Early season power profiles

In the first partial team ride of the year a few things are clear; everyone is psyched about the 2009 season, fitness is fluid, and headwinds suck. If you rode on Thursday in Georgia then you might recall how windy it was, some gusts nearly took us out! Thomas, Oscar, and Joey met Jafer at the horse park in Conyers for a 4+ hour ride through parts of Covington, Social Circle, and Mansfield. The route was mostly rolling country back roads with the occasional dirt/gravel road thrown in for fun. Below are the powertap files for Thomas, Jafer, and Oscar for the first 3.5 hours of the ride.

Thomas


Jafer


Oscar

2009 Snake Creek Gap TT #1

On January 3rd, Jafer set out on the first of three mountain bike time trails on the Pinhoti trail system in Dalton, GA. The time trial is 34 miles long across some of the most technical trials in north Georgia (only the last 6 or so miles is really technical). Rain clouds, mist, and fog greeted all of the 200 plus racers to make for a very unique race.

The race is point to point, so all of the racers and their bikes are bussed out to the start and then we race back to the finish. The last time Jafer had spent a significant amount of time on his bike was way back in October at the Oktoberfest race, so shifting (and fitness) was significantly impaired from gunky cables and housing (from all the mud and corrosion). Since his shifting was less than stellar, he relied heavily on his granny gear to make it up the climbs. He finished in 3:17:52 with hopes of dropping at least 10 minutes by next month. It's amazing how fickle fitness can be, he didn't feel like he was riding hard but still managed to post a decent time, likely due to his new 29er. The route has some awesome descents, short steep technical climbs, rolling terrain, and a couple of creek crossings, but most importantly is a very fun trail to race.

Some of the bigger names attending the race were Thomas Turner and Harlan Price, both seasoned pros. Jafer was able to talk to Harlan after the race and found out that he had doubled flatted and still posted a 3:03:50. The winning time was set by Thomas in 2:57:58 but was slower than the fastest time of last year, 2:50:06, as set by Thomas, due to trail conditions.

Oktober fest 8 hour mtb race, Oscar's cross campaign, and the 2009 season!

It's been a while since the blog has been updated, actually it's been too long. First, we are looking forward to another great year of racing after a successful season. Perhaps the biggest accomplishment of last season was winning two back to back stages at the Fitchburg Longsjo stage race, a stellar performance by the entire team at the Tour of Atlanta, surviving Super Week, and a myriad of podium finishes throughout the year. Second, we hope to build upon the success of last year as the team will undergo many changes in the next few months. We will undergo a name change, add a few more riders, and expand our ambitions for this season. Check back for more team updates!

Jafer concluded his 2008 season with the final stop of the National Ultra-Endurance mountain bike series at Fisher Farm Park in North Carolina. After a couple of days of steady rain the course was saturated and was a peanut butter like consistency which made for a long 8 hours! Jafer started out well holding Tinker Juarez's wheel for the first half lap, until he lost contact with the front group due to sliding out on the slippery course. For the remainder of the race he tried to keep positive after losing a large chunk of time and just rode for fun, finishing 7th in the 8 hour race. He fared better in Sunday's time trial finishing in first only a second ahead and then took second place in the mountainbike cross race.


Oscar stayed on the attack for the entire Georgia Cross Series, eventually winning the overall series. On his way he won three of the eight races, was second three times, and placed third twice! He also finished 11th at the Collegiate cross nats and 24th in the U-23 cross nats.