Super Squadra

I’ve been enjoying Texas’ longest running criterium, The Matrix Challenge, for three years. The first year I did it, I got out sprinted in a break at the State Fair Grounds. The second year, I learned my lesson and attacked the break before the sprint could unfold on the beautiful course at the Meadow’s Foundation.

In 2009, Super Squadra spent the whole day at the front of the bike race for the Saturday running of the eight turn course. From the start, Alan and Ian took turns covering attacks until Phil and I found ourselves in a decisive nine rider move. Once the first big break of the day got to looking at each other a bit too much, I set the tone for what our team wanted out of the day, the best representation in the break we could possibly have. That means a strong majority of the break needed to be in Bicycle Sport Shop attire and as the size of this move swelled, we went on the offensive to slim down the breakaway. Ultimately, this was the cause for the pack absorbing the break so that we could reshuffle the deck and attempt to get strong numbers in a break. 


Pretty much as soon as I got back in the field, Steven and Ian each followed attacks, but as fate would have it, today was my day to “Play Ian.” Playing a game of “Ian” was fun. This game is where a rider gets to the front on a Saturday then proceeds to somehow have fate insert he/ she into every single breakaway for the day. All season, from New Bruanfels to Lago to Ft. Davis, we’ve always found Ian so attentive that he can’t miss a move. After taking notes, the rest of the team got in the action at Matrix and I found myself sprinting up to the wheel of Christian Helmig and trading pulls with him until 4/23 Driveway Crit Winner Sol Frost made the move. For a few laps, this was the case and Super Squadra was happy with the players in this first group on the road.


Part of the reason we were happy about this move is that it forced 1/8th of the race to go on the defensive. TX Tough had 10 strong riders in the race that wanted to win and had to either pull back the break, or send riders up to it. Stefan Rothe came up solo to flash the TX Tough shield and with all major teams represented, both the pace of the break and the pace of the pack slowed a bit. Overall, the pace of the break was not urgent as it was not a great situation for anyone in the move except for Sol, but not a bad situation. I worked evenly with the break, but wanted the rest of the break to put in more than their fair share of towing the group around.


With about six laps to go, Wheeler was sitting about 25- 30s back and I got to sit on the move while taking some verbal abuse from the guys in the break. Sticks and stones, yo. I’m waiting for my teammate and Tuesday’s conqueror of the Far West Points Race, Wheeler! Ultimately the size of the gap between the break and Steven increased, then I went on the attack. Four times. I couldn’t shake anyone in the break, they all have the gift of speed and were riding very strong while sitting on a comfortable cushion on the chasing group. Coming out of the 6th turn on the course on the last lap, I sat off the wheels just a bit so that I could pick the right wheel for the sprint. About 250m before the next turn, Stefan struck out and I was quick to get on his wheel. I had the perfect position going into turn 7 and coming into turn 8, Stefan let off just a bit then hit a huge turn of speed out of the turn which opened a gap I couldn’t close by the finish line. I was able to keep the team’s podium streak alive at 16 straight events by holding on for 3rd, but will have to repeat this mantra at the Sugar Land Criterium for the final sprint; When in doubt, lead out.

Photos courtesy of Commiebiker.

After a full Saturday evening participating in a non-racing related bike culture event at the 9th Street Townhomes stop of the Bike Friendly Oak Cliff Art Crawl, plus an easy spin Sunday morning past some of Dallas’s most dubious historic sites (yes, that’s a pic of Clyde Barrow’s headstone, of Bonnie and Clyde), all five Super Squadra members lined up for part deux of the Richardson Bike Mart Matrix Challenge.


This is one of my favorite events and venues all year. The historic Wilson District is an undeniably urban venue, without the hassle of finding downtown parking or racing through blustery skyscrapers. The course requires a combination of both fitness and deft handling skills. With the field often strung out from corner to corner, if you drop more than 10-riders back, you’re really not in contention anymore. The promoter always makes the race entries enticingly affordable, and never skimps on the prize money.

My teammate monickered “Sunday legs” always seem to show up after a less than impressive Saturday ride, and Matrix was no different. The action started early with a move of four riders, including myself, TX Tough’s Chad Cagle, Ronnie Strange, and AustinBike’s Sol Frost. Phil and Steven bridged across a few laps later to put three Super Squadras in a roughly 12-rider break with most of the major teams represented. But on such a tight course, there was no way a big move was going to work together cooperatively, and we were brought back, according to Dave, primarily by Peter Carey of Metro VW.



After I spent a few prime snagging laps off the front with Richardson Bike Mart’s Ryan Wohlrabe, Wheeler took over attack covering duties, effectively setting Wenger up for a perfectly timed, late race go. Unfortunately, Dave came back with two laps to go, prompting Phil and I to position ourselves at the front for the upcoming field sprint. It’s been a long running dream of mine to give Phil the perfect lead out, and we almost nailed it on Sunday, save for my decision to swing wide on the back straight. With the lead rider drifting all the way to the left side of the road, I was forced to off road through a patch of gravel before hitting the front of the pack. Brian Fawley of Park Place Lexus managed to get by us before the second to last turn, with Phil and I coming in second and third. Leaving us to ask the question, can you semi-sweep the podium without actually winning? I’m voting, yes.



Many thanks go to Richardson Bike Mart for supporting such a great event, plus Source Endurance for providing us with a tent to lounge under and a giant cooler full of ice cold sodas to sip on.

Photos provided by the man with the lens, Mike Brooks. More can be found at commiebike.com.

There was no win last night at the Driveway despite Wenger and I going second and third on the evening. The evening began with a handful of aggression and some fine prime snagging by our man Wheeler. The real racing began as Wenger set off with eventual winner Sol Frost on their bid for the win. They were safely away with about 30s in hand when Wheeler again stormed to a crowd prime win of $37. Immediately after passing through the start/finish area monthly-series leader Stefan Rothe attacked hard to go across to Sol and Wenger. After a spectacular clipped-pedal save, I joined Stefan and witnessed him firsthand bring back the lead duo after about 3 laps of all-out bridging.

Once we joined the two leaders there was no cooperation and the lead group stalled out. As we received our lapcards, we were joined by about 6 or 7 riders, including Wheeler. Sol made a quick attack which went unmarked and suddenly with 4 to go he had a sizeable but tenuous lead. Wheeler did a few hard attacks to chip at Sol’s lead but there were no further counters from our group. Inside of 1 to go Sol’s win looked like a lock and Wenger hit out with a half lap remaining. No riders attached to his wheel and quickly our group was racing for third. I sprinted from the last corner and secured third on the evening.

It was an easier effort compared to the past several weeks while the results were similar. The night was a perfect lead-in to the weekend where we will be racing consecutive 90 minute criteriums on a tight, flat course. Though disappointed not to have won, we know being the champion of the weekly crit does not necessarily a weekend winner make. Our team will be hungry to reverse those results each day at the Matrix Challenge

Capping off an eight day stretch of racing ending at the Ivan Mukasa Memorial race the Eagles Canyon Race Way the same way we started it, with our new Hincapie Swift jerseys crossing the finish line in 1st place, is a testament to the depth of a five rider team. The team win total was pushed higher by the 5th day of our racing in nine days by Alan at the Nicole Reinhart Cycling Classic. It seems like he won five events by himself, eclipsing the four other wins the Austin based portion of Super Squadra was able to accumulate at Fiesta Grande, the Run-Far time trial, The Driveway, and Ivan Mukasa Memorial. We are not often undefeated or have a streak of undefeated performances in simulations or actual competition, but it makes sense when looking at how our team is so consistent.

Every Wednesday and Thursday, the service department at Bicycle Sport Shop has the Super Squadra guys drop off their bikes to be cleaned and looked over by their top mechanics. Every week, our bikes are checked for faulty cables, splits in tires, or anything else that could prove to be a problem on the weekend. It is no mistake that we’re consistently at the top of the results. We eliminate excuses by having our bodies and bikes in top condition for competition. Having mechanical problems is an issue in the sport, but not with our team thanks to the incredible support of Bicycle Sport Shop who’s service department can be reached at 512- 477- 3472.

Getting to the Ivan Mukasa Memorial was a fun excursion off of I35 as the team consisting of Ian, Phil, and myself had late travel days to get near the race venue for a solid night’s sleep. What made the trip from the Marriott especially memorable was that this was the first time in four seasons of racing with Phil that I’ve seen him drink coffee. He was that tired from the trip, and from the rough night splitting a king size bed with our team’s Chief Snoring Officer while I was cast away to the hallway to sleep on a cot. Ian and Phil were unaware that they were talking in their sleep that night until each one of them pointed it out to the other, so those two are now sleeping in separate rooms.

Anyway, back to the drive to the race. The drive was wet. So was the start of the race. The course featured many turns and only one of them was banked towards the turn, every other turn (perhaps a dozen) pushed the rider to the outside. Adding to the off-camber turns was the slick patching on the pavement that had water bead up on the surface hours after the rain stopped falling. Feeling terrible after 10hr of standing on concrete and not drinking water the day before the race, I decided to “attack” in the small ring to start off the race. And so the race went.

Looking at the power file from Saturday, I have no clue where the final break of four formed or gained an advantage. The race started off decently hard, not necessarily fast, then the right mix of riders just rolled off the front. My best guess is that it was 20- 25min into the race. Let me qualify “just rolled” and “right mix” as when I knew I had three people with me that were not going to ride me off their wheel and we had a gap, I nailed it! I made sure my pulls were long and steady to open up the gap and over the course of the next 33min while accepting assistance from Scott Veggeberg as well as Nick Kiernan in keeping our advantage to the field. We worked evenly and at a high rate until the 58min mark of the 90min race, where Scott tried to split the TX Tough duo of Nick and Geoff Godsey. Scott was closely marked by Nick, and once we were back to the four rider breakaway we rolled through the start/ finish line to hear five laps to go.

On the climb near the back side of the course with three laps to go, Scott attacked again and Nick brought him back again. Shortly after that move, I made a hard acceleration on the far left of the race track and pinned the group on the left side of the road. All of us were at our limits and Scott resumed pulling the group at the start of the next climb and swung off just in time for Nick to take a downhill pull into a corner. This is where I attacked for a second time and only Geoff could follow. For the next two laps, I pushed hard to open up the advantage on the hills and to test Geoff a bit until the last lap. With about 2mi to go, we started climbing the long hill on the course and I started hard, and finished harder up the hill. After rounding the turn at the top of the hill, I figured that I still needed to figure out how to outfox Geoff at the finish as he’s a quick sprinter, but the hill proved to be just a bit too long for him. For the next 2min, I went back to TT mode with my head down until the last turn at 200m to go, where I let go of my handlebars and had my hands in the air until after the finish line. It felt great to have finished off the move against three other strong racers after a rigorous week. Winning just wasn’t winning the Ivan Mukasa Memorial. It was pulling together my friends, family, and professional life in a way where everything is in balance. Thanks to Team Bicycle Inc, Lauren and Andy Hollinger, as well as the two best teammates a friend could have. Ian and Phil.

The rains that have soaked Central TX this morning held off last night for us to have an exciting race out at the Driveway. Holland Racing chose to run the full loop counterclockwise which is usually a good indication that the race will come down to a bunch sprint. Our team went into the race with the usual aspirations, gain fitness, pick up primes, win the race and advance towards the mini-series overall lead.

 

Using those goals as a benchmark it was a successful evening. We manage to pick up all primes between Wenger, Dille and Wheeler. There was an especially nice 1/2 done on some poor rider trying to unbox himself for a prime as we flanked him from the front and side, pinned in on other side by the infield. Wheeler too was able to hold off prolific winner Jenn McRae for a prime. Jenn will be contesting Athens in a few weeks time and I’m thinking she’s got some serious 200m gas in her can.

The race was a bit more negative than others, partly due to the long drags on the course where the field was easily making their way back to the breakaways. A few promising breaks featured mini-series leader Stefan Rothe, Wenger and I but there were just too many riders that missed it and still wanted a chance at the win. In the final lap I covered a number of hard accelerations by Stefan but found myself on SIX’s John Korioth coming into the final chicane. I took advantage of our Zipp tubulars and overtook him in the last tight lefthander. From there it was still a long sprint but most of the field was gapped and I held off for the win.



It was a satisfying win after two weeks of sprinting too early and being overtaken late. Both times Stefan got the best of me with some heads up racing. This one was sweeter though because it comes on the heels of a weekend win and because the finale was tricky if not a bit tactical and strange. Our team looks great for next weekends Matrix Challenge where we’ll hope to work together for more good results.

Photos expertly and generously provided by Dave McLaughlin of DMC Photography. Many thanks!

Friday evening Vern, Kathy and Luke (Iowa in-laws and super guests) arrived a bit bleary-eyed from their 20 hour drive down from Iowa. Last year they witnessed a fine bunch sprint victory at the Belterra Hill Country Circuit Race. My own mother visited this year over that race weekend and with the drastically changed route, our team placed David in the break where he managed a solid second place. Attempting to cash in on the Staskal winning mojo, we decided it’d be fun to go race/watch the Fiesta Grande Criterium.

Despite the course being in a rattlesnake-ridden (I have to assume because of the frequent RATTLESNAKE IN AREA warning signs, though I didn’t see any) parking lot along I-410, the course was very spectator-friendly, allowing full view of the field for the duration of the 70 minute criterium. The race started out fast and given only a single teammate limited to his 52/15 gearing, I knew it would be a day of aggression and accountability. I attempted to win a few primes but without committing fully, came up empty-handed each time. The field was very elastic and most attacks over the first 20 minutes were quickly roped back in. Around about the 20 minute mark though the field was struggling to bring back the leaders and everytime the pace slackened in the least another would shoot across to the break. By the thirty minute mark I timed my attack with one of those lulls and quickly shot up to the break where the group had good representation from each team and cooperation was good.

The break rode well together but only until about 10 minutes remaining did our gap extend much more than 30s. I took frequent pulls to not only stay out of the whipping action that happens at the rear of the break on a windy, twisting course but also to ensure the group wouldn’t become overly concerned with my presence and begin attacking me. With two laps remaining a rider whom had not worked through the rotation in 40+ minutes attacked hard through the cross-tailwind start-finish stretch. His karmic retribution was a last place in the break and an unfortunate crash to his teammate in the final corner. As we entered the last 3 corners the (former) Orven combo of Serrano brothers took the reigns and I slotted in behind. Entering the headwind approach into the final corner the surge came hard from the behind and left. I jumped the Serrano train on the inside and hit the corner in first wheel. From there it was a nice long 200m drag to the line. I maintained my lead to the line despite a challenge from Manuel Serrano. I did the post-race interview, changed and quickly got back to the merry-making with my visiting family.

Photo credits – Robert Mercado