2010 Bear Mountain Spring Classic - Master's Race (1st and 8th)

Scott, Badger, Matte, Carlos, Max V., and I (Ed) lined up for this event representing Targetraining in the Master's event (60 miles - 2 mile climb done twice, and some grinders and fast stretches). Really scenic route and really nice for the whole family.

Almost immediately, Badger got into a good early move with representation from most of the strong teams (Westwood, Keltic, and some other guys). Funny, before the move went, I saw Badger riding on the grass at the start of the climb to get to the front. Nice move!! I was way back at the start and it was sketchy with the big field. Next thing I know the Badger was away. His small group built up a nice gap, and it looked like they might have a chance to make it to the end. It happened really early though and with the big climb, rolling hills, and 60 miles of racing left it would be tough, but awesome, if they could stay out there the full distance, especially in such a small group. With Badger up there, the pressure was off for the rest of us. Second time up the climb I see the Keltic guy in the break fall off the pace about mid-way up. A bit earlier another guy came off of Badger's group too. His group was shrinking which meant the remaining guys would have to work even harder to keep it away. I felt pretty good today and was thinking about trying to bridge up on at the top on the climb, but decided it was too risky. Pressure was still off and I rested up taking my "free ride".

The course was changed this year due to a bridge being out, so we ended up looping around at a rotary and could actually see the break coming on the other side of the road toward us. Made it interesting but also motivated the pack to pick up the speed a bit. Badger's group was holding the gap pretty well still, but as we hit the grinding climbs before the last "lap" their gap came down significantly. The front pack finally caught Badger's small group at the bottom of the last time up the 2 mile climb (they had been away for 40 miles). Not the best place to get caught after their hard effort. Ouch!!! I wanted to lead it up the climb this time and went straight to the front. At some point I got a gap and kept it steady but hard. The gap got a bit bigger on the climb, so I made a few harder efforts to see what would happen. Joe Reagan (a strong rider and good climber) got up to me very slowly and at the top the two of us had maybe 10 seconds (not much really). Joe and I decided to keep it going and it worked out pretty well as the gap grew steadily. I heard 45 seconds at some point. We had about 18 miles left before the finish with some grinders and really fast stretches. Fortunately, Joe and I worked well together both taking our turns in the rotation. As we hit the turn-around (rotary) heading back to the start/finish line, we could see 3 guys trying to get away from the pack and then the pack heading toward us on the other side of the road. Still seemed like we had a nice little gap but still had some miles left. We ended up keeping our gap, and I just barely came by Joe at the finish. It was pretty late and not exactly a huge crowd cheering, but it still felt good to finally win one.

Badger fought hard to get back and managed a very respectable 8th despite his earlier efforts.

1st and 8th for us and, perhaps even more important, a great group of guys to be riding with.