Velosports Racing

Double Dare DOMINATE

2011-11-14T20:40:00.000-08:00

Start/Finish Jack-O-Lantern

From the website http://www.pisgahproductions.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=38&Itemid=127:

"Every year an event comes along that tests mental and physical strengths of it's racers like no other. Pisgah Productions proudly presents the hardest (and most fun) thing you will do this year..... the DOUBLE DARE.

On October 29th and 30th, 2011, teams of two riders will race to reach up to 10 checkpoints per day (checkpoints are usually trail intersections, gaps, or other points of interest), two days in a row. The race begins at noon on Saturday and every team must be back before midnight. The race resumes at 6AM Sunday with a time trial and every team must return before 6PM. There will be nothing (no food ar water support) at the checkpoints (excluding the manned mandatory CPs). Every team must carry a reliable digital camera to photograph the landmarks as proof of being there."

Editor's Note: You may also want to read my post on this race from 2008 in order to get the feel of what goes on at this event: http://teamvpc.blogspot.com/2008/10/2008-double-dare.html

I have done this race since 2006 and have had 3 different teammates for it. Last year, while doing the 12-Hour Chainbuster Series in Georgia, I came to know my competition well. So well, that I asked the guy who kept beating me, Mark Sackett, to join me for Double Dare 2010. We did well together, but I was a bit of an anchor at the end of each day and we ended up with a third place. He knew that if I got my nutrition right, that we stood a chance of winning it in 2011. He is a seasoned 24-Hour racer with multiple podium finishes at big races like Burn 24 and the 24 Hours of Georgia. So, he knows what it takes.


Day 1 Passport (which racers receive 5 minutes before the start). Click on picture to enlarge

Mapping the fastest route before hopping on the bikes

On to the first trail (and chasing already)

A few things to note here. First, we were the last to leave the Start area because we wanted to get our route right. We planned to do (in this order): Saddle Gap, Black Mountain, Wagon Road Gap, Mullinax, Laurel Gap, Bear Branch, Trace Ridge, Middle Fork, then Turkey Springs Gap. We would leave Club Gap out there to get on the way back if we had time. Well, before we even got to our first checkpoint (one hour into the race), I flatted. Didn't panic, just rolled with it (and maybe cursed a little losing 5 minutes). Then, 10 minutes later, missed the turn for the trail we needed to be on and wasted another 15 minutes. Got our first checkpoint out of the way, then our second (Black Mountain @ Turkey Pen), then Mark flatted. You're kidding, right? Maybe panicked a little. Anyway, maybe we were just getting rid of our bad luck early.

Another thing you may be asking here while looking at the picture above is, "Why are yall wearing ears on your helmets?" Last year, we lost 2nd place to a 1-hour time costume bonus. We were not gonna let that happen again. Now, "Ears?", you say. Mark and I have both won this other race in Pisgah called The Pisgah Badass (an 8-hour solo event) As a matter of fact, we are the only winners in the 2 years it has been running. So, we were Team BadASS for Double Dare 2011. We also had matching ass tails (almost make out in the next pic) and team t-shirts (see previous pic). That is right, The donkey or ass, Equus africanus asinus. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donkey.

Last thing to note in the pic above is that we are both rockin' Lefty's IN PISGAH. Thank you Cannondale and Youngblood Bicycles!! Flawless performance in one of the roughest pieces of wilderness in the country.

As day 1 went by, Mark continued to remind me to eat. I did and I felt pretty good all day for it. When we got to Bear Branch, we noticed it was a bit later than we had anticipated. We were on hour 7, so we decided to make a route change. We would hit Trace, then roll back to Turkey Spring, skipping Middle Fork. We saw Brad Kee and Matt Fuscoe (winners of at least 2 previous Double Dares and serious contenders) at Trace as well. They also decided to forgo Middle Fork. By the time we climbed to the mandatory checkpoint at Turkey Spring Gap (some 4600' above sea level and within a few miles from the summit of Mount Pisgah), it was 10:30pm, the temperature had dropped to around 25 degrees, and the winds were blowing over the gap at about 35-45 mph!! Now, at the mandatory checkpoint, there are opportunities for bonuses. This one had several options:

For a bonus 1/2 checkpoint, you could either use a slingshot to hit a log 50' away twice, a paper target 100' away once, or eat 2 pickled eggs per teammate over by a nice warm fire out of the gale force winds. Mark doubted that we could hit the targets with such strong winds. Hell, with the way we felt, we'd be lucky not to hit the volunteers manning the checkpoint. We chose the nutritious route near a nice heat source. What they did not tell us was that we had to down all 4 (remember, 2 each) in 60 seconds. Sounds easy, right. Well, if you have ever tried one of these delicacies at your local 7-11, you know that they are so overcooked and dry, that they go down about as easy as if you had to eat a blackboard eraser. Mark was able to literally swallow his just under time. I, on the other hand, was not as adept at such tactics and finished in 90 seconds.

Next, we dropped down Pilot (one of the toughest, fastest descents out there (which I barely remember). We decided to skip Club Gap and made it back right at midnight. Brad and Matt were not so lucky and made it back 7 minutes later and were disqualified. As the promoter put it, they "flew too close to the sun".

After Day 1 last year (2010)

After Day 1 THIS year (this is what proper nutrition looks like after 12 hours in Pisgah)

Got some food, got to sleep like at 1:30 am, and really slept well until....

That's right, Eric (the race promoter) came through at 5am with the cowbell announcing that the race was to resume in 60 minutes. If we did not start on time, we would be DQ'd. Heated some espresso I had made the day before and stored in my Pisgah Works insulated bottle http://www.pisgahworks.com/Hardwear2011.html, ate some Sweet Potato pancakes that I brought http://www.befamilyonline.com/ArticleView.aspx?ArticleID=74, relubed my now frozen chain, grabbed my gear, made sure Mark was ready, and we were off.

Great day, no flats, legs felt great all day, sunny with temps into the lower 60's, great route selection again by Mark, and passing my contenders along the way.

The double checkpoint bonus atop John Rock (see passport details on Day 2 photo)

Feeling like we may actually win this thing at the intersection of Farlow and Daniel Ridge

Even time for a quick nap at Buckhorn Gap shelter


Finishing the race with a 4-mile run to complete the 2nd half of our bonus to John Rock. Mike Pierce (Rock Star award winner) with cold one's in hand and Brad Phillips (third place finisher) making sure we didn't fall over.

Getting heckled by the race promoter. His quote (paraphrased), "that is why I put this event on (to see that exhausted look). Check out my teammate's face just barely in the photo to the left.

Here's how we got here (starting noon on Saturday and finishing 5:15pm on Sunday):

29.25 hours (23.25 hours of racing (either on the bike, pushing the bike up 25% or more grades, or running on foot for bonus checkpoints), 3.5 hours "sleeping", 2.5 hours of either staring into the bonfire wondering what the hell is going on, eating around the bonfire, or getting ready to get back on the bike for more racing)

Velosports Racing take on Oak Ridge

2011-08-09T11:16:00.000-07:00

4:10am alarm brought back memories of spring races with Andy. Being out the door by 4:30 should get me comfortably to the Oak Ridge, TN race. I decided to go the Hot Springs route from Weaverville and it was a nice change of pace. Rolling to the Melton Hill Rowing Course was really nice with the mist over the entire lake. What wasn't nice was the complete lack of toilet paper in the out house from minute zero; glad I brought some shop towels. Andy's message at 23:30 of "see you there" left me hoping that someone was going to race with me - after all, Ryan Newman's bike is apparently made of sugar and didn't show given then 30% chance of rain.

Andy and I did a quick warm-up and lamented our recent decrease in motivation. Come the start though, we both led out a furious pace (...for the neutral 5km...). Right at the start Andy rolled off the front without effort and a Krystal guy shortly followed. Inexplicably the field was content with me setting a false tempo on the front before Jim Bob and Bobby put two-and-two together and said "are you going to let his teammate set the pace?" So a 30sec lead went to zero shortly thereafter. My only mistake in the race was not countering Andy's move with two others who would eventually make the winning break.

The race was four laps of approximately 24km per lap. There was one short climb in the last 3/4 of the lap preceded and followed by rollers, and a short climb to the finish/start of the race/lap. The first time over the 2-3 minute climb we shed almost 1/3 of the group. After the start of the second lap my race was nearly over prematurely as some doofus came blowing by me STRAIGHT when I was just about to turn right onto the next road of the course. I had to go down a hill, back up, and chase for a while before catching the field. Luckily it didn't do any irreparable harm nor did another break escape. Andy dropped back a little to help pace me up. I almost said "F-it" after last week and more bad luck.

On the third lap's climb of the obstacle climb, Andy said "I may not see you again." Fortunately two guys who decided to go to the front on the climb set a false bravado by chatting like they were Contador stuck in a training camp. During this lap we had a time check of three minutes to the leading duo. A teammate of a team of three said "Come on! Do we really want to race for third?!?" Andy and I said, "three minutes? Yea, sure. Sounds good." The poor bastards were all the way from Memphis and clearly had hoped for greater things.

Fourth lap to the last ascension of the climb was as predicted harder than the previous circuits. Myself and two others made it over the top but one moron (ie. one of the idiots with a false bravado) thought it was smart to play games with a short-ish distance to the finish and only three of us off the front of the main group; so we were joined by the rest with Andy - maybe eight or nine others. Going over the rollers and flats towards the finishing hill and hill sprint I stayed to the front and I think Andy was hurting. Nearing the hill I pretended to accelerate hoping to ignite something other than wheel suckers' flaming lips. Hitting the final hill with just over 1K to go I stayed on the front and was a little worried at this point of being in that position. About 300m later I gave a harder and longer acceleration to get people's legs burning and to shake things out. Finally a small selection was being made. Almost to the top before the lesser gradient of about 300-400m to go I accelerated again - one beside me and one just behind. After a bit I looked under me and we made a gap - so it was time for some more games and less brute strength. Homegrown rider passed me and a Clarksville Schwinn/Rapid Transit rider as well. Both going too soon I thought and me feeling strong enough I tucked in for slight time up the slight uphill drag and sprinted around them both for a 5th place finish.

I'm pretty excited with the result since it was a strong uphill finish, a sprint, and me being smart. While I should have made that decisive break, this was good confidence. I finished the race smart and strong. Andy came home 8th which was great given his anticipated resignation prior to the 3rd lap's climb.

Luckily we both finished out of the money and were able to have an early start home

Georgia Cup racing brings team a top 10

2011-04-06T18:44:00.000-07:00

The last two weekends Jimm McElroy and myself have been burning up massive amounts of fossil fuels and forgoing countless hours of sleep to race down in Georgia. Two weeks ago we did the Union City road race and last Sunday we did the Dalton road race. I have to say that these races are pretty well organized and the fees have been reduced substantially this year, even the timing chips are less expensive.

Union City:

There was a field of close to 55 racers with some bigger teams, as is always the case in Georgia. The course was a lollipop with a 14 mile stem and three 15 mile laps on a big loop.

Wanting to be aggressive, we both took positions in the top 20 as the race got underway. Jimm rode at the front and got in a couple of promising moves early on which I tried to block for, along with other people's teammates. However, one man trying to broker deals on the fly can only do so much and eventually these moves were brought back.

30 miles in, Jimm and I were riding side by side when his rear tire started to make funny noises and went flat in a hurry (he was one of 6 guys that would flat). With no wheel truck (that's right), Jimm made a wise decision and turned back for the only outpost of civilization on this loop, the feed zone. He was able to bum a tube, tire levers, and a pump.

A couple miles after Jimm disappeared, I followed one of the stronger guys I know from Georgia and got into a promising break of four. We were working our asses off for 15 minutes, but the rest of the group didn't want to let this guy go.

With 35 miles left, two really strong guys got away and stayed away for almost an hour, but even they were not going to survive. While these those two were up the road, I saw someone else ahead of us in a familiar pistachio gelato colored kit. It was in fact Jimm McElroy. After his repairs he got back on the loop, did a short power test and was now back in our group, but the official asked him to take a spot at the back.

Once we pulled back the long 2 man break away with 10 miles to go, another 2 guys got clear on a small hill and they would never be seen again. I stayed well positioned until we got close to town and were on a huge divided highway where we had to change lanes twice and the center line rule went out the window, much like my position. As we headed for the final turn, I clawed my way back to about 30th. We made the left and with 200 meters to go it was a huge bunch gallop. I felt fresh and strong, passed a lot of, but could only manage 17th. Jimm was forced to do the honorable thing and roll in at the back.

Dalton:

It rained the entire four hours of our trip down there, but when we arrived in sleepy Dalton there was just a fine mist that quickly stopped. The roads were by no means dry, but at least it wasn't raining. Although, it was probably 50 degrees. They combined us with the 6 man masters group (older guys tend to think a little clearer and thus avoid racing in terrible conditions). Unfortunately, for most of us, the Aaron's racing team had 4 riders in each of the two fields, so they controlled the race from start to finish. All in all about 35 of us rolled out on a standard loop, 4 laps, 75 miles.

I got up near the front and Jimm stayed back a little ways. The usual attacks started and 10 miles in I got in a 4 man break, but as usual we couldn't stay away. We just weren't going hard enough and the rotation wasn't consistent. As we were brought back, a counterattack went. I tried my damnedest to get up to it, but couldn't. Fortunately, the field came up pretty quickly and shut it down.

I never noticed, but one Aaron's rider had gotten away in the process. After they rode on the front for an hour at 20 mph, I figured it out. This guy stayed away by himself for close to 60 miles and even though we caught him a few miles from the finish, he still won the masters race. I was impressed.

Eventually, on lap three, the rest of us had too much of the Aaron's guys soft pedaling on the front and the attacks started. During this flurry, an Aaron's rider blew and shot through the field in reverse. The unpleasant sound of squeals, shouting, and riders bouncing off one another could be heard. I turned back to see if Jimm was okay. Two guys flew into the ditch, but Jimm wasn't one of them. As I took more of a look behind me however, I could see Jimm wasn't in the group. I went to the back and waited. Finally, I saw him charging back with another rider. I dropped further back to try and help them, but I doubt they really needed me. We hadn't been able to talk most of the race and Jimm quickly informed me that I should not wait for him again. He said he was having unusual pain in his thigh and it was really hurting him in the accelerations.

With about 12 miles to go, I got into another break of five and tried to make it work, but again it wasn't to be. Now, I resigned myself to waiting for the sprint and letting the Aaron's team and the other small teams deal with the attacks. Jimm was hurting and I was running out of fuel, so it was time to conserve and wait. I fought hard to keep my position in the top 10 all the way to the line. I marked the strongest Aaron's rider and was about 7th wheel coming into the final turn with 250 meters to go. I came around a couple of riders, but got also got pipped by two guys. I was pretty satisfied with 7th. Jimm survived a bad leg and some carnage to come through 22nd.

I really want to thank Jimm for being adventurous and dedicated enough to make these LONG trips with me. We had fun before, during, and after the races. A couple beers always aid in the recovery. It's too bad he had such rotten luck, but it makes for a much more enjoyable experience to race and share everything with a teammate.

North Carolina Cyclocross 2010-2011

2011-01-28T07:15:00.000-08:00

Jimm and Jim emerging from the woods during a shakedown lap in Salisbury at the NC State Championship. Photo by Paul Gamewell

The North Carolina Cyclocross 2010-2011 season has concluded, and Velosports Racing traveled from the dusty sandhills of Southern Pines to the peaks of Hawksnest to the frozen tundra of Salisbury in search of sand, mud, snow, roots, run-ups, barriers, and whatever else Mother Nature could dish out. The Velosports cx squad, consisting of Jimm McElroy, Frank Obusek, Brian Morrison, Dan Snedecor, Billy McCracken, and Jim Clark, competed in 11 of the 14 events spanning October to January. Highlights included 11th and 5th places in the Hawksnest and State Championship, respectively, by Frank in the Cat 4s; a 15th-place finish by Dan in the NC Grand Prix in Hendersonville in the Cat 4s; and a 19th-place finish in Greensboro by Jim in the Masters 35+. For the series, Jim finished 19th among 266 Cat 4s despite bouncing back and forth between the 4s and Masters 35+, where he finished 72nd of 131. In the Cat 3s, Jimm completed the series in 34th of 117.

Jim escaping a first-lap pileup in Southern Pines, October 23, 2010. Photo courtesy of Julie Paisant

Up by foot...

... and down by wheel. Jimm on the mulch hill, Raleigh, October 24, 2010. Photos by Jim Clark

Brian negotiates the barriers at 4000+ feet, Hawksnest, October 31, 2010. Photo by Jimm McElroy

Frank going off-camber on arguably the most technical track of the series, Hawksnest, October 31, 2010. Photo by Jimm McElroy

Frank displaying mad hops on his way to 5th place in the NC State Championships, Salisbury, November 7, 2010. Photo by Paul Gamewell

Jimm at the NC State Championships. Photo courtesy of Julie Paisant

Jim at the NC State Championships. Photo by Paul Gamewell

Jim plowing through the sand pits of Charlotte, November 14, 2010. Photo courtesy of Julie Paisant

Jimm leaping the boards in the crown-jewel of the NCCX series: the UCI-sanctioned NC Grand Prix in Hendersonville, November 20-21, 2010. Photo courtesy of Julie Paisant

Billy at the NC Grand Prix, rolling old-school on his awesome Ritchey SwissCross (that Jim covets). Photo courtesy of Eddie Helton

Jim griding up the wall at the NC Grand Prix. Dan joined us for the Saturday race, although his participation was not documented in still-image. Photo courtesy of Eddie Helton

Jimm during first-lap chaos, Statesville, December 5, 2010. Photo courtesy of Julie Paisant

Jim during first-lap chaos, Statesville. Photo courtesy of Julie Paisant

Jim cruising through the woods of Salisbury Community Park, January 8, 2011. Photo courtesy of Julie Paisant

Red-clay rambler. Dan splats through the muck in Wilkesboro, January 16, 2011. Photo courtesy of Julie Paisant

Jim punctuating the season in Greensboro, January 24, 2011. Photo courtesy of Julie Paisant

The Perfect Storm

2010-10-13T22:42:00.000-07:00

October 9th found Owen Simpson from Chumba Racing and I trying to secure our series podium positions in the 2010 Chainbuster 12-Hour Solo Pro/Expert finale. I had to finish better than 9th to clinch 2nd place in the series. And, the only way I could win the series would be to win the race AND the series leader to finish 3rd. The venue was set at the Jackrabbit trail system near Hayesville, NC near the Georgia state line (foothills). To say that these trails were well maintained would be like saying that the sun is bright. The guys at SABA really do an amazing job with such a small trail system. We had a 9.2 mile course to traverse as many times as we could from 10am until 10pm (standard operating procedure for these types of races).

Before I go on, let me take you back a week earlier to set up how perfect this peak race went for me.

Perfect Storm Condition #1 (Fueling the Engine Right): I'd heard about a Race Week Carbohydrate Loading Meal Plan that fitness guru, Ben Greenfield, came up with a few years back. So, I thought I'd give it a try to get that extra edge I'd need. Starting 7 days prior to the race, it basically starved you of carbs for 3 days (only 50% of calories coming from carbohydrates), then for the next 4 days adding 5-10% of carb intake per day up until race day (which by then would be 80-90% of calories coming from carbs). Here is my lunch on Friday (22 hours before start time):

Broiled salmon with salted black beans and julienned fresh ginger, brown rice, and flash stir-fried fresh broccoli (with just salt and pepper)

Perfect Storm Condition #2 (great friends and a comfortable place to rest): So, Friday night we rolled into Franklin (25 minutes from the race site) to be warmly greeted by a couple of Border Collies, Sydney and Foxy, and their feline companion, Fisher, at our host accommodations. Owen's friends, Pam and Dave Forshee (owners of Smokey Mountain Bicycles in Franklin) had a wonderfully huge dish of homemade lasagna and garlic bread waiting for us as we walked in the door. The Italian Cabernet Sauvignon perfectly paired it. To top it off, she surprised us with a whole batch Ghirardelli brownies. I ate 4!! To top the night off, they gave us our own suite (complete with our own bath). Since Owen had set up the digs, I took the air mattress. The next morning, Pam was loading more sweets into us with some crazy strong coffee/chocolate/half and half drink paired with some hot cinnamon pastry thingys. I also brought my ritualistic tub of steel cut oats with walnuts and raisins out and downed that as well. Man I love eating (I mean racing). The rest of the morning went by pretty fast and before we knew it, Owen and I were lined up next to all of our competitors for the last time in the series.

The horn went off and we did too. I settled into a nice semi-hard pace for the first few laps wanting to put some time into my chasers (wanting them to panic and go out of their comfort zones). After about 2 hours, some dude came by me asking if I was in the 12-Hour Solo Expert class. I told him I was (thinking he was a relay team guy swapping off every lap with 3 other teammates for the 12 hours). Then he said he was in my class too, and then took off leaving me a bit worried. WTF!! Chill out Penny. It was gonna be a long day. I would eventually pass him 2 or so hours later and he would eventually end up in 4th. Ha! But my biggest concern was where Mark Sackett (the series leader) was. He did this at every race previous. He would keep a VERY consistent pace with lap times only varying by 5 minutes throughout the entire 12 hours, let me go out in front, watch me hit a wall at 8 hours in, and then blow by me early in the evening.

Perfect Storm Condition #3 (having the course dialed in): This course really suited me (continuous pedaling in big gears while railing through swooping turns roadie/bmx style). I feel most in tune where I can keep a constant power output.

In the tuck and in the big ring

Perfect Storm Condition #4 (having a pit crew say just the right things): At around the 6th hour, my pit (crewed by Owen's mom, Barbara, and just finished 6-Hour racer, Erica Chard of Team Performance Bike) told me I was in 1st and Mark was in 3rd. This 17-y.o. Robi Johnston of Addictive Cycles was in 2nd and chasing in earnest. He gave me a run for my money at the last 12-Hour event at Tribble Mill 1 month prior.

Perfect Storm Condition #5 (having a competitor unknowingly help you win even bigger): Robi would not gain on me this time though as my pit told me that their lap times were getting longer and mine were actually getting shorter!! Was this really happening? I actually stood a chance of winning not only this race, but the series? Hang in there Robi. And that is exactly what I told his mom, Norma, when I came by his pit area at around the 9 hour mark. The last 3 hours I was running on exstasy (not literally as that shit is illegal). But after 11 hours and 45 minutes and 136 miles in the saddle, this is how it ended:

It has been a hard season in many ways, physically and economically. I have learned many valuable lessons in my first full season in the endurance racing side of the sport. But the greatest of them all is how important the support of sponsors (among them, flawless pedals from Crank Brothers, tough ass gloves from Bellwether, smoking fast tires from Kenda, accurate HR monitoring from Acumen, and tasty race calories from Hammer Nutrition and GNC), friends and teammates (especially Owen Simpson, Ronnie Dean, and David Hall), and family (especially my wife Cheryl for putting up with my extended training days and my Beagles for providing a wet kiss upon returning home (or is that the other way around)) are. Also, special thanks to my foster parents while in Lawrenceville, GA, Ron and Lenora Dean and new friends and fellow winos, Pam and Dave Forshee in Franklin, NC. And, one last shout out to Kenny, Nicole, and the entire crew of Chainbuster Racing for always aiming for nothing short of perfection all day (and night) at each and every race. I am REALLY looking forward to what they have in store for us next year.

Ring of Fire and Mellodrome Series Awards Party

2010-10-01T07:42:00.000-07:00

More than 75 people attended the awards party held by the VeloSports Racing Team on Wednesday September 29th, 2010. The end-of-year party was held to thank those who attended both the "Ring of Fire Series" and the "Mellodrome Race Cup Series" and also acknowledge top place finishers in their respective race categories.Between the two racing events, more than 250 individual racers including domestic, regional, and local pros participated in the weekly races held every Wednesday night at "the track". Crowds of spectators and families grew as the announced and commentated races progressed throughout the race season.

The VeloSports Racing Team took over these two events in 2010. VeloSports team leaders Andy Kimble and Wade Turlington worked hard coordinating the 12-race geared road bike "Ring of Fire Series" by finding great sponsors and creating a well organized evening of USA Cycling category racing. Velosports racer, Alan Brookshire and YoungBlood Bicycles continued the fixed gear track bike "Mellowdrome Cup Series" that has put track racing on the map in Western North Carolina over the past few years. The VeloSports Racing Team intends to undertake these races again in 2011 with even more promotions, sponsors, and broader racing opportunities.

Here are the 2010 French Broad Brewing Ring of Fire Road Race Podiums:

Womens Series (L to R): 2nd Jackie Blackwell, 1st Amy Alexander, 3rd Michelle Knight

Masters 35+ Series: (L to R): 2nd Tommy Davis (Bob Wright accepting), 1st Scott Langford, 3rd Andy Kimble

C Race (L to R): 2nd Aaron Pete, 1st Taylor Little (accepting Andrew Pooser), 3rd Tim Betzel

B Race (L to R): 2nd Mark Rusco, 1st Wade Turlington, 3rd Tommy Wilson

Ring of Fire A Series (L to R): 2nd Brenden Dillow (accepting Andy Grabowski), 1st Chris Emory, 3rd Chris Larson.

For a complete listing of the 2010 French Broad Brewing Ring of Fire results, click HERE.

Below are the 2010 YoungBlood Bicycles Mellowdrome Cup Series Fixed Gear Track Race Podiums:

C Race Series (L to R): 2nd Colton Brookshire, 1st Jordan Marhanka, and 3rd Nancy Jones

B Race Series (L to R): 2nd Eddie White, 1st Grayson Brookshire and 2nd Marilyn Senz.

A Race Series (L to R): 2nd Keith Young, 1st Darin Marhanka, and 3rd Chris Emory.

VeloSports Racing would like to thank the following sponsors for an exciting year!

Ring of Fire Series:
French Broad Brewing
Hammer Nutrition Products
Chamois Butt'r
Carolina Fatz
GNC Skyland Plaza
Second Gear
RoadID
ProGold Lubricants
Asheville Parks and Recreation

Mellowdrome Cup Series:
Youngblood Bicycles
PML Pathology
Asheville Family Health Centers
Asheville Cycling Elite
Asheville Parks and Recreation

More information about the VeloSports Racing team, Sponsorship opportunities and current sponsors can be found at http://www.velosportsracing.com/.

See you next year in 2011 for another great year of Sponsor supported events.

Wade Takes On the Monkey for 6 Hours

2010-09-29T18:44:00.000-07:00

About two months ago Dan told me about a new 6 hour event that he and a friend planned to do for “fun”. Ok…with my normal duo partner spoken for what should I do, I know, I’ll signup for the 6 hour solo race. It’s only 6 hours, it can’t be that hard, right?

So, it’s 4:30AM and I’m leaving for a 6 hour mountain bike race near Greensboro, NC. Did I mention 4:30AM, oh and it’s raining! Three hours later I arrived at Northeast Park in Gibsonville, NC and met up with Dan, John (friend) and OJ. We picked some prime tent real estate on the course near the start/finish area and got ready to race.
Course Description (from the website): Northeast Park offers miles of hiking, biking, and equestrian trails. This course has its share of rocks, roots, hills, twists and turns. The course is typical of most hiking/mountain bike trails in the area. The course is not as difficult as Uwharrie but it is more difficult that your average stroll in the park. Participants will complete laps that are approximately 5 miles.
Its 9:00AM and time to race. With this being my first 6 hour solo race I debated strategy at the start; do I go out hard and try to stay with the leaders or do I conserve and save something for the end. Well I stopped debating once the race started and went out way too fast. First lap 23:03, 2nd, 3rd & 4th laps 24:08, 24:25, 24:34 and still near the front of the race. Around the 1.5 hour mark I stopped by the tent for a fresh bottle of HEED and Dan reminded me that I still had a long way to go and probably should ease off a little.

On the way out of the pit area with some extra fuel

At this point I’m still feeling good but decide to take Dan’s advice and slow down to a more sustainable pace. So lap 5 was 26:04, heart rate in the 150’s and I’m thinking to myself that I can maintain this pace with no problem. About 3 minutes into lap 6 a rider catches me and I immediately think, “this guy must be racing duo” and ask if he wants to pass, he did. At this point I realize that I’ve just been caught and passed by the 4th place 6 hour solo rider. Needless to he did his best to drop me but I managed to stay glued to his wheel for the remainder of the lap, which was back down in the 24 minute range!!! Almost 3 hours in…no way I can keep turning laps like that.

Well it finally happened about halfway through lap 7, CRAMPS!!!!, both inner-quads at the same time! Oh great, 3 hours left to race and I’m pedaling squares trying to ride through the pain. Luckily there was very little climbing on the course so I backed WAY down and tried to maintain a steady pace while spinning easy gears. I made it through the lap!!! Another pit stop for more HEED, Endurolytes and gel before heading out again. Lap 8 was better I felt a few twinges but never locked-up like before so I kept telling myself, spin, spin, spin.

You know that saying “if you stare at an obstacle, you’re going to hit it”, well I did just that during lap 9. I had 2 guys coming up behind me on a very easy section of trail and I started looking for a place to let them pass when I ran into a small (2”-3”) tree nub (that I was looking at trying to avoid). I hit the deck hard! From here it gets a little fuzzy, jumped up, picked up the bike, left knee hurts & bleeding, get on the bike…what the??? can’t turn the crank…off the bike and find the chain is wedged between the small ring and the swing-arm!!! Now in panic mode I grabbed the chain and pulled hard…no luck it’s stuck! Pulled the chain again, worked the crank back & forth, squatted down for better leverage, hamstring CRAMPS, finally after what seems like forever the chain pops free and I’m riding again. Judging by my other lap times for this point in the race I figure this mishap costs me about 2 minutes.
With the frustration of lap 9 behind me lap 10 was back to conservation mode. I just tried to keep my speed steady and not cramp. As I came through the start/finish (timing) area after lap 10 the race organizer tells me that this would be LAST LAP!!! I looked at the race clock and we’re only 4:22 in? I passed the pit and Dan told me that they decided to shorten the race due to severe storms in the area. Better safe than sorry, I guess. Knowing that I’m almost done I got a boost of energy and picked up the pace as much as possible and finished lap 11 in 27:51. Done! Not quite 6 hours but I’ll take it.
Overall the race was well organized with my only complaint being the way they posted results. At first glance of the “overall” sheet it appeared that I finished 4th, which was great, but they didn’t have any categorized results posted. So I’m standing around talking to Dan & John when I hear my name called for 2nd place in my age group!!! Wow! I knew for sure that I went out too hard and lost any chance of making the podium when the cramps started. It pays to keep digging!

Lost to this guy by only a minute and a half!!

Thanks to Dan and John for the encouragement and hand-ups in the pit! Also thanks to OJ for letting us take over his tent. It was great to be that close to the course.
Also special thanks to coach Lesli for making me suffer!
BTW, Dan/John and OJ had great rides as well, but they’ll have to tell you about it.

Wade

2010 BadASS

2010-09-15T06:35:00.000-07:00

Let me start this report by putting out a warning that some of the language might bit a bit profane. However, I feel it is necessary keep in character with that of the event, The 2010 Pisgah Badass.
Back in February, the promoter, Denny M.F. Stevenson, owner of Pisgah Works, and organizer for The Tuber Nationals and The Heartbreaker, sent all of the localz, the underground, the Pisgah Ninjas (those who have brought on the heat at such events as PMBAR, ORAMM, and Double Dare) an email invite laying out "the most challenging 8hr 100% single track ever laid down in PISGAH". He encouraged us to invite someone that may have not been on the email list, but that we were responsible for them. Also stated was that it "could be the Brokest Cash Purse in the history of MTB" and "Yes we know there's a stage race the following week. If that puts you out, good....We don't care". Obviously, shots at the WAY overpriced Pisgah Stage Race the next weekend. "The first person back will be crowned the Pisgah Badass for 2010. Bad Ass maneuver bonuses and style points will be awarded. Points can also be deducted."

BadAss Points included and were not limited to:
1. being cool to oneself, others, and the forest
2. Pulling off BadAss manuevers on the trail
esp. Blk Mtn (up and/or down) and Buckwheat/Bennet
3. Special tests, expect some things you could practice; sling shot, bb gun, drinking, swinging from vines, jumping in swimming holes and you may wanna hit the county fair and practice some games.
4. Bong Hits are bad for you
5. Certain "hikers" will be on trail to report rider "coolness", badass points, style checks, and maybe clickin some pics.

This was all to be "for fun and bragging rights". Pain and suffering for some free beer from Pisgah Brewing and a pat on the back?!?! Hell yeah, I was in (both feet)!!

Race morning found the radar full of easterly flowing green and red blotches all over eastern Tennessee. As I pulled into the parking area at Black Mountain trailhead, I was glad to see that my Double Dare partner, Mark Sackett, had driven up from Greenville. There were about 10-12 cars and and about 20 racers gearing up to take on the competition. Little did they know that Mother Pisgah was to be one of the toughest of them all. There were guys already seeking Badass points by chugging PBR's as there pre-race hydration. 9am came, and we were off. Bamm, Clay Faine was hittin' it!! No problem, Mark (and everyone else) was behind me and I'd just bide my time. This section of Black takes about an hour, 45 minutes of it climbing, and 15 of those are hike-a-bike. Thanks, Denny. I kept Clay within about a minute as I kept seeing him on the straight hiking sections. Once we hit Buckhorn and South Mills River, I knew I had the advantage (fast, flat to slight downhill almost double-track). Clay was running a 1x8 (one 32t front ring), which meant he had no really big gear. I clicked it into my 42t ring and kicked it into roadie tempo. Towards the middle of this section, I rolled by commenting how this was one the only advantages of my big ring. Got to Squirrel and Clay was only like 15 seconds back. As we started up the trail the rain came and I yelled back that a smart person would just turn around at this point. However, this was the Badass, not the Lame-ass!! Onward and upward. I was feeling pretty good and this is where I was most on. This climbing section on Squirrel is one of my favorites because you can pretty much stay on the bike while still being quite technical. Once at Cantrell, the rain was kinda on/off and I was glad I was sticking it out. At this point, I stopped looking back as I was kinda set in my pace. A funny thing started to happen at this point as I started on some of Squirrel's downhill sections. I was having to squeeze my brakes farther and farther in to get ANY stopping power. And, as I descended Laurel Creek, I started to hear a scraping sound. Metal on metal. That's right, I still run v-brakes. Hell, I am still a roadie and weight is more important than being able to stop, right? Not so on Laurel because I realized my predicament at the very moment I was rolling up on the nasty slippery angled waterbars near the top of Laurel. Stopping did not happen and I nearly created a new way to get to the bottom by sliding into the woods. Time to bring in some cyclocross skills (the jump off and run JUST before an obstacle technique):

Once at the bottom of Laurel and on towards the Turkey Pen parking lot, I was realizing I would have to kill it on the climbs to make up for having to run most of the downhills. Glad I live in the mountains. The rain started to really come down at this point and by the time I got to the S. Mills River bridge where the course doubles back on itself, I came upon Mark first. Ten seconds later, there was Clay, just coming off the bridge and looking dejected. He was bailing. No brake pads left and no extras. So, Mark was the man to worry about at this point. I figured he was about 5 minutes back and we were 3.5-4 hours in. Up Mullinax (which was more like a creek bed), back out Squirrel, and lots of downhill running while holding just the seatpost and letting the front wheel track where it wanted to (a new technique I discovered this day). Once I got back on the section where I had passed Clay earlier, I put down the hammer again. I had the advantage again over my chaser as Mark was running a single speed (really light, but at a disadvantage on the flats). Slogged through the downpours across Club Gap, up Buckwheat Knob, down to Forest Service Rd. 477 where Bennett comes in. Now, this is where I thought I was scott free. The course description stated that "Bennett might be closed, and if so, what was a Badass to do?" Well, revert to Badass point #1: 1. being cool to oneself, others, and the forest. (and take the dirt service road to the finish). You see, Bennett is one of the more challenging pieces of trail in Pisgah. I love it. But, with NO brakes by this point, it is not a place I want to be. In Badass fashion, there was no closed sign and the trail was open. Good news however was that the sun was out and the heavens were starting to shine. I grinded up and scurried down this 20 minute trail like a bear was chasing me. At the start of the last descent, I was determined to ride it all the way in and not get passed by Mark while I was running. His disc brakes were probably working fine and that is where he was gaining on me. So, I decided finally to change my front pads. 80% of your stopping power is there. Feeling like a NASCAR pit crew, I changed them in like 4 minutes. Hey, I didn't have the pneumatic jacks!! As I neared what I knew to be the bottom, Mother Pisgah let me know she was with me. First, she sent a flock of wild turkeys off about 30 feet in front of me. Then, right before the final turn, a HUGE kingsnake slithered across the trail. A good omen and I still had enough in me to pull a big bunny hop over him as a special thanks to the forest that gives me such great pleasure. At the finish camp, I found Mark sitting there chillin' with a cold draught off the keg sitting by the fire pit. What?!? He had taken the Forest Service Rd. back thinking that Bennett was closed. He had been there for 10 minutes, and after a bit of calculating, we figured that he still would have been about 10 minutes behind if he had done the same route as I did. I did it!! Denny commenced to making us multiple burrito-pizzas, thanks to Amazing Savings. Jut-Rut, one of the badassiest downhillers I've ever met, brought us fresh pulls off the keg. Best looking Brew Crew member, Laura Goetz and her lil' pup, Bonnie (also better looking than the rest of 'em), collected like a cord of wood for the fire pit. And, Matt Johnson provided us with gut-busting laughs.

The Pisgah Brew Crew Rocks:

The Crew

THE TROPHY/AWARD

(which I will wear every time I set foot in Pisgah)

Sunday's Badass Recovery Workout with the badass Welshman, Mark:

Ok, so I did not do it ALL.

Chainbuster Series #4

2010-08-30T17:53:00.000-07:00

Adam Penny's Quest for a Series Title:
Well, ever since the hard lesson I learned involving massive heat exhaustion at the Chainbuster #3 race in Conyers, GA at the Olympic MTB course back on June 12th, I've been training like a madman, putting in 16-20 hour weeks on the bike with 7-8 hour off-road rides on one of the weekend days. Special thanks to my fellow Velosports teammate, David Hall for joining me on alot of these tests of mental capacity. This time, I would have a nice foster home to stay in as I had befriended a podium finishing 6-Hour racer, Ronnie Dean of 2WheelCoach back in May at the Chainbuster #2. His parents lived just 15 minutes from the race site.
So, Friday afternoon we carpooled down to set-up the tent, check out the course, then head on over to Loganville to cook up some dinner. The race director, Kenny, was the first smiling face we saw and he greeted us with his hearty good ole Georgia-boy handshake. BTW, both Ronnie and I are well practiced in this as we are peanut-cotton picker Georgians too. Yep. Anyway, the 8.6 mile practice lap went fine with Ronnie hammering the little climbs and letting me catch up on the flats/descents. Geez, I thought we were just checkin' it out!! We rolled in with a lap time of 48 minutes (hopefully, a little faster than my average for the day on Saturday). Afterwards, we made a quick stop to pick up some gloves for Ronnie at Dick's Sporting Goods as he forgot his. Well it was not so quick considering that we went from golfing, to racquetball, to baseball, then football. You see, every sport has it's own type of long fingered glove with an ever so slight difference to each and none quite suited for MTB racing. We finally went with the wide receiver football gloves. At least he would be able to hold on to a pigskin bottle!! Then it was on to the local Kroger grocer were we picked up some fresh Salmon, a head of broccoli, and some nice sweet potatoes for dinner. Oh yeah, and also, a six of beer for my gracious host's fridge.
Upon arriving at the Dean residence, I was immediately greeted by one REALLY sweet Old English Bulldog puppy, Sugar (appropriate) and two zany Boston Terriers, Pepper (the obsessive ball fetcher) and Bosco (a real dog's dog and Sugar's best friend). Oh yeah, then I met their owners: Ron (retired Coast Guard serviceman) and Lenora (born and raised Georgia girl). They knew we wanted to get to cooking our pre-race meal, so they left us to our own. Ronnie grilled up the Salmon perfectly and stir-fried the broccoli to a al-dente freshness. I tackled the sweet potatoes into a chopped state for boiling. The night ended superbly when I realized that my quarters were situated in my own wing of the house with a private bath and pillow top covered bed. Ahhh!!!!
The next morning found us at the race site for our 10am start early enough to chat a bit with the timing queen and Kenny's wife, Nichole, while we picked up our numbers. Laid all the food and drinks out, suited up, then got to the start line with the other 200 starters (my class, Open/Pro 12-hour had a little less than 10, I think). My plan was to stay with Mark Sackett, the series leader and guy who has passed and beaten me in the last 4 hours of each race this year. Of course, the gun went off and the roadie in me took over and I was off like a shot with the first 8 guys (team relay and 6-hour racer). Ease off, Penny. It would take a whole 2 laps (1:40) before Mark was riding with me. We settled into a nice pace and I felt that this would work out fine. However, his riding style was a bit different than mine. He would hit the little 30 second to 2 minute hills pretty hard then kinda lightly peddle and coast in the flats and descents. My style is a more consistent effort all the time with a very little bit more on the climbs and a bit less on the descents (like a diesel engine). By hour 4, the on/off stuff was getting to me (and my legs). I was used to big 5-20 minute climbs in Pisgah where you can really settle in. At one of the trips to my feed tent, cramps started entering the picture and I told Mark to go ahead and I'd be along in a minute (we had been stopping at our respective tents each lap, then waiting up for each other a few seconds if needed so we could stay together). Well I never caught back up. I was well hydrated and fed, but my muscles had just not been trained for these type of shorter intervals. This is where my pit crew kept me in it. The Deans were great. Every lap I came in, Ron would ask me what I needed, hand it to me, then whip out his Blackberry which had a spreadsheet with all the times with splits of all the guys racing near me. Lenora was like an officer making sure Ron was hearing (and getting) what I was needing now or on the next lap. The Coast Guard must sure miss this guy!!
My race pretty much continued on like this for the next 5 hours with me fighting off cramping, drinking plenty of iced down fluids, eating gels and other weird concoctions, and wondering if 3rd was gonna come up on me. I kept feeling slower and slower waiting for the hammer to drop and my legs to lock up. They never did. Third place, Robi Johnston, an up and coming 17 year old, did come into the pits on a few of the laps as I was leaving. He gave me a bit of alarm and put a fire in my pedal for the last couple of laps. At the start of my 11th lap, I decided not to stop long at all and leave before Robi got back. I knew this would demoralize him and keep him from chasing to hard. At 8:02pm (10 hours 2 minutes in), as I completed my lap and 94.6 miles, I rolled into my pit, took on some Pepsi Throwback (yeah the kind with real sugar and no HFCS), and found out that Robi had just left on the start of his 11th. He had sat there almost the entire time I was out on mine. I knew that he could not get 2 laps in before the 12 hour cutoff as he was now pulling 1:16 lap times. So, I knew my 2nd place was safe and I was gonna podium pretty nicely and more importantly, start eating my recovery burger Ronnie had bought for me from Five Guys down the street.
Side note here, Ronnie placed a nice 5th place in the 6-Hour Class. Not his best race. But considering he had not trained in like 3 weeks, a pretty good showing (a testament to all the base miles he put in early in the season).
The finale will be in held near Hiawassee, GA at the Jackrabbit Trails on October 9th. It is a similar course of short climbs and descents but lots of speedy bermed turns. You can bet your ass I'll be training more specifically for that.

Andy Top 10s

2010-08-27T08:12:00.001-07:00

Headed off to Oak Ridge by my lonesome early last Saturday. Got there in good time and found the course no problem. Only thing was, I couldn't find a start/finish line, another cyclist, or any real signs of life. I circled the course more than once, following all of the obvious spray painted markings on the road, but still nothing.

Do I have my days mixed up? Is today the criterium and not the road race? Or is it just that the race is staging somewhere else that I clearly cannot find? The race was supposed to start at 8:10 and it's now 7:40. I'm frantic at this point and out of ideas, so I called our team boy scout and computer wiz, Frank Obusek. Of course he was awake, and he finally got his computer fired up. He assured me that today was in fact the road race and was able use google maps and the race flyer to get me an address close to registration. I punched the address into the GPS and of course I'd been driving in the opposite direction of the staging area. I turn around, floor it, and screech into the parking lot at 8:00.

Phase 2. The race starts in 10 minutes. I'm still in street clothes. I have to register, pin on my number, change into something more form fitting, and most importantly find a suitable place to release my ready to burst bowels or none of this other stuff will matter.

Fate finally smiled on me as I immediately saw Asheville local Robert Watkins, who offered to assist me in my desperate attempt race my bike. At registration I'm told that unlike a lot of other road races, this one is in fact running on time like clockwork. Awesome!

I grabbed my race numbers, yes you have 2 in Tennessee, and Robert started to pin them on for me while I dove into my cycling gear, choked down a little food and then lept behind a bush with my emergency roll of toilet paper.

I shot out of the bushes feeling like a new man, zipped up my jersey and arrived at the line. Fortunately, they were running 10 minutes late, because otherwise I would not have made it. I had time to put some spare wheels in the follow truck, but declined. I was so frustrated and on edge, I just reasoned that if I flat, my race will be over and it'll be a fitting end to a mess of a race day. I guess you could say I wasn't feeling real optimistic.

Some brief instructions from the official and we were off. Then came the rain. As we approached the first turn it was pouring and someone had just attacked, so we were really moving when the turn came up. It's also worth noting that there were no course marshalls, to wave you along in the right direction, you just had to see the markings and navigate accordingly. Needless to say, this was not the best way to do things and as I swung to the right I could hear several guys behind me shouting "I'm not going to make it!" They were right, we turned back to see several riders overshoot the turn and head off in the wrong direction. It didn't take too long for them to correct and get back together with us. With everyone in attendance we trudged onward in the heavy rain, but weren't going to stay together for long.

There was one big climb on the course and it came at mile 10 of a 15 mile loop, that we would navigate 4 times. As we hit it the first time, the field totally shattered. It went from 30 to 12 in a matter of minutes. I was able to stay close enough over the top of the climb that I could rejoin the small group of survivors as I pushed it down the rainy descent. Robert Watkins was the only rider behind me with the balls and the power to make the junction and our little group forged ahead.

It finally stopped raining. Next time we hit the climb we lost another guy. I had to rejoin again with a small group and yet again, Robert time trialed like crazy to get back to us.

The third time up, we lost Robert, but our group of 10 split into 2 groups of 5. The slightly built juniors made the front group and me and some of the other masters age racers just couldn't pull it back together again.

Everyone in my group had teammates up the road, so we weren't going pursue them, but the group did make it a point to keep Robert at bay, who could be seen every now and then on longer straightaways. As we approached the climb for the last time, a merciful rider suggested an "entente cordial" which I and the rest of the group eagerly accepted. I was particularly relieved, as I considered myself to be the weakest climber in the group.

The climb came and went and the line was drawing near. There wasn't too much posturing as we came to the base of what was about a 100 ft. rise to the line. We got to about 250 meters to go and someone finally launched. Another rider got after him straight away, before I could wind it up myself. One other rider came around me, but the second guy up the road popped and I easily came around him for a hard fought 8th place finish.

This was my first top 10 in a road race since the Spring. I was pretty pleased and don't think I really could have done much better. Not bad for a day where I probably shouldn't have even made the start line.

I would like to sincerely thank Frank and Robert for their help.

Showing us why we deserve to be Beer City, USA

2010-08-22T17:28:00.000-07:00

For immediate release:

Frank Obusek wins King of the Beers Jersey by picking up 2 beer primes (intermediate sprint wins within a race, usually a criterium) in as many days at the Exhale Race Weekend in N. Wilkesboro this weekend. Side note: He also eeked onto the podium on Saturday with a nice 5th place, winning the field sprint at the finish on his tiny 11 tooth cog.

A Shining Light on Dark Mountain

2010-08-17T18:43:00.000-07:00

On Sunday I headed up to North Wilkesboro, NC for the Maxxis Cup Mountain Bike Cross Country Finale at Dark Mountain. I picked up my good friend and VeloSports teammate Wade Turlington at 7am under cloudy skies and started the 2 hour drive to the "foothills" of North Carolina. As we drove East on I40 we caught up to the rain that had steadily dampened Asheville the previous night. We instantly began wondering how wet the course might be and second guessing our tire selections. Note: The tires we were both planning on racing are the Michelin XC Dry. Keyword=DRY. We arrived to the course after driving in and out of light rain for the last hour. We found the parking area wet with standing puddles, but the rain had stopped and the skies were no longer dark but still overcast. We both adjusted our tire pressures to accommodate the assuredly slick roots on the course and began our preparations with mud in mind. I would be racing in the 40-49 field and Wade is still racing Juniors in the 30-39 field.

A mtb race is an all out 100%+ effort for 15 minutes and then things settle down, relatively speaking. If you can stay with the leaders during this 15 minutes you have a shot at a good result. I hadn't done an XC race in three years, opting for the team mtb events that are more endurance based (read: steady efforts). With no real expectations, I did have a plan: stay with the leaders and attack if I could. The race started and I was in 5th place (out of 23) when we entered the muddy trails. Exactly where I wanted to be. After the crucial 15 minutes, still 5th, we had pulled away from the rest of the field. Perfect! The rider in first started to pull away and after some cajoling the 2nd place rider chased him down and pulled us with him. He then popped like a bottle rocket and let us all by at the next open area. Better luck next time! Now in 4th about 3/4 through the first of two laps my plan was to sit right there and wait for others to make mistakes or to get tired. Then my front tire washed out in a corner and I hit the ground, hard. Panic! As I tried to remount my cleats kept slipping on the wet roots that riddled that section of trail. Finally moving, I looked up and didn't see the leaders anywhere. Ahhhh! The chase was on. The last part of the course is fast and generally downhill which meant it was much harder to make up time on anyone. Needing catch up, I was pushing it a bit. Wham! On the ground again. This time I got a face full of pine needles. Did I mention the mud? Get a grip Sned! I remounted and started the chase again, this time with more patience but cursing my DRY tire selection.

As I came out of the woods for the loop through the field the leaders were about 45 seconds ahead. They were sitting up and drinking. Idiots! My bike shifted into the big ring and by the time we entered the woods for the second lap the third place rider was within arms reach with 1st and 2nd @ 75 yards ahead. OK, I'm back, settle down! As we started back into the single track I could rest while following the third place rider. He must have been hurting because he asked me to come by. Heck ya I'll come by! After accelerating I was instantly on the wheel of 2nd place. We rode like that for 10 minutes. To win I had to get in front of these guys soon because it's much harder to pass on the second half of the course. Then the guy in 2nd asked if I wanted to pass him. What? Are you insane? You're in 2nd place. I didn't wait for him to ask twice and went by him. About 3 minutes later we had just finished a long climb and started another climb that was followed by a long false flat. There was daylight on the left so I punched it, moved into first and drilled it with everything I had for about 2 minutes. Entering a section of switchbacks I could see the trail behind me. There was no one. They were gone. Sned, you're going to win! My watch told me it was 15 minutes to the finish. A lot can happen in 15 minutes! Smooth is fast, smooth is fast. So I settled down and rode calmly through the tricky stuff and punched it on the climbs. I held it all together and crossed the line in 1st place.

What a blast that was!

Wade had a great race with some superfast guys and can do his own report this time........ha.

Thanks to Lesli Meadows for the coaching!

2010 French Broad Cycling Classic - Jimm McElroy

2010-07-20T20:43:00.001-07:00

After years of a pathetic excuse for a race in western North Carolina, the French Broad Cycling Classic was brought back in 2009 to something worthy of taking place in Appalachia. The 2010 French Broad Cycling Classic took in a fair time trial, a challenging road race, and a typical industrial park crit - which was more like a circuit race due to the size, which takes it out of my realm of extreme disdain.

Cane Creek Time Trial:

The Cane Creek Time Trial is the logical place for a non-hill climb time trial. It is probably the most consistent road in terms of slight elevation change. The 20.5 km (advertised as 20km, but my Garmin stopped it at 20.5km) rises only slightly before making a U-Turn at halfway back to the start. With foresight I registered for the omnium well in advance to get a good TT start time - 7:02:30, only 15 or so from the end. Afforded with ample time it was relaxing preparing for the time trial.

Still burdened with a huge loss in power on the TT bike, I decided to do the TT based on feel for the approximate 26-32 minute effort - depending on how lethargic you are at mustering the courage in making an effort. For the first time in forever, I also paid attention to my average speed since (i) I knew the approximate times and average speeds from the past and (ii) I do all my power tests on this road and am fairly familiar with the terrain and efforts so that going by speed wouldn't cause me to go too hard or too easy.

At the Cane Creek TT it was striking to me to see the difference in a high profile, well targeted event like the Fitchburg-Longsjo Classic, and the attention paid to the TT there, and here at the French Broad Cycling Classic. Which while a great event and targeted, isn't of the same caliber. I.e.: Going from every single person having a TT bike, TT helmet, Deep wheels and disc to anything and everything goes.

So I went off and road hard. I caught between six to eight people, one being at the turn around where I asserted my supreme physical presence to totally take his line away without regret. On the way back I went fast again and stopped the clock at 28'08". Which I initially was discouraged at until realizing they moved the turnaround a little further out.

While still missing 35 watts, the time was good enough for 6th. This put me in good enough position for the omnium if things went right. Which of course they never do.

Liberty Bicycles Road Race:

Awesomely enough, less than 10 hours after my time trial I was up early to eat some breakfast in time to mean something. Less than 12 hours after my time trial I was back in Marshall at the Island to warm-up. The road race comprises around 1300meters of climbing. The profile shows the Leaving Marshall Hill right away followed by two Highway Hill Climbs on the way to Mars Hill. Once in Mars Hill we immediately take a right and take in a good while of mangia e beve. After that we have one very short, steep Junkyard Hill before we all twiddle our thumbs before the first real climb of Murray Gap. From there it is a fast descent to a fast river road before starting the Walnut Creek Climb.

The plan was for Andy and Wade to do any necessary work with Adam and I being protected. Adam said that if it came to a sprint at the end he would try to work for me. I prophetically said I don't pack much of a sprint, i.e. acceleration; and to not wait too long for me. With that we were off on the picturesque course made blurry by sweat in the eyes.

Immediately a Barley's Taproom & PIzzeria rider shot off down Old Marshall Highway. Andy immediately tried to chase to him and join, but the rider was an alcoholic who was trying to make it to Barley's to drink alone. Gruppo compatto heading up Highway Hill Climb #1 the persistent stupidity of amateur riders shown through and for no discernible reason - neither at that time or after - the pace was drilled. I've been told that people were shelled there. I even started going backwards and Andy was almost ready to tell Adam that it was all up to him. After cresting the hill I almost thought about telling Adam the same until the next hills found me feeling ok.

Hitting Mars Hill and beginning mangia e beve there was some boneheadedness during the downhills. Gaps were opened and a number of us found ourselves chasing the front half of the group who were drilling it. Predictably they backed the pace down and we rejoined after the slight separation. After that it was easy going, though fast, with only a few venturing off the front for a short period. The hard Junkyard Hill saw no attacks and it was oddly easy going up. After that we waited for Murray Gap.

I have an ability for finding myself in the middle of the pack during a race (with periods of drifting to the front and not fighting to keep position before drifting back) but moving to the front when it matters. I did just that for Murray Gap. The pace that was being set surprised me. Having done the course previously in the week, in a respectable solo time of 2˚18', I thought the pace was a little high for the length of the climb. I didn't go as hard and planned on reeling them in as the climb went along. Before I knew it the 1 km to go mark appeared, obviously climbing faster than anticipated, and I tried to pick up the pace. They went over the top just in front of me and vanished down the hill. I picked up two others, and the three of us picked up one more, before we jetted through the river road of Big Laurel to chase down the lead group. We caught them with approximately 10 km to go until the final climb giving us brief respite.

The damage at this point was (i) Wade taking up residence in Offbackistan, (ii) Adam's Achilles Heel of Murray Gap landing a death blow and (iii) Andy's group catching the lead group with less than 5 km to go.

A little preaching: Learn to handle your bike. Learn not to freak out and whine like a bitch when handlebars touch. Learn that in the crucial moments a hole will be filled by someone else. If you go outside of "Don't get near me! Racing USA" you will be ate alive and either wreck yourself or at least those around and behind you.

Near the bottom of Walnut Creek I made great moves to get to the top 10 and at the bottom of the climb I was in the top 5 to start the climb after some assertive and confident riding. All of this was for naught though as after some consistent riding and holding my position, the pace was upped and I couldn't accelerate. I found myself slipping and watching positions go by. I tried to maintain my pace and hoped others were going beyond themselves (they were) and I would catch some of them back (I did). I'm pretty sure I tried hard as I looked like crap. Near the line I was nipped for 19th and settled on a disappointing 20th and a plummeting in the omnium position. Andy came in 26th with Adam and Wade bravely soldiering in.

We blitzed the course this year in under 1˚56'. There were also 75-80 riders at the start line, with only ~50 finishing. From what I was told the pace and competition this year far exceeded that of 2009 where it was pretty relaxed until Walnut Creek where it was an uphill sprint.

City of Asheville Criterium:

Somehow I got lost on the internet and registered for a crit/circuit race. I actually registered for it to help the sprinters on the team and I anticipated being in a more respectable omnium position. Neither were of the concern. So, I planned on attacking the two km crit/circuit fairly early and drilling myself. To accomplish this feet I was using my HED Stinger 60 carbon rims instead of normal Open Pro/Dura-Ace wheels. Leaving the house on that formerly beautiful day I did not anticipate the downpour at the course. We went from the P/1/2 race being shortened, to our race being delayed, to our race suddenly being at the previous time but shortened 10 minutes...and of course we were amply notified so we could continue/start our warm-up. Right.

Excuses: Going around the course I had very little brakes; my crit skills suck; this is the first crit style race I have raced this year; I anticipated a lifting of the pace after a lap or so (I was hanging at the back convinced there would be a pile up in the rain - there was not). All that went into me doing my own time trial around the course for 40 minutes towing a group with me, none of which I would let do any work.

Summary: I really need to remedy my TT situation for next year. I could really kill it if I had all my watts. I need some acceleration and pep to make better attacks and match accelerations. I still hate crits.

Next year I aim to own this.

French Broad Cycling Classic Cat 4 Road Race

2010-07-19T19:03:00.000-07:00

It's quite humbling to try to write a race report about an event in which you get dropped early in a mountainous, 40-mile road race, do a fruitless solo chase for almost 2.5 hours, and finish last for your efforts. In fact, the mental beating I gave myself during this time continued long after the race had ended this past Saturday. However, as I struggled to find an answer to the question of why I put myself through this, I remembered to read a quote that was recently passed on to me by my buddy Paul:

"It is not the critic who counts, nor the man who points out how the strong man stumbled or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause who at best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat."

Well said, Teddy Roosevelt. So, who's racing this weekend?

ETJC Road Race - Jimm McElroy

2010-07-14T07:48:00.001-07:00

One reason I was eager to upgrade from category 4 to 3 years ago was to get better start times (i.e. letting my late running, relunctant to wake self, get more sleep). Yet again I found myself leaving the house at 5:00 to meet Andy Kimble and Wade Turlington for an 8:00 start in Piney Flats, TN. The ETJC Omnium's Road Race was described as rolling. However, with three circuits for 105 km the more appropriate description was hilly. The loops consisted of two hill climbs but was punctuated by three more short and steep climbs made fast by my old debate partner.

The initial plan was for me to possibly wait until the sprint at the perceived uphill finish. Upon arrival, the finish was still a typical sprint. From there it fell to me doing as I thought best, Andy trying to get in a break, and Wade apparently just wanting to dangle off the back. We had a neutral start until after the train tracks (possible train schedule in the morning). The race was highlighted by only two lengthy breakaways able to go away. The first was a Boone Bike rider who made it almost 1.5 laps. The second being a TCRC rider for less of a time. Both having a maximum lead of around 1'20". I decided to wait for at least a lap to judge the course and riders.

Speaking of riders, while a small field, this was a strong field. Along with Tim Bell, the McKrystal debater, there were three Chainheart Cycling Studio riders, Youngblood Bicycles Dylan Cipkowski,two Smith&Nephew / Memphis Velo riders (very strong despite being slightly older without that "did he used to be a pro?" look), two Boone Velo riders (including the High Country Tour du Life Road Race winner in the category 4), and strong TCRC riders. Learning from Avery Trace I kept Tim Bell marked and made sure to follow whatever he was in. For laps one and two he made every hill hard trying to attack and get away. I made it into almost all of his attacks and started some on my own during lap two which he joined. But with the strong field and a small start list everyone knew the danger of letting a strong break get away and forming a break of more than one person proved impossible.

Near the end of lap two around 26-28 km from the end of the circuit, Bell made another acceleration - acceleration isn't even the ride word, maybe Cancellara-ing it is more appropriate - and created a split with two chainhearters and maybe Cipkowski. I was slightly too far back with a gap opening one or two riders in front of me. This was a real dangerous move and they almost had a winning gap. Lazy asses abundant forced me to do more work than I would have liked to shut it down. But it was either that or start racing for fifth place. This may be the move that the third Chainhearter helped to shut down too - obviously he hasn't seen enough of Phil and Paul's commentary where everyone learns beginner bike racing strategy.

On the third lap things settled down and Bell stopped the hill accelerations (if he had kept at it one or two more times he would surely have snapped the elastic of most of the field). Near the top of the first longer climb we set about reeling in the aforementioned TCRC rider. I tried to start a new debate with one of the Smith&Nephew riders - who apparently has no idea how to pull through in a paceline, while going uphill, and not trying to screw over your fellow riders at that point - as he left over a bike length between himself and his teammate behind him in the paceline which garnered my ire...as I was pulling through after him and couldn't very well do so. We caught the TCRC rider and I started to try more meaningful attacks hoping to bring one or two with me. Everything was chased and I decided to try in earnest at around 8 km to go. I attacked and was joined, then followed by the rest of the field. Then I tried almost right away again and it was slightly promising before a Chainheart rider bridged to me pulling the field on the finish stretch. After that some gusto was gone and it was looking like a sprint finish.

At this point Wade realised it wasn't a cookie ride and came blowing by me as I went the opposite direction, or at least it felt like that when the sprint opened. Wade capped the day by placing 6th. Right behind a junior who thought and felt and thinks that, maybe, he was 5th, or around 5th...he feels. While greater than my $15 at Avery Trace, Wade brought in $25...but unlike Avery Trace our waiting produced no check - supposedly they are going to mail it.

Heading home we mentioned how the small fields make it so hard and bigger fields you can get away. This theory was debunked at The Piedmont Triad Omnium - which shall go uncommented on. We arrived back in Asheville and decided to go to The Grove Park Inn and Sunset Terrace for lunch. Andy's service partner Patricio hooked us up with so much food and drink that I thought I may have to become a sprinter or rouleur.

A day of good effort, food, company and down time. We should have left it there instead of trying for the double on Sunday.

2010 51st Annual Fitchburg-Longsjo Classic - Jimm McElroy

2010-07-13T11:13:00.001-07:00

Fitchburg State College Circuit Race:

With the dissapointment of the 2009 Fitchburg-Longsjo Classic fresh in my mind, I rolled out of the race hotel for my 10:40am start. The great thing about staying at the hotel was its location in relation to each stage. It afforded a good warm-up to each start. So rolling towards Fitchburg State College on the "excellent" New England roads I knew I felt way better than in 2009 - no dead legs in warm-up alone. I signed in and arrived at the queue of category 3 riders as one of the last to show up to the start area to sit. So being last I could not possibly make my way to the end of the riders so I had to settle for backing up to the front line of riders.

The race official called us to the start line and we had our mini-race to the start line. We received the official's spiel and then the organizer gave us a pep talk about the course and a warning about the downhill on the backside of the course: "One of the few downhills that you can be dropped." I chuckled at the reminder of last year and said "no kidding." At the end of the 30 second countdown we were off and the 2010 Longsjo was underway for category 3 racers.

Before I could have any happy thoughts, I was focused solely for the next 4 km on that short but steep ascent at the end of the first lap and every lap thereafter. Successfully not getting dropped over this would do a great deal for my motivation and nullifying last year's memories. Flying down the backstretch and approaching the sharp right turn that immediately shoots up I was in the middle of the pack. People proceeded to get stupid right before the hill and then we hit it. Of course it was hard - it was a sprint every lap because not only are there Worker's Credit Union green jersey sprinter points, but people have an affinity for hitting every hill/climb/mountain as hard as they can before flooding themselves with lactic acid and hobbling over the top. Easily getting over the top and back into the pack was great and I knew this Fitchburg would be a lot more fun.

So onto happy thoughts - being a part of a race like this is really great and gives you optimism for the sport in America and that there are organizer out there who care about putting on a quality race.

Each subsequent lap became increasingly nervous. The poor road surface before the John Fitch Hwy, nasty wrecks requiring three medical crews, and morons forgetting every lap to shift to your small chainring before we start up the 10-12% pitch led me to believe I already won the race since I came through unscathed. I also saw why this was a downhill that you could be dropped, and also why I never caught the group last year after dangling on the back. While a downhill, it is very slight and a small elevation change, yet we were cruising along at 65-70 kph!

Throughout the race I was easily able to get to the front of the race; which made staying near the front at the end of each lap was less stressful as the sprinters nailed it for sprint points. Coming down the backstretch for the last lap I made my way to around 10-15th position. I did so smoothly whereas others had the same idea but did so with the fervor of youth, not being 14 hours from home and their nurse wife, and the illusionary pro contract that awaited them at the end. So I let them have their positions and just focused on closing any gaps to maintain an even placing on the GC - S.T. was accomplished and that was a small momentum and confidence boosting victory.

During this stage and later in the criterium, I had an idea that we need a new category - Married With Kids.

Wachusett Mountain Road Race:

This stage is what originally attracted me to doing the Fitchburg-Longsjo Classic. It looked like a climber's stage. Maybe it was before the winter of 2008-2009 that shut down the Wachusett Mountain Ski Resort road, leading to the longest road resurfacing project in history (they are still fixing the road). As it is, there are a bunch of short steep sections that do not make this a climber's stage, as this person agrees as well.

Again I rode to the start of the stage from the hotel - this time a little longer than I liked. With the GC set, the top 10 and green jersey were called to the line and we perched ourselves at the parking lot of the Wachusett Mountain Ski Area. With a shot we were off down the hill for three hours/six laps of sunny fun with the SRAM Service vehicles following. This time without worrying about discreetly abandoning but thinking about staying in good position.

Through the first few laps nothing special happened. The race was relaxed until we got to the hill 3k from the end, 200 meters from the end, and the hill continuing through the start/finish line and a kilometer more. These were short and steep and really brought out cranking on the pedals. They are not a true climbers ascent at all. Regardless, the total distance climbed for the race is a respectable 1535 meters.

The last three laps things heated up. People got tired after the efforts of the hills and you can get in trouble here. On the fourth lap I had to close a gap that required effort and work from myself a few other people who realised the potential danger. We caught back on well before the wicked fast descent. On the fifth lap some ding dong in front of me couldn't decide which water bottle he wanted and dropped three before picking up the fourth from the neutral water zone. Of course this made a gap at the time the front of the field really picked up the pace. At first I cursed the field for drilling it at the feed zone. But in retrospect, the feed zone is in a bad place - albeit the only realistic place - right at the false flat of the initial beginning of the hill from the start/finish, which kicks up a little again right after that before getting to rollers.

Things became dangerous here. A sizable gap was opened with the head of the field trying to take advantage of losing about 2/3 of the field. I went to the front with some other determined individuals and made more than our own share of the work to not end our race prematurely with another full lap still yet to do. We still had not caught back on before getting to the descent. I flew down the hill hitting 100 km/h and catching back on before the fast flat/rolling section back.

We went up the start/finish climb area the last time, descended, and began people watching down highway 141; no one was pushing the pace and it was relaxed getting to the last hills before the steep finish hill and 4-6% finish combo. At this point I felt something bad in my thighs - real cramps. I stood a little and felt some twinges. I tried to stretch a little and just sit still, shake the legs, and try to prolong myself for fifteen more minutes.

At 4-5 k to the end we hit a light grade hill where the pace was upped and standing was required. More cramps and I sat and rode up at my own pace. The pace was let up at the plateau and I caught back. But then the steep hill about 2.5 k from the end came and we went hard. I stood up and got thrown back in the saddle as my legs cramped hard. All I could do was take it easy up and pray to catch back and some sort of miracle to occur so I could do the finishing 12% hill.

It didn't let up. A Georgian and I talked about how great it was to drive all this distance, cramp, and lose a ton of time - ending any GC finish in the top 20. I told him to not be behind me or I may cramp right into his lap. We got to the end hill where luckily I was able to stand up the hill and pick off riders who popped all over, albeit still losing 1'25".

Courtyard by Marriott South Street Time Trial:

What can you really say about a time trial? I went out and back, and tried to do it as fast as I could. As an important note and source of frustration, I am missing almost 30 watts off of my 20 minute effort when on the time trial bike. I imagine that is costing me quite a bit. If I could iron it out and fix it, this time trial stage would really afford me a good opportunity to make some time.

I finished almost 30 seconds faster than last year and 1'45" behind the leader. I was now 3'12" down on GC and in 37th place.

Workers' Credit Union Downtown Criterium:

So the bane of my cycling existence - the criterium - was Monday. I was not able to do this last year since I abandoned the road race and to tell you the truth I was not looking forward to it aside from finishing the stage race. However, rolling from the hotel to the downtown area my thoughts changed. It was a beautiful day, the downtown area was populated with spectators on the green, outside of bars, and was televised. Again the organization and support gave me a nice warm glow. Besides, this is how the Longsjo was started as it existed as only a crit for a long time. This is how Art was originally honoured.

The course itself is not a typical four square corner crit, and thus did not earn my automatic and immediate ire. Instead it looks like a bowling pin. Turns three and four are the bottom of the pin and are real turns. Hitting turn three you go slightly up hill to turn four, a fast left turn up hill to the finishing stretch which is uphill to turns one and two. Turns one and two are like the top of a bowling pin and goes around a roundabout. From there you curve inward and back outwards down the backstretch (as you do on the front stretch coming up the course). It is a fast course and position is extremely important down the backstretch so you can hit turn three good. From there, you are stuck where you are through turn four and will be on your heels going up the start/finish stretch if you aren't in position.

I won't beat around the bush; it is no surprise I didn't do anything noteworthy. I had planned on trying an attack but could never get in a good position to try. When I would get to the front we would get a bell for a sprint lap and I would get relegated to the back. We had three nasty wrecks - one guy apparently lost teeth from landing on his face - and our race was neutralized twice. It was a product of stupidity as the course is not inherently dangerous.

On the last lap nearing the finish I was pretty happy to finish unscathed on such a beautiful day at a fantastically supported event. Somehow I increased my position by four spots, finishing 33rd in the GC and down 3'14".

Overall:

Nearing the finish of the crit I was pretty happy. It was a beautiful July 4th weekend. I finished the stage race without embarrassing myself. I saw some friends. Did some relaxing and had a weekend full of nothing but cycling. Was going to grab a beer or two at one of the bars around the crit course from local brewer and Longsjo supporter Wachusett Brewing Company and watch the pro women race. And while I didn't finish as well as capable (33rd Overall), I had a great time.

As I mentioned this is a superb event and I look forward to doing it again. I only hope to convince a few teammates, friends, etc. to come with me. It wouldn't hurt to have someone to serve as my gregario...or at least provide company on two 12-14 hour drives, split costs, and commiserate with.

51st Fitchburg-Longsjo Classic Stage Race Intro - 2009 ReCap - Jimm McElroy

2010-07-07T11:20:00.000-07:00

One year ago I travelled to Fitchburg, MA for the 50th Fitchburg-Longsjo Classic Stage Race with a confidence and swagger not completely different from General Custer at the Battle of Little Bighorn. The history of the race is laid out here on the Longsjo site. In short it is the second oldest race in America, dedicated to Art Longsjo - a winter and summer olympian in speed skating and cycling. In 1958 he died in an automobile accident returning from a race in Canada. His wife Terry and the community instituted this race as a lasting memorial to his memory and competitive spirit. In 1991 the famous Fitchburg-Longsjo Criterium became a stage race. The amount of community support from businesses, citizens, and New England racers is astounding. It is really a race that everyone should take part in - with people doing so, coming from multiple countries, states, and different languages being spoken.

What attracted me to the Longsjo Classic last year was its history (nearly all of the USA pros - past and present, male and female - have been to and succeeded at this event), it being a "climber's race (more on that later)," and most importantly a stage race that did not cater to pros (of which an impressive list attends each year) at the expense of the amateurs. It is a superbly run, inspiringly supported event that affords all categories a PRO like experience.

So, in 2009, fresh off my European campaign that consisted of the 2009 Gran Fondo del Prosecco, a circuit race in Sorga, VR, and thundering through the whole 17th Stage of the Giro d'Italia with such fervor on Blockhaus that Italians on the climb could only utter "forte!" to each other as I stormed past them, or "piano!" as caution, I descended upon Fitchburg, MA for my first Longsjo. I also took my brother with me, who then 21 is and was not the embodiment of an elite amateur athlete as I, for soigneur and crew support (minus the massage) and hoping to inspire him to get into cycling...or at least shape.

I did a mediocre time trial in the coldishness and rain for stage 1. On stage 2 I lined up for the circuit race in Fitchburg with more promise as there was a small hill near the end. I was almost dropped at the end of the first circuit and proceeded to drop myself on the downhill during the second lap (in 2010 I saw that if you get dropped you will never catch back on on that slight downhill). Surely on stage three I would do well as it was the "climbers' stage." That was not to be either as I was nearly dropped on the first lap and dropped on the start of the second lap (the downhill). So embarassed was I that at the end of the first lap I told my brother (who was equipped with bottles to hand to me for the 3 hour race) to meet me at the car my next time by - I wanted to pull off the course before I got to the crowd. Destroyed from being on form in Italy, almost a month passing before Fitchburg, and trying to stay in form that long, I was devastated after such a poor performance. Having abandoned on stage 3, I couldn't compete in the stage 4 criterium and my Longsjo was unceremoniously over.

Suffice to say I did not impress my brother although he was supportive. What followed was a month of trying to recover, poor performances, and even going to a doctor to make sure I wasn't sick. With that, I headed back to Fitchburg, MA for the 2010 51st Annual Fitchburg-Longsjo Classic Stage Race to redeem myself.

Avery Trace Cycling Classic - Jimm McElroy

2010-07-05T06:20:00.000-07:00

On the 26th of June 2010 I took part in the Avery Trace Cycling Classic Road Race around Gainesboro, TN. The Historic Avery Trace was the first road cut in Tennessee to join North Carolina to French Lick, known today as Nashville, Tennessee. It was an 88 km road race with six climbs and a hill at the beginning for a total of around 900 meters of climbing. The sixth climb was the finishing climb of about 1.5 km at around 8-9%. Not a devastating finishing climb, but tough after a very hot day and the hills before.

I had a worthy teammate to go along with me in Andy Kimble, after moving to Asheville and joining VeloSports Racing. Andy met me at my house at 5:00am and we set off in my Avant for the long drive. With smaller fields (around 25), one team having four members, and two of us, the plan was to give me carte blanche and Andy would try to get in a breakaway at some point to let me sit in and give him a chance at a result since he wasn't as confident for the final climb - with an eye towards me waiting for the last climb.

We had a wonderful drive through the "Historic Center of Gainesboro, TN" and arrived with plenty of time that of course went too quickly. Not a bad deal since it was a long race and hot weather, so a complete thorough warm-up wasn't as crucial. The start was sane with only one person trying to channel his inner Jens for maybe a couple of minutes. The first 3.5 (the .5 being the hill at the beginning) climbs come within the first 16 km and makes for a difficult beginning. After that downhill it is a slight build up to the fourth climb to a plateau. I was sitting second wheel with no intention to work when the jerk in front of me thought he would signal his attention to stop working by simply and suddenly stopping pedaling. We exchanged philosophical differences and when I looked back I had a gap by just dangling off the front and keeping pedaling. I decided to keep going, but not bury myself since we had over two hours left in the race and doing it solo was not ideal.

After who knows how long [10 minutes?] someone bridged to me and we started working well together. A few minutes later someone else bridged up, who I think was my recent debate partner. He was a definitely a rouleur and would be great for the breakaway success. However, I was stuck with rotating behind him and he was not doing it nice. Being smaller and unable to crank out huge watts instantly by mashing on the pedals at a whim, his rotations and me trying to follow him and pull through were hurting (since we were going very hard trying to extend the gap). When we got to the plateau climb I lost a little bit of ground on the climb by virtue of the big nut's pulls. At the top the two companions pulled away and I couldn't catch them on the downhill. I waited for some reinforcements which came in the form of the main group that had whittled down. I thought for sure we would catch those two as they only had 30 seconds at first, but they quickly extended that since no one knows how to work together apparently even when one specific team had four teammates at the start of the race.

From that point we passed time with people doing stupid "attacks," accelerating and powering up hills [ie bumps] for no good reason to only rest at the top. As a high note, we hit the feed zone with neutral water and I got to do the PRO thing and pour it over me. Aaaaah, that felt so good in the sun and heat.

After a bit Andy and I stopped rotating at the front when we got word of the huge advantage. I was feeling good and thought I had a good chance on the next to last climb to try an attack again if I could get someone to help me on the descent and flat. At the least I could go on the final climb. But up that next to last climb I started to get a cramp on my inner thigh and lost some power. No problem I thought, because the top of the climb was just ahead and they were clearly in view. Plus it was flat/downhill after this and there was no reason for these idiots to drive hard. Alas, for Andy and I they were idiots and drove so hard that we couldn't close the gap despite bombing down a descent and TT'ing for a while.

At this point I started to actually notice how hot it was and just wanted to finish. Andy and I made it to the final climb and we just went up at our own pace. We descended, changed, waited for a 12th place $15 payout and headed home. Since we both care about food and hate crap, it was a long 4 hour drive home to food.

Next stop is the Longsjo Classic Stage Race in Fitchburg, MA. Site of my most depressing performance ever in 2009.

Velosports Gets National Exposure

2010-06-24T07:27:00.000-07:00

The Lumberjack 100, like all of the other NUE (National Ultra-Endurance) events is a very well planned and well organized event. The promoters put an incredible amount of energy and thought into these races and it shows. I'm definitely looking forward to the 3 remaining 100 mile mtb races I have on my calendar for the remainder of this year and I'm proud to be flying the VeloSports kit for these events!

Friday afternoon found me at the venue about 3:00pm for registration. Once the schwag bag was in hand and the all-important pint glass secured Andy Applegate and I decided to head out for a quick pre-ride of the first half of the course. My strategy up to that point was bottles for nutrition/hydration since there was an aid station at mile 17 of the 33 mile loop. How hard could that be? WRONG! Thankfully I learned on the pre-ride that Michigan singletrack was not conducive to bottles. Glad I brought my Camelback!

The 7:00 start Saturday morning had me awake at 5 and going through my pre-race routine. 6:30 riders meeting found me shoulder to shoulder with over 300 competitors from all over the US. It is pretty humbling to stand next to Jeff Schalk and look down at his prototype Trek bike and his #1 plate. I knew this guy was fast, but I had no idea how fast until he lapped me about 5 miles from the finish of my second lap (he was on his 3rd lap. Yes, he is that fast). The talk was pleasant but we all had our game faces on. I'm still getting used to the competition at that level.

So.......here we go. We are told to "soft pedal" 2 miles down the pavement to an orange cone in the road. "The Subaru will be down there and we will sound the siren". Okay. I can handle that. So we all take our time rolling down the road we drove in on and sure enough there is an orange cone there but it looks like the entire pack is already there! Well, there goes my sweet starting spot. Oh well, I have a hundred miles to get there so no worries.The mass start rolls out at 7 sharp and the race is on. We roll back through the venue and there is literally a couple hundred people there cheering us on! What a great feeling to know the locals are out "en force" like that. Very cool. I pass a lot of riders on the pavement and roll into the singletrack with a group of about 30 for the first section of the first loop of 33 miles. We are all working together and the pace is brisk. 10 miles or so in I take a quick check of all the systems. Heart rate is about 8-10 BPM above race pace and I make a critical error. "I feel good, this is a good pace, keep pushing it" Wrong! At mile 17 the promoter has an aid station. I'm 4th in the pace line and the first 3 pull off. Like a jackass I blow past the aid station and push the pace up a notch. What was I thinking?? 3 stayed with me on the break and we dropped the rest of the group. At about mile 25 I blew through a turn and the 3 guys behind me blew by me. Now I'm all alone in the woods and starting to feel the effects of my bad decision making. Twinges of cramps are creeping into my quads and I'm not happy with my dumbness. I limp past the start/finish line, suck down some Endurolites and head out for the second lap. Every time I step on the gas my cramps return. Now I'm kicking myself but the only path forward is to keep pedaling. More Endurolites and more hydration. I roll through the start/finish line after lap 2 and stop in my pit for way too long to try to stretch those cramps out and eat. Finally I'm feeling better and head out for lap 3. All that work trying to get rid of the cramps is paying off. The further into the third lap I get the better I feel and I'm actually passing some folks in my class. The finish was strong for me but I know I could have easily shaved 45 mins to an hour off my time if I would have started that race smarter. Lesson learned. I just hope I remember it next time! I ended up 20th out of 40 masters riders. 10:24 finish time. I'll take that for my second hundie in the woods.

The course was 95% singletrack and a lot if it is tight twisting hand built goodness. What gets you is the 30 or 40 walls that are granny gear specific and range from a hundred yards long to a quarter mile or so. The first 5 miles and the last 12 or so look like a saw blade on a profile and they are real energy suckers. I can't wait for next year!

John Strobel's First Time 6-Hour Report

2010-06-15T07:42:00.000-07:00

I attempted my first 6 hour solo race this weekend in Georgia, It was definitely a learning experience for me. I met OJ Friday night and loaded up my wife and two dogs and drove down to Conyers, Ga. I wasn't quite sure what to expect when we woke up Saturday morning and it was already 90 degrees at 9 a.m.

I didn't have any expectations for myself really, all I wanted to do was finish, not having ridden my bike that long or in this kind of heat and humidity before. When we lined up, I started getting a bit nervous, they let us go and I just settled into a steady pace not caring that people are passing me left and right. About 3 miles into the 7.6 mile lap I broke my chain, I fixed it and started riding again, SNAP....broke the chain again, followed by breaking the chain tool fixing the chain. Now I have no tools, no chain and almost half way around my first lap. After thinking about how much this sucks I grabbed my bike and started running the 3 miles back to the pits, the wrong direction, in my road shoes, in 90 degree weather. I was really happy. After running back and fixing my chain I was a lap and a half down, before I even started racing. After learning I was in 17th (last place) I went out like I was on a four man team and in a couple laps made up time to make up that missing lap and then go from 17 to 9th. Realizing I still had 3 hours to go and it was now in the 94-96 range I settled into that pace and gained 4 more places to finish 5th in surprisingly good condition. After I raced I stayed to help Owen Simpson, from Chumba Racing, who stuck it out through a violent lighting storm and 12 hours of steady riding for a 3rd place finish.

I'm looking forward to the next one...I had a great time.

Roan Groan Cat 4 Report

2010-06-08T04:58:00.001-07:00

About a month ago I started trying to round up teammates to join me at the Roan Groan Road Race in TN on Saturday, June 5th. It's only 30 miles long after all and right up the road in Tri-Cities. Initially there was some interest but after all was said and done I had only managed to convince Wade to join me in Elizabethton for the race. The race is only 30 miles, but the last 8 are all uphill with an average grade in double digits I'm sure. I actually wonder what it would be categorized by the folks in Europe who categorize climbs for the Grand Tours.

We laced up our Velcro, did the "portapotty in bib shorts shuffle" and toed the line at 9am with about 50 other Cat 4's. My warm-up had gone well and the stresses of my week had all been forgotten as started my stopwatch and rolled off the start line. It's a pretty straightforward course and even though I hadn't ever climbed Roan Mountain I was comfortable that nothing would happen until the climb started at mile 22. Wade and I held our positions near the front, took a few turns and even took a two-man flyer when the pace had dropped to 15 mph. They didn't let us go, but we weren't really trying to get away just to make things interesting.

So, 22 miles later we arrive at the base on Roan Mountain. A group of 20 at the front instantly pulled away from the field. Wade and I moved with them initially but I quickly felt that this effort wasn't going to suit me for a 40 minute climb (My HR and Power meter helped me decide this too). So I settled down and into a pace and dropped slowly off the lead groups pace. After about 3 minutes I could see the lead group started to fragment and I was feeling better. Over the next 35 minutes I calmly rode hard with several mini-bursts and successfully leapfrogged from one small group to the next. Even though the speed was low, riding in someone's draft gives you a psychological break if not a physical one. I was successfully using other riders to pull me up the climb and then once rested I'd jump to the next group up the road. At one point I was anxious about riding alone or to continue sitting on this one pair that was fading. So, I took off and they didn't come with me. After a minute or two I saw another rider who was wayyyyy up the road and I wonder if he felt the target that I could see on his back. I chased him for the next 10 minutes and closed within 50 meters before the finish. I placed 11th out of the 52 starters and I'll take it. Wade was right behind me placing just a few spots back. I think I heard him say "so when's the sprint?"

Keep the rubber side down!

Dan

The Ring of Fire

2010-05-11T11:33:00.000-07:00

The first three editions of the 2010 Ring of Fire have seen large turnouts and great racing, helped in no small part by the outstanding spring weather. We have averaged 102 race entries per event, with the last race coming in over the century mark with 116 entries. The turnout has led to the addition of a women's open category, complete with payouts, which will have its first running at this week's race. The hard work by our Ring of Fire committee is paying off in spades, with racers of all ages and their families enjoying exciting racing and good times at Carrier Park.

Below are a few photos from the April 28 event.

Andy Kimble on the attack in the Masters race.

Frank Obusek sprints for points in the Masters race.

Brian Morrison, Billy McCracken, John Strobel, and Kirk Robinson animating the Category C race.

Brian and Kirk debrief the C action as they count laps for the B race.

Wade Turlington, Ryan Newman, and Dan Snedecor as part of the large Velosport contingent in the B race.

Alan Brookshire and Owen Simpson in the B race.

Dan and Stephen Duncan in the B race.

Good Day's Grind

2010-05-11T08:55:00.000-07:00

Report by Dan Snedecor:

Wade, OJ and I met at around 9:30 Saturday in Ft. Mill, SC to take on the 6 Hour Grind on the Greenway Endurance mountain bike race. Wade and I were racing in the Open Duo relay class and OJ was entered in the single speed solo category. The forecast was perfect and I don't think it could have been a better day to ride a bike. Sunny, light & steady breeze and around 78 degrees mid-day.

Wade and I raced the 12 hour duo relay event on this course last fall and after a good winters training we were ready to improve upon our 4th place finish then. We set up our pit next to the start/finish chute and started preparing our gear for 6 hours of racing with about an hour to go before the start. I was the chosen one for the start lap so I donned my VeloSports kit and started to warm-up around 10:30 in preparation for the mass start at 11:00. My legs felt good during the warm-up and I knew getting position on this first lap would help us later in the day. We had about a 1 mile "prologue" before crossing the start finish in order to spread out the group of over 100 racers before we got into the tight twisty single-track trails in the woods. It was a little cutthroat on the prologue, but I held good position, rode the twisty & rooty course cleanly and came through in the top 20 racers after my first lap. The first laps are important in relay events, you need to go fast to hold position but not so fast that you can't recover and do it 4 more times, pacing is key.

Wade went out and turned a blistering first lap as he would continue to do all day. He proved to be the stronger of the two of us throughout the day with fast and consistent lap times. Despite his fast laps we were up to 10 minutes behind third place after 4 laps. The first and second place teams were significantly faster (Expert category racers) than the rest of the field and had put 20 minutes on everyone else by mid-race. Then our pacing started to make up the difference, the team in third started slowing down and we remained steady. As Wade headed out on the last lap of the day we thought we were less than a minute behind 3rd. (It actually was 6 minutes, but we had misread one teams number plate) I urged him on and knew he had the legs to catch up. As it turned out he put in a HUGE effort and closed that 6 minute gap to the third place team in that last lap, but ran out of trail before he could pass him. As it turned out we finished 7 seconds behind third place and just off the podium, again........4th out of 32 duo teams.

In looking over the lap times, I was definitely guilty of a "slow" 3rd lap where I experienced some twinges of cramps which scared me after my awful crampfest 5 weeks ago at the 6 hours of warrior creek. As it turned out, I never cramped and my last lap felt good and was a minute faster than my third lap, so I was probably too conservative on lap 3. But, had I not backed off enough and started to cramp we would have fallen further behind. It's a tricky thing in these long relay races and in this case very frustrating for me because we came so close. You have to push yourself hard on every lap but reserve enough to keep from blowing up on later laps. If the course had been 100 yards longer Wade could have ridden us easily into third place. The other team had blown up.

These races are a lot of fun and my favorite type of event. The racers are friendly, the promoters care a lot about the experience and racing as a team is cool. Unfortunately, OJ had an early race mechanical problem that couldn't be rectified and spent the rest of the day supporting Wade and I. Thanks OJ!

Approx. lap times:
Dan: 45
Wade: 44
Dan:46
Wade: 45
Dan: 48 (ugly)
Wade: 45
Dan:47
Wade: 45

So when's the next race?

Athens Twilight Criterium

2010-05-10T15:51:00.000-07:00

The Athens Twilight Criterium is one of the highlights of the spring domestic calendar, arguably the best crit in the Southeast, and certifiably the best crit held in the middle of a nighttime, downtown college party. While the marquis pro/elite crits are held under the lights that evening, a full slate of criterium action fills the day leading up the main event. Jim (#2, single 'm'), Frank, and Andy headed down for the 30th running of the Twilight on April 24.

Jim got thrown to the wolves and competed with the Cat 4s for the first time after his upgrade request was processed quicker-than-expected. Despite a large field and a crash-filled race on rain-soaked streets, he survived to finish 35th in the AM crit.

Frank prior to a hard effort in support of Andy in the Cat 3s.

Andy had his game face on in the Cat 3 AM crit. Fresh off of a hard 3 days of racing at the Sea Otter Classic in California, Andy finished a strong 19th, landing himself a spot in the evening's amateur finals.

Andy flew the VS banner in the amateur finals later that evening. Held on the 1-km pro/elite circuit, it featured a large field of qualifiers from the morning's crits. A long delay in the start time of the race due to the recurrent storms resulted in Andy getting stuck at the back of the field at the start, causing his race to unfortunately end prematurely. Regardless, he represented Velosports proudly on one of the biggest stages in the region.

Painful Podium

2010-05-05T05:11:00.000-07:00

12-Hour Solo Endurance MTB Race 10am-10pm (part of the 5 race Chainbuster Series)

April 30th, Fort Yargo State Park (outside of Winder, GA in the northeast part of the state).
4:45 pm: Arrive at park, take a practice lap
6:00 pm: Shower
6:15 pm: Set up Camp (move all my gear to the front seats of the 4-Runner, unroll Therma-Rest air pad and sleeping bag). View from my "tent" door:

6:30 pm: Pull dinner out of cooler (Chilled Quinoa and Tuna Salad with Lemon-Garlic Dressing) and consume.
7:00 pm: Walk around camp area and meet camp host and other racers (consume a few Oreos and swap a few stories).
8:00 pm: Watch moon rise over the lake and call my wife
8:30 pm: Fast asleep

May 1st 6:30 am: Wake to promoter's choice of tunes on his P.A. system (Dueling Banjos from the Deliverance soundtrack).

7:15 am: Leave park to hit the local breakfast hotspot (McDonald's)

8:00 am: Set up pit area with Owen Simpson (from Chumba Racing)

9:00 am: Try to chill and drink like a gallon of water

9:30 am: Rider's meeting

9:55 am: Get to start line, exchange pleasantries, and listen to promoter announce time left 'til start every minute for the next 5 minutes (which jacks my heart rate up just listening to him).

10:00 am: Air horn goes off and so are we.

10:02 am: Reaching anaerobic threshold hanging with the front 5 guys until we reach the woods and safety of the singletrack.

10:07 am: In the woods and backing it off a bit not wanting to hang with the 4-man team relay members who only have to race 3 to 4 one-hour segments over 12 hours. I'm in the saddle for 12 hours straight.

10:48 am: Lap 1 in the bag as I swing into the pit to take on a bottle of Hammer Nutrition's Perpetuem (thanks to Lisa Brookshire, our local rep).

11:46 am: Lap 2 down and Lindsay Simpson (our pit crew chief and Owen's wife) tells me I'm in the lead and 5 minutes ahead!

12:46 am: End of Lap 3 and I think maybe I am going a bit too hard as I am staying with the 6-Hour Solo leader. Pick up some Hammer Endurolytes and a full gel flask. Mutter something to that affect to Lindsay. She listens and just smiles.

1:49 pm: Lap 4 is done and I am convinced I need to slow down due to the fact that I am getting thirsty. Guzzle some water at the pit, and on my way.

2:15 pm: Start seeing water bottles on the trail's side and start to think maybe those could be good sources of fuel/hydration but keep on truckin'.

2:54 pm: Lap 5 is over and I REALLY need to convey to Lindsay that I am behind the 8-ball. Again, she just smiles and listens.

3:20 pm: Pull over and start drinking one of the mystery trailside bottles. Mmmm...Lemon-Lime Gatorade.

6:00 pm: (somewhere in the middle of Lap 8) Some relay team racer with clip-in pedals (the kind you slip your tennis shoe into) comes by me. It is at this point I realize I am in trouble. But I am still in the lead.

6:31 pm: Finish Lap 8 and have to pull over to massage legs to keep from cramping and rest for 5 minutes. Unbeknownst to me at the time, this is where 2nd place passed me.

7:54 pm: After a leg cramp session Lap 9, I exchange helmets for the one fitted with my light. I find out I have lost the lead, but that 3rd place is 30 minutes back. So, all I have to do is put one more lap in and keep an eye out for #547 coming up from behind.

8:30 pm: (halfway through Lap 10) Realize that my long winter training has paid off and start to feel better. Maybe I can reel the leader back in.

9:12 pm: Finish the lap and reality (and leg cramping) sets in that I'm not gonna try to equal my fastest lap of the day and thus not retake the lead. So, I settle for 2nd place but gain 1st place in the series.

Next stop of the series: June 12th, Conyers, GA (the site of the 1996 Olympic Mountain Bike Event). Maybe I should bring a portable IV unit.

Adam Penny

Rock Hill Classic Road Race - Cat 5 Images

2010-04-16T06:29:00.000-07:00

Brian Morrison and I raced Cat 5 this past Saturday in the Rock Hill Classic Road Race in Brattonsville, SC. While we were not able to replicate Andy's exploits in the Cat 3 race, we nonetheless survived the longest road race on the calendar, with Brian finishing an excellent 19th (including a strong breakaway effort), and myself coming in at 31st.

Our pre-race smiles would quickly vanish.

Getting ready to roll out for the hilly, 47-mile loop. Photos courtesy of Eddie Helton.

Big Race Result

2010-04-12T09:09:00.000-07:00

Andy Kimble went down to one of the southeast's premier road races and a permanent fixture on many a racer's calendar. Here is his report:

Rock Hill has been one of my favorite events in the Southeast, since moving to this area 3 years ago. Saturday proved to be one of the best and hardest, not to mention longest, days I've ever had on the bike. I don't know how you guys gut out the 6 and 12 hr. solo races.

I toed the line with about 40 other guys, sitting right behind the front row so I could keep an eye on things. Like last year, the race was on almost immediately. 2 guys were working hard to establish the break. After one failed attempt, they got clear. I was at the front and another guy put in a dig to go across to them. I recognized the 2 guys up the road who are both strong time trialers and breakaway riders. So I took a chance. It was obvious the group wasn't going to put in a hard chase for a relatively small group of riders 2-3 miles into a 94 mile race. We had a good gap pretty quickly, which was expected, but then we started rotating and the 2 guys who started the break were stomping on it. I worked hard to keep their pace as the 4 of us started to build a lead. After about 10 minutes, the guy I followed up to the move announced "I can't keep up this pace for 4 hours." We looked back and could see 3 other guys approaching, but the pack wasn't really in sight. We quickly decided to wait for them. The 3 of them joined us, they were all strong, there were 7 of us, and it was on. The gap eventually went from a minute and a half to 2 minutes. In the process, I took first place over the King of the Mountains point.
We came through the feed zone after our first 47 mile lap. The legs were still good I thought, we were still working well together, "we might make it." After another 10 miles, I was at the back and Nick Fishbein, who I know well enough to fear, started driving the living hell out of it and it was all I could do for 5 minutes to try and stay in contact with the group. He finally backed off, but 5 miles later he drilled it again and we all decided we couldn't handle another acceleration like that, and let him go. He rapidly rode right away from us and would eventually win the race by 5 minutes. There's always second.6 of us were rotating well and were being dropped by a single rider. We headed toward the King of the Mountains sprint again. I wouldn't win this, but I reasoned that if I could beat the guy who finished marginally behind me the last time up, that I would win this competition. He rode away from me and 2 other guys as we came to the line, but I stood up and drove it. I nipped him at the line and took the KoM. The 2 of us had gapped 2 others and there were 2 more way back.
Now, it was one up the road and 4 of us following.We worked together until about mile 80, at this point I had a new experience, as we all started to mentally fatigue and freak about the fact that we've now been in front for like 75 miles, yet we might get caught and have nothing to show for it. The hills were really starting to take their toll on all of us except a little guy from Chapel Hill with a Camelback on. He and I had talked a lot during the race and agreed that 3 of us were racing for third, as there was one guy in our group who was a great sprinter even though he was complaining of cramps. The little guy kept getting away from us on each hill, but we would regain contact as the course flattened out. Then the elastic finally snapped and 3 of us rallied together in search of 3rd, as the little guy rode away. The last 10 miles were a psychological hell as we constantly looked back over our shoulders, waiting to be overtaken, since we hadn't received time checks in over an hour.As the miles ticked off though, we couldn't see anyone coming up behind us.Somehow, as we turned onto the finishing straight of a mile and a half, I got stuck on the front. No matter how much I slowed down, neither of them would come around me. I was afraid to really let up, because I figured someone would jump. This continued until almost 200 meters from the line, when I decided I had to go. I stood up and started for the line. Almost immediately, the guy on my wheel, who we knew was sandbagging, burst around me. So it was me and the tough sprinter left, going for the line. I looked under my shoulder and watched as he got all the way up to my rear wheel. I was finally starting to cramp as I crossed the line a wheel length ahead of him. I found out afterwards that he had fully cramped going to the line. Still, I was 4th and pretty happy about how things had gone. A chase group of 3 guys, who we knew were out there behind us, crossed the line about a minute later ahead of the pack.This race was super hard, but rewarding. It was such a relief to cross the line before being caught by anyone else.

Uwharrie Wheelmen Road Race

2010-03-26T06:03:00.001-07:00

Andy Kimble and Jim Clark rang in the first day of spring in the Uwharrie Wheelmen Road Race this past Saturday. The former 'Out Like a Lion' circuit traversed the rolling farmland north of Albemarle, and the selective course made for tough racing and deserving podiums. Andy finished 12th in the Cat 3 race, while Jim rolled in at 21st in the Cat 5 35+. As a bonus, the 70+ degree day dished out the first sunburns of the year.

Jim

Andy

Chainbuster Series #1

2010-03-18T18:40:00.000-07:00

Team Velosports member Adam Penny headed down to Athens, GA this past weekend to compete in the first of five Georgia endurance mountain bike races this season, the Chain Buster Endurance Points Series. The object of these races is to do as many laps as you can in the alotted time (6 hours at this venue, 12 hours at the rest of the series). This course was a 7-mile loop that boasted 700' of climbing per lap.

The Pits
OJ's dad working for us in our setup

Adam concentrating and trying to catch 2 national champions

Heritage Park 6-Hour Mountain Bike Solo-Expert Podium

Special thanks to Chumba Racing's Owen Simpson's family for their wonderful hospitality. I think OJ's sister's pre race dinner was packed with something special. And, his dad's post race treat-to-dinner was the perfect ending to a fun weekend.

Photos courtesy of Defiant Photography.

Greenville Spring Training Series Wrap-up

2010-03-16T11:00:00.000-07:00

As indicated in the previous blog posts, Velosports Racing was a steady presence during the Greenville Spring Training Series, the annual 3-weekend race binge that begins the road season for many in this region of the southeast. Anxious to escape from the winter that wouldn't quit, team members descended from the hills each weekend to test their legs in the warmer climes of upstate South Carolina. In all, eleven team members totalled 24 race entries, led by Andy Kimble, who raced in all six races, and followed by Frank Obusek, who competed in the final four events at Fork Shoals, River Falls, and Donaldson Center (twice). Adding to the Velosports representation was Adam Penny (Donaldson Center, Fork Shoals, and River Falls), Ryan Newman (Donaldson Center twice, Fork Shoals), Jim Clark (Donaldson Center twice), Alan Brookshire (BMW Center), Wade Turlington (Donaldson Center), Dan Snedecor (Donaldson Center), Stephen Duncan (Donaldson Center), Brian Morrison (River Falls), and Kirk Robinson (Donaldson Center). Below are images from the final weekend's action.

Brian Morrison, River Falls Road Race

Photo courtesy of Eddie Helton

Andy Kimble, River Falls Road Race

Photo courtesy of Eddie Helton

Frank Obusek, River Falls Road Race

Photo courtesy of Jimmy Helms

Adam Penny, River Falls Road Race

Photo courtesy of Jimmy Helms

Andy, River Falls Road Race

Photo courtesy of Jimmy Helms

Adam, River Falls Road Race

Photo courtesy of Jimmy Helms

Jim Clark, Donaldson Center Road Race

Photo courtesy of Eddie Helton

Andy and Frank, Donaldson Center Road Race

Photo courtesy of Eddie Helton

Andy and Frank, Donaldson Center Road Race

Photo by Jim Clark

Frank, Donaldson Center Road Race

Photo by Jim Clark

Andy, Donaldson Center Road Race

Photo courtesy of Eddie Helton

Velosports Racing would like to thank Eddie Helton for the use of his photographs of the Greenville series. For additional photos of the entire series, please visit his website.

And we keep at it...

2010-03-10T08:12:00.000-08:00

Andy's Cat. 3 Report:

Saturday at River Falls was, and always is, one of the toughest races of the season. Frank, Adam and I took the start and it didn't take long for the pain to begin. The first trip up the all important climb, Asheville Cycling Elite's (the old I9 squad) new recruit, Eric, drilled it.

For the next several laps Frank and I did what we needed to, to insure Adam would be in good position each time up that wretched climb. One guy got away from the group on lap 3? and would hold off the entire field by about a minute. On the sixth lap of nine, Frank and I made an attempt to bring down the gap to him on the flats. Then we hit the climb again and Adam, being the strong climber he is went full throttle, nearly pulling clear of the field, but the elastic wouldn't snap. I shot back through the field from 15th to about 40th (also known as last place) and Frank succumbed to the pace, chasing for one more lap.

I was pretty much blown at this point and am ashamed to say I just couldn't do anything else to help Adam, who was riding in the top 5 the last 3 laps and charging up the hill every time. With half a lap to go, I was able to get close enough to the front to cover one last attack, then the lights went out.

Adam was nearly on the front as we hit the hill for the final ascent. Half way up, I lost contact and watched as a band of gangly little climbers swarmed Adam. We managed an 18th and a 26th. Not the result we had hoped for, but as always that which does not kill us makes us stronger and we will get it right, hopefully very soon.

Sunday Frank and I took our tired legs to Donaldson Center for another round. We both started the race strong, staying close to a flurry of early attacks for the first 25 miles, but nothing was getting away.

After a particularly brutal attack let up, I pulled through, not going all that fast. Next thing I know, I have 20-30 meters on the field. I'm not a total idiot, so I realize I'm not going to solo 25 miles to victory. Therefore, I slow down in order to be absorbed by the field, but they don't want me back. I'm soft pedaling and they're totally screwing with me. I slow to 15 mph and they slow to 10. This is ridiculous! I get annoyed and start to pick up the pace when finally, after 10 minutes of this, one guy comes across to me and takes over while I sit on. Then 3 more guys come across quickly and finally 3 more. The last 3 guys are really strong and we are gone. Our break lasts about a lap, but Hincapie and Barley's riders mass at the front putting in a big acceleration and pulling us back. The surge was enough to unhitch Frank though, unfortunately.

In the next half lap, the winning break gets together and I just can't make it in with them after my previous efforts. Two groups of six guys get up the road, going so hard that they spit out 4 riders before the finish. I spent the rest of the race pointlessly flogging myself at the front to pull back the 2 big breaks and control other little moves. It was bad decision making on my part, but I was frustrated and felt I had to try and do something. Eventually, I accepted my fate and settled in for the final sprint. I got on the wheel of 2 Big View riders as they accelerated for the line. I didn't have much left, coming through 7th in the bunch sprint and placing a disappointing 18th.

Totally cooked from a long weekend, and 3 week series, of racing, I stopped by the taco truck on my way out of town before passing out on the futon in front of the Academy Awards.

Greenville Spring Training Series

2010-03-03T07:35:00.000-08:00

Images from the first two weeks' action...

Alan Brookshire, BMW Performance Center Crit

Photo courtesy of Eddie Helton

Andy Kimble, Donaldson Center Road Race #1

Photo courtesy of Eddie Helton

Adam Penny, Donaldson Center Road Race #1
Photo courtesy of Eddie Helton

Adam, Donaldson Center Road Race #1

Photo courtesy of Eddie Helton

Adam, Frank Obusek, and Andy, Fork Shoals Road Race
Photo courtesy of Eddie Helton

Adam and Andy, Fork Shoals Road Race
Photo courtesy of Eddie Helton

Ryan Newman, Fork Shoals Road Race
Photo courtesy of Eddie Helton

Andy, Donaldson Center Road Race #2

Photo courtesy of Eddie Helton

Andy, Donaldson Center Road Race #2
Photo courtesy of Eddie Helton

Jim Clark, Donaldson Center Road Race #2

Photo by www.thelivingpixel.com

Donaldson Center Road Race #2

2010-03-01T07:53:00.000-08:00

The Velosports Racing team continued to make its presence known at the Greenville Spring Training Series, with eight members racing across three categories in Sunday's Donaldson Center Road Race.

Cat 5 35+ report, Jim Clark

Kirk and I set out with the first wave at 9:00, with temps still in the low 40s. However, the sun was out and the wind was light, in contrast to the gales of last year. With Kirk working toward masters track nationals and myself in the early stages of my first winter of structured training, we were uncertain how we might fare, but our hope was to have Kirk use his track skills for a sprint at the finish. Kirk quickly moved to the front and helped animate the first lap, which saw the field stay together. The first big acceleration occurred during the hills of the second lap, and I stayed with the field as it began its series of accelerations. On the final lap, I followed an unsuccessful attack to the front of the field, putting me in good position for the last few miles. However, an abrupt change in pace by the rider whose wheel I had caught me off-guard, and I was quickly off the back as the field surged past. I was not able to chase back on, which may have been for the best due to a pileup around 200m from the line. I came across in 17th, with Kirk close behind.

Cat 4 report, Dan Snedecor

Wade, Ryan, Stephen and I raced together at Donaldson today. A pretty good breeze meant position was important to conserve energy. The general plan was to stay near the front and one another and if the opportunity presented itself to get someone into a break after the first two laps of 5. Stephen was active at the front while us others hid in the draft in the middle of the group for the first 3 laps. It was a pretty boring until a genuine move happened and Wade was in it while Ryan and I sat on the front of the group. But Wade's companions were weak and all sat up within 5 minutes so the chase caught them. On the 5th and supposed finishing lap, just as the pace started to get interesting we were neutralized while the Pros overtook us. This happened less than a mile from the finish and after a lot of confusion they gave us another lap.On this lap Wade, Ryan and I had nice position to bring Wade to the sprint. The pace was dreadfully slow but we were boxed in and couldn't do anything about it. As we finally started to speed up Wade saw daylight and took another wheel through the traffic to the front at about 1K to go. I was able to follow and Ryan was there too.

Then the most freakish thing happened as the sprint finally started. The rider next to wade lifted his rear wheel off the ground and slammed wades bike. Wade slid at least to a 75 degree angle and I was bearing down on him. I knew he was hitting the deck and I was going to run him over! Somehow he held on and stayed upright. After grabbing handfuls of brakes I missed him and was then able to resume the sprint. Ryan however went over top the other rider and hit the ground. He cut up his hands and probably nearly dislocated his shoulder but seemed ok overall.I managed 14th. But Wade had a clear shot and was overtaking everyone and would have likely won the race without the incident. There's so much luck involved in racing that it get frustrating sometimes. Oh well, live and race another day.

Cat 3 report, Frank Obusek

7 laps of Donaldson! Windy! Yay!

Andy and I lined up at the start line ready to roll. We both took an active role in the race on the first lap. I quickly realized however after a few turns on the front and in the wind that my legs were still toast from yesterday. I found myself drifting into the pack whilst Andy continued to play an active role in the race.It was about the 3rd or 4th lap that i was still not feeling strong. Coming around the backside of the course I looked up and saw another group well ahead of the group that I was in. I quickly realized that our race had split into two large groups, with maybe 16 or so up the road. (Andy will have to give the details here.) I was not paying attention and totally missed the split. I rode up through my group to make sure Andy was not in it. Once I realized for sure that he was not in my group I went to the front to slow down the pace that would hopefully let Andy's group get a gap on the field. The split from 1 minute to 2:30 after a few laps. Several riders in our group had a team mate up the road. It was up to about 4 or 5 riders to do the work to bring the break back....and it was not going to happen. 4 or 5 guys got off the front of our group a couple times, but were brought back. It was going to be an easier ride for me now and I would just hope that Andy got a good result.

I managed to talk to one of the DIY Juniors, Brian Sulivan, earlier in the race. He also did not have any teammates in the race and I was hoping that we could convince him to work with us at some point. As we approached the sprint line for the field sprint I let him take my wheel to give him a run at what was left of the race. At 200m there was a hesitation, but a couple guys jumped late (I did not) and Brian rode around my wheel to sprint for the line. I crossed the line 27th.
Later I learned that Andy's break of 16 was reduced to about 12 and they all worked well together. Andy came across the line 6th for a second day of hard racing.

During the race, Jim Clark was riding the course in the opposite directly giving me updates on Andy's progress, i.e. thumbs up. That was a helpful assist for me to know what was going on.
Also wanted to say that Larry was our official in yesterday's Fork Shoals race. He did a great job too. (Larry was moto official for the Pro/1/2 at Donaldson, resplendent in fringed leather - Jim)

Cat 3 report, Andy Kimble

The most fun I have had racing a bike. I've never gotten into an early race break before. We got away 2 1/2 laps into a 7 lap race. I barely made it into the break, in fact I was the last one. A group of six got away followed by another group of six, at which point I decided to go. I got about 15 meters away and was having trouble closing the gap on what was about to be 12. One rider shot past me and I got a little draft, then another and I caught another little pull. One more guy came around, I clamped onto him and made it into THE break.

Frank played the good teammate and brought the pace down as we got clear and got organized.
We formed a pace line and got to work. About 4 laps into the race we decided that we had 2 or 3 guys just hanging on, not helping so we pushed the pace and cut it to 12. We worked together until the final lap when people started skipping pulls, like half the group, things got kind of catty. I purposely dropped back to about 10th with 1000m to go thinking that the strong headwind would blow just about everybody in front of me, but there were some strong young kids in front of me. I came around 4 of the older guys (seriously) and crossed the line 6th, super excited. It was a lot of fun.

Frank says he suffered quite a bit, but stuck it out and finished 27th. Adam and I are really enjoying his new found dedication and look forward to racing together next weekend.

Sooooo Close (Fork Shoals)

2010-02-28T16:21:00.000-08:00

Photo by Eddie Helton

Frank Fobusek's Report:
Adam, Andy and I headed to Fork Shoals today (the same course that is used for the South Carolina Road Race Championships) for the Cat 3 road race. The plan was to get Adam in a break and go for the win. Back up plan was to get Andy or I to the line in the sprint finish.
Race was (4) 15-mile laps, 60 miles total. After a good warm up we were off. This was my first road race of the season. I had put more focus into training this year than ever before. I was eager to see how I would do.
I certainly don't remember many of the details from lap to lap. Andy and Adam will have to contribute what they remember.
The first lap went well as Andy and I were visible at the front. I certainly noted my ability to stay active in the race throughout the 1st and 2nd laps. I think Adam tried to go with at least one or two breaks during the 2nd and 3rd laps. On lap 3 I had to take some time to recover in the field. At this point, Adam had made his presence felt at the front of the race working with Andy and I floated back n forth amongst the pack. A few breaks tried to go, but did not stay away long enough to worry. I was able to make my appearances at the front to let Andy and Adam know I was still in the race.

Photo by Eddie Helton
On lap 4 I drifted up to the front to see what our game plan was. Adam had not gotten away in any of the breaks, so we considered the back up plan. Adam and I were ready to work for Andy. With 5 miles to go, Adam got his chance as a solo break got off the front and he went with it. They got a huge gap on the field. Andy and I were drifting our position in the field. Coming into the last couple miles I got up beside Andy, and we were commenting how awesome it was to see Adam in the two man break with a good gap still. At this point the field put on the chase. I noted the 3 riders from Asheville's ChainHeart team drilling the pace. They caught Adam at 300 meters before the line. Andy managed to stay with the pack and finish 15th and I was toast and finished with Adam at the back.
We came so close. I think the lesson learned here is that we put in too much effort on the first two laps. We did manage to bring back any breaks that got off the front, but in doing so we did not have enough for the result we were hoping for. But the capability is there. If we only had a couple more 3s to work with, that would have give us a better chance.
Andy and I are going to give it another shot tomorrow at Donaldson.
Andy/Adam? Feel free to add your own perspectives.
It was a great ride for me, and probably my 2nd best performance in a road bike race.
Frank

Andy Kimble's Report:
Good report Frank.
I have to say I was very impressed with both my teammate's performances. Frank is born again HARD and really helped out a lot at the front. Several times I sent him after people with impressive results. In a couple of situations I had to call him off as I had just wanted to close the gap to a breakaway and he more or less pulled it back himself.
Oh, Adam. It was just so damn close. I can't believe he had the strength to hit the group one last time so hard (probably his 6th or 7th breakaway attempt of the day). Frank and I were practically high fiving as we watched Adam ride away with just a couple miles left.
In the end we fell a little short, but we all had a good time, worked well together, and can't wait to do it again. Perhaps Frank is right. We shouldn't burn so many matches so early in the race, but we're riding strong and have the confidence to get it right before this Spring series is over.
Thanks guys, I enjoyed it.
Andy

Adam Penny's Report:
It was certainly a bittersweet race (for me). That would have gotten me the points for Cat 2 upgrade! Frank is back!!! And, Andy worked his ass off. I woke up last night at like 1:30 and could not get back to sleep for 45 minutes. The last 800 meters kept playing over and over in my mind and I was wondering what I could have done to not blow up. My legs just went into muscle failure. No cramping, no redline breathing, just the pistons saying no more. Anyone know of what kind of training intervals I need to do to improve that? However, as my teammates kindly reassured me (in so many words), we will get it soon.
Adam

2010 Team Kick-off Party

2010-02-10T04:19:00.000-08:00

This past Saturday, the Velosports Racing team dropped the flag on the 2010 season. Aided by a fortunate break between winter storms, the team was lured by smoked pork, steamed oysters, and cold beer to Alan and Lisa Brookshire's home in Hendersonville. Not only did Alan and Lisa allow team members, significant others, and their chilluns take over their home, but they also cooked and pulled the bbq, made fresh slaw (with a kick), and prepared a variety of side items and desserts. The Brookshire hospitality was a family affair, with eldest son/Asheville Youth Cycling fastman Grayson watching the kids, Colton organizing games of Rock Band/Halo, and Sophie helping all the kids make new friends.

It was a great evening for the team to catch up, meet new team members, and talk about respective racing plans for the year. A prime topic while shooting pool or shucking oysters was the upcoming spring race series in Greenville, which is firmly in the sights of more than one team member. The team also dug a fine set of acoustic music laid down by their own Billy McCracken, joined by his buddy Dwayne. Jane and Rich Mathews, from team sponsor Mathews Architecture, were also on hand for the feast, as was their son David of AYC. Ring of Fire Announcer/AYC coach/social instigator Joey Coddington completed the hang, making sure no one was over-trained and that everyone knew how to operate all the 'Rock Band' instruments.

A highlight of the night was the unveiling of the 2010 team kits. Clearly, the weeks of obsession and debate about the details of the kit paid off, with sharp-looking duds the result. Thanks to Larry Miller's hard work, the unis were in town for the party, allowing for a quick team photo to start the year.

Front row (l-r): Wade Turlington, Rob Holl, Billy McCracken, Andy Pooser, Kirk Robinson
Back row (l-r): Dan Sendecor, Alan Brookshire, Jim W. Clark, Adam Penny, Larry Miller, Owen Simpson, Andy Kimble, Frank Obusek
Not Pictured: Brian Morrison, Jim Clark, Stephen Duncan, Brad Hutchinson, Ryan Newman, Jeff Pigg, Shawn Smith

Simpsonville (No, OJ's not the mayor)

2010-02-07T19:54:00.000-08:00

(and also Fountain Inn)...home of Peg Leg

Andy and I (Adam) headed down to Simpsonville this chilly Sunday morning to get some big hours in with a moderately fast group. So, we headed down to Jim Cunningham's Heritage Park Ride. The ride was slated for 90 miles at approx. 5 hours (we planned on riding an extra hour to get in 6). We got there and found the ride had been delayed an hour and shortened to 70 due to inclimate weather. So we did about an hour before and an hour after giving us 6:05 and 112 miles. 2 attack zones and we duked it out practicing our tactics we will be using in a few weeks at the upcoming Spring Series in G-ville. First one went great as I won the 4.0 mile sprint as Andy set it up great at the 3.8 mile mark. Unfortunately, the line was .25 miles further than the quoted distance by our ride leader, Jim. The second sprint (quoted at 3.0 miles) was a little better, except that it was 2.0. This time I took third (really) and Andy once again did great by pulling a few breaks back. This is gonna be a great race season, especially after hearing of Frank's 5th place in the short track mountain bike race in Charlotte today. He's really coming into form again!!

NCCX Winter Series #1 and #2

2010-01-14T12:02:00.000-08:00

The weekend of January 9 & 10 signaled the start of the 2010 NCCX Winter Series, a 4-race circuit giving crossers a last taste before the road season takes root.

The first race of the series took place in Salisbury Community Park, featuring a very open, sweeping course. Challenges on this day included a double-obstacle section, a two-step runup, and two steep rideable hills. Of course, the primary challenge of the day was the weather, and the wind-swept course was frozen solid at the start of the race, making for a very bumpy and tiring ride.

I entered the Cat 4 race, the first of the morning, and finished the 30-minute event in 19th place. Wanting to get in as much training as possible, I also entered the 45-minute Masters 35+ race, coming in 22nd.

Sunday's racing moved to Mooresville in Stumpy Creek Park, on the shores of Lake Norman. The Stumpy Creek course was considerably more technical than the previous day, boasting a runup of 40 concrete steps shortly followed by very steep but rideable wall; a bumpy, off-camber descent; a wooded singletrack section made treacherous by slippery pine needles and cones; and, numerous other sections of climbing that were deceptively steep. Despite daybreak temperatures in the single-digits again, start-time temps were warmer, making the weather less of a factor and necessitating fewer layers. However, the course offered few sections for recovery.

I again entered both the Cat 4 and Masters 35+ races. With my legs still smarting from the day before, I remained consistent and finished 21st in Cat 4 and 20th in Masters.

The stairway of woe:

Velosports Racing 2010 Sponsors

2009-12-23T20:28:00.000-08:00

NCCX Fall Series Finale 12/6/09

2009-12-15T06:53:00.000-08:00

Sunday, December 6 was the final race of the NC Cyclocross fall series. The course, in Tanglewood Park outside of Winston-Salem, was a fast, relatively non-technical track featuring a short, steep runup with obstacles at the bottom and a second section in the flats with double obstacles. Conditions were classic cross: gray skies, temps in the 30s, and muddy.

Cyclocross wasn't on my list of things to do in the off-season. A friend of mine wanted to watch the UCI event in Hendersonville back in November, so we headed over to watch, knowing full well we would both want cross bikes afterward. As predicted, we began plotting our next bike purchases as we headed to Carolina Fatz after the race. With the cosmos fully aligned, a lightly used Redline Conquest in my size was sitting outside Fatz for sale. After a brief pause for hand-wringing over an unplanned-for bike purchase, I took the bait.

With only a few rides under my belt and some rudimentary, self-taught cx skills, I entered the Cat 4 race and camped out at the back of the large field prior to the start. My goals for the day: 1) don't crash, 2) don't crash others, 3) finish. At the gun, I eased away from the line as the field sprinted off. My strategy appeared sound for multiple reasons as the field immediately piled up due to a crash only a few yards from the start line. I avoided the mayhem and continued my cx ducation without trouble.

It turns out that my preparation was at least as good as the bottom third of the Cat 4 field. I steadily overtook people throughout the 3-lap event and held my position throughout. I negotiated both sections of obstacles without trouble. I decided to run a 1x9 drivetrain, using a 39t chainring with a 12-26 cassette.

Being the final race of the series, the mood was festive, with beer and brats being the fare of choice for the day. The skilled racer grabbed a beer from the adjacent beer garden before jumping the obstacles, and more than one competitor chose their favorite Foothills Brewing Company brew for their water bottles instead of energy drink. While I grabbed a cold one after the race, I did resist the temptation to feast on brats beforehand. Fortunately, the NCCX winter series starts up in early January, providing some more off-season racing before the road season.

Bank of NC Short Track Series 11/14/09

2009-12-11T08:12:00.000-08:00

Frank and I raced in the 3rd event of the Bank of NC short track fall series on Saturday, November 14. The 3/4-mile course, located in Harrisburg Town Park near Charlotte, featured a steep, stepped climb up a gravel walking path, nicely-constructed downhill singletrack, and a flat, grassy stretch leading into the start-finish area. Mid-week rain left the course in great shape, and temps in the mid-70s allowed us to leave the arm warmers in the car.

Frank raced in the Cat 2 40+ race, a 45-min test. A strong, steady effort landed him on the podium in 3rd place.

Frank hitting the short but very steep stepped section of the climb.

Coming out of the grass section and hitting the finish line.

I entered the singlespeed division, also a 45-min event. I was concerned that I might be undergeared with my 32x18 drivetrain, but my body language in the picture above, as I try to twist my rigid 29er into submission, reveals that that was not the case.

I hit the finish line in second. However, my podium spot was secured at the start line, as there were only two of us in the race. Despite this technicality, the results say second place, and it was good to chalk one up for Velosports Racing in my first race for the team.

Helen Fat Tire Festival Podium

2009-10-13T17:41:00.000-07:00

October 10th found David Hall and I traveling into Georgia for the Helen Fat Tire Festival where Dirty Spokes Productions was holding their 12-Hour Endurance Mountain Bike Finals for the state of Georgia. We arrived late Friday afternoon to Unicoi State Park, set up our race pit, grilled up some chicken and settled in for the night. The forecast called for rain from 10pm Friday through 4pm Saturday, so we were hunkering down for a real flood. However, overnight we only got a 20 minute downpour (which ended up being the only rain for the rest of the weekend!). Then the wind kicked the clouds on out, exposing a beautiful half moon and a myriad of stars. We awoke to a windy, but still overcast morning. Some of the neighboring racers were telling us how tough the course was and that there was some steep climbing. We kinda shrugged it off as WE were Pisgah guys and could handle anything.

The race started like all other 12-Hour events usually do with relay team riders on the front killing it and us Solo guys trying to hold back our enthusiasm and be patient as we were in it for the long haul.

Of course that was a bit hard for me and I found myself just below threshold for a good 20 of the 46 minutes of my first lap holding pace with the top 10 guys out there. What WAS important though was that only one other solo 12-hour racer was in front of me. The next 4 laps I kinda got ancy and found myself behind the 8-ball at hour three. Crap, I had 9 more hours and kept telling myself to just chill out. But, it felt sooooo slow and there was that one guy ahead of me, damn-it. Anyway, at hour 5, I started to pay for it and felt a bit of leg cramps. However, knowing my body well after racing similar type of endurance events since ’06, the power started to come back by the 7th hour. Or, is it just that I can’t feel the pain anymore? Finishing up my 8th lap, I decided to swing by the scoring table to have a look at how I was doing. I was comfortably sitting in second, but was losing 1-4 minutes per 48-52 minute laps to the leader.

As I started to leave the table, some tall skinny dude in a Terrapin Brewery uniform (read: FAST) came up to me and asked what lap I was on. I told him and then he offered me a beer and congratulated me on the win!! What? Yeah, this was the leader and he was baggin’ it!! I guess the 8-ball had rolled on over him! So, I took him up on the offer and took a few swigs. About a minute later, I got to thinking that I better get back out on the course to maintain my position. Went over to our pit, grabbed a fresh bottle of Perpetuem, dropped the beer in its place for later, then headed back out on the course for a dusk lap. At the start of lap 9, I grabbed my lighting system, a few swigs of water (not the beer), fired up the lights, then got back on it. The night laps were slow, but pretty fun, and by the 10:41 mark, I had finished my 11th lap. I was already multiple laps ahead of the other pro/expert solo racers, so I decided to call it a day and get back to that Terrapin beer. Later, I came to wish I had gone out for a 12th lap just to put the nail in the coffin. However, it could have been my own coffin as I was almost unable to move after 10 minutes in the fold–out chair at our pit. As the awards started, I just dragged my chair over and sat down again. When they called my name, I stumbled up in front of everyone and the second and third place guys almost had to keep me from falling over. All in all, the weekend was a complete success as David had also taken first in the Master’s class! Also, I had learned a lot about what NOT to do in my first solo 12-hour race without losing the race (2nd place is the first loser, haha).

Oak Ridge

2009-08-25T12:12:00.000-07:00

Jeff Wright's report:

This past weekend would be my first weekend racing with the Pros, cat 1 & 2s. I have done a pro 1/2/3 crit before, just never a omnium weekend (Road Race, Time Trial, and Crit). I went into this weekend really feeling the effects of the past many weeks of racing (Heck at this point I really can't even keep count anymore). And I knew going in this was not going to be a picnic.

Mid day Friday, We(Myself, Katy, Sid, and Elle - our 2 chocolate labs) set out on the 5.5 hour drive to Oak Ride Tennessee. The plan was to arrive and pre-ride the TT course. However I would soon learn that would not be possible. You see during my American History Class in high school. I guess like all of my other classes, I had better things, other than the class to think about (sorry Miss Farmer). Because I knew the Oak Ridge Had something to do with something nuclear, buuuuut that was about it. Upon arrival I learned the Road Race and the Time Trial were both in some way tied into Very Top Secret areas. Was unable to even see the Time Trial course without being shot of arrested. And when I pulled in the Heritage Center to park in what I thought was the parking area for the Road Race. I was greeted by 2 security guards that quickly made me aware of the fact that I was in an area, I had no business being in! Where as the guards were really nice about it. I was still a little worried about the possibility of a cavity search or anal probing. Once they got me directed to the proper parking area, we set up for the night and got some sleep. Between Sid (the wimpiest excuse for a male lab) whining ALL night, and then suddenly barking in the middle of the night scaring the CRAP out of me. Sleep was not something we got much of.

Saturday morning, up early and ready to race. Extra cup of coffee due to the lack of sleep, and then off to the starting line. The Road Race would be 88 miles, on a rolling terrain course with a couple nice climbs in it. The longest only being about 1 mile. The race got underway and I stayed hidden in the pack. Early in the race a 3 man break got away and opened a pretty nice gap on the field. Not long after that, 2 more began to try and bridge to it. They were out in no mans land, when a corner marshal directed them to go left at an intersection instead of straight. When the field arrived at the same intersection. The same directions were given to us. However we had a couple guys that knew the course and instructed us differently, hence keeping us on course. I am not sure whether or not the guys that were incorrectly directed every rejoined the race. Because not long after that I would be going in to Oxygen deprivation and would not be remembering much of anything!! Tim Henry was one of the Pro riders in the field. I have ridden with Tim in the past and know him to be a super guy. I told him I was racing as a team of one and would be happy to work with him in anyway needed. I was doing this more for the education than anything. So from that point any move he made, I made with him. The break had gotten up the road 5 mins. And the field was being controlled by the teammates of the guys in the break. Tim told me it was time to wake the race up, and we moved to the front and began to set tempo. This would be the point where I began to realize just how tired I really was after the many weeks of racing. We were setting a REALLY high Tempo. I would love to tell you how fast it was, but my eyes had gone crossed and I was doing good to see the road, let alone my computer. I could tell that what energy I had was fading fast and that I was going to have to slip back into the field to recover soon. These thoughts were going through my head in broken form as we approached the base of the climb for the 2nd of 4 times. At that very moment Tim Henry launched an attack like I have never witnessed. I mean I have seen it happen from the side lines, but that is nothing compared to being on the wheel of the guy that just did it. Watching him power away from you up a mountain IN HIS BIG CAIN RING, and there is nothing you can do about it. Wish I would have had the energy to stay with him, because in the next 44 miles. Not only did he run down a break that had 5 mins on him. But he also won the race......DANG. I on the other hand, had to go into complete recovery mode. I rode with the field and try to stay hidden from the wind. As we approached the final 3 miles the pace really quicken and I moved up to about 5th wheel. At the 1k mark there was a solo attack, knowing I did not have enough to go after it. I stayed put and hoped the other would try and get it. They did and I rode their wheel and gave all I had at the finish. Passing several of them and taking 11th place in the RR.

Saturday afternoon Time Trials are always though, but especially when they follow an 88 mile RR. My start time was 6:32, and I was going to need all the time I could get. In order to get my legs ready. I started all of my prep work for the TT. As always, it is all about proper timing. So everything I did, was timed so that it would carry me right into my start time. This works great until the prompter tells you they are 1 hour behind. Start time finally came up and warm up was.....so so. The TT would be an out and back on a pretty flat course. But the course was no restricted property.....go figure!!! So each rider was greeted at the starting line by 3 huge guys with guns on there hip. Asking for your name and checking to see if you were on "THE LIST". I mean come on, I understand security but what can you really hide in a skinsuit!! "NO REALLY that's not a gun a camera, I'm just happy to see you!"

Once my TT started I could tell right away that it was going to be a LONG 8.25 miles. I had absolutely NOTHING to offer this thing. Even got passed twice!!! Not something I am accustom to having happen. What seemed to be 2.5 days later, I finished the TT. My time was 18:36 at a 26.6 avg. speed. I knew this was no where near what it needed to be. The time would only be good enough for 10th.

Slept a little better Saturday night and woke up hurting as bad if not worse than when I went to bed. At this point I was pretty content with the thought of starting my 5.5 hr trip home early. Of course that wasn't an option, due to the whole "pain is temporary but quitting is forever" thing. I got to the crit course which was at the downtown square. FINALLY a race where I don't have to worry about being strip searched!! My Warm up SUCKED!!! Once the race started, the suck factor went beyond it's highest level. I got a good start and feel into the pace line at 4th wheel. Notice I said feel and not settled? This would be because it was all I could do to stay with these guys on the first lap. By the second lap I was making record time getting to the back of the field (whether I wanted to or not). By the 3rd lap, I was at the back and by the 4th had been shot off the back of the field like I came out of a cannon!!! GREAT!!! 4 laps in and I am dropped..................OH HECK NO!!!!! My mind quickly had a heated discussion with my body, at which time found a little energy it was hiding. With in the next lap I was able to catch back on. I tried to stay hidden for most of the race. The attacks were unbelievable!!! Each lap there was never less than one attack. But most of the time there were 2 and 3 per lap. I did what I could but mainly had to sit in and rely on the field to do the chasing. A 3 man break got up the road, and would stay away for the rest of the race. I tried to maintain a good position for most of the race but was constantly having to fight my way back up from the back. By the time we had gotten to 1 lap to go. The pace had gone from insane, straight to ludicrous!!! I had done all I could do to put myself in a decent position for the final sprint. As we exited turn 4, I had a great line!! I jumped out of the saddle and put everything I had left, and then some into the sprint!!! I was quickly picking off riders and it was looking good to break into the top 10. When at about 30 meters from the finish line, my right foot came unclipped from the peddle..............OH CRAP!! this is going to hurt! And for those of you reading this, that don't know what that means. Lets just say 9 out of 10 times it ends with the rider sliding across the pavement at 35+ mph. However, you know the saying "God looks after idiots and Drunks" well I have never been much of a drunk, but I am eaten up with idiot!! And probably for that reason alone. I stayed up right and coasted across the line with my right foot unclipped and my chain dragging in the spokes of my rear wheel for a 13th place finish.

I would finish 9th in the overall for the weekend. So all things considered it was a pretty good first experience!!

ORAMM in less than 75 words.

2009-08-01T15:33:00.000-07:00

Off Road Assault on Mt. Mitchell by Jess Ingram

Started…was 10th woman overall, rode hard up Curtis Creek, 4th place,broke my saddle, rode 10 miles on ½ of saddle, Grant Gosch found me a new saddle, saved my ass (literally), flirted with 3rd place, newsaddle wasn’t broken but wouldn’t stay level, stopped to fix it twice,back to 4th place, gained ground after many four letter words on Mill Creek Road, finished 3rd women overall. Big fat thanks to CarolinaFatz for new pedals, blocks, etc!

Hometown Omnium (French Broad Classic)

2009-07-23T06:44:00.001-07:00

Cat. 4 (Dan Snedecor's report):

Since I didn't do the TT or the Criterium, I will take the task of completing the 4's road race report.

Brad, Wade, Stephen and I sat on the line waiting to start and discussed how it would be important to stay near the front and be at the front on the climb up 19/23 to Wolf Laurel. (This is foreshadowing). So the race started fine with a good pace up and through the first category 1 climbs. The downhills were more or less uneventful save for a few "youngsters" trying to improve position by shooting down the shoulder and wedging back into the group. Wade, Brad and I stayed together and talked often and were satisfied with where we were. At one point I suggested we move forward in the group because we had found ourselves about midpack. Brad took point and we moved up about 4 rows and this seemed comfortable enough.

As we approached the climb the pace stayed steady and ramped up slowly. I think a couple guys jumped off the front, but we didn't panic because our strategy was to stay with the front group to have numbers for the downhill to the final climb. Our pace matched the front group but the group we were in disintegrated around us. Wade was setting a nice tempo and we weren't losing any ground to the front of the race but lots of riders were falling backwards as we continued up. Now the 300 yard to the front of the race wasn't full of riders anymore and we realized we might be pacing a bit too slowly. Wade picked it up and we narrowed the gap to the ever shrinking lead pack. With about 750m to the top I jumped in order to catch on the lead pack and had the legs to do it too. But I mis-judged and although I was gaining on them, the 25 or so left in the front crested the hill 50 yards ahead of me and I was alone watching them go. I started the descent alone and after a few minutes had a group of 12 with me, including Wade who had finished the climb strong. We worked pretty well together but after 15 minutes of well organized chasing a few riders started skipping pulls so we lost our momentum and never rejoined the leaders.

We arrived to the finishing climb and this small group fragmented as we went up On the last pitch I was left with 3 other riders and two of them tried at different times to drop the rest of us. I just sat on those moves and then jumped at about 300m to take 17th with no real challenge from the other three. Wade came in at 20th and Brad about a minute behind. I had great legs Saturday and wish I had listened to my own pre-race advice about being in the front at the base of the climb. Race and Learn.

Special kudos to Brad for showing up strong his first Cat 4 event and his first road race (and this wasn't an easy one).

Cat. 3 (Jeff Wright's report):

If you thought the last one was long.........

Knowledge is Power!!

I made a couple trips to Asheville to ride the Road Race course several times. I wanted to know everything there was to know about this brutal mountain race. After riding the course 3 times, I felt very comfortable with my knowledge of it.

I arrived in Asheville Friday morning, and headed out to the Time Trial course with Lesli. We both went out and for a ride on the course as she shared her knowledge of the terrain, wind and turnaround. As we were riding, I did a few short intervals and was feeling really good. Position, speed, and power could not have been better. I had checked the start time earlier in the day, and I would start at 5:18:30. I got on the trainer at just the right time, so that I could roll up to the line with just enough time to start. Warm up went well, and I rolled up to the line with perfect timing....or so I thought. Once at the line, my start time came and went and they never called me to the line. So I went to check the times again, only to find out that now my time was 5:27:30. SO MUCH FOR TIMING MY WARM UP!! Once my start time finally came up, I rolled to the line and was off.

As soon as I started, I could tell something did not feel right. No worries though, these things always hurt. I just need to get settled into my pain cave and roll with it. However once settled in, it seemed like to matter how hard I push. I could not push out an acceptable level of power. The Time Trial was a 20K (12.4 Miles), and had a goal of 26 min. However at this point I felt like I was dragging something like a small car. Once I reach the turn around point. I notice that it took me 14 min to get there. THIS WAS NOT GOOD, if I stayed at this pace I would do a 28 min Time Trial. I had already caught and passed my 30 second, 1 min, and 1:30 min man. At this point I was struggling REALLY bad, and to be honest I was going to have to start feeling better to die!!

I rounded the turn around, and start the trip back. I continued to try and push harder and harder. I passed two more riders, and then got passed by a Cat 2 rider. That really ticked me off, and became a good motivation. I continued to push far beyond what I knew I could sustain. Passing the Cat 2 rider back, only to have him come back around me 1 mile later. Guess me passing him was a good motivation as well. I would finish the Time Trial in 26:56. This time would only be good enough for 5th place, and now I was TOTALLY trashed!!

Friday night I rubbed and loved the legs and hoped I could get them to at least agree to walk me to the bathroom. Got a good night sleep and headed out early for the Road Race with Adam and Andy. This RR was only a 40 mile race, but had 4,700 feet of climbing. During our recon. rides on the RR course, I had told Adam and Andy what my plan was. I was planning to Attack really early in the race, and had every intention of making the attack into a break away, and making it work to the end. Before the race started we spoke with a couple of other riders that we knew were strong and might be able to go with me in a break. One of which, was Jake Andrews a really strong rider I race with in Georgia. Several riders laughed at me and told me I was crazy, cause it was way to early in the race to try something like that, and they wanted no part of it. The race started and we were off! Straight off of the line, one guy went off the front. Adam jumped right on him and stayed with him to keep him in check. A couple others joined but Adam was able to break it up. Once we reach the point where I said I was going to attack. We were only 10 miles into a 40 mile race with 2 nasty climbs ahead. I moved to the front before we reach out turn (which was my magic spot). As soon as we made the turn, I attack and attacked HARD. I was out of the saddle sprinting in the big ring all the way up this short climb. Once over the top, I looked back and noticed that not only had I put a huge gap the on the peleton but also the guys that were trying to go with me. I backed it down a bit to allow them to catch, and once they did we were on our way. Adam and Andy immediately went into defense mode. By shutting down any chase that tried to form. There were 4 men in the break, which was absolutely perfect. 2 guys were smaller and good climbers. Myself and Jake were the other 2, and we are a lot better with flat land power than climbing. We were working well together, and I was very comfortable knowing that Adam and Andy were back ticking people off by not going any work. Once we hit the first climb, it was the moment of truth.

The 2 climbers in the break ( which if you put both of them together, they were not as wide as my rear end) pushed the pace up the climb. By this time we were catching and passing the master's race which started 15 min. before we did. Jake was quickly ejected off the back at the start of the climb. I continued to push myself into a state of hallucination, trying to stay with these skinny little jokers. I would continue to do so, until a little past half way up the climb. At which point I can't remember if I slowed or if they accelerated. All I remember is seeing pink elephants wearing string bikinis and dancing in the road. By the top of the climb I had been caught by 2 guys that had gotten away from the pack. PERFECT, here we are at the top and I have help. The decent was just below the speed of sound and my 2 new buddies were doing all they could to stay with me. We quickly caught the 2 leaders, and we now had a new 5 man break with some new faces. However there was a problem. We still had the final climb, and as I looked at everyone in the break. I notice there wasn't much difference between the size of their body and their seat post. WELL CRAP!! 4 climbers against one...............Not sure really what I am. Regardless, I knew if I was going to have a chance at staying away and being in a top spot. I would have to make it up on the rolling terrain. So for the next 13 miles, I pulled those guys like a Mack truck pulling a little U-Haul Trailer. Trying my best to kill them before the final climb. For many sustained periods, I was pushing 500+ watts at 37 mph. And noticing that every time they would pull through, there condition was looking more and more grim. During this all out assault on the rolling terrain the pace proved to be to high for one. So now it was just a 4 man break. At the start of the final climb, I was feeling ok and settled in on the wheel of the remaining 3. We would ride like this for the first 3/4 of a mile. At which time, I guess they decided it was time to pay me back for trying to kill them. They attacked and all I could do is watch them go. My Heart rate was at 204 bmp and I was climbing in an 11/23 cassette. I would cross the finish line strong to claim 4th. All things considered, I was not completely disappointed. As the field started to filter in and cross the line. I was hearing more and more talk about those %*&# Velosports guys would not do ANY work! GOOD JOB GUYS!!! Race data on my Garmin: 40.24 miles, 4,700 ft of climbing, 21 mph avg speed, 288 avg watts, and 181 bpm avg Heart rate. OUCH

And now for Sunday. Don't worry the agony of wasting your day reading this is almost over!!

Felt good Sunday morning, and knew that I had a job to do. I was currently tied for the 2nd in the over all and only 2 points out of the lead. Our race was not until 3:25 pm, so I chilled and took it easy. Jake my buddy from GA, was not in contention for the overall, and said he would work as one of my teammates today. I got on the trainer to start my warm up. As I got into the warm up, it was obvious that I would have to dig A LOT deeper today than I had originally thought. My Heart rate was not responding the way it does when I am fresh or even just in ok shape. It was telling me that I was totally WASTED.

Once the race started, my condition quickly became more of an issue. The first 4 laps were like having my toes nails ripped off one by one. However I knew if I could get past the first few that agony should subside..........it never did. The leader of the overall attacked several times and Adam was all over it. I was trying to hide in the pack and find something some where in my body I could use. A 3 man break got up the road 30 min, into a 50 min race. I bridged up to it (Can we say STUPID) and like most times, brought everyone with me. Now I was really spent!! I was dropping back fast and wondering how I could convince my legs to give me a little more. When I felt a hand on my back, pushing me back up into the mix (THANKS ADAM). I continued to search my body for something.....anything I could use. With 6 laps to go Adam and Jake came to the front and got in front of me. Setting the pace high and discouraging attacks. The lead out train would prove to be a bit early, but it was beautiful. With 2 lap to go I was fight with myself and others to maintain position. The pace was still extremely fast, Yet there was another @*&$ attack. Now I am in trouble, cause I am way back in the mix with one lap to go. I could see both of the guys I needed to finish in front of, but had no idea how I was going to do it. As we started the last lap, the pace was so high. That one of the riders in front of me lost what looked like everything he had eaten that day and possibly the day before, right in front of me. I narrowly missed the huge splatter on the road and refocused on the job at had. I had moved up a little only to get attack again. going into the 4th and final turn, I had just past the guy I was tied with for 2nd, but my lead guy was WAY up in front of me. I started my sprint off of turn 4 about 300 or so meters out. I guess I pulled the power for this sprint out of my rear, cause I had it no where else!!! I exited the turn in about 20 ith position and everyone in front was spread out. So there would be no draft to catch. I began to pick them off one by one and noticing I was closing on my lead guy. I continued to sprint as things start to go gray and I passed him 10 meters from the line for an 8th place finish. Feeling really good knowing I had won the overall and not let my team down........or so I thought. Race Data; 26 mph Avg speed, avg heart Rate 181 bpm

Once the results were posted, I learned that I had tied for the 1st place in the overall. The tie breaker would be whoever had the best finish through the weekend. He had won the Time Trial, which gave him the over all win! I am still trying to swallow that one!!

Cowbell Mountain Bike Podium

2009-06-21T19:31:00.000-07:00

Jeff Wright's Report:
I did the Marathon mountain bike race yesterday, under the pretense it was not as technical as Tsail........WRONG!. The best part for me was the downtown start, which put us on the paved road for 6.5 mile. I drilled that part with an avg. speed of 20 mph, and caught the pro guys. That great effort went to waste once I hit the trail! The course was far more technical than I could have even imagined! It was very slick and I was running small block 8s, which did not help my situation one bit! I spent more time on the ground than I did on the bike, hit a couple of trees, laid flat in the bottom of a couple ditches. After the 2nd lap I was so angry, I threw in the towel and said maybe tomorrow will be better.
Day 2, FINALLY slept descent last night! Felt pretty good this am, and got a good warm up in. I learned that they had cut out some of the more difficult section and class 3 was only doing 1 lap. So you know me, I WENT OUT HARD!! I sprinted into the lead at the start, and after learning from some of my mistakes yesterday. I charged as hard as I could through the single track sections. On the climbs (which is about the only part of this I can do well) I added even more distance. I crossed the line in 1st, but had also beaten the guy that won the class that started 1 min before ours. All in all it was a good weekend.

Women Crowd the Podium

2009-06-21T19:21:00.000-07:00

Marilyn Senz's report:
Erica, Jamie and I traveled to Mooresville to race the State Games Crit today. We tried to come up with a race plan during the drive by reviewing tactics, but ended up concluding that crit racing is all about situational reactions. And true to form, my race plan went out the window after 4 laps! I tried to stay in the front behind a steady wheel but the pace was so slow it was driving me crazy. At one point I pulled up next to Erica and told her I didn’t know how much more of that I could take. She told me to be patient and wait, so I did for another half lap. When we got to the start finish the announcer called a prime. I decided not to go after it, just get in behind the women that were putting in the effort. As soon as the lap was finished, they pulled up and I found myself flying by them. Not again! I didn’t want to have a repeat of the last 6 races where I did all the work pulling only to be passed by the entire group. I lead for the next three laps gradually slowing down praying someone would fly by and take over. Suddenly I heard a tiny voice say “do you want to share pulls with me”. To my shock and amazement we had a huge gap and the tiny voice came from a Junior! I wasn’t about to pass up the help offered so we began to work as a team, getting farther away from the group. After about 5 laps of this, I began to get worried. I couldn’t see Erica or Jamie and had no idea where they were. I was hoping accidents or mechanicals didn’t knock them out of the race. Then it occurred to me no one was behind us. The kid and I weren’t going all that fast and surely the group would eventually catch us. With 9 laps to go I felt another rider using my wheel. Well great, the group finally caught up. As we passed the start finish the announcer said the three of us were the leaders in our respective age groups and we had a 25 second gap! I ended up pulling on the final lap and got passed at the top of the hill on the back stretch by the Junior and the girl from UNC. I finished a respectable 3rd, 1st in my age group. When I finally caught up to Erica and Jamie, I found out that they were the reason why my group had such a huge gap on the main group. Erica and Jamie refused to chase us down and frustrated any effort at bridging up! In fact, Jamie sprinted up the last hill and bolted for the finish line to come in 4th overall. What a fearless performance on her first crit! All three of us came home with some bling, with Erica taking 3rd in the under 35 age group. A huge thank-you to Erica and Jamie! And thanks to the boys at Carolina Fatz for continuing to pre-race tune my bike; it would be in tiny pieces without your professional attention.
Jamie's Report (from a few spots back):
Erica, Marilyn and I went to NC State Games Crit yesterday. We had a great trip. Early in the race Marilyn and two others got a jump on the field and pulled a little ahead. Erica and I stayed in the pack and had some great team work happening. Erica stayed toward the front maintaining control of the pace and prevented anyone else from pulling away by chasing down every attack. I worked with her a few times at the front but mostly the credit goes to her for controlling the field and letting me save energy for an attack at the end. Erica pulled me down the last long stretch of the course which allowed me to swing wide around the last corner pretty fast and stand up to sprint up the final hill to the finish. I could hear her yelling behind me as a warning that others were pursuing and to not let up. It was beautiful team work to get us both on the podium. Marilyn finished 3rd (1st in 35+), I finished 4th (2nd in 19-35) and Erica finished 5th (3rd in 19-35). A good day for us ladies.

Two Podiums/Two Disciplines

2009-06-08T14:12:00.001-07:00

This past weekend, Team Velosports showed off it's time trial type power. Jeff Wright won the Georgia State Time Trial Championship and Adam Penny won the Clemson Stage of the Southeastern Regional MTB Championship Series. Editor's note: Although technically not a Time Trial, a Cross Country mountain bike race is basically a "race of truth" lasting about 2 hours.

Jeff's Report:

I drove down to Beaufort for the Georgia State Championship TT. I registered for the whole omnium to make the 4 hr drive worth the trip. I had a very early TT start. So I arrived at the location late Friday evening and slept in the truck at the start of the TT. Sat. morning I had my normal pre race meal and later started my warm up. Warm up went just as planed and I was feeling good.
I rolled up to start with perfect timing. I had just gotten off the trainer, so all systems were locked, cocked, and ready to rock. This was a 25 mile TT (40k for you Euro-types), and I went out HARD (I have got to stop doing that). The course was totally FLAT, so there was never a time to rest. It was a 25 mile GRIND!! By the 6 mile mark, I had already passed 3 riders and about to overtake the 4th. At the turn around I had passed 2 more and had 2 more in my sights. Shortly after the turn around, I had a SHARP pain develop in the middle of my rib cage, on the right side, a little more to the back than the front. I immediately began convincing myself that I felt GREAT, and ignored the pain. The pain however got increasingly worse. I continued to push through it and would pass 4 more riders before finishing the TT with absolutely everything I had and winning the State Championship. Ride data: 25 miles, avg. speed 25.3, time 59:16.

As soon as I crossed the line, the reality of the pain set in!!! I found myself struggling just to take a breath. Every breath I took caused a SHARP pain to shoot up from my ribs into my shoulder, neck and head. I was forced to take very short and shallow breaths, just for the sake of breathing. Once back at the truck, I was unable to get off the bike. Once off the bike the pain seemed to get worse. I was beginning to get light headed (most likely from the short shallow breathing) and the pain shooting up into my shoulder and neck was now causing numbness in my right arm.
Once I finally got everything loaded, I headed to the crit course about 20 miles away. My thought was that I would have the EMS at the race take a quick look. However I had to make the trip first! This would be one of the most difficult trips I have ever made. There were times were I was hurting so bad that sitting up straight was out of the question. And I was driving 25 in a 65. I was in the middle of nowhere, so I had to push on. Once at the crit course, I would learn that EMS was not, and would not be, on site unless they were called. Being a typical man, I said screw it!! Took some Advil and laid down for an attempt at a nap in the front of my truck. I got up a couple hours later and got dressed for the crit (yeah this really sounds like a good idea now doesn't it). Things seemed to be a little better, so what the heck. let's give it a shot! 4 laps into the crit the pain became unbearable, and I was forced to withdraw from not only the crit, but the rest of the omnium as well.

Adam's Report:

I got a win at the SERC MTB race in Clemson. Well, actually if I had raced in the class that I belong in (Expert/Cat.1), I would not have won the Sport/Cat.2 by 4 minutes (hey, I can't afford another 30 bucks for the annual add-on for MTB racing. So I spent 5 for a one-day). However, I still got the Velosports kit on the podium, gave the champagne to the 2nd place guy (who deserved the win), and told them they would no longer see me in the sport class and that i would get the annual MTB add-on and bump up to expert. At the end of my 2 laps, I decided to continue for a 3rd (like the pros and experts did). When I finished that, I realized that I would have finished about 5th in the expert 30-39. I think there were 12 in that class (so I felt pretty good about that).

Adam

Ring of Fire 5-27-9 (Points Race at the Track)

2009-06-02T17:52:00.000-07:00

One thing was for sure, nobody was going off the front last night unless they were wearing our kit. We lined up with a good showing, Wade, Larry, Marilyn, Lesli, Erica, Stephen and myself. The loosely laid out plan was for Stephen to cover breaks and bridge as much as possible while I was going to lead out Wade for the sprints. Larry was a floater to help with keeping the pace going and reeling in breaks. The ladies had there own plan….I guess we should have clued them in on ours….note to self….
Anyway, first sprint Lap, I led Wade out and he won it…then we had a break away attempt. Steven and Larry got in line and pulled while Wade and I recovered a bit and then we joined them for the chase on the front. We caught the break away at turn 3 on sprint lap and I was fresh enough to lead Wade out for more points (2nd I think this time). And the next 15 laps or so followed a similar pattern. There was another break that got away for about a lap…and that was Stephen, unfortunately he though he was bridging…..it nicely took the pressure off Wade and I for a while anyway.
By the last 5 laps the group had been whittled down to about 7 riders, Wade, Lesli and I were there and we had the numbers. Wade and I recovered a bit from the previous Sprint and Lesli unleashed a break-away to keep the other riders honest. She held on for the perfect amount of time and then after the group caught her I led Wade out for the final sprint, unfortunately he got nipped at the line for second and lost 1st overall by 1 measly point. It wasn't perfect, but it was REAL racing.

Regards, Dan Snedecor

'09 Twelve Hours of Tsali

2009-05-26T15:46:00.000-07:00

May 23rd, 12 Hour Endurance MTB Race at the Tsali Recreation Area on Right Loop. Best way to show what we went through is this video from the fastest lap of the day: video.

Under the Velosports Club, we had 4 four-person teams and two solo racers. Here are the reports from each (pics are within each report):

Jeff Wright, 6-Hour Solo: As most of you know, I came to this team as a roadie. Really had no knowledge of MTBing what so ever. The idea of trying a MTB race at Tsali was brought up by my new teammates not long after joining the team. So I borrowed a bike, went out rode it once, and then registered for the 6hr solo race. I drove up Friday afternoon with anticipation of camping at the Tsali Campgrounds. Upon arrival, I would discover that not only was the Tsali Campground full but, so were ALL the campgrounds in the are! However the guy at Turkey Creek Campground was nice enough to call around to several campgrounds until he found one that had available space. He sent me into Bryson to a really nice campground. Once there I set up, had a little dinner and turned in early. However turning in early did not help at all. I don't think I slept more than 2 hrs. Finally at 4:45 am I gave up trying to sleep, toke my time eating and breaking camp. Then I headed out to Tsali.
Once there, I set up the event tent and my mobile bike shop. As more and more teammates arrived, I was quickly made aware of the fact that I needed to loosen up. Because this was mountain biking and I didn't need to seem so serious. Sorry guys racing in general is what I do, so I am all business :). I did not have anyone that could come with me to do support, so I asked Lesli's daughters Madison and Lexa if they would mind supporting me. That would later prove to be one of the smartest decisions I have made in a LONG time.
I was NOT looking forward to the running start. After all the reason I am a cyclist, is because I HATE to run!! Regardless, in my true form I gave it all I had, and was one of the first few to get on the bike. The first lap was very challenging. Not only was I trying to figure out this whole MTB thing, but I was pushing at my normal TT intensity. I also realized that my saddle was WAY to low! At the end of the fist lap, I slid up to the tent and along with the help Kyley (our comic relief) my newly appointed (cute as a button) support girls sprang into action!! In the couple seconds it took me to raise my saddle, these ladies had changed my bottles, shoved food in my mouth and were now holding the bike for me. Then gave me a major league push off. Lap 2 was the same as the first, only my saddle height was good. Lap 1 and 2 I averaged 190 bpm HR and my Threshold is 184 bpm. By Lap 3 I started toning it down a bit, and was settling into a little more sustainable pace. By the time I got to the tent after the 3rd lap, I was going to have to get better to die!! Once again my ladies went to work! I asked to be handed the bottle of Hershey Chocolate syrup that I had in the cooler. And amazed several when I turned it up and downed about 1/2 the bottle. during lap 4 I went down pretty hard in a fast turn with a lot of big roots. By the end of the lap, the Hershey syrup was kicking in and I was feeling better. And lap 5 and 6 I continued to feel even better and lap 6 was one of my fastest laps of the day. My ladies at the tent were only getting faster also (not that they needed to get faster). When I stopped at the end of lap five for what would be my final stop of the day. Madison and Lexa set some kind of record!!! I was kinda hoping to get maybe 15 seconds to rest, NO SUCH LUCK. I don't even think I got to stop before they had handed me another shot of Hershey syrup, shot a full bottle of water in my mouth to wash it down, changed the bottles on my bike and in my jersey pocket, handed me a PEELED banana and started pushing me off!! While I am screaming NOOOOOO, I don't want to do another lap!! In an attempt to not let my hard working crew down, I gave lap 6 all I had. I would finish the day with 6 laps in 5:37 with a 4th place overall finish.
I can contribute this good finish to excellent coaching, Thanks Lesli. And a support crew that is 2nd to none, Thanks Madison and Lexa, YOU GUYS ARE AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!

Owen Simpson, 6-Hour Solo:15th.

Larry Miller on the 4-Person Beginner Class Team (Larry Miller, John Derry, Tracey Scott, Rob Holl): First I just want to say that Mountain bike racing is a blast.
Team 3 was put together with the impetus of giving team members who have not raced on dirt a chance to have fun and get introduced to this type of event. We raced in the base category and had a strong team. Our original team lineup changed due to injury and personal commitment. Our final 4 person team consisted of Rob Holl, last years team mate and trackie John Derry, Tracey Scott, and Me. Although we missed the fellowship of Brad and the legs and lungs of Alan and Brad we were in for a fun day.
Rob started things off for us on lap 1 and the Le Mans start. Rob set a great pace for us and John would have been right on pace had he not crashed on his first lap. I set the same lap time as Rob and Tracey was amped and ready to go. She had a great first lap and the day rolled along as we moved up the standings from 12th place.
Night riding brings an entirely new element to bike riding/racing. Tracey had never ridden at night and was feeling tired. But after refueling and changing the lineup to get her off earlier she had the best time on the last lap...despite having no lights due to a drained battery. Not sure how she felt her way back to the transition area but she sure had a grin on her face as I took off for the final lap. I paced myself on the fireroad and then ran over a copperhead snake. Feeling a bit over confident I took a straight section of single track to fast and found roots and rocks in the curve as I laid it down. I shook myself off (not wanting to get caught by Colton, our 10 yr old junior who was out doing the last lap for his team) and quickly made it back to the finish line. We managed to finish 6th out of 20 + teams and felt great about our first mountain bike race.
I am looking forward to this event next year. We did not win the best team name competition but better luck next year.

Lesli Meadows on the 4-Person Beginner Class Team , "Mama and the Boys" (Lesli Meadows, Joey Coddington, Colton Brookshire, and Grayson Brookshire): 9th in the Beginner Class

Team Velosports in the 4-Person Women's Category, "3 Blind Mice and a Cat" (Marilyn Senz, Erica Chard, Kyley Cross, and Shiyrah Mielke): 2nd in Women's Class. No, third place was not just one woman (as in the picture). Our women put a hurtin' on them so much that they could not even walk up to the podium.

Team Velosports Fantastic Four (Dan Snedecor, Wade Turlington, Frank Obusek, Jim Clark): Wade and I headed out to Tsali to meet up with the rest of Team VeloSports Saturday morning for the 12 hours of Tsali with concerns about the weather. Little did we know how perfect the weather was going to be. 3 years ago we did this race as a duo and it rained most of the day and the trails like that video of Andy Applegate a few weeks ago; MUD everywhere. We arrived to Tsali and found Jeff and started setting up. Lesli, her girls, Kyley and Marilyn all arrived and VeloSports Camp 2 was open for business. As I usually do I started doubting my tire selection and considered switching, but decided the threat of rain was legitimate and having the more aggressive tires on would be best. Frank and Jim arrived a few minutes later and after a minutes discussion our order was decided; Me, Wade, Jim and Frank (Anchorman).
The start is a run that helps spread out the field. So we run up this hill and I'm pretty sure I was the last VeloSports rider (out of 5 teams) to get on my bike. After the familiar feeling of lactic acid kicked in I settled in for my first lap. Not having ridden at Tsali for 3 years, I had no idea what the course was like. I had apparently found a good place in the pecking order of racers as we entered the single-track because I only had to pass 3 riders and was only passed by one (a single speed no less) on the lap. My handling on this lap was a bit jerky and I was over braking in every turn, but that remedied itself on the 2nd and 3rd laps when I was more familiar with the course. My only crash was on lap 4 in a mud hole when I hesitated because I couldn't see the trail and got hung up on something…no harm, just left a bit of pride in the mud on that one. No mental, mechanical or physical breakdowns on the day.
Our team made perfect transitions with no lost time and Frank was either having the time of his life or he has an exercise induced perma-grin. He was smiling ear to ear each time he came in from a lap. We turned consistent laps and lost no ground to other teams from our early position. On my 4 laps I witnessed 2 tutus, 1 snake, 1 guy napping, 2 broken chains and 1 National Champion. It was fun to be part of VeloSports on Saturday, we had jerseys everywhere and our podium finishers should be proud. We finished 10th place in the Sport category against some STOUT Sport teams.
It was great to meet some of our teammates for the first time. To the trackies and roadies who joined us in the woods for their first race; consider yourselves initiated. Great work!

Regards, Dan Snedecor 13th in Sport Class

Billy McCracken on the 4-Person Sport Team, Team Velosports #1 (Billy McCracken, Adam Penny, Andrew Kimble, and Brian Schultz): Adam kicked things off for our team and came screaming in after lap #1 in 45 mins. He set the bar high for the team, and the rest of us were not far off that for 15 laps. We see-sawed with the eventual 2nd place Sport team all day, and it literally came down to the last lap to decide the outcome. Their rider got off about 3-4 mins ahead of me, and since he was a bit stronger than me all day, I knew we didn't have a chance to catch them. I enjoyed the last lap of evening by chatting with Colton Brookshire (kudos to that young man, by the way!), dodging bats, and trying to negotiate the slick spots safely for a good finish. We finished 3rd in the "stacked" Sport Cat. out of 18 teams and 6th overall for the day!

Our team comraderie and spirit was great all day, from the racing to the 'tent talk'. Congrats to everyone else who did well, especially Nathan Wyatt and Jeff Wright, OJ Simpson, the Brookshire boys, and all the 'first timers'. That is a "must do" race every year for many reasons.

Billy Mac~

POST RACE BOILED PEANUTS AND BEER...MMMM...AIN'T NOTHIN' BETTER!!

May 16th '09 Georgia Road Race Championships

2009-05-16T15:04:00.000-07:00

This Saturday, Andy Kimble, Jeff Wright, and I, Adam Penny, drove on over to NW Atlanta to try and get Jeff the 2009 Georgia Road Race Championship. Andy and I were not eligible because we were not Georgia residents. With one team, Aaron's, with 10 riders and the series leader, Reality Bikes with 5, Dick James Law Firm with about 6, and a few other 3-man squads, this was going to be "fun".
Good Temp and overcast. The race would be 5 laps on a 13 mile loop. Race started at a good reasonable pace, and stayed that way for most of the first lap. Then the fun began. Jeff played it smart and stayed hidden for the first 3.5 laps. Andy and I had been on every attack, like stink on poop. We had just come back off of shutting down an attack, when a counterattack went and Jeff jumped on it. There were 2 well known strong riders with him (by the way, everyone down there in GA also knows Jeff and his power). Unfurtunately, "well known" also means marked. So, despite the blocking attempts from 3 teams for about 10 minutes, it was brought back. Once back in, I rolled by Jeff and he said, "I just wrote a big check".
On the 4th lap, Jeff was really starting to suffer and told Andy he needed the race to end on this lap. We started the 5th lap so he sucked it up and went racing! While he was recovering, an 2-man attack went and once again I was all over it (this time with an Aaron rider). The 4 of us took a few pulls, but I was pretty whipped from the previous 2 hours of festivities. A few miles later, 8 others bridged across which included another Aaron rider (their leader), a Dick James rider, their leader, and a strong Reality Bikes guy. I took a look through the roster to find our leader and noticed no Jeff. CRAP!! Time to sit on. With me being in it, Jeff did not have to worry about it, as I would sit on and pray for him to bridge over. By this time we were just 30 seconds in front of the field, so Jeff moved to the front of the group to get in to the chase. He had no more gotten up to 4th wheel (which was on Andy's wheel) when some squirrelly rider tried to blow past the front guy, on his right side. Keep in mind THERE WAS NO ROOM!! He hit the guy hard enough to knock him down, and that's where the disaster began. Straight away 3 guys went down in front of Jeff including Andy. By the GRACE OF GOD ONLY he managed to weed his way through at 25 mph but had to detour 15 feet through the ditch to do so. There were bikes flying through the air narrowly missing him!! He got back up to the road and glanced over his shoulder. There were still bikes and bodies in the air! Luckily, Andy got away only with the pads being ripped from his gloves, but was still on the ground. Probably because the day before, he worked a double, got 2 hours of sleep, AND drove Jeff an I to the race site (what a nut). Jeff quickly got back on and organized a 12 man chase. For the first 5 min everyone was working well together, and they were pulling us back quickly. That quickly changed when 10 of the 12 either realized they had better sit on (due to their leaders being up the road) or because the day was wearing heavy on them and they just did not have the constitution or will to push on. This forced Jeff and one other guy to do all the work.
Meanwhile, in the lead group, after I pedalled tempo to the top of the last climb (4K from the finish), one of the Aaron guys (not the leader) rolled off the front. Noone responded as we thought we would reel him back in. Meanwhile, Jeff, after making many stern requests to HIS group to get their butts in gear, finally screamed at them and told them that if they were not going suck it up and race, then they needed to get off the road. That seemed to wake them up for about 2 miles. However, they never caught up, as by the 2K mark, we were told we had gained a 1 minute 15 second gap. It was time for me to become the leader and rely on my sprint that I had been working on for a total of 3 days over the past 6 months!! Just after the 1K sign, the party started, the attacks came, 2 riders blew, and I jumped into 3rd position. The Aaron guy who went off the front earlier was only 100 meters up the road and his leader was 2nd wheel in the chase. 500 meters, the group started their sprint and by 300, I was shuffled back to 9th where I would end up on the day holding off the Reality Bikes guy a few meters back. Unfortunately, the pay out was 8 places. Arghh!! About 90 seconds later (by the time I had u-turned down the road and back to the finish line), I got to see Jeff open the barn door and let the horse run as he sprinted for 1st in his 12-man chase group. It was then that I realized he would have been blowing the socks off of those guys I was with and why he was our leader. But, such is racing and Velosports would have to live with a 9th, 13th, and 24th. All in all, we felt that we raced strong and hard, but that the cards would not quite play out as the winning hand that day.

2009 PMBAR Mountain Bike Race

2009-05-10T16:44:00.000-07:00

Saturday, May 2nd, found Billy McCracken and I, Adam Penny, in Pisgah Forest for the Pisgah Mountain Bike Adventure Race (PMBAR). Here is the website's description:
Teams of two riders will race to reach 4 of 5 checkpoints, in any order, and return to the start/finish. Team members must remain in vocal contact throughout the event, must visit checkpoints together with their bikes and required gear, and they must finish together. Checkpoint locations will remain secret until start-time and there is no suggested route. Routes will vary between 50-70 miles, will include 9,000-15,000 feet of climbing, and should take 6-12 hours to complete.
Well, Billy and I got there at 7am, went to gear check-in, got our Pisgah Brewery PMBAR pint glasses for the post race festivities, got our Pisgah area maps with checkpoint locations premarked, then lined up with the other 67 two-man teams to wait for the 8am start. At the race meeting, we were told not to open our maps until they started us and that if we got a 5th checkpoint, that it would remove 2 hours off our total time. We would make that call after getting our 4th checkpoint later in the day. He also told us that we would have to start the race and finish the race on Black Mountain Trail (a sweet single-track that climbs 1200' in just 2-miles) At 7:55, we lined up at the front and awaited the promoter's signal. When he released us, I quickly got into a "kill it" mode and galloped away with another team not wanting to get caught up in a traffic jam. I realized I was probably going a bit too fast, when after about 10 minutes, we had dropped the entire field (including my teammate, Billy). I thought about waiting up, but had the bright idea of getting to the top of the climb (where there were several different route options), pull out the map and plan our strategy while Billy made it up a a more reasonable pace (apologies to Billy for not being able to communicate this. Kind of an 'on-the-fly' decision). After getting our route set in my head, Billy rolled up after about 6 other people (and just after Wes Dixon and his teammate, the heavy favorites). We were in GOOD company. As it turned out, Wes had picked a similar route, so we had a chance to ride with him for the next 1.5 hours on Turkey Pen Trail (a 5-mile ridge top trail with multiple STEEP 3-4 minute climbs and STEEP 'off-the-back-of-the-saddle' descents.

Got to the first checkpoint across the bridge below Turkey Pen trailhead and just across Mills River in good shape and probably in about 4th place. Next, we decided to take the flat Mills River Trail out to the Cantrell Creek Trail and climb up to the Squirrel Gap Trail checkpoint. The only annoying thing about Cantrell is that there are hundreds of skull-size rocks strewn all over the trail and very few of them are securely buried in the ground. Every time you hopped on one it would slip out from under you. Once we got to the checkpoint, we were ready to get moving on some solid ground. From here, it was on to the Horse Cove Trail climb, up to fireroad 5018, and down to the Pilot Rock Trailhead. Now, I had never been on this trail before and had heard it was a bit of a climb. However, what we encountered was probably the thing that lost us the race. We hiked our bikes up 1600' for 1.75-miles for a solid 45 minutes. This would have been better in reverse. Note to never climb that bastard again. However, once at the checkpoint at the top (at Turkey Spring gap), we had a great sidehill singletrack trail to descend, Laurel Mtn. Trail. So we went from the worst part of the race, to the best in a matter of 1 hour. After Laurel, we dropped down to North Mills River Campground and up Wash Creek Rd. to the 4th checkpoint. Scott from Liberty Bikes greeted us with a nice smile and a few laughs. As we started to leave, Dan and Wade pulled up and we exchanged route suggestions, then we were off on the long fireroad back towards the finishing trails. Luckily we planned to get the singletrack checkpoints done first so that we could just mindlessly chug away on 15' wide gravel roads by what was now our 7th hour on the bike. In case we really bonked, we would only end up in a ditch and not off a 40' cliff! It was at this point that we decided it best that we just get the 4 required checkpoints. We were starting to feel the ride take it's toll and also felt we would not get the benefit of the 2-hr. time bonus that the 5th checkpoint would award. Basically, we thought it would take us longer than 2 hours to snag that last checkpoint and then get back to the finish. So, we chugged away on Yellow Gap Rd. for something like 9 miles, then Mills River Rd. for another mile, on to S. Mills River Trail, up to Buckhorn Gap, down to Clawhammer, back up to Pressley Gap (where we got passed by the 11th place team a 1/4 mile from the top), then the final descent on the same Black Mtn. Trail we climbed at the start of the race. Billy was an animal on this descent and I thought for sure we were gonna catch the 2 that passed earlier. Such was not the case, but we did roll in in just under 9 hours with a time of 8 hours 55 minutes. We would spend the next two hours eating the HUGE burritos that Lucky Otter supplied, drinking a few pale ales from the kegs that Pisgah Brewing provided, and awaiting the arrival of the guys who went out for 5 checkpoints. Wes and his teammate rolled in at 9 hours 25 minutes. They got 5 checkpoints so there time would be adjusted to 7 hours 25 minutes, pushing us down the leaderboard. Two other 5 checkpointers rolled in before 10 hours, 55 minutes pushing us back to our final placement of 13th. I know we can do better and we'll be back.

Ring of Fire 2009 4-29

2009-05-08T16:15:00.001-07:00

www.joelillyphotography.com

Jess tears up the Cohutta 100

2009-05-02T15:15:00.000-07:00

(Jess- right rooftop)

Home from a HOT weekend at the Cohutta. Total time: 6hr, 24mins. I think I finished 9th woman, but am not sure yet, still waiting for results. Here's a recap:

Got lost on way to race Saturday morning. Got there just in time to line up, we started at 7am and it was already 60ish temps. Hopped on my bike and noticed my computer battery died overnight. This was not a good thing. I wanted a computer to tell me when to eat and when to go hard because it was almost over.

I started hard, figured the more mileage I could get in before it got hot the better. The first few miles was smooth singletrack, no passing. It opened up and I was leap frogging with a couple of women and this basically went on for about 10 miles. I finally dropped them on a long climb. Then road alone for much of the race.

It went from "pretty hot" to "amazon hot" around noontime.
I kept passing guys on uphills who would then pass me on downhills (someday I hope to descend like someone other than my grandma). Some guy at the last aid station told me I was in 4th with some women 6 minutes ahead. He really fired me up and made me feel like I could catch them. So I pushed hard, really hard and didn't eat or drink much in an effort to ride hard and trim down their lead. After awhile, I thought I had maybe 2 or 3 miles to go when a spectator told me it was 7.5. That was basically the end of my effort to catch those women, and the beginning of a bonk. I carried on through my bonk, trying to keep myself on the trail. Rumor has it I finished 9th place, not 4th. Oh well, next year I'll try it with a computer and hopefuly it won't be so stupidly hot.

Jess

Georgia- Athens and Roswell

2009-04-28T15:26:00.000-07:00

Marilyn writes: As usual the weekend proved to be another epic adventure! On Saturday in Athens I learned the lesson of preparing your gear the night before the race. I also discovered that racing at 8:00am is NOT my strong suit! I was so disorganized that I wasn’t mentally prepared for the start. When they said go, I was still trying to figure out what planet I was on. I wasn’t aggressive enough to stay in the front and quickly got dropped. Another weekend watching the group from the rear cross the finish line 100 meters ahead. Later that night I learned a lesson in courage. We went to the handcycle races and watched Paralympians race. These athletes overcame their disabilities to crank their machines up to speeds faster than I could with two good legs on my bike. Amazing!

On Sunday in Roswell, I almost missed the start of my race because of a blown tire in the warm up. I was about a mile away from the staging area. Lesli went on ahead to send someone back to help me. She told me I had 30 minutes before the start. I looked at my watch and saw I only had 20 minutes. I was NOT going to miss the start of a race because of a simple blowout! I took my cleats off knowing that the side walk would chew them up. I was going to need cleats to race if I could run fast enough. Fortunately, I wear 2 pairs of socks. I got down to my lucky pair, picked up my bike and started running. Within the first few steps I bruised my heel, so I jumped into the grass. I was dodging glass, twigs and stones on the sidewalk and the grass. Two riders kindly offered to change my flat, but I knew I needed the pit crew to do it quickly so I kept running. I almost got to the top of the hill when a dog tried to eat me. Luckily his owner had a tight grip on a leash! I looked at my watch again. 7 minutes to start. I looked toward Lesli’s car. No one in sight. Good. She’s at the start. I was hoping she got to the line so at least one of us could race. I got to the pit. 6 minutes to go. The guys of Roswell Bikes got my tube changed in 5 minutes. I asked them what I owed them for the new tube. They said I didn’t owe them anything, they were happy to help! I quickly strapped on my shoes and took off for the staging area. The look of surprise on Lesli’s face when I hit the staging area was priceless! That was worth the damage to my feet! The race was another story. I got dropped from the start. Never again will I start from the back.

From Erica:.

I got to the race course early on Sat morning and rode it several times to get warmed up.
Lesli, Marilyn, and I lined up for the 8am race. The very first turn was a minor sketchfest, which caused most of us to slow down significantly to avoid an accident. In the meantime, several riders toward the front got away from us. I chased back on and quickly decided I needed to move closer toward the front because I did not want to be caught up in that again...and because I could only chase so many times before I would blow up. I did move up a bit, but continued to encounter some inexperienced riders in and near the corners. This was a women's 3/4 race, but there were also several juniors in it with us. This translated to a lot of sketchiness that really had me trying to stay away from other racers, especially in the turns. I wasn't having a whole lot of fun in this race and, in retrospect, probably should have worked with my teammates to jazz it up a bit and get away from the inexperienced riders. But, instead, I just continued to go with the flow of the group. One day I will get the hang of all this.

With the exception of the scariness of it all, the race was pretty uneventful. There weren't any great breakaways that I recall, and the group stayed fairly close together. As we came around for the last lap, I was feeling a little apprehensive about sprinting with the not-so-steady group. But, as we came out of the last turn and up the slight hill, the group seemed to open up a bit, so I felt a little safer. My finish was okay (10th out of 36), but I know that not knowing how to sprint hurt me at the end. After the race, Lesli took me around downtown to show me proper sprint form - with the butt out and not tucked. Tucking our rear ends is what we do when we start on a track bike, but this apparently does not work on a road bike. Now I see what a difference the booty makes! And I know where Lesli gets that amazing sprint she has. :-) Can't wait to practice this again soon so I can put it to use in our next race!

Lesli's report:

What a fun and adventuresome weekend we had. Saturday morning's race on the Greenway in athens came early for all of us. We lined up with about 30 something girls and since I consider myself senior, i went right to the front. The goal in the line up is to get a good spot so you can take off quick enough to be in the top 5 in the first turn. Marilyn and ERica were right behind me so i hoped they would just hop on my wheel and follow. The whistle blew and I was bombing down the hill with some of my atlanta girlfriends not looking back. the race started fast and did not slow. Team Med plan shot off an attack every time we pulled one in so we older ladies were busy up there covering them while the juniors were moving randomly all over us. So lap after lap, i just stayed near the front covering mostly on the back side and then holding my spot on the hill. After at least half the race, Erica came towards the front and was getting more aggressive. I was so glad to see her getting in there and fighting for her space. By the last lap i was pretty spent- no sleep and a hill in a crit was all it took to wear me down. i yelled at erica to get near the front so she could sprint. luckily, we came safely through the last lap, i got a bit boxed in the final sprint so i just backed off and watched Erica go for it. She has come such a long way from last year and I received many compliments on her riding this weekend. There were too many local teams playing games that we were not able to control any part of that race except covering attacks but one day we will have more teammates. Marilyn pulled up the rear and soon she will be able to start faster and get in the craziness sooner. Then we went and practiced sprint positions in downtown Athens. Look out next time! That night we watched the pros do it! we are also proud of Evan, Calum, Andy and Jeff who started with huge fields and managed to navigate and finish strong.

Sunday morning we got up and drove to Roswell, a quaint little city north of Atlanta where Tina Pic wins every year. It was hot and we were scheduled to race at 12:45. ERica was not with us and you already read Marilyn's report about nearly missing the race. I still can't believe she made it. We rolled into the line up again with over 30 girls. yikes! That meant a fast start once again and I was ready. i dove into the front group and tried my best to stay with the girls I knew would control the race. Once again, we had powerful but inexperienced girls all over the place. I worked a little for my atlanta girl friends and then the inevitable with about 3 to go- a chain drop. My bike has had some technical issues lately. I was able to get it back on and bridge back up but they did 2 primes back to back and i was huffing. 3 riders got away this time but i was able to finish ok in the field sprint so i was happy about that. Marilyn already reported about her experience. i was glad to be back in the racing game this year and hopefully gained some crit fitness. Saturday of this week will see me in Charlotte for the dilworth crit. Hope to see all of you at the ring of fire this wednesday. Thanks to Madison who tagged along and helped the women this weekend. We had much laughter.