The Lucarelli & Castaldi Branch Brook Series (Newark, NJ) is our region's annual return to bicycle racing. The series consists of five criterium races over five weeks, culminating in the Cherry Blossom Challenge this past Saturday, April 6th. We were excited to break out our 2024 men's elite team to set the stage for the upcoming season.

One racer we've been eager to see in our kit is Alex St. Andre of Westport, CT. Alex comes to us by way of cycling coach Mike Norton and he's going to be quick to remind us that he's been warning us about Alex's potential. We didn't have to wait long as Alex quickly grabbed control of the overall series lead, a position he held until the penultimate race.

Sam Smith returned from travel and training in Portugal, and quickly won consecutive, back-to-back races at Branch Brook to put himself in second place in the overall standings right behind his new teammate. While the series final at the Cherry Blossom Challenge didn't completely go our way, the team did enough to put Sam on top of the podium as the 2024 Branch Brook Series champion, with Alex in second place overall. They became the first Bike Works p/b Fred Beans athletes to podium at Branch Brook since Jason Wood (Lansdale) won the series in 2016. We're gonna take that as a great omen going into the big races ahead. Congrats Sam and Alex! Full results here.