Staffo Victory at Bristol

I got my first win in quite a while at the Bristol Mountain in the 35+ race. There were about 40 riders with a large contingent of Canadian riders. The only one I was really familiar with was Dave Gazi (Ultralink), a very strong rider who is always in the results. My good friend Scott Dorfman pointed out a couple of other strong Canadians at the start line. My teammate Kevin Mahoney took an early go about 3 minutes into the race. Duncan Douglas (Park Avenue Bikes) bridged to Kevin not long after. They came to the first hill which was a long gradual drag with 2 steep steppers. I saw Duncan had gapped Kevin, who is having some back issues lately and is not feeling like his usual self. When I hit the first part of the hill I decided it was time to go and took off in pursuit of Duncan. I brought 1 of the Canadians Scott had pointed out to me (Cavanaugh) with me. I turned the screws a little to see what Cavanaugh had, I looked back to see that I had gapped him. I picked up Kevin who took some nice pulls to give me a chance to rest a little I made contact with Duncan and the 2 of us were off. A group of 4 (including Gazi and Cavanaugh) bridged to us at the beginning of the last lap. Coming up the finishing drag I was able to outsprint my breakaway partners for the win.

Bear Mountain is a great race an a fantastic course. I rode hard all day and got myself in a couple of non-successful moves the first 2 laps. On the 3rd lap a group of 6 of us got a good gap and built up what I thought was a good lead. We were caught by the pack with about 5 miles to go. I finished with the lead group but did not have much left for the sprint. I have decided not to do Syracuse this year as I will head up to St. Catherine's for the Niagara Classic on Sunday. Should be a good hard race. After that I will do ESG qualifiers, Balloon Festival, and then the infamous Housatonic Hills (can't wait)!!