Over the last Memorial Day weekend, the MetLife Team converged on the Somerville Middle School for the annual Frank “Nap” Trophy Memorial Hills of Somerset County Road Race. This particular race kicks off what is known as the US Bicycling Hall of Fame or Tour of Somerville weekend. While the highlight race of the series is the Tour of Somerville Criterium on Monday, the Hills of Somerset Road Race is without a doubt way more fun!! While the team was reduced in numbers this year, due to a split squad participating in the Tour of Atlanta, the motivation was high.
Having done this race now for last two seasons, I was well aware of the mystery surrounding this event, in other words, this is definitely not your typical bike race. The race is a 75-mile (shortened from 80 due to road conditions) point-to-point, single loop including full rolling enclosure of the roads with police and a Hells Angel’s motorcycle escort. And these aren’t just quiet back roads either, this race travels on some pretty major roads through Jersey suburbia. This is pretty much as close as it comes to a UCI sanctioned race except for the fact that you don’t really know where you going unless you have done the race year after year or have intimate knowledge of the area because there is NO advertised course map available to you until you get to registration, which is like an hour before the start. The short of it is, don’t get a mechanical and don’t get dropped or your race is probably over. Other than that, it’s game on!
Lining up this year for Met was Peter, Ryan new recruit Austin. Following the traditional opening prayer, the stacked field of 120 riders got rolling through the streets of Somerville as our police escort blared their sirens and people out for their morning strolls clapped and cheered. Right from the get-go, it was evident that this was not going to be a walk in the park, as pro squads Team Type 1 (TT1) had about 10 riders in the race and OUCH/Maxxis had 2. Not to mention there was a strong presence from regional amateur elite teams Empire, Hershey Cancer Institute, CCB and IF.
The first 40 miles of the race is rolling, fast and twisty, with average speeds typically in the 28-30 mph range. Wanting to play the numbers game and take control of the race, Team Type 1 established an early break with 2 of their riders, along with an Empire rider. This group was quickly followed by a chase group containing Mike Creed from Type 1, Will Dugan from CCB, and ex-pro Robbie King from IF. Because this race tends to go SO FAST during the first hour of racing, and the decisive parts of the course come in the last 25 miles, the Met boys decided to play it conservative and wait and see how things would unfold. Unfortunately, the break swelled to 8 very strong riders within 10 miles and the major players were content to sit on everything that moved. Being so early in the race, and the speeds still quite high, we didn’t panic. The early moves in this race can stick but there was also a good possibility of a strong chase group catching them late in the race.
As the field hit the second (and hardest) of the 3 main climbs that highlight the race, the boys positioned themselves right near the front to make sure they didn’t get caught behind a split. Coming over the top, down a 50 mph hill and through a nasty 120 degree turn, Ryan launched a wicked acceleration to bridge up to small group containing Bobby Lea from OUCH, a TT1 rider, an Empire guy and ex-pro Aidan Charles. The group stayed off the front for a while, but a hard chase from the field brought it all back together a few miles later. Austin and Peter went with the counter moves, but TT1 and Empire were sitting on everything. The section between the second and third climb was shortened by 5 miles this year due to some poor road conditions. This eliminated one of the climbs along with some technical descending. This undoubtedly gave the advantage to the break as they were still hovering over a minute as we suddenly found ourselves on the last climb. Even though the field was very aggressive in the last 10 miles, nothing seemed to be able to get away and the high pace negated everything. With 5K to go, a field sprint for the minor placings was imminent.
Coming into town for the finish, Austin did an outstanding job of positioning Ryan near the front and out of harm’s way for the sprint. Austin took to the front from about 3K out. Using a massive gear and everything he had left, Austin alone was able to keep the pace around 28 mph to discourage the field from swarming the front. The finish is like a crit with a sharp left hander leading uphill to a tight 90 degree right hander and a straight 150 meter sprint to the line. Austin hand delivered Ryan to left hand turn in first position, knowing that the sprint was virtually won by how you went through the final right hand bend. Ryan saw Eric Tremble (Spooky) sprint past on the right and jumped hard on his wheel, able to take the last turn at full gas in second position. The sprint to the line was tight, as Ryan battled to beat a Kissena rider with a well timed bike throw, finishing 1st in the field sprint and 9th overall. The Met boys did an excellent job of working together and hopefully this practice will turn into a big ol’ “W” for the team in the not too distant future. In the end, the race was won by Robbie King (IF), with Will Dugan (CCB) in 2nd and Mike Creed (TT1) in 3rd. While we were all happy to make it through the race without a ride in the sag-wagon, it’s hard not to be a little disappointed about missing the winning move. All in all though, we proved to ourselves that the capability to produce a strong result, even with small numbers, was well within our reach.