Hamburg, NY — Fred Bulken, Rob Chimento, Scott Stewart, and David Tate made the sojourn to western New York for the Hamburg Road Race presented by the Buffalo Bicycling Club to race in the category 3/4 field. The team’s goal was to set up Stewart for the sprint and possibly try a mid race break with Bulken. The course is a very fast 14 mile circuit with some rollers, a long sustained low grade climb, a short punchy climb which is quickly followed up by a very long descent bringing you back into the town of Hamburg before turning onto a flat section which will then rise to 3% at the finish.
The day was defined by heavy cross winds on the long roller section and the downhill side of the course. On the first lap, attempts by opponents to get away were all brought back . On the lumpy section of lap two, a solo rider from team Local Openers pedaled easily off the front and everyone was content to let that happen, thinking that he wouldn’t stay away for long in the strong winds. He proved to be very strong and had teammates sitting on the front to block. Only riders from Beer Tree Cycling along with the Chimps’ own Rob Chimento would move to the front to attempt to reduce the gap. Unfortunately, the chase would keep getting disrupted when no one else would pull through.
Arriving at the punchy hill on lap three, Fred and Scott jumped into a chase group with a rider from Snakebite Racing out of Ohio. They stayed away for quite sometime but then the peloton caught up to Bulken with the Snakebite rider staying out ahead. Chimento, Tate and (mainly) the Beer Tree team hammered on the front to reel Snakebite back before it was too late.
First place was out of sight, but the Chimps didn’t want Snakebite to walk away with second. The long down hill— speeds at a constant 35-40mph for 6 miles or so— made for a constant battle for the front as no one wanted to be at the back of the accordion coming into the final turn. The Chimps made it through the turn in a great position, though not without significant effort. Chimento and Tate were on each other’s wheels, sitting between 340-400 watts for the final mile and a half. By now, Snakebite had been caught, so the sprint would be for 2nd and 3rd.
Coming up to the finish Tate pulled off leaving Chimento the last in front of Stewart who was just a couple wheels behind. Stewart went on to take fifth overall (4th in the bunch sprint).
The team executed pretty well overall, and with bunch sprints like that it’s just tiny little details and half second decisions that are the difference between the podium spots.
David Tate
Gotta be pleased with our efforts, and we’re learning with each race like this, how critical positioning and timing are. Good choice to opt in for the 3/4 as it challenged us in a way we needed.
Rob Chimento
