losses: pushing hard over the rollers, and trying to recover a bit on the way back down. Time trials always hurt, but on some days you feel like you are punishing the course, and on some days the course is punishing you. On the way back, there was no doubt that I was being punished. I rolled through the finish knowing that I hadn’t put in a championship-level performance. It was good enough for 14th place, which wasn’t a terrible result. But I wasn’t satisfied.

The 50-mile criterium was set for the following afternoon, with the temperature again in the mid-90s. It was a flat, four-corner course, a little over a kilometer in length. I’m not a field sprinter, so I knew that I would be looking for a result in a breakaway. About halfway through the race, there was a dangerous-looking group of eight riders up the road. I bridged up to them and set to work helping to build a gap. But the move was too early, and it stayed away for less than ten laps. I attacked again when the break was caught. But after a lap by myself, I saw that that was going nowhere and drifted back to the field.

I tried to stay patient sitting in the field as a few more groups attempted to establish themselves up the road. I watched as the laps ticked down, waiting for the right time to make a move. With a little over five laps to go, there was a group of three riders dangling up the road, and I decided to go for it. I bridged up to them over the next lap. We were quickly joined by another group of three, and then another solo rider. The cooperation wasn’t spectacular, but we were putting time into the field.

With a couple of laps remaining, we were leading the field by about 15 seconds. That’s not a huge advantage, but with good cooperation, it might be able to stick. I put in a hard turn on the front with a lap and a half to go, and when I pulled off, an attack launched from behind me. Not good! Fatigued from the effort that I had just put in, I wasn’t able to latch on to the other riders as they went by. I spent the next lap dangling a few seconds behind them, desperately trying to make contact again as the field came charging from behind. In the end, I was caught by the field with only two corners remaining. So close, but again I was left empty-handed.

All of my attention shifted to Sunday’s road race. It was 105 miles through the rolling hills of Fort Gordon, and started at noon on a day with temperatures reaching into the upper 90s. There was no doubt that it would be a contest of attrition. I gave my parents lessons in the hotel parking lot about how to behave in a feedzone, and they did an incredible job of making sure that I received two bottles and an icesock on each of the 15-mile laps.

The race started off with a flurry of attacks. Nothing really stuck until 30 miles into the race, when a dozen guys separated themselves from the field. Their gap hovered around 30 seconds to a minute. I was nervous enough about the group that I attacked the field several times in the middle of the race with the intent of bridging. But I always only pulled one or two other riders with me, who refused to help me out on account of already having a teammate in the break. So I had to be patient and wait for other riders to tire themselves out.

I sensed my chance with a little less than two laps two go. The break was starting to fracture and lose time to the field, and attacks at the front of the field had things lined out almost single file. On a small roller, I launched myself off the front, and quickly found myself with two other riders. We rode through the remains of the earlier break, and set to work. After a few miles, we noticed another group had separated from the field behind us. We sat up and waited to join this group of a dozen other riders. Unfortunately, the group was a little too big, and there was very little cooperation. A lot of guys were sitting on, refusing to work. There were only a handful of us doing all of the work at the front. I was also getting a little nervous because one of my legs had started to cramp as we rolled by the start/finish with one lap to go. I just wanted to keep things rolling along smoothly.

With about ten miles to go as we were climbing one of the innumerable small hills, an attack launched up the left-hand side of the road. I was not happy at all, since this wasn’t going to do anything good for the cooperation of the group. I covered it pretty easily, and then another attack came on the next little hill. I jumped on the back of that one, too, and glanced back to notice that I was now with only four other riders, with the rest lagging 10 seconds behind. Huh. All of us started rotating smoothly together, putting time into everyone else as our previous breakaway companions were caught by the field. We had a 40 second advantage on the field as we came to the final kilometer of the race. An attack flew up the road from behind me, which I covered fairly easily. Then as the road turned up for the final hill, I jumped again to cover another attack, and my right hamstring seized. My cramp from early had decided to return at precisely the wrong moment! I limped up the hill and across the finish line, locking up 5th place for the final spot on the podium.

I find it hard to be satisfied with anything less than victory, but my first visit to Elite Nationals was a successful trip. I gained a lot of valuable experience, and put MetLife on the podium in the road race to remind everyone of our status as one the nation’s top teams.

(Sam Rosenholtz photo)

When the juncture was made we were around half way done with the race. The newly
formed group of leaders took a minute and sized each other up. Amos Brumble (CCB)
had his poker face on, Evan Huff (J.A.M. Fund / NCC) had his game face on, and the
CCNS riders had their pain faces on. It was go time, we rotated fairly well for about a
lap, but with the hurting CCNS riders starting to hang on the back, others began to take a
similar route. A thinning needed to happen. A short sharp acceleration thinned the pack
out to a manageable Ryan, Amos, Trevor, and Evan. This new formulation worked well
together until the sitting on began again. With my hand forced, and knowing that Gavin
would bridge with a vengeance, it was clear that I had to go.

I jumped with 15 miles to go, and settled in to steady tempo, time checks came in, and
just as I suspected, Amos had plenty more in the tank that he had been willing to show, as
he settled in behind me as the lone pursuit.

Back in the peleton, Landen was busy beating his head against a brick wall following
move after move from Gavin and others. As it so often happens, on his way back into the
field, a big move went. Gavin, Jeremy Durrin, along with the other threats finally broke
the back of the reduced field and got away. Eventually, Durrin and Gavin would shed
themselves of the rest in the pursuit of Amos and I.

To make a long story short, I was eventually caught by the speedy Durrin Mannion
duo, almost in sight of the finish. Hanging on for dear life I made it up over the first
part of the final climb, before the miles off the front caught up to me, and I was neatly
dispatched from the lead group, rolling in alone for a solid third.

Thanks to Sam Rosenholtz for the photos, and thanks to Green Line Velo for the great
race. We will see you next year.

The Wilmington Grand Prix is a big event that keeps getting bigger every year. In year’s past, it was just a criterium – albeit a very very hard crit. This year the race has grown into a 3 day Omnium Race: a Time Trial, the Criterium, and a Road Race. The New England Category 2 racers opted to race closer to home this weekend (which worked out perfectly – they helped bring home a win for Peter Bell at the New England Classic – Lake Sunapee Road Race). But it left me flying solo for this Category 2 Omnium weekend, but I was ready for anything.

The Time Trial was held in a downtown park in Wilmington, DE and featured at least a dozen very technical turns, cobblestones, and one very steep cobbled climb… all packed into a short 5 kilometers. I arrived early to set up a tent, because the weather was calling for storms throughout the day. And the weather did not disappoint – if it wasn’t a torrential downpour, there was always the threat just on the horizon. As I warmed up the rain and sun fought a battle that luckily, the sun won just in time for my start. As I got to the start, I knew it was going to be tough because the course was still soaked and it was still drizzling on and off. I prepared myself for each corner thinking of them as resting points so I didn’t go too hard and take myself out on the slick cobbles and pavement. The rest was a matter of going as fast as possible, taking it right up to the red-line, and it was all over in 7 minutes and left me in 10th when all was said and done.

My effort in the Time Trial rewarded me with 10th in the Omnium for the weekend. This was perfect coming into the Criterium, because I knew that the top Omnium guys would be watching each other and the race would be predictable but still within reach if I could get a good result. The race started extremely fast as it always does, and the field had split in two by the half way mark. I was careful to stay in front of splits the whole race, but always trying to conserve energy on the demanding 8-turn, hilly course. The conservation paid off, with no significant splits occurring in front of my position and I was ready for the inevitable field sprint. I am not the best field sprinter in the world, but I muscled and out-smarted my competitors to get into the 5th wheel with only two turns remaining. I was ready for a go at the podium, when the rider in front of me gapped a wheel and started losing ground with 300 meters to go. I had to go a little early, but still was able to come around and hold off the rest of the field for 4th.

After the Criterium, I was sitting solidly in 2nd in the Omnium, with only the road race remaining. The road race was a mostly flat affair, that meandered south and hugged the swampy coastline of Delaware, before hitting the Dover Air Force Base and turning back for Wilmington. I was tired from the past few days, and with no teammates I was content to try for the field sprint again. There was one “hill” on the bridge over the canal to the Port of Wilmington and it served as the King of the Mountains sprint line. I avoided going for this sprint, which cost me missing out on the big breakaway of the day that left with 20 miles remaining on the return trip over the bridge. This move consisted of 10 riders to start, but the field was charging fast and brought back all but 2 of these riders right before making the turn back into Wilmington. I hesitated one moment too long on the last turns of the race, and found myself caught behind a rider crashing into barriers. I managed to slip by, but had to sprint around so many people just to reach the front of the race again. By that time, we were crossing the finish line and I found myself in 25th place.

The disappoint of the road race sunk in when I saw the results. If I could have finished in the top ten, I would have been on the podium, maybe even won the race overall. As it stood, I had to settle for 7th in the Omnium, but that’s bike racing – sometimes luck plays a factor.

Gabe, Nick, Peter and I converged on St. Louis for the Tour de Grove May 13th-15th. As the 2nd race of the USACrits series, and with a place on the NRC as well, St. Louis was the place to be for the nation’s top criterium specialists. It was an extra special weekend for Nick, a St. Louis native, whose family was kind enough to host all of us for the weekend. We were looking forward to three days of racing, with two races bookending Saturday’s main event.

I caught an early flight to St. Louis on Friday morning, where Nick greeted me at the airport. We joined Peter at his place 10 minutes later. After building our bikes up and grabbing a quick lunch, Peter and I headed out to loosen our legs up with an easy hour-long ride. Nick was feeling a little under the weather, and decided to forgo Friday’s race in favor of some much-needed sleep. But we met up with Gabe and got ready to head to the first race of the weekend.

Friday’s race was scheduled with a very late start time: 9:30pm. It was an extremely long 4-corner course, with no challenging features to separate the field. Our goal was just to open our legs up for the next day’s race. After a dozen laps of sitting in, warming up my legs, I decided to jump off the front to get in a good hard effort. I quickly established a gap with another rider on the backstretch, and we rounded the final two corners to find a roadblock in the middle of the road. An ambulance had been brought onto the course to aid a rider who had crashed a few laps earlier, and the entire race was stopped for 15 minutes until things were sorted out. So all of us stood around, trying to stay warm, and discussed whether we should wait around for the race to restart or just pack it in. In the end we decided to finish up the race. We took a few more flyers off the front, but didn’t push too hard at the finish to save our legs for Saturday.

We awoke Saturday morning to the sound of rain. That’s not a sound that bike racers like to hear. But like it or not, we had been dealt a day with highs in the 50s, and off-and-on rain all day long. Sooner than we would have liked, it was time to pack up and head over to the race. The course was extremely long and open, albeit with a few more corners than the previous night. It’s hard to get motivated for a cold, rainy race. But we did the best we could and headed to staging.

As a local boy, Nick got a callup to represent MetLife on the front row at the start. But it wasn’t long after the race got under way that he was the victim of the first of the team’s many mishaps that day. Only a couple of laps in, his tire flatted, and he was put back in at the back of the field after getting a new wheel.

I worked my way up to the front, and tried my best to represent us in all of the moves that were flying off the front. I jumped in three straight moves that were filled with representatives of all the big teams. The first move that I missed out on ended up being the winning break. And then half a lap later, I too fell victim to a flat tire. So it was in to the pit, and back onto the back of the field for me.

I chilled out with Nick on the back for a few laps, letting some of the other teams who missed out on the break do some of the chasing. As the laps started ticking down to the finish, I experienced my second flat of the day. I made my way to the pit, and who should I meet there, but Peter, who had also flatted multiple times, and had just rolled in after having a bottle cage shoved into his crank. There were so many flats that the pit was out of wheels, so a mechanic changed my tube to get me back on the road. Unfortunately, by the time he was done, there were too few laps remaining for us to take advantage of the “free lap” rule. So technically we would be a lap down to the rest of the field. But Peter and I knew we could still help our teammates, so we hopped back in the field.

I found Nick and started to move him up through the field. We made our way up to Gabe, and were pushing our way forward when a rider wiped out right in front of me in a curve. I didn’t have enough time to go inside of him, so instead I shot outside, over a sidewalk, and up a grassy embankment. I dropped back down and hopped onto the course, but with only a little over a lap to go, I was again at the very back of the field, and it was too late to rejoin my teammates to help them with their finishes. Nick had been able to sneak just inside of that crashed rider, but he and Gabe would have to settle for middle-of-the-pack finishes, and I rolled in with Peter at the back of the field. It was a disappointing finish on a day where the stars seemed to be aligned against us.

Sunday brought us more weather like Saturday’s, but with a course that was a bit smaller and more technical. We had less than ideal starting position, which we realized was a big problem soon after the race started. The field quickly lined out single file, and the slick corners and strong winds combined to produce lots of little gaps between riders in the field. I spent the first half of the race working my way around dropped riders, and the field was quickly reduced to 1/3 of its starting size. I spent most of the race just trying to stay safe, which I managed to do despite my third flat of the weekend. With a couple of laps remaining, I moved up to behind United Healthcare’s leadout train. But that was the place where everyone wanted to be, and there were riders willing to take more risks than I was to hold that spot. So I ended up losing several places before the sprint, and rolled in with a 20th place finish.

We all piled back in the car to head back to Nick’s place. Once there we set about washing and packing our bikes in advance of early-morning flights on Monday to get back to our jobs: the rewards at the end of a tough weekend of racing.

The Lake Sunapee Road Race is one of the towering classics of the New England spring.
Held on a difficult rolling course around the eponymous lake, it has been there year in
and year out (except for when it got snowed out in 2002) since 1974. With that sort of
history, it has seen a long list of great riders take the win. The recent past has seen David
Veilleux in ’06, Ted King in ’07, Kirk Carlsen in ’08, Dan Vaillancourt in ’09, and star
of the future Gavin Manion in ’10 cross the line in victory. It has also inexplicably been
somewhat of an albatross for this program. Over the last several years we have struggled
to put together strong performances in this race even if on paper it suited us well. Indeed,
the last couple of iterations of this race have seen us on the front turning ourselves inside
out hopelessly chasing down star-studded breaks that we had all watched ride up the
road.

2011 was different.

The start of the race was somewhat subdued, partly due to the hard racing ahead, and I
believe partly to allow all of New England to shake the cobwebs out after a rainy week
of training. The Canadians were first to strike, with Gaspesien putting a solo rider up
the road, he didn’t get too far, and no one was really all that worried. Until of course his
teammate launched an attack and bridged up. Then Robbie King (Boston Bike School)
made an effort, starting way back in the peloton, he built up some significant speed as
he dispatched the peloton, easily bridging up to the leaders. Alarm bells went off in
the group; no one wants to let Robbie King go without a fight. When the group lulled,
I looked up the road and thought “I can bridge that” and put in a big dig. With a clean
separation, I started the work of reeling in the trio ahead. It was at this point that I, your
humble narrator, realized that my legs were trash. I got within 100 meters of the group
ahead, but was redlined and pinned; the realization that I wasn’t going to make it crept in.
As that sinking feeling of having just blown it began to come on I looked back to see a
group of 5 charging at me with Andrew on the front. I jumped on the back and got towed
up to the group, shattered. Don’t worry though, only 60 miles left to go!

The break rolled steadily for most of the rest of the race. With two from MetLife, and
two from Boston Bike School (Vinnie Scalia and Robbie King), along with single players
from NCC (Jeremy Durrin), Embrocation (Jackson Weber) and Hottubes (Paul Lynch),
we had solid representation. We worked well together, but I suffered all day along the
route. When the attacks started happening in the middle of the final lap, I just played the
survival game. Every time I was dropped I (sometimes with help… Thanks Jackson)
put in a steady effort and dragged myself back into the group when they slowed. All
together at the base of the final rise, I saw that there was still a chance. After the most
epic game of cat and mouse I have ever witnessed, the sprint was opened up by Robbie
with 150 meters to go. I got a clean look at the line, and just put my head down. In that
very moment, the cycling gods were with me and put me past Robbie and Jeremy, who
had both ridden scary strong all day.

A great result, a great day. It could not have been done without Andrew’s help in the

break, or the rest of the team tirelessly covering the deadly Dillon/Dylan double back in
the peloton.

Athens is a notoriously hard and aggressive race. Good starting position is so important that they created a separate event on Friday, the Athens Twilight Grid Qualifiers, just to determine the starting order. The qualifiers consist of a six kilometer simulated time trial on stationary trainers positioned on a stage. The trainers determine the power output of the rider and use it to calculate their speed on a pre-programmed course. The heats are spread out over the day, with 8 riders competing at a time.

I was optimistic heading into the qualifiers. Using a simulated time trial on trainers is done for no other races because, well, it’s a bit goofy. But while I may not be the most experienced, most aggressive, or most brilliantly tactical bike racer, I can put some power into the pedals. After spending an hour warming up with Andy, who was placed in the same heat as I was, I made my way to the stage to get set up for the qualifier. They input the weight of each rider and bike into the computrainers, so I grabbed my bike and stepped on their analog bathroom scale. The guy weighing me in said “207 pounds…is that right?” I assured him that that was probably about right. I’m a big boy.

There’s not much interesting to say about a time trial on a trainer. It was hot, hard, and miserable. I spent the first couple of minutes in third place in my heat, but then took over the lead and went on to win decisively. So decisively, in fact, that I had put up the third best time of the day. The eight fastest riders are invited back to duke it out on the same simulated time trial in a final round held at 9:00 Friday evening. With only a couple of heats after mine, I was almost guaranteed a spot.

So immediately after finishing my time trial, I had to start planning for another unexpected race only a few hours away. I spun around a little bit, took a shower, and headed out with the guys to Mellow Mushroom for some pizza. But only hours before another race, I spent much of dinner staring longingly at the pizza, as I limited myself to only two slices. It was strange getting ready for round two. It was getting dark, I had already raced that day, and I wasn’t surrounded by people getting prepared at the same time. It was a tough sell to convince my body that it should be getting ready to pedal very, very hard.

A bit after 8:00 I set off through the darkening streets of Athens to move my legs a little bit. After a warmup abbreviated by a poorly-timed mechanical issue, I made my way to the stage. While the heats in the afternoon were held in front a small audience, things were very different for the evening. The street was packed in front of the stage. There were food vendors, a live band, and, I kid you not, a trapeze artist. My seven competitors and I got our bikes up on stage and hooked up to the computrainers. Then they led us away so that they could call us up with official introductions, complete with girls to escort us onto the stage.

The competition itself went much like the one in the afternoon, only with a thousand people screaming their heads off while we were doing it. The slight breeze that had kept me cool in the afternoon was gone in the evening, so I was pouring sweat by the end of the effort. Again it was hot, hard, and miserable, and I ended up 5th in the competition. I can’t say that it was much fun, but it was a great opportunity to represent the team in front of an enthusiastic crowd, and it earned me a callup to the front row in the following day’s Athens Twilight criterium, in front of a much larger and even more enthusiastic crowd. Not bad for 15 minutes of work.

ITT

The Saturday morning ITT got off to a somewhat disappointing start for the MetLife crew, with Trent suffering from lingering quadriceps problems and Nick succumbing to a blown rear tubular (brand new, at that) about a mile into the parcours.  Peter and Landen, eyeful of the afternoon’s criterium and following day’s long and hilly road race, rode steady and conservative, but nothing to write home about.

CRITERIUM

With no eye on the overall, the team faced the evening’s criterium with the intention of either vying for the Sprinter’s “Points” jersey or a high placing on the stage.  With 4 interesting corners on the short 1 Km circuit, it was unclear if the lack of technical difficulty or elevation change would allow any moves to escape or if the small loop would encourage riders to attempt to lap the field.  Peter and Nick would act as the primary protagonists, though a blistering, uneven pace made the contest mostly one of survival.

Though a few points were picked up in the intermediate sprints, it was clear that Eric Schildge of Team Jamis Sutter Home would run the table and the boys retooled for the finish.  A huge split in the field following one of several crashes made for a smaller field sprint, and Will Dugan (Team Type 1) and Robbie King (IF) took advantage of a lull in the closing laps to escape off the front.  Though the field closed within a few dozen yards by the line, the pair stayed away, with Robbie taking the win and Nick coming in 5th in the field gallop.

ROAD RACE

After an all-too-short night’s sleep, the MetLife crew arrived in Manchester for the 8am start with a serious smorgasbord of road race on tap:  100 miles, no fewer than 10 categorized climbs (with pitches up to 15%), and a smattering of the occasionally abysmal dirt roads Vermont is known for.   The pace was high from the gun, with riders clearly aiming to establish the early break, and did not abate as the field tackled the first serious ascent.  By it’s summit, the peloton had been reduced to perhaps 30 riders, and although the field regrouped on the decent, it was a clear sign of things to come.

The field completed a northern loop, passing through Manchester and  the first feed zone on it’s way onto the southern circuit, which contained two brutal ~10% grade ascents amidst a handful of other difficult hills.  Though the group assaulted these climbs, Nick and Landen managed to hang on and enjoyed a surprisingly gentlemanly pace for the second half of the circuit.  Passing through the feed zone a second time en route the the final loop of this same circuit, it was clear that the two climbs would likely put an end to the civil pace.

As expected, the tempo ramped up on the lower slopes of the first ascent and the field quickly disintegrated.  Both Nick and Landen clung to the remnants at the back of the pack and regrouped with the now ravaged peloton just in time for the second, considerably steeper affair.  Again, the field was quickly shredded, leaving Nick and Landen in the wake of despair.  Looking deep into his suitcase of courage, however, Nick turned himself inside out and kept the front group in sight, managing to bridge back up with the help of another forlorn rider.

Less than 20 miles from the “Boulevard Style” sprint finish and with no more serious ascents on the docket, it was clear he would have a chance to enact some modicum of revenge on the climbers at the root of the past four hours’ suffering.  As he did the night before, Will Dugan slipped away in the closing kilometers, with Peter Hurst (BikeReg) joining him.  The duo never managed more than a handful of seconds lead, though it proved enough as the finish closed in.  Nick muscled his way into the top ten as what was left of the field and hit the final corner in good position for the final 400m drag.  Robin Carpenter (BikeReg) jumped early, and a combination of need to negotiate around a few riders and a poorly-marked finish line left Nick a few yards short of catching the BikeReg rider and having to settle with 4th.  Nonetheless, after having been left for dead by the lead group on several occasions, it was a solid finish for the teams “sprinter” and a good showing for MetLife in front of the crowd in Manchester.

photo by Jamie Ryan-White, reblogged from http://x-blog-x-team-x.blogspot.com/

The chaos started early, and a good sized break rolled off the front with Aiden Charles and Ron Larose of CCNS, Tobi Schultze of Fuji, Ryan Kelly of NorEast along with eventual winner Josh Liptka.  As MetLife and others began to organize counter attacks to bridge to the formidable break, there was a crash near the back of the field which among others, put Coutu in a waiting line for 20 stitches.  Our best goes out to a speedy recovery for everyone involved especially Alex Dossin (Ride Studio Café).

Deterred, but not disheartened the team pushed forward, only to have Ryan felled by a mechanical.  With limited resources left, the MetLife boys rolled in with the reduced field in a disappointing bunch gallop for 17^th place.

After taking copious notes the weekend before, Landen and Peter toed up to two lines this past weekend.  The first was at the Chris Hinds Sunshine Crit.  Although rarely held in sunshine, the start held promise, with temperatures in the 50s, and a large field ready to go.  With those warm temperatures however, came an incredible wind which manifested itself in what seemed to be an omnipresent cross/head wind.  As formidable as the wind, the MetLife duo came up against a brick wall in the form of the early season form of Adam Myerson (Mountain Khakis) Al Donahue (NCC / J.A.M Fund) and the legendary Mark McCormack (Fuji).  After a frantic first 30 minutes of attacks and counter attacks the trio separated themselves from the plebian peleton and began steadily and comfortably riding away.  After some furious bridge attempts, the author realized that he indeed had not gone nearly this fast in 5 months and imploded in spectacular form, leaving Landen to mop up the pieces with a respectable 4^th place in the bunch for 10^th at the end.

Undeterred, Peter and Landen lined up for the Tufts Criterium on Sunday.  Held on a super technical (and rough) six corner course, the race would be fast from the beginning.  Attacks from Myerson and Jerome Townsend (Mountain Khakis) as well as Donahue and the Goguen brothers (Team CF) shredded the group.  A five man group formed, with the above present (Team CF was represented by Patrick) along with Peter.  While the group put steady time into the field, the pace seemed anything but steady.  Finally with  the juncture with the back of the peleton imminent, Al put in an attack the dislodged Peter, putting him in the unenviable position of chasing from 20 meters back.  Coming into the chicane on the course, while still in sight of the break and the peleton, a marshal let a spectator into the road, ending any chance of making the bridge.  Luckily Landen was well positioned in the group, and despite his strong defensive riding all day, he still had good enough legs to lead Peter out of the last corner, putting him in the category of “best of the rest”, and Landen in 7^th.

Steadily progressing, watch for the MetLife team out on the roads of the rural New York, as the team comes together for a performance to behold at the now legendary Tour of the Battenkill.

The boys got up out early Saturday morning to hit the road. Matt Spohn and Chris Coutu had already received and built up this season’s Cannondale race bikes. After a delay of a few minutes as the rest of the guys ogled the sweet new bikes, anxious to receive their own, they headed out. The plan for the day was to ride 35 miles to the Charge Pond training race, do the race, and then ride back. It was going to be a long day in saddle. But with eight guys rotating smoothly, the miles flew by.

The team was soon standing on the start line with numbers pinned on, ready for the first racing effort of the season. The course was a rolling, twisty circuit that favored breakaways. With such a strong contingent, the team expected to be represented in every move that tried to get away. The pace was timid at first as everyone in the field got used to racing their bikes again, but the speed soon climbed. Austin Roach launched a solo attack a couple of laps into the race that would prove to be the race-winning move. Behind him, the other MetLife guys dutifully covered everything that tried to break away. Peter Bell, having already ridden from Boston to Washington, D.C. earlier in the week on behalf of the bicycle advocacy group Bikes Belong, still had the energy to put himself in the next group on the road along with Trent Ashburn. Landen Wark-Acebo represented MetLife in the next bunch that split away. Austin managed to lap the remainder of the field, where Ryan Fleming and Andy Munas quickly went to the front to ride tempo and keep him out of trouble. The guys placed well in the sprints from their respective groups to come away with their first win of the season and a results list top heavy with MetLife riders.

The team rode back home and cleaned up. With over 800 combined miles on the day, it was time for some serious eating. So they headed off to a local restaurant for team bonding around a table full of pizza, salads, burgers, and beer. Sated, the squad got down to some more of the day’s business: divvying up products from the team’s generous sponsors. Boxes and boxes of drink mixes, gels, and supplements from Hammer Nutrition and bicycle components from Back Bay Bicycles were divided amongst the guys to support a full season of racing.

After a night of much-needed sleep, the MetLife squad hopped on their bikes again to cap off the training camp with several more hours of riding along the Cape. It was a very successful weekend, providing the team with some solid early-season training, and giving everyone a chance to practice the group racing skills that they will soon be putting to use in races across the country.

Distributing our HEED goods at team camp.