July 5, 2006 - 2nd and a 3rd

Cody 2nd at Cyclonauts Criterium Stafford Springs, CT, June 17

Cody writes:
Well I guess since the race was held at an auto race track the gods smiled on those who dressed similarly to those who typically inhabit the track grounds. I was screwed and Adam Myerson had one up on me with all his ink, piercings, and ever present wife beater shirt.

Rain threatened and there was a possibility of the race being cancelled due to the large volume of rubber and oil embedded in the track pavement. The basic track oval was broken up with a trip through a chicane on the infield, but this still allowed for a high pace. Some strong attacks went from the gun, but nothing stuck, and I though it would be a field sprint for sure.

The "Nerac Train" consisting of one person tried stringing the field out, while many racers tried their hand at attacking. I ended up on the bottom of the track, after the swarms, while Myerson followed a move from the top, using the banking to his advantage and holding the gap to the line.

Dillon 3rd at Cox Charities Cycling Classic, June 25

The squad used this $15,000 purse criterium event in down town Providence as a last warm up before the Fitchburg Longsjo stage race. The race began with numerous attacks from Matt White, Mike Cody, and Johs Huseby as the field slid around the circuit during a torrential rain storm. Josh Dillon finally made it to the front from his last row start position, and escaped from the field with his first attack. Joining him were Mark McCormark (Colavita), Frank Pipp (Target Training), and Patrick Walsh (CCB), and this group was able to stay away from the field.

Dillon was aggressive but when McCormack countered one of Dillon’s late race attacks, Pipp followed and Dillon could not quite get there. But Dillon outfoxed Walsh for the 3rd place podium spot, and Cody and Peck sprinted in for 7th and 11th respectively, making this a great pay day for the Fiordifrutta boys.

Josh wrote the following race report without much punctuation:

this was pretty sweet. before driving down to providence i checked out the national weather service report to see how wet it would be. it was then i learned that they actually have "tsunami warnings" and providence was, in fact, under tsunami warning. needless to say, there weren't any tsunami's in providence that day but we did get wet from heavy rain (i think they are a little loose with the "t" word since the tragedy in southeast asia).

but heavy rain is fine by me (it's not like i'm a baseball player and don't play if my tobacco gets all soaked) so we lined up for the $15,000 purse as scheduled. choosing to not take part in the "race to the start of the race" i lined up at the back. probably not the best idea as the field was fairly large and went very slowly through the corners and i was racing as hard as i could for the first 10 minutes trying to move through the field.

fortunately, about 2/3 of the way i ran into perera and he towed me the rest of the way. once i got there it was going really easy so i rolled through and took a flyer lap. frank pipp (targetraining) and mark mccormack (colavita) bridged up, towing a couple others with them. frank and mark made for some serious horsepower so once they started pulling through the break was established. great only 50 more laps to go. ugh.

by the time i saw 23 laps to go (1 mile laps) i was pretty bored of riding paceline was wondering if i could solo from there. after another eternity i saw 11 to go and thought i could go from there, so i attacked. after a lap, mark pulled me back and a lap later i attacked again. this time frank pulled me back, leaving us both out to dry as mccormack jumps.

"damnit" i said, and started pulling hard thinking frank would help pull too. after a long pull that got mark to within 20 meters frank jumped off and left me sitting there gas'ed and with no friends. "damnit" i said again. so it turns out i did get to ride the last 5 miles solo, just on the wrong side of frank and mark.