Thursday, March 29, 2007
Gainesville Georgia Cup
March 24 & 25, 2007 brought round two of the Maxxis Georgia Cup, where the band of Pacesetter Steel Cycling men headed to Gainesville, Georgia (home of the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games Rowing and Canoe Kayak Venue) to participate in two wheeled, human propelled battle.
The weather forecast predicted the hottest weekend so far in 2007. The prophets were correct about the temperatures... and the race pace as well. With the absence of Chris Chotas and Russ Griebel, due to injury, the Pacesetter boys knew extra efforts were needed to make up for the lack of numbers.
The racing began Saturday morning with an 11 kilometer time trial on typically rolling Georgia terrain. In the Pro / Am Field there was some local and international talent present. Thad Dulin, of the Athens based Jittery Joe's professional squad, set a blistering time, yet our very own Tyler Grahovec was knocking right on that door with the 7'th best time of the day.
A twilight (meaning; when the sun goes down) criterium was next on the agenda, on a fast and tight course in downtown Gainesville. As soon as the gun sounded the race announcer decreed that the opening lap would be a Pacesetter Steel Service Most Aggressive Rider prime lap to award points and a time bonus to the first racer across the line. Who better to lay down the gauntlet and win the opening lap than Tyler Grahovec taking the time bonus and moving up 2 places in the overall General Classification.
Once Tyler set the tone of leg ripping speed, racers were strung out in single file, gasping for air and looking for other racers to draft behind. Next up to win the second Pacesetter Steel Most Aggressive Rider points and time bonuses was Reid Peacock. Shortly after Reid's epic effort, Tyler and Chad Madden colluded to continue to keep the race aggressive. After a nod and a wink from Chad, Tyler let rip once again and took with him 10 other riders to form a very dangerous break with most of the strong teams represented. This break worked well initially until the ever strong Jittery Joe's team decided that the overall General Classification was in jeopardy and they began to hunt the break-away down.
Meanwhile Charles Rossignol was a victim of an ill placed nail on the road removing all of the air from his tire. Chad may have been putting too much force on his machine and suffered a broken chain. This normally catastrophic event was mitigated when Chad's (Macon based) training partner, Christian Parrett, was near the bike pit and offered his shoes and bike for Chad to use.
The pace did not relent. The initial breakaway of 12 was captured except for two strong riders with about 5 laps to go. With one lap remaining, Chad, Tyler and Reid all moved to the front of the hard chasing group. In the typically frantic and extremely fast final lap Chad was able to hold his position and sprint for 8'th place overall. This feat was made even more impressive because Christian's bike is set up for a junior rider with a 52 tooth front chain ring and 14 small cog on the rear cassette, instead of the more common 53x11 that we seniors use. (This meant Chad had to spin his pedals at a much faster cadence than his peers in order to achieve the same velocity.) Reid also finished top 20 in 16'th place.
In the Elite category over 85 riders lined up for the criterium race. The pace was fast from the gun as riders knew the safest place to be was the towards the front. Darren Comer and Andrew Weatherington rode well to capture 8'th and 10'th respectively with both managing to stay ahead of a major crash coming out of the final corner. (Andrew's first of many top 10's we can only assume)
Sunday morning was the Hall County Road Race. Multiple laps around a 6 mile course with a 1.5 kilometer climb bound to cause major attrition in each field. Organizers also awarded King of The Mountain Points and Time Bonuses each time up the climb and shortly after at the start finish area creating fierce attacks on the most difficult portion of the course.
Chad and Ben helped set the early pace. Reid and Tyler climbed with the best over the first seven laps. Eventually the heat (80+ degrees) and multiple efforts over the weekend separated the full time "Pros" from the amateurs with "real" jobs. Reid Peacock managed to stay with the lead select group into the final lap for a top 10 finishing place. Tyler was not far behind but the time gaps proved enough to shake up the overall General Classification; moving Reid up some places with Tyler and Reid both just outside of the top 10.
The Elite Group had about 80 starters and a number of young (lightweight) climbers present who were not afraid to set the pace up the climbs. Darren made the early break of 12 on lap 2. The surviving 30 riders all came together at the base of the final climb leading to the fastest climb of the day into the finish. Darren stayed close to the pure climbers and moved up 10 places in overall General Classification to 14'th.
Next up Perry Roubaix.
Thanks for reading, and thanks for racing.
Darren
Christian Leask
12:01 AM |
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Tuesday, March 13, 2007
PACESETTER STEEL SERVICES MOST AGGRESSIVE RIDER
Pacesetter Steel Service Inc. isn't just an elite cycling team in the MAXXIS Georgia Cup, but we are also the new sponsor of the Pacesetter Steel Service Most Aggressive Rider (MAR) competition and jersey.
This competition is determined by prime laps for seconds and prizes in the downtown Criteriums. We've been a force to reckon with in the series so far, so you can guarantee we are going to want the Pacesetter Steel Service Most Aggressive Rider Jersey for ourselves, so we invite the fun!
Christian Leask
10:23 PM |
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Monday, March 05, 2007
excellence.com race weekend
 Albany, GA. March 3rd-4th
The bulk of the 2007 Pacesetter Cycling Team headed to Albany, (or "All-benny" per the local diction) GA for the opening round of the . The weekend was a great opportunity to open the 2007 season and test our fresh and pasty white race legs. Many of the local "Pro's" already had some serious racing in their legs; including some riders.
We kicked of the first real race weekend of the Georgia year with Saturday morning's short, brutal and very technical time trial. The fastest times were awarded mostly to those that could generate a full powered 2000 watt sprint out of each of the course's 10 corners and keep well clear of the binders just the same as they entered the next. Unsure of whether this was a boxing match, squatting contest or a ranking order to see who valued their own skin the list, it was only mere seconds that separated the weekend's GC contenders and one of our newest members, Reid (Malachi) Peacock, who landed himself in the top 20.
 The Pro-Am criterium took off just as we had expected from the gun. The windy course left virtually nowhere to hide as the race was strung out in one long leg searing, handlebar kissing, tunnel vision inducing single file for 75 of the longest minutes of the year so far. Russ, another one of our team's captains, was the unfortunate recipient of a misplaced handlebar which happened to wrap into his very own handlebars, causing him to touch the ground in a far less than friendly way. Gallantly, Russ pulled himself back together, recovered and continued the race, but had seen better days when it came time for the following day's Road Race. Two pros on the heels of the race rode away from the field and put one minute on all of their rivals, with Reid once again puling down an incredibly respectable top 20 place.
Sunday began with stiff cold winds to greet the racers for the Road Race. The winds certainly did not ease up and they lead us to some classic Belgian style "gutter" riding as racers held on to any wheel they could and expended precious energy riding around those tiring riders that were letting the gaps open. If you've ever noticed on television, that we like to "draft" other racers almost as if we were racing NASCAR, imagine the same, except the benefit of the wind is coming from the side and not just the immediate front. Naturally, one simply adjusts their position to account for that. Unfortunately, take 100 and something guys, put them on a narrow country road, and you're quickly introduced to what is very affectionately known as the "Gutter". Most of the Pacesetters guys survived the harsh winds and harsher tempo to finish with the main field after the peleton was simply shattered into smaller groups.
 In the Elite group, another one of our newest riders, Darren Comer managed a 5th, 7th place and a top 15 finish to leave him 5th in overall General Classification (GC) for the weekend. Another new member, Andrew Weatherington also had some solid finishes leaving him 9'th in GC and the first placed Category 4 in the Elite group. Congratulations Darren and Andrew!
An excellent job for all!
And be before we forget, we'd like to offer an enormous amount of gratitude to Donny, from www.photosbydonny.com, who came out to spectate and hone his craft over the weekend. Thanks for the help, Donnny, and don't forget to check out his site or our flickr page for some more pictures of the weekend.
We'll see you at the next Georgia Cup in Gainesville on March 24th & 25th and thanks for reading.
Christian Leask
11:50 PM |
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