Columbus Bike Racing

Falling Down on the Job

2009-11-30T06:08:00.000-08:00

okay, okay- i've been racing every week-end and not reporting in... shame on me...

i was thinking i was all that and a bag of chips after having podium'ed at the velodrome race, so i was verrry confident going into the next week-end's race.

it just so happened that the alabama cross series had a race in anniston, alabama on saturday; i could go to anniston on saturday , then scoot over to our college b.f.f. nanette's place in roswell for saturday night, then head to the georgia cx race in dallas on sunday morning. what a marvelous plan!

i kinda realize the time difference when planning my departure time for anniston, but not entirely; so i get there waaay early. that, and shelly was spending the night in atlanta, running the silver comet half marathon on saturday-- so i had nuthin to do... plenty of time to go through my pre-race rituals and pre-ride the course and all that jazz.

the course is anniston's personal gift to me; it winds its way around the outside of a baseball complex, all on grass, with mild technical sections and plenty of room to really get the speed up. i'm practically salivating.

it did have this one section that i wasn't thrilled about-- a stretch of playground sand that looked short enough to ride through. so i did throughout my warmup. and the sand got all gunked up in my chain and rear derailleur. and then i had the most tremendous chain-suck ever... which caused my derailleur to explode, literally. parts flew off. this nice xtr derailleur that byron put on my bike was now on the wrong side of my cassette in what looked like an origami crane. configuration. my race was over, and i hadn't even gotten to the start line yet...

like a crazy man, i decided the best plan of attack was to jet back to columbus and see if byron could repair the fiasco. thank god he was at home and graciously accepted my plea to come by his house at 8:30pm on a saturday night. he, of course, worked his magic to perfection and i was back up and running within an hour and a half of dynamite wrench work.

all set for sunday's race in dallas, georgia in freakin pauling county. nice drive. i was sure this was going to be my redemption race after having endured such tragedy the day before. that is, until i got there and saw the course- total mountain bike. the course was a long one with tons of wet, twisty single track and an enormous sandy section that we had no choice but to ride. the course was actually a very good one, to the organizer's credit; just not one i was going to excel on.

once again, i got a poor start and had to fight my way back into contention. with such long laps, we only had four laps to do; this plays to my disadvantage, as i need as much time as possible to pick off my opponents. after finally moving into the top ten, i started to gain some momentum.

and then my rear tire rolled off. i had these new easton ea70x tubular wheels for cross racing, which allow for very low tire pressures and superior traction and shock absorption. apparently they don't do well with tubular tape, because that tire rolled all the way off as i went through a tight left hand turn. i came to a dead stop. luckily the wheel pit was right there and i had put a spare set in, but the dang wheel would not come out. it took what felt like an eternity to change wheels and get back into the race.

by that point i was mentally defeated, especially since i had seen all the folks pass by me as i was in the pit. my pedals were clogged with mud, so my cleats weren't clicking in well and i couldn't get moving in the sections i should have been making up ground. i just halfway raced the rest of it, finishing a dismal 23rd. i headed straight for the car, packed up, and shot straight home. i did stop at moe's, whose servers made me a burrito full of stale ingredients--- rub some salt in my wound, why don't you?

recap:
saturady- anniston- busted a derailleur pre-ride-- dns
sunday- paulding- rolled a tire, gummed-up pedals-- 23rd

i'm calling "mulligan" on that week-end

You're Racing...Where?

2009-11-14T04:22:00.000-08:00

The Dick Lane Velodrome of East Point, Georgia is... a velodrome-- a steeply banked concrete track that people with no fear of crashing race around at speeds of at least 17mph (minimum speed required to stay on the banked sections).

however, on Halloween 2009, it turned into a cyclocross course. well, the grounds around the track became the course- plus the bottom, flat part of the track itself. being completely outside, much like a skate park, the property had juuuust enough land to make a tremendously curvy, technical cross course. add in a week-end full of rain and crazy folks in costumes and you have yourself an exciting cross race.

i was happy that my race didn't start until 1:40 in the afternoon. unfortunately, that gave the rain plenty of time to saturate the course. a few warm-up laps confirmed my suspicions- the majority of the course, located in the "infield" of the track area, quickly turned into a soupy mess, despite the small creek running through the middle of the property where everything drained into. even in warm-up, we were tracking mud around the paved areas like crazy, making them even more slippery.

i found out just how slick the track can be, sliding out in a turn right onto the slick-as-glass concrete. so much for keeping my kit clean and rip-free... luckily i just scraped my knee a bit and scuffed my shorts leg- no real bike damage. that did make me a bit gun-shy about that particular corner, though.

as the men's "c" group lined up for our start, i noticed the absence of the two or three guys that repeatedly beat me. "this might just be a good day after all", i thought. i'll just push hard and stay confident in my bike handling and maybe , with a little luck, end up on the podium.

i started out conservatively, seeing as how in the first 100 meters we went into a hard right turn on pavement- not something you want to over-cook and end up on the deck right away. i followed the leaders through the very technical, very sinewy uphill sections until we made it back down to the track area- the only spots on the course where straightaways existed.

i made up considerable ground in these sections, confirming my high fitness level. i traded places with two other guys , once out of the straightaways, for two or three laps, however- confirming my abominable lack of off-road bike handling...

this went on for what felt like eternity. the laps were short, so we kept doing lap after lap after lap. normally, cyclocross laps take between 6 and 8 minutes to complete, giving my "c" field about 4 or 5 laps to do for our 30-minute race. these laps were taking around 4 minutes to complete, so we had a ton to do.

that also meant we were lapping people left and right, which is no big deal to the racers; the spirit of the sport in more participation the competition, it seems. the problem arises in the score-keepers' ability to keep the lapped riders and leaders' positions straight and not mix them up (see dahlonega race) . i think the officials learned from their mistakes; i moseyed over to them after i finished to confirm my results and they had it right- whew.

i was a little surprised to hear them say it, though. i had lost track of the guys that got away because i was so busy trying to get rid of the two guys i kept trading places with. 3rd place? jeez, i need to pay more attention to who is in front of me!

i finally got my podium time, albeit in the rain, with a goodie bag to boot. they did take pictures of it for proof; sadly nobody bothered posted said photo... it did happen though, i swear!

C - 38 Riders
Place	Name	Total Pts
	C Race	Pts
1	Chris Wyatt	0
2	Thomas Armes	0
3	Matt Ragan	0
4	Walter Tucker	0
5	Aaron Chamberlain	0
6	McLean Harris	0
7	Richard Forket	0
8	Christopher Rampton	0
9	Michael Quinlan	0
10	George Hormby	0
11	Clay Ellington	0
12	Kyle Schultz	0
13	Benjamin Jones	0
14	Lee Childrers	0
15	Stephen Wiley	0
16	Ken Gilbert	0
17	Gus Bengochea	0
18	Ben Braxley	0
19	Cornelio Delasalas	0
20	Steven Spence	0
21	Mark Russo	0
22	Mike Emery	0
23	William Key	0
24	John Sowell	0
25	Eric Amels	0
26	Jeb Wible	0
27	Robert Donian	0
28	Navid Amlanit	0
29	Brett Harper	0
30	Frack Cello	0
31	Patrick Cooper	0
32	Alex Dreyer	0
33	Tom Cross	0

some vids from the race:

men's a race

men's b race

p.s., i'm sure you noticed that none of the photos have me in them- i was a lone wolf this race with no awesome tifosi to chronicle my brilliance-- cheers to the anonymous folks who captured the pics

Portland---A Little Outside of the Georgia Series...

2009-11-06T15:07:00.000-08:00

Shelly and i had the opportunity to take a short vacay this past month, so we decided to go to oregon. she's always wanted to go , and with mountains, wine, and bike-friendly culture, how could i say no? it just so happened that, at the end of out trip, i was able to fit in a cross race in portland.

now, for those of you who don't know, portland is waaaay bike-friendly. they're also waaaay weird; they pride themselves on that fact. i even saw a ton of bumper stickers around town proclaiming" Keep Portland Weird". When you combine bike-friendly, forward-thinking culture with weirdos, you get cyclocross... in spades. these folks love cyclocross. they've been breaking attendance records at their races just about every week-end this year. needless to say, oregonians love their 'cross.

we arrived at the washington county fair complex in hillsboro, oregon- aka the old rodeo grounds- early sunday morning, a bit after 8. i had decided to not race in the "beginner" category at 8:50 and instead try my luck in the men's "c" group at 9:40, since i've been racing that in georgia. to think that they have so many folks that they can even have a separate beginner category is really cool.

now keep in mind that we have to catch a plane later on that afternoon around 3, so i have to hurry up and race, clean up, dismantle and pack my bike, turn in the rental car, and get to the airport, all before 2 or so. the schedule wasn't super-tight, but it wasn't loosey-goosey either...

as is the case with any race, the early crowds are sparse- that's a relative term here, with already more peeps in the parking lot than at a jam-packed georgia event. they're about the same as georgia folks, though, just in different team kits. registration and course preview are the same, too- no big woop.

as i had mentioned before, this is a rodeo complex. the course literally winds it's way through a couple barns and animal staging areas. the ground is extremely lumpy from the previous equine traffic, and, of course, it's wet. i think it's a prerequisite for races in oregon to have some kind of water, be it from the sky or already on the ground. nice big mud puddles to ride through and nice, super-slick corners to negotiate were the order of the day. the good news was that it was flat as a strap- no hills, nuthin'. but there were about a million and a half turns and corners, which kept the speed down and the technical aspect up--- bluh.

when it's our time to start, i mosey on over to the starting corral, some caution tape set up in rather long lines. why so long? because there are about 150 of us in this race. i tried to play the unknowing out-of-towner and move to the front of the line, only to find out that the organizers had already arranged us into groups based on out number. the guys doing well in the series got called to the front, and then the rest of us got lined up in random order. i got really lucky , as my group was the second group to be called. only about 30 or 40 back from the leaders! that shouldn't be too bad....

i get a decent start and immediately work my way up. i'm in roadie mentality at this point, muscling my way through the melee, wondering the whole time if this technique is acceptable in cyclocross culture, or if i'm being way too aggressive. the bunch spreads out just as quickly as it does in the georgia races, where you wind up racing pretty much by yourself or kind of near someone for the majority of the race.

i'm kicking tail in the straight sections, but that doesn't last long; as soon as we start into the twists and turns of the course, some of the guys i had just passed come creeping back. apparently they have experience navigating wet, slick corners here in rainy oregon-- wonder where they get their practice...

i get bolder and faster as the 45 minutes wear on-- oh yeah, races in oregon are longer than the georgia races (45 minutes as compared to 30 minutes, in my case). at this point, i'm in the top 20 but can't seem to gain any more ground on the leaders.

i get a bit carried away in one of the corners and completely slide out. so much for keeping my kit clean. no injuries or mechanical problems, so i'm quickly back up and chasing again.

it's a fun course and it surely tests my ability level. i end up finishing in the top 20, but don't really have time to confirm the results due to my date with the portland airport.

the organizers were nice enough to have a bike wash area set up- just a bunch of hoses set up by the cow watering troughs, nothing fancy. it was a very welcome relief, though, because my bike was caked in mud. i was dreading having to wash it off in the hotel shower, as i've done at other races (steve can tell you about that...).

showering and bike pack-up go smoothly and we catch our flight with time to spare. the entire oregon experience was great; the state is so picturesque and oregon is a very cool town. i think the wine is better in california, but that's my personal opinion.

many many many thanks to byron for doing a killer job on keeping my bike running smoothly (as always) and for helping me make packing and unpacking my bike a snap. he's a genius. all of that traveling never affected the shifting quality of the wheel true in the slightest- a testament to his skills.

shelly took all of the pics-- she's the best. period.

oh yeah, and the race had a unicycle division. go figure.

Georgia Cross Series #2--- Dahlonega

2009-10-26T14:37:00.001-07:00

The second race of the GeorgiaCross Series took place in Dahlonega, known for its pain-inducing hills and adrenaline-pumping descents. It was put on by my buddies Josh and Leigh Saint and Jon Dalman

I went into race #2 with some confidence, what with my decent result from Macon's race (see previous post).

My training has been going smoothly, getting in two solid weeks since the last race with a great ride on sunday over the hills of warm springs and pine mtn. I'm in the next-to-last phase of my cyclocross training, with the main emphasis on 3minute hill repeats over at the hill behind harris co. high school. that barrel of fun happens twice a week and i decided to throw in a long-ish effort at right below my lactate threshold after i finished tuesday's set. i must have been feeling good, which means i'm ready to race.

i had the privilege of pre-riding the course back in august. it runs through the vineyard at Montaluce winery, which is just outside of Dahlonega proper, and is styled completely in a Tuscan theme-- very cool.

the first part of the course is all mountain bike-- totally downhill with tough turns that require more skill than what your average roadie possesses. you can make up a whole lotta time in this section, or you can lose a good chunk of time , depending on your handling skills.

of course-- what goes up, must come down. the second part of the course puts you past your LT and into the red zone, with some uphill grinders, an uphill off-camber section (e.g., along the side of a hill, with the slope), the barriers, of course, and a monster run-up. the run-up is a misnomer; i could barely manage a trudge-up and felt more like making it a walk- or crawl-up after a few laps.

my field, the men's "C" , ran for a total of 30 minutes, which translated into 5 laps. As we lined up, the officials called the top 10 racers from Macon's race to the front, so i got a great starting spot.

the only problem was that i was caught completely off guard by the ref's nonchalant start command and couldn't get clipped in before 20 guys passed me. yet again, i spent the good portion of a lap chasing to get back to the front. i never really saw the lead guy, due to all of the twists and turns of the course.

Before i knew it, i was battling with a guy for the fourth place spot-- deja vu all over again. we traded places for at least 3 laps before my roadie mentality kicked in. i sat on his wheel for a bit and rested just enough to blow by him on a grinding uphill section. i figured i had better make it stick, so i gave it full gas for the rest of the lap and up the killer run-up. i glanced at my watch to see how my heart rate responded to that- 186... ouch.

lucky for me, that was the kiss of death for him and i held out the remaining lap to finish 4th.

unfortunately, we were lapping folks at this point. cyclocross races don't pull lapped riders; it goes against the easy-going, all-inclusive nature of the sport. the officials didn't quite figure out who those lapped riders were and marked me down as finishing 7th. i seriously doubt the wheezing overweight guys who finished 40 spots back in the previous race gained that much fitness in two weeks' time to sneak in a 4th, 5th, and 6th place spot. phooey on the guy keeping tabs on the riders.

Many, many thanks to my wonderful wife, Shelly, for accompanying me, taking care of my pit wheels (hence the wheel pit pic) , and taking all of these fantastic pics. She also took videos, but i'm not clever enough to transfer them from her blackberry to here- there are some sweet vids of my running the barriers. Also, thanks again to Glenn-- the Challenge Grifo tires were a perfect selection for the very grassy, slightly damp course-- i ran them at just under 50psi.

2009-10-11T12:03:00.000-07:00

Keeping the season rolling-- Matt's foray into CYCLOCROSS

After having a fairly long and pretty successful season on the road, i decided to keep my fitness up by competing in a full season of cyclocross (the cult sport for roadies who don't quite like mtn. biking but want a taste of the off-road life). I had thought about it for a while, but finally came to the end of a racing season this year where i didn't feel completely torched and apathetic about racing.

The Georgia-Cross series fits well into the end of the road season, so that i could take a quick couple of weeks off in August and start preparing for the short-but-intense 'cross season. It only runs from the beginning of October to the beginning of December, but there are races every week-end; it's not something you want to come into unprepared.

Cyclocross courses are usually short and very spectator-friendly; about a mile or so in length with lots of obstacles- steep hills, sand, tight turns, sketchy dirt roads, all with lots of grass sections thrown in for good measure. they're normally nowhere near as technical as mtn bike courses, due to the fact that we're riding modified road bikes and just can't do the same things mtn bikers can do-- much respect... We ride these courses just as hard as we can, getting our heart rates up to criterium racing levels in the 30 minutes of racing we do.

I'm not the first Columbusite to test these waters; Mike Reardon and Ryan Crabbe have already made headway in the cross world, with Mike having phenominal success as the 2007 New Jersey cross series winner.

I came into my first race of the series in very good form-- i'd been hitting all of my workouts and working on 'cross-specific skills a whole lot. Never having done a cross race before, i really didn't know what to expect, though. Turns out, i'm half decent at it-- 5th out of 62 in the beginner field...

enjoy the pictures , courtesy of my man Glenn Kalnins-- these were all from Macon-- more to follow as the season wears on!

Here's the schedule-- get your cowbells ready!

GAX Race Schedule

10/4/2009	#1	Macon
10/18/2009	#2	Dahlonega
10/25/2009	#3	Augusta
11/1/2009	#4	Yargo
11/8/2009	#5	Savannah
11/15/2009	#6	Paulding
11/22/2009	#7	Barnsley Gardens
11/29/2009	#8	Conyers Elks Aidemore
12/6/2009	#9	Conyers GIHP

check out my results on georgia-cross.com --- i'm in the men's "c" class with my last name misspelled...

Darren Sorrells climbs the highest mtn. in N. America

2009-09-16T18:27:00.000-07:00

Darren's short recap of his trip to Mt. Whitney

Just got back on Monday (Aug 17). We flew out on last Thursday to Vegas and rented a car for the drive through Death Valley (which was neat) and then over to Lone Pine, CA (at the base of Mt Whitney).

We drove up and camped out Friday night at base camp (8000 ft) and then did a hike up to 10,000 ft on Saturday to help our bodies acclimate to the altitude. We then slept back at base camp for the early part of Saturday night, then got up Sunday morning and began our trek to the top at 2:00am local time (so early because you must be off the mountain by noon to apparently avoid dangerous lightning). It was a 22 mile round trip, we figured it would take approximately 7 hours to summit, then 5 hours to return to camp (12 hour round trip). Well, that would have worked out fine, except I picked up a case of altitude sickness that prevented me from eating enough as I got to the higher elevations. As you know from cycling, if you can't eat, your energy is gone.

Well, by the time the actual summit came into sight (probably about 1 mile left), I could barely walk. The 2 guys I went with were able to avoid altitude sickness and had already made it to the top.....on their way down, we talked and tried to decide whether I should try to continue on or turn back. I finally decided I'd give it a try, so they went on down and I kept going up. Dude, I made it about 10 steps and stopped.....it hurt like hell. I looked back down, back up at the summit, back and forth for about 5 minutes. I finally decided I'd come too far to give up, so I continued on toward the summit. It was agonizing because I could see the entire path all the way to the top and wasn't sure I could make it. Finally, after about 45 minutes of pure torture, I made it to the top. I only spent 5 minutes on the peak, then began the trek back down. Luckily, once I got down about 2000 feet from the top, my altitude sickness went away and I was finally able to eat. After that, I got my energy back and was able to enjoy the rest of the trip back to base camp. I was out there 15 hours.

It was an awesome trip and I think I learned alot. If I ever do it again, I'll try to take advantage of the higher elevation camps to make the actual summit day shorter and to allow my body to acclimate better. I'd also make different choices about the food I carry.

It was one of the more beautiful places I've ever seen.

2009-08-12T04:25:00.001-07:00

7/11/09

Jose’s Recap:

Tribble Mill is a fairly new trail and new to the racing crowd. I had never been there until race day but the organizer’s email said it was FAST, some climbing with some downhills – talk about stating the obvious. My China trip put a damper on my ramp up for this race but I knew that was coming. I got back last Saturday and raced this Saturday so had one week to get the legs used to pedaling again.

Race day was perfect – dry and in the low 80’s at the start.

The horn blows and off we go. As usual the team guys (who will only do a lap or 2 stint) sprint ahead and everyone else follows. Well there are also the REALLY REALLY fast solo guys who sprint but I am not one of those.

We settle into a good pace heading into the first major climb allowing everyone to spread out and find their place. All is good, just a little crowding to start but the people doing the crowding usually realize that and start letting people by - or they blow up and have no choice.

After one lap I realize they just about designed this trail for me. The climbs were not outrageous with gradients and lengths similar to hills on Benning. The downhills were fast and sometimes twisty and tight which suits me better than straight down. Their tight singletrack was great for making up time as many people slow down in tight stuff. I was excited about this trail now.

As the laps go by I still feel good in the legs but the arms are taking a beating. This was not a trail to loosen your grip on the bars for long so it really worked my arms. This causes weakness which causes mistakes which causes wrecks which causes pain! Thankfully I managed to avoid the one big bang I saw coming, not sure how but I did. I was coming downhill fast to a right turn just in front of a large Pine tree, throw in a sandy bottom at the turn for good measure. I knew it was there as I had been by several times though this time I came in a little “hot”. My bike started skidding into the turn trying to get around but kept going straight for the tree. When I got to the point where I could just about spot the termites on the bark, my bike headed sideways for the tree, I squinted and braced for impact. This was going to HURT!

Not sure how, but something must have clipped the tires enough to stop skidding because I opened my eyes to find myself rolling past the tree. I can honestly say I have never been so certain of a crash coming on and it not happen. Someone was watching over me. In those milliseconds I had already pictured my face completely scarred up from the tree bashing I was going to take. And trust me, hitting a tree hurts a lot more that hitting the ground – you usually slide on the dirt.

Well I survived that one and thankfully the rest of the race was less exciting. I hooked up with a “expert” racer and we rode together for 2 laps uneventfully. We broke off for the last lap or so. Came in to the finish a few seconds ahead of him and he introduces me to another racer he rode with the last lap. He tells me this guy is in my category but I am not sure how many laps he did.

Results came in and I ended up in 2nd place. Yes, only 11 seconds ahead of the guy I just met a few minutes before. I’ve said before, that’s the tricky part about racing these 6hr things. You race as hard as you can and hope for the best result because you just never know who is ahead or behind you.

So another good day, raced 5hrs 11mins, 56 miles, no wrecks. In first place for the series right now with one to go. Not sure I can hang on but I will sure try…in October.

See ya out there.

Jose's View from the Dirt

2009-06-03T15:43:00.000-07:00

by Jose Mendez

Dirty Spokes 6hr Solo #2 Recap – 5/14/09

It seems like the longer I am slated to race the more it rains! DS2 6hr took place in winder, GA. I got a call on my way there from a friend telling me to “get ready” because it rained most of the night. Oh well, Nicki and I were committed at that point.
The venue was great, many familiar faces ready to have a good time – and just another chance of rain.
We take off and all goes well. What I love about these 6hr events is that no one sprints at the start. It is fast but controlled because everyone knows you’re gonna be out there a LONG time. Unfortunately I flatted about 1hr into the race – that never helps. I nursed it slowly back to the pits and changed it out. Took off and went OK until the bottom fell out of the sky. We got rain and even lightning (though briefly) for over 2 hrs on and off. The heavy kind, the kind that flows down the trail and makes for really scary riding especially after hours of being in it and your brakes are gone. Ended up having to race with almost no brakes for the last hour or so. After all the rain I came in to the pits and had about 1hr 15mins left to get another lap in and decided to go even though the rain was still on and off and the brakes were going. I passed this one guy on my way out and heard him tell someone –as he pulled off the course – “I am done, that’s it for today” and thought to myself “oh how nice that would be”. I went, I rode, I nursed an air leak in my front tire, it rained, I slowed, and I missed the cut off to allow my last lap to count. So I spent a nasty, grueling, miserable hour and a half in the mud for the heck of it…but it was FUN! ;)
Came in 4th place so considering the mechanicals and everything else in play that day I felt good with my result. Walked down to the lake and jumped in to scrub all the mud off of me. Good times.
Aftermath picture attached. Oh and by the way, that is my brand spanking new bike!

Keep riding guys…and maybe try mountain biking!

Georgia State Championship Series #2 at Flat Rock Park – 4/19/09

After a lot of rain it managed to let off a few days before the 2nd GSC race taking place at Flat Rock Park in Columbus. I felt good coming into it so the only question mark was how was everyone else feeling. I missed GSC1 so I didn’t get to size anyone up coming into this weekend. Thankfully the race went well. Raced solid – w/o incident – for most of the race and left the field by about 1.5 minutes with 20 minutes to go. Then trying to pass in tight single track I clipped my handlebar and “kinda” crashed. I managed to stay on the bike but noticed there was something wrong. Come to find out my front brake cable got caught in a way that kept the brake engaged. I rode that for the next 20 minutes because I did not realize it and did not want to take a chance and lose the lead.
I squeaked my way past the finish lined with about a 30 second advantage. So all in all OK. Glad I got to savor a win – especially at home – during my last season as a “Sport” racer. If all goes well I will be racing expert next year, even if it’s at the back of the pack.

Thanks to all the locals who volunteered for this event – prepping and event day. I would not have happened w/o you. Plus all the screaming as we went by was always a motivator to make sure it looked like I wasn’t in pain.

Dirty Spokes 6hr Solo Recap – 3/14/09

To kick off the mtn bike racing season we had the Dirty Spokes 6hr Solo race in Farmington, GA at Heritage Park. The weather promised to make the opener much more than just dirty spokes but I showed up anyway. I joined my mountain bike partner in crime Nicki, now racing for the Sorrella Team (just shameful LOL). Weather was to be…how do I put it?...NASTY. Some rain overnight to prime the course and more by race time.
Still a decent showing of racers lined up (26 in my category). I met up with a couple of guys I usually race against and we decided to take the first two laps easy (whatever that means) and step it up once we were nice and warm/cold/wet. This is the first time I have attempted that strategy as I usually blow out of the gate trying to stay up front the whole time. So we are off on a open field parade lap and I look at the sea of riders (mass start) in front of me and tell myself “ I’m really not sure this is the right decision” to stay back. It really felt like I was last but I guess I never looked behind to see all the others still behind me.

First two laps were uneventful and my legs felt good – well, if you call wiping out a couple times on wet roots uneventful. Later one of the guys dropped back and the other had a mechanical so I went off riding on my own after that. About 4hrs in we got a hint of rain but the heavy rain never came. At this time I also started to pick off riders who obviously went out too hard and eventually blew up or didn’t have the legs. I came thru with a 5th lap time of 1:03 and the clock had exactly 1:03 left on it til the end of the race. Knowing that my lap times were getting longer as I tired there was no reason for me to go off into the woods/mud and show up at the finish line past the cut off. You get ZERO credit for the extra lap if you come in 1 second after the 6hr mark. My toes were ice, I was wet, cold and tired so I packed it in. Still felt good about what I had done even if I did not know my position in the pack. That’s the disadvantage of the mass starts (probably 150 racers this time), you are bunched in with co-eds, teams, pros etc so you just race and hope you fall into place at the end.
All in all I got 46 miles in 4:57 or racing. I went into the day hoping for a top 10.

Results were posted and I was surprised to find out I came in 3rd place. Freezing my arse off all day was worth it after all! Yea, did I mention it was COLD! Low 40’s all day in Farmington. They messed up the results for the podium presentation and gave 3rd to someone else so no podium pix for me. I did challenge the result and they saw the “light”, giving me third place, my medal and a sweet Specialized helmet prize for my trouble. Oh, and I got a 6pack of local Athens Micro-brew. They can keep the picture!

So the season had started better than I expected. Hope it stays that way but we’ll see. Finally, we got in the car and headed home, now in pouring rain…

Jose

CBR hits Albany like a Tornado!!

2009-03-10T04:32:00.000-07:00

This weekend was the first full weekend of racing to test the winter legs. CBR took 9 Columbus riders to test themselves against the others looking to get a good "gut check" on where our fitness measured against the racers in the Southeast. John Stowe was looking to make an impact on the category 3's, Mike Loftus, Matt Ragan, Adam Weinbaum, Jose Solis Jr, were looking to test the category 4/5 combined group. Jose Solis Sr. & Steve Murray were racing testing the older legs in the Master's 40+ group.

Saturday's racing kicked off with a short 3.5 kilometer prologue that twists and turns through downtown Albany. The route had 12 turns which includes a round-about. It is technical and it's almost an all out sprint. The course definitely showed who was fit versus who was really fit. It is a lung burner from the start. The weather was around 65 degrees and extremely foggy to start. There was an accident on the course where two riders collided head on and both were taken away by ambulance. Those of us who went early had to swerve around. Here's how our boys did;

Master's TT

3rd - Steve Murray
8th - Jose Solis Sr.

Cat 4/5 <35 TT
Matt Ragan - 16th
Tucker Solt - 17th
Jose SolisJr. - 18th
Mike Loftus - 20th

Cat 4/5 35+ TT
Adam Weinbaum - 17th

cat 3 TT
John Stowe - 12th

The second event of the day would be the criterium. It uses the same course as the prologue with a slight configuration change. It is a modified figure 8 with - you guessed it - 8 turns. The criterium is a closed course where each group races for a specified period of time. The races were anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour for the respective fields. The racing was hard. Everyone is out in the early season to show they are strong, fit and fast. This makes each race a real test and rider after rider goes to the front and pushes the pace. Constant attacks with the addition of primes ( one lap races within the race to challenge the field to be the first rider across the line for that particular lap) made the pace consistantly high and weeded out those that just didn't have the "high end" in their riding yet. Bottom line - the criteriums hurt everyone and only the select few were able stay in and fight it out until the end. Early season races tend to see higher attrition rates in the criteriums as the high exertion levels just "blow up" those whose training has not provided the upper end efforts. Many riders use these races to "race into shape". The course had a couple of sections with head wind that made it that much harder each lap. The first group off was the Master's 40+. Steve and Jose raced in a fairly small field of around 20 starters that eventually weeded down to an 11 man main field. The field stayed together with multiple attacks that could not stay away. With 5 laps to go, a rider from Security Bank out of Macon took a strong flier off the front. He stayed away until midway through the next to last lap. On the final lap, the group slowed as no one wanted to use their energy to pull everyone to the sprint. As we approached turn 4, the group slowed and Steve moved into the lead and did a moderate pull through turn 4,5 & 6 then stood and jumped. The group did not expect such an effort so far from the finish and it caused a slight gap to the main pack and three riders on Steve's wheel. Steve felt a calf cramp and knew he would not carry this to the finish. Jose Solis was on Steve's wheel and took the inside line, took the corner and sprinted to the next corner. Steve slowed a little to keep anyone form catching Jose's wheel. This allowed Jose to maintain his gap and take it in for the win. Jose put in three huge sprints to keep the lead and was able to finish with his hands held high! Steve kept racing and was fourth across the line.

For the Master's race -
Jose Solise Sr. - 1st
Steve Murray 4th

Jose's Criterium Podium

The Cat 3 crit highlighted John Stowes fitness level. John sat in on a fast paced race with little to no real effort. He was positioned well all race and sprinted for the finish and placed 3rd. It was a good race for John and another podium for the team!
Cat 3 - John Stowe - 3rd

Albany's Region Bank Omnium

For the Cat 4/5 race - our guys held their own and showed off a good bit. They all rode well. Jose Solis Jr. had the best finish. All the guys were able to stay in the pack and stay upright. We had a really good showing across the board. This was the first race for Jose and for Tucker. Both rode so well, they look like old pros going at it.

Cat 4/5
Jose Solis Jr. - 3rd
John Litz - 5th
Mike Loftus - 11th
Tucker Solt - 14th
Matt Ragan - 17th
Adam Weinbaum - 16th

The Road Races were held on Sunday near Leesburg, Georgia. The course is flat and exposed to the wind. Our team went out and rode very well. I had the worst day of our group with and early flat that ended my race. However, there were some nice highlights. Jose Solis Sr. was in the Master's break away group and was in the final sprint and placed third. In the 4/5 35+ group - John Litz was 6th and Adam Weinbaum placed 13th. In the Cat 3's John Stowe had a good pack finish with 12th place. In the cat 4/5 <35 group, Mike Loftus placed 5th, Matt Ragan placed 6th, Tucker Solt placed 10th and Jose Solis Jr. placed 18th after expending alot of energy in a 3 man break away that rode on their own for 15 miles.

A big congratulations goes out to Jose Solis for his weekend - he was third overall in the Master's field for the weekend. Great Job Jose!!

CBR kicks off the 2009 Season

2009-03-02T04:32:00.000-08:00

Mike Loftus races Dacula

The early season kicked off with the Tundra Time trial on February 14. We had 7 local riders attend. John Stowe, Mike Loftus, Matt Ragan, Victor Karm, Adam Weinbaum, Steve Murray, Jose Solis Sr. & Jose Solis Jr. The day was rain and overcast. We had two podiums, each with a 3rd place finish - John Stowe (cat 3) & Steve Murray (master's 45+)

The Road season kicked off this weekend 28 Feb 2009- Mike Loftus opened the Georgia Cycling Gran Prix (GCGP) season for CBR with a 5th place finish at the Harbins Road Race in Dacula, Georgia. The fields were small due to the torrential rain and windy conditions which caused the hilly course to become a war of attrition. Mike (Cat 4) stayed up front the duration of the Cat 4/5 U-35 race trying to mark seven Florida State University team mates. Mike got away in a break on Lap 3 for about 2 miles that got caught from the hard work of the FSU team. The hard pace and multiple attacks in laps 2 and 4 caused about half the field of 21 to drop off leaving Mike racing against five FSU riders and four others.
In the end, one FSU rider got away with about 3 miles to go just before the major climbs and the remaining nine riders fought it out for 2nd place. In the bunch sprint Mike finished 5th overall after a great race garnering 16 points towards the GCGP season ominium and 1 points towards moving to Cat 3.

Winter Training - NO fun, but a part of life

2009-01-19T14:39:00.000-08:00

Well, there isn't much news other than we have been lucky to have a few warm days here and there. We recently rode in the 10th Annual Elvis Ride - a ride started by Doug Mote to remember Elvis Presley each year around his birthday. This year it was held January 11th. John, Matt & myself decided we would ride the 26 miles from John's father's home to the ride start. The ride was just over 50 miles. Year to year the ride can be either an easy roll through the rural countryside of Greenville, Georgia or a race. In the past, the Auburn cycling team - The AU Flyer's would end their training camp week with the Elvis Ride. They would ride team tactics and send their strongest off in the last 10 to 15 miles to have the first finishers. This year the Flyer's didn't show up. So, John and Matt decided to test the field with an attack at 10 miles into the ride. They were joined by a small group. They kept the pace high and rode at full race intensity throughout. John & Matt really laid the hammer down with around 5 to go. This did the trick. John tested himself and Matt to see what was in the tank and was able to gap Matt a little before the finish. We also met a young man who had expressed interest in racing with the team - Tucker Solts. Tucker is just 16 and done one race in his life. He was able to stay with the lead group until the final attack. He will be a strong young racer and we are happy to have him join our group.

This was a good ride for us. The weather was gray, the temps were around 39 - 40 degrees and it was a good indicator that the training was going well. I rode with a former CBR racer - Darren Sorrells. Darren has been off the bike a while so we took it easy and didn't contest the ride with the hammer crowd.

Keep the rubber side down!

Jose's 40 mile off road trail race

2008-12-17T16:50:00.001-08:00

I finally did my Pine Mountain 40 Challenge trail run this weekend. Here is a LONG recap if you are interested. Haven't done one of these recaps in a while, but it being my first and only ultra marathon or any kind of running event for that matter, I figured I would share my experience.

Where to start... one day, while talking to Keith Williams (tri-friend at work)about cycling- he invited me to join his Thursday morning recovery run (some people don't know what recovery means but whatever). I want to say this was in late July. After finishing up with mtn. bike racing season in early August I looked at my calendar and it just seemed empty, no real pain-event on tap. Again I talked to Keith about running and he mentioned several events. Some too far, some too long or some coming up too soon, but the Pine Mountain 40 Challenge stood out as a possibility. A 40 mile trail race/run close by. I latched on to the December 7th date, had Keith put a basic schedule of running to build up to the event and off I went. One of the runners once said to me when you go, you go all-in because I decided to skip the 5K, 10K, half marathon, full marathon and just go for something better but I guess that is part of the challenge, isn't it? That's another story.

Race day started out COLD! Right around the 30° mark. Several Columbus fellas including most of those I have gotten to know and run with were there. We gooped up, filled bottles, delivered drop bags and lined up at dawn. And off we head down the road and into the woods. Our Columbus hero John Teeples and an outsider leading the way. I knew I had to warm up my legs real good “ run slow off the start" as running has ruined my joints, tendons etc, at least temporarily. Shin splints on my left leg was the primary worry. Do that in and my race was over. Thankfully, with enough people funneling into the woods the pace was doable for a warm up. Not to mention, who's in a hurry when you will be running all day anyway. I latched on to Mike Chancey to have a familiar face, conversation and good runner to follow. That turned out great for me. Chancey had a great pace going and I was able to keep myself in check with someone who had done these before. I am sure I would have probably burned myself up early on if I was on my own.

For those who don't know the PM trail it is usually rocky, with some technical down hills (if you are running) and some nice spots to make you forget the rocks are coming again surprising you by snatching an ankle here and there. That was another good reason to be behind someone on the trail. Not many flats though, always up or down.

So Mike and I hung together through a couple of aid stations. Well, at the first station I was filling stuff when I looked up he was gone so I had to take off and catch up to him “tricky fella" LOL. At the 14 mile mark or so aid Station (Dowdell Knob) we came up on the drop bags where I “thankfully" made the right choice and shed my long pants and head cover. I also re-stuffed my pockets with gels, Aleve and ate some aid station PB&J's.

At that point we also caught up with Keith. He took off ahead of us, but we came up on him again on a slow technical area. Quick hello and I kept going but Chancey stayed back chatting with Keith. Next thing I know I look back and they are a ways back and saying you don't have to wait for us. I felt like a little fledgling having to jump out of the nest for the first time. But I don't want to be alone I thought. Oh well, I turned around and just ran easy for a bit to give Chancey time to rejoin. Conversation must have been really good because he never came. I got to a long downhill and I just let it go down the hill since that is where I knew I would make up some time, downhill and technical stuff “reminds me of mtn. biking. I did not see Chancey anywhere on the side of the mountain so I just moved on, all alone. Again, no different than on the bike, you just do your race and keep to the plan.

All was good. I felt like I was running well, consistent, to my ability. The only uncertainty was - could I make it to the 40 mile mark?After I left Keith and Mike my competitive spirit kicked in. Let me see if I can keep them from catching me I said. I was uncertain because I really did not know what my body would do at mile 30 and beyond “I had never run anything above 28.5 miles. So I kept running and hit it a little extra hard at every spot I thought they were likely to slow down. At the aid stations I had my bottle open for refilling before I even got to it. I filled up, grabbed a sandwich, banana or whatever and take off running - new meaning to eating on the run for me.

Then came the slowest part of the run, the TV Tower Loop. Beautiful area, just not one made for running. Wet rocks, jump down onto rocks, climb up with all fours out some areas, really fun stuff. Man I was glad it was only 1 mile or so of the bad stuff, but again that's where I could make up time and I did pass a few people there.
Once I climbed out of that mess I started to feel woozy coming up on the aid station and didn't know why. I took a large Graham cracker loaded with Peanut butter, a banana and kept going. That cracker did the trick loaded with protein and a heavy feeling in my stomach. It got me going again now past the halfway mark.

Came up to the aid station at about mile 27 and asked how many people had gone through already? The girl says "oh not many, you are at least top 15". Holy #$%#$! I couldn''t believe it and that definitely lifted my spirits. I figured I was around 30 but don't ask me why. So I got on my way and started doing times in my head. I again pushed the technical stuff and kept a reasonable solid pace in the open areas.

Around mile 30 I spotted a group of 4 about 100 yards ahead. A group of 4 I said!!! If I am top 15 and I pass those guys I am top 10. Man I wanted to sprint up to them, but no, I held back looked down and ran my race. Eventually I caught them, rested, then passed. Two of the four kicked it up and latched onto me. They came and went several times behind me but I basically paced them for the last 6 miles. That was a rough time for me. My body was done but I could not stop, not now. I had to talk myself into running after cresting a hill since we walked most of the climbs at that point. Running becomes a fast shuffle, not much foot lifting, running as efficient as possible.

I never got passed then but never pulled away either. With about 2 miles to go it becomes downhill and then flat 1 mile or so to the finish. I am thinking I can be 10th or 12th and starting devising my strategy down the mountain to be 10th. The plan IS “control the downhill and when we hit the flats up the pace enough to keep anyone from wanting to jump, then one mile left run 100% effort
and hopefully not collapse. Basically bike racing gone bad!

I picked it up and I still had them both, I waited, I sped up a little, I waited. Finally one dropped. I sped up, I waited, I sped up, I waited, I heard a stumble (like when you lose your footing for a second) and I picked it up to 100% (whatever that was at that point!). Finally I looked back and saw the red shirt but through the trees, not right behind me. I will tell you, that was the longest half mile I have ever run. Exhausted, scared, hungry, thirsty, in pain, within sight of the finish line through the woods BUT I got there! And I got there ahead of them whoever they were. Come to find out one was a local runner and one was from Charleston, SC “both nice guys off the course LOL. I came up on the family cheering me on plus some others doing the usual make noise for everyone. Gawd, I can't move anymore! I couldn't even squat down. Standing hurt, sitting hurt, being hurt.

As far as I know all of the Columbus guys I know made the cut-off and got their prize PM40 Fleece. Well john also got a 2nd place award for blazing up the 40 mile trail in 6.5 hours! Yes, that is a 9:45 minute pace. Good job to all.
So that's how it goes. A very long story for a very long race.

Here are my stats:
-7:33 total run time
-7th place overall - - I guess the girl who told me top 15 was off a couple spots but all's forgiven. ;)
-10 Roctane Gu's or so
-5 Aleve
-3 pcs of Beef Jerky
-Uncounted half sandwiches of PB&J and ham/cheese
-Other assorted Aid Station food including Oreos, chips, bananas, boiled potatoes
-100+ oz of water plus assorted Coke, Gatorade etc.
-No falls {Plenty of tripping}
-1 slight black toe â€“ for now
-No blisters
-1 badly aching body

I had a great time, even leading up to the race. Met some new people, gained some new friends, tried something new, put my body through more unnecessary pain. If you would like to try an event like this go ahead, be my guest. Just don't say I got you into it or talked you into it. I will not be to blame as are all the guys that did that to me!

Happy trails (cycling and running)

Thanks to Trina for putting up with my latest obsession over the last three months.

JOSE

CBR takes Georgia State TT title

2008-11-02T13:49:00.000-08:00

Saturday October 18, 2008
The state TT was taking place just outside of Ringgold Georgia. This is a small town on the Georgia-Tennessee border. The terrain is rolling hills. It is 10 miles from Chattanooga and that means lots of hills. The temperature was around 48 degrees at 8:30 and the sun was bright and it was windy. 4 riders from the CBR team attended. There was Adam Weinbaum (cat 5), Caroline Morris (beginner), Victor Karm (cat 4) and Steve Murray (cat 4). The race had about 70 participants which is not high, but not bad this late in the season.

The distance was originally 40 Kilometers (24.8 miles), but due to a severe car accident, they had to shorten the course to 21.8 miles. Caroline was first and the beginner course was just over 6 miles. She did a great job for her first race. Next up were the guys. Adam went off first followed by Steve and then Victor. We all dealt with the wind and cool temps. The course had 8 turns, 3 of which were 180 turn-arounds. We all had good times for the day. All our boys scored top 10's on the day.

Steve Murray - 1st 50:16 (State Champion)
Victor Karm - 7th 53:23
Adam Weinbaum - 10th place 59:10

Newest CBR member??

2008-10-28T10:46:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to Darsi & Mike Reardon. They are the proud parents of a new baby girl. Mike was one of the original team members in 2004 when we founded the team. He is a satellite racer for the team in New Jersey these days.

Introducing McClayne Reardon..

We had an absolutely amazing labor and birth experience and just had to show off our little one...McClayne Darsi Reardon was born on October 16, 2008 at 11:11 am, weighing in at 7lbs, 11 oz. and was 18 3/4 inches long.

Mike is completely wrapped around her little finger already, but after you see her little face, there's no way you can't be :o) She's absolutely adorable (no bias there at all).

I am feeling great, no complaints or pain (and yes, that includes a drug-free labor and delivery). Overall, I'm just so thankful for a healthy little daughter and that we were able to have her at a birth center surrounded by the most amazing midwives. There's not a single second I would change. Life is good. Yes, she IS sleeping through the night. Very lucky for us. And yes, she's the perfect baby already.

And as a really cool side note, once I got rid of all of the excess pregnancy fluids, these sculpted cyclists legs emerged. They look better than when I was riding every day of the week. Best and most surprising side effect ever. But now it's anyone's guess as to when I'll actually get back on a bike again...

Pine Mountain Challenge - 2008

2008-10-07T19:59:00.000-07:00

The CBR team and CCC club showed up in force to support the Pine Mountain Challenge. The PMC is a charity Century to support Valley Health Care. VHC provides medical support for low to no income people around the Chattahoochee valley. The day started with a brisk 58 degree morning and a bright clear sky. The ride was well supported with ample SAG stops and great support from the Harris County Sheriffs department and the local motorcycle club. Both rode support that took care of all the riders needs.

We were able to kick off the event with a special presentation to Sherry Matty. Sherry is the widow of Scott Matty, CBR racer, CCC member and one of our great friends. Scott was tragically lost on February 3rd when a motorist struck he and Jeff Davis on a training ride. We presented this seasons race jersey to Sherry. The jersey has a black band commemorating Scott with the words "In Memory of Scott Matty". The Shadow box with the jersey also had the state champion medal from Scott's win in the Alabama Team time trial championships in 2007.

The ride was also fortunate enough to have Jeff Davis return to the road for the ride. Jeff was classified an "incomplete paraplegic" following the accident. Jeff had 3 major surgeries, 12 weeks in the hospital and thousands of hours of rehab. He is now back on his feet and riding his bike. The PMC ride was Jeff's 4th ride in the last two weeks and those were his first rides since being hit by the SUV. We are so fortunate to have Jeff back and would like to do whatever we can to keep him riding!

Here are a few photos from the event.

CBR says goodbye to two racers

2008-08-06T15:49:00.000-07:00

Ryan Crabbe sprints for a Top 10 in LaGrange

This year's team was fortunate enough to have Ryan Crabbe and Stephen Bolton race most of the season. Ryan joined CBR in 2007 and won the Georgia Cat5 Road Race championship in his first season of racing. Steve joined the crew in 2008 and put in a 20 race season with his last team race in Elberton. Steve & Ryan both put in several great performances highlighted by achieving top ten finishes in the Tour of Atlanta Stage race. Both men placed top 10 in a 7 stage - stage race. Both were always strong competitors and typically were within the top 15 finishers in every race.
Steve Bolton- LaGrange Criterium

Ryan raced through LaGrange before moving on to Indiana for his new job as the head coach of the St. Mary's College Women's Soccer team. Ryan raced both road and cycle cross with the CBR team. Ryan recently upgraded to Category 3. Congrats Ryan!! Steve has also moved from Ft. Benning to Ft. Bragg. He will eventually return to his home in Colorado. We were lucky to have two such strong riders race and support our team. You will be missed, good luck guys!

ORAMM 2008: 62 miles 11000' climbing 7 advil

2008-07-29T05:15:00.000-07:00

CBR represented in Old Fort, NC at the off road assault on mt mitchell 100k mountain bike race.

View Larger Map

yesterday was my second oramm. the route was slightly different than in 2007 when we turned on the blue ridge parkway instead of crossing it. the route wasn't much longer but it did include a 10 minute downhill followed by another hour long climb.

8 hours 14 minutes 14 seconds, 62.02 miles, 10,581 feet of elevation gained, innumerable leg, arm, finger, and jaw (yes, jaw while trying to drink from the camelbak) cramps. two gu roctane, two enervit gels, four 100oz camelbak refills, 1 bag of beef jerkey, 4 bags clif shot bloks, 7 advils, 2 tylenol 500mg, four electrolyte mix bottles, two bananas, 18 hammer endurolytes, oh and did i mention it was 98 degrees??? 1 cbr kit at the coolest race in NC, priceless...

click here for the full report

CBR rider wins State Championship

2008-06-30T18:21:00.000-07:00

2008 has been a great season for one CBR rider. Steve Murray has continued to improve as the season progressed. It began in March with the first Georgia Cup race in Albany, Georgia, and this report goes through the Rome Georgia Cup race weekend. 14 Podiums and counting.

Race High lights of 2008:

Georgia State Cat 4 criterium championGeorgia Cup cat4 35+ series Georgia Cup cat4 35+ series Leader- yellow Jersey holder
Georgia Cup cat4 35+ sprint leader

Albany Stage Race - cat 4
Prologue - 2nd Place

Tundra Time TrialMaster's - 6th

Perry Roubaix Race weekend
TT - 3rd place
Circuit Race - 5th Place
Overall - 3rd

Gainesville Stage race - cat 4
TT - 1st place
Crit - 8th place
Overall - 1st Place

Chattanooga Stage Race - cat 4
TT - 2nd Place
Crit - 8th place
RR - 13th place
Overall - 2nd place

Sunny King Criterium 45+ master's
4th Place

Historic Roswell crit 45+ master'
6th place

Union City Stage Race - cat 4
TT - 2nd place
Crit - 3rd place
RR - 17th place
Overall - 2nd place

LaGrange Stage Race - cat4

TT - 1st Place
Crit - 1st Place
RR - 11th Place
Overall - 1st place

Rome Stage Race - cat 4
Team TT - 5th place
Crit - 5th place
RR - 4th place
Overall - 2nd

CBR takes the Tour of Atlanta

2008-06-30T17:20:00.000-07:00

The 2008 Tour of Atlanta was 7 stages over 5 days. Beginning Thursday afternoon, May 22 - Monday, May 26 (Memorial Day Morning). The CBR group took 5 riders for the whole tour and 2 who joined for many of the races. John Stowe, Matt Ragan, Ryan Crabbe, Steve Murray and Steve Bolton all rode the entire stage race. Jeff Mayhand also joined in to help the team with the Team Time Trial and Saturday road race.

The first day was the key to it all for our big gun - John Stowe. John won the Time trial and then took second on the sprints.

TT results:
1st - John Stowe
4th - Steve Murray
15th - Matt Ragan
16th - Ryan Crabbe

John built a good lead that he took into the criterium at John's Creek the next day. John took control of the race which took place during a huge downpour. He barely missed a win against the strong sprinter from AVX bikes. Ryan went down during the race but still managed to finish well in adverse conditions.

Criterium Results:
2nd - John Stowe
4th - Steve Murray
15th - Ryan Crabbe
19th- Matt Ragan

Day three was the Team Time Trial and road race. The team TT was a mixed bag. Matt Ragan flatted early and the pace was too high for Steve Bolton and Ryan Crabbe. Steve Murray, John Stowe and Jeff Mayhand finished the 16 mile route and the team placed 2nd overall in the TT. The road race started well and only one of the boys ran into issues. Steve Murray went down hard about 20 miles into the race. He lost so much time that he moved from 2nd overall in the Tour standings to 18th.

TT results - CBR team scores 2nd (we missed 1st by 19 seconds)

Road Race results:
8th - Ryan Crabbe
11th - Steve Bolton
16th - Matt Ragan
20th - John Stowe

Gainesville Criterium Results;
15th - John Stowe
18th - Matt Ragan
19th - Steve Murray
21st - Steve Bolton
27th - Ryan Crabbe

Buford Criterium results:
11th - Steve Murray
13th - Matt Ragan
15th - Steve Bolton
17th - John Stowe
23rd - Ryan Crabbe

Overall finish results:
1st - John Stowe
6th - Ryan Crabbe
10th- Steve Bolton
12th - Matt ragan
14th - Steve Murray

serc #4 ducktown, tn 5th place

2008-05-09T05:17:00.000-07:00

CBR gets a 5th place in ducktown, tn

yes the 2nd place kid is 13 and the 1st is 18 but they're future u23 national team.... it didn't bother me too much. i haven't really been training for xc races so i was very happy with a 5th place finish.

now its a 7 hour training ride sunday getting ready for the burn

jg

an update from boone, nc:

2008-04-23T19:01:00.001-07:00

hello all. i miss seeing you guys, but i don't miss riding the flats lands... some pictures from a 'road' ride on 4.22.08. 67.05 miles 5:37 ride time 6300 feet elevation gained three pave (gravel) sections. come visit and bring your bikes!!!

i hope you enjoy.

my fly new bike, super six, sram red, 16.2 lbs:

three top road, view towards todd, nc:

me on three top rd:

the peak, ashe county, nc:

me climbing snake mountain (from nc-88), nc (1500 feet, 6 miles, 42 minutes):

snake mountain, nc:

boone pave, umm.... gravel:

raysweather.com photo of the day april 25th, 2008:

2008 - a new season, a new spirit

2008-04-20T15:04:00.000-07:00

2008 began with the horrible accident that took Scott Matty's life and nearly crippled Jeff Davis for life. Jeff's progress in his recovery has been mind boggling in how well he is doing.

Our race season is dedicated to both Scott and Jeff. With that said - the year has started off pretty well. The road team has taken off with a great big bang!

Tundra Time trial saw the boys get two top 10's in a very competitive field with times that rival top finishes in previous years.

ALBANY - Georgia Cup
As Georgia Cup is the series we typically focus on - 2008 is not different. The GA Cup started in Albany in early March. Georgia Cup is a stage race format - modeled after more famous races like the TdF. Each stage earns the rider a time and the combined times of a riders events determine how their stage race placing turns out. Albany started well with John Stowe taking the Cat 4 Prologue and Steve Murray taking second in the Cat 4 -35+ group. The prologue was a very technical course with 12 turns in just over two miles.

The criterium was a 8 turn technical course and John again performed well with a top three finish and more MAR points than his competitors. The other guys did okay, but not like John. Also racing were Matt Ragan (fresh off knee surgery) and Victor Karm- V-man, Jonathan Cook, Steve Murray & Ryan Crabbe.

The Road race was pancake flat and the temps were brisk. Ryan Crabbe put in a monster sprint and placed 4th, John got 8th and the rest of us finished. For the RR, there were the addition of Shane Irvin,Bill Swain and Kevin Adams to our group.

Perry-Roubaix Series 7 Weekend (TT, circuit race and the RR with "Georgia Pave")

The TT was a tough one - 12 miles on rolling hills with rain looming. Steve & John each placed 3rd with good times. Matt & Victor also had good rides with top 20 finishes.

The circuit race saw some bold, aggressive riding from the faithful crew. The under 35 crew rode first. John finished 12, Matt 18th and Victor 21st. Steve placed 5th in his circuit race.

The RR was a tough course with hills, wind and a two mile dirt road on each of the 4 laps. John did great with a 4th place and next was Matt, Victor, and Ryan Crabbe. In the 35+ race - I have an excuse- a guy hit me and took me down on the last lap - threw my wheel out of true and I chased for 9 miles and never caught on. I finished 19th.

Mountain Bike - Macon Arrowhead TrailI have no details of the course- but Nicki Sutherland placed 3rd in the women's Expert group and Jose Mendez placed 9th in the men's Sport group

Columbus Race

Nicki Sutherland - 2nd place
Jose Mendez - 3rd place
Victor Karm - 4th place
Gabe Denes Jr. - FIRST PLACE
Dayton Preston - 13th place

Gainesville - Georgia Cup

For Gainesville -it was just Matt Ragan and Steve Murray. The weather was horrible. On Saturday, we awoke to heavy rain and got to race both our TT and RR in it. Did I mention the temps were mid 50's. That may be fine for Belgium, but this is Georgia for crying out loud!

Poor conditions worked well for me. I won the Cat 4 35+ TT and had a good RR. I took a flyer off the front with a few hundred yards to go. I was leading until about 40 yards when 23 other riders stormed by. Oh well. I still got the same finish time, so I had a lead going into Sunday. Matt rode a good TT and RR as well.

Sunday the weather got better and Matt and I both had good crits. I got 8th and didn't loose much time. I ended the weekend winning the stage race by 1.4 seconds.

Chattanooga - Georgia Cup

Matt Ragan and Steve Murray were the only riders from CBR to attend. The weather was great, the courses were great and we had a good weekend. Kind of.

Steve missed first in the TT by .5 seconds. It was a 5.5 mile TT with 3.5 miles of gradual climbing. The last portion was fast. Matt thought the course was 9 miles and didn't crank it up until the very end.

The crit course had six turns and was blazing fast. Matt's group had just over a 29 MPH average for the crit and mine had a 28.6 - really fast. I finished 8th and was going into Sunday with a 4.5 second overall lead. The RR was in a beautiful valley just below Lookout Mountain. Matt had the misfortune of getting wrecked by a guy 5 miles in and had to ride the race in the wheel truck. I rode a solid race and with 3 miles to go got behind a big wreck. I chased the group in front of the wreck, but never caught them. I finished :19 seconds back. The final results have me placing 2nd overall and Matt is not listed since he could not finish the Road race.

So far - So good!

Scott Matty, you will be missed!

2008-02-03T21:25:00.000-08:00

Matthew Scott Matty

February 3, 2008 is a very sad day. Scott Matty was lost in a tragic accident while returning from a Sunday training Ride. The day started like many similar Sunday morning rides. Several people rolled out onto lightly used county roads. Our group had six riders and we planned to travel from Ellerslie to Talbatton and on to Buena Vista, Georgia and back. It would be a nice 85 mile ride. The weather was nice and Scott commented that he wished all our rides had weather like today.

Jeff Davis

We reached Geneva and Scott and Jeff Davis decided to cut their ride short to get home earlier. Unfortunately for all of us, more than the ride was cut short. As they were riding single file along the white line on the right of the road, a young driver hit both Jeff and Scott from behind. They were just 2 miles from their parked cars. Scott passed away at the scene and Jeff was airlifted to the hospital. Jeff underwent the first surgery to relieve pressure on his spine. He will have at least two more surgeries for fractured disks and multiple breaks in his left leg. His prognosis is good with a long and painful rehab and recovery.

Our prayers go out to the families of both Scott and Jeff. We are fortunate that Jeff will remain with us and be back on his feet soon. Scott was the proud father of three beautiful girls. He also leaves behind a loving wife Sherry.

In Scott's death we have lost a fine man. Scott was the friend you always wanted, always smiling, happy and just fun to be around. If he was on the bike - he was attacking or just about to. You always knew what to expect. The profound sadness I feel with his passing is beyond words and will be with me for a very long time. Scott you will be missed!

CBR looks back to warmer weather!

2007-12-19T17:15:00.001-08:00

The CBR race team competed in more than 279 events in 2007. Of these events, 167 were placings within the top 10. CBR had 49 podium appearances which included:
27 - First place finishes
16 - Second place finishes
6 - Third place finishes
Rankings based on USCF rankings listed as of September 15, 2007.

CBR State Champions
Nicki Sutherland - Georgia Women's Sport Mountain bike
Ryan Crabbe - Georgia Men's Category 5 Road Race
Benjamin Weinbaum - Alabama Juniors Road Race
Benjamin WeinBaum - Alabama Juniors Time Trial

CBR series results
Georgia Championship Series
Women sport - Nicki Sutherland - Winner
Men Sport 30-39 - Jose Mendez - 6th Place
Men Sport 19-29 - Joseph Grimes - 4th Place

New Jersey Cycle cross Cup
Men's - Mike Reardon - 1st Place

Georgia Cup Series
Men's Masters - Scott Matty - 7th Place
Men's Masters - Steve Murray - 8th Place
Men's Masters - Barry Carswell - 17th Place
Men's Cat 4 - Matt Ragan - 15th Place

National Rankings (12 top 25 rankings!!)

Mountain Biking

Nicki Sutherland - Womens Sport mountain biking - FIRST (as of September 2007)

Jose Mendez -19th place Men's 35-39 Sport class

Joseph Grimes - 22nd place Men's 19 -24 Sport class

Team Time Trial (as of January 2, 2008)
Matt Ragan & John Stowe - Cat 4 - tied in FIRST
Ryan Crabbe - 5th
Scott Matty & Steve Murray - Master's - tied in 5th Place

Stage Race (as of January 2, 2008)
Category 4
Matt Ragan - 3rd
John Stowe - 5th
Ryan Crabbe - 15th
Master's 45+
Scott Matty - 11th

Individual Time Trial (as of January 2, 2008)
Matt Ragan - Cat 4 - 14th
Scott Matty - Master's 45+ - 14th

CBR's achievements built on 2006's results which resulted from 246 events raced with 2 state championships and the winner of the Norba National Series by Ursula Sandefur - women's expert 45 -49. 2006 also saw multiple CBR riders ranked in the top 10 Nationally.

Mike Reardon's final Race Report of 2007

2007-11-27T11:45:00.000-08:00

New Jersey Cyclcross Cup Series Winner - Mike Reardon

Welcome back cross fans! After a greuling season that saw the racing begin in the sultry month of August and finally end in the snow of December, I can finally look back on the 2007 New Jersey Cyclocross Cup.

After a somewhat challenging first half of the season, I decided to take two weeks off from training. If anyone else is ever thinking that's a good idea, think again. I came back to the bike with zero fitness -- so much for old man muscles.

The second half of the season took me to the state championships and a somewhat disappointing 15th place finish. It was a bitterly cold day and the course was a mix of mud over ice. I went down in the first turn and that pretty much ended the race for me. Distraught though I was, I had committed myself to the long term goal of winning the overall series and wasn't too disappointed without a win at the state championships -- not like I had any real chance of winning anyway!

The series would ultimately come down to the last two races of the season. After holding my series lead, I lost it at the aforementioned state championships race. I was 81 points out of first place and I needed some good placings to pull off a come from behind victory.

It was on a cold snowy morning that I loaded up and headed to the mountains of North Jersey for the coldest race of the season. After three hours on slick back roads, I arrived at the course only to find no one there! I figured I would win the race by default, but an hour before the race my competition started to show up.

Ordinarily we'd all sit on our trainers warming up before the race ... but not today. We were all huddled inside our cars trying to suck up that last bit of warmth before we had to brave the driving snow that was quickly burying the course. On any other day the race wouldn't have been too technical, a mix of loose gravel, dirt, grass, and a nasty section though a baseball stadium. However, when all of that is covered with three inches of snow, anything can happen.

As we lined up on the starting grid, I had no idea what the course was like. I was a sissy and stayed in my truck, no pre-ride for me -- but hey, no one would have an advantage on the second lap. As the starting gun fired, I jammed on the pedals only to realize I was pedaling on a patch of ice. Oops! That would have been good to know ahead of time. I kept pedaling as all the other riders zoomed past me. The race hadn't even started and I was in last place. Fortunately for me, no one else pre-rode the course either, or they did and they all planned on crashing in the first turn, a crash that I missed because I was stuck on a patch of ice. I ended up missing the crash, lucky me, and I got past the pile up of men and machines to hit the second turn in first place.

Of course I didn't know that the exit of the second turn was not a solid surface beneath the snow but rather loose gravel. I hit it too fast, went down and got passed by seven riders. I tried to get on to the back of the group and I did hold their wheel for three laps but then the legs went (two weeks off, remember?) and slowly they pulled away.

With two laps to go, I was running in 8th place where I stayed until the last lap when the guy in front of me had a bad remount after a set of barriers. Of course, that's a really nice way of saying that as he tried to get back on his bike, he tripped because there was so much snow on his cleats he couldn't get into his pedals. Then he ran into the course tape, got wrapped up in that, and proceeded to slide headfirst into a mound of snow. I laughed, but not so hard that I didn't recognize the opportunity to take advantage of his misfortune. I rode around him and crossed the line in 7th place. All and all not too bad. More importantly, that finish put me a mere 23 points out of 1st place going into the final race...

The last race of the year. How appropriate that the series title came down to this. I figured the field would be small, at least I hoped it would be, but as luck would have it, this was the second largest field of the year with 68 entrants. You know, when I raced on the road, that number wouldn't have bothered me. I could sit at the back of the pack for the first few miles then draft my way to the front. A good leadout from Steve or Darrin and I could uncork a sprint and show everyone a clean pair of wheels (I love Paul Sherwin). But cross requires a different strategy.

The race started off right, then made a 90 degree left hand turn, which then led into a 200 meter grass straightaway that got narrower towards the end. At the start we were six across. At the end of the grass straightaway was a two meter wide opening with telephone poles on either side. My plan to sham at the back and draft my way up wasn't going to work today. So the gun went off and against my better instincts, I sprinted as hard as I could off the line. I knew that a good start would be critical and I had it in my mind that I was going to go as hard as I could for the first two laps and see how many people I could drop. As it turned out, my plan worked perfectly. As I jumped off the line, everyone else bottled up behind me, and like every cross race, there was a huge crash right at the telephone pole opening. I made it through with five other guys and we proceeded to get a huge gap on the field.

The course took some twists and turns up a few little hills and across some rooted off camber sections. Fortunately my former life as a mountain biker paid off as I was able to ride these sections without falling. The course then led into an asphalt section that favored the powerful roadie types before heading back onto the grass and into the first barrier. I had a good dismount/remount and was still in the lead as we headed into the painful part of the course.

A quick downhill on some icy asphalt put us at the base of a monstrous hill. I looked at it and figured I would need climbing gear to get to the top. Imagine a muddy campground hill, that's the only way I can describe it. Someone had cut little steps into this hill, but this person must have been a giant because these steps were about four feet apart. Had it not been for the toe spikes on my shoes, I wouldn't have made it to the top. Needless to say, this hill was a crowd favorite and the top of it was packed with spectators cheering us on. Well, it sounded like cheering in my head. They were probably laughing at us because we all looked like idiots running up this thing. After what seemed like a week of running up the hill, I got onto the bike and lost my lead to a much taller and obviously fitter rider. He dropped me quickly and went on to win the race, however, a race win wasn't my goal.

The course went down a steep muddy hill and then went right back up (after the race I watched five people crash on the part within three minutes, silly fools). I lost a few more spots and drifted back to 6th place. Three of us were in a pack chasing the leaders and I was more than happy to let someone else do the work for a few laps. As each lap went by, I was studying the two dudes in my chase pack, looking for weaknesses, trying to figure out where I could attack them with the most impact. I wasn't sure I would have the legs to outsprint them, but with a nice long finishing stretch, I figured I would give it a try.

We headed into the last lap, I gave a quick glance behind me to see if anyone had closed the gap we had worked so hard for, no one had. It was going to be a game of cat and mouse for an entire lap.

The first attack went on a fast ashphalt section. The rider got a quick gap and I had to dig deep to get back on. Fortunately, he jumped a little too late and we headed into a hard left turn before he could get any real speed up. I knew I had to save as much as I could for the final sprint but I wanted to soften up their legs a little. I knew a barrier section was fast approaching and I had consistently better dismounts and remounts so I figured I would put in a little digger at the barriers. I dismounted late and hit the barriers at a fast sprint, immediately getting a gap. I got back on and looked back, my plan was working. Both guys were falling back.

Not wanting to work by myself for the rest of the last lap, I slowed down to recover and let the other guys catch up. We stayed together leading up to the monster hill and I carried enough speed into it that I dismounted a quarter of the way up, saving precious amounts of energy. At the top of the hill, another attack went off the front, a surpise to be sure. He had a good gap and I was slow to respond. I looked up and saw the two of them slipping away. I was in the red and I knew I had to recover. With two more techinical sections plus two barrier sections coming up, I didn't panic. I drifted back and they got about four bike lengths on me.

With less than a quarter of a lap left, I knew it was time to get on the gas. At the first barrier, I had a flawless dismont (I probably looked like a three year old trying to run on a patch of ice, but I'm telling this story and I say it was flawless). I didn't remount but rather I ran all the way to the second barrier as the other two riders tried to remount and pedal. I caught up to one of the other two riders and remounted for the pass to move into fifth place.

Two hundred meters to go to the finish and now there was only one rider to pass to score my best finish of the year. He had two bike lengths on me and as I jammed on the pedals, tragedy struck. I had so much mud in my right cleat I couldn't get back into the pedal. Oh well, it was now or never. I shifted to my hardest gear and jumped. All I could think of was all those sprints we did on the riverwalk all those years ago. Would the old instincts pay off? One on one, we thundered down the finishing stretch. I could see I was closing with every pedal stroke, closer and closer to the finish. Would there be enough room? Did I start my sprint too late? I looked up and saw the line. I gritted my teeth trying to overcome the pain in my legs. Half a bike length to go. Pedal, pedal, pedal. Half a wheel to go. I looked to my right. We were dead even. Pedal, pedal, pedal. I had a gap! Head down, I charged to the line. I looked over to my right as I crossed the line and I was by myself! I had won the sprint to the line, securing 4th place, my best finish, but more importantly, I had secured my overall series win! I was now the New Jersey Cyclocross Cup Series Champion! I pumped my fist into the air and not wanting to miss the opportunity to get a good plug in for CBR, I sat up proudly pointing at the CBR logo on my chest -- of course no one got a picture of that.

I would be remiss if I didn't pay a special tribute to the silent fan of my season, my wife Darsi. She has put up with a season that saw us out the door at 5 am most weekends with at least 4 hours of driving time for a 40 minute race with nary a complaint, she has been my coach, personal trainer, manager, photographer, pit crew, and editor (these race reports would suck without her) This victory is as much hers as it is mine.

So this closes another chapter on the dominance of CBR. With any luck, next year will bring us all more fitness and faster legs, but failing that, remember, none of us ride to get weaker!

A trip to the Mountains for CBR

2007-11-19T16:27:00.000-08:00

We spent several days up and down the six classic gaps around Dahlonega and Helen, Georgia. The weather ranged from mid 30's on Thursday to mid 60's on Sunday. Everyone suffered and everyone pushed legs that are used to riding in the flatlands. Some members came up for a day and others stayed for several. Fun and suffering was had by all. Once again, we would like to thank our hosts in the mountains Josh and Leigh at the Hiker Hostel - http://www.hikerhostel.com/. They have a great place, are wonderful hosts and ideally located for the cyclist or hiker in your group!!

pictured above: Steve Dozier, Steve Murray, Matt Ragan, Jonathan Cook, Darren Sorrells, Joey Mayhand & Jeff Mayhand

The group relaxes after the first long climb and descent of the day

This weekend was a cool weather trip o Dahlonega. The CBR race team spent several scenic days huffing and puffing up the long beautiful climbs of the northern Georgia mountains. One of the benefits of being ametuer cyclists is that we can eat and drink whatever we want and not loose our "jobs" on the CBR team.

The group poses for a picture after a grand meal of Mexican cuisine and beverages!

A bleery-eyed group just finishing up a breakfast of Pancakes, oatmeal, eggs, grits, juice & coffee

"The perfect meal to fuel a day on the mountains."

Race Around the Moon!!

2007-11-02T12:03:00.000-07:00

Everyone battle's the hill - every lap!

The middle of September saw the first USCF bicycle race in Phenix City, Al ever! Adam Weinbaum, local school teacher, reservist, bike mechanic and racer wanted to have a local race. With little or no help, Adam planned, organized and staged a prologue time trial and circuit race. With very little funding, Adam put on a race just for racers. Entry fees were minimal ($10) and the courses were a challenge. I asked Adam what his thoughts were and this is them:

"I really love the sport of cycling so I decided to promote a race for the local riders. Hopefully the race will continue to grow. I plan on doing it again next year. Riders from out of town said it was organized and they plan on telling others about it. GW from Auburn, Alabama said the time trial was perfect for a prolog time trial. He raced in the Masters category but is really a pro 1-2 racer".
The Phenix City Police Department was very helpful and supportive. The volunteers that helped made things run smoothly. Local sponsors included: Avon, Rapture Products, Crown Trophies, Bicycle Magazine, Ride On Bikes, Mikes Bikes, and Columbus Track Club. Hopefully next year we can get more sponsors. Adam has some expereince under his belt and with the help of his wife - next year will be even better!
Local racer's participated as well as those from Auburn and Atlanta. Since the race had limited promotion, it was the end of the season and a major race was being held in Greenville, SC the turnout was not large. The fields were combined with the juniors and cat 5's racing together. The cat 3, 4's and masters in the same field mad for some interesting racing. Out of our guest that raced, GW Wenzel, Auburn legend, was the overall standout. GW was the fastest in the TT and also the fastest in the overall Circuit race field.

The circuit Race prior to the start

Time Trial results for local racers

Junior 13 -15

First place -Benjamin Weinbaum -CBR

Cat 5

Fourth place -Kevin Adams -CBR
Sixth place- Jonathan Cook -CBR
Ninth place -Jay Horn -Ride On Bikes
Tenth place -Jason McKenzie -Ride On Bikes

Cat 4

First- John Stowe -CBR
Third -Victor Karm -CBR
Fourth- Matt Ragan -CBR

Master's

Third -Buddy Nelms -Ride On Bikes / CBR

Circuit Race results

Juniors 13- 15

First -Benjamin Weinbaum -CBR

Cat 5
Third -Jonathan Cook -CBR
Fourth- Jeff Davis -CBR
Seventh -Kevin Adams -CBR
Cat 4
First -Victor Karm -CBR
Second- John Stowe -CBR
Fourth- Matt Ragan -CBR
Fifth- Scott Matty- CBR

Great weekend for CBR Cross Riders

2007-10-29T18:40:00.000-07:00

Cycle Cross take CBR suffering to a new level! Mike Reardon races Craigmuer 10/28/2007

This year has seen the virtual explosion of CBR racers trying cycle cross. This past weekend we had four riders racing Cycle Cross. The CBR riders racing are Mike Reardon, Ryan Crabbe, Adam Weinbaum, and Benjamin Weinbaum. Mike lives and races in New Jersey, this weekend he raced in Craigmuer, NJ. Ryan, Adam & Ben raced in Ft. Yargo, GA

Ben Weinbaum - Ft. Yargo

Results:

Ben Weinbaum - 1st (14 and younger olds)

Mike Reardon - 8th

Ryan Crabbe - 19th

Adam Weinbaum - 27th

Josh Dunn - 44th

Ryan - Jumping the Barriers

Ryan's recap of the Ft. Yargo race

It was toughter than last week. I finished 19 out of 48 scored. I went down on lap 2, dropped my chain and only made up about half the positions I lost. I have a couple of pics as well. The Weinbaums were there.

Race #2 of the GA Cross series provided a number of new challenges not seen last week in Conyers. The second installment of the series took place at Ft. Yargo State Park in Winder, GA. CBR was well represented this week with myself, Adam Weinbaum, and his son Ben.
This course featured a paved start followed by a very fast technical section, tight single track, another tight technical section, and then the main feature of the course; approximately 100yds of beach, fully dismounted and running through the sand with the bike shouldered. This section was the gateway to another dismount over a set of barriers before heading back onto the road for the start/finish line which was a long uphill drag. Something that I am learning about cross very quickly is that every course features very different and very challenging characteristics.
My own race started about the way I expected sitting around 10th through the first lap. A mishap on lap two in the first technical section cost me a couple of spots that I was never able to recover. On an off camber turn with very loose traction I came in a little fast and went down. I was in the middle of a fast pack of about five riders at the time. Dropping my chain at this point did not help either as riders from a group just behind caught me. From that point on, the day was about getting positions back and I fought hard all the way. The final tally was 19th overall out of 48 scored riders. Due to my schedule it may be a few weeks before the next race so I will keep training hard and keep having fun with this new endeavor.

Cross - New Jersey style....by Maj. Michael Reardon

Pain, Misery and Suffering in Craigmeur, NJ
NJ CX CUP race #4, 28 OCT 07

By the title you can guess how I felt today. But I suppose that's to be expected after coming off of a strong three weeks of no training at all. I really need to get a different job, or at least find one that doesn't screw up my training plan by sending me packing a few times a month.

Despite returning from my latest trip a mere 15 hours prior, I was back at it in the fourth race of the NJ Cup series, fighting to hold onto a precious 56-point lead for the overall. I had a few riders marked that I knew I had to beat, but the 'cross gods would see to it that we all were beaten.

The course was brutal. It had rained for the past five days so the ground was a soupy quagmire that all but swallowed our tires. I barely made it through the 3 km course during my two warm-up laps without falling over. The course had a fast gravel start that led into a gravel chicane -- I knew this would be a key section as I expected lots of crashes. I got a good start (hard not to with a call up) and went into the chicane in 3rd place. Then the course wound through what could only be termed a grassy swamp, or swampy grass, I don’t know, it smelled bad and slowed me waaaaaay down. After a few switchbacks on this, the real fun started. The middle part of the course consisted of a fast stretch about 200 meters long that led into an off camber section. Only the perfect line would do here as there was a 30 foot tumble to the left and a chain link fence to the right. Throwing caution to the wind, I put in an attack here. I know, dumb, 1st lap, bad section, but what the heck, I hadn’t been training for three weeks, what could go wrong? I hit the gas and the course then plunged hard and to the left onto a steep downhill section, then it was a hard right turn onto some chicken head-sized gravel that led to a nice steep uphill section. As if the gravel wasn’t bad enough, the top of the hill had four railroad tie stairs. The course then took a hard left and hit the only barrier section of the course. I was sitting in first but all that was about to change.

The barriers led to some more gooey terrain and then it was into the woods where I saw my race start to come apart. We left a short section of woods and hit a section of asphalt and I got passed on an inside line by the three individuals that would go on to take 1st, 2nd and 3rd. A hard right led to a sketchy downhill that required the use of the all important S.P.I.T maneuver, also known as the "seat post implantation technique." I was so far back on my bike that my butt was dragging on the rear wheel, this was actually a good thing as it slowed me down enough to make a hard right hand turn into some more chicken head-sized gravel. As is consistent with cyclocross, just when you expect the suffering to be enough and think that maybe the race organizers might work in a nice flat section so you can recover, well, think again. I came to another uphill-downhill-uphill section, hard to describe, you have to experience it. Trust me, it hurt. That led to another long hard slog uphill through a mix of pebbles, gravel and more foul-smelling mud. I was still holding 4th with four people on my wheel. We had a big gap on the field so I wasn’t pushing it too hard, not that I could have if I wanted to -- remember three weeks off, yeah, another bad idea. There's no rest in cross so after the uphill the course came to a section that I believe was designed by a medieval torturer. It was a run-up, but not your ordinary short steep run-up, no, this run-up was up a flight of poorly laid, uneven, slick rock steps. I hit the top and that’s when the legs went out. I boffed the remount and was quickly passed by the four dudes behind me. I looked down, saw I had no gears left to shift into and I knew that the rest of the race held the pinnacle of suffering that is cross racing. All I could do was sit and grind away, the lactic acid in my legs knew no rest, often times I felt it taunting me, telling me to quit. The lungs went next, every breath was a new journey into a world of suffering. Each lap was worse than the last, each lap I looked back waiting to see if anyone was chasing. I knew they weren’t, they were all in the same painful world of existence that I was, no attacks, just keep on going and try not to give up any spots to the poor miserable sap sitting on your wheel trying to suck up any draft he could find. My mind wandered off for the rest of the race, trying to focus on the technical sections so as not to become a permanent fixture of the course. When I thought I couldn’t take anymore, off in the distance I heard a sound, a sound that must have come from someone more merciful than the sadist that designed this course, yes, it was the bell signifying the last lap. I dug in my heels, gritted my teeth, and downshifted, I was going to show this course who was boss. I started to speed up, only to be slowed a few meters later by the greedy grass taking all my momentum. I stood up only to have my rear tire spin and lose traction, all my efforts proved to be futile. I was not master of the course today. As I finally rolled across the finish line, not really knowing what place I was in, I jumped off the course and into an open field adjacent to the finish line. I dropped my bike and before I fell to the ground gasping for air, I looked around and saw the first seven finishers doing the same thing. Some were leaning on their bikes for support, others, still clipped into their pedals, were lying were they fell, we were all beaten today.

To race cross is to know every emotion you can experience in the field of cycling -- the amazing highs of crossing the line with hands held high to the incredible lows of coming off a course with nothing but the clothes on your back holding you together, physically and emotionally. I was beaten today by the course, but I’ll be back to ride again. After all, I don’t ride to get weaker!

This is the world of cyclocross; this is the sport I love.

At the end of the day, I finished 8th out of 51, enough to hold the overall lead in the cup series. Whether that lead will keep me there through next weekend will be determined in my absence. Darsi and I will be celebrating our 3rd anniversary in a warm, sunny location so I can only hope that the cold, wind, and sadistic race organizers will be just as brutal on the riders as they were this week so I can return once again to defend my lead in what should be another hotly contested suck fest.

Georgia Cross - Race # 1

2007-10-22T09:28:00.001-07:00

By Ryan Crabbe

For my first foray into cyclocross Sunday, October 22, had to be considered an overwhelming success. With a bit of extremely helpful advice from fellow CBR cross racer Mike Reardon, I set off race #1 of the Georgia Cross series at the International Horse Park in Conyers, GA.

The course was a 2 mile loop with two barrier obstacles and one run-up on a steep sand embankment. I raced the CX4 class which is equivalent to Cat 4 road down to beginners. Our field was quite larger with 45-50 starters so I knew getting to the line early would be important to get a good starting position. We were set to run a 30 min. race which meant 3-4 laps.
From the start I got off the line very quick and clean and I had myself positioned top 5 in the first corner where our first dismount obstacle was located at the exit of the corner. From that point forward I was positioned pretty well in the race as the large field began to string out. By the end of the first lap I was somewhere in the top 15 and getting great encouragement from my wife, Jennifer, who kept me informed of my placing throughout the race.

At lap two I was firmly holding down 11th place and felt very fast through the obstacles, and the technical sections. Lap 3 I began trading positions with the rider in front of me battling for that coveted top 10 finish. I really felt strong and knew where I could put in some attacks in the final lap in order to nail down a top 10. At the beginning of lap 4 I was 10th and flying, I gave back the spot at the feed zone (where Jennifer gave me a bottle) in order to re-hydrate and throw water over my head for this final effort (real cross racers don’t carry water bottles I’ve been told). At the second obstacle I took back the 10th spot and attacked hard through the technical switchbacks in the woods. I sat up a little to recover through the lone long climb of the day, and on the descent threw all caution to the wind to try and open up a gap. It worked and I stayed on the big ring and stomped on the pedals through the final sections of the course. On the finishing straight (which was long and fast) I opened up a hard sprint just to make sure. First race, 10th place. My goals for the day were no flats, no crashes, and top 20. Next week on to race #2 in the series at Ft. Yargo in Winder, GA. I think I’ll keep my goals the same and continue having some fun with this.

“Attack on Swayback”

2007-10-22T09:26:00.000-07:00

"Attack on Swayback" has always been a race I look forward to, not because my results are any good but because it’s just a fast/fun/challenging trail to ride. This year was no different. Rain came down the day before – packing down the trail nicely – and cooler weather moved in – low 50’s at sunrise and upper 60’s by race time. Conditions were perfect, what could go wrong? Well unfortunately the event showed some poor planning and made for some tense situations with racers, course and results etc but that’s another story. Now to the race...
Probably the most "eventful" part of the race for me was the line up. I lined up along 5 other 30-39 guys and it appeared we have the 20-29 group in front of us and the 40-49 behind so I was set. Wow this is a small group we all laughed about. We are almost guaranteed top 5! So the whistle blows for the 20-29 group 15 feet in front of us and something odd happens. Half of the group did not move. Suddenly it hit us – the "other" 30-39 guys had just piled up right behind that group and we now ended making up the BACK row of racers for my start. Let me tell you, that stressed me out! I have never started a race anyplace other than the front row and have always considered that to be key to racing if you’re not the sandbagger that can just start late and blow by the field in the last five miles and come out with your arms in the air. I’m that guy – not the sandbagger but the one that has to stay with the front to be in the front, you know, the guys better known as the "mid-pack hackers". Nothing worse than starting in the back and some yahoo clips a tree 30 seconds into the woods creating a traffic jam. So now I’m nervous and bummed. Oh well...."FOCUS!" I said to myself.
Whistle blows and I start looking for holes in the group, the guy in front of me has trouble clipping in, just to the right another guy had both feet planted on the ground for the whistle so he’s late to start. Now I’m saying "FOCUS and PATIENCE!". Eventually I find a line, shift down and crank thru the group getting up into the top ten. We have another straight away – after a turn – which gives me enough room to climb into (what I believe is) 6th place before the woods. That’s all I could ask for after being way in the back. Sure enough as soon as we enter the woods I hear a crash behind me somewhere and some people begin to complain as others apologize. Did I mention it’s key to get out in front before you enter the woods in a race? Well that’s why!
The rest of the race is uneventful until the last three miles or so. Before then it was clean fun racing for the 8 or so of us. Tight pack riding a good pace and slowly people begin to peel off eventually leaving me in what I believed was 2nd place as I begin my second lap. I’ll tell you now that come to find out a local had flown off the front shortly after the start never to be seen again. So I was in 3rd place, not 2nd.
Stroll along a few miles and I begin to feel the true pain of racing with 3 miles left but still hanging on to the second place guy. Two other guys catch up to us and I eventually just have to let them pass. I knew I did not have legs to sprint away from them at the finish which is a quarter mile "sweet" but fast fire road. I stayed close but couldn’t stay with them. I could literally see them sprinting to the line I was so close. Oh well, that’s life. I crossed the finish line in 5th place (19 racer field) and pretty happy with it. Finished off the season skimming a top 5 and with a blown fork. Yea, I got home and noticed my fork’s right leg was drooling oil. I’m sure selling that free t-shirt on eBay will lessen the blow of a $150 repair. Ahhh, it’s all worth it.
As for CBR, well we had a great showing. I drove out there with Gabe Jr. and Dayton drove out with Barry riding shotgun. Probably the largest CBR mtn bike crew I’ve seen this year. They can recap their own races if they want but here are the numbers...

Gabe Denis Jr. - 1st place Beginner, 19 and under (he had an interesting race, ask him about it)
Dayton Preston – mid pack Sport, 40-49
Barry "I don’t ride" Carswel – 3rd place Expert overall, 1st in age group
Jose Mendez – 5th place Sport, 30-39
Don’t forget time change is approaching. Buy some good lights and join the CBR mtn crew for nighttime riding at Flat Rock over the Winter. Beats taking the COLD wind on the road. Good times!

JOSE

CBR Rules Jersey Cross!!!

2007-10-18T05:59:00.000-07:00

by Major Mike Reardon

(Mike is the northernmost representative of CBR. He is stationed at Ft. Dix New Jersey. Mike raced with us in GA until he was sent to Korea for several years)

I'm such a bad team member, I haven't published any of the three race reports I owe so a quick summary will have to do.

First race, lots of sandbaggers, winner got a free cross frame, bad crash on the first lap going into to first turn, I got caught behind it and had to chase the rest of the race for placings, I got tenth. My legs were not with me that day. Lesson learned, get a good starting position to avoid the inevitable first lap crashes.
Second race, lots of sandbaggers again. really rough and technical course, more like a mountain bike course without the mountains, kind of reminded me of Flatrock park a little. Once again, I got a crappy start, I took too long to warm up, and once again I got jammed up behind a big pile-up in the first turn. Because it was so rough though, there were lots of people that couldn't hold the pace so I was able to pass lots of folks on the tough parts, tubulars help, low pressure and no pinch flats. I ended up chasing a guy on the last lap and put in a strong attack on the last section of barriers then out-sprinted him for the line. I took 5th, yeah for me. Lesson learned, tubulars are great, sandbaggers suck, get a good starting position, if you're not in the top 5 on the starting grid, you're not racing to win

Third race, guess what? more sandbaggers, the top 2 riders had 2.5 minutes on the field. This weekend was hot, hot, hot, I think we topped out at 92 degrees, many people were not prepared for the heat and because real men don't carry water bottles in a cross race, we suffered badly. Once again, I got a bad start, you would think I would learn my lesson huh? apparently I like to suffer and chase the entire race because that's what I did again. Good hard course this time, three barrier sections, good singletrack sections and a few spots to really open it up and hurt yourself. Things took a little while to thin out but the last 4 laps we were all fighting for the 3rd spot as the top 2 chuckleheads were way ahead, both of them are 3's on the road. I had good legs and actually felt like I was getting stronger as the race went on. On the last two laps I started to real in the pack and moved up from 9th to 7th. On the last lap, I put in an attack on a technical section and passed a guy on a very sketchy inside move, think Robbie Mcewen in a finishing sprint. I hammered as hard as I could and won a sprint for the line to take 6th. Lesson learned, get a good start, duh. Tubulars Rock!

So after my somewhat consistent performances I am leading the C men's series by 46 points. CBR Rules Jersey Cross!!!

My pit crew and I, that would be Darsi, she has gotten really good at wheel changes, proudly display our CBR clothing, thanks for the t-shirt, she loves it.

Georgia Cup - Grant Park Criterium

2007-09-14T08:58:00.000-07:00

It was the best of times....It was the worst of times

Saturday September 8, 2007 was the beginning of the final weekend of this year's Georgia Cup Series. The season began in late February and with all the races - it was a long season. Most of the riders are ready to wind down and ease up on the riding intensity.

Saturday saw CBR racers race in four races. Jonathan Cook did the category 5 race and did very well. The field was between 45 and 50 riders. Jon stayed right in the pack for the entire race. On the final lap he attacked up the climb from corner three and put many of the field into distress. At corner 4 he stood up again and attacked about 300 yards from the finish. I thought he had gone too soon, but his attack just before hurt the entire field. Jon held on and captured 5th place in the race.

Next up were the category 4/5 racers. In this group we had Matt Ragan, John Stowe, Ryan Crabbe and Jonathan Cook. The races were sponsored by Aaron's cycling team and they had raised plenty of money and prizes for the primes. They really used them in the races. The 4/5 race had multiple gift cards, cash and a $300 prime during the race. With a field of 75 and money and prizes on the line - the pace was really high. The pace and the course took it's toll on the field and our racers. The officials were not allowing racers to continue if they lost the pack. Well, that said, in the end only one of CBR riders crossed the finish line. John Stowe, the BIG Diesel crossed in 23rd place.

The next group was the 3/4 Elite races. Ryan Crabbe did his second race of the day and unfortunately, began to cramp up early on and was forced to leave the race early. The master's group for CBR was Steve Murray and Barry Carswell. The field was moderately sized and started out just fine. There were several of the local Georgia "big" hitters in the group and also visiting the race was the National 35+ Master's Champion. The group began to do some attacks and there were also the primes. What does that have to do with the outcome? Alot. A third of the way into the race, I was unable to respond to the pack and was out of the race. Shortly thereafter, two riders went off the front and were away. The National Champ jumped across. The response from the field was an attack by the current 45+ state crit champ (Doug Pomerantz) and another big dog of master's cycling (Andy Lougher). When the leaders appeared again, it was still just the original three. Doug and Andy were unable to bridge. They waited for the field to catch them and they were back in. The next lap saw Barry Carswell (CBR's premier master's rider) take the front of the chase field. Within another lap, he had dropped the field and has a 5 second gap. The next lap he had 10 seconds. The field closed within 10 meters, but Barry responded by putting a 150 meter gap on them and retaining it until the end. He was never able to close to the three leaders, but he put on a display of pure power to drop the field and take a solid fourth place in a strong, capable field of riders.

Congratulations go out to Jon, John and Barry for showing us how it is done!!

GSC#8 - Pig Trail, Macon GA - 08/05/2007 - race report

2007-08-07T16:38:00.001-07:00

(as told by nicki sutherland, mountain biker chick)

Sunday marked the final race of the Georgia State Championship Series. All of us noted how ironic it was that the first race was the coldest (30s – 40s) and the last race was the hottest (90s – 100s)! The temperature was brutal and the dry conditions left the trail with some tricky sandy spots that claimed several unsuspecting riders.

(“I guess we have to start lining up”)

By 11:30, everybody was dreading the race. Bruce (our verbose announcer) kept “hydrate people, hydrate” coming across the speakers. I drank a bottle of water before lining up. I was feeling hungry (never a good sign before a race) and although the thought of having a hot dog before the start was very appealing, the reality was that it would NOT be a good idea. I was already feeling overheated and I hadn’t even put my armor on yet! I was putting it off as long as possible. Finally most of the men are gone and it’s our turn. Bruce is rushing us and encouraging us to try to catch up with the men, so 30 seconds later, we are off.

(“Wait, I can’t get my computer started!”)

I got a slow start. I just wasn’t feeling it. Angie was obviously feeling strong today and was pushing hard. I tried to keep up with her, but just didn’t have any desire to get out of the saddle and hammer ahead. I followed her into the woods. Now in the shade, I started to feel like I was recovering from the start. I passed her and just tried to relax and keep my momentum going. She stayed close behind me, but eventually I was able to put some distance between us. About a half a mile from finishing the first lap, I almost slide out going around a corner. Something doesn’t feel right! I turn and feel the lack of control of the bike that only can indicate one thing: I have a FLAT! Being so close to finishing the first lap, I didn’t want to get off the bike and mess with the tire there. Maybe that was not the best strategy, but all I could think about was just getting the lap behind me first, and then being able to cool off a bit (I was seriously overheating at this point) while changing the tire. I had to carefully navigate myself down the rest of the trail on the flat and almost lost control a few times. By the time we went into the completion of the lap, Angie had caught up to me and sprinted through to start the 2nd lap as I dismounted to start working on my bike.

I was shaking, sweating, and just not moving fast enough! Thanks to D running to get me more liquid and throwing water all over me, I managed to cool down and wipe off while changing out the tire. My pit stop cost me about 10 minutes or more. I watched as all the girls in my class passed me. I decided to ditch the arm pads to allow more ventilation. Finally I was back on the bike. It was hard getting going again, but I decided that I was just going to have to find a good pace so that I would be able to finish the race and not allow myself to back off so much that I am out there in the heat all day! It’s hard once you have had a mechanical or flat to mentally get back into an aggressive mode.

Once I hit the single track again, I felt like I had recovered a bit, and I was feeling good again. I got into a nice groove and was enjoying the ride. I got closer to the climb and as I turned the corner, I saw Trish (in 3rd) pushing her bike. I carefully maneuvered around her as I made my way up the climb. I didn’t think I would be able to be back in the race, and claiming back once spot, gave me an extra boost of energy. With the climb behind me, I only had to worry about doing it one more time.

(Angie riding strong up the climb)

As I came through to start the 3rd lap, I shed my knee pads. I just wasn’t cooling down enough! By the start of the 3rd lap, I had started to feel some cramping set in. I stretched on the bike as much as I could and kept a comfortable pace. Suddenly I saw Beth (in 2nd) in the woods up ahead. I tried to push just a little harder, staying conscience of the cramping. I managed to catch up to Beth and passed her before we hit the climb. I had already decided that I would walk up the climb this time, not wanting to risk cramping and having my legs lock up on me. I hit the climb, quickly dismounted, pushed my bike up it, stretched when I got to the top, and then was on my way again. The quick stretching of the quads definitely helped relieve some of the cramping, but I had forgotten to stretch my inner thighs and they were starting to tighten up more now. I just needed to keep it together for 1 more mile. One circle at a time, drink, drink, breathe… I start to hear the announcer through the woods. I’m almost there! As we come out of the woods to head down the straight-away to the finish, one of the guys that had been riding with me on and off through the race, encourages me to push a little harder to finish, and comes up behind me and puts his hand on my back, giving me a little shove. I am so relieved to be done! Bruce, being evil, starts joking about how I’m going to be disqualified because someone pushed me… whatever! He was just trying to get a rise out of me, but I was too hot and too tired to care. I had managed to dig myself out of the hole from last place, to get 2nd. I was thrilled.

(“Everybody STRETCH!”)

I realized 2 things after the race though: 1) I need to learn how to change a flat faster! 2) I need to drill some holes into my armor!

After sitting around chatting to some riders for a bit about the race and riding in general, we headed back to the car and D hosed me down for a good 10 minutes. It felt great! I wished I could have jumped in the pool! We had to wait around for the race awards and then later, they had the series awards. Dave and Terri did a great job putting together a nice spread of food, and then the awards were handed out. I had a great season this year. I am thankful for that. I finished in first place, and will be moving up to expert next year.

I want to extend a big thank you to everybody that has dedicated their time into making these events possible for us. These well organized events surrounded by many smiling faces, keep you coming back for more of the pain! =)

(“And the winner is…”)

NORBA National - Sugar Mountain, NC - 07/28/2007 - race report

2007-07-31T11:47:00.000-07:00

[play-by-play as told by nicki sutherland, mountain biker chick]

No really, I won. I really did! This is a picture of the podium. The camera was not available at the time of the awards ceremony.

This past weekend, I participated in my first National event at Sugar Mountain, NC. I had never been to one of these so additionally, I was looking forward to the opportunity of watching the top pros in action. I checked the weather before we headed up there, and with high chances of rain all weekend, it was set to be an “interesting” time.

We headed up there on Thursday. It took us 7 hours to get up there. I wanted to set up camp before the sun went down, and luckily we were able to do that, and thankfully without rain. We found a great site that was under several huge trees, which definitely came in handy during the “on again, off again” rain throughout the weekend. Our temporary home was quite cozy, except for an unfortunate leak in the air mattress and me not being able to get the lantern started the first night. Oops!

Friday morning, we headed to Sugar Mountain Ski resort to check in, pick up my package and race number, and pre-ride the course. The rain had ceased, but it didn’t matter as the ground was slick and muddy. I started up the mountain and had to dismount three times within the first mile due to loss of traction. It was a steep climb. I was running the smallest gear I had and wishing I had another. There is nothing more frustrating that spinning your wheels and not going anywhere.

The elevation was such that you just had to accept that you would be sitting back and slowly grinding up it. There was no sprinting or surging to be made within the first ascents. Three more times I had to push my bike through slippery sections before I reached the top of the mountain. Then it was time to descend. I had heard that the single track sections of the descent were part of the old down hill course, so I was curious to see how bad they were. I wish I had my camera. I don’t think I can truly describe the mess. You had to experienced it yourself. It was a combination of rocks, roots, mixed together by mud slush which pretty much took control of your bike as you tried to navigate through it in a “controlled” slide. I attempted most of the sections to gauge my skill and prepare myself for race day deciding that it wasn’t worth the risk and that I would be walking most of it, and very carefully.

When I got through the last section of gnarly descending single track, I was relieved that all I had left was a straight shot down the mountain. But I quickly realize that I should not be too hasty in my excitement, as going in a straight line on a wet trail that is a mix of mud and grass, with tires that or now fully caked in mud leaving no room for traction, was not something to be taken lightly! I finished and started to psych myself up for having to do two laps of that, when D came running toward me with much excitement. Apparently, due to the nasty conditions, they had changed all the women's laps to be one less. I somewhat felt cheated and relieved at the same time.

My bike and I were caked in mud and I headed to the supplied water hose to promptly clean us. Later, I still had to pick out strands of grass and packed mud! She will never be the same again… sigh.

Race day and riders are line up at the start in their categories. For some reason, I was not that nervous about this race. I don’t know if it was because I had no expectations, didn’t know anybody, or knew that I only had to get through it once. I had gotten a somewhat good warm up with one of the riders in my group and then was just waiting for them to count us down. The whistle blows and I get my shot gun start as always, but not pushing too hard as I know as soon as I take the corner, we will start going UP and I needed to not be blown up for the long climb ahead. We all slowly crawl up the mountain. I definitely think that the pre-ride paid off. I had planned what I would need to do in my head, and I tried to follow it without getting discouraged by not being able to climb the whole way. As soon as I lost traction, I was off the bike. I did a combination of running and walking. At some points, running would make you slide. We all fought our way to the top. We were head to head with each other. I pushed myself to be just ahead of the rest up the last steep turn and quickly got back on my bike, gaining speed and momentum which helped propel me up the next incline. My goal now was to keep moving forward. I never saw anybody else in my class again after the first mile and a half, but I didn't waste any time looking back either. Once I caught up with some of the back of the men’s pack, I was motivated to keep going and try to pass as many as I could.

The climbing is over and now it’s time to make the descent. The sections in the woods are slightly drier than yesterday, but not by much. Still they seemed slightly more manageable. I am able to stay on the bike through 3 of the sections, but then finally had to succumb to the rocks, roots and mud slush. My better judgment told me to walk it instead of trying to struggle through there in a control slide. I unclipped one foot through parts, pushing myself through. On others, I totally had to dismount and carefully walk through. Walking on wet, muddy baby rocks with cleats is like walking on ice! Add the fact that you have to keep both yourself and your bike from falling makes it extra fun! These sections made “blood rock” at Oak Mountain look like a walk in the park!

I slide down the last section of single track and hit the open run down the mountain to the finish. My excitement starts to build, and I am almost hitting 30 mph. I remind myself that I have to bleed speed in order to remain in control through the slick sections. The downhill descent ends in a sharp 45 degree turn then rolls around into the start/finish area. I am done and managed to hold on to my lead to cross in first place having covered 6 miles and 1000ft of climbing. The race was the shortest this entire year but one of the toughest. Chatsworth was still worse! I was thrilled to have finished so well on such a tough course and at my first national event. I think I may go to this again next year, but hopefully conditions will be better. Of course, it won’t really make it easier, but maybe I will be able to stay on my bike a little longer. =)

The aftermath: the pictures never do it justice. The bike was trashed!

CBR gets a top 10 in Huntsville

2007-07-23T10:38:00.000-07:00

The team forgot a camera, so this is an edited version of Jeff, Adam and Bill

Prepared by Jeff Davis

The CBR Cat 5 group went to Huntsville for the Alabama State RR championships. The Cat 5'ers were Bill Swain, Adam Weinbaum and Jeff Davis, with Ben Weinbaum there for the Jr's race.

The Cat 5 field was capped out at 50 riders. The route was mostly flat with a few rolling hills similar to Sunshine Road beyond the bridge. At the beginning of the race I was worried and thought I was in for a long day, as we were going 28 mph the first few miles. I thought I may have accidentally entered the Tour de France. Luckily, it slowed down to a manageable pace after that. We ended up averaging just over 24mph for the 33 mile route.

It was also a bit sketchy at times too. Some guy hit my rear wheel so hard on the first climb it almost knocked me down. Now I know why some guys can't wait to cat up to the 4's.

The pack stayed together for the most part, as the hills were not significant enough to split up the group. So, it basically came down to a group sprint in the end. I found myself in the 15th spot or so with about a 1/4 mile to go and had a good position on the center line. The guys on the shoulder took off early and the guys in front of me couldn't respond, so I had to wait a few seconds for the 200 meter mark to go across the center line. I picked up a handful of spots in the sprint but the guys on the right just got too much of a head start and I crossed the line in 10th.

It seemed that most of the pack didn't understand the center line rule with 200 to go. They were unaware they could cross it for the final sprint, despite that fact that our Starter clearly stated this at the line before our race. That really kept the field tight and kept some of the guys from being able to sprint for the finish. Adam took major advantage of their ignorance and came from the back of the pack all the way up to finish 19th. Bill got pinned on the inside and couldn't really make a move without putting himself at risk and finished 27th.

We all felt like we had some gas left in the tank after the race. The consensus among us was if we knew how to work together better and understood the tactics of road racing a little more, we could have really left a mark for CBR on this race.

Ben Weinbaum entered the juniors race and had a tough day. There were only 10 jr's and one was a 16 year old that had just won the US Jr. TT Championship the week before. He is classified as a Cat 2 men's rider and also had three teammates with him. He was also wearing his National Champion's jersey which had to be intimidating. A 12 year old against a Cat 2 just doesn't seem fair, but Ben showed alot of determination in finishing the race and can chalk this one up as more experience. He did not many 12 yr. olds to race against, so they combined his group with the older kids. Ben did not beat the 16 yr. olds, but won his age division and took home Gold medals in both the crit and Road race.

The "Siege of Rome" - Georgia Cup Style

2007-07-18T13:51:00.000-07:00

"Some men seek glory, others wealth...old racers seek rest"

Barry & Butch crashing after the TTT

The Southeastern All Star series visited the hamlet of Rome Georgia the weekend of July 14 - 15. The event would be a timed stage race that included a Team Time Trial, Criterium and Road Race. Our team - CBR , Columbus Bike Racing, took a 4 man team for the master's and a 5 man team for the Competitive class (Cat 4/5).

Scott & Steve enjoying a late breakfast

The master's team were the first of our group to start. We had Barry Carswell, Butch Brookins, Scott Matty and Steve Murray. The format allows for up to 10 riders, unfortunately, we could only muster four this week. We had a 24K (15.36 mile) Team time trial. We started out a little hard and in doing so, burned through Butch around 25% into the race. The course was flat with slight rises, this led to rather faster speeds and efforts. Butch was able to put in two great pulls through the rotation. This allowed us to keep good speed and keep working. Only Scott and Steve had TT bikes, so Barry and Butch were at a slight disadvantage in equipment. Over the course of the ride, Barry was able to keep us driving, but used up his cardio about 10 miles in. Scott and I continued, but at a slower pace than we had with our team mates. We did not pass any teams, but we also did not allow anyone to pass us. We finished the TTT in under 36 minutes and got 4th place. Butch and Barry were able to complete the course within 20% range of our time which allowed them to keep our time as the overall finish time for the team. Our ending average was 27.5 mph. We were 1 mph slower than the winners, so we were close, but still too far to be in the money.
Breakfast before the Team time trial

The Cat 4/5 team started out with Sam Gwin, Matt Ragan, John Stowe, Victor Karm and Jonathan Cook. The abilities within the group were varying, so they anticipated loosing a rider or two along the way and using whatever boost they could get. Jonathan was the first to fall out, but this was Jonathan's first real race weekend. He did a great job considering he is very new to cycling! John, Matt, Sam and Victor rode a very hard pace and kept it up. They were up against some teams with the full 9 - 10 riders. Matt sacrificed himself with some monster pulls and was off the group late in the TT. Victor, Sam and John stayed together to the end and all 5 guys were awarded the same finish time. They scored a 5th place out of around 15 - 18 teams. Very impressive result for such a small group.

Barry & Butch at the LandMark diner
The criteriums were later in the afternoon and the course had 4 corners, a climb you had to stand for each lap and a blurringly fast decent into a 90 degree turn. It was a fun course. Fast, hard and exciting to race and watch. The master's group did a good job and all finished with the pack. Barry scored with a 10th place, Scott with a 13th, Steve with 15th and Butch with 16th. In the C4/5's - Sam was the strong man and rode the front and took 5th. John was just behind him in the pack with 13th and unfortunately Matt and Victor got caught up behind a wreck mid way through and were out of the race.

The whole team dines together after the crits

The Road Race was held around 30 miles north of Rome at a park call the Pocket. The Pocket is at the base of a small mountain or a really big hill. We had two laps which included climbing the mountain and the final climb was also the race finish at the top. Truly a sadistic design! In the masters and Cat 4/5 groups - the fields stayed together until the climb. We started the race and everyone stayed together until the hill. At that point the field began to spread apart quickly. The climb was around 3 miles with several switch backs. The average grade was around 8 -9% with spots exceeding 20%. As I watched the leaders leave me, I wondered again why I do this. I can tell you - it isn't for the climbing. I had installed a 25 to make the climb easier. I was in need of a 27 by the second time up that hill. For the RR, only Barry, Scott and I were in the race. Butch had only been able to race with us on Saturday. As we approached the summit, Scott was in the chase pack and Barry was just behind them. I crested about 30 - 40 yards behind Barry. I tried to catch him on the decent, but he was just too smooth and fast. We encountered emergency personnel as a Cat 3 rider had taken a spill and had to be airlifted out to a nearby hospital. As the race progressed, I was in no man's land watching the chase pack slowly go away. I rode the remainder of the race solo for around 25 miles. I did stop for a nature break and missed another chase group that was behind me. So, there I was, no hope of a good finish and my overall time down the drain. The scenery was lovely. I time trailed as much as I could to stay on task, but it did little good. Once I hit the hill for the final ascent, I began to cramp badly and was forced off the bike on two occasions. I finished, but in a lack luster showing.

V-man & Jonathan at the Landmark diner

The Cat 4/5's had a similar scenario that their field remained together until the first climb. Sam was able to make a break away group and stayed there for a 6th place finish. The chase group included Victor who finished 12th. Matt & John were in the next group and finished with the field. Jonathan was slightly behind them. It was definitely a hard first race weekend for Jon. He showed alot of heart and will power just competing in a massive field of 75 riders.

The weekend was really fun overall with a good group and some nice results!! I also have to mention "Dora the explorer". Dora Ditchfield, a former resident of Columbus was our local contact in Rome. Dora works at Berry College in Rome and is very active in the local bike club. Dora helped us find our way to everything we needed. Thanks Dora and good luck on the upcoming move to Indiana!!

Alabama State 40K Time Trial Championships

2007-07-09T11:17:00.000-07:00

Sprott, Alabama
Never heard of Sprott? Well there is a reason for that - there is nothing of note there. Only a road. And that road was all we needed. CBR took 13 riders to Sprott for our maiden voyage to the middle of nowhere Alabama. We had three teams for -Team Time Trial and one adult and two Junior riders for the individual event. The day started in a rainy Wal-Mart parking lot at 5 AM. We gathered and combined stuff to get down to 5 vehicles for the 3 hour drive to Sprott. The rain fell off and on the entire ride. The rain continued to fall during our TT's which made the rooster tails in the face really nice for everyone riding the TTT events!

The young guns started off and rode a 20K out and back route. They rode very well and represented Columbus and the valley very well. In the Juniors, we had Benjamin Weinbaum from the great state of Alabama competing for the state title. Ben was the fastest Jr. from Alabama in the 13- 15 group and won the state title!!! Gabe Denes Jr., not from Alabama, was second overall in the Jr's and won some cash. The rest of us had a full 40K team time trial. On the teams we had a full 4 man category 5 group with Jeff Davis, Shane Irvin, Bill Swain and Jonathan Cook. In the category 4's there was Matt Ragan and John Stowe. In the master's there was the ill fated team of Scott Matty, Gabe Denes, Adam Weinbaum and Steve Murray.

The master's group was the first to start from our group. On the way to the line, we lost Adam Weinbaum to a nature break and he missed the start. Scott, Gabe and I started out a little fast and Gabe paid the ultimate price as his legs refused to push that hard, Gabe was off the pace and fell back. Scott and I continued on and traded pulls every minute and a half. There was a slight tail wind going out and the course was flat. The roads was a pebble surface, but still quite fast. At the turn around point 20K into the ride, our average was 28.5 mph. (We were flying!!) We had passed three other teams at that point. After the turn we hit that same wind that had helped us going out. One word -OUCH! Our speed dropped and the suffering intensified. We took shorter pulls and continued to try to maintain the pace. I was worried that the Mellow Mushroom team would be gaining on us. They were two minutes back at the start, but they were young and looked strong. I had seen them after the turn and they were riding smooth. Our driving pace took its' toll around mile 19. Scott started fade just a little. We regained our composure and dropped the pace slightly to adjust. We pushed the remainder of the ride more from the desire to get off our bikes and end the suffering rather than winning anything. Scott reached deep and stood and sprinted the last 75 yards and we were done. Praise the lord! Our ending average was 26.5 mph. We won the Team Time Trial beating 9 other teams. Our finish time was 56:12. We had the third fastest overall time. Two pro/1/2 category riders had put in faster solo times.

Cat 5 team

We sat at the finish watching for the others as they were just behind us in the starting order. Matt and John came in exceptionally strong. Shortly thereafter - the c5's were approaching. They worked well together and launched two to the line to get the best time possible. Shane and Jon took the line with Jeff and Bill following close behind. In the middle of these two groups - Gabe and Adam rolled in. Adam had come to the line and found Scott and I gone and rode out chasing. Shannon Dickerson had also gone and suffered two flats 8 miles into the TT to end his race. We then waited for 2 hours for the results to post and finally left the metropolis of Sprott. Gabe has decided to come back next year and take the tandem title.

Did I mention there is nothing to do in Sprott? Well, if you look closely, you can see we were just sitting around watching Scott sleep. No one was able to ring his mouth with pieces of paper. Maybe next race!

2007-07-09T10:37:00.000-07:00

GSC #7

by Nicki & Jose

Nicki's take on Ellijay;
Yesterday marked the second to last race of the Georgia series. We couldn’t have actually asked for better conditions. With all the rain surrounding us, it could have turned out to be very nasty- had it been wet.

They changed the course this year, which I thought was a positive change. Last years’ start up on the road was just evil as far as gradient, and then dropped into one of the nastiest descents. Just what you want at the start: a bunch of folks racing down a nasty downhill section with blown up legs. So the trail had a lot better flow this year. Well, until you have to dismount to walk the climbs ;)

I got a good start. The road section was fast but toward the end, it had a bit of a climb. I found myself staying in the saddle and starting to gear down and I noticed that the girls behind were gaining on me and then at some point were right next to me. I had to make the conscious decision that I had to push myself and embrace the pain of getting out of the saddle and pushing a bigger gear to get into the woods first. I stood up, started to pedal and they dropped behind me. As I hit the single track, there were some pro/experts that had been stopped at the crossing to let the race starters get in. I passed one of the pro/experts as he was struggling to gain his momentum again. I knew that he would catch up with me again soon enough to pass right back. I hit the downhill section and didn’t see anybody again until we started to climb out of the hole. At that time the pro/expert had caught up to me and as he passed made a positive comment about my descent which was encouraging. This is always where I can make up some time as I feel like I’m stronger in the descents than the climbs.

When I hit the first short but STEEP climb, I decided to commit to it and try to make it. It was TOUGH but I managed to keep my momentum getting in and out of the saddle, and it was a great sense of accomplishment when I got to the top and it started to even out and drop again. Of course, I immediately made the decision that I will not be doing that on the subsequent laps as the effort exerted would hurt me for the rest of the race. After that, you get to suffer through some gradual but long climbs mixed up with some rolling descents, and just when you think the worst is over, you hit “the wall”. As the trail turns, you look ahead and there is this rocky, rooty, eroded trail that goes up, up, up. I let my momentum carry me up it as much as I could and once the wheels stopped, I was off the bike pushing/running/walking it up! When I got to the top, I had to stop and stretch a bit before getting back on the bike. This wasted time on every lap for me, but I think it also kept me from cramping.

At some point during the second lap, I was starting to drag really bad and suddenly I noticed that the girl in 2nd was 1 rider back from me. This motivated me to put a little more gas to the pedals and thankful a downhill was right up ahead so I gained some time and distance back on that. During my last lap, I got passed by some of the pro girls. Every time they passed, I would try to hang with them for a bit, but the only place I even came close was on the descents. As soon as we hit the climbs, I was left suffering miserably and eventually had to give in to the fact that I just wasn’t going to be at that level in this lifetime! I hit the last section of the trail, which was a nice flowing descent to the finish. I was so relieved I almost wasn’t sure if I was done or not. “Did I have another lap? Surely not!” As the other riders started coming through and stopping, I relaxed and just enjoyed the fact that another painful race was over.

All in all it was a fun weekend. As the season starts to come to a close, less and less riders are showing up at the start line. Jose and I were both excited when we saw another CBR bright green jersey come through the finish. John Spencer had another great race. He definitely needs to be moving up next year to sport! And of course Jose got his favorite placing… number 8! =)

Jose's take on Ellijay;
Ok, so just call me “Mr. 8th place” if you want. This is the 4th time in 7 races this season I have come in 8th place and to be honest it’s getting kinda old - not bad, just old.
GSC 7 took place at Carter’s Lake, Ellijay, one of the most feared courses in GA due to it’s fast sketchy downhills and of course if you want to go down fast you have to climb a lot. If it tells you anything we usually have the lowest overall turnout at this course – compared to other series races - probably due to its reputation. The difference here from Chatsworth (which was painful) was this course took you up the mountain in stages instead of miles of continuous climbing. You also got three or so sketchy descent sections with some other descents that were just wickedly fast and fun. Still, not what we train for here in Columbus, but not bad overall.
We drove up Saturday for a pre-ride and drove in the rain most of the way. We started fearing a muddy race which would not be a good thing at Carter’s Lake. Thankfully we got to the camp site and it was just drizzling and by the time we got to preride - it was not raining at all. We were happy to see the trail was dusty, not muddy.

Getting to the race recap. I had no need to watch the start line arrangement since it’s a wide road start and a half mile sprint to the woods. We were talking though about who wanted to volunteer going into the woods first since no one wants to drive the pace on this technical trail. There was actually some joking about everyone coming to a dead stop at the woods entrance going “you first”, “no you first”, “no please, you first”, you get the picture - well it was funny at the time.
Off we go on the whistle and the niceties of the start line end. It’s a mad dash to the woods. I was in 6 place just entering the woods and this yahoo didn’t shift from the road sprint deciding to do it just as we enter the woods – which is a climb. Needless to say, he messed himself all up crashed/dismounted and took me along with him. This is a VERY bad thing and a VERY bad spot. I had to clear my bike and push up the bit of hill left while feeling the “wooosh” of at least 4 other guys flying by me. Not a good start to this race which promised to be difficult to begin with. Back on the bike I managed to get the front 10 within sight and tried to close. Got close until we hit the first big climbing section. My effort to catch was not what I needed to face the climb and it just made me blow up. It’s that usual 10 minute after the start exhausted feeling we always get. I climbed the first section and dismounted for the second section of that climb – it had to have been a 30-40 degree incline at least. Nick - "I can confirm that it was STEEEEEP". Doable, but not when I’m blowing up. I walk/run that bit and get back on and pedal. From there I just worked to get my HR back in line and kept going. The race was uneventful from there on. I raced well after that and felt good. No cramps etc. We had 2.5 laps for a total of 16 miles of good climbing and descending action. Great tough trail! At one point I was passed by a Pro so I decided to chase him for a bit and watch him race and OH MY GAWD was that guy fast and fearless. We came up on one of the most scary descents of the trail and he almost appeared to be pedaling instead of laying on his brakes like a normal human being with any sense of fear and bills to pay. If you overshot this descent – which ended in a 90 degree left turn in soft ground – you would have been off the cliff making for a not so nice end to your race. He just skidded last minute – make that seconds – whipping his bike around, both tires appeared to slide as he made the right turn. Never once unclipping his feet - just laid on the cranks and kept going. Made me feel like I was on a tricycle. I think I ride fairly well in the woods but man, there is so much more to be learned...or fear to be lost...or brains cells to kill to make a move like that. So I decided he just doesn’t have a wife and kids to support. That has to be it LOL.
One last spot of note was “the wall” as it is called. That one just gets uglier year after year – another very steep but rocky and rooty climb which you come up on and just have to say “that’s just not worth my time”. Dismounted that one and ran up – which is quicker BTW. Other than that I made all the other climbs as painful as they were sliding into 8th place at the finish. Truthfully I’m not sure how I ended up 8th. I thought I was in 11th place or so and only remember passing one guy. I guess in the haze of racing I picked up a couple spots. I’ll take it – but did it have to be 8th place?!!!

Nicki kicked but as always and I spotted John Spencer coming (didn’t know he was there until then) out of the woods with a second place finish. Good stuff for the CBR mountain crew this weekend. We just need more people out there on mtn bikes. Good times.

Green Machine Captures the Cat 5 State Championship

2007-07-06T05:55:00.000-07:00

Sandy Springs & Union City - Highlights Over a several week period, the powerful cat 5 group of Matt Ragan, John Stowe, Ryan Crabbe, Shane Irvin and Victor laid down a path of destruction. They started in Sandy Springs during the Cycle works race weekend. Ryan stomped out a power sprint that beat the field for the victory in the road race. The following day, Victor nearly pulled off the win, but was nipped and scored a second place finish. A week later at the Union City Road race, John Stowe showed off his power by pulling the field and driving the pace the majority of the race. On the final approach to the finish, John once again with the help of Shane Irvin, laid down the pace and rode several want to be teams off his wheel to continue to dictate the race pace. He took the final corner and wiped himself out to give Ryan a strong leadout. Ryan turned on the after burners and won the State Road Race title. In only his first short season, Ryan has learned the tricks of the finish and used them well. Scott Matty turned in a strong performance at Union City as well with two top ten finishes in the TT and Road race.

Savannah, Georgia - Cyclism - June 16 & 17
The team turn out was limited, but the results were good. Our cat 4 group increased by 3 this week as Matt, John and Ryan all upgraded to category 4 racing. Scott Matty & Steve Murray were the lone Master's from Columbus to make the trip. The weekend was a stage race for the combined time of all events. It began with a team time trial. Each team could have up to 10 riders. With our limited turnout - we were at a disadvantage from the start. Scott & Steve started the day with the odds stacked against them. As C4 racers in the Master's field, most of the riders are more accomplished and experienced than our guys. Even so, the 15 mile course showed that categories are not all telling. Scott and Steve upset several larger teams by taking a podium spot in third. Beating several teams of 5, 6 or 7 riders. They were beaten only by the 500 pound gorilla that is Memorial Health with their stacked squad of super stars and the talented trio in second place that included a former world champion TT rider in David Grice and the current GA state TT champion Doug Pomeranz and a fine cat 2 rider that rounded out their team. The C4 squad were also at a huge disadvantage as the competitive field of 4/5 combined riders was at full force for the weekend. The other teams had up to 10 riders and most had 5 or more. Matt, John & Ryan had a misqueue that took them to the line 40 seconds late - so it was all out from the start. Ryan, who is not a time trialer did his job by driving for all he was worth as long as possible. He rode a little too hard as his vision began to fade to black and he nearly passed out. At that point, he turned it over to John and Matt who laid down the gas and had a top 15 finish. The afternoon crit saw Scott turn in a fine top 15 finish in a strong field. Steve didn't fair as well and was in the top 20. The c4 race was hectic and full of wrecks. Our guys stayed upright and had good finishes in the field.

Sunday brought with it the Circuit Race on Oglethorpe Island. A LeMans style road course on a 2.6 mile loop - created a fun, fast and exciting place to race. Scott and Steve began the day and as usual - Scott's aggressive riding had him jumping to bridge to every break. Steve stayed in the pack and sat on a couple of strong riders to ensure he stayed in position throughout the race. Scott also sat on front and drove the field's speed up a few times when there was a lull in the attacks. Scott did manage to get into several breaks, but none stayed away. With three laps to go, a group of 7 or so managed to gap the field and started to move away. Our guys took turns along with the field taking pulls to bring them back. Steve did a big pull with 2 to go to close on the lead group prior to the end. On the final sprint, Steve had gotten good position and sprinted with the leaders. He finished 4th. Scott ended the weekend 11th overall and Steve was 12th. The 2.5 minute gap from the TTT was the nail in the coffin that could not be overcome. John and Matt rode the c4 circuit and both finished in the top 20.

Currently, John, Matt & Ryan are ranked number 4 in the state and 12th in the nation for Team time trial!!

Georgia State Championship Race # 6 -Columbus

2007-06-27T10:44:00.000-07:00

Finally GSC-6, the hometown race. After all this riding/training and riding around GA we finally got to race at home. It was a great feeling to wake up at 7:30am and cruise my way over to the race venue 10 minutes away from home. Won’t describe the course since you all should know it well. Besides Ft. Yargo probably the fastest course in the series.

We all knew (even the buzz online) the Start would be crucial to this race as it bottlenecks into the woods only 300 ft or so after the Start, not to mention the 180 degree turn around the Oak tree. I had my plan(s) for that turn, 1. If I got stuck on the inside I would unclip my inside foot, spin my bike around and take off again or 2. Go around the outside and slingshot w/o losing speed. All depending on how the Start actually panned out.. So my cat. is up on the road itching to line up because there are so many of us and so little space. Everyone is edging in as the time gets closer and I decide I must do something to guarantee a front row spot. Bruce (announcer) calls ten seconds on the cat ahead of us and I start counting down, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4 ...Go! I jump the field rolling down the grassy knoll, lining up just as the whistle is going off for the other category – by that time everyone’s to busy looking at the race start to say anything and I find myself smack in the middle of the Start line by myself with everyone racing up alongside me. Perfect! I was psyched! I was sooo worried about getting stuck in the back row.
Now the hard part, getting into the woods in a good spot. Bruce gives the whistle and I bolt with everyone but what happens is everyone gets up to speed and then coasts as they approach the 180 degree turn. I didn’t. I pedaled a little longer getting myself ahead of the pack, put a little brake on to make the turn and bolt again in second place to the woods. Perfect, again! I just couldn’t believe the start went so well. Thinking I am behind Kolszak, the guy leading our series, I worry about keeping his tail in sight long enough to secure my podium position. To my surprise he just takes it easy thru the woods so once I recover from the starting effort I decide I need to pass. If I am going to do well I need to use the woods to my advantage. I gear down and wait for the rock slap in the Orange Loop to come up. I step on it passing who I find out was Tim Z., another very fast guy but not the one I thought was there. Now I pick up the pace and he matches it. In the switchbacks I see there is no one else behind us for a little bit so it’s all about dropping this guy – which is not easy. I attack several times in tight sections until midway thru the course I break away slightly from him. Now he has to find his own line, not use mine...and that’s a good thing for me. I never see him again.
Now I go into “someone’s gonna catch me” mode. I start attacking everything I can to build some time between those riders I know can usually outlast me and catch me towards the end of the race. Everything goes well from there I am pleased to say...well, maybe not everything. I tried to pass a guy in the tight orange section (2nd lap) but he doesn’t tell me when to pass, he just moves over and drags me with him making me wreck. I got up, put the chain back on and on my way I go. Got to some open areas and looked back every time but couldn’t see anyone behind me (from my category) so I started to slow down slightly so I could recover from each effort instead of riding max’d out constantly. That remained the case the remainder of the race.

If I have anything I wish happened differently it would be the rock garden. I pre-rode that technical climb 3 times and made it up every time. Then on race day lap 1 I clip a root and have to dismount before even hitting the steep climb and lap 2 my hand bumps my front der. lever and drops me down to the granny gear just as I hit the right turn losing momentum dismounting again.

So I made it to the finish line for the first time in 1st place. Great feeling, weird feeling. I usually spend the next few minutes after the race trying to figure out how many people were in front of me yet this time I had nothing to do but wait for my goodie bag. I had a blast. Thanks to all who volunteered and also served as our cheering section at every other corner. It was hard to slow down when we had people screaming our names (and encouragement) what appeared to be constantly. It was so nice to have people around us and know the event was being taken care of w/o us worrying about anything but just to pedal hard. I’ve read nothing but praises online about the course and the volunteer effort – great job!
Many other locals raced and surprised themselves at how well they can ride in the woods. Hope to see more of you out there.

by Jose Mendez

Nicki had a great race too as she slowly wraps up her vacation, I mean season, on the way to EXPERT next year. Way to go Nicki!!! Paul, where were you? You obviously missed the start. See ya next year. Joseph, cool to see you again and awesome top ten finish John Spencer, You’re just fast! 2nd place! Sport next year for you. Jared (BOMB), I am scared. Did anyone see his times? He pulled a Sport-type lap time. Glad he’s a lot younger than I and not racing me. Gabe Jr., It happens in the best of families. Hey, what’s an Endo here and there anyway No really, sorry to hear that, I know you would have won your race. Glenn, I was impressed. A busy man who doesn’t get to ride much and still representing.
Dayton, top 5 finish if I recall correctly. Smokin’ Teresa, so you moving up to Expert next year to chase Nicki? Matt W., good to see you complete your goal. Next goal is winning! All roadies who raced, keep on coming out. My boys raced again and both came in 2nd place. They were excited about it but wanted more riding. Now that’s a good problem for a parent to have.

Nicki's perspective
All in all I had a good race. The heat got to me too and I felt like I just didn’t have the energy level I was hoping for. I’m sure that some of it had to do with the fact that I feel like my legs haven’t quite recovered from racing 3 weeks in a row, and some with the fact that I had not gotten enough sleep during the week and was up between 4 and 5am due to being on call (being on call during a race week always stinks!). Grandma needs her sleep! =)
Racing at home definitely has its advantages and it shows. We know the turns and terrain and your body almost my instinct knows which way to lean, what’s coming up and what to prepare for (of course, that didn’t keep me from taking a hit twice!). But it also adds additional pressure because you feel like you should do better for the exact same reasons.
For me however, it feels like my home trail is also my Achilles heal! This year, although cramps started to set in a little later in the race than last year, the end result was the same. My legs locked up at the EXACT same spot as last year. Sigh… I want to give a HUGE thank you to the two sport guys that were right behind me who helped clear my rigid carcass from the trail so that riders could get by. You have to love it when someone comes hammering by screaming “clear the trail” and you are thinking to yourself “if I could move, do you think I’d be laying here?”
Thankfully, I was able to finish the race after much pain and agony which continued once I crossed the finish line. Of course, I really wanted to hide somewhere after the embarrassment of apparently causing some folks a scare again with the pre-mature calls for an EMT.

Joseph's Take on the race

off the line i was fourth into the woods. i held this spot, staying in the big ring, through the entire wooded section and out into the short track area. i passed a guy, third now. then someone passed me. fourth again. about halfway through this lap i realized i only had half a water bottle left from my warm up. i never switched bottles!!! continuing around the lake and on new trail i thought to myself, this place looks great. i'm sorry i wasn't able to help with the new trail. i crossed the rock section boldly, as the guy behind me sort of rattled his way across it. into the woods and back to the final straightaway i dropped down to about 7th or 8th place. as i came charging through with a guy on my wheel i reached for a cold new full water bottle and only managed to slap it out of darcy's hand. the water bottle flies to the ground, screeching halt, trackstand, she picks it up and hands it to me. two riders pass by. my second trip through the uphill rock garden was better than my first, i dismounted (think cyclocross) and ran all the way to the open trail again and hopped back up to my pedals. i passed one rider here. i began hydrating every second i could and found myself on the wheel of a pro woman rider. i did my best to stay on her wheel through the end of the lap. this kept me moving faster. i pretty much followed her and traded places a couple times with the pro woman through the rest of the lap.

climbing through "my trail" as barry called it was a very humbling experience. when i reached the final straightaway all i could do was pass a 30-39 rider. no 19-29 sport guys were in the way, or i would have surely passed them. big ringing it along the way i felt the great satisfaction of racing on a great trail in my hometown. i'd been cheered on by roadies and mountain bikers, old friends of mine, and been cheered with "go columbus!!" i crossed the line in 7th. about 6 spots lower than i'd been hoping for. but i had water bottle tragedies and general inexperience riding in the 106 degree heat (i'm used to upper 70's lower 80's... come ride in boone!!!) as a weak excuse. i'm happy, though, with my finish, and very happy about the day.

Results from our local riders were numerous and stellar.

Nicki Sutherland – First, Sport Women
Teresa Bruce – Second, Sport Women
Jose Mendez – First, Sport Men, 30-39
Glenn Kalnins – Fourteenth, Sport Men, 30-39
Dayton Preston – Fourth, Sport Men, 30-39
Jared Alderson – Fifth, Beginner Men, 20-29
Joseph Grimes – Seventh, Sport Men, 20-29
John Spencer – Second, Beginner Men, 30-39
Gabe Denes, Jr – Junior Men, DNF due to a technical problem from a crash

GSC 5 - Chattsworth

2007-06-11T09:25:00.001-07:00

GSC 5 - Chattsworth

An overwritten and pitiful race recap for me. By Jose Mendez

GSC 5 proved to be the toughest race I have done yet in my 2 years racing. The course wasn’t technical in the sense that you were making 4 ft drops but more the fact you were going downhill for about 15 minutes straight thru loose and jagged rocks – VERY FAST. For reference the trail cleared up in one section and I hit 39.5mph!!! Once you hit the absolute bottom of the mountain you climbed it all back w/o a break taking about 30 minutes. The climbs were viciously steep in many parts and loose rock beds in many others.

So we first line up at the bottom of a 1/2 mile road climb. Being a 9:30am start kept me from warming up well since I have the boys’ races to deal with right before then. Bruce continuously reminds everyone at the start that this is a VERY dangerous trail using this line many times ....” if you don’t have SKILLS walk away, you should not be on this trail”. So that said, we take off up the only truly smooth part of the course – the road. I get to the top in probably 7th place and into the woods we go. Feeling OK but worried that we will be hitting the real downhill in about 1.5 miles. I think I got passed by one or two before then on a short steep climb then we make it to the road crossing where the volunteers are yelling “downhill, downhill!!” and there it is. We head into the woods again and it’s down into the depths of he11 from there, literally. Steep downhill switchbacks for the next 10-12 minutes – the trail was about 4 ft wide but you did not want to veer off more than 6 inches from the main line or “bite it”. Not that the main line was clean. Jagged rocks imbedded in the trail and loose ones that have been kicked up just laying around. Then some areas were just loose 4 to 6” rock beds that you had to hope you did not flat or crash on. My hands were getting weak from just hanging on and feathering the brakes most of the time. Then just before we hit bottom it clears up a little and we have about .5 mile of incredibly fast SS where my computer marked me at 39.5mph (though I think that was on my second lap, since I was following people on the first) when finally we hit bottom. So what from here you ask? Well, you climb it all back in one long effort! No rolling climbs, no flats to recover, just one long 30 minute climb. Some areas were literally unrideable as they were just the side of a cliff were they managed to a squeeze in a few switchback to get you over it. Horrible pain as you climb those next to a beautiful soft waterfall on your left. I really just wanted to sit and look at it at that point. My legs just gave out – I blew up and just crawled my way walking out of there for what appeared to be an eternity. Got back on my bike and rolled for a bit then walked for a bit, then rolled then walked...get the picture? My mind won over my body and I decided to quit, yes DNF, the race. I told myself that when I made it back to the finish after the first lap I was pulling off, quitting and licking my wounds (none physical thankfully). As this is happening of course I am losing positions constantly. I thought myself to be a decent climber until yesterday.
For some reason once I hit the road climb again heading to the finish line – for lap one – I recovered and managed to convince myself to roll on. I felt much better by then and was (what I thought was) flying thru the trail hitting the downhills hard and even passing people on my way down. Got to the fast SS and that’s when I just let go of the brakes. I had put “grippier” tires on my bike for this race (why you ask, well because I was scared!!) so I knew they’d hold better in the corners and at high speed. There I believe I hit my top speed for the race 39.5mph!!! Probably the fastest speed I’ve ever done in a race.
Well but then I hit bottom again. Hmmm, I guess I have to climb out, AGAIN! With more mental strength and physical strength this time around I managed to ride much more of the climb only getting of for the truly steep and loose rock bed areas where it’s faster just to walk it. I probably took a little longer but I was going MY pace which kept me going OK, instead of chasing people. On one of my walks I came up on another walker who begins to tell me he had just slid out and broke his elbow (yeah, one of many casualties) after landing on a rock. After making sure he was “OK” I kept going – he was just going to walk back out and deal with his injury, but OK overall.
I kept climbing and passed one rider in my class and I believe one more rider on the final road climb. Then finally!!! The finish line. I have never been so glad to finish a race.
Final thoughts – 1. I need to train more in the mountains. We just don’t get 3 miles on trail climbing here in Columbus and you could tell the mountain goats from the rest of us. 2. Mind is over matter and 3. Add 1 teaspoon of salt into your drink. It WILL keep the cramps away...at least for me. This is my second race doing it and Zero cramps. Before then I could guarantee cramps. BTW, I read that on-line somewhere while researching cramps.
Great race. Big ups and downs in many ways. Glad it’s over.
Nicki tells me I ended up 14th and 25 of us started, not sure how many finished. This year’s group of Sport 30-39 racers it stacked, fast and plenty of them.
My boys raced and came in...
Samuel – 1st
Gabriel - 2nd

Nicki's take on the Chattsworth race.

I pretty much felt the same; however I had 1 HUGE advantage over Jose… I was ALONE! Nobody else in my class was apparently brave (or stupid) enough to come and race this trail. So there was no pressure on me, and I decided at the starts that I was just going to ride conservatively and not get hurt.

Generally speaking, I live for the downhill descents, but on this trail, there really wasn’t much room for error if you lost control of your speed. While letting go of my brakes, I would hammer down the sections, rocks kicking up against my bike (haven’t actually checked for damage yet) throwing me around as if I was holding a jack hammer. To add to the “excitement” they had these sharp switchback turns at the bottom of each downhill section, that you COULD NOT overshoot or you would find yourself off the side of the mountain, “hopefully” landing at the next section of switch back downhill.
My hands started to ache and I was switching between trigger fingers and when I could, not using the brakes at all.
As Jose mentioned, there was ONE nice clear, smooth section of trail where you could let go of the breaks and enjoy the speed.
But then the brief moment of joy was sucked out of you as you took a sharp right and the climbing started.

We do not exaggerate when we say there were no relief points. Whatever breaks you got where merely inclines of fewer rocks than the others. I fought it for a while, but after having to fight one rock after another, and another and another and looking ahead and seeing no end to it just more uneven road of UP UP UP, I allowed it to claim my mental fight and I dismounted. Even walking was hard. I attempted to run a few times, but then thought there was no need to twist my ankle, so I would walk, change sides, walk some more, hoping I would get to a spot eventually to get back on my bike. Ah, yes, now is good… a few more pedal strokes and dismount, walk, walk, push, hang over the bike, wipe the sweet draining from my face, look down at watch, heart rate 189, maybe I should rest for a bit. This is not a biking trail! This is not even a HIKING trail! Whose sick idea was this? I actually stopped to enjoy the scenery from time to time. I figured it was going to be a long ride, I mean WALK, to the top, so I might as well try to recover when I could. I watched as some pro/experts even pushed their bikes up the one section of switch back climbs. Could any body have ACTUALLY biked up there?

Before I hit the road, I had all but talked myself out of the ability to continue and do one more lap. But I felt like that would be terrible! I had no excuses to NOT finish… I always promise myself that I will finish no matter what, and I didn’t even have anybody chasing me. So I didn’t care if I had to walk the rest of this course, I WOULD FINISH IT!

Once I hit the road, I felt fine and my legs felt strong going up the road. It made you realize how much energy was being sucked out of you trying to go over the uneven terrain. By the time I entered for the second lap, I was feeling a little more positive, but once I took the right to start climbing, that enthusiasm came to a screeching halt again.

2 miles from the finish, I got passed by the 2 pro girls. They were finishing up their last lap (one more than me) as I was still convincing my legs to keep walking. I hopped on my bike and tried to follow them for a while, but with no recovery spots, I had to back off, and give in to dismounting my bike again one last time.

I can’t remember walking my bike this much since the first year I rode Carter’s Lake up near Ellijay, my first year racing as a beginner. This course is evil! Maybe next year I will offer to volunteer instead, so I can stand and watch how the pro men do it and be amazed and re-inspired.
This course is truly a reality check!

Ok, I’m exhausted again just thinking about it!
BUT, at least it is over, and another race down, 4 more to go.

A REAL Southern Girl Wins Again!!

2007-06-11T07:38:00.000-07:00

Nicki Sutherland is the ultimate southern lady. Not only does she live in Columbus, Georgia in the heart of the south, She is originally from South Africa. (That is really south!) Nicki has dominated the Sport women's class this year and may move to expert next year.

BUMP & GRIND
Paul's Single Speed take on the race.....I think I got 17th out of 25 single speeders. Man there was a bunch of
them, our category had all ages and classes combined. I ran a 32X17, I think I could have pushed a 32X16 to help from spinning out on the flat sections but really would have paid on the climb up the mtn. I had to
dismount right before the bridge and walked for about 15 or so feet. I just couldn't turn the cranks.....

I think most guys were riding 29er's but feel the way to go was 26er, those 29er's didn't seem to handle well in the tight stuff due to their longish wheelbase. I had a good time and the cramps didn't show up until mile 11....I forgot to take my pills.

Nicki's write up....I had a good race. I was very excited. At the start, there was a girl that dashed off faster than jack flash, and I tried to keep up with her for a bit, and then was like "no point in blowing myself up, it's a long race!" I was able to catch up with her at that first section of the woods after we got off the road, and then once I passed her I didn't see her again...thankfully. My goal for this race is always to get to the bottom of the climb up the mountain as fast as I can so that I have distance and time between me and the other rides in case I just can't keep cranking. I felt like I had a good climb up the mountain.. It was painful, but it seemed to go by a lot faster than I was expecting. Maybe it's because I was expecting another feed zone at the top and after the feed zone before the bridge, I kept looking for more people, and they never came. Then all of a
sudden, I was at the top and I was like "THANK YOU!"...

After that, I just wanted to stay focused, not make mistakes and enjoy the ride. I find that pushing the 2 miles down that fire road after the climb can be painful too from time to time. once you dip into the downhill section toward blood rock, that's really when the fun starts. I cleared blood rock and that gave me a boost to roll through the rest of that fast section with more confidence.

I finished first, just behind 1 of the girls that started in the age group ahead of us. When I came up on her, I tried to catch her, but she was pretty fast through the woods and I wasn't able to close the distance. 1:24...I only started to feel a few twinges of cramping toward the last mile and 1/2, and only on those last few climbs, so I feel like that was a good thing.

GSC#3 - Fort Yargo, GA 04/29/2007
Today we had perfect racing conditions. Finally some warm weather (which we may not be so thankful for come mid summer) and a perfectly dry trail. I was feeling a little shaky before the start of the race. Not the nervous shaky, but the low-blood sugar shaky. I don't know if it was because I didn't eat enough pre-race, or maybe the sudden heat was draining me more than I realize. Either way, after GO, I tried to get myself motivated to get out of the starting blocks and first into the woods. I was being closely tailed by Emily (the girl in 2nd) which was a huge motivator to keep me pushing and not back off. After about 3 miles, I couldn't hold the pace and had to back off and allow Emily to pass. I recovered and continued to push myself to at least keep her in sight. This paid off as 2 miles from the end of the first lap, I was able to pass her again on a climb. Again, she remained right behind me. We chase into the start of the second lap, and I slow down to feed, at which point, she takes the opportunity to pass. I got back into rhythm, and tried to not let her get away from me too much. About 5 miles into the second lap, I came up on her again, managed to pass, and somehow managed to push past and never saw her again. It was a good race with the two of us challenging each other the whole way.

more results:
Jose came in 8th
Gabriel came in 2nd
Samuel came in 2nd
Gabe D junior came in 2nd.

good day for all! =)

GSC series # 2- Athens - Nicki climbs the Podium again!

2007-04-18T05:46:00.000-07:00

Sunday marked the 2nd race in the Georgia State Championship Series. This was a dual event which also included the South Eastern Racing Series. That always means a bigger, more competitive group of racers coming out to compete for points.

Once again, the racing gods were not smiling upon us with good weather. All of us had already prepared ourselves for a potential mud-fest due to the threat of rain and thunderstorms the night before. The good news was that it didn't rain as much as predicted, but the bad news was that it had rained just enough to still make conditions a little tricky on the fast, eroded, rooty descents.

Temperatures were almost worse than with the first race where we started out in the 30s due to overcast conditions, and winds that ranged between 10 - 20mph! At the end of the races, we were standing around, teeth chattering, waiting on results which thankfully didn't blow away in the wind!

Results were as follows:
Samuel Mendez (kids 4 to 6) - 1st
Gabriel Mendez (kids 6 to 8) - 4th
Jose Mendez (men's sport 30+) - 7th
Joseph Grimes (men's sport 20+) - ?
Nicki Sutherland (women's sport open) - 2nd

Here follows some comments from the days racing...

Kids Race (commented by Jose)
Samuel came in First place clearing the pack after the first turn. The race course was shorter than last year which probably benefited him since he likes shorter efforts. He was happy with his finish, of course, and even wanted to go and tell the announcer (Bruce) that he won.

Gabriel had a tough race. Had a larger field and the 6-8 category actually rides into the woods - which were wet and a little tricky for young ones. He got a decent start and managed to go 3rd into the woods looking good. I met him on the other side when exiting the woods for the first time and he was doing OK but you could see the pain in his face. He looped around and heading back into the woods still in third place. I veered off to meet him on the other side. I sat there for a bit and here comes 1st place, then 2nd, then the boy who had been 4th into the woods. Uh Oh, where's Gabriel?! I race into the woods to find him on the side of the trail "working" on his bike. Gabriel crashed and lost his chain in the process. He was OK so I finished putting his chain back on and pushed him off. He finished the race in 4th place and was exhausted. Still happy with his finish though.

Jose's Race (commented by Jose)
Overall, I had a good race. We lined up to make up a 30 racer field - less than expected but not bad considering it was pouring the night before and the word on the web was that it would be nasty. As it turns out the conditions were great, maybe it was too dry before the rain so the trail just sucked up the water leaving only a few truly muddy spots plus slightly larger water crossings.

So we are off and immediately I hear my gears jumping around in the back. Hmm, I guess all that adjusting I did Thursday before the race wasn't quite on - oh well, push on. Went into the woods in top 10 position. Then it gets scary for about 5 minutes. The first section is just knarly switchback down hills (and wet) with some seriously tight fits between trees and over BIG roots. Got beyond that uneventfully,looked down and guess what! ...no flats and a chain still on the bike - already better than the Macon race. We push thru the first lap breaking up the group about 30 minutes in leaving about 5 of us breaking away (yes,roadie term). Kept the pace with that group until we made it to the Start/Finish (1st lap though) where I was starting to fall behind the lead group slightly and caught by another rider in my category. I chased him as long as I could but probably a mistake. It made me fade half into the second lap for a few minutes being passed I believe by another rider. Then something happened, I don't know, maybe the GU kicked in - whatever, and I woke up. Picked it up again and started my way pushing up the final sections. I could see 8th place every time we were going opposite ways on the final switchbacks... that's always an incentive to push harder. With 8th place maybe 20-30 seconds behind me I managed to make it to the finish in 7th place. Don't ask me about 6th place, I was in defense mode at that point. I couldn't tell you how far ahead 6th place was from me.

So a good race all in all. I really did not go into this expecting a top 10 position as this was a combined series race. Both the GSC and the SERC series were part of this race. Looking forward to more pain, I mean fun, in two weeks at Winder, GA.

Nicki's Race (commented by Nicki)
The weather combined with a short warm-up and sinus congestion, did not make me feel like I was fully-joy for this race. But the legs didn't feel too bad when I hopped on the mountain bike finally to line up for the race start.

I got a good start, and made sure I was first in the woods. But on the first incline, I wasn't running on all 4 cylinders, and just didn't feel like I wanted to get out of the saddled to chase the girls down. So I sat it out and dropped into 3rd place. The girl in 1st was quickly pulling away from us and I had already decided that she would be the one to chase down today. As we hit the tricky down hill sections, the girl now in 2nd, was tightening up. I found a save spot and put her behind me, moving back into 2nd and never seeing her again. Trying to chase down the girl in 1st, I slipped on a root in a turn, went down and took a handle bar in the stomach. I quickly picked myself up and moved on, trying not to focus on the pain from the fall. At that point, I decided that I would just ride my own race and be a little more conservative today and rather be safe.

Even though I never saw the girl in 1st place again, I felt like I had a good ride (I say ride because I felt like this was more of a ride than a race!)and that in fact, I felt better in the 2nd lap than I did in the first. I think this was probably due to the fact that I decided to ride my own pace, and was able to get a really good warm up. The dismount and run up I had to do up a newly cut section of climbing didn't hurt as much as it usually does either. Ursula was right! Running pays off for situations like these. I wanted to try to climb it, but both times I was forced to dismount due to riders in front of me, and as we know, when you are off the bike on a climb, you are better off just running up the rest of it.

The trail truly felt really good, except for the descents which forced me to ride the brakes a lot more than I usually like to. The bikes also didn't take excess beating, but it is waiting for me at home with a sad face to properly clean it as soon as the sun shines again.

Joseph's Race (commented by Joseph)
to be short... I did survive the course. The conditions were much better than Tsali - like, worlds apart. The trail was wet enough to feel tacky and just enough to make the roots sketchy, and make me feel faster through them!!! I had fun and I scored a top 15.

Next one is Fort Yargo... this will be a really fast race. Course conditions are very much like Flatrock, except with a nasty climb 1/2 way into the lap.

"Rip their legs off!"....and we did!

2007-04-16T10:32:00.000-07:00

by Steve Murray

John & Matt after the Road Race

"Rip their legs off" has been our road riders mantra for a few years now. Of course our legs seem to be the only ones in pain after the races. With limited exceptions, we rarely did well collectively to feel we made an impact. However, this weekend was a pleasant change for the boys.

We traveled to Rock Hill, SC (just below Charlotte, NC). It was a long drive. We left Columbus on Friday morning around 10 and reached Rock Hill around 5 PM. We did stop to pick up Darren in N. Atlanta and had lunch, none the less - it was a long drive. We then had races to do Friday night. Friday night were "match sprints", we weren't sure what to expect - we had never done a race with match sprints. They were fun!!

Friday night's "White Rose Sprints"
The course was a closed off street in downtown York, SC and it was 500 meters long. Each heat had 8 riders line up and the first one across the line wins. The first two finishers advance to the finals and the next two advance to the next level. We had two riders in the category 5 sprints. That was Matt Ragan and John Stowe. They did their first heat and each advanced. The next round found John qualify and Matt missing by inches. John raced the semi-final heat and did not make it to the final. John was 10th overall in the category 5's - Good job John & Matt! I raced the Master's 35+ field. I raced my first heat and won, so I moved to the finals. Scott Matty's raced the Master's 45+ group and they only had 8 racers - so they all got an automatic birth to the finals. My final was first and I started out fine, got a little jumpy about 150 meters in and started ramping it up for my charge. I should have been patient like the guy who sat on my wheel and used my draft to launch around me for the win. I placed second. Scott's final was next and after waiting 3 hours to race - he put it on the old fellas - Scott won the final's for the Master's 45+ field!! Darren Sorrells didn't race the sprints, but was kind enough to take pictures and video of everyone else. Thanks Darren!!

Saturday Rock Hill Criterium
The category 5 boys started the day off with their crit. Their field was around 65 riders on a fairly technical course with 6 turns, a fast decent into a tight corner and an uphill climb to the finish line. Matt and John were in good form and raced well. John took the lead in the race and pulled the field a little too long and could not hold the pack after coming off the front. He raced from behind and started catching the pack towards the end of the race, but just missed a pack finish. Matt stayed in and worked with the group and finished 11th. Scott and I were in the combined Master's 35/45+ field. We had around 65 riders too. I had good position on the start and the announcer started the race with a prime (pronounced pr-eem), a prime is a race within the race. Prizes, cash or goods, are given to the first racer to cross the finish line on the next lap after the announcer calls the prime. I started near the front and took the sprint for a $25 prize right off the bat. I dropped back into the field for the rest of the race and moved up slightly near the end. I finished 10th. Darren was in the field racing well when the riders in front of him lost control in the fast turn on turn 5. Darren left the race course to avoid the crash and when he was back on - he had lost the field and his race was basically over. Scott kept good position in the front and stayed there through the race. He did it so well that he won the race in the Master's 45+ field!! At this point Scott has won both events in a three event weekend. He was the dominant racer in the 45+ field.

Sunday's Patriot Trail Road Race
The weather rolled in Saturday afternoon and rain poured across the Carolina's. We traveled to the road race in a light drizzle and prepared ourselves for a day of miserable riding. Shortly before our race began the rain subsided. We even got some sunshine near the end of the race. The course was flat to rolling terrain with no real features to separate the pack. Scott, Darren and I were in the combined Master's field and rode the first 30 miles of a 45 mile race with nothing of note to report. At 30 miles, Scott and Darren moved to the front of the pack to assure themselves of good position if any other riders attempted to charge off the front (known as an attack). I stayed mid pack until about 5 miles to go and began edging my way up. I saw Scott go to the front and pull the field several times and each time Darren would go in front to keep Scott from working too much. Darren would cover Scott's pull at the front to allow Scott to save energy for the end. Scott had two 1st places and he was the prime contender for the overall Omnium title for the Master's 45+ group for the weekend. Well, the field's speed really picked up around 3 miles out. We stayed around 26 -28 mph straight to the finish. Scott got on the front and really picked it up in an attempt to shatter the front group, but was not able to make it stick. By the final 1000 meters I edged to the top 10 and the pace had really picked up. We hit the 350 meter mark and I was afraid I would get boxed in and made my move. It was far too early, but I hoped I could hold my sprint longer than the rest. I almost did, but was passed in the last 40 meters. I held on for second place. Darren was spent from all the work protecting Scott and settled for a pack finish. Scott got his handlebars hooked with a rider who quit pedaling in front of him, but managed to avoid a wreck, by the time he cleared it and started sprinting again, he crossed the line in 10th place. Scott was a marked man from his first two days wins and no serious rider was letting him take off without a challenge. This made his road race a real testament to his overall speed and power.

Overall the weekend was a smashing success for the Green team. We all made our presence known. Due to the miss queue with the other rider, Scott's 10th place made him miss the overall weekend title by a point.

Summary of results:

White Rose Sprints

Category 5
John Stowe - 10th or 11th
Matt Ragan - 16th

Master's 45+
Scott Matty - 1st Place

Master's 35+
Steve Murray - 2nd place

Rock Hill Criterium

Category 5
Matt Ragan - 11th
John Stowe - pack finish

Masters 35/45 +
Scott Matty - 1st place
Steve Murray -10th place
Darren Sorrells - pack finish

Patriot Trail Road Race

Category 5
Matt Ragan - top 20 finish
John Stowe - top 20 finish

Master's 35/45+
Scott Matty - 10th place Master's 45+
Steve Murray - 2nd place -Master's 35+
Darren Sorrells - pack finish Master's 35+

Omnium - overall

Steve Murray - 1st place Master's 35+
Scott Matty - 2nd place Master's 45+

April Fools..….they were racing all weekend!

2007-04-03T05:38:00.000-07:00

CBR Master's team pictured

The Green team was out this past weekend. We had riders racing in Perry, Georgia and Bryson, North Carolina.

Tsali Trail – Bryson, NC The mountain team was Paul Hein and Joseph Grimes. They raced the SERC series race in Tsali, in the rain. The conditions started bad and got worse. Paul said he lost most of his braking about 5 miles into a 20 mile race. He had an impact around 10 miles in that resulted in what looks like one or two broken fingers and one eye that is blood red. If you’ve ridden with Paul, you know he rode on because he is stubborn and cheap. He was getting the value for his race dollar and he hates to quit. I almost got him over the quitting thing the year he raced road with me. Joseph prepared the following blow-by-blow account of his race. So far he has already gotten 8th and 10th place in the Charlotte short track series.

Joseph’s report:
Tsali was great. It was raining off and on all morning during the beginner rides and as Paul and I were warming up. My race was good. To put it shortly, I was in the top 5 or 10, moving along, and flatted. I repaired it and got back in it, I ran a lot, as I've learned to do from watching CycleCross and general NC riding, and passed some people on muddy climbs. I climbed my way all the way up the 2nd muddiest steepest hill and passed a few more people. Coming through the feed-zone I did the smartest thing of the race... got off my bike, stopped totally, and lubed my chain. I'd put grease and wet lube on it to start the day, but it was all gone and metal on metal squeaky. Then the 2nd smartest thing was dumping water from my bottles onto my forehead to wash away some dirt/mud from my eyes. My gloves were too dirty to do that task!! The last four miles or so, I could see, and I had a nicely lubed chain. I passed every rider except one that I could get my eyes on, regardless of their age group. I felt good near the end. I finished 16th out of 25, which wasn't so bad. My goal was to get a top 15 and I was really hoping for a top 10, but with the flat I am happy with 16th.

I survived the course for the most part. It was really tough. Anyone who was at Dauset trails last May should know full well how muddy this event was. It may even have been worse!! I basically made away with dirt in my eyes and a few little scrapes on my arms from thorns and the like. One older fellow went down on a muddy switchback and though I don't actually know what he suffered, it looked and sounded like a broken collarbone. Anyways, I felt good. My KENDA tires suited me well, karma 2.0's... oh wait, you're not a reporter, just Steve. The tires really did work well though, a lot of people were going soooooo slow through corners and I was hitting most with no brakes. It was a good time. I'm happy with my placing, I've corresponded with my "coach," a CTS guy that is friends with Boone Bike, and I'm looking forward to Athens, GA.

Sport Men – 35-40
Paul Hein 8th place

Sport Men – 19-29
Joseph Grimes 16th place

Perry-Roubaix – Perry, GA

Time Trial

Although a smaller race venue than the Georgia Cup Series, the Perry courses are great for racing. The turnout was slightly lower as well. Our team turnout was one for the record books! Perry is around 90 miles from Columbus, so it is a good day trip race. The course was a rolling route along a 4 lane divided highway. There was some wind, but all in all it was quite manageable. Scott Matty had a great day with his 4th place finish. The master’s field had some very accomplished riders and Scott put down the hammer on most of us. I thought my time was pretty good until I saw Scott’s.
9.5 mile Time Trial:
Name..........Category........Time.....Placing

Kevin Adam........5..............23:58.....11th

Barry Carswell....Master.........22:01.....15th

Scott Matty.......Master.........20:59.....4th

Steve Murray......Master.........21:32.....12th

Darren Sorrells...Master.........22:47.....18th

Scott Matty & Barry Carswell

The circuit race was a 2.6 mile loop with four turns. There was some wind and open expanse which raised the difficulty level for the team. The Master’s had 10 laps and they hammered from the start. The race kicked off and the pace started up from there. The TEAM One/Memorial Health team had a large group and they were probing and sending off guys to test the waters early. One of their strong men, Steve Carrell, went solo at around 3 or 4 laps in. His team worked to block and cover any attacks, but the peleton worked and pulled him in with two laps to go. We only had our Master’s group racing the circuit and we almost had the full team. We didn’t have a clear strategy as many of our riders are just finding their fitness. We did not do much other than ride the pack. Steve Dozier went up in the first lap and did a pull. Scott Matty did go up and work with some of the Outspokin team to pull in Steve Carrell. The rest of us just worked to keep from getting dropped. All our guys finished what was basically a 1-2 race. The average speed for 26 miles was 24.9 mph. The high points were the finale where several riders from the CBR were in good position. Scott did some good work to plow the road and lead out Barry and Butch toward the finish. Butch got blocked out on the final turn and still managed a top 10. Barry was in the final sprint and pulled off 3rd place. Phenomenal effort considering he didn’t feel like he had the legs at the beginning of the race. I thought I was in a good spot half way to turn four on the final lap when I got enveloped in the surge and then put in everything I had after the final turn. I had about 1000 meters to cover and I made up some positions but the legs could not do it. I passed Scott within sight of the finish, but he passed me back. My legs were shot. It was a very good race for the team. We fielded our first good sized group and everyone rode and finished the race with two top 10’s and a podium.

Circuit Race
Name..............Category..Placing

Butch Brookins.....Master...10
Barry Carswell.....Master...3
Steve Dozier.......Master...23
Glenn Kalnins......Master...24
Scott Matty........Master...15
Steve Murray.......Master...16
Darren Sorrells....Master...17

The road race is where the weekend gets its’ name. The town is Perry and South Georgia’s version of cobbles are Georgia red clay dirt roads. Each lap had a section. The route was hilly, had dirt roads and rain was pending all day long. The cat 5 men took four riders and it was the first race for two of the men. The C5 guys finished prior to the rain. They had their work cut out for them as the field broke apart in the first lap. Jeff Davis made the 10 man break and did too much work on the front and also took a spill on the “Georgia Pave” (dirt road). Jeff lost the lead group and fell back into the chase group. The rest also had their own trials and tribulations, but ended the day upright and with their first race of the season under their respective belts. Unfortunately Barry was the sole Master there and he got to finish his race in the rain. For Barry, the previous day’s efforts were torturing his legs, but he rode very, very well. The “Pave” also took its toll with wrecks in the master’s field. Barry spent several minutes pulling some guys handlebars out of his Krysiums. He finished the day in 8th place. A three man group went off the front and he was the 5th finisher in the field. His overall weekend results were 6th overall. All in all, a fine weekend of racing.

Perry-Roubaix Road Race
Name.........Category.....Placing

Kevin Adams.....5.........30
Barry Carswell..Master....8
Jeff Davis......5.........29
Shane Irvin.....5.........25
Bill Swain......5.........26

Congratulations to all the mountain and road racers on a fine weekend!!

Road boys take to the Hills!..... by Steve Murray

2007-03-27T06:39:00.000-07:00

Matt Ragan (pictured on left)

March 24th & 25th held in store a visit to "Chicken City", Gainesville, Georgia. This was Georgia Cup #2. Two riders did the entire stage race and 5 others did one or more. Matt Ragan was the sole rider from CBR to take on the massive competitive class (cat 4/5 combined). In only his second road race weekend, Matt scored a top 10 overall. Matt was 10th for the weekend in a field of over 85. Matt's performance raised him to 12th in the on-going race series. He had top 20's in both the Time trail and the RR. The road course was built around it's climbs. The course had three climbs, two of which were KOM (King of the Mountain) climbs. They were scored each lap. Matt earned KOM points on both climbs in 3 out of his 6 laps. Too much time at the front took its toll and Matt fell back near the last lap. He was still able to stay with the lead pack, but lacked his normal explosive power on the finish. Matt ended the race in 17th. All in all, a great weekend for our eager cat 5 racer. I also did the entire weekend and had a good Time trial with a 9th place finish. My time was decent, but not quite what I had hoped for. The Road race for the Master's was raced by "Big" Dan Duval, Darren Sorrells and Steve Murray. We all finished, but slightly behind the main group. We were all pleased to complete the 8 trips up the 1.5K climb. At 9% grade, it really hurt more each successive lap.

The crit was on a standard four corner course. It had two long sections and was really fast. The master's crit was raced by Scott Matty, Steve Dozier, Glenn Kalnins, Darren Sorrells, and Steve Murray. The race announcer was a sadist. He called prime after prime which caused the field's speed to stay very high -with almost no time to recover. The constant barrage of accelerations took their toll on our old crew. With about 10 minutes to go, there was just Scott Matty and myself left from the CBR team. The field had also reduced by at least half of its' original number by the end. Scott was a monster on the bike as always. With about three laps to go, Scott pulled the field up to an 8 man break that surely would have stayed away without his effort. I faded a little in the last couple of laps(maybe from trying to stay in when Scott chased the break-away group). I managed to stay on the pack, but lost a good finishing position. The crit ended with Scott scoring 13th and me in 20th. The average speed for the crit was around 26.3 mph.

Matt's crit was also fast, but throw in 90 "hot dogs" all trying to win the race every lap. The field was large and sketchy at times. If you've never raced a crit - fast and sketchy is a tough combination to race in. When all was said and done, Matt finished mid pack and gained more experience racing in close quarters.

All in all - it was a fine weekend of racing. No one got hurt, everyone picked up some good training time and the sun was shining!

CBR Mtb Season opens atop the Podium

2007-03-20T05:49:00.000-07:00

March - 2007

Arrowhead Trail – Macon, Georgia
Reported by Nicki Sutherland

The GSC (Georgia State Championship) got started this weekend at Arrowhead Park, GA (near Macon). I guess the temperature this morning was payback for last years record heat. We arrived at the park to a whopping 35 degrees! I don't know if it was the nerves or the pre-warm up on the trainer, but somehow it seemed to be quite bearable by the time we actually started the race.

This is definitely one of the harder courses we race all season, and the cold air did not help the initial race burn and pain. I kept reminding myself to relax and breathe slower, but my anxiety for needing more oxygen always overcomes. I got a good start and tried to put good distance between me and the girl in 2nd. It's always better to have that buffer because by the 2nd and 3rd laps the legs aren't always as co-operative to "keep turning the cranks", and I tend to slow down (or have to deal with cramps which seems to be the thing for me lately!).

My heart sank for Jose as I came around a turn to see him off to the side, bike upside down. He had broken his chain! I always hate seeing a rider on the side but especially so if it's your buddy. I was pleased to see him fixing it though and hopefully, he would be catching up to me soon and passing me. I could attempt to at least stay with him, even if only for 2 seconds ;) As we started the 2nd lap, he had caught up and we both struggled to get passed another rider for a while (the longest I would ever ride behind Jose in a race). Finally the guy moved over and we were able to pass. I didn't see Jose again! =) Obviously, 3 weeks off the bike in China didn't hurt him that much! ;)

Going into the 3rd lap, the cramping started setting in. I managed to back off the pace just enough to ward off the cramps, finish up the last of the climbs and roll into the finish, thankful that it was an uneventful race, re: mechanicals, cramping, crashing, etc.

RESULTS
Ursula Sandefer - Women's Pro/Expert Class - 1st (I want to be like Ursula when I grow up!!!)
Jose Mendez - Men's Sport 30+ - 18th (excellent I think after 3 weeks off the bike and having to fix a chain)
Nicki Sutherland (that would be me) - Women's Sport 30+ - 1st (does the pain ever go away?)
Gabe Denes Jr. - Boys Beginner Junior (15-18) - 4th (and he wasn't even looking that miserable at the end, so I told him he obviously wasn't riding hard enough! =)...)
Gabriel Mendez - Kids (6-10) - 1st (boy was he moving that bike, even though it was twice the size of him!)
Samuel Mendez - Kids (3-5) - 2nd (obviously he is going to be challenging his brother soon!)

2007 - Ready or not - here we come!

2007-01-03T15:20:00.000-08:00

Well the new season is upon us whether we are prepared or not. Many have been slogging through the fourth quarter of 2006 laying down the base miles. Slowly, but surely the anticipation of a new race season approaches and the self doubt that always accompanies the unknown is here as well. To further add doubt is the fact that our team had such a good 2006 and who knows if we can repeat in 2007.

Our team was pretty good in terms of our size and riding experience. We have around 13 riders who did 10 or more races for a total of over 230 events. We had another 12 who did around 30 more events. Most of our team is in the lower end of the experience spectrum, so we are all learning the ropes rather than schooling the competition. Even so, look what the 13 riders turned out in 2006:

Mountain Bike

–Expert Woman Mountain Bike 11th - Nationally ‘06– Ursula Sandefur
–Sport Woman Mountain Bike 9th - Nationally ‘06- Nicki Sutherland
–Sport Men Mtn. Bike 3rd (19–24 year old) Nationally ‘06-Joseph Grimes

2006 Mountain Bike National Championships –Bronze Medal- Ursula Sandefurr (Expert women 45-49)

2006 Norba National series winner- Ursula Sandefur (Expert women 45-49)

2006 Georgia State Championship Mtb. Series – 2 top 10 series finishers
Women’s Sport – Nicki Sutherland
Men’s Sport – Jose Mendez

Road Racing

2006 Georgia State Champion
- Time Trial - Sheila Santa
- Road Race - Sheila Santa

–Individual Time Trial – US National ranking as of January 3, 2007:
• # 3 Men’s category 4 - Steve Murray
• # 3 Women’s category 4 - Sheila Santa
• # 5 Men’s category 4 - Scott Matty
• •
– Men’s Cat 4 Stage race– US National ranking as of January 3, 2007:
• # 4 Men’s cat 4 - Steve Murray

2006 Georgia Cup Series (road) – Yellow Jersey winner -Men’s cat 4 – Darren Sorrells
2006 Georgia Cup Series (road) – Masters 45+ top 5 for the series – Scott Matty

Triathlon

2006 Clermont Ironman Triathlon – 12th overall – Matt Ragan

*Matt's placing was better than most of the pro triathletes in the race!

***********************************************************************************

This is good and then if we include the number of podiums -39 or the number of top 10's - 81 our team had a great year. 2007 will be hard pressed to match our numbers for '06. But then again, many of our riders raced only a portion of the season as our team worked to prepare for a Norba sanctioned mtb. race held in Columbus. 2007 may be the next step in our evolution as a team. We have some new talented mountain bikers that are moving up from Beginner to Sport and several beginner road racers looking to test the road scene. Then we have cat 4's who are taking the plunge into master's - so we will be in for a tough riding season.

Good Luck and we hope to see you at the races!

Dahlonega Training Camp

2007-01-03T08:23:00.000-08:00

The 2006 year ended with a bang rather than a shiver. We held our first multi-day camp in Dahlonega, Georgia. The weather was brisk - 30's and 40's and the rain stayed away until the third day. There was snow and ice on the side of the roads, but the roads were clear. We had 6 members of the Columbus Bike Racing team attend and enjoyed three days of riding. Cathy and Virginia Dozier attended, but did not ride.

We started our training on December 28 and rode the three gap route + a little more. Some of the team, Steve Dozier, Matt Ragan and Steve Murray made it for day one and a few did Woody gap twice.

The 29th was a longer day as we rode to Helen and started our climbing on Hog Pen gap's long side. 7 miles of tough uphill. Scott Matty and Gabe Denes joined the group for Friday's ride. We ground out the climb. Matt tore up all the climbs and Hog Pen was no different. Scott and Matt had forgotten to change cassettes for the trip and rode all the climbs with a 23. Even with the added leg strain, most of us could not keep up with them. As I approached the top of the Hog Pen climb, I met Scott and Matt coming back down, they said Gabe was just ahead of me and I had three quarters of a mile to go and they were going down to check on Steve Dozier. When I reached the top, I sat with Gabe discussing the ice sheets running down the rocks on the far side of the road. As we sat there, we saw a rider round a lower corner and approach the top. He was moving like he was on the flats. Once he reached us, we recognized his kit as a D3 pro team, Aerospace Engineering out of Athens, GA. Well, 200 yards back was another young pro kitted out and climbing fast, then a third appeared. Then a fourth, except this time it was Matt Ragan who had latched on to the Aerospace guys about two miles down. This is something since 2007 will be Matt's first year racing bikes. Not to take anything from the young pro's - Matt is 29 and has a triathlon background. In October, he raced the Claremont Iron man and finished 12th overall. He beat quite a few pro tri guys in the process. Matt has an engine and some strong climbing legs. He will breeze through the cat 5 ranks. Once the team regrouped we then headed down the short side of Hog Pen. The roads were wet so we took the decent with caution. A brief stop at the Apple store and it was on to Wolf Pen gap. We proceeded across the valley through Suches and on to the short side of Woody gap. After the descent, some choose turn around and take it up the long side of Woody. The day ended with around 70 miles and several gaps covered.

The 30th started out a little raw and got worse. We left base camp (Hiker Hostel) and rode to Nells Gap and climbed Blood Mountain. Then we descended and climbed the winding side of Wolf Pen Gap and descended -as a light rain began to fall. We stopped at the bottom and then climbed back up Wolf Pen and unfortunately the rain turned into a real down pour at the top of Wolf Pen. We took care to descend the wet roads and made a stop at Vogle state park for some coffee and in hopes the rain would stop. We got the coffee, but the rain did not relent. We forged ahead and made the 18 mile trip home in the rain. We climbed up Blood Mountain and regrouped at the top. Fog had set in with the rain. We were a little worried to descend on wet, foggy and rain soaked roads, but we were too cold at this point to wait any longer. The descent went fine and we made it back by late afternoon for some lunch and hot showers. An evening trip to Dawsonville for dinner at Johnny's New York style pizza ended our cold wet day. We also stopped off at the Pearl Izumi outlet next door to Johnny's for some light shopping.

Camp ended on Sunday morning with a big breakfast. The drive back to Columbus was in a driving rain. Good thing the weather held off as long as it did. Our camp went well. We got countless miles, quite a few gaps and 11 -12 hours of saddle time for our trouble. We were fortunate to find the Hiker Hostel as the location for our training camp. The Hiker Hostel is run by a fantastic young couple - Joshua and Leigh Saint. They have a great place and its' proximity to the 3 gap route was ideal. We will definitely use them for all future camps in Dahlonega. http://www.hikerhostel.com/.