First race weekend starts with a blast...

It's that time of year again, now that racing season is upon us the posts should start flowing steady until fall. The first team race of the year started under epic conditions and reduced field sizes. The first race was on February 28th, in Dacula, Ga, a small but growing town in Gwinnett county. Only about 25 pro/1/2 riders started the race under cloudy skies with a fear of rain. When the field is so small the race always tends to be super aggressive with nonstop attacks. Oscar was the first rider on the team to test his legs as he established a strong breakaway with about 5 other riders. The break looked like it would stick but with about 4 laps to go on the 9 lap race it was brought back. Shortly, after Jafer covered a move by a Jet-Fuel rider, Bryson Bowers, and the two quickly established a healthy lead, at one point they were a minute and five seconds up the road. With only a few laps to go the duo managed to keep the pace high to ward off the peloton, however, former Jittery Joe's rider Tim Henry, was able to bridge to Jafer and Bryson solo. Shortly after Tim caught the break he muscled on through gapping Jafer and his breakaway partner on the final climb and was able to hold his gap to the line. With Tim up the road and the peolton nipping at their heels, Jafer outsprinted Bryson taking 2nd place while Thomas nearly took the field sprint behind Emile Abraham, for fifth place.

Sunday's race in Winder (outside of Athens) was epic to say the least. With the first threat of snow this year, the race started under a light drizzle in the low 30s. Only 11 riders started the race and because of the weather conditions the race was cut to 5 laps or about 35 miles. Like the previous race, attacks started after the gun, mostly out of the need to keep warm! Jafer once again found himself in good position when he followed a move by Frank Travieso, which outflanked Tim Henry. As the weather conditions worsened, so did the race as the number of laps was reduced to 3. There was so much water on the road that it turned to slush as the temperature fell with the snow. Coming out of the final turn Jafer hoped to outfox Frank but was caught on the line, finishing in 2nd once again. After the two races, Jafer is also leading the points competition in the Georgia Cycling Gran Prix series.

Blowing Out the Cob Webs @ the Snake Creek Gap Time Trial # 2

It's been five weeks since the last Snake Creek Gap mountain bike time trial in Dalton, GA. During that time Jafer has had plenty of time to train and work his way back into shape. Today was the best weekend in recent memory as the mercury rose to near 70 degrees with clear, sunny skies. While Jafer was busy tearing up the single track in Dalton, Oscar and Joey were tearing up the roads in Athens at the Winter Bike League's 130 mile Toccoa World Cup on their brand new Louis Garneau road bikes.

Last month, Jafer struggled to post a 3:17:00 with the 34 mile trail as he had just started training. However, this month he shaved about 16 minutes off his previous time to finish with an official time of 3:01:17 (split time 1:20 at mile 17, 1:41:17 for second 17 miles). The second 17 miles is more technical and requires a little more finesse to avoid flat tires and a trip over the handle bars, which Jafer lacks since he doesn't get to ride/race his mountain bike very often. The race course is one of the most fun point to point races around with switch backs, fire roads, fast descents, short steep climbs, rock gardens, and long sustained climbs. Today was also the first race that Jafer has used his Ipod in a race for a little bit of extra motivation, which really paid off. One of the best things about the event is the snack food table at the end of the race complete with chili, cookies, fig newtons, pretzels, and the local homemade mega cookie (chocolate chips, oatmeal, cranberries, etc). (photos courtesy of J Burnette)
The trail conditions were near perfect allowing Thomas Turner to blaze to an official time of 2:46:25. Other notables were Sam Koerber @ 2:46:49, Harlan Price @ 2:52:20, and Timothy Carson @ 2:56:06 who all rode the 34 miler.

Jittery Joe's Merges with Kudzu.com

As seen on CyclingNews.com

The Jittery Joe's team announced Friday that it would join forces with the Kudzu.com under-25 team for the 2009 season. The Jittery Joe's team had stepped away from professional status for this year, and is now refocusing its efforts on developing talent in the southeast US region.

The merger creates the Jittery Joe's p/b Kudzu.com U25 Cycling Team, which will bring in Dan Larson as a team director. Kudzu.com riders Jafer Beizer, Thomas Brown, Oscar Clark and Joey Rosskopf will return, and will be joined by Mike Niemi, former US junior national time trial champion and Anthony Bennett, former Australian junior national scratch race champion.

Micah Rice, who built the Jittery Joe's Cycling team from the ground up commented, "While it is always hard to take a step back, I think we have put together a really strong and reputable program for 2009. Jittery Joe's will always have a strong presence in the cycling community."

The Jittery Joe's p/b Kudzu.com U25 Cycling Team Riders: Jafer Beizer, Anthony Bennett, Thomas Brown, Oscar Clark, Mike Niemi, Joey Rosskopf. Team Director: Dan Larson with additional team support provided by Jeremy Hutchison-Krupat and Micah Rice.

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.

Oscar goes cross

This Fall, Oscar will be race a full Cyclocross season, mainly focusing on the Georgia Series but also trying to hit a few UCI races and the National Championships in December. The Georgia series kicked off in the mountains of Dahlonega. The course consisted of the usual 'cross distractions' along with some slick gravel roads and a jump-able log. Oscar took the 'hole shot' off the line and soon was in a lead group of three containing Rob Giannini of the Athens based Loco's team and mountain bike professional Thomas Turner (Outspokin). Mid race Oscar took a digger hopping the log and lost contact with the group. He quickly recovered to catch Giannini but never made it back to Turner and rode in for 2nd.

The second race of the series changed scenery and went to the beach in Savannah. The course was nearly dead flat, started and finished on a small town "dirt track" car racing oval, and included a serious mud pit and an intimidating "fly-over." The course provided little to initially split up the field, so for the first few laps a group of around seven riders stayed together. Mid race a selection in the mud left only Oscar, Nate Sibly (Specialized) and Ryan Leech (Visit PA) to battle for the win. Once it was only Oscar and Nate in the lead group, a last lap attack barely delivered Oscar to the line first for the win.

With the two podium performances Oscar is now the leader of the season long points standings and looks to defend the title in Conyers.