By Thomas Pennell (CRCA/Blue Ribbon/Translations.com)

For those who were on another planet or were otherwise out of town on Saturday, the weather was lousy as usual for the Bear Mt race – foggy, rainy, windy and 45 degrees at the start.

Not surprisingly, it was strung out on the first climb up Tiorati. Memory is a bit hazy here, but I recall David Taylor (CRCA/Blue Ribbon/Translations.com) was on the initiating side of things and about 6 guys were away as we neared the reservoir/lake/whatever it is at the top of Tiorati, less than 4 miles into the race. I sat on as several guys bridged. A bunch of guys were already in serious trouble behind us. Then the lead group lost its momentum and it all came together a bit before the first traffic circle. Clearly this wasn’t going to be an easy day.

@##=#<1,r>@##=#On the flat shortly thereafter Paul “Rock Star” Carbonara (CRCA/Axis) did a nice solo attack, like a shot. Taylor wasn’t about to sit idly with the exciting prospect of a 52 mile break ahead of him, so he bridged. That lit a fire under Doug O’Neill’s (Cranford Bike Shop/CTS) behind and he bridged as well. No one else showed much interest, and a gap opened quickly. When a couple of guys tried to bridge I sat on and they eventually eased up. Then I took the front for what must have been the next 5 or 6 miles, setting enough of a tempo to thwart others from taking the front into the wind, but definitely going slowly enough to let the gap grow. Some guys finally came around me near the feed zone.

At the U Turn at the bottom of the down hill Taylor’s break had 1:45. Perfect. I was covering moves, but no one had made a truly concerted effort. After a couple of brief attacks, Andy Ruiz (CCB/Volkswagen) took the front on the way up Tiorati, and I sat on. Then we saw Doug O’Neill standing with his flat tire by the side of the road halfway up the climb. Ruiz said “Oh now…that changes everything” with a grin, and he truly looked like hewas licking his chops. I knew too that meant Taylor’s (now) two-man break wasn’t going to make it. The pace lifted.

When a group got to Taylor and Carbonara several miles later, there were about a dozen of us. When a few guys attacked Taylor warned me it was dangerous (he yelled it out – “Thomas, that’s dangerous!” alerting all within about 100 yards…) because, I later learned, it contained John McKone (CCB/Volkswagen), so I bridged but only sat on.

It came back together for another several miles. Then on the Lake Welch climb (?) Ruiz attacked. I went with him and we immediately started working together. Another guy, Coleman O’Connor (MBRC/Bicycle Link), was off the front (this guy had been aggressive the whole second lap and had rolled off the front solo a bit earlier). John Funk (Fiora di Frutta/Ridgefield Bank) bridged to me and Ruiz, and we knew we had a promising move. With 30 miles to go, I wasn’t fully expecting it to last, but I knew Taylor would be in anything coming up behind us and I thought it was worth giving it everything.

The four of us worked together well for the next 1 1/2 laps (with me sitting on for a good bit of Tiorati on the last lap, as I was feeling a bit cooked) and then Andy Ruiz took off and won with a solo effort in the last 8 miles. He won by nearly two minutes. Very impresssive. In the last couple of miles we started dogging it in my 3 man move. In the end, John Funk got me by a wheel and I got O’Connor by a length (or a wheel or something). Given how cooked we were and that we were three climbers, it was, I expect, a sprint of comedy-like slowness for any one who could witness it through the fog.

Good hard racing.