Windiest day I've ever raced... went just south of Rochester NY to the Bristol Mt Road Race.  27 km loop, outbound was 10 k of rolling/descending but with 40-60 kph cross-headwind, second leg started with 2-3 km's of climbing - 5-6% grade, then another rolling 5kms, third leg was about 3 km of climbing that started with a 15% grade for 500m, then 2-6% stairstep climbs, then last leg was stairstepped downhill, with a tailwind, on which we were reaching 85+ kph, into the finish... yikes!

In attendance, 3 big Toronto teams, all with talented guys - Wheels of Bloor, with Cavanaugh and Staff among 6-7 riders, Z-Team with at least Caravaggio, who can climb, and i don't know who else, and Sound Solutions with Vincze and Makarchuk and others...

At the gun, a Z-Team and Bloor go off the front... its none of the a-list guys i don't think, so i let it go, figured i would be heavily marked, and it was super windy, so lets see what happens... thru the first lap, i lay down a couple of test moves, try to go across, but am marked by Cavanaugh and the rest of the field pretty much at every pedal stroke... settle in, ride the long climb near the front, but don't know it yet so took it easy... field split, came back together.  We come thru the start/finish and the gap is 1:50 - wow!

Second lap, i took it easy on the headwind section, but peloton is shredding, only 25 guys... on the first set of climbs, bunch more attacks, hurt the back of the peloton, but i can't get anything going without my markers, so at the base of the big climb, i went to the front and drilled it for the entire thing - didn't look back - figured this was the time to bring the move back and there was a tailwind on most of it, so i was only going to hurt my shadows i figured... once we hit the top, i was a bit gassed, the break was in sight at 15 seconds, and although i'd taken the group down to about 8 riders, Cavanaugh and Caravaggio were still there, and just before the major descent, Staff takes a flyer down the hill, and i literally cannot match his speed on the descent and he bridges - 2 teammates now, and a strong fresh body. Backfire!

Third lap headwind section, i try to work with sound solutions guys just to keep the pace up.  We get to the first set of climbs and they start trying to double team me, figuring they won't be allowed to leave with me, so they start attacking and counterattacking on the climb, and over the top, Makarchuk puts in a big dig, I cover it barely, so do the shadows Cavanaugh and Caravaggio (good teammates - i get it...!), rest of the field is dropped and the 4 of us are now chasing - Ed and i work, the other two sit... and we start to see the break...

At the base of the big climb, Ed crashed (he was ok) and then i drilled it hard all the way up again, but i was running out of gas... and while i was making gains and putting the other 2 in trouble, i couldn't close the gap...  At the top of the climb, they had 15 seconds, and that was it. 5 km of crazy cross-tailwind descending  and Cavanaugh pips me at the line for 4^th - i get 5^th.  Staff took the 3 up sprint for the win - good tactics by Wheels of Bloor, nice job.

Solid day, fun course, crazy nutty in that fun bike racing kind of way.  Tactics were tough, but i had great legs and it bodes well for the real goals upcoming.

Ciao

DG