News from the Peloton

Hey Gang,

What a great weekend of racing up in the cooler temps of UT. I have a lot
to go over this week and some of the reports may be brief because I am not
in too writing novels. If I get some of the placings off a little, chill
out. I could not keep track of everyone racing and exactly what they
placed and there was no posting of results on the internet for Tour De Gap
so this will be from the best of my recollection. Keep in mind that I
spent the entire weekend in O2 debt so my mind was probably not very clear.

TNW

This week a lot of guys on the PT Team were resting up for the big weekend
of racing in UT. About half way into the race, Hansel from Collins went
sliding off the front with me in tow. We got a gap and started working.
As we started to get rolling, Chicken and Miguel rolled up and the fix was
in. We kept the pace steady to stay away and Miguel sat on the back and
waited for the sprint. He punked us in the end by having the freshest legs
so he has the belt until tomorrow.

Ladera Ranch Grand Prix

I was not at this race but here are the placings I noticed. Lance was 13th
in the 30+ race and Ashley Diamond was 14th in the Pro woman with Hilary
right behind in 20th. Not a Vegas guy but definitely a friend of the Paul
Tracy team, Jason Bausch won the Pro race and Dotsie was third in the Pro
Woman.

Tour De Gap:

We split the team for this race with myself, Kenny Sweet Legs, The Arctic
Squirrel, Chicken, The Boss, and RS in the 35+ race. Schaefer,
Balchesaurus and Polocko were in the 45+ race. Michelle was rocking the
house in the woman Cat 4. Here is how it went down.

Stage 1: Climb like a Billy Goat stage

They combined the two fields for the climbing stage. You start off at 9k
and go up to 10.5 in the first mile. Ridiculous. Than you desend for ever
and start climbing back up to the finish. The Boss, RS, Chicken,
Balchesaurus, Schaefer, and Polocko all made the front group that came
together on the desent. On the climb past Duck Creek the fireworks started
as Mexican Snaggle Tooth was off the front with Bruce Bilado. Polocko and
Balch went to the front and started to do mad tempo to bring the break
back. On the climb to Duck Creek, Louie and Schaefer were trading pulls
like prize fighters to soften up the field for a major attack. Schafer
attacked and went up the road with another rider from Utah (Armstrong).
They ended up staying away and Schafer attacked him at the end to take the
win. Behind him the 35+ race was yet to be decided. With the CES gang
trying to figure out what kind of hell they had entered into, Chicken and
Jonathan went to the front to keep the speed high. Louie attacked and the
game was on. Chicken was not far behind and Louie ended up winning the
stage with Chicken right behind for second. RS was sitting just behind
third place on time so the GC was definitely not decided. The rest of us
finished ready to roll for the next stage.

Michelle took third in the road race for a nice podium for the PT ladies

Stage 2: The Crit Show

45+ Balch and Schafer were sitting in and watched Polocko get a nice gap
with Ken Louder (that is Jeff Louder from Health Net's dad). They were
working awesome when they picked up a lapped CES rider. This goof got in
the break and messed up their rythym. This killed the break and the field
ended up catching them. It came down to a field sprint with Balch on the
front pinning it on the last lap, Schafer goes fying up the outside before
the last corner to take the win with Balch hanging on for second. WOW, who
new Mark could sprint??

35+ We started with the Mexican Snaggle Tooth going from the gun and we let
him twist in the wind for 5 or 6 laps. Once he threw in the towel, Louie
and Chicken going flying by me and started putting time on the field. How
do you let 1 and 2 on GC get away is beyond me but that is exactly what
happend. Slow Tony bridged up with third on GC and we were just sitting in
the field watching the show when the Arctic Squirrel showed off some of
that legendary leg speed and bridged to the break. Once he got there, they
anounced the time bonus preem and poor Jay did have any time to recover and
got disconnected with the sprint for the bonus. Kenny was patroling the
front and keeping every one in check until the Boss and Chicken dropped the
Slow Tony from the break and lapped the field to get to us. At this point
Kenny ramped up the pace and we started a team time trial to lap the rest
of the field. Louie and Chicken ended up lapping the entire field and than
got to contest the sprint with Chicken coming out on top for the W. Louie
was second and I think jay was third.

Michelle was mixed in with the Pro field and rode a tough race to get third
and win a preem.

Stage 3: Gap Road Race

45+ Balch attacked early but was eventually brought back. He attacked
again and got a nice gap. At this point Don Armstrong bridged the gap with
Schafer in tow. Schaefer got a free ride and now there were 2 PT boys in
the break. At this point Balch took one of his famous strong man pulls in
the break and this created a little gap, Mark let the gap grow and Balch
ended up staying away to solo in for the RR win and moved into third on GC.

35+ You got to love RS. He has the strength of an OX. He picked an early
attack by Bruce Bilodo to cover and never looked back. Andre a local racer
from Brian Head bridged to them and that was the last we saw of them. CES
attempted a few futile chases but they were negated by nice tempo riding by
Jay and Kenny. We wanted RS to get at least three minutes to move into 3rd
on GC. He was pounding it hard to get that time and we jsut rode temp at
the front. The third place rider realised that he might lose his placing
and put in a serious attack. We let him dangle and Jay and Kenny did an
awesome job to ride tempo at the front and keep the lone attacker at a
reasonable distant. When we hit the road back into town the lone attacker
started to pull away and the boss put out the order to bring him back.
Then myself, Jay and Kenny turned the pain dial to rivet and pinned it hard
to bring him back. That was a hard chase and I was very glad when the job
was done. We ramped up the pace when we came into town to get ready for
the finish. RS stayed away to take the win. I made a mistake on the
approach into town and took a wrong turn. The turn caused a crash behind
me that took Slow Tony down. Chicken and Louie got out safe and took the
last couple of placings in the race. Good race, sorry about the crash!!

Michelle did some hard riding in the wind to take third place.

Stage 4: TT Hell

The TT was an out and back with a wicked head wind on the way back. RS
needed to do a good time to keep his third as the guy he bumped can really
TT. The wind was howling which made for a real leg burner. The guy from
Canyon that was in a fourth put in a scorching time of 22 flat to win the
TT stage. louie posted a 22:06 for second and Chicken was the one second
brides maid at 22:07 for third. RS was a little tired from his efforts and
came in tough but not enough to hang onto third, but ended up fourth
overall. That was 1st on GC for the Boss, Second for the Chicken, and
fourth for RS.

The 45+ guys had good times with Mark winning the stage with a 22:15.
bruce hung tough to end up 4th on GC.

Michelle did a good ride to secure her third place overall on GC for the PT
ladies.

Other Cats of note:

Gagne took second in the Cat III crit. Nathan rode a solid race. He was
third in the first road race, and should have been third in the second road
race if not for a bad direction by a race volunteer. I did not get to see
his final placing but this was a tough field of Cat III and he showed why
he is up and coming. He should be ready for a Cat II upgrade in the near
future.

Spider Monkey contested the Pro race and placed 5th in the TT. I did not
get to see the rest of his placings but I know he rode a solid race
considering he is coming back from injury.

Random Thoughts:

If you are a lapped rider in a Crit, stay the *&&^%$$#%$&%& out of the
break. That was just a bullshit move in the 45+ crit. On what planet do
you think you are on if you get dropped that you can go pull for pull with
the guys that dropped you???

My sincerest apologies go out to Tony Gonzales. I never want to be
involved in a crash, much less contribute to one. I hope you recover
quickly.

Simo and Alda were great this weekend. Nothing like coming back from a
hard race to a home cooked Italian meal and a good glass of wine with the
best team mates in Vegas. NICE!!! That house was off the hook. Kenny
nice job with the house. I know you went to a lot of trouble to organize
that.

Special Thanks to all the assorted wives, girlfriends, significant others.
That means you Steph, Mylene (i hope the spelling is right), Melissa, Jen,
Arlene, and Alda. The way all of you support us washed up old guys chasing
our youth is truly amazing and all the help, advice, and good food is very
much appreciated.

How about local girl Caroline toughing out the stages to finish. She
killed herself to make sure she finished every stage. She was the last
person on the course both days and dug deep to finish. Now that was
impressive. You got courage girl.

Keep an eye on Nathan. That kid is rocking. Props out to the Williams
family for coming out to support their boy. Opi could use a little sun.
Those pasty white legs are a little scary when he gets rockin on a climb.

Polocko is back. he smoked me on the climb and was rock solid all weekend.
Mix in some meat and some junk food. That bowl of salad was ridiculous.

Mark is a climbing fool. Than he comes out and wins a crit in the
afternoon. I thought you could not sprint. LIAR

Balchesaurus pounded the Gap RR. Can you say just getting started. I feel
sorry for you guys next year when he really is in shape.

The Chicken has finally found his climbing legs again. Ohhh and did you
hear he can TT with them also. Just to add to the placing from this
weekend, Kircher and Mike competed in the police games on Thursday and
Friday with chicken winning the TT and Kircher in second, than kircher won
the rr with Mike in second.

Jay showed off some incredible speed in the crit to make that bridge. I do
not think I could have made that bridge. Not only did he close the gap but
he did it at warp speed.

Kenny was a solid rider all weekend. Nice job patroling the front. He
worked constantly to limit losses, keep the boss out of the wind and
control the field. All this while he was stressed out that we would wreck
the cabin and leave him with the bill. Nice job

RS, you amaze me. I am sure that Bilodo was wondering what kind of Tiger
he had latched onto. I was the first to say it was too early and no way
you would make it to the end. I stand corrected. Kick ass break away.

The Boss. You always earn your title. More impressive than your placings,
was your ability to direct the team and teach all of us how to control a
race. Again it is rare occasion that you receive praise from me because
you set the bar so high we just expect you to win. Thanks for all the
advice and guidance. We all get a little benefit from you every race,
Where is my hundy???

Jim Robbins

Week of Aug 14

Sorry this is a day late but I actually do have a full time job that I need to pay my race fees since Louie cut my salary for not placing in my lastrace. I want to start by reminding some of our readers of a cardinal rulethat you are not allowed to break as a bike racer. Per the USCF rule book,you are not allowed to take you hands or feet off of your bike and strikeanother rider. Under no circumstances is this ever allowed or appropriate.The rules call for an automatic suspension in the event that a riderviolates these rules. That being said, a lot of things happen in thecourse of a bike race and we can all let our tempers and drive forcompetition outweigh our common sense. Just make sure you do not violatethis rule. This goes for starting it and any kind of retaliation. All ofus have a stake in keeping races as safe as possible.

TNW:This week saw a break start early with the Balchesaurus driving like he wason a crusade. The others in the break (Troll, Opi (this is Nathans nickname until I come up with something better), myself, and Big Eric were allhanging on for dear life hoping that Balch was going to slow down soon sowe could catch our breath. just when I thought life was going to getbetter, up comes the Chicken with Lance and Hansel. Now things got reallyinteresting with the big horses driving the break and stragglers droppingoff like flies. It was a good break and after a few mishaps with somebumping and grinding between the chicken and troll, we settled down to pullaway from the field. The break ended up with Mexican Snaggle Tooth,Chicken,Ryan, Lance, Fatman, Hansel, Double Chip, and Balch. The PT gangwas blocking like crazy and the break stayed away. We tried to set up Lance with a couple of attacks towards the end but he prevailed to win the sprint and take the belt home for another week.

Utah report as written by Mark Schaefer:Another great weekend of racing in Utah. The course was hard but beautifu lMt road racing. I raced the masters with all the usual suspects. Like most weeks BM gang had one rider off the front alone. It was Don Armstrong I wasnot going to respond (I had a lot of long hard miles training this week),Don is a good guy, ok with me if he can do it. A couple of riders started working at the front but not seriously the gap to Don was growing. We gotto the first climb and it was time to go to the front for me and start myworkout for the day. Half way up the climb one of Don's team mates (the P)attacked me, one other rider glued to his wheel. I looked around and no oneelse was there. I let them have their gap 20-50M and just watched to seewhat would happen it stayed that way over the top so time to bridge the gapon the descent. We had closed some of the gap to Don by the turn around.The second climb with the P and other glued to my wheel (more like a tandemimpossible for them to come around) back to my workout for the day tempo upthe climb. I figured to catch Don by the top that should hold off attacks from the P. Riding well I caught Don with about 2 miles to the top. Noattacks.... Don and I pushed it to the top, four of us over together. Lots of booty shakin on the descent (go figure). OK unlike last week I blew this one, 5K to go there was a short leg breaker hill Don went hard at it andpulled off I continued at that same pace ( I was a dumb ass I should have attacked) I got to the top and had a gap I rolled hard but not quite ableto hold them off. The good part of this was that the BM guys (to busy withme) got jumped at 500M by the other rider, yes BM does not win and I got3rd....I have them all set up for the Gap, they will all be watching me and teamPT can roll'em.

Myself and Chicken went down to Socal this weekend to hang out with Simo and get in some miles before Gap. On Sunday we did the Como Street ride.I must say a lot of respect was given out to the PT jerseys this week aswe were congratulated on the season our team has had and the performance ofRoboCop the week before at State. Chicken was marked on the hills and heattacked the field to show off why he is called a climber. He rode off the front for most of the ride to show off some of the form he has been building for GAP. It was a good weekend and it was really nice to hear the compliments to the team and how interested people were in what our plans for the next year are. Wear that PT jersey with pride, people notice.

Random Thoughts:
Gap is this weekend. Who will come out on top??? Only your legs will beable to tell you now.

Has anyone thought of some kind of anger management class for cyclists??Can't we all just get along?? I guess it is the nature of racing to becompetitive but lets make sure we keep it safe. This sport is dangerous enough.

From the mind of the Chicken: How can i shake the Mexican Snaggle Tooth.He haunts my dreams. Why will he not pull through?? Is he after mywoman?? i must destroy him and make him pay for his insolence.

Dotsie Bausch is looking to get into track racing and will try her hand at the 3k pursuit for nationals. Can you see a run for the Olympic Games inBeijing?? KB better brush up on his chinese.

I am doing the Pro 1-2 race called the SanPete Classic in Spring City UT next Saturday. Let me know if you are interested in going with. I can switch to masters 35+ if Mark would like up to help him whip some ass onhis UT boys. Let me know.

Levi, Devolder and Gusev have contacted Louie about racing on PT next year.We advised them they are not old enough and we already have some champions.

The show is coming!!! Just a thought to some of you looters out there. Remember that we are privileged to have the industry bike show in our cityand most of us find a way to get in. For some of us this is an importanttime for us to secure sponsors and represent our teams. Remember toconduct yourself with some class. I have heard stories in the past of guysat the show buying gear and misrepresenting who they are and what they aredoing, equipped with made up resumes and tall stories about races won.This is just a ploy to get free and discounted gear and purchase equipmentand components to sell. It ends up being sold to local cyclists andcompeting with local bike shops. This is bull shit and should not happen.We need to support local shops. If you think you are turning an easy buckand it does not hurt anything, you are wrong. It is important that we do not abuse the good will that is provided by sponsors to support racers

Jimmy Robbins

Fw: News from the Peloton

Hello Gang,

I want to start off with some past business. First I found out that last
week I was remiss in not mentioning that Nathan Williams placed 7th in the
Cat 15-16 junior race in Ontario. Good Job Nathan. Keep up the good work.

Our very own RS (Jonathan Edwards) was able to get his Cat III upgrade. It
seems that RS in typical RS fashion has actually been winning Cat 4 races
and he was a Cat 5 the entire time. When he sent in his resume he was
warned by the official but the quality of his resume prevailed and he was
granted his upgrade. He got it just in time to do a Pro 1,2,3 race in
Washington state. It appears that we have not given Jonathan the credit he
is due for Crit racing as he placed second in this race and Louie advised
me that there were quite a few top level Cat 1 and 2's in the race. Damn
Jonathan. At this pace he will have his Cat 1 before he gets his cat II.
I have to ask if you had your helmet on straight for the podium photo??

TNW

It was basicly rained out this week. The Chicken was there with a few
hardy souls but most of us opted to avoid the thunderstorms and catch up on
any tour scandals. Amazing that the Chicken will race at TNW in a
thunderstorm but has not been to a USCF race since Flagstaff. That is a
lot of training miles under the belt just to try and win the belt. It
seems TNW is more important than I thought.

Diamond Valley Road Race

I made the trek up to Reno this weekend to support the arctic squirrel in
his quest to become the NorCal state champion. The RR course was awesome
with two nice climbs in succesion. They were about the distance of the
first climb in the loop with a small descent in between. We had six laps
so that was six attempts to survive. The field was stacked with all the
top guys from Norcal there including teams from Discovery, Z-Team, EMC, and
Safeway. The first lap was tame with some long-haired hippy from Webcor
off the front. He got a nice gap when Discovery put six guys on the front
and shut it down. On lap three the ref relegated me to the back right at
the base of the climb for center line rule and I ended up getting gapped by
slower riders on the climb. I chased like a son of a bitch and got back on
to the field before the 4th time up the climb. I was tired from chasing
and ended up losing contact again on the false flat and had to finish in a
chase group. After all that I pulled my chase group around. With 3k to go
this moron from Marin started attacking the group. I told him that I was
not pleased that he decided to play Tour De France so I jumped him for the
field sprint with 500 m left and won. I ended up in 18th place for my
effort at winning the chase group sprint. Jay had a good ride and saved
his energy for the crit the next day for good reason. A Safeway rider won
the RR solo off the front.

Carson Valley Classic Crit

This was a great course with all new pavement and lots of corners and a
chicane just before the final straightaway. Discovery was all pissed that
they got beat the previous day and the field was stacked again. I was at
Jay's disposal for the day. The plan was to take him through the last
couple of corners and the chicane and drop him off for the sprint. I did a
lot of work early to negate some breaks and the attacks between Safeway and
Discovery were constant. This was by far one of the fastest Crits I have
done all year. There was a crash about midway through the race that Jay
was involved in but he was able to take his lap and get back in. I was on
the front riding tempo to let Jay recover and than it was get ready for the
finish. Mike Hernandez from Safeway and a Discovery rider took the crash
as an opportunity to get a break off of the front. The gap started to grow
and no one was chasing. I went to the front and rode some tempo to limit
our losses when Hernandez clipped a pedal and crashed out of the break.
This left the Discovery rider out on his own and Safeway had to chase. I
put Jay on my wheel and on the last lap we launched our attack to take over
the front. Sometimes things do not go as planned. I sprinted hard but
could not pass the Discovery lead out train but was able to get next to
them to put Jay about 5 wheels back from the front rider going through the
chicane. He sprinted out of the corner and placed 5th in the race. Nice
job. That was one hell of a train by Discovery. I just got put in my
place as I was pretty confident I can take over the front in most races but
it was not to be today. Jay did a hell of job to get himself in position
to place.

I did not get any other results this week and I know there was a race in
Long Beach and Lance was supposed to go to Super Week. If you have
anything to add go ahead and chime in.

Random Thoughts:

If you are in a chase group and the placings are up the road, attacking the
guys that have dragged you around for two laps is not cool. I would
normaly not sprint for an 18th place when all the money is up the road but
there is no way I would let that guy get the satisfaction of telling his
teammates how he soloed away from us after he sat on for two laps. Learn
some cycling etiquette. a

Jay has been battling the NorCal teams all year and doing well. I was
impressed with the level of competition at this race. That was a no joke
sprint. I will be looking forward to doing that race again. Great Job Jay
to get in the mix and get that placing. 8 on 1 is tough to beat.

Much respect was given to the squirrel this weekend by other riders. It
was easy to see that he has been showing off his sprinting abilities as I
heard several riders point him out as a fast guy to watch. I am quite
certain they were perplexed by the fat guy at your side. Lets take that
speed to Socal next year and win some money.

Chicken was out with the climbers this weekend getting ready for Gap. I
think he actually may want to avenge his loss to me from two years ago in
the BrianHead RR.

Mayo just got popped for EPO in the tour. ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!!! At this
rate, the PT gang may get an invite next year. I am not sure that Jonathan
will pass the blood test but we can not do worse than these clowns.

RS, the Chicken has a warrant out for your arrest for impersonating a Cat
I. Please turn in all steroids and doping paraphanalia to Bruce Balch and
continue racing in the 4's.

Ohhhhh did I tell you that the Squirrel is coming to Gap. Are you ready
Lance. You should be fresh off of Superweek and ready to play sprinter
guy. bring some of your team and lets make this race fun.

Did you see the photos of Chris DeMarchi in Road Magazine. Nice that a
National Publication gave some local racers some press time.

Special thanks go out to Jay's parents for the pasta, Tri-Tip and support
at the race. I am sure if Louie was there he would have hid all the food
in the house but since he was not I got to eat and actually rode a decent
road race. I will be practicing for the midget bike TT for next year so i
can win the bottle of wine. Jay's dad set up a course around the driveway
and gave us a midget clown bike to race on. Best time wins a bottle of two
buck chuck. Damn that squirrel beat me. RINGER

Jim Robbins
Team Leader

Weekly Report

Hey Gang,
I busted ass to get back from Cascade just to make my newsletter deadlinebecause I know you all are waiting by your computers to hear the latest.Here it is hot off of the presses.Let's first start out with a healthy round of applause for Little Hurt.Andy Bestwick recently achieved his Cat I upgrade. This is the ultimatelevel in our sport and this allows Mr Bestwick to race at all elite levelevents in the US as well as qualify to go to the Olympic Trials Road Race.AWESOME JOB ANDY. While we are on the subject let me take a moment topoint out how rare this accomplishment is. The following is the list ofCat I's in Vegas that I am aware of that are actively riding and racing.If I miss someone please correct me but you should notate these individualsas they may have some knowledge about racing or riding that you are notaware of:Andy Bestwick aka Little HurtMichael Anderson aka The ChickenBrandon Cunningham aka yet to be determinedLouie Amelburu aka The BossAs you can see this is an elite club. Give them their due respect. Thereare a couple of others in Vegas but they are currently not active in thepeloton.
TNW:
This week was the return of Mark Henry. While the PT riders and Lance went tow to tow, Mark quietly followed wheels and nipped us all for the win atthe line. That is Mark's third win of the season and he is doing itvirtually with no help from any teammates. Can you say Savvy Rider!! Goodjob Mark!!San Marcos Circuit Race:I was not out to see this one since I was up in Oregon but I can attest tohow tough this race is. It has a nice little sprinters hill in it and thiscourse is known as a tough man's course. The following are the placingsthat I am aware of:Pro 1-2 Andy Bestwick in 14th and Lance in 19th. Two top 20 for Vegas in the Pro 1-2 field Junior Our own Nathan Williams brought home the W. That kid is starting to come into his own. Good Job Nathan Pro 1-2 Woman Asley Diamond in 9th place. Did you get that pro contract yet?? Woman Cat 4 Michelle King of the Paul Tracy Team brings home a 3rd place.NICE JOB MICHELLE. She has been knocking on the door all season and that Wis just around the corner.

Cascade Classic, Bend Or
I will open by once again singing the praises of this race. This is a full blown NRC race for the Pro and they treat all the categories just like the Pro Men. The organizer does an awesome job and for all you crit stars outthere that think you have been to some big crits, keep dreaming. I am not kidding when I put the spectator count at about 10-15 thousand peoplelining the course. Here is the stage by stage for the Master 35+ and 45+contested by myself, the boss, and the disciple Mark SchaeferStage 1: TT This was an out and back TT with 7.5 miles uphill and 7.5 back down. The grade goes from 3 to 6 percent and was a really good course to testyourself on. Mark had the best time of the three of us with a 35.27 to put him in 5th for the 45+. Louie posted a 35.51 for 19th in the 35+ and I hada 37.17 for a wopping 32nd place. Just to give you an idea of the level ofcompetition, the winner of the 35+ TT was a guy from Nebraska with a timethat would have been 15th in the Pro 1 race. Greg Leibert was leading the45+ raceStage 2: Downtown CritWOW, what a stage. Twilight crit with tons of spectators with a lot oftechnical corners and lots of preems. It was an awesome race. Louie was riding the front all day and looking for any opportunity to get away. Mark was keeping himself out of trouble and I was trying to maintain calm for the finish. At the half way point I got in a break and we got 20 seconds up on the field. We stayed away for 6 laps but the guys in the break keptsprinting for the various cash preems and we were doomed to get caught. We were caught with 20 minutes left in the race and I just tried to maintainthe front for a good finish. With two laps to go there was a big crash inthe corner and I barely came out of it w/out going down. Louie and Mark got caught behind and had to chase to make sure they did not lose any time.I was in awesome position going into the second to last corner when a riderin front of me lost it in the corner and i had to dive inside to avoidgoing down. I lost quite a few spots but came back to place 14th in the race. Louie and Mark both came home in the field and Mark moved into 4th on GC.Stage 3: Mt Bachelor RRYou like climbing, well here you go. You start with a 4 mile climb to thetop of Mt Bachelor, and than descend into the Cascade Lakes Valley to do abig loop around the Valley. On the way back you have a finishing climb of 8 miles back up the the finish at Mt Bachelor. The field stayed mostlytogether on the first climb. In the Valley two riders got away and startedworking to get a good gap on the feild. We kept Louie and Mark out of thewind and I monitored the front to see if there were any opportunities. TheGC leaders teams started to chase but after the second time through thefeed zone they had not made the catch yet. Myself and Greg Leibertfinished the chase and the break was caught at the base of the climb. Atthat point Louie and Mark took over and kicked some butt to put Mark on thepodium in third place in the RR and 4th overall on GC. Louie did a nicejob of leading Mark out to maintain his position and placed 11th in the RRand moved into 10th on GC. I dropped down on GC, enough said on thatsubject.Stage 4: Tough as Hell CircuitI have to say that by far this was the toughest race I have done all year.We do a 17 mile loop 4 times with two climbs in it. The KOM climb has tokick up to 15% grade and this is after three stages of racing. My legswere fried but the Boss and Mark kicked ass. Louie was vigilant at thefront all day and was in the final selection to finish 4th in the Circuitand moved up to 8th on GC. Mark finished just behind in 5th for hiscategory andf maintained his 4th on GC. I dragged myself home well behindthem but very happy to finish and ended up 37th on GC. Both Louie and Markget the Iron Man award this weekend as they basicly flew in from Nats,drove to Cascade exhausted, and both placed in the money in a very toughstage race.
Random Thoughts:
Damn, I wish I was a Cat I. Andy's Cat I Happy Hour will be announced inthe next day or two and I would suggest you all come out and buy the LittleHurt a drink. This is one hell of an accomplishment and he has worked veryhard to be at that level.Michelle King rocking the house in Socal. I smell an upgrade. Keep it upgirl Oregon guys can not corner, but damn they can climb. And how about a guy from Nebraska, the flattest state in the Union, coming up to the mountains and putting on one hell of a show of strength. Apparently you do not haveto be a skinny guy to climb. This guy looked like a little tank. Troll,there is hope for you yet.I have studied the boss all week and I now know that he is not human. hedoes not eat, he does not sleep, and he takes pleasure in denying me foodafter races. he is the food Nazi. I will be filing a complaint withAmnesty International for my poor treatment this weekend. Can any onespare a cheeseburger for the fatman. Jay, I have booked my plane ticketsand my trusty steed Saphire is waiting in Reno for my return. All I ask isthat I get to eat after the race and you have my services.I will be registering for Tour De Gap this week. Drop me a line and let meknow who else is going. I am calling all of you out. We need to supportthis race. Come out for the fun. Almost the entire PT team will be there.What about you Allegiant, McGhies, CES (sea of yellow), Pro Cyclery,Collins Motorsports (All Crit All Stars)???If you guys think the boss is bad ass, you are right, he is. But I need to point out that no matter what, anytime he races tandem, mark always finishes first!!I will finish with my sincerest thanks to the Boss and Mark for coming to Oregon. They were both exhausted from doing Nationals but came out to support me at Cascade as I said at the beginning of the season that I wanted to do this race, and as always, I had an awesome time. The fact that both of you placed in the money is nothing short of a miracle and itwas apparent that you were both vey tired. I will once again point out to some of you big budget teams out there, you are missing out by not doingsome of these events. I like local crits just as much as the next guy butif you want to take your game to the next level, you are going to have tostep up to some higher competition.

Weekly Report

Hey Gang,
Sorry this is a little late but I have been slammed with work today. I know this may be shocking news but I do not get paid to write thiswonderful column so it has to take a back seat to the job that pays for mybike racing. I will open by once again highlighting the recent categoryupgrades. The Troll achieved his Cat III upgrade and has now put himselfat the same level as many of his rivals. Good Job Troll. Keep up the goodwork and start working for that Cat II. Nathan ( McGhies JR rider) alsoachieved his Cat III. This kid is up and coming so keep an eye on him.Nathan if you ever need rides to races or any kind of support let us know.We are always willing to support Junior racers. Ask Chris Carlson, I hadto write him off on my taxes.

TNW Report:
This week saw really hot temps here in Vegas and the field was much smallerthan we have had lately. A break got up the road with Chicken, Lance,Balchesaurus, Cesar(McGhies), The Christian, and Mexican Snaggle Tooth.The three strong men of Lance, Chicken, and Balch kept the pace high todrop the others and ended up staying away for the sprint. Lance used histremendous large calves to pull away from the Chicken and keep the belt foranother week. Good Job Lance.

Nationals:
I only know of two brave souls from Vegas that went to Nationals. I have a sneaky feeling that Carlson will be going to do under 23 nats but I havenot heard from him so I will have to examine results to find out. Louieand Mark took 2nd place in the Tandem Time Trial. If you know Louie andMark, they were pissed!! They came out to the Tandem RR today and whoopedass to take the National Championship Title. AWESOME!! I do not know howmany Jerseys Mark has won but that is 8 for Louie. Not bad for a shortCuban with a bad temper.

La Mirada Grand Prix:
This was a good race. The course is a 2 mile circuit that undulates witha nice little hill after the first corner. I did the Pro 1-2 race withLance and Little Hurt. Lance spent most of the day doing various choresfor the guys on his team. Little Hurt was bad ass. He was in severalchase groups and was working on the front like a mad man. Vampy (ChrisWalker) got away and Rock Racing waited too long to chase. Vampy wasincredible to hold off Team Zoolander (this is Andy's term for Rock Racing)and won solo on a really hard course. Andy finished in the field and did agreat job to be a player most of the day. Myself and Lance ran out of gaswith three laps to go and was not involved in the finish (that is a niceway of saying pussed out and DNF).

In the Master 40+ race Kenny Bingham had a solid race to place 13th. Herode the front of the race and held good position all day. Just a littlebetter position in the sprint and he would have been top 5. Good JobBingleheimer>

I did the Master 35+ race, missed the break and got 16th overall with a10th in the field sprint. Not sooo good.

Michelle did the Cat 4 race and placed 5th to win some money. She did agreat job and was leading up the climb for most of the laps.

Dash For Cash
The 35+ race had myself, Bingleheimer, Troll, Lance, Gagne, and AshleyDiamond in the race. There was a 20 cash preem every lap. Kenny was active early but 5-star dominated the race and won most of the laps either off the front or just outsprinting various riders. I tried a move a coupleof times but no go. I ended up somewhere in the top 20 in the sprint with Lance and Gagne somewhere in the same area. 5-Star was impressive and really controlled the race. It was tough with only me and Kenny in the race but the speedwork was good.

Ashley did the Pro Woman but I did not get her placing. She can update us late but I know she won some money.

Michelle did the Cat 4 woman and placed 5th and won several laps to bring home the gas money to get home. Her strong surge split her field and shewas the main protagonist in her break. Good Job.

Random Thoughts:
Carl Bordine is the Man. i know he is not from Vegas but many of us racewith him and he just won the National Masters Crit Title. Nice

I heard there was a huge turn out at the charity rider for Treina thisweekend. COOL. I am glad to see the cycling community pull together.Lets take that spirit and participation to races.

Vampy is incredible. the way that old man punked Team Zoolander wasimpressive. I am sure Rashan will be having some second thoughts aboutletting him up the road again.

Word on the street is that Ashley Diamond is shopping around for a ProContract. Hope you get it and do not forget us dreamers back here inVegas.

Tour De Gap and Mt Charelston is just around the corner, who will step upto the challenge. Hey Chicken, is Everest on your mind on those trips upPotosi. The squirrel has identified this event and advised that he will be putting on a climbing clinic for the Chicken.

Kenny looked solid this weekend. Tour De Gap may sport some placings for Bingelheimer. Keep up the training and the speed work.

See you guys when I get back from Cascade.