Nancy Morgenstern Memorial 2010 Fall Bear Mountain Road Race Report

The Master’s Field completed 56 miles (4 laps) on this beautiful course that included a few rollers and one long gradual climb. The TARGETRAINING cast included Badger (Captain), Max Lippolis (Maxi), and Ed Angeli (Special Ed) that’d be me.

Right from the “gun”, Robert Latanzzi (Westwood Velo) rode away solo and got a pretty good lead on the field. A brave early move, but a pretty strong wind and the fact that no-one joined him would make his move very unlikely to succeed. However, he did have a pretty large team waiting and resting in the wings while the rest of the field tried to keep Rob in check. The field was careful to keep him in check and closed the gap, after a good chunk of miles had passed, catching him on the long climb.

Badger, Max, and I were careful not to expend too much energy in the chase while contributing some to keeping things together. Badger was very “Captain-like” asking us to stay calm and hold back a bit longer. Good advice!!! Max did some steady tempo on the long climb, and I did a little too. There were a few attacks after Rob got caught but the field wasn’t letting anyone get far because most were attacking on the downhill/flat sections where people felt relatively fresh and were willing to chase. Despite "Captains" orders, Max and I tried too but couldn’t get anything going.

Before the race, I told Max that I wanted to try to get away on one of the smaller climbs. As we approached the final lap of the race (about 15 miles left), I decided to give it a try. Didn't really attack just upped the pace when people started getting tired about 3/4 up a short hill. Kept it hard up and over the top and a few guys joined and that was it. We built up a pretty good lead as we hit the long climb for the final time.

At the top on the long climb, I found myself with Carl Reglar (Team Danbury Audi/Pedal) and Kurt Gustafsson (CRCA/AXIS). It appeared to me that they were a bit more tired than I was as they seemed to struggle to pull through to take their turn at the front. Carl was still doing some work at the front but Kurt was not. I talked to Kurt, who placed third here in the Spring version, a few miles before the finish and he confirmed that he wasn't going to contest it. Carl was hanging tough but I still felt strong was pretty confident that I had enough to beat him to the line on this particular day. I also felt motivated knowing that either Max or Badger could have won. I didn’t want to let them down.

I lead it up the final short climb before the finish with Carl on my wheel and jumped at 200 meters and managed to cross the line with a little breathing room. I couldn't believe I had won another one. Turned around and watched Max put in a good result as well.

Ed