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The Tour of Somerville is the longest running race in North America. I have been planning to attend this race for about the last five years, but this is the first time I actually made it to Somerville. The weather was sunny and really hot. The course is completely flat, fast, four corner, over 2 kilometer loop. Apparently the loop was extended from previous years, leaving the front and back straightaways at probably at least 800 meters long. The field was an excessive 198 riders strong, but the course was wide open so it was not too big of a deal.

The plan for the day consisted of watching Navigators because it was their race to lose. We knew a break would not stay away without at least one of the Navigators riders in it. In the likely event that the race came down to a field sprint, we were to try and set up Evan (though he got off the plane the day before, so his condition was questionable) and Cody.

The race was fast and furious and no breakaway ever had more than a few hundred meters on the field. The 80 kilometer race went by fairly quickly once we got into a rythm. Getting into the wind was hard, so I followed wheels as much as possible and only hit the wind to cover attacks from dangerous riders. Everyone on the team took their turn covering moves and Cody was the only one to make it into the most promising break of the day, which I believe stayed away for a whole two laps.

With ten laps to go Jesse told us to get to the front and set up for a field sprint. Evan got on the radio and said he did not feel good and that his gears were skipping, and told us to look after Cody. By this time fatigue was setting in and I really had to grit my teeth to get to the front. This sprint was chaotic and it was hard to stay in contact with my teammates.

I think I got up to Cody on at least three seperate occasions but was pushed away by the mass of riders around also trying to move up. This was discouraging, but seeing my other teammates burying themselves motivated my to try again and again. The last few laps were very fast as Navigators set up their lead-out train on the front and ramped up the pace.

With two to go I was near our team train and going about flat out to move up, but I was almost there. I just wanted to give at least one good pull…Coming around for one to go I was on the far right side of the pack when some riders swerved out. It was a close call but I moved out of the way fast enough. Unfortunately, the rider behind me did not swerve fast enough and my rear derailleur either hit his shoe or his front wheel. Either way, my bike shifted into the hardest gear and would not shift after that, and that was all I had. I pulled off in time to roll around to see the sprint.

The team did a great job of setting Cody up and he pulled out a good sprint to finish 8th. We all stayed upright and got a top ten for the day so I would call it a success. I learned a little more about moving up in a chaotic field sprint, so hopefully I can use that in the future to be a more useful teammate.

Tim

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