Holy Hill (7/21) and Holy *&@# Thats a lot of driving

This was our last day of racing, and, honestly, we probably could have done without it. Oscar and Joey started the race which was shortened to 68 miles instead of 90 after the start was delayed. Oscar dropped out about half way through, after putting in a couple of good attacks, and Joey didn't have much of an impressive finish either. There were a couple big rollers on the course and we just never really felt good going over them.... or anywhere else on the course for that matter. It actually kind of felt like our brakes were rubbing the whole race (they weren't actually, but that's how sluggish we felt). At the finish Joey didn't really have room to sprint anywhere either because it just got so swarmed and crowded. He came across the line around 35th or 40th.

Joey's cousin, Logan Biggs,who is going to school in Milwaukee came to watch the race. He drove his motorcycle out to the course and then followed us home to hang out for a while. He salvaged the day when he invited us to go over to his girlfriend's loft to play some video games, eat, and just hang out for the night. Joey was really happy to spend some time with him.

On Tuesday morning we woke up at 4:30 am and started our 13 hour drive back to Kutztown. We thought leaving by 5 would at least get us through Chicago before the morning rush hour hit, but we had no such luck. Before we knew it we were rolling slow in traffic at like 6 am! The hold up wasn't too bad however, and as we made our way across the states we probably spent close to $30 on tolls on our 14 hour trek. Arriving in Kutztown that evening, it was nice to be back in that familiar house that we had called home for the first half of the summer.

On Wednesday, we spent much of the day packing up and planning how we're going to fit everything in the car for tomorrow's drive home. We packed up 2 TT bikes in a box, 5 wheels in another box, and some other random stuff to ship home since we won't have room in the car to carry everything (we had 2 cars to bring it all up here).

Wednesday morning, while Oscar and Thomas slept in longer than Joey had ever seen them, he went to get coffee and prepared pancakes for the 3 of them. Soon after we woke up, we got straight to work packing the Volvo. We had to ship 2 boxes of random stuff home (in addition to the TT bikes we sent to CA) so that we would have enough room in the car for everything, but it was still an incredibly tight squeeze. If it weren't for Thomas' master packing skills, there's no way everything would have fit. The car was absolutely stuffed to the brim (remember that we brought 2 cars up here in the first place, and the only difference now was that Jafer had already headed home with his bags).

Evanston (7/20/08)

For Sunday's criterium we headed back down to the Chicago area to the suburb of Evanston, IL. There was a huge showing for Sunday's race in both fans and riders. Evanston had one of the largest field of the series; add a couple tight turns to the mix with nearly a dozen poorly situated man-hole covers that made for a pretty sketchy race.

The race was stopped twice because of bad crashes (situations where the rider(s) does not get up right away and then nobody wants him to move until the ambulance gets there...so he just lays in the street); the first time we stopped for 15-20 min with 16 laps to go, which was fine with Joey because he had just gotten caught from going off the front trying (unsuccessfully) to get a prime, so it allowed him time to recover.

When that crash happened, with 17 to go, Oscar was on Joey's wheel who was on the wheel of the guy that wrecked. Basically, the rider took the corner too wide and might have been blinded by the bright setting sun and ended up running into the outside curb/barrier. That sent his bike flying up and back out onto the road right in front of Joey! Joey ducked to avoid him and swerved to avoid the back half of his bike which was at eye level in front of him with both Oscar and Joey escaping alive.

The second stoppage of the race occurred after a wreck with 5 or 6 laps to go. After a long 20 min intermission we were back on the road and they had bumped the lap counter up to 10 laps to go, so they would have time to finish handing out primes. Joey was feeling really good in the closing laps and was able to fight and maintain his position near the front. He passed a few people in the sprint but not as many as he would have liked to. The next day, when we looked at results, Joey was not listed..... maybe because he finished on the opposite side of the road that the camera was on and possibly blocked by other riders. Unfortunately, most of the checks had already been handed out and there wasn't much we could do about the mishap.

Thomas was feeling pretty worn out from all the racing and didn't finish Evanston, and Oscar was in good form towards the end but just never really made it up to the front to contest the sprint or attack.

Rippin in Ripon, WI

With a big pancake/waffle lunch sitting heavy in our stomachs, we piled into the car a little after 3 pm and headed to the town of Ripon, WI for Friday's race. We knew we had 80-something miles ahead of us to get to the race and had planned to leave at 2:30, but the lunch Joey prepared ran a little longer than expected...but no biggie, we'd still arrive like an hour and a half before our 6 pm start time (we thought).

So around 3:45, while we were on the road, Oscar picks up this piece of paper in the back seat, looks at it for a minute, looks up at us and goes, "You know the race starts at 4:45 right?" In the front seat, all Thomas and Joey could say was "uuuuuuuuuuuhhhhh." We looked at our directions and an atlas and figured we still had around 50 miles to go....and about an hour before the race starts, "Well, we're almost half way there, lets just try to make it." Instead of driving 60 mph and stopping to get coffee as Joey had requested, we started pushing the speed limit a bit and the only stop we made was when we pulled over for 30 seconds because Oscar swore he was about to pee all over the back seat.

We got to Ripon at exactly 4:45 expecting hear the starters gun unload, as soon as we pulled up, but luckily the women's race was still in progress. We've never been happier to see a race running late. Oscar decided to take the day off, so he ran over to registration to check in and pick up wrist bands for Thomas and Joey, as they whipped on their clothes, pumped tires, mixed drinks and made it to the start line in about 15 min. The course had hills on 3 of the 4 straightaways so it was terribly hard to start the race with no warm up. Actually, it was worse than terrible; I immediately started doing Oscars famously funny "pain cave dance," but this time it was no joke.

The first 45 min was the most Joey has ever struggled in the early going of a race. First of all, he started at the back of the group which meant there was a huge acceleration out of each corner and up the hills. His stomach cramped almost immediately simply because he'd just finished stuffing his face with waffles just 2 hours prior to the start, and in addition, his legs felt pretty stiff and not "opened up" from taking that rest day the day before. Totally out of breath and suffering, he started taking the corners really sloppily, and that only added to the pain inflicted by having to sprint out of the corners even harder. Other riders that he had been so much better than in previous stages were coming flying by him on the hills and he was doing all he could just to hold on to the back, sitting almost last wheel. Only 2 laps into the race he was ready to slam on the brakes, drop out, and head home. A thousand things started swarming through Joey's head "I'll probably feel better tomorrow, I don't have to finish today," "why am I doing this to myself?" "what's wrong with me!?!" He thought he couldn't finish the race, so now it was just a question of how long he wanted to torture himself.

It usually takes us a while into a race to warm up, but we never thought we'd pull out of this one. Then, between like 70 and 65 laps to go (it was a 100 lap race) we just started feeling better and better with every lap and our attitude changed. It came as somewhat of a surprise and relief to us when we finally got the feeling that we were going to be able to make it. Instead of dancing with pain, we started dancing with ease up the hills each lap. Then, with 20 laps to go, it started raining..... 3 of the 4 corners of the course were downhill and fast. The race had already blown apart with only about 30 riders remaining; as soon as it started raining, riders started dropping like flies. Not "getting dropped" but sliding out and falling almost every lap. Most of these guys got back in however, and by the finish it seemed like about half the field show cased bloody, skinned up hips. Joey is pleased to say that he went yet another day retaining all his skin.

While making sure to take the corners carefully was a good thing in the closing, rainy laps of the race, it hurt a little bit on the very last lap (by then the roads were nearly dry again). Joey was feeling decent and if he hadn't been a little too cautious around a couple of the last turns, he would have been able to jump past a few people on the hills, but didn't. He pretty much just held position on the last lap and was able to keep anyone from passing him in the sprint. He ended up placing around 15th in the bunch.

Sure Would Be Nice (Shorewood)

Thursday morning Oscar, Thomas and Joey loaded up the Volvo and headed North to Milwaukee where the second week of Super "Week" was to take place. Jafer departed the night before to spend a couple days in downtown Chicago with his cousin and then a couple more on a farm with his grandparents and uncles. We won't see him again until we get back to Atlanta (we're gonna be back sometime in the last few days of July), so he gets to skip out on the 25 hours of driving we have to get from here to Kutztown and then back to Atlanta......lucky!

After settling in a bit at our new host house, about 2 hours from Chicago, we headed down the road to Shorewood for the kiddies to race (Joey decided to take the day off). Joey almost got swept up and convinced to race by just being around all the race hub bub, but he thought better of it and decided to stick to the plan and take a rest day. Instead, he took off for a nice easy spin along the coast of Lake Michigan, mouth agape at how incredibly huge some of the lake front mansions were. I'm not sure how people can afford such huge houses on such pricey land, but it must nice to live on the water like that.

After riding Joey returned to the course just as the boys' race was starting and, after occupying a Starbucks bathroom for too long to fill up bottles and a jug, headed around to the backside of the course to feed Oscar and Thomas. There was a huge field, and they were absolutely flying and super strung out each time they came through. After being helped to the front by the OC with about 3 laps to go, Thomas was sitting in a really good spot with 1 lap to go but said some really sketchy stuff happened on the last lap. Both boys rolled across the line outside of the top 30. With Kelly Benefits on the front chasing a break down for the entire race, it looked like a pretty unrelentingly fast race.

Bensenville Power Files

Bensenville Day 1. Raw data graph.

Graph has been smoothed to show averages.


Table of the power file.


Bensenville Day 2 showing speed and heart rate for the first hour.

Bensenville Double

On Tuesday and Wednesday we raced in Bensenville, IL on a rather peculiar course that saw the field shred on both accounts. Thomas decided to take the day off for the first race and Oscar took the day off for the second day in Bensenville. The slightest gap on this course could spell disaster, as the pace stayed high on the long straights and especially out of the turns.
On day one, an 8 man break tore off the front early in the race eventually lapping the field. Oscar and Joey sensed that another break was inevitable as they both stayed near the front, ready to pounce if given the chance. After Joey made a few attempts to escape, Oscar countered bridging up the road solo to small group of four riders. Their gap steadily grew over the peloton as the earlier break caught and lapped the field causing the pace to back off as they now desperately tried to lap the peloton as well.
Meanwhile, Joey rode smart and stayed out of trouble in the field saving energy for the next day. Another break of about 7 riders eventually broke out of the peloton, in hot pursuit of Oscar's group catching them with less than 10 laps to go. Oscar rode a great race eventually finishing in 19th, on a very fast sprint to the line that saw Rock Racing's Rahsaan Bahati take the win but loose the sprint jersey to Jittery Joes.

The second day was even faster as Rock Racing received reinforcements with a plan to dominate the field and take back the sprint jersey from Jittery Joes. It started off hard but got even faster as the peloton stretched single file, snaking across the course. Gaps began opening everywhere as riders pulled out of the race unable to hold the pace any further. When a rider in front of you pulls off at 30 mph it makes it very difficult to close the gap, thus it usually means you are in a spot of bother. You chase for laps at a time and by the time you regain contact you watch as the gap reopens because another rider pulled out! This happened to both Thomas and Jafer within the first hour of the race as countless riders withdrew from the race. The race was drastically reduced with more than a third of the field on the side of the road less than an hour in and even less riders remained in the finish.

Once again Joey rode at the front conserving energy and staying attentive for any breaks. Amazingly, one Columbian national team rider on his way to the Beijing Olympics soloed off the front of the race and was slowly reeled in by the field. One of his teammates was patiently waiting in the pack for the catch as he shot out of the field with about 25 laps to go holding it to the line! He almost lapped the field solo winning by about 40 seconds (more than half a lap). Joey was swarmed on the last lap as the sprinters started setting up for second place and held strong with a 28th place.

Richton Park Blitzkrieg

Another great day of racing in Chicagoland, as the temperature was mild and the pace was hot for another 100k of bike racing. A few new faces showed up to the race including a few Team Type 1, Texas Roadhouse,Locos, and the return of the Kelly Benefits riders. Rock Racing was still in control of the race, as they had both the red (sprint)and yellow (overall leader) jerseys sitting on the shoulders of Rahsaan Bahati and Sterling Magnell, respectively.

The race started off faster than a blitzkrieg,as we averaged 412 watts for the first 15 minutes. After settling into a steady rhythm we began to become more comfortable in the peloton as we acclimated to the course. Unfortunately, Oscar suffered from a flat tire and he was questioning his gear, as a mysterious creak appeared before the race. The pace is so high that there is no room to question yourself or your equipment because once you start second guessing things, your race is nearly over. Just backing off a fraction in the corners can spell disaster as the small gap quickly multiplies in the straights. After a few laps of yo-yoing even the best riders can suffer defeat. He was not able to shake his worries and consequently had to pull out of the race, the last thing he wanted to do.

Before the race Jafer had to visit the Sram service pit a consequent of yesterday's slid out. He didn't know it but the rider that fell into him had severely torqued his rear wheel and it took about 10 minutes to true the wheel. When he got back to the car he put on a new Panaracer Stradius Extreme tire and tube on the rear. It is truly amazing what a difference a new tire can make in the corners! Instead of sliding out, he regained total confidence in his cornering abilities. For most of the race Thomas and Jafer rode near each other towards the back end of the field while Joey was very attentive at the front. Jafer kept trying to move up as he felt really good but everytime he tried the pack seemed to swarm, preventing him from advancing. Finally, he had a chance to get up to the front when the field was single file and hoped to try and get in a break. He made a few hard pulls/attacks hoping that he could get a gap with a few riders to no avail. After his daring effort he quickly suffered the consequences as the pace drastically picked up a few moments later as the field was reeling in a serious breakaway. After a few laps of floating back, he found himself at the tail end of the field in danger of getting caught behind gapped riders. With 25 laps to go he became gapped after the riders in front pulled the plug on their race but he continued to chase eventually pulling out with 20 laps to go.

Meanwhile, Thomas was making his way towards the front where Joey was actively covering moves. An 8 man break went up the road eventually lapping the field before the closing laps. The pace once again picked up in the last 3 laps as the teams were starting to setup for the win. Thomas and Joey seemed to be holding good position but in the final sprint became caught behind other riders, finishing slightly out of the top 30.

The first 15 minutes of the race:

The race until I dropped out. Notice the large peak towards the end and then drop in power, thats where I got in trouble!

Power tap ridden by Jafer

FLAT Out in Olympia Park

How do we even begin to describe yesterdays race? For starters, it was probably the world's shortest crit course measuring about 0.45 of a mile, well shorter than the posted course of 0.6 of a mile. Picture a small neighborhood construction zone complete with piles of building supplies stacked inches from the course, unprotected (no padding) street signs and fire hydrants, and an unfinished road with curbs on both sides that sat nearly 2 inches higher than the road (try hitting the lip at 30mph, not pretty). Now you can begin to understand the dilemma we faced as we debated if we should even race.

The race organizers held a riders meeting discussing various options with a very ambiguous tone, as no one seemed to agree. Our options were laid bare before us: 1) Have two heats, 2)Have one race and anybody that didn't want to race could get a full refund, 3)Split the race into Pro/1 and 2 heats, 4) Cancel the race and go home. We were in full support with a pro/1 and 2 heat and we thought we had enough backing but it was quickly vetoed after much debate with the majority of votes gravitating to option 2.

Why such a big ruckus? With over 100 riders on such a short precarious course, the danger of crashing increased almost exponentially as the field would stretch over most of the course when single file. After much debate within the team we decided to start the race which was shortened to 80 laps, while many riders played it safe and went home. As expected the race started off fast as everyone was nervous and wanted to try to lap the field in a break. The race was one big undulation after undulation as some riders would break off keeping the pace high and then slowing when they were caught. The most dangerous part of the course was leading into turn 3 which had a strong tail-wind keeping the speed high throughout the turn as everyone leaned hard into the sharpest bend of the course.

Keep in mind what the thought of hitting the lip of the curb can do to the pack, as everyone was nervous about crashing. Countless wrecks occurred here as everyone battled for the wheel in front, only to run out of real estate. It was in this turn that Jafer nearly wiped out as he leaned hard into the turn carrying a little too much speed. Luckily, as he began his slid, he clipped his pedal on the road pushing him into the rider behind of him who provided enough support as he bounced off of him, regaining control of his bike. Unfortunately, the rider he hit went down hard but was not injured badly and rejoined the race. Less than a minute later Jafer's rear tire blew out with a loud bang in turn two causing him to head to the Sram service pit, where he received a new rear wheel and rejoined the race the following lap. Earlier in the race Joey had to make a visit to the pit as he suffered a rear flat while Thomas had his own race mishap, spending more than a few laps in the pit.

With 16 laps to go, the race was neutralized as a Virgin Blue (Aussie team) rider hit the ground HARD in turn 3, forcing the officials to make the call. With no ambulance on site the race was on pause for at least 15 minutes, waiting for the ambulance to arrive and transport the rider to the hospital (no word on his condition yet). Not sure how many riders went down during the race but we saw at least four wrecks all in turn 3. The race finally restarted but the pace didn't fully return as there was a 4 man break more than half a lap ahead (the break happened before the race was neutralized so they were allowed the same time gap during the restart). Thomas once again showed his crit riding prowess placing about 10th in the field sprint, followed by Joey inside the top 25, with Oscar and Jafer midpackish.

Olympia Park Crit Powertap Files

This graph has not been scaled and shows all the data points.
Max power= 1039 watts / Average Power with no zeros= 361 Watts
Max Heart-rate= 190 bpm / Average Heart-rate= 175 bpm
Max Speed= 36 mph / Average Speed= 26.6 mph

This graph is scaled down to give a better idea of the average power output.

Powertap ridden by Jafer. Jafer suffered a rear flat 45 mins into the race, thus changing to a non-powertap wheel.

Blue Island Graph

This is an excel file from my powertap from yesterdays race. It shows the speed for the race. Max speed was about 35 mph and average was 28.5 mph. I did not contest the sprint which is obvious by the graph. I did not use my powertap wheel because my race wheel is much lighter. I might ride the powertap wheel soon. Since there are no big teams here the pace fell in the final few laps which makes it much more dangerous. As the peleton bunches up the likely hood of clipping wheels increases!

Off to a fast start

Tonights course was a perfect start to kick off our campaign for the next couple of weeks, as it was FAST but not hard. The course had two very long straights, about 6 blocks long while the corners were only a block. The hardest part of the race was dodging the countless holes, cracked pavement, sewer grates, and road grime. As we expected the straights kept us at a constant 30-32 mph, while it slowed a bit in the four corners. That was probably the fastest 62 miles this year, as we did each lap in about 2 minutes, with the total race time around 2 hours. Our average was 28.5 mph but since the course was wide it made it easy to sit in and coast along, even when the field was single file front to back. Joey and Thomas led our team finishing somewhere around the top 25 riders while Jafer and Oscar were about mid-pack. In the final 3 laps the field was pretty sketchy as it stretched more than 15 wide through the corners when only about 10 riders should have gone through. After the race Jafer talked to and even posed with some very nice spectators that came out to watch the race; they even cheered for the team during the race. Thanks for the support, hopefully we will see you at the next few races!

After the race we headed to Walgreens for a few cold drinks. Oscar got some weird strawberry kiwi drink that he didn't like, Thomas got an orange flavored drink that had 29 grams of carbs per 8oz (very respectable post-race drink), Jafer got a liter of real orange juice (26 grams of carbs per 8oz), and Joey got the Tiger edition Gatorade with a meager 14 grams of carbs per 8oz. Then we headed across the street for some awesome double wrapped burritos from Chipotle then back to our respective hosts homes for some much needed showers!

Fitchburg Longsjo Report: Stage 2

7/4/08 - Stage 2
The 92 mile road race was pretty hard to say the least and even saw Thomas out climb Jafer, a historic feat in itself. The road race consisted of 8 large laps then turned into a ski resort for the final 2K finish climb that gained 1,000 vertical feet, with some pretty steep sections. Since Oscar was the GC guy, Jafer was in charge of covering all of the early moves while Oscar and Thomas kept calm in the pack. In the first few laps there was a myriad of attacks that slowly wore on Jafer as he covered them. Every time up the feed zone climb the pack stretched thin as the incline became steeper all the way up.

Jafer utilized Thomas' patented "Florida Fade", everytime up it to try and conserve some energy. The Florida fade means to be in the top 15 or so at the base of the climb and then slowly fade backwards as everyone else is riding hard. By the time you crest you are at the back of the pack or slightly behind. Luckily, there was a nice decent following the feedzone so with a good tuck you could easily catch back on.

With about 4 laps to go a few riders gained a three minute lead on the pack, but the entire Metlife team came to the front and pulled the gap down to a minute.

On the final lap Jafer knew that he would be hard pressed to make it over the feedzone climb with the pack and his chances of finishing with the pack would be even smaller. So he did what naturally occurred to him, attack, and don't look back. Luckily, he caught a rider that had been dropped from the break and they worked together to make it over the feedzone climb. He made it 3/4th of the way over, then the pack caught him and it wasn't hard to catch back on the downhill. Once again he went to the front to try and help Oscar but told Thomas that he would have to do most of the work for Oscar. As the peloton began the final 2K climb to finish the pace rose then rose some more. Jafer was shelled with under 2K to go and slowly inched his way to the top, to tired to even stand on his bike as both Oscar and Thomas flew up the mountain. In the 6 or so years, that Thomas and Jafer have been racing with each other Thomas has never beaten Jafer up a single climb much less one this difficult! Frankly, Jafer was relieved that it was up to Thomas to keep Oscar protected as long as he could and thats just what he did. Oscar rode to a well deserved 14th place, followed by Thomas in 31st, then Jafer in 64th.

Fitchburg Longsjo Report: Stage 1

I finally sat down to write the time trial and road race report because we are about to start racing again on Saturday.

Here are some pictures of what Thomas' car looks like when loaded. Count the bikes on the roof, pretty impressive!



7/3/08 - Stage 1 time trial
Yesterday, we went to the grocery store to load up on the typical bike racer food, pasta, bread, cereal, bananas, marshmallow fluff, Nutella, and peanut butter. Jafer almost had a panic attack as the selection for grits was even smaller than what was available back in Pennsylvania, limited to only one small box of grits! For some reason nobody seemed to get a good nights sleep the night before the start of the race, maybe it was the prerace jitters or the moon, whatever it was it left its mark. Luckily, thats nothing that good coffee can't fix as we all loaded up on it. After breakfast we packed the car up which is a spectacle in itself. For those of you that don't know us here is a brief summary.

Thomas is a master packer, he usually has everything ready the night before, so he is always the first ready. Oscar can't sit still very long, especially anytime he hears the word race. His packing skills are pretty good but he has been known to leave shoes, numbers, etc at home. Joey and Jafer are a different story, as they are always battling not to be the last one out of the door. So while Joey and Jafer are still struggling to make it out of the door, Thomas and Oscar are waiting around rushing them and even resort to herding them out of the door so they can't go back for something else.

We finally left the house and headed to the course. Once there, we had about two hours to kill before the start of the race, but the time always seems to slip by and we end up in a rush to get to the line. Everybody got about an hour warm-up, which was very important for an uphill time trial. The course seemed a bit easier today but it still burned the legs the entire way up. Oscar smoked the course setting the fastest pace on the team in 14th place only 51 seconds off the fastest time. Joey should have been next around 30th place but had a prerace mishap. As all cyclists know the prerace jitters are pretty strong especially before a time trial, so Joey went into the woods. Unfortunately, no officials said anything to him or tried to stop him as he tried to politely relieve himself in the woods. We didn't find out until after the race (about 8pm)that he had been DISQUALIFIED, a very harsh decision. Usually, they will fine the rider or give them the last place time but they would not budge! Jafer was next in 44th followed by Thomas in 80th place. Oscar was now officially our GC guy, so it was important that he have a good result in the road race.

'Could'zu B-2-B?

We awoke to a great chocolate chip banana pancake breakfast courtesy of Joey and hot coffee provided by Jeremy. After finishing breakfast, we loaded the car and made the short drive to the crit course in downtown Fitchburg. Yesterday's weather was the warmest day of the race, with the temperature in the high 80s. Once we found a suitable parking space, we proceeded to sign in for the stage then went back to the car to change. Before we head off to warmup we made sure we had everything we needed: gels check, water check, radios check, legs check.

The 28 lap crit started hard with multiple attacks with Oscar doing the majority of covering. He rode off the front in a small break for a few laps as the field tried to bring him back. After Oscar's break came back he worked overtime as he stayed at the front ready to cover the next move. Meanwhile, Thomas was riding it smart in the back of the pack doing as little as he could. Jafer was somewhere between Oscar and Thomas, as he moved up and back to help Oscar out.

With about 7 laps to go a dangerous break of 4 riders went up the road and gained about 8 seconds on the field. With nobody else willing to chase Oscar went straight to the front and buried himself for the next few laps to pull it back as Jafer dropped back to start brining Thomas up. At three laps to go the race came back together with the Kudzu boys setting the pace on the front. Oscar, Jafer, and Thomas were in the top 5 ready to setup Thomas for the win. With two laps to go Jafer did everything he could to protect Thomas as the peloton tried swarming. On the final lap Jafer took over the lead with Thomas fighting for his wheel. Over the radio Jeremy's voice crackled, "Thomas it's your wheel! You own it, so take it". After a short battle for Jafer's wheel Thomas successfully nudged the other rider out, as Jafer kept the pace steady at nearly 35 mph for the entire last lap. With the field strung out single file Thomas didn't hesitate to yell at Jafer to keep the pace high, "GO,GO,GO, DON'T STOP, !&@#ing GO!". A few riders tried to pass before the 2nd to last turn but Jafer swung wide and dug a little deeper taking the corner at breakneck speed. After hitting a ripple in the pavement, he went from the very inside of the turn to nearly hitting the hay bales on the opposite side, sliding the entire way. Luckily, Thomas didn't go down and was first wheel out of the last turn with 400 meters to the line. As Jafer drifted back he yelled over the radio, " GO, GO, GO, you got this, GOOOO!". A few seconds later he heard the race announcer confirm his suspicion, Thomas Brown of Decatur, GA riding for "Could-zu" (apparently they pronounce 'Kud' as could) had won back to back stages in the Fitchburg Longsjo Stage Race. Everybody was excited as the team executed perfect teamwork to dominate the two sprint finishes. Look for us next week at Superweek, as we try to do the same!

We want to thank our host Brant Hornberger for his hospitality, his friends for providing us an awesome dinner, and T.J. Winalski and his wonderful family for support, food, and the awesome pictures below. For the full gallery go to:

Fitchburg Crit

Stage three ends in a W!

Today's circuit race started off with a bang for the Kudzu boys, literally. Two laps into the 16 lap race, Jafer's chain became twisted in his derailleur forcing him to pull into the pits for service. A frustrated Jafer waited for assistance from the Sram service pit to help fix his problem, only to be shoved back in the race before the chain became realigned. Today's course took no mercy on fallen riders as 95% of the time the peloton was in excess of 30 mph; the only hard part was the 400 meter finish climb which split the peloton every lap. Jafer was forced to pit the follwoing lap, this time receiving a neutral Sram bike while his bike was repaired, but once again he was shoved off to soon and had to stop the next lap to have his seat lowered. The following lap he stopped in the pit again since his bike was fixed and ready to go, this time in perfect working order.

Meanwhile, Oscar faced his own problems as a rear puncture ended his bid for the overall. After a quick wheel change in the pits he was back on his way, waiting for the field to catch him. The peloton finally caught up to Jafer, lapping him with five laps to go and Oscar became lapped with three to go. What made matters even worse was that Jeremy was near the pit but his radio wasn't working well, which made it difficult to communicate with him.

On the final lap, Jafer was in the top 10 over the finish climb but couldn't see Thomas or Oscar, but heard Jeremy's voice over the radio, "Oscar and Thomas, Jafer is at the front so find a wheel and get up there now!!!". A few seconds later Jafer called Thomas over the radio to see how far back he was. Thomas responded, "I'm pretty far back you might want to pick me up". After a few seconds of drifting back Thomas found Jafer's wheel and held on as they began to move back up through the field. Jafer signaled to Thomas to get ready and hold on as he moved out to the left side of the road, opposite of the peloton and began his charge. Thomas stayed glued to his wheel as the move worked and they gained an advantage over the charging field. Thomas was in perfect position, about third wheel through the final turn, where he unleashed his sprint easily taking the win by many bike lengths! Even though the race started out a disaster for the team, we didn't let that keep our spirits down. It's almost comical how two out of our three riders were lapped but we still managed to pull of a victory!

Tuesday Night Track racing in Trexlertown by Joey

That's the sound the tubular on my disc wheel made as it went from 130 psi to 0 in about half a second. I was warming up on rollers 10 minutes before the start of our first of 4 races when my tubular tire pretty much fell apart and flatted. We hadn't brought any extra track wheels from home in Georgia...much less to the track last night; nor had we brought any tools other than the one hex-wrench we used to put our wheels on. No worries though, as soon as it happened, the guy in the stall across from us in the infield offered up a spare wheel of his....and his tools. And then he actually ended up switching the gear and wheel for me because I guess I was doing it too unbearably slow for him to watch.

While I no longer had the advantage of racing with my aero disc wheel, I got back in business pretty quickly and off to a good night of racing. I finished 6th in the Win n' Out after getting in a break; Thomas rode a smart Miss n' Out and finished 6th out of 35 rider field; and Oscar, with the best performance of the night rode to a 5th place in the Points Race to be the best placed cat 2. For being the best placed cat 2 rider, he got a $44 prize that someone in the crowd had offered up, along with $10 for 5th place.

It was a full track of 35 riders again and once again filled with some good talent. The Australian national track team (either juniors or U23) were there along with Rite Aid's Bobby Lea, who just qualified to go to the Olympics with the US track team.

I felt a lot more comfortable on the track last night, even though I didn't place any better than last week. I felt good riding a fast, steady pace but could never really spin up my legs fast enough to contest any sprints. That was to be expected after my 4 hour ride the day before, and after the past weekend's racing. With some rest the next few days I think I'll gain a lot of speed back.....hopefully enough to do well at Fitchburg!

Giro Di Jersey Circuit Race

After a great nights sleep in a real bed (not a plastic inflatable mattress) we loaded the car up around 7:30 am. Our next step was to find a suitable breakfast spot, so we could fill our bellies before the race. We have to give props to Cleve Blackwell for teaching us how to dine on a budget, something he showed us last year during the USA Crits. It didn't take long to find a hot breakfast buffet down the street; Thomas put it this way, "if you sleep in a hotel you should eat in a hotel". If you still don't know what I'm talking about read between the lines. I think we had to roll ourselves out of the hotel because we ate so much. Next stop, stage 3 of the Giro in Princeton.

The race was on a small 2.2 mile circuit which saw the pro/1/2 field complete 12 laps. It seems like there is always one spot on the course that hurts much more than it should. On the backside of the course there was a small but noticeable hill that seemed to split the peloton apart as the leaders pushed the pace. There was a sprint on lap 4 for time bonuses, shortly after the sprint a small group of riders went up the after the sprint. It was pretty predictable, Rite Aid kept the pace high on the previous lap to lead their riders out for the time bonuses, so when the pace fell after the line some of their riders kept going. Since the peloton's pace slowed, the group ahead had a big gap which Jafer sensed might stay till the end. He tried to jump across with a few other riders and quickly rode away from the pack. For the second day in a row he was in the break trying to reel in the leaders. He didn't realize that another group of about 5 riders were slowly bridging up to him, as he had pulled for nearly an entire lap. When the riders caught up to him, their pace was too high for him on the back side of the course, as he was gassed from his long pull. As they came around he couldn't hold their wheels as he and another rider got gapped off. Once again he was desperately chasing but the other rider was blown and didn't offer much help. A lap or so later, Jafer floated back to the pack. Now it was up to Oscar, Joey, and Thomas to lead the team. On the final lap Joey worked hard on the front to keep the pace steady, so the pack couldn't swarm around. Oscar also rode smart by conserving his energy and glided up the climb to keep near Joey. Jafer helped Thomas by taking him to the front on the back side of the course where Thomas jumped around him with two turns to go. Oscar did his best to fend of the field, taking 5th in the sprint, which meant 15th in the race, as there were 10 riders in the break. Oscar and Joey brought home the big bucks placing 24th and 20th overall, enough to buy some groceries this week.

Giro Di Jersey road race repot

After only about 4 hours of sleep we awoke at 5:45 am to prepare for today's race. Joey and Jafer were in charge of breakfast, as they were the first to arise. Homemade pancakes were on the menu again this morning, for at least the fifth day in a row. Not just wholegrain pancakes but banana chocolate chip power pancakes! After breakfast everyone scrambled around trying to get the car packed in time as we had almost a 2 hour drive to the race. We tried to stop for coffee but the local coffee shop didn't open till 8, so we hit the road dreary eyed. We finally arrived with about 40 minutes to spare before the start. Prerace time seems to speed up as there is much to do before starting the race; changing wheels, pinning numbers, putting on sunscreen, finding the bathroom, pumping up tires, and whatever else we forgot to do the day before, becomes the only thing we care about as we switch into race mode.

Today's race was 7 laps on a ten and half mile circuit, for a total of 73.5 miles. The first twenty minutes of the race was neutral as the officals drove in front of the peleton taking pictures and explaining the course. Everyone was anxious to race as we had to ride the brakes to keep from passing the lead car. As soon as the race "began" the pace picked up as the first few attacks began. The only serious part of the course was the 1 mile climb which for the first third was big chain ring then the middle third kicked enough to split up the field and cause you to drop to the little ring, but you could power over the last third in your big chain ring. Once over the hill the road turned down for a couple of miles, as the peleton reaced nearly 50 mph through the start/finish. On lap 3, about 6 riders went clear of the field a few miles before the climb, as the larger teams had someone in the move. For the next couple of laps the pace was easy as Rite Aid sat on the front trying to control the peleton. Oscar and Joey were both active at the front trying to form a break or help pull, but Jafer was able to go clear with 2 laps to go. Two riders came with him (from Van Dessel and Rite Aid) as they worked to gain time on the field and catch the earlier break. Shortly after another Rite Aid rider bridged with a rider from CRCA/Empire; the break started gaining serious time on the field as they took turns pulling. Starting the last lap the break had 2 minutes on the field but things started to go south, as the other riders quit cooperating. One of the Rite Aid riders attacked so the other Rite Aid, wouldn't pull through and the Empire rider was cramping, which left only Jafer and the Van Dessel rider pulling. The paced suddenly droped from 28 mph down to 20 mph while the time gap was diminishing. Jafer tried to make a few attacks but the break chased him down and he couldn't go clear by himself. The final time up the climb the break was caught with three miles to go, as the two Rite Aid riders tried a last effort attack, but were reeled in by a charing field thanks to Joey. Joey set tempo up the first part of the climb causing the field to splinter but was unable to make it into the first group as he had worked so hard. A few riders made it clear on the climb as Oscar, Joey, and Thomas tried desperately to stay in a good position. Thomas lead the team in the sprint and finished around 20th place, as he started sprinting to early.

After the race we headed to the Extended Stay America in Princeton, NJ, which Thomas booked on Hotwire.com last night for a great deal! We figured that it would be cheaper than paying for gas and it would save 4.5 hours of driving.

Giro Di Jersey Time Trial

It was another early morning as we headed off to New Jersey for the Giro time trial. It didn't take long for the mercury to rise as we warmed up on the 15K course. Today's course was mostly rolling with only one serious hill towards the finish. The first part of the course was super fast as it was mostly downhill with only minor rollers. After the turn around, the real race started as we gave it everything we had, to have a faster split time. We faced a large field as there were 80 riders in the pro/1/2 race. The course suited Jafer as he posted the fastest time on the team taking 20th place, followed by Joey with 25th and Oscar in 28th and Thomas saved himself for tomorrows race.

Track Race Report by Joey

Being the very last event of the night, it was nearly eleven o'clock as we set up along the track getting ready to start the points race. We had been at the track since 6 pm that evening and had already competed in three events. I had no idea how my legs would hold up for this final 30 laps around the track. It seemed like there were many things going against us going into the start: every race we completed was one of the fastest track events we've experienced, the last meal we ate was lunch, and it was already past our bedtime. We started in high spirits nonetheless.

The first sprint came and went very quickly as the 36-man field thinned down due to the fast pace. As soon as the speed had slowed a bit, right after the sprint, a couple other riders had the same idea, to attack. We yo-yoed off the front for a minute as others chased off and on, but eventually, after a couple hard accelerations two other riders and I broke clear of the front end of the peloton. We were able to quickly build a substantial gap. One of the guys in the break was a familiar face, as I saw him a year ago at jr track nationals. Nik Reinert, won the men's 17-18 points race, 3k pursuit, and madison, where I also competed. While I was off the front, Thomas and Oscar did an excellent job of sitting on the front of the peloton; by keeping the pace low and jumping on any attacks they discouraged further attacks. My two breakaway companions and I rolled through the next couple sprints as I took the second place points, but I was really starting to hurt. After leading out the entire lap on the second to last sprint, I made a minor judgment error when I pulled up track to let the other two come through to pull, and I got gaped off their wheels. Then, my two breakaway companions lapped the field, gaining 20 points apiece automatically. For the remainder of the race I dangled behind the field, but didn't have enough gas left in the tank to lap it. After a hard race, I took third place which was considerably better than any of my other placings of the night, which made me happy.

After swinging by the gas station to grab a snack and a "big gulp" (64 oz of whatever your heart desires) with our $10 in race winnings, we returned home at nearly 12:00!!! By the time we had showered and eaten dinner, it was well past our bed time, and all we could do was stumble up the stairs and pass out on our bouncy, plastic beds.
Scratch Race