50 laps of pulled pork?

I had to take a very long nap to prepare for this, but here it goes: This past Monday was the final stage of the Green Mountain Stage Race up in Vermont. The stage was fifty laps of six crazy turns around a very fast kilometer in downtown Burlington overlooking Lake Champlain. Very nice.

TARGETRAINING went into the race after the amazing road race up App Gap the day before and Eneas taking the win and moving to second place overall sandwiched by 0:03 seconds from the lead and back to third. The team was a bit knackered but extremely motivated to try to help him take the lead as there were two time bonuses on the course and at the finish.

For all of my faithful readers that follow my stories simply for their poetic prose and are not necessarily fans of bike racing, time bonuses are places on the course where the first four riders across the line get 8-4-3-2 seconds taken off their overall total time. Also, at the finish, the winner of the race can get as many as 15 seconds bonus. This means that hypothetically, Eneas could take the overall while the race was still going on. Of course, it would not be easy.

The race started extremely fast with TARGETRAINING going off the front early to get the pot stirring. High speeds benefit the goal as it prevents other riders from attacking us. The front of the race was a sea of green with the crowd and announcers going crazy describing how we had nine riders in the race and they knew we wanted the win. Every lap saw an attack: Nate, Adam, Craig, Justin, Eneas, Adam again, Gabe, Gabe again, Justin again, Craig again and then about fifteen laps into the race, some guy in red. Then a guy in white. Hmmm, something has changed.

Ruh roh roerge. Where did all the TARGETRAINING guys go?

In a panic I run to the wheel pit with Josh and Tri-Lyn in tow. There is Adam and Justin waiting to get back in the race and Gabe and Craig and running their bikes down the street back to the service area. There has been a major crash on the back side of the course out of site and about 30 riders were involved. Everyone gets back in and back to racing except now Justin is nursing his hand that he hurt riding his mountain bike a few weeks ago and Craig cannot breath or move his left arm. Is that important? Craig pulls out a few laps later to take an ambulance ride to find out he has two broken ribs and a punctured lung. But you should see the other guy.

The mishap and the injuries cause mayhem to our plan. Eneas gets caught out for the first sprint and loses time to the third place rider and doesn't gain anything at the second sprint either.

I radio to him his placing and the gaps to the overall leaders and with four laps to go he attacks on the fifth corner at about 75 miles per hour. Wicked fast. Only an Empire rider can come with him but Eneas is going too fast for this guy to even pull through. I can barely concentrate enough to count the seconds on my watch to measure the time gap as Nancy and baby Caden are screaming so loud that it reverberates all around the city. "go eneas" she screams as his gap grows to 12 seconds in just a lap and a half. The crowd realizes what is at stake and gets behind; only the field realizes it too. There is panic in the disco as every canadian in the race goes to the front and chases him down. He makes them work for it as Adam clips a pedal on turn two and flips his bike and Gabe has to jump a curb mtb style in order to try to stay upright in the fast field.

They catch him with a lap to go as local CCB rider Thomas Magnum wins the day on a bold solo move. Eneas finishes safely in the field at 11th and holds on to a valiant third place overall. It was amazing and the rest of the team was impressed by how just one rider can make such a difference at a race.

Great job to everyone as they all finished and Justin took 15th overall while supporting the team. This was a great weekend and event and the team really closed out the season with class.

Everyone associated with TARGETRAINING, whether staff, club riders or clients should be impressed and proud of all of their efforts. A special thank you also goes to Jess, Tri-Lyn and Josh for their help cooking meals, constantly cleaning condos and working 35mph feed zones.

NOTE: Craig was released on Tuesday and will enjoy some forced R&R but is okay.

SECOND NOTE: There apparently was a special TARGETRAINING fifth stage. While yours truly was packing the car and checking on Craig, the lads went to a local bar-b-que place for dinner. They had a "Little Fatty" contest that meant anyone eating this plate of french fries and 1.5 pounds of bbq pulled pork got to eat for free and get their picture on the wall. Well, the pace was frantic from the start but Adam was tired from his Brandon Gap efforts and dropped out early; Gabe stayed steady but couldn't handle the pace set by BFD Dave and Justin Wolverine Lindine. That is right folks, they both finished the little fatty and there is now a TARGETRAINING jersey on the wall. It is the smallest in the room I can tell you right now. Look for the team next at either Univest, the Tour of the Catskills, a physical rehab or fat camp near you this weekend! Thanks.

Kyle Wolfe

Director, TARGETRAINING Racing Teams
http://www.targetraining.com/