Brooks Wins Cyclonaut’s Criterium, May 24th

Steve Weller and I lined up at the Cyclonauts Racers Crit at the Stafford Springs raceway in Connecticut. There was not a huge field but there was a pretty strong wind blowing into the face down the back straight. At first I thought the race would be a little like racing back home in Australia on the Toowoomba velodrome - except for racing in the opposite direction, heaps better surface and no banking!

The course turned off the homestraight though with a nice little chicane through the infield. After Steve covered a couple of attack on the first few laps, I attacked and rode just off the front of the field until four riders came across a few minutes later. It took around 35 laps of the total 50 to lap the field and after seeing Steve was in a small group ahead of the field, I jumped again with 6 laps to go. I managed to suffer my way across to Steve's group and he towed me to the finish. We took 1st and 7th place and you can see the finish line photo here!

Schildge Wins Bound Brook Criterium, May 25th

Toby Marzot and I lined up at the Bound Brook Criterium, a popular local tune-up for the Tour of Somerville (NRC). With only two Fiordifrutta riders in the field, we knew we'd have to race smart, and play off the tactics of the larger teams. Toby raced a fantastic race, getting into the most dangerous break of the day with 11 laps to go. He took heroic pulls in order to keep the break away, while I waited patiently in the field.

The break was reeled back in the closing laps, and it became clear that we were headed for a bunch sprint. Coming into the last lap, I was in perfect position. I jumped a couple meters out of the last corner and powered towards the line for Fiordifrutta's sixth win of the season!

Mt Hood Classic, May 13-18

The Fiordifrutta boys are busy racing in Oregon at the Mt Hood Classic. The race continues through the weekend, but the guys have already gained some good publicity and you can check out these photos on cyclingnews.com and velonews.com

Matt White put in a stellar ride in the opening prologue to finish in 12th spot, ahead of about 60 professional riders!

Another week brought another win for the Fiordifrutta boys and Toby Marzot writes the below report. You can see the full results and a finish line photo here.

Marzot Wins Jiminy Peak Road Race, May 3

Fiordifrutta brought a very strong and motivated squad to Jiminy Peak: Hayden Brooks, Matt White, Josh Dillon, Jamey Driscoll, Eric Schildge, Josh Lipka, Steve Weller, and I all took to the line in damp, drizzly conditions. Following our Roz- inspired race plan, we were to be aggressive throughout the race, making sure we had the right numbers in any breakaway that happened to get up the road

The first of five rolling, 30km laps saw many attacks, but riders in the field were too fresh and nervous to let anything get away. Every rider from our team, however, did an awesome job covering each and every early breakaway attempt.

At the beginning of the second lap I saw a rather large move forming, that contained both Hayden and Matt. I figured we should have better odds than 2/16, so I jumped across. I was nervous that I would bring the whole field across, but only one rider came with me. As the move got established, Hayden and Matt each took monster pulls. I tried to do my share too, and we continued working for what turned out to be a long day in the break.

When we saw one lap to go, it was clear our break would stay away and the real racing started. Matt snuck away on the big descent for what would be the first of many last-lap attacks. This took the pressure off of Hayden and I, forcing the others to chase. As soon as Matt came back Hayden put in a killer move. This cycle repeated for several miles, until I happened to cover a move from Jason Beerman on Kenda-Raleigh.

We were joined by Mike Margarite of Empire, and Al Donahue of Nerac. I didn't think the representation of this move was quite right, but we slowly opened up a gap in the windy last section of the race. Everyone was pretty tired, so the pace was calm up to the last 150m of the finishing hill. I then started the sprint and took home the victory. Meanwhile the FdF boys had shredded the field, insuring that we had a total of 4 riders in the money.

Josh Dillon posted another win and had time to adjust his armwarmers for the finish line camera shot.

Dillon Wins Palmer Library Road Race, April 27

Fresh off the previous day's race filled with mechanicals, miscues, and miscalculations...Weller, Hayden, and I were looking forward to resume authority over the New England race scene. With just 3 riders and 80 miles of racing, we were attentive but certainly not over zealous with the early attacking.

Fortunately, the fast pace of the first half of the race kept the attackers at bay and by the time the hesitations in the field started we were ready to start racing. Weller had us covered with the big move on the 3rd of 4 laps. And again, the field was intent on keeping it together such that it was gruppo compacto for the start of the 4th lap.

On the backside stair step climb, I waited for a round of attacks to soften up the front of the group and then gave it a dig. I put in a good 2 minute attack, that picked up a few of the stragglers off the front and dragged a few out of the field, which made for the race winning break of 10 with ~15 miles to go. I was a little concerned about the 3 teams with 2+ riders in the break, but with ~5k to go they all hesitated when i jumped and that was all i needed to seal the deal. Hayden followed that up with 3rd in the field sprint.