Super Squadra

The annual spring circuit races at Belterra have treated our team quite nicely over the years. Phil landed our first ever team P-1-2 win at Belterra in 2008 and a we finished out 2nd place in 2009. We were able to leap back up to the top of the podium this year on yet another back-breaking course with many feet of climbing, a very strong field, and an extended warm up/ cool down to get the day to Walburg workload levels.

Our team coaches (yes, I had to be reminded as well to get in a full day of training by the other DW) at Durata Training suggested that we ride to and from the race with our friends to get loaded up on a few miles to be ready for the long upcoming Texas road races at month’s end. We rolled out of Bicycle Sport Shop, home of where to get started in road racing, right on time and got to the race opened up for anything. Our plan in the race was to not test ourselves too early, the circuit race was a long 90min and the course very challenging. At the 29:52s mark of the race, Wheeler launched our first assault of the day and a series of counter attacks over the next 20min lead Phil off in a strong break that ultimately set up the winning move.

By playing defense to let they all the guys on the team catch their breath after a long series of aggressive moves on our end, I ended up off the front. I have no clue how it happened. I was sitting in my small ring 2nd wheel in the group when Pat McCarty rolled up and said, “Well, you’ve got to like this one?” I had no idea what he was talking about until I snuck a look back and we had about a 300m gap on the field with three other riders. Immediately, I went into “how do I win out of this” mode.

The group of Metro VW/ Texas Tough’s Andrew Dahlheim, THSJ’s ever present Brant Speed (who foreshadowed great strength the previous weekend), RBM’s McCarty, and I started to push hard. I did the lions share of the gap-opening, but two riders made it across separately in very strong solo moves. First was Michael Joannisse of Nativo Concept and then the winner of last weekend’s Tour of New Braunfels, Lawson Craddock. Once the group was set, McCarty backed off of all pace making to see if he could get another RBMer in the move, but it didn’t work out. The group worked evenly otherwise with no nonsense as the long laps ticked away.



At four laps to go, roughly the 72min mark, THSJ went to the front of the pack to chase and that forced Pat back into our rotation. Whew! Joannisse flagged a bit at two laps to go, but this was after some confusion of bell ringing and prime announcing. There was a gambler’s prime that Mark Purnell confused for a bell lap, I am not sure if Joannisse knew if he was going for the prime or for the win. Either way, he won the race for one lap to go.



On the bell lap, we again worked as even as any group should with an 18sec gap and 3mi to go. On the steep hill, I kept it in the big ring and marked McCarty as best as I could, which led to some separation between him, me, and the rest of the group. We all got back together over the course’s first 180 degree turn and after a brief lull on the steepest part of the descent, Craddock attacked. Eventually McCarty and Speed chased it back going into the last turn where Joannisse launched an attack. He had a huge gap coming out of the turn and I knew I was going to have to have a long, sustained burst of speed to catch him on the steeper part of the finishing climb. I tossed my chain into my silky smooth and quiet Force 11t and went—but really started my push the whole way to the left, the inside, of the dog-legged curve to force the riders behind to take a longer line to the finish. That made the difference in the end. I just nudged out Joannisse with 20m to go and Dahlheim was hot on my heals in a bike throw for the line.

What a day, what an effort! Looks like my push for a strong ride at Elite TT and Crit nats is heading in the right direction! In the pack, Ting got his third top 10 in just as many races with Wikoff leading him in a strong 9th place.

Well, people, it’s a new decade. I met Ian back in 2000 at the Collegiate National Championships in Athens, Ohio when we were crash-crazed 20 year olds that had better than average strength for our age, but no idea how to use it against our elders. Over the next 10 years of friendship, we were lucky to have many great mentors guide us to our potential, which got us to the bottom of the US professional cycling scene totem pole as competitors. Along the way, we accumulated national medals and college degrees. As “professionals” off the bike at this hour, our parents amazingly still look forward to hearing we made it through a race weekend with glee on both sides of the conversation, and a full layer of skin.

Bonus footnote: I met Wheeler in 2001 on our way out to Collegiate Nats in Colorado Springs where he couldn’t help but be folksy. He just walked right up to me and said, “Hey are you Ian’s teammate?”

“Yes!” I replied

His next words, “Aw, cool, I go to school with him and wanted to say ‘Hi.’” pretty much summed up all I needed to know about Steven on the spot. He’s just plain affable, until an inevitable slip up in concentration during a race. Then he’ll let you know about it! I’ll save my comments about meeting Phil for when our new Tox Strategies laden kits arrive on 2/8.

Fast forward 10 years to the Tour of New Braunfels. With our full dedication to the sport now coming full circle, Steven, Phil, Ian, and I are attempting to share what we know with the next generation of racers, whom we anticipate will go far beyond the regional ranks. Those are our valued teammates Alan Ting and Chad Haga, who both put their stamp on our opening race weekend of the year. Additionally, many of the Super Squadra Cycling Clinic attendees, entering every category offered at the Tour of New Braunfels, simultaneously put their skills and brains to work. This only added to our satisfaction of cultivating the sport of cycling out of Bicycle Sport Shop.

The road race started off with a thud. Our field broke the rules and was riding left of center after action got hot and heavy. This is regrettable and official Sean McNeil did the right thing in stopping the race to give us a stern warning. Riders were disqualified from the race should they continue to put all of us, including the next generation of top-tier cyclists, in harm’s way. Thank you, Sean.

At the 8mi mark of the race, RBM’s Pat McCarty got a 15- 20sec gap with Team Hotel San Jose’s Robert Biard. The duo was working great and Ian made the bridge up by himself to get our team representation in the move. Shortly after this, our race was again stopped at the finish line due to the grown children in our race riding on the wrong side of the road. We were allowed to restart, but the unfortunate behavior continued. Hopefully, this subject will not have to draw strong criticism from our team blog in future races.

About an hour later, Ian fell back to Earth after his rocket-ship effort in the break. Robert Biard flatted shortly thereafter. Pat had about 2:20 on us with 32mi left to go and was holding strong. We put our riders on the front for some time until THSJ took over with 18mi to go. At the 12mi to go mark, the invincible McCarty was captured and Squadra went on the attack. The rider to counter our moves was again McCarty, who got another 15sec gap with Chad Haga, in his first start in Bicycle Sport Shop colors. Alan marked the first counter with Brant (the brand) Speed attempting to get up to the leaders, but Hot Tubes‘ (and Super Squadra Cycling Clinic attendee!) Lawson Craddock followed the tactics playbook to the letter and took off in pursuit of the two thoroughbreds. Two miles later, Craddock made the bridge to the leaders, and they were nearly out of sight. In the finale, Craddock led out the sprint over a weary McCarty who had spent 56mi pushing wind, with Haga grabbing a strong 3rd place.

Our plan in the next day’s circuit race was again to feature our new, young talent. Our boys rose to the occasion in a very cold, literally freezing, and tactics heavy 75min race. The field was much smaller than the day before, which aided our plan to get in a workout on our way to fine tuning our lead out for next weekend’s Belterra and Spring Classic at Driveway Austin criteriums. All of us, aside from protected rider Alan “Bhut Up” Ting who was ghost riding the field, took our shots to soften up the competition but could never get a meaningful gap. The only rider on the day that was able to get a solid gap from the pack was THSJ’s Speed, but his solo move came back with a little under three long laps to go.



I had the pleasure of sweeping Ting’s rear wheel on the first half of the last lap while Ian kept the front of the Squadra train out of harms way. Hey, when you have a team that wants to race as a unit, put the pieces in place! This took us to the only notable climb on the course where the pack bunched up a bit and I came off of Ting’s wheel to get to the front so his excellent position in the pack would remain unchanged. With Phil coaching me through my pacemaking (“Yes.” “Yes.” “More.” “Yes.”), he took over with a shade over 1k to go with a monster turn on the front. From here, Chad had his moment of truth, he had the toughest job on the day out of all of our roles on the team, taking Ting as close to the line as he could. Chad passed his “trial by fire” with flying colors, dropping the 2009 junior national kilometer and keiren champion off within sight of the finish. Josh Carter sailed away for the win and Alan lunging for the line in 2nd place.

Another highlight of the day included our team’s annual extended cool down after the circuit race, this year featuring a loop including The Devil’s Backbone. Thanks to our sponsors listed to the right, we’re a fit, healthy, and well dressed unit that’s ready for TX Cup racing next weekend.

Two podiums in two days is the best start to a season that our team has had, there must be something to this youth movement. Many young racers raced with purpose and great strength this past weekend, congratulations to all and we look forward to the test of trying to keep pace with you guys. We are in for a hard year, and decade, of racing. Good game, just keep ball in bounds.

In preparation for the start of the Texas racing calendar, developers plowed through some primo Texas Hill Country real estate in anticipation of future Lake Travis communities off of Lakeway Blvd and the tiny, well kept secret back way to Pace Bend Park, Bee Creek Road. Austin cyclists, please rejoice and take pride in a fresh new bike path through Lakeway, Highlands blvd. There are plenty of turns and chances to use a full range of 2010 Force cassette choices. Best of all, for at least the next six hours or until housing starts to pick up, there are no homes on this closed section of road. Our regional developers have our interest in mind, fresh new pavement and rolling hills to gain fitness for the first four race weekends of the young season.

Continuing on during our three county tour, we marched west through Spicewood and on to the actual Dead Man’s hole, fighting wind the whole way to our most western point of the ride. This was about 55mi from home, and we were worried about making it back before dark until the 30mph gusts pushed our pace so that the 107mi was completed in a shade under 5:20. Some of that was thanks to the non-sock wearing contingent of triathletes that towed us early in the ride, thanks, guys! Be sure to check out the new roads west of Austin when looking for adventure and let us know what you think of our new Lakeway private cycling race track.

This past weekend we hosted riders of all ages and abilities at the Driveway with our Advanced Skills Clinic. There were riders from Houston, North Texas and a current Worlds (Jr.) medalist, all living and playing happily with each other and aiming to polish their skills with the season looming ahead.

The weather, for a second day in a row of clinic activities, was beautiful, sunny, and warming quickly. We began the day with a challenging cornering drill wherein we suffered our one and only mechanical of the day, a rolled tubular tire. Luckily rider and equipment emerged intact and would successfully complete the morning’s activities. It was a reminder to everyone how important it is to know the limitations of your equipment when mishaps are small and isolated before jumping into a mass start where the stakes are higher.

When the morning dew burned off the Driveway infield, we headed into our patented Circles of Death where we practice bumping and low speed balance. The most entertaining thing each year is watching some of the kamikaze junior riders wreak havoc amongst some of the more “mature” riders only to be beaten out by the latter group’s studied and deliberate approach. Slow and steady wins the race? Not usually in a bike race but definitely the case in this drill.


After that we threw shoes back on and practiced bumping each other on pavement this time… No actualy that’d be a terrible idea. We then did a favorite drill that pairs up chaos and feedzones, two things that go together as naturally as babies and pacifiers. There were some slapped bottles and a few discarded bottles that were pedaled over (green energy drink guts splashing accross the tarmac) but in the end I think our attendees were better prepared to safely take that single, crucial feed in the middle of Ft Davis stage race or Copperas Cove Classic in the dead heat of June.


Then the most anticipated part of the day… when I would divulge the secret to winning every single sprint our attendees would ever enter. Without further ado, the secret as captured by photography for the first and only time ever…


That’s right, the number four. I guess you’d have to be there to know what it means and how to unleash it against your competitors. The second half of the clinic we did a number of race simulations and even a full-blown mini-race dominated by Lawson but much more importantly won in sweeping fashion by Metro VW’s Todd Farrell and Will Rader. You’ll have to join us next year or on a Wednesday night at the Driveway (details coming soon) to get the rest of the details from the morning.

Thanks a milli to Kevin Schaefer for his beautiful images and again being our Graham Watson, only way fitter and less bald. Enjoy a few more pictures from the second half of the morning.

Everyone has been on group rides where a new rider is obviously nervous about riding close to others. Unfortunately, rather than teaching the new rider how to safely ride in the group, or roll a smooth, efficient paceline, other cyclists generally tend to try and stay as far away from the beginner as possible. At our cycling clinic for riders new to racing this past Sunday, we aimed to teach beginner cyclists to ride comfortably in a group, work well in a paceline, and sharpen their cornering skills, all in a no-pressure environment at the Driveway Austin racetrack.

The morning of the clinic, I feared that the cup of hot water required to unfreeze a lock on my truck was an omen of misery to come. Thankfully the sun came up with clear skies and the still air made for great weather. Nuun brought out some goodies, and hot chocolate and coffee fended off any lingering effects of the cold.



The clinic attendees eagerly blasted through all of the drills and were very receptive to any pointers and words of advice we had to offer. It seemed like we had just begun when the riders could all ride well together; whether in a paceline, echelon, or simply riding in as a group with proper etiquette—all of the clinic attendees graduated with honors!



Super Squadra is hosting a ride for all clinic attendees on Saturday the 16th followed by the 17th Advanced Skills Clinic for the more race-oriented riders. What do we have in store? Well, it’s too awesome to describe with one little sentence…you’ll just have to experience it yourself. There’s still time to register, but limited space! Register here.

It’s hard to believe that 20th Century Fox’s executives hated Star Wars upon their first viewing. Star Wars legend has it that some of the board of directors fell into a deep slumber during their first viewing in beautiful Century City, CA. Death Star, R2-D2,  The Force, que? However, during the 40 or so years between that fateful viewing, much has been changed. The Death Star has since been destroyed, R2-D2 is serving out retirement in peaceful Naboo, and The Force has now been converted into a tangible form, Sram Force. Though often forgotten due to older brother Sram Red, Sram Force has a distinct price advantage with negligible form sapping weight penalty. Zero loss in shifters, new graphics, and material upgrades to quite nearly the whole package makes for a group that passes all 100 rules for bike set up, aesthetics. On the road the components felt eager thanks to Bicycle Sport Shop’s expert mechanics, never missing a shift or feeling anything like a second tier group.



Notable features

-Extra 2 teeth in rear cassette when compared to our former red cassettes.

-New million dollar Sram factory chain lube, which made for the quietest Super Squadra team ride, “Of All Time”.

-2150 grams for the group

-Stealth graphics

-Zero Loss in both shifters.

Don’t be daft. The dark side uses Red (lightsabers). Choose Sram Force.

We have received a number of inquiries about a cold weather contingency plan. Because of the volume of inquiries we have received, it overwhelmingly sounds like clinic goers would appreciate a later start.

For tomorrow’s Driveway clinic session originally scheduled to run from 8:30am-11:30 we will move the start back to 9:30-noon. We are unable to book the Driveway for longer than that as there is a conference group scheduled for the second half of the day.

Lunch will be served at 12:30pm at the Bicycle Sport Shop S. Lamar and the tactical seminar will begin at 1pm as originally scheduled. We will start at that time and of course if anyone is still eating their Thundercloud box lunch, that will be no problem.

ALL ATTENDEES should plan to bring a pair of tennis shoes (cross-training shoes, etc, something you would wear in Phys-Ed class in if you were/are in school). We’ll need these for one of the drills and you’d really be bummed if you missed out on it.

Additionally we will have hot coffee (which will be warm to hold if not to actually drink!) on site at the Driveway as well. Please dress warm even if it means bringing your non-cycling gear.

Finally, I’d like to confirm that everyone is aware of the change. If you can email registration maestro Phil Wikoff (me: pcwikoff@gmail.com) acknowledging that you are aware of the schedule change, you will be spared the phone call that I will place if I don’t hear back.

See everyone tomorrow!

For those who’ve been holding out on registering for the Super Squadra Beginner Cycling Clinic and Tactics Seminar, we’ve extended the registration until 10 p.m. this evening.

Get signed up by visiting the BikeReg.com registration link, here.

New year, new bike. Specialized SL3 with Sram Force, Zipp 303s are getting careful attention at Bicycle Sport Shop, stop in and take a look.

Thunder Cloud Subs is proud to support Super Squadra Cycling Clinics on 1/10 and 1/17 with delicious and nutritious complimentary box lunches for attendees. Ian is so excited about it that he rode his bike for the first time time in nine weeks after collarbone surgery right down the street to his neighborhood sub shop.

Click here for clinic registration.