White 2nd at Attleboro Criterium, July 12

I've learned quite a bit about bike racing in the last couple months. For a variety of reasons, I stopped training after Mt Hood, and the extent of my bike riding became riding back and forth to work. Call it mental fatigue or burn out, or whatever, I couldn't get myself to go out for a training ride to save my life, I thought I was done. After a number of weeks of that I got nervous that I could get REALLY out of shape, so I signed up for a race to force myself to get a real work out.

Two or three really short crits, later I had finished some bike races, and actually even raced a little. One race I spent the entire day in break working for Phil and Toby, and then they pulled off the win and fourth. Another race I found myself bridging to NRC heavy hitters, and dangerous moves with relative ease. These were all pretty dinky races, nothing to serious to speak of.

At Attleboro, a race that deserves a little race report, I bridged to a first lap move started by our own Charles Toby Marzot. I immediately told Toby to sit on, and cranked up the speed with the other riders. In no time at all we had lapped the field, a small group of 6, but with the mighty Frank McCormick in tow.

Toby and I made many attempts to get clear of the field again, with the help of Steve and Hayden, giving us groups to race off of, or lifting the race to an attack-able pace. The team rode really strong, I felt like we had 8 guys in the race not 4. In the end it came down to a field sprint, I got myself on the Fuji train, and sat on fighting off one master racer after another.

I kicked it in 100 meters from the line off Franks wheel, but just couldn't get around him, and rolled in for safe second place. After 2+ months of no training, a second place and another race in the books I felt like it was time to try a "real race" again. I requested the team allow me to race Mt Holly, despite being very afraid of the distance of 75 miles. It's only 9 miles to work, I don't even need a gel or anything for that.

White 8th at Mt Holly Grand Prix, July 19th

Mt Holly went off like a shot, a flurry of attacks, a lined out Colivita team on the front, and after an hour of sitting last wheel of a single file field, wishing there was anything I could do to move up, I slung shot myself off the front of the race to form a somewhat large group of 16. With over half the race left I knew I would have to play it pretty cool if I wanted to finish well.

This was a stark contrast from the Matt White of a year ago that won the Mt Holly Sprint Jersey simple because he spent so much time on the front of the break pulling his ass off, he happened to take all the points. I had matches, and when stupid kids have matches, they play with fire.

Well in 08, my match book was pretty empty, so there were no fire works. I figured out to skip a pull here or there without getting bagged out by the rest of the break, and probably didn't take one pedal stroke that was harder than anyone else. The rest isn't that exciting, towards the end of the race a couple professional bike racers were able to get away from me, and the other tired ass break riders, and we never caught up again, so I was now racing for 5th, against a bunch of guys throwing blows for final 10 laps.

I just kept tagging on the back, or catching guys in the corners. I patiently waited for the sprint, and followed that Borajjo guy, down the final stretch of the course and into the last turn, and took 8th. So just by playing it cool, being patient, conserving, and believing in myself a bit, I finished a race that was at least twice as long my longest training ride in months, and finished it respectably.

It took entering all these races without great form to relearn what racing is all about, it's at least half mental! You gotta know how to race, know which moves to make, know how to conserve, know how to hold back, and know when to unleash some of your strength or all of it. You can really only learn this stuff and its subtle nuances by racing, but sometimes it takes a a little attitude adjustment for it to really sink in.

For me the attitude adjustment was knowing that there was absolutely NO justifiable reason for me to have the physical strength of the guys I'm racing against, I would have to rely on something else. Racing with just your head might be worth a try! Now that I've done some races unconditioned, I'm looking forward to seeing what I can do when I whip myself back into shape. I hope I can remember, as I refill my match book, what it was like to race over the past couple weeks.

Weller 3rd at Mt. Ascutney Hill Climb, July 19th

With Phil looking forward to tackling Mt. Washington this summer, I thought that I'd join him in the mission of riding some of New England's steepest roads. So, this past weekend, I headed to Ascutney State Park in Vermont for the 3.7 mile hill climb the park hosts up the access road to the top. Though I'd never ridden the climb before, I was able to drive to the top on Friday night to scope out the road for the race on Saturday AM - my first impression was that the climb wasn't as bad as people had made it out to be, but then again I was in my car and not on the bike....

On Saturday morning, I hit the starting line with a pretty standard road set-up (38 inner chain ring, and a 28T SRAM cassette), but specialty bikes were pretty common, with lots of people were running a single 28T front ring.

My age group was the first wave to go up the hill, and when the gun went off, 7 or 8 guys rocketed off the start line and sprinted up the hill, straight into the steepest part of the climb. Knowing (or hoping!) that most of those guys would fade after 5 minutes or so, I rode a more conservative pace, and had picked off all but one guy by the end of the first mile. I was able to gradually bring the gap down to the rider in front of me over the middle of the climb, but as we got closer to the top and he got out of site around some turns, I started to fade a little. The last half mile of the climb was by far the hardest for me, and the last pitch to the finish seemed to get longer the closer I got to the line.

All in all, I got to the top in 27:30 or so, which put me second in my age group and third overall. A few of the racers there were using Ascutney as a tune-up for Mt. Washington, and I can't imagine climbing a road that's just as steep as Ascutney for twice as long! Good luck to Phil on the big day coming up.

Phil Gaimon wrote the following report which included a big win for the squad.

U25 Tour of Pennsylvania, June 24-29

Fiordifrutta assembled a young, but strong and well-rounded team for the U25 Tour of Pennsylvania: Eric Schildge, Toby Marzot, Josh Lipka, Jamey Driscoll, Hayden Brooks, and myself. Along for support were Curt Davis, John Gable, and Cassie AKA Marcy Brooks. We didn't know what to expect with a new race and a foreign field, and were somewhat disheartened at our performance in the short opening time trial. Our best-placed rider was Josh Lipka, whose fast time-only seconds off the leaders-just cracked the top 25.

Later that day, the crit gave us some hints of success. I found my legs in an ill-fated late breakaway attempt, and Eric managed 7th place in the hectic field sprint. Stage 2 was a day for Toby from the beginning. It began with call-up to the start line for his 21st birthday, and a creepy rendition of "happy birthday" over the speakers that seemed like it would never end. Our goal for the day was to define our goals for the week: we would go for sprints, KOMs, GC, and stage results, and see what looked promising.

The first intermediate sprint and KOM didn't work out, but we decided not to give up on the sprints. It was the right call, as a leadout from myself and Hayden put Eric where he wanted to be, and he held off Daniel Holloway (VMG/Felt) to win it. The break of the day went just after this sprint, so while Hayden and I pulled the parachute and shot backwards through the field, birthday boy Toby went the other way, and stuck it for 11th on the stage. I initiated a chased group that finished 1:05 on the leaders, but kept me somewhat in GC contention.

Stage 3 was the first hilly day and the longest stage, with two KOMs spread over the 103 miles. With the finish near the Cannondale factory in Bedford, PA, this had been a goal for months, and the team did not disappoint. Heading for the first KOM, a break got away and gained some time. Worried about the threatening move, Hayden organized a chase. Like true pros, he, Eric, and Josh spent about 30 minutes on the front, and brought the group back just before the climb.

After all that teamwork, the pressure was on to back it up. I attacked on the first KOM, still hoping for a jersey, but Peter Stetina (VMG/Felt) took that away, bridging up, dropping me, and riding solo over both KOMs. I made the small front group of 7, but the leaders chose to wait for their teammates, so the group grew to about 40 riders. Toby, Jamey, and I worked together to stay protected while the other teams organized the chase.

Heading into Bedford, it was clear that Stetina would come back, so the three of us moved up together for the field sprint. The catch was made inside the last kilometer, and as the chasing riders sat up, the sprinters had to fight their way through to the line. It was hectic and disorganized, but I have a clear memory of Jamey bursting past me into a gap on the right just before Sheldon Deeny came by on the left. The next thing I heard was the announcer shouting "Fiordifrutta!" as Jamey nailed it for a huge win!

We couldn't have asked for a setting for the one of the team's biggest results to date. While Jamey was at the press conference and on the podium, the rest of us heard about how great Cannondale was from random people walking by on the sidewalk. Curt and Cannondale rewarded us with a factory tour, dinner, and hotel accommodations for the night, which saved us a ton of driving.

Stage 4 was the shortest road race, but had the hardest climb of the week a mere 20 miles from the start. I crested Bald Knob in a select group of 13.
As rainy conditions worsened, VMG and ZTeam set a fast pace, and the Cycling Center Team proved unable to bring us back and keep their hold on the yellow jersey.

Knowing that there were still a couple strong sprinters in the group, I focused on staying upright and saving energy. My time came with 2k to go, when a non-GC rider attacked alone and the group didn't react. I jumped a few seconds later, and timed perfectly, catching him with 150 meters to go.
I thought I had the win sewn up, but the leadouts brought me back just before the line, and I ended up a disappointing 5th.

Stage 5 was a brutal course, with no major climbs, but tons of punchy hills, and no place to recover from the pace or the heat. I had good legs, and bridged to an early break that stayed clear over the climb, but was too disorganized to continue. The course was different from previous days, with lots of turns and technical sections, one if which led to near disaster for me. My front wheel hit a large rock on a descent, causing me a sudden and unwelcome trip over the bars. SRAM was there with a wheel, and Curt chased me back on in the team car.

When I got back to the field, I was hurting and bleeding pretty bad. Hayden and Jamey kept the bottles coming, and I started to feel better. With 40k to go, we hit some harder climbs and the attacks begin. Eric was climbing well, and we worked together to keep ahead of the splits. As we neared the finishing circuits, there were will three leaders over a minute up the road. I saw opportunity and bridged to a small chase group, and we quickly made up time. With just over a lap to go on the technical, 5k finishing circuits, we had caught the leaders, but the field was only 20 seconds back, and half the breakaway refused to work. I saw an opening, and went on the attack. With 1 lap to go, I was solo and going for win.

The chase resumed on the last lap, and the rest of the breakaway was absorbed when two KBS riders slipped off the front of the field. They got their gap and held it, motivated to take the lead in the GC. They came by me with 500 meters to go, but I was able to hold off the field for 3rd, moving me up to 13th in the GC, and Eric rode a strong field sprint for another 7th place.

Stage 6 was a crit in downtown Pittsburg. Heavy rain started early, and most of us went down in the giant pileup 10 laps in. A tornado warning led officials to briefly neutralize and restart the race. We were motivated to get one more result for Eric, but not so motivated to risk our necks when the GC was finalized and the payout cancelled for the crit. Optimistic about his chances in a rainy crit, Jamey briefly gave it a go, but decided that one stage win was enough (remember that time he won a UCI race in Bedford?).

We were happy with our great racing for the week, and made the right call to favor safety over more TV time. All the riders would like to once again thank John, Cassie, and Curt for their hard work this week, in addition to our great sponsors. We wouldn't have been there without you, and we're glad we got some results with your help.

Fun at the Tour of PA, June 24-28

The world’s strongest U25 racers gathered in PA for the biggest cash prize in history last week at the Tour of PA. Fiordifrutta sent a strong team of young up and comers to do battle with racers from 5 different countries: Jamie Driscoll, Charles Marzot, Phil “the thrill” Gaimon, Hayden Brooks, Josh Lipka, and Erik Schlidge tailored their training especially for this event. The team’s goal was to impact the race with stage wins and affect the race everyday. Jamie was the first to execute on the teams plan by winning the stage to Bedford, where he remembered (after his director yelled in his ear, just as his interview was ending) that his frame was in fact made in that very town. Jamie won the stage by sitting on legendary cyclist to be Peter Stetina, and barely coming around him within the last 3 meters. With his goal achieved, moustache clad Jamie went on to be invisible for the rest of the race, merely resembling guys who pictured on the post office wall.

Phil Gaimon still had visions of the top step of the podium until the last road stage, but just like his website name, he just could not get any move to stick and he was always left trying to catch the bouquet. When asked about his poor form on the day he was smoked by a Canadian duo of no names on stage 5, he mumbled at the press conference , “I felt jittery and my mind was clouded from drinking 128 ozs. of sweet tea over the last 2 days”, the stunned announcer tried to pull the mic back, but the tenacious brides maid Gaimon grabbed it to explain ” you see, they put the sugar in there while it’s hot, that’s how it gets so sweet!, it’s cane sugar! It dissolves easily and saturates the tea. Chikn-fill-a is from Atlanta, there’s one 22.87 miles from here, I had my girlfriend Google it while we were driving to the stage this morning”

Support riders were an important part of the team, and hold the key to success. Hayden is a natural leader out there and loves to tell everyone how he selflessly goes back to the car to get bottles. “I just go see my mate Curt back there and we have a walkabout, some vegemite.. it’s heaps of fun! I hold onto the bloody car for a K or 2 while I practice saying the line from my favorite movie Crocodile Dundee “that’s not a knife!” I then ask him where my SRM is and bring the now warm bottles back to me mates”

Charles Marzot was important and mainly spent his time studying and reading the tech guide, he underlined run-ons, considered revising fragments and addressed dangling participles. In a post race interview, he quietly said “ I got dropped on the downhill on stage 4 because I was sick to my stomach with the terrible grammar and tone in the description of today’s stage…I even threw up in my mouth a little bit. but I was out of water..it was dreadful, just dreadful”

Josh Lipka spent many minutes riding tempo and chasing down breaks before succumbing to the lure of the college dorms’ cafeteria’s self serve Capn crunch bin, he reportedly put on another freshman 15 in the course of that week he said quietly “ Curt warned me, from his own experience, to stay away from the Capn Crunch, but I couldn’t stay away from it, even when the roof of my mouth was raw I just kept going back, I even used some of Jamie’s moisturizer to speed up the healing process, but I’m hooked!”

The sprinters like the spotlight, and New Jersey native Erik Schlidge is no different. On the hillier days he was the first to call groupetto, piano, autobus! On the flat days he showed up rested and ready (and exfoliated, loofah washed and sometimes still wearing a seaweed mask on his face in the team car). He was edged out of the top five on stage 1b in the last 100 meters because he was taken aback by his own image reflected in a crystal clear store window.

Erik crashed on stage 3 because he took out his compact to check for stuff in his teeth after the feed zone. After suffering through the pesky hilly races he was ready for the easy, subdued stroll into Pittsburgh, he was sitting in second in the best looking rider competition behind a Konica Minolta South African he needed to remain focused on the race, not the store windows for the finish. The team meeting that morning left the boys with a few action items:

1) instead of a lead-out for Erik, we need to have a rider on either side of him for the last 2kms ..like the blinders on a race horse so he can’t be distracted by his own beauty in the store windows.
2) Just agree with Erik that the South African was leading by virtue of his accent, not his looks.
3) All riders except Erik were allowed to remove their earpieces while Toby Keith’s Shokn’ Y’all was played over the team radio to get him psyched up and ready with 3kms to go.

Eric finished the race a distant 8th but was awarded the top place on GQ for best looking rider, as the South African could only manage 13th on the day.