June 11, 2007 - NRC Racing

Matt White has been taking on some NRC criterium racing, with a nice photo on cyclingnews.com while the whole team has been busy with some stage races.

Fiordifrutta Takes on Mt Hood Classic Stage Race, NRC, May 29 – June 3

For the past week the Fiordifrutta squad descended upon Hood River (OR), a trendy little town where the glacial snowmelt from Mt. Hood flows down to meet the Columbia River Gorge, and the place will never be the same. Good times were had by all as we took on time trials amidst the strong winds that gust through the Gorge, then battled the hot arid wasteland that sits in the rain shadow to the east of Mt. Hood, and finally 2 days of 10,000 feet of climbing each with finishes at the ski stations on the slopes of the massive volcano. Adventures wrapped up the week with a nice technical criterium around race title sponsor Full Sail Brewery, whose generous sponsorship included product samples as well as cash prizes.

Top results for the week against the nation’s strongest pro riders were Cory Burns with an 11th place finish in the prologue and Josh Dillon with a 6th place in the stage 3 circuit race. Dillon wrapped up the week in 17th place in the overall GC classification.

Tri-Peaks Challenge Arkansas NRC, May 17-20

A team of four extended their stay in "The Natural State" of Arkansas for another weekend of racing at the Tri-Peaks Challenge, a hilly 4 day, 5 stage NRC race. The team was Hayden Brookes, Roz Dilsky, Will "Uptown" Rifflemacher, and Matt White. This was Will's first true Pro race, and you could see the excitement was building for him, after a really strong race at the Joe Martin Cat 2 race.

Stage 1 was the shortest road race many of us have done all year at about 60 miles, starting with a 6 miles decent, and finishing with 20 miles of mellow uphill. Towards the bottom of the finish climb an elite group of climbers broke free, and Whitey and Roz recognized the opportunity and made the move. Roz set some pace to solidify the move, and Whitey was able to keep the climbers within striking distance all the way up the climb and raced for the win.

Attacks went down with 5k to the go, Whitey was able to match the first 4-5 moves, but finally felt the burn with about a 1k to go, and finished 8th out for the original 18 or so in the break. The time gap was substantial and the the top ten on GC were set. If the boys could keep it together over the next 3 days an NRC top ten was within reach.

The most threatening stage was an 8 corner crit, which went pretty hard all day, and many riders crashed and were gapped off. The team finished mostly in the front group, with a few lessons learned about NRC crit racing, STAY FORWARD! In the short dead flat TT Whitey and Roz were able to put down some fast times, keeping Whitey in his 8th place, and moving Roz into the money!

One Stage left - a 70 miles roller stage with a nasty 3 mile finish climb at roughly 18%. Things stayed mostly together all day, and the run into the climb was like the last lap of a crit, Hayden and Will did a fantastic job keeping Whitey out of trouble and toward the front. On the climb, Whitey made the front group briefly but the pitch got the best of him, and a top 20 finish was the best he could muster, but not enough time was lost to move the 8th place GC. Roz also maintained his paying position was a solid climb. And that's it for "the Natural State".

White 8th at Kelly Bike Jam NRC Criterium, MD, May 26

Matt White was a team of one for this race, and was happy to hear a mention of the Fire-Rod (Fire-rod De Frutta as this announcers likes to call us) as a major contender on the day. BikeJam is a long lap park crit that twists and turns with only one sharp turn. The opening laps went full throttle and I did my best to do absolutely nothing, as I knew I had to make one move, and only one.

About half way through the 40 miles race I saw my chance, a well represented string of riders were pushing the pace on the front. I waited just long enough to see the group was forming, and jumped across. As soon as i got there I knew I had made the right move, as the pace stayed high for a number of laps and I was in pain, but rolling clear of the field. The group was about 20 deep with 5 Navigators and 3 P-Healths, and 3 Rite-Aids. The combo was right, and after some rotating to solidify the gap the race was on.

Attacks flew, and some riders chased for the their sprinters. We lost Hilton Clarke off the front in the closing laps, and chasing him down with 4 more Nav's on my wheel seemed like a death sentence, so I waited for the final lap to race. In the small group sprint I took 8th. I was a little too patient in my sprint and ran out of road before I ran out of legs, but another top ten this time in a crit and sprint felt pretty good.

White at Tour of Sommerville, May 28th

Just me Whitey again. We went round and round for 50 miles. The road shook my bones, and I narrowly avoided a number of crashes. I made the only promising move all day, the one with Acton, Fratini, and Borrajo (probably the best sprinters in the race) and the whole Navigators team, but because it's Sommerville, and the draft can pull an old lady in a wheel chair at 32 miles an hour, we went no where after 5-6 laps of trying. The field sprint was too dicey for me, and I finished in the safe zone. I really wanted that break to roll as the legs were really feeling it, I just needed more corners I think.