Fitchburg Wrap

Not good enough on the Princeton climb and I plummeted in the GC. Pretty disappointing since I should be able to make that modest selection. Sure it was hard, harder than past years due to the absence of the finishing climb, but it was basically a bunch sprint of 50 riders. I am quite strong in general power riding but when it comes to drilling it up a short climb I am sorely lacking - and this allocation just doesn't cut it in road racing. Thus the fitness trading concept... I will trade you some power on the flats if you can give me some zing for the hills. Voluntary exchanges and everyone is better off, efficiency maximized. Worked for a complicated problem like SO2, why not fitness deficiencies? Suffered from demoralization in the crit - I wasn't going to get dropped but when I made one attack and saw how windy it was then I gave up on breakaway ambitions and pretty much wallowed in 50th place. When I heard the motorcycle right behind me I would move up lackadasically. Not good. Lip Smackers kept Evelyn in the jersey and Tina Pic took the stage win again. The men's crit was astonishing - local hero Will Dugan procured the sprint jersey and the second-place gc rider bridged to the break in the final laps of the race (leader Zirbel's team having combusted in the chase) to seize the overall win. Wow! Great racing for Fitchburg's 50th!