April 16, 2008 - Dillon Wins

Josh Dillon picks up his first win of the year and you can see the finish line salute here. Eric Schildge also pulled off a couple of podiums in March with some great photos.

Dillon Wins Turtle Pond Circuit Race, April 13

Referencing the immortal prose of the great 21st century poet...oops, I did it again. "It" being Turtle Pond, "again" being win, and "oops" meaning i had every intention of giving some of the younger guys on the team a shot at sealing the deal (i'll take a minute to point out that "some of the younger guys" means anybody else on the team as they are all younger than me these days).

So please allow myself to defend, uh, myself. There I was, racing my bike from the gun, covering moves with Whitey and Driscoll. It was great. We had it all under wraps. No problem. Roz, Riff, Tobs, and Weller were sitting in the flanks, staying protected, conserving energy, waiting to unleash fury when the time called.

About 5 miles into the 69 mile affair, I covered a move at the top of the backside climb. I remember thinking, "pretty good spot to attack...if i was attacking for real, that would be a good place, but way too early in the race to mean anything". Oops. So I roll through with it a couple of times anticipating it would come back together as ones and twos made their way across. But it didn't come back together. The train left the station for a 65 mile breakaway...ugh. It was a long day, being the second race of the year. For a while it was a 9 person break, by 10 to go it was a 5 person break, and at around 5 to go it was a 1 person break.

It turns out that the aforementioned top of the backside climb is, in fact, a good place to attack for the win (as it was in 07 as well). The boys did a great job at the finish by taking 2nd, 4th, and 9th out of the field.

Schildge 2nd at Strasburg Road Race, March 15

It was the first day of my spring break, so my girlfriend and I packed up the car, and we headed out to Pennsylvania to do a road race in Amish Country. I had raced here in 2006 on a frigid and blustery day, but this time the sun was shining and it was a pleasant 60 degrees. The course was a 5.5 mile, rolling circuit on beautiful country roads. I was excited to fly the Fiordifrutta Colors for the first time this season, and I couldn't help but notice the admiring glances directed towards my new Cannondale Super Six.

The racing started fast, and I hung back for a lap trying to get a feel for where the break would go. It was clear that some of these guys from the Mid-Atlantic States had months of quality riding in their legs. I was just hoping that a winter spent riding the trainer in New Hampshire would measure up. There were the usually early moves, but it wasn't until the beginning of the second lap that anyone established a workable gap. With three guys up the road, I moved into position on the bottom of the first hill, I followed an attack, and then countered it as we neared the steeper section at the top. I powered over the top of the climb and soloed to the break.

We were joined by a few others, but over the course of the next lap, as we hammered to establish our advantage over the field, the break was whittled down to four riders. Of the four of us, only three were working, and it was quite clear that the fourth was suffering just to hold on. As tempting as it was to drop him, we knew we needed his presence in the move as his team was the largest and strongest back in the field.

For the next 9 laps the three of us worked well together. With one lap to go, another rider attacked the break and the rider who was hanging on was quickly dropped. The three of us worked together to make sure he wouldn't come back, and as we reached the final bend, with 200 meters to go, I jumped, thinking I would be able to hold them off. One rider, former Rite Aid pro, Ryan Dewald, came around me and got me at the line. It was a great race, and the result provided me with some extra motivation to working on my sprint!

Schildge 5th at St. Patrick's Day Tour, Branchbrook Park, March 22

On the Saturday before Easter, I woke up bright and early to attend the St. Patrick's Day Tour in Newark, NJ. The Branchbrook Park Training Races are a mainstay of any New Jersey rider's early season racing. It was dark and cold when we started and the field was its usual mix of seasoned pros and squirrely amateurs.

I tried to animate the race from the gun, and was pretty successful. I instigated or bridged to most of the breaks. My goal was to be as tired as possible by the finish, and I think I was successful. Coming into the finish, it was all together, but I was a little too far back to contest the win. I saw the eventual winner, Wilson Vasquez (Mengoni), move up the right side, but was forced to respond on the opposite side of the peloton. Caught in the wind, and behind some slower riders, I was content to settle with fifth place. It was another great day of training, and I even managed to break even on my race entry.