July 27, 2006 - A CT Win and NJ Racing

Cody Sprints to 8th Place and top Under-25 Rider at Mt. Holly-Smithville Grand Prix, July 22

A flat 92 mile road race? As odd as it sounds, that is what the boys faced at the Mt. Holly-Smithville Invitational. The race started under ominous skies and after 2 laps of ripping around at 28mph we found out why the sky was so dark.

Hell hath no furry like New Jersey. For 40 minutes it was impossible to see where we were going through the torrential downpour and the rooster tails of water coming off the peloton's tires. The rain was probably a relief to fire fighters on the New Jersey turnpike, however, who were putting out a two-car fire on the exit 14 ramp and also another fire on a tour bus full of out-of-towners whose rear axle spontaneously combusted in front of us.

A crash split the field in two with Josh Dillon becoming the unlucky recipient of a Rubix cube of aluminum and carbon, he was forced to abandon. Chris Peck managed to get past it all after swimming through the drainage ditch after the crash blocked the road. Meanwhile, Cody, Gewirtz, and White battled on against the remainder of the field. Navigators retained four of their strong riders and promptly attacked the field through the monsoon.

Cody slipped away in a break of five including Navigators Bernard van Ulden and TargetTrainings' Matt Shriver. Holding just over a 15 second gap, van Ulden and Shriver attacked as Cody finished his pull and rolled away to a one minute gap despite efforts to chase. The field rolled around for the rest of the lap until the feed zone where the Navigators attacked in twos to split the field since they had a team car they didn't need to get bottles in the feed zone. Typical New Jersey move. They'll probably miss the start of their next race, again...

The field reorganized and began a chase after one lap with Fiordifrutta, Mengoni, and CRCA/Sakonet chasing. Cyclingnews.com has a great shot with Fiordifrutta at the front. The group of six was gone despite a valiant effort. Coming into the finishing circuits Peck, White, and Gewirtz made solid attacks to ditch riders out of the field and set things up for Cody. A large group of sprinters played cat and mouse, surging over the last finishing circuit. With some poor positioning Cody took an early sprint from the last corner that gapped everyone.

Serguey Lagutin (former World Champ) and Adam Myerson (Nerac.com) were able to come back to him in the last 10 meters. His 8th place in the race was also good enough to take the 'Best under-25' rider in the race. Gewirtz won most combative rider for out dueling Myerson in one of Adam's classic post race arguments. Dillon won most patient for driving all the way to New Jersey.

Cody Wins Naugatuck Criterium, July 23

After a long drive back and forth from the Land of the Burning Car the boys lined up in Naugatuck, CT for a Sunday evening criterium. Davis started his warm-up early with a solid "race" for 15 laps in the Master 35+ race. His knowledge of the course quickly ousted Chris' first race plan of the day for a breakaway. The debate continued for awhile and when the smoke cleared we decided on the Davis lead out.

Peck started things off by racing for the first 15 laps and "keeping the rest of you guys in the race." Thanks Chris. Whitey was ear-to-ear smiles that stemmed from the vegetables and pint of ice cream he had for dinner the night before as well as his ability to supertuck most of the course, (including the uphill, just like ParkRidge.) The field waited for the red train to start racing and quickly followed our piss with a little vinegar. Gewirtz and White made some solid attacks and counters to break the race up. Nothing could stay up the road though due to the stiff headwind on the bottom of the course.

Davis spent most of his time adjusting the tail of his jersey after the last corner every lap, in attempt to look good when he rode past the wife and kids. Gewirtz and Whitey made the field good and tired so that when Cody countered through a prime lap he was able to escape with 6 other riders inside of 10 laps to go.

Their lead quickly shot up to 30 seconds. White made a move out of the field to bridge with two other riders, but kept their distance in an effort not to drag racers across to the break. Cody meanwhile rolled the break of seven until the closing laps when the cat and mouse games began.

Cody was forced to cover moves on the last lap with the sprinters sitting on. The games spilled onto the finishing straight where Cody played the late move and sprinted through the group scooping up the last rider a few meters from the line to score his second victory of the year. White took the three up sprint 12 seconds back while Gewirtz took second in the field sprint.