Approved Team Elite Member

Dean Smith
Cycling, United States

Powerblog

PA State Road Race Championships -- 2nd Place

The PA Masters Championship race on May 22 2010 in Bloomsburg started pretty tame -- the first miles were slow with few attacks, or at least nothing serious.  At about mile 10 things started to stretch out in anticipation of the big steep climb on the 14+ mile circuit that we'd have to do three times, but nobody was shaken loose from the field until the climb when a few dropped off the back.  Several serious attacks went after the climb, and the pace heated up, but again nothing got away.  At mile 17 I jumped, John Spittal (Thru It All), Dave Hilton (PA Masters Cycling Team), Vladimir Borovkov (SignatureCycles/Rockstar Games), a Liberty Cycling guy and one other guy got clear to our collective surprise (hallmarked by Spittal saying "Huh... We have a gap").  Spittal then led the charge, and we rotated through nicely but the Liberty guy and the other guy fell off after the first couple of miles, leaving 4.  Over the next 20 miles we built the gap to 1:23, and shortly after the official gave us that info Hlton came off (he had been struggling for a few miles).  Vladimir was looking strong at that point, and so was Spittal, and I knew were were going to stay clear all the way to the finish.  When we reached the final climb I decided to attack to at least get rid of one of my breakaway partners (funny how quickly the alliances can turn to rivalries!).  Vladimir immediately was 20 lengths back.... but Spittal, who was also gapped, clawed his way back to my wheel.  I punched it a couple more times in the middle of the climb, but couldn't shake Spittal, and with 20 meters to go to the top he attacked and I could barely respond.  He was 10 lengths ahead of me over the top with 400 meters to go, and I couldn't close the gap and rolled across the line for 2nd.  It was a pleasure to ride with such talented athleted and to wear the PowerBar logo to the podium for a silver medal!

Posted By:Dean Smith On 25 May 2010 AT 7:28 | 0 COMMENTS
Topics: General

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LOCATION

Pennsylvania, United States

NETWORKS

Cycling, Athletes/Active Lifestyle

ABOUT ME

I love to ride, love to help other athletes through training and inspiring them in any way…MORE

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