Sunday, June 3, 2007

Five races in five days, the countdown:

Ryan wins at Bethel! (Photo copyright Mr. Storm)


Lewis off the front with Nick Bax at Somerville (Photo copyright Marco Quesada /nyvelocity.com

Five races in five days, the countdown:
Friday: Night time in the burg of Manville, NJ. Ryan Storm hung on tight in the 3/4 race (the Madness at Manville) while the other JrDev members either sat out the race or sat in the World's Worst New Jersey traffic jam and did homework.
Saturday: Somerville, NJ: The US Bicycle Racing Hall of Fame Criterium. Ian Harris tries and fails to get away from a 30-strong field, a field sprint is contended. Naturally, this goes to Dan Sullivan, with Filip Capala second. Ian finishes 13th. The rest of the team sleeps late.
Sunday: Bound Brook, NJ: More Jrs turn up as Sommerville approaches, including Hot Tubes, the junior team to beat nationwide. Again, Ian Harris is either off the front or caboose. Today the strategy pays off. Ian attacks with two laps to go on the classic 1 mile crit course. He is pursuing Nicolai Masluk (3D racing) who has been off the front alone for 8 laps. Ian draws to 15 seconds behind Masluk, but cannot close. He finishes 2nd. Evan Cooper comes home in the field for 11th. Khary Ward took a bad fall in the one fairly technical chicane on the course and is now on the injured reserve list.
Monday, The Main Event: The Tour of Somerville. We have Ian, Ryan, Lewis, and Evan in the mix. 75 riders in the race, the largest junior field so far this year. Lewis gets into a nice looking move with two of the strongest juniors in the land: Carter Jones ( Colavita, just back from Europe) and Nick Bax (Hot Tubes). When this move is caught, Ryan and Ian take their chances. Nothing moves. A field sprint is inevitable. Lewis is 9th, but fails rolllout and is DQ'ed. Ryan is 15th, Evan 25th, Ian 35th. Lewis goes home and pulls a tooth off of his chainring.
Tueday: Bethel Summer Night Series: Ryan Storm victorious! Ryan pulls off his first win in a senior event in the Cat 3/4s. The words of the man himself:
It was a 29 lap race....primes every 5 laps starting 25 to go.....i took 3rd, 6th, 1st,15th....then won the overall in a field sprint....at the bottom of the hill i said screw it....if i don't make a move now, i'll get blocked....even though my attck was early, i still won by almost 5 bike lengths!"
Congrats Ryan!