At the ECCC race in Scituate, RI, Mother Nature continued her cruel treatment of New England cyclist trying to have some fun racing a bike this spring. Big kudos to the 35 or so guys (including Downeast Racing's Travis Kroot, Hank Pfeifle, Dan Vaillancourt and Peter Cole) who lined up for the 3 x 24 mile circuit knowing full well that the misery index would be at 100%. Maybe the foul weather put some guys in a foul mood because the pace was punishing right from the gun with the initial undulating hills testing legs early. The ECCC race organizers cooked up a great course on narrow back roads through the Rhoade Island contryside. A big feature was the back to back mile long dirt road sections that had turned soft and slimy due to the persistent rain. If the tricky bike handling didn't get you, the elongated 400 watt demands on the thighs surely did. The dirt sections proved to be a big peloton reducer counting first Pfeifle and then Kroot among its victims. Peter's day came undone courtesy of a flat. The ever professional Vaillancourt stayed up front contributing to the annimated last lap. The 15 guys who made it through the various troubles approached the 300 meter 4% climb to the finish together where it became every man for himself. Dan - the sprinter in blue above - lunged on the pedals while his finely engineered Giant TCR Advanced 1 used all that force to propel Dan from 13th to 3rd in a most hard earned podium finish.
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