After a couple days spent driving and collecting team members from the airport, the Ciclismo Racing team is all together in Utah. My travels were a breeze. On Sunday, I had the privilege of driving down from Fort Collins with Nick and Ian. Much of my ride was spent listening to Ian and Nick discuss business plans and strategies (wow, those guys are smart!)...I just sat in the car with my jaw slack and tried to soak up some intelligence. Besides Nick spilling hot oatmeal ALL OVER ME, and me getting REALLY angry at Nick, the drive was easy.
We've settled into some wonderful host housing. Paul and Rose have opened their beautiful home to us, and we are all super comfy. We are also very well fed thank to chef Jim Whalen who has been cooking amazing meals for us non stop... this guy is good!
Today the team went out for a ride, the weather was awesome and the roads and climbs we got to see were great. Ben saw some wildlife including, he claims, a unicorn...he also claims this is a good sign.
Everyone is excited to start racing, and it kicks off tomorrow with the prologue. It's gonna be fast and fun. Check the blog and the twitter for results...
-Dan
Monday, August 17, 2009
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
This Weeks FoCo CIC Successes
Last night was round two of the Tuesday night criterium series, sponsored by New Belgium Brewery, Ciclismo Racing, the City of Fort Collins, yourgroupride.com, and the cycling-faithful Dr. Tim Anderson. (I'm sure I'm missing some sponsors so I apologize if I neglect to acknowledge you.) I wasn't present so I'm speaking through multiple story tellers, but apparently the star of the show was Mr. Aggressive, Brad Cole of Ciclismo Racing. Attacking multiple times lead to Brad and the ever-tenacious Dan Porter, owner and Godfather of yourgroupride.com, establishing a two-man breakaway that sustained until the finish. Dan said, "Brad pinched me into the dumpsters before the finish", but in the end Brad wound up his ferocious sprint and beat Dan to the line. Visit yourgroupride.com and check out the video produced by Dan--what a fun way to watch the action as it unfolded.
Day two of the weekly training race schedule included Wednesday Night Worlds, starting at the Budweiser plant off of I-25, heading north along the frontage road to Buckeye Road where the race headed west. The final leg includes heading south on north Shields, jogging a couple miles along Owl Canyon Road to the west, heading south on north Taft Hill Road, and finishing west to the Cement Plant where the finish line lies at the top of the leg-breaking climb.
Tonight was unique in that very little wind forced selections among the riders even though numerous attacks began after the town of Wellington and persisted until the finish. In the end Dan Porter of Team Rio Grande and Jonathon Garcia of BMC held a sizable lead up until the final climb to the sprint. I was lucky to have a couple faithful strongmen, including Brett Kirby of Team Rio Grande, Rich Davis of Spike, and teammate Alex Hagman, take some strong pulls to reduce the gap before the finish. After the guardrails, Alex started to fade so I started sprint #1 to bridge to Dan and Jonathon. Sprint #2 took place as soon as I made contact with the pair, allowing me to open a gap on the competition. New talents Aaron of Rio Grande (sorry can't remember last name) and Troy (don't know last name either) held my wheel and I caught a glimpse of Aaron under my left arm which initiated sprint #3...there would be no easy victory tonight. Sprint #3 was the nail in the coffin and Ciclismo Racing took win number two of the week.
I'd be remiss to not acknowledge how grateful I am to be a part of such an incredible Fort Collins cycling community. The old school persistence to see the weekly training race scene prevail and the cultural components of the tough-man attitude and ruthless competition allow us 'newby's' to establish a solid foundation that we can take to the national race scene. From all us 'newby's', THANK YOU!
Dead Dog is this weekend...more exciting things to come!!!
-Phil
Day two of the weekly training race schedule included Wednesday Night Worlds, starting at the Budweiser plant off of I-25, heading north along the frontage road to Buckeye Road where the race headed west. The final leg includes heading south on north Shields, jogging a couple miles along Owl Canyon Road to the west, heading south on north Taft Hill Road, and finishing west to the Cement Plant where the finish line lies at the top of the leg-breaking climb.
Tonight was unique in that very little wind forced selections among the riders even though numerous attacks began after the town of Wellington and persisted until the finish. In the end Dan Porter of Team Rio Grande and Jonathon Garcia of BMC held a sizable lead up until the final climb to the sprint. I was lucky to have a couple faithful strongmen, including Brett Kirby of Team Rio Grande, Rich Davis of Spike, and teammate Alex Hagman, take some strong pulls to reduce the gap before the finish. After the guardrails, Alex started to fade so I started sprint #1 to bridge to Dan and Jonathon. Sprint #2 took place as soon as I made contact with the pair, allowing me to open a gap on the competition. New talents Aaron of Rio Grande (sorry can't remember last name) and Troy (don't know last name either) held my wheel and I caught a glimpse of Aaron under my left arm which initiated sprint #3...there would be no easy victory tonight. Sprint #3 was the nail in the coffin and Ciclismo Racing took win number two of the week.
I'd be remiss to not acknowledge how grateful I am to be a part of such an incredible Fort Collins cycling community. The old school persistence to see the weekly training race scene prevail and the cultural components of the tough-man attitude and ruthless competition allow us 'newby's' to establish a solid foundation that we can take to the national race scene. From all us 'newby's', THANK YOU!
Dead Dog is this weekend...more exciting things to come!!!
-Phil
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
State TT
This is a little late, but better late then never. Anyway, last time I blogged I was beating up on some masters riders nothing too great. However, this time is a little more exciting I actually beat some good riders. We had the state TT a week ago and I have to be honest I didn't know what to expect. The last time I did a TT with any significance was in Irvine, Ca and that ended with a flat tire. I felt like my form was good and was expecting to win, but then again you never know. There was a good turn out lots of people sporting very expensive bikes and gear that I sure that they only ride five times a year. Things started out well we got there early and drove the course. I had never raced this particular course before and wanted to see it. It was a 23.25 mile out and back course with rolling hills at the beginning and end. We headed north first and then turned and went back south. This being Nebraska wind was going to be a factor. However, the wind was blowing north to south so we had a tail wind first. I started fast catching my minute man pretty quick and then I started pulling back people the rest of the way. I wanted to have something left in the tank toward the end so I tried to be steady in the middle and hammer the last half. Everything was going good until the end when I started to get tired the last 1.5 miles. My time was good but I still need some work before nationals. All in all it was a good race.
Jarred
Jarred
Friday, June 12, 2009
Nature Valley Grand Prix pictures from Stages 1-3
Credit goes to Cyclingnews and VeloNews for these!
This is probably 100m before the TT finish, on a very long and painful small-ring climb. OUCH!!
It was definitely worth it, though! Snagged both the top amateur and the top under 23 jerseys with a time of 13:09, good enough for 14th place overall.
Getting called up to the front for these NVGP criteriums is crucial--they're only 60 minutes and all-out from the gun, so staying up front is both safer and easier. It's also awesome to be up there with guys who fight for stage wins at Tour of California!
Standing next to my good friend and former teammate Tom Soladay in the orange Wheaties sprint jersey (AND the red Most Aggressive jersey, to boot!).
Here is our super-fast climber Rolf Eisinger putting in a monster effort to set up our other climber, Ian Grey, for the first King of the Hill--they went 1-3! Awesome team effort and way to stick with our plan: attack from the gun on the tough initial climb out of town.
This part was a blast--the entrance to the hectic, technical finishing circuits was a deep gravel road followed by a FAST minefield of a downhill. WOW. I knew it well from last year and followed a nice little breakaway about 1 mile before the entrance, then dropped the guys in the break to just barely stay in first going into the gravel. The entire OUCH train basically absorbed me and, like in Tour of the Battenkill, I simply followed master 'cross racer Tim Johnson--always a safe bet in conditions such as these.
I think Rory Sutherland (in the black/green King of the Hill jersey) found the only guy he can actually draft that isn't already a teammate!
This is probably 100m before the TT finish, on a very long and painful small-ring climb. OUCH!!
It was definitely worth it, though! Snagged both the top amateur and the top under 23 jerseys with a time of 13:09, good enough for 14th place overall.
Getting called up to the front for these NVGP criteriums is crucial--they're only 60 minutes and all-out from the gun, so staying up front is both safer and easier. It's also awesome to be up there with guys who fight for stage wins at Tour of California!
Standing next to my good friend and former teammate Tom Soladay in the orange Wheaties sprint jersey (AND the red Most Aggressive jersey, to boot!).
Here is our super-fast climber Rolf Eisinger putting in a monster effort to set up our other climber, Ian Grey, for the first King of the Hill--they went 1-3! Awesome team effort and way to stick with our plan: attack from the gun on the tough initial climb out of town.
This part was a blast--the entrance to the hectic, technical finishing circuits was a deep gravel road followed by a FAST minefield of a downhill. WOW. I knew it well from last year and followed a nice little breakaway about 1 mile before the entrance, then dropped the guys in the break to just barely stay in first going into the gravel. The entire OUCH train basically absorbed me and, like in Tour of the Battenkill, I simply followed master 'cross racer Tim Johnson--always a safe bet in conditions such as these.
I think Rory Sutherland (in the black/green King of the Hill jersey) found the only guy he can actually draft that isn't already a teammate!
Awesome company on the podium after Stage 3!
Tonight is going to be a FAST, technical run through uptown Minneapolis. I've heard that it's the trendy, hipster part of town and the Friday night crowd should be going insane! The race doesn't start until 7:45 PM, and Dad is driving up to watch! My plan is to stay at the front and be safe while conserving as many matches as I can for tomorrow's queen stage in Mankato.
Thanks for reading, and follow our team's awesome Twitter account for live during-race updates!!
Tonight is going to be a FAST, technical run through uptown Minneapolis. I've heard that it's the trendy, hipster part of town and the Friday night crowd should be going insane! The race doesn't start until 7:45 PM, and Dad is driving up to watch! My plan is to stay at the front and be safe while conserving as many matches as I can for tomorrow's queen stage in Mankato.
Thanks for reading, and follow our team's awesome Twitter account for live during-race updates!!
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Good, clean midwestern fun...
Beginning where IG, inc. (aka Ian) left off, the past two weekends have been some of the most fun racing all season. Gotta' love midwest criterium racing...90 min maximum of work per day!
So the past two weekends, I was able to do 7 races in 10 days...the perfect preparation for Nature Valley Grand Prix. The final day of Quad Cities weekend was a dead flat figure eight, which doesn't exactly bode well for us smaller guys. It's better to have a more physically demanding course to sap the energy from the competition, and finish by hitting them hard in the sprint. Unfortunately, the last day wasn't such, and too many guys had fresh legs leading to a crash infested finale.
Tulsa is one of the most fun places in America...an amazing underground bike community is the driving force behind great rides and an even better weekend of racing known as Tulsa Tough. Three days of criterium racing, each day with its own unique vibe. The first day, a twilight criterium, was its usually fast pace but was unusually safe...probably because the city of Tulsa did an amazing job of repaving the roads 3 days before the race. The second day had a small climb, which passes right by the Soundpony, a bar which attracts only the best, most outlandish beer-drinking cycling fans (aka the American Hooligan). (Stop in and see Josh Gifford, the owner of the Soundpony. Tell him he's a hero.) And the final day had a very steep climb (aka cry baby hill) which covered half the course, and the fans (manly the same Soundpony hooligans from the night before) were actually asked by the race promoter to party their asses off and pinch the road giving the racers only about 5 feet from side-to-side to pass. My body was telling me I had a 1% survival rate to finish the race, but that 1% prevailed, because who quits when you are being cheered on by the best fans, EVER?!
They don't call it Tulsa Tough for nothing, because it's almost impossible to bring home the bacon when you're riding solo. Each race I was super aggressive following and bridging to very powerful breakaways, but too many full-sized teams were active and unsettled without the formation of large leadout trains and bunch finishes. (At least it wasn't the Toyota-United show this year.) In the end, although I only finished in the money (15th place) the final day, the Ciclismo jersey did what it does best...race aggressive and make some other people suffer.
Coming up the team has Nature Valley Grand Prix. Stay tuned for more rider incite on the blog...
Thanks for reading,
Danger (aka Phil Mann)
So the past two weekends, I was able to do 7 races in 10 days...the perfect preparation for Nature Valley Grand Prix. The final day of Quad Cities weekend was a dead flat figure eight, which doesn't exactly bode well for us smaller guys. It's better to have a more physically demanding course to sap the energy from the competition, and finish by hitting them hard in the sprint. Unfortunately, the last day wasn't such, and too many guys had fresh legs leading to a crash infested finale.
Tulsa is one of the most fun places in America...an amazing underground bike community is the driving force behind great rides and an even better weekend of racing known as Tulsa Tough. Three days of criterium racing, each day with its own unique vibe. The first day, a twilight criterium, was its usually fast pace but was unusually safe...probably because the city of Tulsa did an amazing job of repaving the roads 3 days before the race. The second day had a small climb, which passes right by the Soundpony, a bar which attracts only the best, most outlandish beer-drinking cycling fans (aka the American Hooligan). (Stop in and see Josh Gifford, the owner of the Soundpony. Tell him he's a hero.) And the final day had a very steep climb (aka cry baby hill) which covered half the course, and the fans (manly the same Soundpony hooligans from the night before) were actually asked by the race promoter to party their asses off and pinch the road giving the racers only about 5 feet from side-to-side to pass. My body was telling me I had a 1% survival rate to finish the race, but that 1% prevailed, because who quits when you are being cheered on by the best fans, EVER?!
They don't call it Tulsa Tough for nothing, because it's almost impossible to bring home the bacon when you're riding solo. Each race I was super aggressive following and bridging to very powerful breakaways, but too many full-sized teams were active and unsettled without the formation of large leadout trains and bunch finishes. (At least it wasn't the Toyota-United show this year.) In the end, although I only finished in the money (15th place) the final day, the Ciclismo jersey did what it does best...race aggressive and make some other people suffer.
Coming up the team has Nature Valley Grand Prix. Stay tuned for more rider incite on the blog...
Thanks for reading,
Danger (aka Phil Mann)
Monday, May 25, 2009
Ciclismo wins again in KY
May 15 and 16
Ciclismo wins again in KY.
It was the final weekend of the Kentuckiana spring series. Both races were flat, windy crits with local fields. First race started with small breaks rolling off the front until about 20 minutes in, when a break of 5 of us were let go. We dropped one guy and it ended up bringing myself and 3 other guys all from the same team. In the process of dropping the 5th guy, one of the 3 guys made it up the road. His teammate was able to bridge after I had made the move that caused the 5th guy to be dropped. I pulled their other teammate around for the last 25 minutes and ended up 4th. That night Elizabeth and I joined 6 of our friends and went camping and hiking at the Red River Gorge. Very cool place, despite the rain. We were able to make a fire and roast marshmallows.
The next morning we went hiking for a couple of miles before we had to drive back to Louisville two or so hours for the final race of the spring series. We had just enough time to take a shower and grab a sandwich before we had to leave for the race.
The race started out fast with attacks from the gun. After several attacks, 12 guys ended up creating the break. It was myself and 5 Roadhouse guys, and 3 Panther/RGF pb Felt Bicycles teammates along with some other teams who all had a couple riders. It was attack after attack as I had to cover if a roadhouse guy went with a Panther/RGF pb Felt Bicycles guys or vice versa. The break stayed together as we headed into the last lap. I attacked right before the last corner, which was a sharp horse shoe shape and I got a gap. The rest of the guys tried to catch my wheel but couldn’t before the corner and one of the guys towards the back of the break went down in the corner. I increased my lead through the corner and put my head down and peddled. The finish came down to mere inches as a couple guys almost caught me after a 300 meter downhill in the wind finish. It was too close to call but the finish line camera showed me just inches ahead. I won! I ended up wining the weekend omnium and placed 3rd in the overall spring series, despite racing only four of the ten races.
Ciclismo wins again in KY.
It was the final weekend of the Kentuckiana spring series. Both races were flat, windy crits with local fields. First race started with small breaks rolling off the front until about 20 minutes in, when a break of 5 of us were let go. We dropped one guy and it ended up bringing myself and 3 other guys all from the same team. In the process of dropping the 5th guy, one of the 3 guys made it up the road. His teammate was able to bridge after I had made the move that caused the 5th guy to be dropped. I pulled their other teammate around for the last 25 minutes and ended up 4th. That night Elizabeth and I joined 6 of our friends and went camping and hiking at the Red River Gorge. Very cool place, despite the rain. We were able to make a fire and roast marshmallows.
The next morning we went hiking for a couple of miles before we had to drive back to Louisville two or so hours for the final race of the spring series. We had just enough time to take a shower and grab a sandwich before we had to leave for the race.
The race started out fast with attacks from the gun. After several attacks, 12 guys ended up creating the break. It was myself and 5 Roadhouse guys, and 3 Panther/RGF pb Felt Bicycles teammates along with some other teams who all had a couple riders. It was attack after attack as I had to cover if a roadhouse guy went with a Panther/RGF pb Felt Bicycles guys or vice versa. The break stayed together as we headed into the last lap. I attacked right before the last corner, which was a sharp horse shoe shape and I got a gap. The rest of the guys tried to catch my wheel but couldn’t before the corner and one of the guys towards the back of the break went down in the corner. I increased my lead through the corner and put my head down and peddled. The finish came down to mere inches as a couple guys almost caught me after a 300 meter downhill in the wind finish. It was too close to call but the finish line camera showed me just inches ahead. I won! I ended up wining the weekend omnium and placed 3rd in the overall spring series, despite racing only four of the ten races.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
At Quad Cities, everyone has a story...
... it's true, you travel to the Mississippi Delta, Memorial weekend to collect four separate stories, each with their own seemingly epic plot...
...A windy road race, with cross winds and a break that almost always comes back...
...The Snake, with it's storied cobbles, large fields and critical starting position...
...Melon City, which takes place in Muscatine, which we're still trying to figure out; with its big circle, mile laps (we do 40) and incredibly important positioning for the finish...
...Quad Cities Crit, with it's super tight turns, fast pace and chain link fence that keeps the riders in and the hundreds of fans out...
Three of the stories have been written and for Ciclismo racing, our stories reflect those of decades past...
Sparing the reader my prophetic (or long-winded) prose, here's the recap...
Day 1 - 80 mile Road Race - this day was all Phil, as Jarred and I stayed behind in Lincoln with babysitting trouble... yes, the proud daddy Berger had to watch the little-one. The break was caught with 500 meters to go and as Phil knows best, he went for the win out of the swarm. This story, however, ended with a near collision with one of the most classic figures of these races (no names... sorry) and Phil settling for sitting up to reach 12th.
Day 2 - Snake Alley - as Jarred and I arrived in the afternoon, it was hot and humid, with storms looming on the Mississippi horizon. I start with a weather report because that was our story... it rained and rained hard. With the cobbles wet and slick, we were to set up for the storm positioned at the back of the 100+ man field. Let's just say the first time up the Snake we were shrugging our shoulders with crashes all around us and unable to navigate through... the leaders already had 60 seconds on us, 2 minutes into the race... I chased to 24th, Phil was 31st and Berger was pulled even though he was only 10 seconds back of my small chase group... did we mention the rain, the entire race?
Day 3 - Melon City - 135 starters and a whose who of current and former pro's, national champs and typical corn-fead, yet crit starved midwesterners, we were ready to race... our story began with a script that read... "attack, but attack smart, for when we go, we are to go so hard we are eyes go crossed." Attack we did and on no fewer than 3 occasions the pin stripes of Ciclismo were out in front in some incredible breaks. This story, however, was about positioning and a field sprint and no-one better than our midwestern sprinter (yes, we feed him corn even in Colorado) to get into position and take 7th...
Day 4 is tomorrow... Berger and I are ready to write a script for Phil, taking him to the finish... he will tell the story tomorrow...
- I
...A windy road race, with cross winds and a break that almost always comes back...
...The Snake, with it's storied cobbles, large fields and critical starting position...
...Melon City, which takes place in Muscatine, which we're still trying to figure out; with its big circle, mile laps (we do 40) and incredibly important positioning for the finish...
...Quad Cities Crit, with it's super tight turns, fast pace and chain link fence that keeps the riders in and the hundreds of fans out...
Three of the stories have been written and for Ciclismo racing, our stories reflect those of decades past...
Sparing the reader my prophetic (or long-winded) prose, here's the recap...
Day 1 - 80 mile Road Race - this day was all Phil, as Jarred and I stayed behind in Lincoln with babysitting trouble... yes, the proud daddy Berger had to watch the little-one. The break was caught with 500 meters to go and as Phil knows best, he went for the win out of the swarm. This story, however, ended with a near collision with one of the most classic figures of these races (no names... sorry) and Phil settling for sitting up to reach 12th.
Day 2 - Snake Alley - as Jarred and I arrived in the afternoon, it was hot and humid, with storms looming on the Mississippi horizon. I start with a weather report because that was our story... it rained and rained hard. With the cobbles wet and slick, we were to set up for the storm positioned at the back of the 100+ man field. Let's just say the first time up the Snake we were shrugging our shoulders with crashes all around us and unable to navigate through... the leaders already had 60 seconds on us, 2 minutes into the race... I chased to 24th, Phil was 31st and Berger was pulled even though he was only 10 seconds back of my small chase group... did we mention the rain, the entire race?
Day 3 - Melon City - 135 starters and a whose who of current and former pro's, national champs and typical corn-fead, yet crit starved midwesterners, we were ready to race... our story began with a script that read... "attack, but attack smart, for when we go, we are to go so hard we are eyes go crossed." Attack we did and on no fewer than 3 occasions the pin stripes of Ciclismo were out in front in some incredible breaks. This story, however, was about positioning and a field sprint and no-one better than our midwestern sprinter (yes, we feed him corn even in Colorado) to get into position and take 7th...
Day 4 is tomorrow... Berger and I are ready to write a script for Phil, taking him to the finish... he will tell the story tomorrow...
- I
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)