The 2009 Green Mountain Stage Race was a great success for the Reynold Cycle riders. Overall we gained a lot of experience that we are hoping will help us do very well in the overall finish at next year's race. From the moment we got in the mountainous area of Vermont we knew the race was going to be extremely difficult, with hills greater than we had all seen before. We got there Thursday evening with the first stage being Friday morning.
The first stage was a tough 9.2k individual time trial that started with 3.5k of climbing, and then flats before a short uphill finish. Many riders finished in very fast times and Chris Balestrini was nicely placed in the top 20 on GC.
The second stage was 54k and would see the first points be awarded for the green jersey and KOM jersey. 15kms into the stage a large freak crash caused a big pileup of about 20 riders, close to 1/3 of the field. Unfortunately, Reynold Cycle rider, Chris Ling was caught in it and was unable to finish the stage with some major cuts to the arm and hand. Luckily Chris Balestrini and Andrew Scollard made it through and both finished the stage, Chris B in the chase group and Andrew S a few minutes farther back.
The third stage was what would most likely decide the GC, with 120kms of riding over two large Gaps, including the finish at the summit of the Appalachian Gap at approximately 2400ft. The pace was very quick from the start with many riders trying to get in a breakaway, but Andrew Scollard and Chris Balestrini were saving there energy for later in the stage. On the first KOM climb, the Brandon Gap, a 7k mountain with average gradient just over 7%, Chris Balestrini was well placed, crossing with the lead group who had let a 3 man break get away. Andrew Scollard had fallen off the back of the group a few k from the summit. On the descent a small crash seperated the field and the attacks continued. Then up the second KOM climb, Chris Balestrini was still right there with the leaders and was feeling very strong, but on the descent he crashed extremely hard on a gravel patch and was scraped up from head to toe. He fought hard to chase back, but his injuries were causing serious pain, and he still had 40k to ride. He finished hard up the App Gap a 8k climb with the grade at the top of 20%, it was actually crazy, like Andrew Scollard was going 5km/h on some of it, that's how hard it was, (and hes not a climber, lol). Anyways he had an amazing ride just by finishing and Andrew Scollard finished pretty far back on the stage riding over 60kms solo, but failed to make the time cut. Chris Balestrini's injuries were pretty bad, so no Reynold Cycle riders participated in the 4th stage criterium.
All in all, it was a successul trip as we all experienced racing like never before, he stayed at an awesome ski resort, the Bridges, ate lots of good food, and just had a great time and an awesome end to their summer. We will definitely be going back next year! One thing we did miss in the US was our Tim Hortons, so right when we got back to Canada MOnday night we stopped there and got some coffee and timbits!
