Hello Gang,
We are getting to the heart of the season. Lots of news to get out so here
we go.
Tip of the week involves riding in the pack. The fastest way to get a
water bottle tossed at your head in the pro peloton is to make ridculous
sideways move in the field. If you are ever riding in the Pro peloton you
will notice that all movements by the pros are gradual. This is an
important safety consideration. Anytime you are moving in the field,
smooth gradual movements allow the riders around you to react accordingly
to your change in position. Even when attacking a rider will usually
position himself in an outside position before launching. Only amateurs
swing from side to side like a snake in the field. It's dangerous to do
this and it wastes energy. Better to save that aggresion for a well timed
attack when your rivals are tired. Some riders will look back to see if
they have a clear lane. Even this can get you in trouble as most riders
will naturally drift when looking backwards. if you want to look back, do
it from the outside of the group where you will not overlap wheels with
another rider and cause a crash.
TNW
This week we had a break form about half way into the race. Inevitably,
two things came together to kill the break. First, too many speedsters
were in the break and could not organize themselves to keep a steady pace.
Sometimes having too many guys in the break is a lock to kill it. The
second was the Luv2Bike guys came to the front and actually put together a
nice chase to bring the break back. Once we hit laps the sprinters set up
for the dash to the line. With bingham driving for the hill the sprint was
launched with Danny Kam of NuVision coming through for another W. Jay and
Lance were hot on his heels. Looks like the sprinters are taking the lion
share of the W's this year. Lets see if the break away artisits can score
one this week. Pray for wind!!
Copper Valley Stage Race
This was a great venue. Not for the incredibly scenic town but the crit
course and RR course were epic. By far this was the hardest crit course I
have done in many years. .7 mile loop with two killer 14% grade stinger
climbs in it. In the 35+ race myslef and RS (Jonathan) were there to
contest. Jonathan did a masterful job of keeping at the front to avoid any
splits. He was able to time his sprint out of the last corner and bested
his group of four for a well deserved win.
In the 45+ race Louie took on a quality field and was able to TT his way to
a solo win. He had one straggler that hung on for a couple of laps before
Louie popped him on the climb. After that he preceeded to lap most of the
field.
RS was not satisifed with winning the 35+ race and went out and killed a
good field of Cat 3 for another W. He was able to snap most of the group
and again had a break of 4 going. He led the sprint from the front after
he got a gap before the last corner to secure the win.
The RR was an out and back course with a HUGE 6-8% climb coming back. It
was eqivalent to the last 8 miles of Potosi and was definitely going to
define the race. The first climbs were no joke to get to the big descent
that we would have to come back up. After the last climb we have 10 miles
of rollers before the finish.
In the 35+ race the plan was for me to get away to take pressure off of
Jonathan so he could lite up the last climb. I attacked three times to
break the leash and than it was TT time. I made it to the first climb and
held off the field. After the descent I was able to keep the field behind
me until the turnaround at mile 30. At this point I went to work to keep
RS out of the wind and prepare for the big climb going home. i attacked
again before the feed zone and got away again. As I hit the climb I was
passed by Biaggi and a Colavita rider. RS was in hot pursuit with
Silverman. RS caught the Colavita rider by the top and the three of them
were never able to catch Biaggi by the finish. RS ended up 4th in the RR
and took third overall for the stage race. I finished a distant 6th
overall.
In the 45+ race Louie continued his dominance. He was able to get away
with Scott Baker on the climb and the two of them stomped the field. Louie
won the two up sprint to take both stages for the weekend and the overall.
We did not have big fields at this race and that was a crying shame. In
comparision to Valley of the Sun this was a much harder race and deserved
a better turn out than it got. The RR was a much better course and had
some terrain for every kind of rider.
Utah
I did not get a report from Mark and Don but I know they raced and Mark got
the W with Don in third. I did not get any details as of press time.
Torrance
I did not have any results from Torrance as of press time so they will be
next week.
Sea Otter:
Nathan was able to represent and had a good race in the Juniors. He was
5th in the RR and 6th in the Circuit Race. This is a big race for Juniors.
Good Job Nathan
Random Thoughts:
I have to call out the Boss a little. Your devotion to eating at Buffets
is killing me. He talked us into the buffet at the Apache Junction Casino.
Definitely not the best pre-race food in the world. Not a lot of choices
in Globe but this was not good. I will say that both him and Jonathan rode
awesome races this weekend so maybe I am wrong about the food. If there
was an Ihop in this town I would have waxed both of them. IHOP RULES
Simo is still after the only attractive girl he could find at the
supermarket and she was 5th rate by Vegas standards. Globe AZ is not going
to win Mrs America anytime soon. Chicken would have loved it. Lots of fat
Apache woman
RS rode two incredible crits for two wins. He is definitely coming on.
Very solid tactics against some AZ veterans.
The Boss is straight flying. If you saw these hills in this crit it would
make you cry and he just rolled the field off his wheel. he comes back the
next day and attackes on the climb to show how you aggressively lead the
race. That leaders jersey belongs on you. Too bad we had to pin the shit
out of it to make it fit. next time ask for the juniors jersey.
Mark and Don, send me a report!!! Wins deserve attention.
Summit Center is cancelled so you can make other plans for Memorial
Weekend. I will probably go to Cali and train unless I am out of money.
The individual TT for Socal is that weekend so maybe I can go win a medal.
I might stay in Vegas and work on my drinking skills. I will keep you
posted.
Damn that hill was hard. Jonathan robbing me of my bottle did not help.
Thank God my italian angel (simo) delivered me some sticky syrup in a
bottle that Louie had given him. I am having the contents analysed by
kircher's wife for HGH and Steroids. I will let you know the results next
week. I woke up with larger veins today so I am questioning my inteligence
at drinking this sweet chemical cocktail.
Jonathan was called into service this weekend to provide medical attention
to a couple of guys that went down. We are lucky to have him on the team.
