This past weekend marked the first annual Tour of the Dragons, an inexplicably-titled stage race consisting of an Individual Time Trial, Criterium in downtown Bennington, and 100 mile Road Race in the Equinox valley (and steep surrounding hills).  Trent, Nick, Peter, and Landen toed the line for MetLife, eager to both build up  early season fitness and begin adding to the list of 2011 results.

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.