Tri-State Velo

Dates: 4/9-4/10 -- Riders Present: Mike Attie(author) , Tucker Brown, Rich Kloslinski, Mike Koons, Mark Nielson, Neal Stansbury

The Philadelphia 2-Day consists of 2 races, the first a flat 50 mile circuit race, the second a bumpy 40 mile crit. Our plan was to do our best to control the race, making sure we always had at least one rider in any break.

Day 1: The course was a smooth figure-8 circuit. The attacks were constant but the pace was relatively slow. The non-technical course made it easy to sit-in and move around the pack. The team did a great job of controlling the race. Every move that went off the front had a TSV rider in it and if it didn't we chased it down in a matter of minutes. Early in the race I went got into a 3 man break that stayed out for a few laps. Upon getting caught Rich launched a counter-attack that stayed out for a while. Right when he was about to get caught Rich went again and made what was to be the winning move. Once Rich's break got over a minute lead the team changed it's tactics from defensive to offensive; soon Neal and Tucker were in a four man group off the front. In the end Rich picked up 4th place and Neal got 8th.

Day 2: This course lacked hard turns but was quite bumpy, not enough to ruin wheels or cause crashes, but enough to keep you on edge. Our goal for day 2 was to not let anything get away unless it had Neal or Rich in it. (The event was scored on cumulative points over the 2 days.) This event was certainly faster than the previous day, but everything stayed together. Tucker made a promising move at the end, but got caught with a 1/2 lap to go. In the dash to the line Neal picked up 3rd place to move up to 5th overall. Rich finished in the top 20 and ended up in 8th place.

Not a bad debut for the team. We all left the event feeling excited for the races to come...