May 15 and 16
Ciclismo wins again in KY.
It was the final weekend of the Kentuckiana spring series. Both races were flat, windy crits with local fields. First race started with small breaks rolling off the front until about 20 minutes in, when a break of 5 of us were let go. We dropped one guy and it ended up bringing myself and 3 other guys all from the same team. In the process of dropping the 5th guy, one of the 3 guys made it up the road. His teammate was able to bridge after I had made the move that caused the 5th guy to be dropped. I pulled their other teammate around for the last 25 minutes and ended up 4th. That night Elizabeth and I joined 6 of our friends and went camping and hiking at the Red River Gorge. Very cool place, despite the rain. We were able to make a fire and roast marshmallows.
The next morning we went hiking for a couple of miles before we had to drive back to Louisville two or so hours for the final race of the spring series. We had just enough time to take a shower and grab a sandwich before we had to leave for the race.
The race started out fast with attacks from the gun. After several attacks, 12 guys ended up creating the break. It was myself and 5 Roadhouse guys, and 3 Panther/RGF pb Felt Bicycles teammates along with some other teams who all had a couple riders. It was attack after attack as I had to cover if a roadhouse guy went with a Panther/RGF pb Felt Bicycles guys or vice versa. The break stayed together as we headed into the last lap. I attacked right before the last corner, which was a sharp horse shoe shape and I got a gap. The rest of the guys tried to catch my wheel but couldn’t before the corner and one of the guys towards the back of the break went down in the corner. I increased my lead through the corner and put my head down and peddled. The finish came down to mere inches as a couple guys almost caught me after a 300 meter downhill in the wind finish. It was too close to call but the finish line camera showed me just inches ahead. I won! I ended up wining the weekend omnium and placed 3rd in the overall spring series, despite racing only four of the ten races.
Monday, May 25, 2009
Sunday, May 24, 2009
At Quad Cities, everyone has a story...
... it's true, you travel to the Mississippi Delta, Memorial weekend to collect four separate stories, each with their own seemingly epic plot...
...A windy road race, with cross winds and a break that almost always comes back...
...The Snake, with it's storied cobbles, large fields and critical starting position...
...Melon City, which takes place in Muscatine, which we're still trying to figure out; with its big circle, mile laps (we do 40) and incredibly important positioning for the finish...
...Quad Cities Crit, with it's super tight turns, fast pace and chain link fence that keeps the riders in and the hundreds of fans out...
Three of the stories have been written and for Ciclismo racing, our stories reflect those of decades past...
Sparing the reader my prophetic (or long-winded) prose, here's the recap...
Day 1 - 80 mile Road Race - this day was all Phil, as Jarred and I stayed behind in Lincoln with babysitting trouble... yes, the proud daddy Berger had to watch the little-one. The break was caught with 500 meters to go and as Phil knows best, he went for the win out of the swarm. This story, however, ended with a near collision with one of the most classic figures of these races (no names... sorry) and Phil settling for sitting up to reach 12th.
Day 2 - Snake Alley - as Jarred and I arrived in the afternoon, it was hot and humid, with storms looming on the Mississippi horizon. I start with a weather report because that was our story... it rained and rained hard. With the cobbles wet and slick, we were to set up for the storm positioned at the back of the 100+ man field. Let's just say the first time up the Snake we were shrugging our shoulders with crashes all around us and unable to navigate through... the leaders already had 60 seconds on us, 2 minutes into the race... I chased to 24th, Phil was 31st and Berger was pulled even though he was only 10 seconds back of my small chase group... did we mention the rain, the entire race?
Day 3 - Melon City - 135 starters and a whose who of current and former pro's, national champs and typical corn-fead, yet crit starved midwesterners, we were ready to race... our story began with a script that read... "attack, but attack smart, for when we go, we are to go so hard we are eyes go crossed." Attack we did and on no fewer than 3 occasions the pin stripes of Ciclismo were out in front in some incredible breaks. This story, however, was about positioning and a field sprint and no-one better than our midwestern sprinter (yes, we feed him corn even in Colorado) to get into position and take 7th...
Day 4 is tomorrow... Berger and I are ready to write a script for Phil, taking him to the finish... he will tell the story tomorrow...
- I
...A windy road race, with cross winds and a break that almost always comes back...
...The Snake, with it's storied cobbles, large fields and critical starting position...
...Melon City, which takes place in Muscatine, which we're still trying to figure out; with its big circle, mile laps (we do 40) and incredibly important positioning for the finish...
...Quad Cities Crit, with it's super tight turns, fast pace and chain link fence that keeps the riders in and the hundreds of fans out...
Three of the stories have been written and for Ciclismo racing, our stories reflect those of decades past...
Sparing the reader my prophetic (or long-winded) prose, here's the recap...
Day 1 - 80 mile Road Race - this day was all Phil, as Jarred and I stayed behind in Lincoln with babysitting trouble... yes, the proud daddy Berger had to watch the little-one. The break was caught with 500 meters to go and as Phil knows best, he went for the win out of the swarm. This story, however, ended with a near collision with one of the most classic figures of these races (no names... sorry) and Phil settling for sitting up to reach 12th.
Day 2 - Snake Alley - as Jarred and I arrived in the afternoon, it was hot and humid, with storms looming on the Mississippi horizon. I start with a weather report because that was our story... it rained and rained hard. With the cobbles wet and slick, we were to set up for the storm positioned at the back of the 100+ man field. Let's just say the first time up the Snake we were shrugging our shoulders with crashes all around us and unable to navigate through... the leaders already had 60 seconds on us, 2 minutes into the race... I chased to 24th, Phil was 31st and Berger was pulled even though he was only 10 seconds back of my small chase group... did we mention the rain, the entire race?
Day 3 - Melon City - 135 starters and a whose who of current and former pro's, national champs and typical corn-fead, yet crit starved midwesterners, we were ready to race... our story began with a script that read... "attack, but attack smart, for when we go, we are to go so hard we are eyes go crossed." Attack we did and on no fewer than 3 occasions the pin stripes of Ciclismo were out in front in some incredible breaks. This story, however, was about positioning and a field sprint and no-one better than our midwestern sprinter (yes, we feed him corn even in Colorado) to get into position and take 7th...
Day 4 is tomorrow... Berger and I are ready to write a script for Phil, taking him to the finish... he will tell the story tomorrow...
- I
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Friday, May 1, 2009
I'll leave the Stage 2 blogging for somebody else
Wow, you just can't beat the quality of people (community members, race organizers, racers) here in Silver City. The race is yet to end, and I don't want to jinx my expectations, but the Tour of the Gila is, simply put,...outstanding.
Today, stage 3, was the individual time trial, an out-and-back, in Tyrone, New Mexico, just a stones throw from downtown Silver City. The course commenced with a gradual 5 mile uphill followed by a steep downhill, which led into a few rollers before the turn-around. Returning to the finish included a steep 2 mile climb and a ripping-fast 5 mile descent. Today's weather was comfortably warm and the wind was at our backs on the way to the turn-around and directly at our heads on the way home...better than a crosswind, but still not easy.
The fastest on the day for Ciclismo Racing was our daily dose of "Sunshine" and GC leader, Mr. Benjamin Kneller, covering the course in 35:22, which equated to a 12th place finish. In a field of over 140, and with 3 riders preparing for the Giro d'italia, one of which was slower than Ben, trust me 12th place is a truly special and spectacular result. Oh yeah, I almost forgot, and this result came after a malfunction of his front derailleur, which Ben overcame by ramping his speed up to 45 miles per hour, putting his hand down to grab his chain, and returning his chain to the big chainring to finish the race...talk about staying cool-headed in a could-be disastrous situation. As a teammate, when another teammate rides so hard that they can barely finish the short spin back to the house, a performance like Ben's encourages us to ride even that much harder for our GC leader and glues us that much tighter as a team.
Thanks for reading,
Phil Mann
On a side note, and to give all you readers some perspective, I rode 20 seconds faster today than last year on the same course, but I was 52 places higher, 39th last year versus 91st this year (don't judge my placings, I wasn't hired as a time trial specialist :)). Hopefully this incite sheds light on the depth of talent in the field of racers.
Today, stage 3, was the individual time trial, an out-and-back, in Tyrone, New Mexico, just a stones throw from downtown Silver City. The course commenced with a gradual 5 mile uphill followed by a steep downhill, which led into a few rollers before the turn-around. Returning to the finish included a steep 2 mile climb and a ripping-fast 5 mile descent. Today's weather was comfortably warm and the wind was at our backs on the way to the turn-around and directly at our heads on the way home...better than a crosswind, but still not easy.
The fastest on the day for Ciclismo Racing was our daily dose of "Sunshine" and GC leader, Mr. Benjamin Kneller, covering the course in 35:22, which equated to a 12th place finish. In a field of over 140, and with 3 riders preparing for the Giro d'italia, one of which was slower than Ben, trust me 12th place is a truly special and spectacular result. Oh yeah, I almost forgot, and this result came after a malfunction of his front derailleur, which Ben overcame by ramping his speed up to 45 miles per hour, putting his hand down to grab his chain, and returning his chain to the big chainring to finish the race...talk about staying cool-headed in a could-be disastrous situation. As a teammate, when another teammate rides so hard that they can barely finish the short spin back to the house, a performance like Ben's encourages us to ride even that much harder for our GC leader and glues us that much tighter as a team.
Thanks for reading,
Phil Mann
On a side note, and to give all you readers some perspective, I rode 20 seconds faster today than last year on the same course, but I was 52 places higher, 39th last year versus 91st this year (don't judge my placings, I wasn't hired as a time trial specialist :)). Hopefully this incite sheds light on the depth of talent in the field of racers.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
A Trip up the Mogollon
Today we went bike racing in Silver City up to the Mogollon. This was the first day that I have raced with the team, it was awesome. We rode really well as a team and everything went good.
To elaborate on this we had Spotti and Workman make numerous perfect feeds from the car all day long. They kept us fueled and ready to get the job done. Nick, Phill, and Shaggy kept us out of the wind and up in the front of the field. The stage is set up to where it is mostly flat until the last five miles of the race where you take a right hand turn and go up to the finish. This is where the race really started. When we hit the wind going up the hill Nick kept me in the front group and kept my legs fresh for the final climb. From the help of others I was able to have ony of my best days climbing and finshed 18th out of the field. Rolf was not far behind in 28th.
It was a great day of racing and am looking forward for more to come.
Ben
To elaborate on this we had Spotti and Workman make numerous perfect feeds from the car all day long. They kept us fueled and ready to get the job done. Nick, Phill, and Shaggy kept us out of the wind and up in the front of the field. The stage is set up to where it is mostly flat until the last five miles of the race where you take a right hand turn and go up to the finish. This is where the race really started. When we hit the wind going up the hill Nick kept me in the front group and kept my legs fresh for the final climb. From the help of others I was able to have ony of my best days climbing and finshed 18th out of the field. Rolf was not far behind in 28th.
It was a great day of racing and am looking forward for more to come.
Ben
Lance at the Gila...
So as with all of us, this is the first time I have ridden with lance, and as expected it was quite the experience. The start line was buzzing with Lance mania and it was clear that the field had great respect for the man and his achievements, and rightfully so. You would see the peloton giving him the extra space that a man of his stature commands. Needless to say I had my own little moment with Lance, though not so sedate. Coming into the finish with 8 miles to go I found myself at the front of the race. I was riding just outside of the echelon and next thing I know I caught an elbow in the ribs. I was a little shocked and wasn't sure what had just happened. In the next moments Lance rolls up next to me and not so kindly informs me that, I shouldn't be in the line. I suppose if your going to hear that I guess it is better to hear from a seven time Tour winner than anyone else. I guess I'll see what tomorrow brings in the Lance Armstrong show...
Brad
Brad
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Ciclismo wins again!- Brown County Road Race, Nashville, IN 4-26-2009
Brown County Road Race, Nashville, IN
Ciclismo wins again
5 miles loop x 12 with 2 bigger climbs.
First lap started out fast and we dropped ½ the field as we crested the second climb. By the 3rd lap we were down to 4 riders and then the next lap we had only 3. we lapped everyone by the last lap and it came down to a sprint finish. I was able to out sprint the other two for the 3rd win of the season! I would like to thank Elizabeth for providing feeds during the race. If it wasn’t for her I would not have had a chance. After to race we went shopping for a few before we made it home around 8pm. I put the bike in the box and slept until bring dropped off at the airport at 7:30am for my trip to Gila. I flew from SDF to Midway then to St. Louis and finally to ABQ where the guys picked me up and we drove another 4 hrs to Silver City. It is awesome to be with the team again!
Ciclismo wins again
5 miles loop x 12 with 2 bigger climbs.
First lap started out fast and we dropped ½ the field as we crested the second climb. By the 3rd lap we were down to 4 riders and then the next lap we had only 3. we lapped everyone by the last lap and it came down to a sprint finish. I was able to out sprint the other two for the 3rd win of the season! I would like to thank Elizabeth for providing feeds during the race. If it wasn’t for her I would not have had a chance. After to race we went shopping for a few before we made it home around 8pm. I put the bike in the box and slept until bring dropped off at the airport at 7:30am for my trip to Gila. I flew from SDF to Midway then to St. Louis and finally to ABQ where the guys picked me up and we drove another 4 hrs to Silver City. It is awesome to be with the team again!
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