By Mike Giudici and John Harrington
4/15/2007

John Harrington and I did a great race yesterday - Finchford-Roubaix. We did the 50-60 category and there were probably 20-25 in our group. It was nice not being lumped in with the 40+ group. It was 32 miles on a 5.3 mile circuit. Rolling small hills. John was right up at the front the whole time. I stuck with the lead group until the first corner on the last lap and ran outn of gas trying to get back on. Well organized race. Lots of food at the end for the riders. We should do that for our races. John placed for sure and I may have been in the money. We didn't stick around to find out. Long drive. I need to get better going around corners at high speed. Burned a lot of matches catching back on after the turns. Did much better by the end of the race. Tough racing against all these retired guys who get to ride every day. We did DICE pround and John Adamson personally thanked us for coming up.

Mike Giudici

I agree. The race was well organized, pavement was good and the turns were not technical. The slight uphill finish was a plus. While the late entry fee was steep, the loads of post race food/drinks and deep (1-7) awards for each category (ex 5 and Jr's) made it worthwhile. The 50/60's were occasionally organized with several breakaway attempts, but the combo of some headwind, repeated successful chases and long rests after the breaks kept the lead group together until the final sprint. For the first time, I felt great and was comfortable with the lead group. But...I need to remember to go wide on final turns to prevent being boxed in...very important for us non-sprinters! Anyway, 5th place covered the entry fee and then some.

John Harrington