Nowak Report: Tokeneke Road Race

After storming through May and June with the team Will had to head back East for work. Fortunately for us he’s back in the saddle and joining us for the Glencoe Grand Prix and Winfield Criterium Weekend.

Today was the New England RR championships, otherwise known as the Tokeneke road race. It is an awesome course- a 22 mile loop around a reservoir in northern CT with 2100 ft of climbing per lap. This was my first race since Tour de Grove. I was unsure what to expect. I have been riding a lot, but with little intensity, so I was worried that I would be out the back once the accelerations started.

56 starters lined up for the P/1/2 race- we were slated for only 3 laps, but with 6300 ft of climbing, it would not be an easy 66 miles. The race started off chill enough, and I was watching Emerson Oronte of the Independent Fabrication team. My director from 2008 told me that he was the rider to watch. I watched him, but unfortunately, I watched him ride away from me only 10 miles into the race. Oronte and three other riders absolutely lit up this climb/ false flat. I tried to follow and was quickly passed by the majority of the peloton. I was nervous that my race was over only 10 miles in! I kept it steady and was able to rejoin the main group over the top, but the leaders were already long gone.

With that display of power, and no dominant team to bring them back, I assumed we were racing for 5th place. The race went on with more of the same. Mostly just hard tempo riding on the hills, but on the last lap the attacks began in earnest. The break had dwindled to two riders (Oronte and my old teammate- Justin Lindine of Bikereg), and their gap was falling slightly. I was feeling better and tried a few digs of my own, but they went nowhere. My stomach was cramping badly, but I tried to keep it together for the finish. I forgot to mention that the finish was on a 2.2 mile, 5% climb that we did each lap. We flew down the descent and then started climbing. My legs and stomach were responding well, and I was able to mark all of the attacks. We neared the crest of the hill, and everyone hesitated. I shifted to the big ring and went for it, only to look up and see the finish line much further away than I would have liked. I dug deep and I was only passed by one rider in the end, so I finished a solid 4th. Decent.

I was the 3rd best placed New England rider, so I guess I got bronze in that classification. It was fun to see some of my old friends and teammates, and it was a nice, hard day of racing. With a little more intensity in my workouts, I am confident that I will have the top end and fitness I need to help the team at Glencoe and Winfield. I will be back this week, and am really looking forward to seeing all the guys again!

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