Fast and furious, the Base Camp International bike race in Basking Ridge, NJ is always the last fitness marker before the historic Philadelphia International Championship. With full squads from UHC, Smartstop, Predator, Optum, Jamis, Champion System Pro and Jelly Belly, is was full gas right from the get go.
I had terrible sensations for most of the race today after waking up this morning healthy for the first time in 2.5 weeks, so it was up to the other guys to fire the cylinders early. That they did and numerous times the race shattered in large, dangerous groups of 15 riders. Each time, our guys stacked those moves and it is very unfortunate that they didn't stick as it would have nicely put UHC on the backfoot.
In the finale, I finally came around and felt like I could breathe again (it's been a rough couple weeks at St. Louis) and slotted into 10th in the sprint, despite lots of peloton-splitting crashes in the final few laps. Thomas and Clay followed closely behind to place three riders in the top 15. It was nice to feel good again while riding my bike, at least for the last ten minutes of the race. Now it's time to rest and prepare for the sauna that Philadelphia will be this year. Thanks for following!
This video now has sound...hurray!
Labels: Road Report
