Hello Gang,
I want to start off by saying congratulations to Bill Woolf and the crew
from Luv2Bike. For their first time putting on a bike race they did a hell
of a job and I hope to see bigger and more events in the future. It was
very nice to do a race and not have to get in a car and drive 5 hours to
get home.
I also want to send out good thoughts and prayers to Richard Craig. He
went down in the Masters 30+ race. We hope he has a speedy recovery.
Tip of the week:
How appropriate that this was the first day we had over 100 temps. I want
to point out how important it is to try and recover and stay out of the
sun. The sun will rob you of energy. Staying cool and hydrated in between
races is the key to performing at your best during the summer months. Most
pros will tell you that recovery in between stages in the summer months can
be the difference between podium or DNF. Something to think about as we
are now in full summer heat. No reason to quit racing, just learn to deal
with the heat. Stay in the shade in between races. If you have the
ability to get indoors or in A/C than do it. DRINK, DRINK, DRINK. You can
not drink enough water. Use sunscreen. Dr RS pointed out to me that
sunburned skin does not have the ability to cool your body and you will
quickly succumb to heat if your skin is burned.
TNW:
This week we had mild winds. Several breaks got off the front with the
most notable containing a large group including the boss and Danny Kam.
The Boss put in attack after attack to soften the competition. Big Vick
from Luv2Bike put in a nice effort to close the break down. After a couple
of fast laps we hit the 5 laps to go. On the 4th lap, the fatman launched
a solo attack. I held it for 2 solo when Vic and Jitters from pro cyclery
bridged. Vic did some monster pulls to keep us away. I took the three up
sprint to earn the Mickey Mouse ears for this week. I did not get to see
the field sprint but I think it was taken by Lance.
Bragging Rights Crit:
Since this was a Vegas race almost all the notables are Vegas riders. I
will go over the two races I did and highlight the rest. I am sorry if I
make some mistakes as I was not able to see all the finishes and results
are not posted.
Masters 50+
The Polish freight train proved once again that he is a strong ass rider
and was able to pull out the first win for PT on the day. He had some help
with Dr Bill in the race to lead him out.
Masters 45+:
This was the Louie Amelburu show. With Team PT well represented by Merick,
Gabe, Dr. Stan, Balch and Dr Bill, they set up some early attacks to soften
the field. Once Louie got in a rythm it was night night as he time trialed
away from the field. Several attempts to chase were of no use and the boss
was able to lap the field. Once he caught on, the other PT riders started
attacking with Balchesaurus getting away for a well deserved second place.
I am not positive but I think Mark Henry sprinted in for third but I may be
wrong on that. Dr Stan was solid all day and did a ton of work on the
front.
Master 40+
The plan was to keep attacking until we got a rider off the front to take a
flyer. Mr. Freeze put in a nice effort from the gun that had the field at
full gas from the whistle. Once the catch was made several counters were
launched by various riders including Chicken and Bingham. I launched an
attack that was covered by lance with the Boss and Balchesaurus in tow.
Poor Lance found himself in the eye of the storm and was getting pelted
from all sides. Afte several attacks that he was forced to cover, he let
the fat man have a gap and I was off to the races. I got in a rythm and
tried to hold out as long as possible. I ended up lapping the field. Once
I made the catch, we ended up bringing back Lance and the Boss and Balch
was still off the front. Once we caught lance and the Boss, Kenny Sweet
Legs launched a blistering attack. He ended up passing Bruce on the last
lap to secure second with Balch holding off the field for third. I was
able to come in easy for first place safely sheltered by my team.
Master 30+
I did not see much of this race since I was trying to recover for my next
race. It had a strong field with Danny Kam showing why he is one of the
fastest guys sprinting in Vegas right now. The field split in two and Kam
was in the first group. He had a rocket sprint to take the win with Dark
Cloud coming in second. Again, I may be not correct on this as I missed
part of the race. If I am wrong somebody let me know and I will correct.
Cat III
A group of 5 went up the road. Several preems and attacks got the field
moving but no attacks were able to succeed. The field sprint was won by
Danny Kam.
Pro 1,2,3
The PT Team showed up in force for the main event with the same plan as
before, ATTACK. The idea was to keep attacking to soften up the field and
if it stayed together to launch Jay's sprint for the W. Kircher started
with a nice move off of the front. He was grinding away for a couple of
laps until an effort by Allegiant brought him back. Several small attacks
were tried without success. Chicken was just coming back from a move when
I launched up to him. the two of us hooked up and quickly got into TT
mode. We started gaining time quickly and decided to make it stick.
Bitter from Allegiant tried a solo bridge but we kept it steady to break
him. After he went back to the field, I looked across the gap and this
little tiny brown man was flying around the course. The boss decided that
me and Chicken were lonely and just to show us that he is still the boss he
bridged the gap. Once he got on the three of us quickly completed the
circuit to lap the field. Once back in the field, several PT riders were
also off the front including RS and Kircher. WIth more guys up the road to
take palcings, I launched again to take a preem and kept going with Bitter
in tow. Lance bridged up with Jay and Brandon. The five of us completed
that last five laps off of the front with Jay taking the bunch sprint from
Lance and I came across for my second win of the day. Chicken ended up
second with the Boss in third. I am not sure of the order but Kircher, RS,
and Jay all came in the next placings so PT swept the top 5.
I did not get any results from Ontario so that will wait until next week
Report from Mark and Don
The past few weeks up here have been crit weekends. Don and I had some good
finishes but fell short of the podium. Don and I did some good strong team
riding but hard going with a team of two, funny put on a crit and there are
twice as many riders as a road race, whats up with that a RR is just a long
crit, oh that's right is is a long ride back to the car if you are not
doing well.
This weekend was a return to the RR with a 52 mile flat ride around
beautiful Bearlake. Don was in an early 5 man break which dropped one and
was down to 4, they stayed away to the end Don finished 2nd in the 4 man
sprint finish.
For the past couple of weeks I have asked Don to ride with me on Sundays
like team training, he has declined stating he was doing some special
training (you know secret stuff). This week he finally told me that last
time he raced on Sat and he rode with me on Sun he was in "ICU for 3 days"
I didn't buy it (as I remember it) it was him kicking other riders asses
that tried to hook up with us. This Sunday he tells me OK I will ride with
you. I tell him to pick the course, I wanted no winning about "where you
took me". My first clue should have been his course choice, ok he picks a
80 mile loop with 3 major climbs, this ride can kick your ass riding all
alone. Second he wants to wait till it "warms up", it's Utah it has not
been warm since September. Ride starts with a critique of my cadence (who
cares I am going riding). First climb I was sweating!!! I have not done
that since September. I was scaird I would melt....no more waiting. The
rest of the day was 4 and 1/2 hours of Don kicking my ass. I would be in
the ICU but I need to keep training.....
Random Thoughts:
Holy shit the Boss is strong. I tried like hell to keep him from catching
me and Chicken and I finally had to give up. I bow down to the the
strength of the Cuban Missile.
I am very proud of the way that my usual team leaders gave up that role to
ride for the other guys on the team. Louie and Mike were absolute
domestiques this weekend and proved once again why we are one of the
strongest teams in the Master category. How weird was it for me to be led
around the course by Louie as he made sure I was protected and able to go
for the win. My sincerest thanks to all of my teammates.
Poor Lance, he raced several races and than jumped into the Octagon in the
Pro 1-2. Balch put him in a Kamora and he finally had to tap. Bring your
team next time Lance. Peter Anderson is still wanting a re-match from
Yuma.
Great job to the Allegiant team for coming out to represent. I think they
had someone in every race and most of their team did every category that
they could. i also know they put up preem money for the race. I also want
to recognize CES who had a strong showing in their categories.
Freeze was the master of tempo this weekend. He spent a lot of time on the
front. GOOD JOB
Bingham found some power this weekend. That was the most decisive attack I
have seen all year. I love it. In order to win you have to risk. Great
Job
Danny is still sprinting strong. His acceleration is very impressive.
Props out to Spider Monkey. He is definitely not in top form but still
toughed out the race to finish and came out to support a local race.
Michelle King did the womans race and two mens race and finished all three
in the field. DAMN. IRON WOMAN
Conversation between Kenny and Mark Henry
mark " So what are you guys going to do in this race?"
Kenny " We are going to attack you"
Mark " Yeah, I figured"
Jay clipped his pedal, lost two bike lengths, and was still able to come
back and pop out a nice sprint to take the bunch. Nice bike handling.
How about the Chicken lapping the field carrying 10 pounds more than usual.
Never under estimate the power of the Chicken. He was killing himself to
help me stay away and it is much appreciated.
A sincere thank you goes out to all the competitors that came out to
support the race. We need more races in the local scene and I am glad that
Bill and his Luv2Bike gang are doing more than talking about it.
I want to start off by saying congratulations to Bill Woolf and the crew
from Luv2Bike. For their first time putting on a bike race they did a hell
of a job and I hope to see bigger and more events in the future. It was
very nice to do a race and not have to get in a car and drive 5 hours to
get home.
I also want to send out good thoughts and prayers to Richard Craig. He
went down in the Masters 30+ race. We hope he has a speedy recovery.
Tip of the week:
How appropriate that this was the first day we had over 100 temps. I want
to point out how important it is to try and recover and stay out of the
sun. The sun will rob you of energy. Staying cool and hydrated in between
races is the key to performing at your best during the summer months. Most
pros will tell you that recovery in between stages in the summer months can
be the difference between podium or DNF. Something to think about as we
are now in full summer heat. No reason to quit racing, just learn to deal
with the heat. Stay in the shade in between races. If you have the
ability to get indoors or in A/C than do it. DRINK, DRINK, DRINK. You can
not drink enough water. Use sunscreen. Dr RS pointed out to me that
sunburned skin does not have the ability to cool your body and you will
quickly succumb to heat if your skin is burned.
TNW:
This week we had mild winds. Several breaks got off the front with the
most notable containing a large group including the boss and Danny Kam.
The Boss put in attack after attack to soften the competition. Big Vick
from Luv2Bike put in a nice effort to close the break down. After a couple
of fast laps we hit the 5 laps to go. On the 4th lap, the fatman launched
a solo attack. I held it for 2 solo when Vic and Jitters from pro cyclery
bridged. Vic did some monster pulls to keep us away. I took the three up
sprint to earn the Mickey Mouse ears for this week. I did not get to see
the field sprint but I think it was taken by Lance.
Bragging Rights Crit:
Since this was a Vegas race almost all the notables are Vegas riders. I
will go over the two races I did and highlight the rest. I am sorry if I
make some mistakes as I was not able to see all the finishes and results
are not posted.
Masters 50+
The Polish freight train proved once again that he is a strong ass rider
and was able to pull out the first win for PT on the day. He had some help
with Dr Bill in the race to lead him out.
Masters 45+:
This was the Louie Amelburu show. With Team PT well represented by Merick,
Gabe, Dr. Stan, Balch and Dr Bill, they set up some early attacks to soften
the field. Once Louie got in a rythm it was night night as he time trialed
away from the field. Several attempts to chase were of no use and the boss
was able to lap the field. Once he caught on, the other PT riders started
attacking with Balchesaurus getting away for a well deserved second place.
I am not positive but I think Mark Henry sprinted in for third but I may be
wrong on that. Dr Stan was solid all day and did a ton of work on the
front.
Master 40+
The plan was to keep attacking until we got a rider off the front to take a
flyer. Mr. Freeze put in a nice effort from the gun that had the field at
full gas from the whistle. Once the catch was made several counters were
launched by various riders including Chicken and Bingham. I launched an
attack that was covered by lance with the Boss and Balchesaurus in tow.
Poor Lance found himself in the eye of the storm and was getting pelted
from all sides. Afte several attacks that he was forced to cover, he let
the fat man have a gap and I was off to the races. I got in a rythm and
tried to hold out as long as possible. I ended up lapping the field. Once
I made the catch, we ended up bringing back Lance and the Boss and Balch
was still off the front. Once we caught lance and the Boss, Kenny Sweet
Legs launched a blistering attack. He ended up passing Bruce on the last
lap to secure second with Balch holding off the field for third. I was
able to come in easy for first place safely sheltered by my team.
Master 30+
I did not see much of this race since I was trying to recover for my next
race. It had a strong field with Danny Kam showing why he is one of the
fastest guys sprinting in Vegas right now. The field split in two and Kam
was in the first group. He had a rocket sprint to take the win with Dark
Cloud coming in second. Again, I may be not correct on this as I missed
part of the race. If I am wrong somebody let me know and I will correct.
Cat III
A group of 5 went up the road. Several preems and attacks got the field
moving but no attacks were able to succeed. The field sprint was won by
Danny Kam.
Pro 1,2,3
The PT Team showed up in force for the main event with the same plan as
before, ATTACK. The idea was to keep attacking to soften up the field and
if it stayed together to launch Jay's sprint for the W. Kircher started
with a nice move off of the front. He was grinding away for a couple of
laps until an effort by Allegiant brought him back. Several small attacks
were tried without success. Chicken was just coming back from a move when
I launched up to him. the two of us hooked up and quickly got into TT
mode. We started gaining time quickly and decided to make it stick.
Bitter from Allegiant tried a solo bridge but we kept it steady to break
him. After he went back to the field, I looked across the gap and this
little tiny brown man was flying around the course. The boss decided that
me and Chicken were lonely and just to show us that he is still the boss he
bridged the gap. Once he got on the three of us quickly completed the
circuit to lap the field. Once back in the field, several PT riders were
also off the front including RS and Kircher. WIth more guys up the road to
take palcings, I launched again to take a preem and kept going with Bitter
in tow. Lance bridged up with Jay and Brandon. The five of us completed
that last five laps off of the front with Jay taking the bunch sprint from
Lance and I came across for my second win of the day. Chicken ended up
second with the Boss in third. I am not sure of the order but Kircher, RS,
and Jay all came in the next placings so PT swept the top 5.
I did not get any results from Ontario so that will wait until next week
Report from Mark and Don
The past few weeks up here have been crit weekends. Don and I had some good
finishes but fell short of the podium. Don and I did some good strong team
riding but hard going with a team of two, funny put on a crit and there are
twice as many riders as a road race, whats up with that a RR is just a long
crit, oh that's right is is a long ride back to the car if you are not
doing well.
This weekend was a return to the RR with a 52 mile flat ride around
beautiful Bearlake. Don was in an early 5 man break which dropped one and
was down to 4, they stayed away to the end Don finished 2nd in the 4 man
sprint finish.
For the past couple of weeks I have asked Don to ride with me on Sundays
like team training, he has declined stating he was doing some special
training (you know secret stuff). This week he finally told me that last
time he raced on Sat and he rode with me on Sun he was in "ICU for 3 days"
I didn't buy it (as I remember it) it was him kicking other riders asses
that tried to hook up with us. This Sunday he tells me OK I will ride with
you. I tell him to pick the course, I wanted no winning about "where you
took me". My first clue should have been his course choice, ok he picks a
80 mile loop with 3 major climbs, this ride can kick your ass riding all
alone. Second he wants to wait till it "warms up", it's Utah it has not
been warm since September. Ride starts with a critique of my cadence (who
cares I am going riding). First climb I was sweating!!! I have not done
that since September. I was scaird I would melt....no more waiting. The
rest of the day was 4 and 1/2 hours of Don kicking my ass. I would be in
the ICU but I need to keep training.....
Random Thoughts:
Holy shit the Boss is strong. I tried like hell to keep him from catching
me and Chicken and I finally had to give up. I bow down to the the
strength of the Cuban Missile.
I am very proud of the way that my usual team leaders gave up that role to
ride for the other guys on the team. Louie and Mike were absolute
domestiques this weekend and proved once again why we are one of the
strongest teams in the Master category. How weird was it for me to be led
around the course by Louie as he made sure I was protected and able to go
for the win. My sincerest thanks to all of my teammates.
Poor Lance, he raced several races and than jumped into the Octagon in the
Pro 1-2. Balch put him in a Kamora and he finally had to tap. Bring your
team next time Lance. Peter Anderson is still wanting a re-match from
Yuma.
Great job to the Allegiant team for coming out to represent. I think they
had someone in every race and most of their team did every category that
they could. i also know they put up preem money for the race. I also want
to recognize CES who had a strong showing in their categories.
Freeze was the master of tempo this weekend. He spent a lot of time on the
front. GOOD JOB
Bingham found some power this weekend. That was the most decisive attack I
have seen all year. I love it. In order to win you have to risk. Great
Job
Danny is still sprinting strong. His acceleration is very impressive.
Props out to Spider Monkey. He is definitely not in top form but still
toughed out the race to finish and came out to support a local race.
Michelle King did the womans race and two mens race and finished all three
in the field. DAMN. IRON WOMAN
Conversation between Kenny and Mark Henry
mark " So what are you guys going to do in this race?"
Kenny " We are going to attack you"
Mark " Yeah, I figured"
Jay clipped his pedal, lost two bike lengths, and was still able to come
back and pop out a nice sprint to take the bunch. Nice bike handling.
How about the Chicken lapping the field carrying 10 pounds more than usual.
Never under estimate the power of the Chicken. He was killing himself to
help me stay away and it is much appreciated.
A sincere thank you goes out to all the competitors that came out to
support the race. We need more races in the local scene and I am glad that
Bill and his Luv2Bike gang are doing more than talking about it.
