Sunapee Road Race, Cat 4, Mike DelRossi, May 20
NEBC riders, in no particular order:
Mike DelRossi
Joe Jussaume
Geoff Martin
Julian Gent
Kurt Johnson
Roy Van Cleef
John Broussard
Darrell Morrow
Greg Brown
(did I miss anyone??)
Wow, what a mix of emotions at the end of this race. While I’m excited about taking another win, it’s difficult to celebrate knowing that all but one of my teammates were caught in a crash and couldn’t be there to contest the finish. I’m sure we would have had at least 3 guys in the top 10. Sorry guys.
This race was all about the hills. They weren’t too long, and not too steep, but there were lots of them. Thinking about it now, I’m having trouble remembering any significant flat section of road. I stayed pretty close to the front for most of the race, so I’m not sure how spread out things got but I suspect a few people were having some trouble at the back. The climbers kept the pace pretty high, and the hills kept coming one after another.
Of particular note is Geoff Martin’s superhuman shenanigans. Geoff went off the front with two(?) other guys right at the beginning. He held it off for quite a while and when he finally came back through the pack he looked pretty toasted. I gave him a pat on the back as I went by and was met with a surprisingly lively “cheers”. 20 minutes later when I looked up to see an NEBC rider out on the front of the race I was quite surprised to catch a glimpse of the green Bianchi through the crowd. Geoff recovers well apparently. Nice work Geoff!
The big crash (which was bad enough to summon an ambulance I hear) happened well into the 2nd lap. The crash occurred pretty close to the front (20 back or so) and split the race up completely. I actually had no idea there had been a crash until a little later. I glanced over my shoulder on one of the last climbs to see that I was among a group of 15 riders. I would have assumed that we split the race up on the climbs if not for the absence of a few guys who should have been there (Roy and John, certainly). I suspected something had happened. Fortunately Joe made it out in front of the crash with me and was a huge help at the finish. A couple of the other teams were working me pretty hard on the final climbs and Joe was able to keep me in position and out of the wind on the final stretch of road toward the finish. I went around the rotary in an ideal position 3 or 4 back from the front, and fairly well recovered. Thanks again Joe!
Anyway, I hope nobody was hurt in the crash. A few of you I saw after the race, but a few I didn’t. John had a little blood and some seriously messed up wheels, but seemed ok (John, if you have to buy new wheels I’ll gladly pitch in my $50 winnings). Roy and Julian managed not to go down, but couldn’t get out of the jam. How bout everyone else…everyone ok?
Congrats to Michael Good for his 3rd place finish in the 5 race. This was Michael’s first road race. Thanks Les for lending him a jersey; it came in handy at the end!
Mike D