Super Squadra

Some things just always prove true. It will rain at Walburg. The weather will be beautiful at Pace Bend. Feeders will enjoy themselves at Lago Vista, and the easier a race at Lago starts, the harder it finishes.



Saturday’s race featured a large Pro-1-2 field with our traditional number of starters or finishers, four. Chad was busy in Lubbock at the Texas Tech collegiate cycling weekend collecting a first and second place in a time trial as well as road race while Ian nursed a wounded wing. Our plan was to be aggressive and follow any move up the road, but the largest teams in the race never went on the offensive. Phil was the first rider on the day to get a gap, but found zero co-conspirators willing to contribute to a win. It was the smaller teams in attendance of Park Place Lexus and Metro Volkswagen that took fate into their own hands in trying to get riders up the road. This eventually got Wheeler and Phil up the road in a dangerous five rider move that Team Hotel San Jose had to chase and just as they were caught, Ting and I went on the attack. It took two laps of pushing hard on the hills, but eventually we were successful in initiating a large dozen or so rider split that ended up being the lead group of riders for the last 30 miles of the race.

With quality riders in the move, Ting and I would force the break up the road and attack it every chance we got in the last 25mi of the race. At about the 15 mile to go mark, we were getting reports of three strong riders coming up to the move, British national champion Kristian House, RBM’s Pat McCarty, and THSJ’s danger-man Heath Blackgrove. I was not going to let those guys get up to us, so at the start of the first climb with two laps to go, I went for broke hoping to force the three chasers to ride up to my group, which included one rider.

Long time pro Sean Sullivan of THSJ was my breakaway companion and as soon as we had the gap, it went out to 30sec, and that’s the way it stayed for the rest of the race. In the finale, I wanted to ensure that I got the best result possible and with Blackgrove hot on our heals riding up to our lead group with McCarty, there was no way of getting Sullivan to concede any relief for me to push in the sprint. Sullivan was a total gentleman about it, letting me push for the best result I could get without dropping me far from the finish with a chance of Blackgrove rocketing past before the finish line. Sullivan took the win, I clung on for 2nd riding up the finishing hill in my 39x 23, and Blackgrove finished just ahead of McCarty for third.

This year was my first time to race at Pace Bend since I was a Cat-3 a couple of years ago. After a disappointing result at Walburg, I was determined to have a successful race on Sunday. My pre-race ritual, thanks to some choice music from Ting and Lawson, was to the tune of Christmas music/Enrique Iglesias/Michael Jackson. Everything was made better, though, when I put on the amazing tall socks from our sponsor at Holland Racing. A complete 180 degrees from Walburg the day before, we would be racing in sun and 75 degrees. Texas is crazy!

The race started quickly and I followed a few little moves to size up my legs for the day. All systems were go! So for the first several laps of the race, Dave, Steven, and I made sure that Super Squadra was represented in everything that rolled off the front. We certainly had our hands full, as this race was nearly incessant attacking. Phil and Alan were doing their best to stay fresh in case it all came down to a field sprint, but followed moves when needed.

Sometime about the half-way mark, a group with some potential got away and we had Steven in there. While he was up there we just had to cover moves and stay alert for anything that tried to slip away. Nearing 4 laps to go of our 13 lap race, Team Hotel San Jose assembled at the front of the field to pull back the break, which gave us a chance to rest up as they went to work.

When the break came back two laps later on the hill before the feedzone, I attacked to give the break new life and keep the pressure on THSJ a bit longer. It didn’t last long, and there were several attacks over the next lap. Headed up the feed zone hill with two laps to go, I was near the front on the right side of the pack when I heard the rush of wheels coming up the left side. I instinctively jumped to follow, and then saw that it was Blackgrove and Carter of THSJ trying to get up to the group that was up the road. I was able to ride the Heath train up to the break, but sat back and let them do the work when I realized that San Jose had 4 riders in the group.

Our gap over the field grew, then dropped. When JT Cody for RBM bridged to the group, McCarty quickly took to the front and we pulled away again. Coming into the final mile of the race, I realized that I was in the wrong position for the sprint but was unable to move further back in the group by that point. Heath ramped the pace up, and Carter punched it as soon as we hit the finishing hill with JT and Kris French of Panther Cycling in hot pursuit. I gave chase, but had to settle for 5th when Steve Tilford edged me out by half a wheel at the line. Josh Carter brought another win home for THSJ in what proved to be an intense and exhausting race.

Like most of you, I like to pretend that  I’m an European based pro battling the elements in the upcoming spring classics.  Paris Roubaix, La Fleche Wallonne and Gent-Wevelgem are some of the big European classics that we love to watch with riders battling crazy weather, strong winds and of course rain.  Every year the Walburg Classic is blessed with such conditions, so that for at least one day I  feel like a real hard nosed bike racer.

 

As we lined up for our 72 mile race with overcast skies, 50 degree weather and of course with sporadic rain fall I surveyed the field and realized that it was smaller than usual.  I quickly remembered that this year the race was a Pro 1 race only so I know that with the smaller field the race would probably much harder than usual.  Phil did a great job of instigating the first move of the day and was quickly up the road with two others with a gap hovering around 45 seconds.  That gap would stay for the first lap and starting the second lap everything was back together.  The wind wasn’t as strong this year as it had been in the past but it was definitely picking up and I knew it would be a factor later on in the cross wind sections.  One particular section was really slamming the riders into the gutter so we all moved up and tried to stay as close to the front as possible.

 

 

Going into the last lap we all stayed active either by launching attacks ourselves or by following moves up the road but nothing was getting away as we turned into the head/crosswind section of the course.  Wenger and I were in the top 5 coming out of the corner that led into one of these sections and with the good positioning I attacked trying to put pressure on the field.  Team Hotel San Jose had riders in good position as well and chased down all of the attacks heading into the last turn towards town.

 

This is where things went pear shaped for our team as a rider slid out on the wet surface and I crashed in the grass along with three other riders.  After being stunned that I had actually crashed (I have the best non-crash record on the team) I jumped up and  started my chase, just hoping that the field was still at a manageable distance.  Unfortunately, the field was single file and I could tell that guys had started attacking in the crosswinds.  I drafted off a follow motorcycle, darted around the woman’s field and attached myself to the back of the group.  As soon as I caught on I yelled at Ian to take me to the front and he literally took me from last rider to top 20 as he stuck his nose out in the wind to give me the easiest ride back to the front.

 

After Ian got me as far up as he could I started jumping across little gaps that started to form as Hotel San Jose had started riding an echelon at the front of the group.  I literally made a last ditch move to get on the back of the group that had whittled down to just 20 riders.  Haga, Ting and I were desperately trying to hold on to the group but with the pressure being applied at the front and with the three of us getting no draft and no help we came off the train about a mile or two from the finish.  We ended up with three of us in the top 20 which is obviously not an amazing result but we definitely took some good things from it.  Haga and Ting continue to grow as bike racers and are learning how vital placement can be in these races with strong winds.  I can’t wait to continue seeing them develop into the best bike racers in Texas.

Last weekend, Super Squadra participated in two great events put on by Holland Racing. Wenger did a fantastic ride on Saturday and was able to pull out the win, so naturally, we focused on making it 2 for 2 on the weekend.

The Driveway this past Sunday was quite special. First off, it was not on a school/work day, and secondly, it was personally important for me to gain points to get upgraded to become a category one bike rider. The team has been riding well this season, and the addition of Chad (lady) Haga, has helped us ride that bit better. As a team, we played our regular game plan for this Driveway, always ready to race and focusing on not getting caught out of any of the big moves.

For Phil and I, we were supposed to remain fresh for the first 45 minutes, before possibly following the late moves. Early on, everyone on the team was following the important wheels, but it was quite clear to me that nothing was going to go off. No group was able to gain the large gap that is necessary to stay away at the very fast Driveway. Therefore, I focused on keeping myself upright and staying out of the wind.

Once the lap cards started ticking off, San Jose organized at the front and began picking up the pace. I knew that this sprint was just too tight to win from far back, so it was a matter of getting a clear shot at the line. Chad and Phil kept me out of the wind for a bit before I lost their wheels and began to realize that this was going to be a very hard sprint to set up for. Once we got to the bell lap I started using my new sprinting tactics to stay as close to the front as possible, but was still finding it difficult to hold my position.

With roughly 2k to go, Wenger came by like a super hero and gave me a wheel to key off. Dave really knows the movements of a sprint, and I was fully confident in his ability to guide me to the win. I think Chad and Phil were also in the mix, but just on the opposite side of the finely paved Driveway track. About 50 meters from the pitch I shouted at Wenger to go, and like a bike riding robot, he went. Over the top of the climb, we succeeded in getting a jump on the San Jose train, and it was my time to race.

From roughly 600m out I began the longest sprint, of all time. Checking between my legs, I saw no one and took the last two corners with confidence. Our Zipp wheels and tires really have a genuine performance benefit. Once the road straightened out, I gave another check between the thighs and saw Josh Carter of San Jose. He was far on the left hand side of the road, while I was sprinting down the center.

Carter is a great rider, and while my sprint is more in the jump, he has a very long and powerful drag. We were quite close for a bit, but 20m from the line he passed me, and got the win. I was really disappointed about 2nd for 2 seconds mainly because I just wanted to make the team proud. However, 2nd is not half bad, and I did succeed in gaining enough points for my Cat. 1 upgrade.

Sidebar: When big races are coming up, all my focus is diverted to how I can help the team or myself win. But after stepping back and evaluating, I realize that bike racing is really just a small piece of what is my college life. If you consider that I first started riding when I was 12, I’ve worked on getting my Cat 1 on the road for essentially 6-7 years now. On Wednesday, I was in the study lounge sweating over my next assignments, and whether I would get my Cat 1 upgrade approved. Once I received the email stating my approval, it was elation for half a moment then straight back to reading. The real world brings you down to earth so quickly. Anyways, have a nice Valentines day.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Glny4jSciVI

special video played before yesterday’s olympics games

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.