July 21-26th
Riders: Alister Ratcliff, Thom Coupe, Steve Weller, Josh Dillon, Nick Keough, Eric Schildge
After having a few NRC races under our belt this season we all decided it would be best to set out for Bend, Oregon a few days early to get accustomed to the area. Unfortunately for this race, being there early didn't help all that much as coming from sea level to altitude takes atleast a week to become acclimatized. Anyways, we were all physced to be there early and having 3 people to support us throughout the week made us feel a little better. Mike, a friend from Vermont who has been helping out all season made the trip. Also, Todd Nordbloom our team manager came out with a friend from College, Jared. All of them brought their "A" game for the feed zones and in the brutal heat i don't think we missed any essential feeds all week. Thanks alot guys.
The first couple stages were not great for our team as we tried super early on the first couple stages to make the break. We came up short with the breakaway's going later in the stages then most would have thought. We missed the critical break the first day which put our GC hopes out of the window. We kept on trying the rest of the week to get into the moves but seemed to always just come up one move to soon.
Also, some misfortune throughout the race didnt help; a flat at the bottom of the finishing climb on stage 2 for Josh, a lost chainring during the time trial which unfortunately put Thom out of the race, and a crash near the finish of stage 4 didn't help me out. Coming from the Tour of Quebec on such a high note, we didn't have a good week at Cascade but we were still thinking positive as being there for the entire week led us to become acclimatized a little better than people flying in for just nationals.
Overall, the team made a very good adjustment to the race. Originally with plans to aim high on the GC standings, the team did well to adapt to the tough racing conditions by putting itself in situations off the front where numbers were more in favor. After this tough week of racing is was striking how little the results tell the story of race unfoldings. I was proud of the way that the team raced aggressively and was present in the majority of the moves every day. We had the choice to sit in and take a handful of 40th places but instead we raced the same event and program as the pro teams and the pieces just didn't fall into place this time around. I am very excited to apply these lessons and tacticts to New England racing in the coming month.
