Friday, August 31, 2007
Georgia Time Trial Rankings
We would be remiss if we didn't mention this. If you were to go have a look at the Georgia Category 2 Men's Time Trial rankings, you very well might notice that our own Tyler "Lunchbox" Grahovec is sitting in the big chair.
Road Mens Cat 2 Individual Time Trial Rankings in Georgia
| | Rank | Points | Name | Hometown | | 1 | 637 | D Tyler Grahovec | Atlanta, GA | | 2 | 643 | Tim Barrett | Roswell, GA | | 3 | 663 | Jafer Beizer | Conyers, GA |
Christian Leask
3:59 PM |
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River Gorge Omnium
This past weekend Tyler, Nick, Chris and Matt headed up to
Chattanooga, Tennessee for the. Followed by
Charles and Darren for the crit on Sunday.
The RR was a 62 mile loop that finished with a 3 mile climb up to the
top of raccoon mountain. Besides that there were two KOM's in the
first 30miles of the race where a small break got away. That put
Tyler on the chase when he plowed his way up to the front of the
meandering field so that the break wouldn't get too far away for Matt
and Nick. Just as predicted the 2nd KOM totally destroyed the field.
It created a split of about 15 riders and the rest of the 70 starters
were chasing from there on out or dnf'ing because this is an omnium
where time doesn't matter. But Matt made it over the climb with the
leaders and Nick was in the chase group.
Basically it was a brutal, relentless uphill, with a 200m descent
thrown in the middle just so you can go up that much more in the end.
Matt had a podium slot in the bag behind Trent Wilson of Jittery Joe's
who won and Eric Murphy of AEG-Toshiba JET network which would have
been the best result of his career, when two riders from the group
latched back on right before the final sprint to the finish and nipped
him at the line. so out of the final group of 5 Matt finished 5th,
uggh. 5th place isn't bad but 5th out of 5 isn't good. Behind that
group was a mishmash of battered riders and haggard legs fighting for
omnium points 15 deep and 2's and 3's coming in to pick up the lower
category bonus prize money. Nick finished a few minutes down followed
by Chris and Tyler.Chris' knee is still bothering him and he is
basically beating half the field with one leg, just wait till he gets
two! And Tyler's pride got the best of him forcing him to finish the
race up the brutal climb when his legs would have been best saved for
the evening time trial but he couldn't bear to see himself on par with
Tiago's DNF so he trucked it on up to the finish.
The Time Trial later that evening was spectacular! It was held on a
loop around the reservoir at the top of Racoon mountain and it wound
around a wooded preserve area before it climbed up the top of the
mountain and then descended to the dam which we rode on top of all the
way around the reservoir! then we took a steep dropping 180 degree
turn down to the final finish straightaway. It was a 4 mile course
that ended up losing a bit of elevation but boy was it brutal. The
hill at the beginning was just a couple hundred meters too long to
really power over it and boy did it hurt. And go figure, going
slightly downhill is not easier than flat or uphill, you just go
faster!
But it sure was a fast course, the winning time came in just over 8
minutes but the 4th through 7th (Matt) riders all came in within 6
seconds of each other. Matt finished in 8min15sec just a few seconds
behind Eric Murphy of Toshiba-Jet Network and Trent Wilson of Jittery
Joes. Nick, our 18yr old phenom finished in 11th and Tyler finished in
12th, 2/10's of a seconds behind Nick! haha, brutal, should have
shaved the arm hair.
So, our TT squad isn't throwing down the podium places yet, but 3
riders in the top 12 this week and 3 in the top 10 last week, that's
consistency, and the TTT's are only going to get better!
The crit on sunday was a bit of a daunting proposition for Tyler,
Matt, Nick, and Chris considering the hard day beforehand. Matt was
tied for 3rd on GC and the huge omnium points up for the top spots in
the crit put the team in a tricky tactical situation considering
Matt's chicken climber sprinting legs.
Luckily enough, the heat wasn't really an issue because it had rained
late that morning so it cooled off a bit and it was slightly overcast
up until about an hour before our start. So the only thing to put a
damper on the day was the 300 meter drag race sprint straightaway,
dead flat, ridiculously fast course taunting the team.
However, it was the newcomers to the team that really threw down for
the cause. Tyler's legs were having none of it and Chris' knee is
still giving him crit troubles, but Charles, Nick, and Darren were up
there with Matt all day. Charles was gunning solo considering his
ridiculous sprinting abilities and Darren and Nick were looking out
for Matt with 10 to go.
With about 3 to go, Nick made a strong move to the front to string it
out but no one wanted to be 2nd wheel to that train and he took a
flyer!
Fine by us, somebody else can bring the field home, our team to soak
up points, and a carrot to keep it fast so Matt could keep his top 10
position. With about 1.5 laps to go Darren got in a great position and
slotted Matt in on Eric Murphy's wheel, who was on Trent Wilson's
wheel and Darren set up shop behind Matt.
With about 800 meters and 2 turns to go, the field caught Nick and his
job was done for the day, now Matt and Darren were looking to put the
finishing touches on the race.
Going into the last turn Matt and Darren were 8th and 9th and no one
moved an inch, it was a 300m drag race with all the horsepower of a
pack of Colombian mules after the two all out events the day before.
So Matt stayed in 8th and Darren got 9th.
Given the points for the win and some shuffling, Matt ended up 5th on
GC and the team got a good chunk of prize money for all the hard work
over the weekend!
All in all, another great weekend. I got fantastic team support, got
to ride on some amazing courses and a beautiful part of the country,
it wasn't too hot, had some beers in downtown Chattanooga, and even
did well to boot.
Till next time...
Christian Leask
3:58 PM |
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Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Greater Augusta Cyclismo Stage Race
Augusta, GA, in the latter throws of August. This is going to be a warm penultimate installation of the 2007 series.
So, as alluded to previously, we started our weekend with a 9am start for the 3.7km prologue. We left at 5:30 from Atlanta and after a teensy bit of panicky chamois cream application were able to briefly pre-ride the course, warm up and get under way.
Matt started first, followed at 1 minute by Charles, a few minutes later Nick went off and of course, Tyler was given a preferred start given his overall 5th place ranking in the GA cup.
Unfortunately, the course was quite technical, thus braking and soft pedaling were required, which meant that precious seconds could have been gained with some simple course knowledge and practice riding... which we didn't have. It's always rough to finish a TT feeling like you want to spit up a lung but it's an even worse feeling to want to start right back up and do it over because you didn't go hard enough. Pretty much all of us felt that we went too easy considering the forced rest and braking through turns.
Nonetheless, we all finished right around 4:45 with Tyler up front in 5th, Matt in 9th, Nick in 10th, and Charles and Ben around 25th. A pretty solid 29mph effort.
Going into the crit we picked up another workhorse with Darren joining us and it was clear that with 3 guys in the top 10, we needed one of us in every major move. Pretty early on Tyler got in a move of 3 guys and was away for about 10 laps and manged to pick up a few seconds in bonus time, but that move was brought back about halfway in the race. As can be expected from any P/1/2 crit, s__t hit the fan with about 20min to go and we were not well positioned, it was single file, spiddle running down the cheeks, cross-eyed fast for a few laps and Matt was the only one from our team in the top 15 guys, a break of 3 guys managed to get away and everything slowed down again, luckily for us as the team had a brief opportunity to regroup. However, we still needed to chase for the GC.
This put Matt at the front trying to reel it back in, unfortunately, to no avail on that one, it was just Matt and Phil Gaimon () trying to bring it back and the gap was locked at 30 seconds for the next 10 laps of chasing at the front. We ended up calling off the dogs so Tyler could make a move with 2 to go. Matt and Darren got on the front to try and control it, but ended up getting swamped in the sprint. Nonetheless, everyone ended up finishing in the bunch with the same time.
Sunday's RR was supposed to be a lot like the circuit race at Dahlonega last week, rolling hills with not a lot of flat ground. Yes and no; yes to the rolling hills and no flat ground but nothing like Dahlonega's circuit race, way harder! The hills were all just long enough so you couldn't roll through them without a serious effort but too short to get any sort of break on the descent. It was a 15 mile circuit that we were supposed to do 6 times but due to the heat was reduced to 5 laps. The officials will be getting a care package from Pacesetter Steel later this week on that one!
We were also to be joined by Chris for the RR to make the contingent a solid 7. Our plan was basically the same as the crit to make sure we got a GC contender in every major move of the day and let the others "rest" in the pack. Word on the street was that this was a race of attrition that would be determined by a small group at the finish so an early break would be rough.
Sure enough, it was fast from the start. Matt covered the first move from a rider and was bridged to by Phil Gaimon and 3 others. The gap to the break hovered at about 1:30 for a lap and a half till it moved out to almost 3 minutes with 3 laps covered. We were in a pretty good position with Matt on GC in the break and no obligation to do any work in the group for the rest of the team. But the break was not meant to be when Thad Dulin from Jittery Joe's dropped the hammer through the start finish to start the 4th lap and the gap quickly dropped to under a minute under a myriad of attacks. After 55 miles on the front of the race, Matt's break was brought back and the attacks started anew.
Tyler and Nick were in the mix on everything and managed to make the front split group, still behind the new break of the day but trailed by another major group containing most of the major players, Matt, Darren, Charles, Chris and Ben. However, that group didn't manage much longer when the big guns didn't feel like being in the chase group any longer and after a long day in the heat Tyler and Nick were the only ones left in contention.
Going into the finish, Tyler went for an early move to get a lead into the finishing climb but got swarmed and lost a little time by the line to lose the precious seconds that made up the final GC. Nick however, held on to a top 10 GC spot and a 15th place finish on the day!
In the end we all did our jobs and did what we set out to do but sometimes it just doesn't work out. It certainly wasn't for a lack of trying.
In the crit on Saturday night we were out of position at the wrong time and on Sunday we just didn't have the firepower in the heat to blow the race apart like we would have liked. So it was the wise team captain and the new young buck who held down the team's efforts in the end.
We would have obviously liked to do better considering our 3 riders in the top 10 to start the day but there are more races and when we get some more of our big guns healthy we'll be hard to control!
We certainly can't complain.
Thanks for reading!
Christian Leask
9:11 AM |
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Fool's Gold
The 1st annual race was staged in the mountains north of Dahlonega Georgia. People arrived from all over the US and Canada to challenge this trail. The route was one huge 54 mile loop starting Below the US Army Ranger camp. The route starts with a 7 mile climb and winds around the back side of the camp, then continues through the Bull and Jake Mountain areas and ends up at Camp Wasega.
The race started at a still very dark 7 AM. The route took us over a mix of fire roads and single track and many stream crossings. The climbing was grueling and the downhill sections were fast and gnarly. There were many places where horse traffic had totally wallowed out the trail. In some places we were riding in V ditches almost shoulder high. The race featured some well placed sags which were appreciated.
Most people spent 6 to 9 hours hammering the trail.
In the end I placed 7th in Vet 45+ class and 46th overall. My 6 hours of Conyers solo race will be a piece of cake after this.
Thanks for reading,
-Bill
Christian Leask
9:09 AM |
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Friday, August 17, 2007
Dahlonega - Gold Diggers Stage Race
Where to start with a race that is all about climbing and our climbers are on the mend? Not a great recipe for success, but that doesn't mean we aren't going racing! Reid should be back for Augusta after his collarbone fracture; Chris is still working his way back from his broken leg so we needed some luck.
Well, we got it; in the form of a vague phone call from ... They called to tell me that one of their customers had called asking about group rides for at guy who was staying at his house. Not much info but the guy was here for the Dahlonega race and they thought he was a cat 1 or 2 racer, maybe a top 20 finisher. Not much for me to go on, but misery loves company, so bring it on buddy. I returned the call and after a little phone tag I was introduced to Matt Shechtman, which turned out to be the missing spice for our climbing weekend recipe. We also brought on Nick Housely for the weekend. Well Matt showed us what he could do in an up 5-mile (4 of them being uphill) TT by snatching a very strong 7th place. Chris, Nick and I finished in the high 20's, so barring a miracle, we were out of the General Classification.
We were getting more troops for the 50-mile circuit race Saturday night, Charles, Chad and Darren where on their way up. With temps hitting 100 F we needed to make sure we were getting feeds regularly and luckily for us, Matt's dad and godfather where going to be at the race to help with just that. In normal temperatures (what is normal for august in the dirty south, anyway) we would drink 2-3 water bottles during a 50-mile race, Saturday I drank 5 bottles. I would have drank more if the feed zone wasn't on the climb that turned into the attack zone as well. Well we all know you do anything better when you have a plan so before the start Chad and I intended to lay out the marching orders for the troops. Basically, they were to protect Matt. Darren and Charles got the fun job of covering the first lap, then it was Chad and Nick on the second lap, with me for the final lap. It worked to perfection as Charles made almost every break on the first lap, the one he didn't make Darren worked with Tim Henry () to pull it back. Then on the second lap Chad and Nick worked it perfectly with Chad going first and when his group got caught Nick rolled off with a group. Of course the start of the last lap the attack went on the main climb/feed zone, and Matt made the front split, I worked my way to the front on the decent. Matt's group went from about 10 riders down to two; him and Tim Henry. With Matt in 7th on GC and Tim's teammate Thad Dulin sitting in first, Tim wasn't going to be doing much work to help Matt. The gap got up to 1minute 15 seconds, and all I had to do was cover the moves that were trying to go across to Matt and Tim. It was one move after the next, coming into the home stretch I went for it with a couple of guys and I was catching guys left and right, coming into the finish. It was Matt and Tim 50 seconds in-front of the group with Tim taking the win and Matt taking second. I held the group off, till about 100-meters from the line when they came charging by me and I finished in the field. Matt moved up to 3rd on the day.
Sunday was crazy, but with no real climbers to help Matt, we did what we could. Chris went with the first move of the day, which contained 2nd on GC, which meant we started chasing from the gun. I did what I could for Matt, which wasn't much, but I helped Tim Henry pull from the bottom of Woody's - till mid- climb on Wolf Pen then he was on his own for the next lap and a half. Matt rode like a champ after 8000ft of climbing in 90-miles he finished in 7th and 6th in GC. I finished 23rd but Matt was the man of the weekend. Great Job to Matt!
Next up is Augusta; we should have Reid back and a full squad so it should be a good race weekend for us.
Thank you for reading,
Tyler
Christian Leask
11:22 AM |
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Spring City Summer Classic Races - Huntsville All
I decided to go to Birmingham's park to watch my brother , a very successful racer, race his BMW Z4 for Classic BMW out of Texas. With my Father in-law and grandfather in town to watch Toby race, I decided I would pay them all a visit, and then do some racing of my own just up the road in Huntsville, Al.
The crit was a 6-turn course with a good little climb just before the finish. I wasn't sure who would be there, and quite honestly, wasn't really expecting anyone to be there. Thus, I was hoping to make a little bit of money, get a good result and fly under the radar. I showed up and it quickly realized it was some pretty stiff competition with pros, a world champion, an Olympian, ex-pros and a couple guys who are about to turn pro in the field it was going to be one hell of a race. Looks like a few other guys had the same idea. With some of the guys racing the TT and Road Race on Sunday I knew they were going to be fighting it out for the overall win so I was going to watch the top guys and see how it played out.
Of course there were attacks from the gun and the pattern seemed to be pretty consistent. The attacks always went as we turned right going up the hill into the final turn. Then it became apparent Memphis Motor Works would send a guy off the front, then Mike Olheiser () would bridge across working with a small group. To stay away it was going to need to contain Cleve Blackwell () and Matt Winstead () and Eric Murphy (). Well the right group got away it was the four riders mentioned along with me, Casey Manger (), Daniel "Brent" Thompson () Lyon Torsten, and Hugh Sharp. We were working smooth when the first prime came everyone attacked each other for it and this caused a split with Eric, Mike and Matt rolling off to catch the tail of the main field. Casey pulled the plug so that left 5 of us in the break with three laps to go we started attacking each other, because that's what we like to do! Cleve was the first to give it a go but the other guys reeled him back in then one by one everyone gave it a go. With two laps to go the 5 of us were back together half way through the lap it was my time so I punch the gas and went for it, I got a good gap and held it to the line to pick up 4th place. With my brother taking third in his race and me fourth, we both put on a great show for Jeff and Hal.
Thanks for reading, Tyler
Christian Leask
11:19 AM |
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Georgia Games
The Georgia Games is actually an Olympic style event so there is no prize money but everyone likes to come out and make a good showing at the races. It is a two-race weekend with a 70-mile road race on Saturday and a criterium on Sunday.
The road race Started with about 30 riders so Travis Hagner (Locos), Brady Rogers (Myogenesis) and I tried to go right from the gun. We got a good gap but one of Travis's teammates went to the front and drilled it to bring us back. After several attacks and chases Chris made his attempt and got almost 40 sec on the field when 3 riders went across to him, but the field was determined to bring them back and had it down to about a 10 second advantage when they gave up chase. Chris had been caught and the other three riders went for it. The Locos rider drilled it to get the gap back up with a but eventually cramped and pulled out of the race if that isn't instant karma I don't know what is. So now it was down to two riders with a 2 minute gap, which should have been manageable, but there was little cooperation left in the field to mount a concerted effort to bring the break back. Charles and Darren where working hard and bringing the break back but with about eight guys sitting on they just couldn't get it done alone. Charles pulled the plug and Darren stayed in to help Tyler who was trying to make a solo jump due to what was left of the field containing mainly sprinters. Two more riders jumped and it was coming down to a field sprint for 5th, which Tyler luckily took from the sprinters.
The crit was basically an hour of attacks, which lead to a field sprint, which didn't play out to our strengths. And naturally, after a hard weekend of racing, sometimes it's hard to keep the details in your mind, because sometimes, you just want to get to bed.
Thanks for reading, until next time.
Christian Leask
11:17 AM |
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East Atlanta Kids Club Open Crit
So to start off this is no ordinary race - It's a course that is 3/4 paved surface with speed humps and 1/4 dirt trail. Basically, that means it's up to you to choose your steed. You had a mix of Road, MTB and 'Cross bikes out there.
All one had to mention was 'cross bikes and we had about 2 dozen of the top 'cross riders in the state show up. Pacesetter Cycling had a full squad in attendance, even grace with Russ taking a temporary hiatus from his momentous retirement. With Chris, Charles, Kip, Russ and Tyler out there it was bound to be a fun race, at least for us.
We started out a little easy on the first two laps so everyone could feel out the course. Turn one was a fast left hander, then it was downhill for about 200 meters, to a right with a curb jump into the dirt. On the fare side it was a long sweeping left where the course would funnel between two trees.
The first attack came from Ed Morideth, then Tim Barrett followed up with the second attack. Patrick Jones worked hard to bring it all back together. Then Cleve Blackwell crashed while sitting in 5th right before the funnel which caused a split in the field, they worked hard to catch back on and when they did Ty Magner attacked with Tim while Tyler followed suit. This time the break stuck with Tim and Ty trading pulls at the front. Tyler was trying to play catch up for the last couple of laps and came in third. Enormous thanks to Darren "The Emerald Isle's Little Sunshine" Comer for putting on a great race and letting Tyler barrow his 'cross bike.
Thanks for reading.
Christian Leask
11:13 AM |
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Monday, August 06, 2007
2007 Rome Georgia Cup
The Rome GA Cup was one of the first races of the season where we were going to have a full squad to represent the Pacesetter Cycling Team. Chris, Darren, Chad, Charles, Tyler and I were looking forward to the notoriously tough weekend.
The time trial course was a relatively flat, grinding course - perfect for Tyler's power and the team's overall strengths. The course was a pretty long 15 miles, so we accelerated up to speed quickly and settled in for what we hoped would be a 30 minute effort. Chris and Darren both put in strong pulls early and sacrificed themselves for the team, leaving Chad, Charles, Tyler and I to bring it home. We rode incredibly well together, and ended up pulling off a 3rd Place podium spot...not to mention the top amateur time by over a minute.
We hung out for the day, prepping for the late 8:30 criterium...watching the foreboding thunderstorms move in. The course was a quality downtown classic - 4 turns and a little uphill burner. With my newly acquired Most Aggressive Rider jersey, I was granted a call-up to the start line, and we were off. People were attacking from the gun. Our plan was to put Tyler or Charles into an early break, and Chad and I could wait for the late moves. Luckily the rain held off, but there was some intense lightning and thunder not far off. To my surprise, Aerospace and Jittery Joe's were both contesting the MAR sprints, but I was able to edge out 3rd in the first prime of the night (at least it was good for 1 MAR point). Before we knew it a dangerous group had formed and was rolling away quick, without one of us in it... Tyler stepped up and jumped across the gap within 2 laps, well done. The break was gone and quickly moving to lap the field.
As this was happening my night came to an end. We were sprinting for a cash prime and somebody crossed my line, putting me directly on the ground. The next few moments were a little hazy, but I hit the ground hard, was T-boned by another rider, and got up a few minutes later with a cracked helmet and broken collarbone. Good stuff... thanks to all of those who aided me off the course and made sure I was coherent. At this point I went to the ER, but the rest of the team was still at it. Unfortunately, Tyler finally ran out of gas and fell out of the break right before they lapped the field, but Chad made it into another move that made it onto the back of the field. He was able to finish up 9th Place and everyone else was solidly in the field.
The road race the next morning was one of attrition. Every lap had a wicked 1 mile climb that pitched at 20%...after the 2nd time up the hill, there were no more than 15 riders left in the pack. Tyler, Chris, and Darren were just off the back, but had 1 lap left to catch back on. They did so within 3 miles of the final climb, and then Tyler went straight thru the pack and attacked the group! Chris put on his best climbing legs for the finish, but the three were pretty tapped out from the chase. They all rode in with solid efforts, though.
Overall the weekend sort of turned bad after my crash, but we did have another great TTT ride to show for it. And at least we had a full team; we're not too far off from putting everything together. Thanks for reading and I'll see you in a few weeks - after the orthopedist gives me the OK to ride.
Reid
Christian Leask
10:43 AM |
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