Smoketown and Conestoga

Sheesh. What a slacker I have been. It's been too long in between entries. In that time French Creek was postponed, Shawn took 6th in his final road race as a 5 (congrats on the upgrade my man), Chris and I tried to make some things happen with the Rock Star Jeff Bahnson in the 3/4 race, working too much (ok so it's only 40 hours but still the French have a 32 hour work week), and trying to tie up loose ends for the wedding. Oh and don't forget about training.

Last weekend was a bit of cluster. French Creek was cancelled so Shawn and I decided to race the Unionville Road Race. When we got there we saw that Chris and Steve McQueen...errr...McCann also decided to race. The course was at the lower end of being tough. Most of the climbs were right after a nice fast section and none of them were terribly steep. Long story short...Grouppo Compacto for most of the race. About 40 miles (10 miles to go) in a group of 4 got away. I sat back to see who would react. 43 miles in, still no reaction. I decided it was time to move up and pull them in. I contacted Chris and we were off. I was hoping we could connect with the breakaway and give them a little more firepower. When we caught up to them, they quit. This left me in a bad spot. I was redlined and when Chris hammered up the last big climb I couldn't hang with him. Chris and Jeff went for the glory but came up about 400 meters short.


Shawn and Steve faired much better in the 4/5 race. Shawn took 6th in the sprint finish. Then later in the week his steerer tube spit in half while doing a track stand.


This weekend the Milkmen will be aiming for some podiums at the Smoketown Crit on Saturday and the Conestoga Road Race on Sunday. Smoketown is on part of a runway from what I understand so I think it is safe to assume that this will be a flat one. Conestoga is a different animal. Other than the first 3 miles of the 12.5 mile lap I don't think there is one flat section of road at all. A lot of climbing, some (two) hitting grades of 20%. The finish will be fast (if there is even a group finish) with a super fast downhill screaming to a pancake flat finish line. Speeds will probably be hitting 40+mph.