That’s All She Wrote: A GMSR Story

Four days of racing, one hundred and forty-four miles ridden, seven hours ten minutes and fifty-nine seconds of my life over with and GMSR has been completed!



Going into GMSR I really wanted to do well and incorporate everything I have learned throughout the year. In my mind I did just that. As we all know GMSR is no joke and for being a first year racer, finishing 30th in a strong 4/5 field I think was a pretty good showing. I was in the top 20, in the standings, until about half way between Middlebury Gap and Bristol Notch (stage 3), that is when the legs just couldn’t take it anymore. Well they took it, but they sure didn’t like it.


*The feeling my legs had after Stage 3 (Illustration by Jeff Mallett from "Roadie"*

My plan for the race was to go into it as a GC contender and race appropriately. The sprinters and KOM jersey sounded nice as well, but I wanted to see how things were playing out and those really depend on perfect positioning during a race with little error to pick up points.

Day 1 ITT:

I really didn’t know how I was going to do, seeing it was an “up-hill” TT, never done one before. All I knew was that once I hit the flat section of the course I was going to drop the hammer. It could have started off better, I flatted 15 min from my start during my warm-up ride. I begged the neutral SRAM crew for a zipp 404 rear wheel, but they were having none of it and only changed my tube. Probably the only mistake I made was on the finally climb out of the “dip” I was in too big of gear and probably lost about 10-15 seconds. After sprinting across the finish line, I had to take a small journey back to my car, because the course could not be ridden backwards..I must have ridden a million miles back!

So after I packed up my gear it was time to try to find something to eat. Turns out that if you don’t really know VT all that well, you’ll have a hard time finding places to eat. You kind of have to know the local eateries to find something good, my mistake for looking for a chain restaurant. Finally I found an Applebee’s, weirdest feeling ever eating alone at a family restaurant! Then it was off to check into the hotel. Apparently there are two Marriott’s in Williston and I just happened to go to the wrong one.

Day 2 Circuit Race:

Rolling out at 8:45am only meant one thing. Waking up early, 5am to be exact. I threw down three bagels, a banana, and two cups of coffee before we hit the road. Having warmed up for about 30-45 min I was ready to roll out. The 1st lap went well and I stayed with the main pack. At the beginning of the 2nd lap, it was the 1st KOM, so the pace picked up and I got left behind a little bit from the better climbers. Two other riders and myself pulled the lead group back. Once back on good position I found out there was a solo breakaway, which some riders were freaking out about, but I told them “look, it’s windy and we have plenty of time,” I think they were sprinters. Staying with the field again I knew if I could survive the last KOM I would be all right. So I worked hard on the KOM and stayed with the lead group for the last 3/4 of a lap. I think nerves picked up a bit for there were a lot of close calls. I myself hit the chain stay of the rider in front of me because of the yo-yo affect and people taking chances moving about the pack. There was a crash and I tried to find out from the riders next to me if it was the yellow jersey, little did i know one of them was wearing it. I seriously was going to go pro and tell everyone to sit up. With two miles to go, I moved to the front of the group to be in position for the sprint, but was soon left in the front due to riders pulling off. With a strong head wind this is not where I wanted to be so I slowed the pack down to 18mph and no one went around, until one guy did, whose wheel I caught, but then he soon too died off. Eventually a train flew by me and all I could really do was stay in contact and lose no time, which I did. Turns out that during our bunch sprint, the field got so spread out that riders went across the road and ran into a parked car.

I guess the only real humor from this race was during the second time around to the feed zone. I had an empty water bottle and as we all know those are unnecessary grams to be carrying around. So I decided to get rid of it. The thing that Tim didn’t know was Jeff was bad a physics. I threw my bottle and its momentum carried it right into Tim’s stomach. SOOOORRRRRYYYYY Tim!

Day 3 Road Race:

Middelbury Gap, Bristol Notch, Baby Gap, App Gap. Enough said. This was an extremely hard race, with a lot of climbing. I did well on Middlebury Gap, but still was left behind by the better climbers. I was caught in no mans land, but eventually was caught by two strong riders, one of which I chased back on with the day before, and then picked up two more by the end of the decent. Eventually we caught back on to the lead group and I was there for a little while, but soon fell off the back. The pace increased, due to the KOM climb I think, and I was at the merci of the wind. I keep chugging along catching riders one at a time and eventually there was no one in front or behind me. I eventually made it to Baby Gap were I had to stop for a moment and check my tires to see if one of them had gone flat, nope I was just going up at 8-10mph. At the feed zone there I picked up a Pepsi, without stopping. Some Riders had pulled off and were resting there before the big climb. After conquering Baby Gap and re-energized by my few sips of Pepsi, it was time to kick App Gap’s butt. I shifted back and forth from 39/26 to 39/23 and eventually made my way up passing quite a few riders. However the climb was not epic because of the length or toughness of the climb it was epic because of these guys….


*Ashton, Bruce, and Mark in their appropriate supporting attire (Tim took the pic)*


*Bruce, Ashton, and Mark disregarding oncoming traffic to give me a Tour de France feeling*

Day 4 Crit:

The Crit for the GMSR was quite interesting for it ran threw the streets of Downtown Burlington and actually was on Church St. for a little while. I really wanted to do well in this race and finish my season on a high note. I knew I needed to be near the front during the start and would have to pick some good wheels and stay near the front at all times. Unfortunately I did not get the good wheels part right. I found out after the race I got stuck behind an inexperienced rider, who was not comfortable in the corners. This caused me to move towards the back of the pack. Once around him, I tried hard to move up, but the legs soon gave way. I was off the back and pulled with 10 laps to go. Fortunately I did make it pass the ½ way mark so I was given a result and GC time. I finished watching the race from the side lines and talked to some Team Placid Planet members, who I Thank for cheering me on all weekend when they could.

Link to all Stage results!!!!!

So now my season is done and it is time to get some much needed rest. Perhaps buy a Mtn. Bike and do some recreational ridding. But I have to enjoy it now, for there are only a few more month before the 2011 season begins…..see you there!!!!!!!

Altamont Crit

Well this is a follow up to Jeff’s post on the New York Capital Region Road Race.  I know it is a bit delayed but it has been one hell of a week for me.  Quick recap...  In the last week I have raced twice, gotten sick, found a roommate, lost a roommate, found a new roommate, then gained two roommates, talked with iPhone vendors, looked at way to much code,  gone through new tour guide training, researched QR codes, sold my bike, sold a car, bought new bike, talked with google about maps, gained a mouse, and…yeah I think that is it.  I guess not to bad of a week, considering I did most of this on top of my regular 45hr/wk job.    

Steve and I chasing...TPP on our wheels

            So back on track.  At first Jeff was not going to race on Sunday however was talked into it.  I then looked at the times and we didn’t go off until 2:10pm…what BS!  Now I don’t typically mind racing later in the day however I was staying at a hosts house and still had a 4+hr drive ahead of me after the race.  This was one day where I really just wanted to get back home after the race. 

            Jeff and I showed up to the race on time however spent a little too much time chatting with a friend of mine who lived on the course.  We towed the line with zero warm up, not exactly the best of plans.  I maintained pretty good position throughout the race staying up near the front, covering moves, ended up in a short lived break with a farm team rider, and yeah, pretty happy. 

            Eventually Allen Rego (now a cat 2 rider) and Jim Walker (TPP) make it off the front.  Jim had some good blocking in the small field and half the riders apparently had never seen blocking before and were too dumb to notice what was going on.  Steve Wells and I did a lot of work trading pulls with TPP members sitting on our wheels not letting anyone pull through.  Long story short, break stuck and I was too spent to do anything in the sprint and finished 9^th overall and 2^nd of the Cat 4’s.  Jeff was pulled with a few laps to go but rode well in a strong field of mostly 3’s.  I was pretty impressed with TPP's performance.  One of the reasons I left besides proximity was the lack of a team feel, this obviously has changed some this year within TPP.

            I have not really done much riding since this race and my season is mostly over with work picking up.  What to expect from my future of cycling?  Well one more race in Portsmouth, NH, working with a mountain biking advocacy group, and also possibly maybe considering coaching a few athletes.  We shall see about the later of the three. 

NYS Capital Region RR

The Albany weekend for WOE consisted of two races. The NYS Capital Region Road Race and the Altamont Criterium. Three racers showed up to represent WOE: Tim A, Eric G, and myself (Jeff K).


*WOE Racers Jeff, Tim, and Eric pose during warm-up for the NYS Capital Region RR.*

So once again the trip started with a long car ride to Albany, NY to spend the night at a teammates relatives house. We were happily greeted and shown a tour of the house, only to be instructed to make ourselves at home. The rest of the night, was spent talking about the upcoming race and to help Mark, our host, understand a little better how the day would play out. Mark kindly volunteered to work the feed zone for us. Then it was time to fight over who got the extra bed and who got the couch. Which was easily resolved by a quote from “The Mis-Understood World of a Bike Racer.” More or less, he who got the bed the 1st night down not get it the second night.

Well rested and fed we headed to Ravena, NY. All your normal pre-race routines took pace and a little surprise happened to me as well. I was pinning my number onto my jersey, when all of a sudden there was a PFTTSSSSssssssssssssssssssss. The guy in the car next to me immediately went “ut-Oh,” and I soon found out my rear tube decided to pop. Good start to the race, right. Just glad it happened before and not during the race. So in record tube changing time, my bike was good to go again. Finally after anxiously waiting 2 hours, it was time for staging.


*Loop profile of the Race*




The 4/5 race involving Tim and myself, Eric was in the straight cat 5 race. It started off to a 3 mile neutral start;however, it didn’t seem that way. At times my computer would tell me we were going about 20mph. Once the race officially started the pace was very moderate and the field stayed together, with people talking to one another. Upon coming to the first big climb of the day, the front of the field thought it would be a good idea to set the pace at 8mph going into it, with a decent leading into it. With the yo-yo affect in play the field broke up by the end of the climb.

I just missed out on the led group and was kind of caught in no mans land, when all of a sudden…dunt dunt da daaaa….Tim appears out of the corner of my eye leading a pace line to catch the led group. I caught on and immediately was not happy. People do not know how to pace line!!!!! Apparently when it is their turn to pull, that meant sprint and cause hell for everyone else. This killed me seeing I am not very good or use to the continuous short power burst. Never the less we made it to the second big climb and the led group was in site. I took off from the chase group and almost made contact; however, my legs did not want to chase after the climb. Again Tim and his chase group found me and I tried to hang on, but soon was dropped. Caught in no mans land....AGAIN. I eventually found some other members of our race to work with and started pace lining with them.

Coming around for lap two, it was Mark and my big moment......a water bottle hand off. I desperately kept looking for him amongst the large crowed. But once I had found find I through my water bottle, hopefully not hitting him or anyone else, and successfully grabbed a fresh one. See WOE is ready for water bottle exchanges, just not from a moving cars.

Turned out Tim’s group never made contact with the led group, but Tim manage to take second in his group and I managed to solo away from my group to the finish. Overall it was not a very good day, in terms of standings, but a good effort put in by all.

After the race we met up with some of Tim’s friends from Buffalo and talked about the race at Panera Breads. The rest of the afternoon and evening was strictly recovery time and very little was done, except veg on the couch in front of the tele. THEN IT WAS DINNAH TIME!! Mark spoiled us we some awesome home cooking and recordings of the Tour de France.

Altamont Criterium post Coming Soon!!

Concord 30th Annual Criterium

The Concord trip brought some excitement to the WOE racers this past weekend, seeing it meant the void of races was no more (several races already on the schedule for the upcoming weeks). However, they were not to excited about the 4 hour drive to get to Concord, NH. So naturally they planned around this and went down the night before, in two different groups. Jeff/Tim to Tim’s brother’s and Bruce/Ashton to a hotel in Concord. Each group had it’s own little excitement, with Jeff and Tim getting lost on some dirt roads (at 10:30pm) which pretty much led to no mans land, but through the use of 2 GPS’s they were able to make it to their destination okay. Ashton and Bruce didn’t leave Plattsburgh until late in the evening and made it to Concord around 2am, only to be quickly awakened by a fire alarm at their hotel at 4am. Needless to say they were both a little tired the next morning, at least Ashton was fashionable in slippers.

Tim and Jeff were the first at the course and quickly picked out a strategic parking location for the team, near a parking lot and pretty much in front of a café. Things got interesting quickly as Jeff saw a car going backwards on the course almost wiping out a few cat 55+ members, while Ashton and Bruce saw a car back over someone’s bike.

Concord Criterium map and profile. (20 laps, 56ft elevation gain/lap)

Cat. 4 Race

After warming up by the cars Tim, Ashton, and Jeff spun around a little more and got acquainted for a few other racers and individuals working the race. Soon they were called for staging, but found out that all the other racers were there already. Tim soon pointed out a whole and got the team in a better position for the start. On the first lap there was almost a crash simply because the back of the field could not see the narrowing of the road and a few riders almost crashed, Jeff included.


*our pace car, lasted all day without having to fill up once!!*


Thing were going pretty smoothly until we had to move up in the field. Jeff didn't realize he was in his small ring and spun himself to death trying to catch move up. He was soon dropped on the 8th lap or so, but then followed the motto "never quite, never stop trying." Ashton and Tim took on the rest of the race pretty well staying near the front. Everything was going prefect. Ashton was riding like a champ and Tim was helping him by coaching him into positions and giving him some room to move around. Unfortunately the last lap ended this perfect day. A most likely inexperienced rider, or just a reckless one, took a line that wasn't there and caused Ashton to crash. Ashton himself made it out alright, but his front wheel just will never be the same. Tim luckily made it around the crash and represented WOE well with a 10th place finish.

Cat 3 Race


*Bruce at the starting line, for the first time in a long time*


Bruce went into the race with a game plan and that is what he stuck to. He knew what wheel he needed to be on and that where he was for most of the race, with his opponents marking him as well. It was a fast pass race and everything seemed to be going smoothie with no crashes and no one really causing too much trouble on the course.


*Bruce holding his position around turn 6*

There was a small break away of at the most two riders for a very short time due to prim laps causing the field to bring them back. For the most part about 90% of the time the field was together, the pace just causing the field to stretch out. With about 5 laps to go the announcer of the race predicted a final bunch sprint and that is exactly what happened. The field came around the final turn and racers started sprinting away. However, some started to early and died off, while toward the finish line three racers remained in the hunt. Bruce was among them, in 2nd/3rd position. The winner came in a second or two before Bruce, but with an epic throw of the bike, Bruce was able to take second. Not bad for his 1st race back sense Syracuse.

*Bruce just sneaking in there for 2nd place*

After the race the team went to a well-known Mexican restaurant “Margaritas.”. The restaurant historically was a prison, but now serves amazing food (pretty sure the team gave it 5 stars). They piled into their little 6ftx6ft jail cell, reminisced about the race, ate some great food, and probably made their waitress think they were crazy.




DAY 2 APP. GAP TRAINING!

Do to some busy schedules and recent lack of sleep, the team decided to sleep in...until 7:30am. After meeting up they ran around White River Junction for a while looking for a good place for breakfast, and oh did they find the mother load. The Farmers Diner in Quechee, VT (another 5 star experience). Everything pretty much homemade and serving sizes out of the world. To say the least everyone was full.

Once the team arrived at the base of App. Gap, the ride planning took place. Originally it was suppose to be a 60 mile ride, but with individuals having to get back, it was shortened to just 25. But the 25 miles were no joke, it was pretty much climb the back side and then turn around and climb the front side (side GMSR will be going up).

APP GAP Training Course and Profile!

Jeff took his time going down the decent and checked the roads and profile a little bit, before he climbed it, only to find himself left behind. So once again Jeff almost screwed up the ride because there was a "T" intersection and he had no idea which way his teammates had gone. Eventually he found a man mowing his lawn and asked if he had seen a few riders, the man kindly said yes and pointed him in the right direction. Soon after Tim, Bruce, and Ashton came back to see where the heck Jeff was. Reunited they pedaled a little further into Jerusalem and then decided to make the trip back up the mountain.

They chilled out at the top for a minute or two and talked about the climb, then started our final decent. Mainly due to the fact that someone somewhere was enjoying the view from the top with a little wacky tabacy. The decent was fast and probably wore out a few break pad, but all in all it was a great ride and an important one. Back at the cars team WOE celebrated the only way team WOE knows how to celebrate. With a six pack!!!!!!!





Next stop the NY Capital Region RR (Saturday Aug. 14)!!!!!!!!!!!

Tri-Town Bike Race a Success!!!!!!!

Team WOE leads out the peloton for the 33.3 mile charity race!

*photo provided by North Country Now*


This event was organized to help raise money for the local Tri-Town Summer Festival (Brasher Falls, NY) and with over 60 individuals participating in either the 33.3 or 6 mile races, they were able to make over $1,300.

WOE had 6 members representing the team that day and finished 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 respectfully. However, it was not about winning, it was about showing that WOE is not just a bunch of racers, but a group of people that care about the community and would like to support it any way we can.

We look forward to future community events and hope to see you out there as well!!!!!!!!!

Also noteworthy for this post is team member Ashton Momot's participation in the Tour de Cure, choosing the 100 mile course, and raising a good amount of money to help support diabetes research earlier this year.

Back in the saddle

Well I am back at it, after a couple weeks off from a fairly good size crash in Fitchburg I am racing once again.  A brief recap of the crash, was mid pack descending after the main climb in the course. Two guys a few roads ahead of me crash and legit knocked out the entire field.  I ended up just hitting the pile of bikes and went down myself with a nice little concussion.

So I guess it effected me more then I thought.  I called home and I guess was pretty out of it.  Same with friends in the Cape I was trying to meet up with.  Also when driving back I got into my back seat of the car, not really sure why.  Other stupid things, I found out I put lemonaid in the cupboard, I dont remember this but it was pretty moldy and gross when discovered a few weeks later by someone else.  I did the same with milk however my cereal was nice and cold.  However this could also all be chalked up to me being an idiot, I like to blame the knock on the head. 

Fast forward two weeks to this past weekend.  I decided to enter the BBC Championship.  It is essentially a training race for me as I am not eligible for the championship not being a member of BBC.  Plus I had been on the bike twice since the crash.  It was a stupidly small field of 16.  A few guys fell off and it ended up being a team of 5 (we shall call Team A), team of 3 (Team B), myself and a two other guys on there own, really only 10 of us.  Going into the event I had a few goals, 1) stay up and 2) get into a break.  I didnt really care about the win because it meant nothing to me.

I went on one attack early on but no one came with so went back into the field.  The team A sent someone up and they were doing a great job of blocking.   I ended up bridging up to the solo break and we worked well together for a bit before being caught.  At this time they launched another guy off the front.  I recovered for a bit then tried to bridge up but it failed, came back.  3rd time was a charm and I got into another break with both of the teams represented, I thought it was going to stick but a 4th rider from Team A bridged up and attacked right away, I couldnt match and slowly drifted back into the remaining group.  I was simply gassed.  And I use the term "break" in a liberal way do to field size. 

At this time I got a nice little verbal lashing for letting the break happen by the Team B.  To the lines of "if you ever f'in do that again and put our team in a bad spot" so on so on.  At this moment I decided not to help Team B one bit on the chase.  I sat on the bike and chatted with the other team.  I put in another mini attack, really just wanting to hit the corner hard because it is fun to do.  Get another verbal lashing from Team B, given well deserved.

Overall great to ride again however I think it will probably be my last race with BBC.  They are only training races, dont count for anything, small fields, just not worth the extra effort to head to them.  Maybe I just have a bitter taste in my mouth.  I know I still have a lot to learn about racing myself so maybe I am just reading the entire situation wrong.

Le Tour de Rand Hill

The Tour de Rand Hill is put on by the Plattsburgh YMCA to help raise money for scholarships to give children the opportunity to attend Camp Jericho (local camp). There was both a race and a recreational division, not really sure how many were in each, but there was a good showing of some where in the forties I want to say.

Tour de Rand Hill Course Map

So the day started off well…..well at least not for our bikes. There apparently was a tree next to the road just looking to scratch or damage any bike that apparently wanted to drive through it. Yes Jeff accidentally drove his bike through a tree and then Ashton’s mom did the same thing with his bike (bikes on roof rack). All in all the bikes turned out okay and where good to go with a few turns of a hex wrench.

There was a nice little roll out led by a trooper and then once we were out of town it was on. Immediately I turned on the throttle and picked the pace up to 25mph and separated the racers from recreational riders. We formed a pretty good pace line; however, with strong head to crosswinds, everyone felt it. By the time we reached the Rand Hill Rd. there was still a pretty good pack, but soon to be smaller and smaller.

The pace was pretty high and a small group broke away, included Ashton and I. I keep sneaking to the front to keep the pace up a few times, as a group of riders were trying to bring us back. As most us know we went up and up some more. At the little decent of the climb, I raced to the front and started pulling at 36mph, with Ashton right on my wheel yelling “Hi-Yah, Faster Faster!” We had a small gap but were soon brought back, because downhill attacks never really work. Nothing else to major happening until about ¼ mile from the finish line. Two riders pulled us back, and I thought one was a pretty strong rider, so I immediately attacked up the last kicker, dropping those two riders. As soon as I got to the top I was like “Crap,” but in a more non-acceptable re-quoting kind of way. Because I could see the finish line and realized I attacked to soon. But my attack did not go in vain, for it allowed Ashton to only have to fight against two riders instead of six. Unfortunately Ashton was taken at the line and came in second. Pretty sure if he would have thrown a few head-butts he would have won.

After the event’s award ceremony we went to Zuke’s for a recovery lunch…were we had the Zuke’s special and a tuna melt….Jeff had a PEPSI and yelled at Ashton for having an iced tea!

Fitchburg Stage Race, the trip plus Stage 1

It has been one heck of a week!  Well there is a lot going on.  Helping friends move, racing in one of the most storied cycling races in the US, working one job, potsdam street fest, and then travel for another job!  So yes, things have been busy for sure.  I first want to say that I have taken some great pictures along the way, I just dont have my cables with me so cannot upload them yet.  They will be with time!

I made the trip down to Fitchburg, MA on  July 1st.  Only took a couple 6 hours to drive down which was not bad.  Race HQ is at the Courtyard Marriott in Fitchburg, great hotel.  I have stayed there a few times before and actually hang out in the lobby post race stealing free coffee, internet and watching world cup soccer.   Better then starbucks, coffee is a lot worse though.

The best part of the drive down was stopping at Noon Mark Diner.  Noonmark is located in Keene Valley, NY.  I was introduced to the wonderful diner through Camp Dudley.  Essentially every hike I went on through Dudley ended at Noon Mark.  Great camp for boys and girls, check it out.  Either way I made it safely to to Fitchburg and then back up to Rindge, NH where I will be staying for the week.  I am staying with a friends family from college.  Pictures to come of the lake soon too!

The race bike

Stage 1 was pretty boring and uneventful.  Essentially a 3 mile loop that we went around a ton of time.  Not technical what so ever, one good size climb and thats it.  I made it over just fine every time on the climb, went for a few intermediate sprints (didnt win any), went with moves, tried to race smart.  Racing smart is something that I do not do very well so trying to turn a new page in the book here.  Either way was a pack finish for me.  Technically I am sitting in 7th place, just tied for 7th with roughly 60 other guys too.

Recovery meal of champions

Tomorrow is the RR so we shall see how that goes.  Find out if I can climb or not.  I am leaning towards no.  As for the rest of the week, races here are finished on Monday afternoon.  I am floating around Boston and NH till wed when I will be doing college fairs Wed and Thursday.  I quickly jump into the car and head back to Canton.  I will be working at the shop friday and over the weekend during the Potsdam Street Festival.  I am in town for the week before heading off to Rochester, NY for more college fairs.  I am just everywhere this summer!

On an unrelated note, does anyone have opinions on cell phones?  I kinda want the Droid.  Do I get the original Droid now because it is in stock, wait for the Droid Incredible, or wait for the new Droid Moto X?  Oh the choices.

More updates to come tomorrow!

Point au Roche TTs

Usually when you talk to the WOE Plattsburgh, NY crew we brag about our riding and some of the awesome courses we have near us, like the Tour de Peru. However, there is also another event many of us look forward to each week to test our strength and gauge where we are at. This event is the Point au Roche TT. Individuals of all abilities come to participate in either the 5, 10, or 25 mile courses (an out and back), along Lake Champlain. From first timers all the way to hardened veterans. Those with absolutely no aero-equipment to individuals decked out with it. Either way it is a lot of fun and a good way to build up your strength. So if you thinks that this might be your cup of tea. Join us every Wednesday night at 6pm at the Point au Roche firehouse.

10 mile course
25 mile course

However, if the course is to far away for you to join us, you can keep tabs on us via the following link. It is usually updated weekly and you can see previous results to see how people are improving. TT results

Full Moon Vista Cycling Grand Prix

Memorial Day weekend had a common theme for most WOE riders taking some time to recover and to be with friends or family. However, I did see one WOE rider climb some long gradual hill in the Cranberry Lake region of NY. Kudos to you! But for some of us it was time to start warming up the legs and prepping for the Full Moon Vista Cycling Grand Prix, a three day event.

Three riders made their way down to the Rochester area: Tim, Jeff, and Mike. The trip started out well with me (Jeff) aimlessly running around the Postdam/Cantan area trying to find our beloved Tim Akers. Once I found Tim and everyone was together, we started the long trip. We knew we would be cutting it close, but would make it before the race started. Oh we did indeed make it before the race started. I believe the announcement "one minute to the start of the cat 4/5 race" was the signal for Tim and Mike to get registered in.

Being on time was not a very common theme for us this past weekend. At the second race we showed up 30 minutes to the start of the race, due to a slight GPS error that took us to the Full Moon bike shop and not the race site. So needless to say again our warm-up sucked. Tim did well placing 15th and I think i put in a pretty good effort for my 1st race involving mainly cat 4's placing 29th out of 60+ races. Mike, unfortunately was feeling the affects of a slight cold and a crappy nights sleep (HUGE storm rolled through), so decided to rest.

Probably the most interesting part of the weekend, besides being jumped in the night by a cat, we race #3. Why was it interesting? Well it was absolutely miserable weather. We finally got to a race with an hour before race time and quickly set up camp under a tent and an awning. The course was a little slick with a sketchy downhill that had a small lake at the bottom that could have caused some trouble, but I guess never did. Again Tim did very will placing 6th and I 25th out of 38 riders, because I rode like a scared little sissy girl and pulled up on the down hill portion of the race, causing me to get dropped. Again Mike chose wisely and decided to rest and not catch pneumonia. See we do learn from Tim's mistakes!

http://www.gvccracing.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/FMVGP_Men45_Omnium_2010.pdf

All in all it was a fun weekend racing, eating buffulo wings, and meeting the Akers. I can't remember the last time i sat in someone's back yard and did nothing for like 5 hours listing to music and nothing else....well one shenanigan...I think a few of you know what i am talking about...

Bring Back The Love for Cycling: Team Broccoli Style

If the Tour de Syracuse did not display some outstanding races and great performances, it may have shown the many clubs that participated the way a cycling team should be. Well managed, fit, glycogen full, and totally filled with shenanigans. Team Wear on Earth set a new bar for making racing events fun and more relaxing for everyone. The seriousness/nervous expressions from teams and individuals around us could not help but break down to laugh and smile. Wither it was from obscure comments, practical jokes, or straight explosive decompression Team Wear of Earth made everyone's day.

On numerous occasions people would come up to us and ask where we are from, how much they liked our kits, and at times some wanted to know if they could be on our team, probably jokingly but subconsciously they really wanted to be.

What really got peoples attention was during the final climb of the Road Race, which was a pretty respectable climb to the finish line. After the Cat. 3 and 5 races, Jeff (the Bold), Ashton (The Blind), Mike (the Squeaker), and Bruce (the Almighty) staged for a surprise to fellow teammates Doug and Tim. As Tim was on the finally climb, he soon found himself surrounded, not by competitors of the race, but by crazed teammates running besides him in bibs and socks. Tim, spectators, and racers, couldn't help but smile and laugh through the pain of the final climb. Yes I said spectators suffering from the pain of the climb. I think I got a cramp walking up it.

Even though we had our fun, our shenanigans did not affect anyone else. Wait! I take that back, it affected one guy. While warming up for the TT, Jeff finished his water and decided to throw the water bottle into the back of the WOE van. Jeff not knowing the power held within his Howitzers, thought he lightly tossed the bottle. However, the bottle flew hitting the top of the van, bounced over it, and hitting a racer in the head that was parked next to us. All I'm going to say is he shouldn't have been parked to close.

Even though this shenanigan filled team may have fooled around nonstop. It also showed that it could handle the road as well. The team finished with 7 top ten finishes (2 in the crit, 2 in the TT, and 3 in the road race) over the weekend. Bruce dropped the hammer during the TT and won it, passing at least 4 racers.

The trip ended with a stop to the famous Dinosaur restaurant. The team reminisced about the weekend while enjoy some awesome food. Everyone finished their plates, except for Jeff who couldn't man up to finish it. Also the bill showed that tired sleep deprived cyclist are not mathematicians. For it took probably as long to figure out the bill as it did for us to fest on our meals.

Team Wear on Earth, would also like to extend a HUGE "THANK YOU!!!!!!!" To Moe, who housed four members of the team and brought us to an excellent Italian restaurant, where we got a great meal and a pretty good show.


Official results from the Tour de Syracuse Omnium

Bruce B (Cat 3) - 6th overall
Tim A (Cat 4) - 12th overall
Jeff K (Cat 5 <35) - 5th overall
Ashton (Cat 5 < 35) - 8th overall also KOM
Mike K (Cat 5 < 35) - 17th overall
Eric G (Cat 5 35up) - 27th overall

Binghamton Circuit Race

Well this was our first real weekend of racing. Battenkill does not count in my book (mostly because I essentially dnf'ed due to a mechanical- thank you wheel car for just driving by without stopping). Making the trek from all directions include Eric and Mike down from Potsdam'ish area; Bruce, Doug, Ashton, and Jeff from the greater Plattsburgh area; and myself from Princeton, NJ where I was all week for work.

Binghamton bound

The Fairfield Inn hooked us up with three first floor rooms right next to each other. There is no possible way that Marriott made money on our stay. Each individual member of the team essentially went to breakfast and said "yes, I will take one of everything." After our fill of granola, yogurt, coffee, Belgian waffles, bagels, coffee, fruit, and more coffee we made our way to the race.

It was a cold and rainy day. Really perfect weather for a race except for the fact that it was cold and raining. Doug, fresh off of his 2nd place Battenkill finish, and myself raced the first race. I didn't get much of a warmup in due to not wanting to sit outside in the rain on a trainer. So I did what any smart man would do to warm up, go on a solo break.

Said solo break

I headed back into the field after a few laps out and then Doug took his turn trying to get a few different breaks started. Essentially for the rest of the race I watched Doug mix it up at the front, covering breaks and trying to get stuff started while hiding. With a few laps left I started to work my way up to the front. Doug found me and offered some help but we got split up. A Team Ommegang rider went off the front with roughly one to go and almost held it. I shot out of the group like a prepubescent boy way way way to early, caught the Team Ommegang rider, then promptly died about 10 meters from the line taking 4th. Doug finished with the pack after putting in a lot of work during the race.

Next to go off was the 5 field which Mike, Jeff, Ashton, and Eric were all in. Jeff and Ashton mixed it up early trying to start breaks and attacking like made. They each made one to many attacks and were dropped by the field. Mike and Eric hung in strong for the majority of the race riding a very strong first race for them both.

Bruce's P123 race was something. Bruce covered every move he could and was pretty active at the front however a 3 man break made it away which did not include a Team Wear On Earth member. Bruce was leading the chase from the field to bring them back however he seemed to be the only one doing so. The break stayed away.

Bruce in the pack of the P123

Bruce, fairly fired up about the results of the p123 race went on a solo break from mile 0 in the 3/4 field that started immediately after his race. What was the purpose of this? Pent up anger? Looking for photo opportunities? Really just trying to get warm. Bruce came back into the field after creating a solid gap and staying away for a couple laps. We stayed pretty active at the front, covering breaks and putting in a few solid attacks one including both Bruce and Doug. In the end it all came back together. Bruce and I found each other in the pack and I began leading Bruce towards the front. I had good legs and as the climb started I could feel myself on the verge of blowing up and pulled off, leaving Bruce all alone to fend for himself. In hindsight (which sucks) I should have gone until I had blown up trying to get Bruce closer to the finish. Oh well, live and learn no? Bruce finished with a 7th in the sprint. Note to self, practice lead outs.

Not 100% sure what happened with the 5's second race of the day. I know Ashton and Jeff learned there lessons and stayed in the pack. Ashton ended up 7th! Overall a great weekend for the team. A lot of lessons learned for all parties involved and I am now one step closer to a Cat 3, only two more top 10's until I can upgrade or about 10 pts, whichever comes first.

Nice long report. Next stop Marshall & Sterling Saratoga SpaCrit. You can register here or come down to watch. If you are coming to watch, what better way to watch the race then by volunteering!