The team would like to thank the town of Vernon Hills and the RDS Cycling Team for once again hosting an excellent event just outside of Chicago. Only two of our riders, Chip Gray and Chad Chenoweth, made the event, but both of them raced with the aggression and strong tactics that are the hallmarks of Team Get A Grip Cycles. According to Chad, the move of the day was foiled from within:
"The Vernon Hills course is pretty flat, but there was enough of a wind to make things interesting. The plan was for me to be as aggressive as possible and for Chip to hang back and wait for a sprint. If either of us got into a good position, then the other would work for him by blocking, leading out, etc. Things were pretty much on from the start with a pretty high pace and lots of attacks. I attacked early in the race and drew out a rider from Trek-Vitawater and one from ABD. We worked well together, but it was just too early and we only lasted about one lap. After that it took me a little while to recover, but Chip was there to patrol the front in the meantime. With about ten or fifteen minutes to go the front of the field really started to get ragged and was splitting apart. Chip and I both found ourselves caught in the middle. We each did a big turn for the other and ended up making the split of about ten riders. I went straight to the front and did as much work as I could hoping to keep Chip as fresh as possible, and I believe he took a few turns also. In the end however, the split was just a little too big and there were too many guys trying to sit on. We got caught with about 2.5 or 3 to go. After that I was totally smoked and finished off the back. I think Chip ended up with a pack finish.
If anyone read the XXX race report, the writer had a good point that if XXX had not been attacking the break constantly we might have stayed away. I don't think anyone was strong enough at that point to stay away in a small group of 2 or 3. On the other hand, there WERE passengers so the best scenario would have been for one of us to go with one of those attacks. I just didn't have the legs, maybe next time."
Photo of the break courtesy of JK and Burnham Racing's Trek/Vitaminwater cycling team.
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