Race: Tokeneke Classic Road Race 2011 - New England Regional Road Race Championships

Team: Steve Weller, Evan Burkhart, Max Korus, Robin Carpenter, Peter Hurst, Alister Ratcliff, Josh Dillon

Result: Dillon wins as BikeReg.com / Cannondale puts 4 in the top 10

http://www.bikereg.com/Results/2011/08/14-Tokeneke-Road-Race.asp

Riders: MaxKorus, Robin Carpenter, Justin Lindine, Evan Burkhart, Josh Dillon and AlisterRatcliff

Results: 1stoverall, 3rd overall, 4th overall! Winner of KOM competition, winner of team classification.  2 stage wins, a 2nd place, and 3 3rd placefinishes.

http://www.tourofthecatskills.com/the-race/

A large and verytalented bikereg.com/cannondale squad lined up for the 2011 tour ofthe catskills.  We had an amazing guestrider and previous bikereg rider Justin Lindine join us and play aninstrumental role in claiming victory.

The race startedwith a 12 mile time trial for the first stage. We took 3rd, 4th, and 7^th, putting us in great shape withplenty of cards to play for the road races. 

The first roadstage we made sure to be represented in early breaks. However, the strong LouisGarneau squad from Canada was determined to keep the race together.  We sat tight and waited until near the finalclimb of the day, the infamous "Devils Kitchen".  All six of us went on the front going intothe base of the climb and launched myself and Josh for overall victory of thestage and also claiming the lead in the race. Usually when you take first and second place it cant get muchbetter.  However we really showedeveryone else how good we were when Max rode away from the chase group and camein solo for third place.  We swept thepodium and put fear in the rest of the race!

The final stagewas the most difficult of the weekend both tactically as well as physically.  I made ofound myself in an early break thatseemed dangerous due to other gc contenders along with my teammates justinlindine and robin carpenter.  Howeverwith such a large number of riders,  noone cooperated and the field brought us back. My teammates were attentive and both made it into the move that wentaway for the day.  The field played arather conservative approach to the rest of the day and we let the break gain asizable gap, always with the intention of keeping it in check for the overall.  Before we realized it the gap jumped tonearly 8 minutes.  Max, Josh, and I wentstraight to work.  We brought all butthree of the break riders back (two of which were BikeReg.com / Cannondaleteammates).  Up the road, Robin Carpentercollected all the prizes of the KOM and the stage.  We kept the overall and hung on to 3rd and 4thoverall. 

Saturday July 23, 2011

Team: Robin Carpenter, Josh Dillon, Peter Hurst

Result: Robin and Josh go One-Two

http://www.bikereg.com/Results/2011/07/23-Tour-of-the-Hilltowns.asp

The tour of the Hilltowns started and finished inNorthwestern Massachusetts on Notchview reservation.  The courseincluded a preliminary loop of about 60 miles and a second loop where we wouldclimb Hawley Road, a guaranteed decisive section of the race. The days break of 4 went from mile 0, and they quickly racked up morethan a minute. The peleton was still active with attacks and counterattackscoming throughout the race.  The team was active at the front making surethat we were represented in any dangerous moves since we had no representationin the early break.  With 5k to go to the intermediate climb I snuck off thefront with two other guys. We got away clean and quickly put more than 30seconds into the peleton.  We hit the base of the climb and I struck outon my own dropping my two breakmates and soon catching and passing anothergroup of three that included Powers, a clear favorite.  Close to the top thepeleton was within 30 secs of me, but josh bridged up and we worked together tocatch the break which had been whittled down to two riders.  We workedwell together with Josh directing the pace and gained 2 mins on peleton at thebase of the final climb. Josh attacked first but the two other riders werestill able to match his pace. He kept it hot for another minute and then Iattacked going away clean. I got about a 10 secs gap before Josh attacked againand bridged up. We rode the last 5 k together and came through the finishtogether.