Hello Gang,
Only two months away from the first races of the season. This time of year
as we prepare for Holiday festivities and winter training is in full swing,
my thoughts turn too the season that just passed. I am encouraged by the
results that Vegas posted during the race season. The local base of riders
continues to grow and this is a good time to reflect on some of the great
performances of the year past. As always this is to the best of my
recollection and I am sure that I will forget someone or a great ride that
someone had. Feel free to reply and add in your own comments. You will of
course notice that this is my own unique perspective and I have a tendency
to notice different aspects of a rider than most.
I will start with Thomas Michaud from Allegiant. This year he had a break
through ride at Boulevard. This is a tough road race taylor made for a
good climber and Tom had a great ride to post a second place for his first
Cat 4 race of the year. Tom has really proven himself to be a solid
climber and I am sure he will continue to rocket up the rankings.
That is a god segway into another break out performance by Chuck Luib.
Chuck put himself on the radar with a fine sprint finish in the Valley of
the Sun road race for 1st place on the stage. His category was 100 strong
and he smoked them all for his first W. This is a false flat finish after
a climb and he took the W in style.
I wanted to take a minute and note that both of these riders have been
under the steady tutelage of Mr Tony Gebbia. Tony has been doing a really
good job of mentoring some of the younger riders in the area and these kind
of results are very encouraging. It looks like Allegiant is positioned to
have a really good season this year.
Ashley Diamond and Alicia Boland both had very good road races at VOS with
both of them taking a 4th in their category. I mention both of them
together because they also went out to the Nature Valley Grand Prix and
competed in a big time NRC stage race. Stepping up to the big leagues for
a part time racer is a daunting task and they both did very well to
represent Vegas.
How could we forget the Chicken. Mr Anderson really came into his own in
Yuma this year. With some phenominal riding by Kircher and Jay he was able
to bridge to the break in the RR and solo in for the win and the GC win.
This was even more impressive in that he took control in conditions that
are not normally his forte and soldiered on in horendous winds to take the
W. I would also like to mention that Jay was an animal in the early part
of the race and than trudged on after his job was done to get in a finish.
Kircher had several noteworthy performances this year including VOS and San
Diego Omnium but his most inspiring ride was at Lotoja where he attacked 3
miles into a 208 mile race and soloed the better part of half of the race.
He ended up 9th in the race and was strong as an ox. I would also like to
point out that he was Mr consistent this year and was solid in every race
he was in. he was a direct contributor to results for the PT team at San
Dimas, Yuma, State Champs, San Luis Rey, Boulevard, Murietta, and San Diego
Omnium to name a few. Oh and if you think he can not ride crits check out
the results for Omnium and Mandalay Bay. Very solid year.
The Boss rocked the house all year and his wins are too numerous to mention
here. The most impressive ride was Nats. I have never seen him ride so
strong and was a player in the race all day. He was a whisker away from
having a shot for the jersey and his 9th place eclipsed all his other wins
this year. Oh by the way this is Elite Nats, not Masters. My other best
ride would be his ride at Cascade classic. His defence of his TT lead was
incredible and they threw everything at him. All of this was done with his
hand swollen like a bear claw and no friends in the field to count on. He
defended in the RR and than dominated the circuit to clinch the overall.
Mrs. Hillary Crowley has really improved her sprint to take some impressive
wins but her ride at State RR champs was awesome. Again this was
breakthrough ride as she has not been a player in most road races but she
did well to make it over the climb with the field and than take the sprint
for a state championship jersey.
Danny Kam got motivated and started to train. We always new Danny has some
serious fast twitch but when he started training on the track he took his
game to a whole new level. his breakthrough ride was Manhattan beach. He
came flying out of the washing machine turn to take a serious sprint win.
His bike handling combined with some serious sprint power served him well
at the end of the season and he was able to earn his Cat 1 this year.
Enough said, well done Mr Kam.
Julie Cutts showed some TT power and took the State ITT championships.
Brian Bitter has been placing in TT's all year and capped off the season
with the Cat 3 state championships. He continues to develop his power and
it will be good to see him combine that with some good road placings.
Andy Bestwick decided he wanted to try his hand at the NRC and went up for
the Tour De Nez in Reno. I admit I was a little jealous checking his
results every day and Andy had some awesome rides to finish his first NRC
stage race. Not an easy task for a lot or pro riders. It always amazes me
to see a full timer go out and finish that kind of event and seeing Andy
return to big time road racing was awesome.
Jonathan's strength has been well documented by me and every time I line up
with him in a race is exciting because you never know what RS will pull out
of his bag of tricks. He had two really noteworth rides. In Cascade his
TT time in the masters would have been first in the Cat III and he was
sitting in 12th in the masters. That was a great TT and he caught me half
way into the ride at the turn. He also rode like a champ in defense of
Louies lead in the circuit race. At Mandalay Bay he put on a show in front
of the home town crowd and was in one break, got caught and than made the
second break. he then took the 3 up sprint for the win after being off the
front most of the night. WOW. On that same race mad props out to Lance
who was also very active in the breaks and was key to Jonathan and him
making the bridge on the last break. He also got a nice podium for his
trouble.
Jeremy Thatcher has been progressing all year and took a nice sprint win at
Aliso Viejo in the Cat 3. He than showed up at Mt Charelston and posted a
smoking time jsut to show us he is more than crit rider. Very Impressive.
Another Allgiant rider stepping up.
Michele King has been working on her upgrade all year and had a
breakthrough ride in AZ when she took the state championship road race.
She upped her game when she soloed away from the field. Nothing like
winning a race solo.
Mark Schafer is the Iron Man. Not only does he take 2nd in the 170 mile
Tour de Park City in the Cat 1-2, he than proceeds to do the 208 mile
Lotoja and caps off his season by taking second at the Everest Challenge.
Most people would consider finishing one of these races in a year a
momentous event, but Mark placed in all of them. RIdiculous. Mr.
Pendleton also finished Everest Challenge. If you think you are bad ass
Everest will break you. Alex rode well and if not for a flat would
probably been on the podium.
I have to shout out for Ryan Jarrell. He was the only guy from his team to
take on the road race at Nelsons and soldiered on to finish. I can relate
to how tough it is to drag big legs over big climbs and I was impressed
that he would not take the easy road out.
My last but not least goes out to all the guys who busted ass for a team
mate to help them win. You are always the most impressive rider and may
your teammates never forget to thank you for your selfless efforts.
Random Thoughts
Did you see Kayle finally got caught. We all knew but it is nice when
justice is served. I think it would have been a lot better for Rock if
they had axed him when he got caught. Funny that many of the underlings at
Rock did not make the cut this year because of "performance" You think we
have pressure to perform, think about your livelihood being on the line.
Do you think you might turn to drugs???
Saxo Bank goes bankrupt and now Bjarne has a big headache. I am thinking
that Sastre is a little happy he switched team. Lets hope Bjarne can get a
new sponsor quick cause this is a quality team.
The SNSR will have three stages all based out of Caulville Bay with a RR, a
TT, and a crit. I am going to miss the crit at the stadium because that is
a quality venue that is very spectator friendly but I can not wait to see
what the RR is going to be. I am sure that there will be a lot of training
rides out at the lake this winter.
Lance (not Coburn) announced he will do the Tour today. Did that surprise
any of you?? I wonder who will be working for whom?? I can not see Lance
as a domestique but Contador has mad climing skills. Should be
interesting. I know Louie is worried about racing 35+ with me because he
will have to compete with me for team leadership.
Cal Pools had their first training camp. Chicken was tight lipped about
individual performances. I did hear he was climbing well. Will this be
the year he challenges at Boulevard??
Katusha with three solid sprinters. This team looks primed to take some
big wins this year.
How about Paolo trying to take over ownership of a team. He was a great
rider, will he be a great owner and manager??
Jim Robbins
Only two months away from the first races of the season. This time of year
as we prepare for Holiday festivities and winter training is in full swing,
my thoughts turn too the season that just passed. I am encouraged by the
results that Vegas posted during the race season. The local base of riders
continues to grow and this is a good time to reflect on some of the great
performances of the year past. As always this is to the best of my
recollection and I am sure that I will forget someone or a great ride that
someone had. Feel free to reply and add in your own comments. You will of
course notice that this is my own unique perspective and I have a tendency
to notice different aspects of a rider than most.
I will start with Thomas Michaud from Allegiant. This year he had a break
through ride at Boulevard. This is a tough road race taylor made for a
good climber and Tom had a great ride to post a second place for his first
Cat 4 race of the year. Tom has really proven himself to be a solid
climber and I am sure he will continue to rocket up the rankings.
That is a god segway into another break out performance by Chuck Luib.
Chuck put himself on the radar with a fine sprint finish in the Valley of
the Sun road race for 1st place on the stage. His category was 100 strong
and he smoked them all for his first W. This is a false flat finish after
a climb and he took the W in style.
I wanted to take a minute and note that both of these riders have been
under the steady tutelage of Mr Tony Gebbia. Tony has been doing a really
good job of mentoring some of the younger riders in the area and these kind
of results are very encouraging. It looks like Allegiant is positioned to
have a really good season this year.
Ashley Diamond and Alicia Boland both had very good road races at VOS with
both of them taking a 4th in their category. I mention both of them
together because they also went out to the Nature Valley Grand Prix and
competed in a big time NRC stage race. Stepping up to the big leagues for
a part time racer is a daunting task and they both did very well to
represent Vegas.
How could we forget the Chicken. Mr Anderson really came into his own in
Yuma this year. With some phenominal riding by Kircher and Jay he was able
to bridge to the break in the RR and solo in for the win and the GC win.
This was even more impressive in that he took control in conditions that
are not normally his forte and soldiered on in horendous winds to take the
W. I would also like to mention that Jay was an animal in the early part
of the race and than trudged on after his job was done to get in a finish.
Kircher had several noteworthy performances this year including VOS and San
Diego Omnium but his most inspiring ride was at Lotoja where he attacked 3
miles into a 208 mile race and soloed the better part of half of the race.
He ended up 9th in the race and was strong as an ox. I would also like to
point out that he was Mr consistent this year and was solid in every race
he was in. he was a direct contributor to results for the PT team at San
Dimas, Yuma, State Champs, San Luis Rey, Boulevard, Murietta, and San Diego
Omnium to name a few. Oh and if you think he can not ride crits check out
the results for Omnium and Mandalay Bay. Very solid year.
The Boss rocked the house all year and his wins are too numerous to mention
here. The most impressive ride was Nats. I have never seen him ride so
strong and was a player in the race all day. He was a whisker away from
having a shot for the jersey and his 9th place eclipsed all his other wins
this year. Oh by the way this is Elite Nats, not Masters. My other best
ride would be his ride at Cascade classic. His defence of his TT lead was
incredible and they threw everything at him. All of this was done with his
hand swollen like a bear claw and no friends in the field to count on. He
defended in the RR and than dominated the circuit to clinch the overall.
Mrs. Hillary Crowley has really improved her sprint to take some impressive
wins but her ride at State RR champs was awesome. Again this was
breakthrough ride as she has not been a player in most road races but she
did well to make it over the climb with the field and than take the sprint
for a state championship jersey.
Danny Kam got motivated and started to train. We always new Danny has some
serious fast twitch but when he started training on the track he took his
game to a whole new level. his breakthrough ride was Manhattan beach. He
came flying out of the washing machine turn to take a serious sprint win.
His bike handling combined with some serious sprint power served him well
at the end of the season and he was able to earn his Cat 1 this year.
Enough said, well done Mr Kam.
Julie Cutts showed some TT power and took the State ITT championships.
Brian Bitter has been placing in TT's all year and capped off the season
with the Cat 3 state championships. He continues to develop his power and
it will be good to see him combine that with some good road placings.
Andy Bestwick decided he wanted to try his hand at the NRC and went up for
the Tour De Nez in Reno. I admit I was a little jealous checking his
results every day and Andy had some awesome rides to finish his first NRC
stage race. Not an easy task for a lot or pro riders. It always amazes me
to see a full timer go out and finish that kind of event and seeing Andy
return to big time road racing was awesome.
Jonathan's strength has been well documented by me and every time I line up
with him in a race is exciting because you never know what RS will pull out
of his bag of tricks. He had two really noteworth rides. In Cascade his
TT time in the masters would have been first in the Cat III and he was
sitting in 12th in the masters. That was a great TT and he caught me half
way into the ride at the turn. He also rode like a champ in defense of
Louies lead in the circuit race. At Mandalay Bay he put on a show in front
of the home town crowd and was in one break, got caught and than made the
second break. he then took the 3 up sprint for the win after being off the
front most of the night. WOW. On that same race mad props out to Lance
who was also very active in the breaks and was key to Jonathan and him
making the bridge on the last break. He also got a nice podium for his
trouble.
Jeremy Thatcher has been progressing all year and took a nice sprint win at
Aliso Viejo in the Cat 3. He than showed up at Mt Charelston and posted a
smoking time jsut to show us he is more than crit rider. Very Impressive.
Another Allgiant rider stepping up.
Michele King has been working on her upgrade all year and had a
breakthrough ride in AZ when she took the state championship road race.
She upped her game when she soloed away from the field. Nothing like
winning a race solo.
Mark Schafer is the Iron Man. Not only does he take 2nd in the 170 mile
Tour de Park City in the Cat 1-2, he than proceeds to do the 208 mile
Lotoja and caps off his season by taking second at the Everest Challenge.
Most people would consider finishing one of these races in a year a
momentous event, but Mark placed in all of them. RIdiculous. Mr.
Pendleton also finished Everest Challenge. If you think you are bad ass
Everest will break you. Alex rode well and if not for a flat would
probably been on the podium.
I have to shout out for Ryan Jarrell. He was the only guy from his team to
take on the road race at Nelsons and soldiered on to finish. I can relate
to how tough it is to drag big legs over big climbs and I was impressed
that he would not take the easy road out.
My last but not least goes out to all the guys who busted ass for a team
mate to help them win. You are always the most impressive rider and may
your teammates never forget to thank you for your selfless efforts.
Random Thoughts
Did you see Kayle finally got caught. We all knew but it is nice when
justice is served. I think it would have been a lot better for Rock if
they had axed him when he got caught. Funny that many of the underlings at
Rock did not make the cut this year because of "performance" You think we
have pressure to perform, think about your livelihood being on the line.
Do you think you might turn to drugs???
Saxo Bank goes bankrupt and now Bjarne has a big headache. I am thinking
that Sastre is a little happy he switched team. Lets hope Bjarne can get a
new sponsor quick cause this is a quality team.
The SNSR will have three stages all based out of Caulville Bay with a RR, a
TT, and a crit. I am going to miss the crit at the stadium because that is
a quality venue that is very spectator friendly but I can not wait to see
what the RR is going to be. I am sure that there will be a lot of training
rides out at the lake this winter.
Lance (not Coburn) announced he will do the Tour today. Did that surprise
any of you?? I wonder who will be working for whom?? I can not see Lance
as a domestique but Contador has mad climing skills. Should be
interesting. I know Louie is worried about racing 35+ with me because he
will have to compete with me for team leadership.
Cal Pools had their first training camp. Chicken was tight lipped about
individual performances. I did hear he was climbing well. Will this be
the year he challenges at Boulevard??
Katusha with three solid sprinters. This team looks primed to take some
big wins this year.
How about Paolo trying to take over ownership of a team. He was a great
rider, will he be a great owner and manager??
Jim Robbins
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