Caution: bike racers are dangerous when hungry

Greetings from Vermont. I am exhausted and I am not even riding my bicycle. As some of you know, we are up here in Warren, VT for the Green Mountain Stage Race, a four day four stage race in well, the Green Mountains.

Most of us arrived late Thursday evening to the condos to get settled in as the TARGETRAINING U-25/Elite Development Racing Team is starting their individual time trials first thing on Friday morning. We made some dinner in the kitchen and they ate an incredible amount of food. Amazing. The group gathered for a team meeting where we discussed the plan for the weekend. It was top secret. Win. Pretty detailed really.

The next morning Eneas, Justin, Lee, Adam Bomb, BFD Dave, Will, Nate, Craig and Gabe all raced the 5.3 mile long individual time trial. There was no parking near the start line, so the night before I had bribed a local homeowner with a six pack of beer to let me set up the team car and wind trainers on his front yard. It was perfect as there was some shade and it was only 200 meters from the start. We had Josh Jamner working the warm up area adjusting gears and setting up disk wheels and such while I was at the start area with a radio to make sure that everyone started on time. The lads had fantastic times and Eneas was able to score a 4th place, only eight seconds down on a Canadian pro rider.

That night they all ate an incredible amount of food. Again.

Saturday's stage was the fast and rolling 65 mile circuit race in nearby Hinesburg, VT. When we drove the course the night before, we thought it was going to be hard and hilly. Well, it was only add fast to all of that. 31 mph fast. Holy cow. After the first lap an awesome break came through with Monster Will driving it hard to try to get time for Eneas, also in the break. Right behind it was a Fruitie chase group with Justin sitting on. The gap to the field: over a minute. I was sooooo excited. That all came back as having both Eneas and Wolverine Lindine up the road was too much for Empire and Metlife so Adam Bomb and New Guy Gabe attacked for a two up team time trial. This stuck for a bit and then bang, Justin and some folks countered and stayed away until literally the last meter when they got caught, but Justin held for 5th and the three second time bonus it gained. The rest of them finished safely in the field.

The field up here is awesome. The new courses and time based scoring has really brought out the talent. All of the big Northeast teams, the Canadian professionals and the amazingly strong Healthnet Karl Menzies are all here. Seeing the lads race so well against these guys is pretty cool.

After the race we headed back to the rental condo where I washed the bikes, got stuff ready and made them all dinner. Which they ate. Again. In force. Like don't stand in their way scary stuff. Donations welcome, they are breaking me. Note to their parents and families: please feed these guys during the week so I am not responsible for them on race days!

Tomorrow is the all important road race that ends up App Gap, a four mile long ten percent climb in the sky. Thanks!

Kyle Wolfe
Director, TARGETRAINING Racing Teams
www.targetraining.com