June 22/04 7:16 am - Canadian Results in US

Posted by Editoress on 06/22/04
 

Nathan's Trip to New York State
Courtesy Nathan Chown, Gearsracing.com

Cyclonauts Road Race, Monson, Massachusetts - June 19th

Since I was unable to hit up Beauce with the Ontario boys due to the old work, I decided to head down to New England for a little 10, well, 20 speedin. There were a couple of solid races with the second one 1.5 hours from NYC. I decided it was definitely road trip time. I packed up the car Friday night and headed down to Monson MA. for the Cyclonaughts road race. I ended up sleeping through the wake up call, was really late to the race and got to the line as the ProI/II race rolled out. Bad move as the organizer shortened the race to 90 K and everybody was attacking from the gun.

Well I spent the first 1/2 of the race at the back waiting for my legs and myself to wake up. When they did I got in a 12 man break that was working good for about 20 mins then for no real reason 9 guys just stop pulling and eventually what was left of the field got back on. Then it was attacks and counters for 40 K until with 5 k to go a group of three got up the road. I managed to hold out for 5th place and then got in the car for the next day.

1. Donny Mills (Foirdifruitta Elite Cycling Team), 2:11:51
2. Matthew Svatek (Sharper Image-Mathhis Bros), s.t.
3. Bobby Bailey (RackSmith.com-Land Rover Cycling Team), 2:12:04
4. Jonathan Hamblen (Foirdifruitta Elite Cycling Team), 2:12:50
5. Nathan Chown (Gearsracing.com), 2:13:08
6. Mike Barton (Ibex / Fitwerx), 2:13:15
7. Scott Plante (Trek/VW/Doriti Gelati), 2:13:18
8. David Youngblood (RackSmith.com-Land Rover Cycling Team), s.t.
9. Alec Donahue (Louis Garneau), 2:13:34
10. Bret Williamson (RackSmith.com-Land Rover Cycling Team), s.t.


Between races I headed down to NYC to Cental Park. If you want to see some pretty crazy biking styles, pimped out bikes or, on the other hand, the bikes ridden in the 70's it is all there. I sat down for about an hour on the road people bike on and it was pretty cool. The best was a old fellow in a wool jersey on a old school Bianchi with a fixed gear, bull horn bars and a banesto cap. (smoking while he was riding).

Housatonic Hills Road Race

After taking the wrong train I got to the hotel late and tried to get some shut eye. I ended up sleeping in again and once more hit the line in not so good shape (ie. no coffee in me at his point). Luckily a break went from the gun and the first 45 mins were pretty mellow. The course was a 45 K loop (we completed 3 laps) with about 1500 feet of climbing each lap . Basically there were three climbs on one side of the course then a gradual downhill run to the finish, with a 3 K finishing climg of 700 ft.

The early break of 5 came back on lap two as the pace eventually picked up. A lot of attacks were trying to get off the front but there was never the right mix and and with a lot of independant riders everything was geting chased down. After the second lap the pack was down to about 40 (from about 90 starters). As we hit the climbs I tried to ride a bit of tempo with one of the Cannondale-wheelworks riders and we shed a few more riders. There were a few attacks on the climbs but again it would all get pinned back on the descents or the flats so as we hit the downhill run for the finish I got tucked in at the front and was awaiting the final climb. With 10 K to go a group of 4 finally got off the front on the downhill run but only got a max of 15 secs. With the climb at the finish no one was too worried it seemed.

As we hit the climb I had no idea of its profile or length at that time and ended up on the front after about 500m of the climb. I rode a decent tempo but three riders took turns attacking and eventually two got away and picked up one rider from the lead group (now 10 secs uop the road). After some hesitation, four of us tried to chase as the climb now flattened out and it was big ring for the last 1.5 K. We never really got it together and I ended up 5th again (we were about 10 secs behind the lead group).

The race organization was amazing, the course was awesome and scenic. This is a race one should do, if you can fit into the old schedule. And a trip to NYC is always fun.

1. Amos Brumble (ccb/volkswagon)
2. Ian Ayers (Colavita-Bolla Racing)
3. Anthony Colby (AST)
4. Igor Misicki
5. Nathan Chown (Gearsracing.com)
6. Curt Davis (Fiordifrutta Elite Cycling Team)
7. Oscar Pineda (Stelvio TEAMWEAR - Orbis Properties)
8. Robert Hacker (Land Rover West Chester/MSA)
9. Nils Dennis
10. Greg Wolf (Stelvio TEAMWEAR - Orbis Properties)