Bull's Eye! West Branch Race Report

The race started out with three non-BISSELL riders rolling off the front a few miles into the race. Knowing that bridge attempts by BISSELL would cause a hard chase and possible harder counter, we sat in the pack and let the gap grow. There were a few attempted bridges from other riders but as expected there was a furious chase and then an immediate speed drop once the front of the chase knew they did not get away. Then at about 15 miles in, we took a right turn that took us into a pretty fierce cross wind. So I decided to give it a good effort in the gutter and see who could follow. Surprisingly, after about a minute of head down pedal mashing I glanced back to see that there was only 1 rider on my wheel. This was good news to me as I did not want to drag the whole pack up to the break. Additionally, with 5 guys in the break and none on the same team, there would be no pressure on any individual to make it work. Once Alan (Essex Brass) and I made contact, the 5 man group started working together pretty well. However, after a few miles it became obvious that the 5 man group was not going to stay a 5 man group. Over the next lap the 5 man break reduced to just myself and Alan, the guy that bridged up with me originally. We discussed the situation and decided to work to see how long we could stay away. This would help the BISSELL team should we have gotten caught since they would have been able to sit in while we were off the front. As fortune would have it, we were never caught and I was able to separate from Alan going up the hill to the finish line in the last mile. Additionally, since the BISSELL boyz had little pressure through out the race, Derrick Graham was able to separate from the pack at 1 lap to go to take 3rd. Gentel Ben followed up in 5th too.


Good work to all BISSELL riders.