Green Mountain Stage Race

Cat 2

Here's a quick recap of the action that Jordan and Hunter have seen up in VT during the always competitve Cat2 field.

Time Trial

Jordan beat Hunter by a single second thanks to a strong last couple of meters. Both were a little dissappointed with where they slotted in overall (60th and 61st ).

Circuit Race

Jordan was looking to save up the firepower for the road race. Hunter was looking to score some sprint points and the first time thru he was one place behind the points. Each time thru after that there was a group up the road taking all the points.A big congratulations to CT rider Graham Garber who took off in a break after the 2nd KOM sprint in a group of about 6. He ended up dropping the other riders ( who would get caught by the peleton ) with one other strong flat-lander. The 2 of them put in minute plus into the field by the finish and Graham into the leaders jersey. Hunter was up there for the finish, got boxed in, and finished in 32nd place.

Road Race

Hunter took off with 5 guys in the opening 10 miles of racing and formed a group chasing a lead group of 7 that had attacked early on. It took a few miles but the 2 groups came together. The break built up a gap as everyone was working pretty well together. Jordan was sitting comfortably in the pack, waiting for the final climb up AppGap. Up in the break, Hunter missed out on sprint and KOM points by a single rider both times. By the time the true climbing finish of 10 miles started the break was down to 9 guys. Hunter survived "BabyGap" but lost contact on AppGap and slid back thru the peleton. 3 riders from the break stayed clear and the dwindling peleton quickly ate up the rest. Jordan cruised up babygap with the overall race leaders but lost contact on AppGap as well and rolled in at 49th with Hunter getting 61st. Both Hunter and Jordan moved up the overall GC to 56th (H) and 46th (J).

Crit

Burlington is an awesome little college town and there was lots of support for the crit.
This race was insanity! The course itself is a near perfect rollercoaster of up, down, left and right. Only .6 miles with 2 short sections on smooth brick. A whopping 6 turns but the race was surprisingly safe as the downhill, 33-38 mph corners were wide open and banked in the racer's favor. There were a few tall curbs, barrier walls and deep manholes to watch out for but picking safe lines around these obstacles was pretty easy because the race was single file just about the entire time. Between a few guys trying to move up to the front to attack and a bunch more guys trying to score one of the 3 intermediate time bonus sprints, there was no lack of horsepower driving the front. A true crit racers course and not the type of race to be enjoyed by tired legs.
      Jordan started out in better position, knowing what was ahead. Hunter went into it a little more naive, and was at the back from the whistle. Bad place to be! A few laps in there was 2 minor crashes in a lap and a half. The gaps that came from that disruption in the single file action was too much to recover from. Hunter spent 15 laps chasing and yo-yo'ing off wheels with a handful of guys in a bid to get back into the pack. He got pulled with a bout 12 to go. Jordan hung tough in the back half of the pack but was also un-hitched with 2 to go because of a crash. He pedaled in with 5 others 40 seconds behind the main field, which by the end of the race was half of what started. Jordan, for his perseverance, gets up to 37th for the overall GC and Hunter moved up a couple of spots to finish in 50th.