Loudon, NH

The Turtle Pond Circuit Race is like New England’s version of the Omloop Het Volk: a subdued first test of the classics season. Comprised of 6 laps of an 11.4-mile loop with a 1.5km climb done on every lap, the distance and the topography seem stratospheric to a peloton whose collective memory still contains fresh images of 3-hour trainer rides done in dank basements.

Kenda/Raleigh brought a squad of seven to Loudon, NH to contest the race put on by the MetLife Cycling Team. Although the weather report had initially signalled a raw and wet day, it was actually relatively nice, albeit a bit chilly. After liberal applications of Greyhound Juice warming salve and a quick team powwow, the team lined up and clipped in for the long day ahead.

After a leisurely climb up the finishing hill, the race seemed to begin almost immediately on the rollers on the back section into a biting headwind. After a few attempts by the team, Eric Tremble managed to plant himself in a move that quickly gained time and headed up the road. Seeing an opportunity, Jason Beerman bridged up and the large move of nine was out of sight, with two Kenda/Raleigh riders ensconced within.

The thought that then circulated through each of the minds of the riders in the break was this: 65 miles to go. With that in mind, everyone did an even share of the work, and the efficiency of the paceline quickly led to a three, then a four minute time gap back to the field. As the laps ticked away, riders slowly fell off the pace, especially when NERAC’s Aidan Charles pushed the pace up the finishing hill at the end of lap four. Lap five saw a further whittling of the break, as the front group went over the top of the climb on the bell lap with only five guys. After even pulls for half a lap, Fiordifrutta’s Josh Dillon put in an acceleration and a 5 second gap opened up. This dropped the other two riders in the group, and Charles and Beerman waited a moment too long to respond. For the final four miles before the finishing climb, Charles and Beerman chased Dillon, who was maintaining his five second advantage. At the base of the hill, Dillon had a ten second advantage and that proved to be enough as he held off Charles and Beerman at the finish.

Kenda/Raleigh finished the weekend with two podium places and looks forward to next weekend’s Tour of the Battenkill, the largest single day race in the US.

Full results are here.