I was remembering the ride so much that I forgot to post the picture
from the start line.

written and submitted by Rob Robins

This was not my finest moment as a cyclist. I gripped the brakes as much as I dared, just short of locking them up. My bike did not slow down at all like I expected. Like it had so many times before. It was as though it had become a willful beast that had elected this moment -- of all moments -- in which to ignore my commands. Through the downpour I could make out the shape of the bend in the road ahead, but of its particular pitch and surface I could determine nothing. And the wisdom I had felt so sure of while putting on my sunglasses just before my plummet down this mountain was beginning to unravel as well. Sure, the rain was no longer stinging my eyes – but if anything my vision was further impaired. A mile or so more down the mountain and the little trembles that were building somewhere deep in my back and limbs would realize full metamorphosis in the form of head-to-toe body shakes, uncontrollable shivers, and the all too familiar involuntary chattering of teeth. These were the initial warning signs of hypothermia.

This was my introduction to the 3 State, 3 Mountain Century in Chattanooga, TN. Six Cycle-Logic riders and their friends made the trek this year largely at the invitation of team member Tal Mincey, who really rolled out the red carpet for his pals. We set up in a great cabin not far from Chattanooga and made ready for a great weekend of biking.

Mother nature had other plans of course – plans that she made clear in advance in the memos we read with big, bright, blotchy, moving paintings we like to call radar, but cyclists being an absurdly headstrong breed we mushed forward undeterred, hubris and misplaced confidence tucked securely in our hip pockets like so many water bottles and spare tubes. Among us were grizzled veterans of Six Gap, the sub-four hour Swampman Century and the various race categories of Florida Cycling. We could handle anything! The challenge laid before us this morning was a mere 100 mile leisure ride – “Pish Posh!” – One and all exclaimed and we sallied forth. Little did we know that by 11 am, our once proud ranks would be reduced to drunkards in spandex and the publicly nude and indecent.

With temperatures lingering in the high 50’s, the first drops fell moments before the 8 am start. And while they were few, these were big, fat, glossy rain drops, unmistakable as harbingers of a day-long-deluge, not just any old hit and run sprinkling.

Having agreed to do this ride not for time, but for companionship and sight-seeing, we felt no urge to line up at the front. This of course violated several core principles of the riders in our group, most significantly the one that goes something like “To thine own self be true.” Immediately we began racing toward the front. Through the squirrels, around the slip-and-slide and dump-oneself-on-the-train-tracks-for-no-reason-riders and a host of others we proceeded. Reaching the base of the first climb we began to tap out a steady rhythm.

Here I began a fun game of cat and mouse with Tal. The longer it went on, the more riders we passed and the more it became clear to me that Tal was a very lithe and agile mouse and I a listless and much-coddled house cat. Nevertheless I made it to the top with Tal by shamelessly sitting his wheel for a goodly portion of the climb.

It was at this juncture that we were forcefully served the terms of the memo we had chosen to ignore. The icy deluge began. We waited for our teammates as agreed upon but it soon became hard to make out the riders as they passed. Down the mountain I went shortly after Tal, Mike Robinson, and Jayson O’Mahoney. Deft and fearless descenders all, I knew I would not see them again until the bottom.

My ride down, as previously characterized, was also to include such ignominious happenings as getting passed by people approximately twice my age and by a lot of them. I confess that I thought of home and I thought of what it might feel like to slide off the mountain and wrap my body around a tree.

Near the bottom I came upon Jayson, who normally descends like a turd dropped by a bird flying over a car wash – fast, right on target, and sure to ruin your day. But his carbon rims were in a dispute with his brake pads and Jayson was desperately trying to arbitrate the disagreement with language like “Bollocks!” and “Bloody Hell!” All to no avail.

At the bottom the huddled masses immediately got serious about huddling and being a mass. With each passing moment rider upon rider joined the confused and trembling flock at the first sag stop. By the time I found the wits to go inside a gas station convenience store for warmer air and hot drink, my estimate of the crowd outside was of 150- 250 disheartened souls. Crowded as they were together, milling about in little concentric staccato movements, it was as though the deep Antarctic night unfolded before my eyes and The March of the Penguins was on display before me in Chattanooga, TN. Then again, another hallmark of hypothermia is delirium.

As still more riders came down the mountain and dismounted, those with the greatest resolve bedraggledly began to head back over the way we had come. In the end, I have no idea how many abandoned the century, but we joined their ranks and rode back to Chattanooga.

Jayson, Mike and I got a guided escort from some real class acts, local riders in Krystal Burger kits who were as thoughtful as they were fun to ride with. Vern, James, Tal, and his pal Paul took their own route, one that apparently required a stop at a bar for some mid-morning shots. Upon being presented with their drunken parking lot tomfoolery the three amigos responded in the only way appropriate, that being of course a synchronized triple-moon. We hesitated but for a quick check for police and school children before dropping our road-grime-coated bibs in unison.

In the end, this was not a great day for team Cycle Logic’s racing pedigree. But we’ve always been a somewhat muttly bunch, not overly concerned about results on the road as much as we are about riding hard and safe. Let the results come as they may. I for one harbor no regret about 3 State 2009 and am thankful for the companionship of my friends and for the good times in spite of the lousy conditions. Here’s to 3 state in 2010!

Race Photos by Gerald Bouchard. Email Gerald by clicking here

A couple of weeks ago was Webster-Roubaix, a race that is quickly becoming a Florida classic. With 2.5 miles of dirt roads per lap of the 9 mile circuit and the longest race of the year, just finishing the Webster-Roubaix race is a feat in and of itself.

Our own Tal Mincey took part in the Masters 35+ race which is arguably the most hotly-contested field year in and year out. Packed with the who's who of Florida racing, including many former and current Cat 1 and Cat 2 racers, Tal more than held his own on the demanding Webster course.

Finishing in the top 10 without any teammates is more than worthy of praise. Cycle Logic truly appreciates the contribution that Tal is making to the team and look forward to the inevitable day when Tal cracks this field wide open.

Also testing his mettle in Webster was our very own "Patron of the Pack", the "Elder Statesman of the Race-men", El Jefe...Scott Pfaff. Scott has submitted his very own race report, so here you go:

Last year's Roubaix started out well enough but ended abruptly when my handle bars broke with one lap to go. Fast forward one year and one new set of carbon bars later and we are at the start of this year's Webster-Roubaix, or as I heard the announcer call it, "The Hell of the West”.

Tal and I pre-road the course the week before so we knew what we were in for, dirt and loose gravel. My plan was to stay at the front or as close the front as possible on the dirt sections to avoid the melee in the field that was to sure to happen.

The first few laps of the race I road at the front in order to pick my own line through the course. With 50 guys in the race I didn’t want to have to worry about someone else forcing me into a bad line.

On the very first lap two guys decided to have a go and see if they could last the 105 km’s on their own. The break never really got very far and was left dangling for a while. On the 3rd lap there was more interest in making something happen and the front of the race really came alive. This is were it pays to be at the front, if you were caught in the last half of the pack you were really going to have work hard to keep a good line in the dirt and to bridge across to the group that made it to the pavement first. This was the first selection and it easily cut the field in half.

On lap 4, a group of 12 was able to force a break on the dirt and make it stick. By lap 5 the break had been reeled in and unfortunately the guys were spent and couldn’t stay with the main break. We lost 4 from the original break of 12 over the last 3 laps to finish with 8 in the lead group.

This course doesn’t lend itself to a standing sprint, it’s more of keeping your head down and driving the pedals as hard as you can. I was lucky and managed to get 3rd overall in the 45+ field. Thanks to my wife and Justin for handing me bottles so I could wash down the extra dirt I managed to ingest on every lap. This is one race that when you finish you say to yourself, “I’m never going to do this again”, but after a few days you start thinking about next year!

Scott

Congratulations to both Tal and Scott!

All Post-Race Photos provided by Scott Pfaff

Ok, not a fun weekend for Big Ryan, Il Flaco and the Dogg.
Saturday's .5 mile flat crit course at Brian Piccolo park was shaped like the letter "B" but rode like an "F."

The curvaceous course and 25 mph crosswind singled up every race like a string of sweaty, gasping, dayglo pearls desperately trying to cling together. Every lap found racers torquing hard left then right then sprinting out of the saddle over and over then slamming into a headwind on the only straightaway. The string was constantly broken with loose pearls scattering every single lap until only enough remained to make a small bracelet.

In the Pro 1,2 race only a dozen or so finished as a group. Ryan was rolled off a little before that.

In the 3 race I'l Flaco managed to roll up a $50. preme while The Dogg finished with the pack panting and drooling dog slobber everywhere.

The next day at Vista (Vicious) View park the gusty winds were even stronger and two surprisingly steep hills worked us over.
Vista View is a man-made mountainous anomaly of trash piled 100' high and situated at the edge of the dead flat Everglades. Covered with grass, the 30 or so acres has a winding, hilly paved road circuit of 1.5 miles that is only totally opened to the public for bike races.
The view of suburban neighborhoods stretches for miles in all directions and it appears homeowners, desperate for any change in elevation above southern swampland actually pay a hefty premium to back their homes up to a toxic landfill.

The race, with a hill top finish was all about staying in the front to maintain momentum in the tricky, often off- camber corners. The first hill had 70' of elevation change and a stiff crosswind. At the hilltop you expect a little rest on the decent but a rude headwind practically pushed you back up. Upon hitting the bottom you make a hard 90 then climb up 50' in elevation to the start/finish. At this point riders who had a little left tried to jump away on the 1/2 k flat but curving flat top. Then you plummet back down to a greater than 90 degree off camber left turn then head back to the big hill. Over and over you were either sprinting up two big hills, chasing solo breakaways or trying not to fly off the course into a toxic pond at the base. Every race broke up fast and finished with about a dozen.

B. Ryan placed 8th - 3 out of the money and Il Flaco about the same but with another $50. preme.
The Dogg, having an inexplicably bad day, got dropped early on but managed to team up with another loser and finished just ahead of the lapping leaders and emerged victorious ahead of all the other losers!

I can't wait to try this course again.

K-Dogg

Go ahead, let's hear your prognostications for this weekends Tour of Flanders. **try not to name Boonen the winner

Winner gets a free Cycle Logic cycling cap*** (James'll mail it to you)

***some restrictions apply, winner to be determined by correct answers on a 1st come 1st serve basis.

This past Saturday's (3-7-09) team ride was one for the books. The most gorgeous weather that 2009 has offered us so far was more than taken advantage of.

A great group of ten Cycle Logic teammates set out from Flemington Park in Marion County for a 100-mile jaunt through horse and peanut farms alike via the lesser-traveled roads of the area.

Fun, social, inspiring...just some of the words used to describe the ride. From spotting the rare fox-tailed squirrel to sprinting for every city-limit sign (or any green sign really), the ride was an absolute blast.

Sure the miles wore on all of us (some more than others), but being surrounded by such a great group of people who really encourage each other while still sprinkling in the trash-talk kept the pain out of mind and forged some great memories of an epic ride.

If you're able to, be sure to join us for the next installment of Cycle Logic rides.

Something is cooking. Take a whiff at
Cycle Logic Dot Org

Whinings From the Old Dogg Race
Report of the Masters 45+ San Antonio road race by Cycle Logic team member, Kerry Duggan

To sum it up we all raced like dog t_rds from beginning to end.

Not much happened the first two laps except for a few doomed 3-man breaks that faded at the first taste of headwind. Everything was chased down quickly and relentlessly.

Yet, just into the third lap 3 guys dangling 100' off the front were joined by 3 more. None of the big teams seemed to care. One 3-man team tried fruitlessly to enlist help for another 10 minutes but licked their tails and went to the back---so the dog pack laid down and took a nap as all the places rolled away.

For the next 45 minutes I camped out very near the front just hoping somebody would start something I could join. Nothing.

Forty men and 25 women doing a sub-22 mph "B" ride.

Eventually I got bored and did some silly hill drills off the front of the listless peleton just to keep my heartrate up. It wasn't hard even solo into that headwind.
So sad.

Eventually, at 2 k from the finish the women snaked their way to the front to begin their sprint for glory only to be absolutely swarmmed by a million old idiots risking their lives for two out of the money.

So much for wisdom with age.

As far as this race went - that dog don't hunt.

K-Dogg

A race report by Cycle Logic team member, Ken Sallot

We started out with a pack of 115 in a mixed p/1/2/3 field. Within one mile into the start the peloton was screaming down a descent at 45mph, rubbing wheels and bumping elbows. Mike Starr and I were at the back chit-chatting and he casually mentioned something about how three years ago there was a bad crash at the bottom of the hill. As if on cue, a bunch of guys in front of us locked up their brakes and Mike had to go rolling around in the grass. While he did catch back on, it made for a great start to the day for everyone.

After the start of the first climb I sort of dangled on the back of the pack. As we approached the second descent I let a huge gap open up knowing that once again we'd have a bunch up. We made the second climb and hooked the right, then we were off while a wicked wind pummeled us from the right.

I moved up a little, but with over 100 guys in the field it was difficult to make much progress. But that didn't deter some folks, and guys were blowing the yellow line rule left and right, pissing off cars in the process. I kept thinking to myself this was a little on the nuts side, and settled in for the haul.

We hooked a right onto a twisty road. With the wind still screaming at us, the pace at this point picked up fast enough that we were stretched out single file running around 28 or 29. And with that wicked wind coming, and the group stretched out, there was no room to hide.

We came through an area where there was deep sand on both sides of the road with a turn in it, and only about 5' of clearance, and sure enough a bunch of guys are laying down in the grass picking themselves and their bikes up.

At this point the pace was still high and I'm holding on for dear life. We hit the first really long climb at "College", and this is where myself and about a dozen other guys got sawed off, including my team-mate Carlos. We organized a chase group, but two of the guys wearing Rock Racing kits were convinced we could never get back on and that we should just continue to roll around to pick up our FPS points, and they refused to drill it to make the jump back onto the pack.

The next two hours we spent rolling around in a pack ranging from as little as 4 to as many as 12. Most of us were just 3's, but we had a few cat2s in the initial group. We continued to pick up guys here and there, and dropping them here and there, as the day continued to wear on.

There was one guy who wore a rock racing kit and would only take 3 second pulls but kept bitching if we pulled less than 30 seconds. Myself and an Aerospace guy named Donald started getting annoyed with "The Badger" and we colluded to try and drop him on a few of the climbs. But like a tenacious badger he kept hanging on to us.

Near the end of our second lap we were caught by the 5's. We decided to go ahead and just hang out in the 5's pack, but staying near the back, and roll with them for a bit. But when we got close to three miles from the end of our third (and their final) lap, we agreed to drop back so we wouldn't get caught up in the excitement of a cat 5 field sprint.

After we dropped off from the cat 5's, the remaining cat 2 destroyed a zip wheel by having a rear derailer take out all of the spokes. A part of me died right then. I hope he was picked up by a wheel truck because he was a nice kid.

A few miles after the destroyed wheel, we picked up Andy Bittingham from VeloBrew. He was ready to drop out, but I convinced him to finish the race with us. And of course, about a minute later I threw my chain on a climb. Doing my best Mike Arena impression, I managed to get it fixed and catch back on.

The ORC guy who had been with us decided to bail at the conclusion of lap three, and so we were down to just four of us -- myself, Andy, Donald, and the Badger. I figured the Badger was going to try and sprint us for 30th, and I was getting more annoyed with him as time went on, so as we made our first descent and first climb of the last lap I started pushing a hard tempo to see if I could finally saw him off. Andy started taking a strong pull, and I let a few gaps open up between us and then jumped them in an effort to surge and weaken the badger. Finally, when we got to the second climb of the lap I attacked.

Now keep in mind, these are just Florida power climbs, and the longest hill of the day only took about 2 minutes to ascend, but the Badger was probably about 215-220lbs, and he looked weak on every climb. So I popped up the pace to the high 20s, visited anaerobia briefly, got some separation, and the minute we crested Donald countered. I had enough juice to jump on his wheel, but Andy and the Badger were gone.

Please also understand, I fully realize this was like Jerry's Kids beating up on each other. But, there were FPS points on the line, and this was a race, so although I like Andy a lot, I didn't feel too much remorse over it. I really only wanted to dispatch the Badger, but this made it a little easier for me.

Donald and I kept the pace high for 5-6 minutes, and when we finally eased up we saw the other two guys were probably close to 1/2 mile behind. We worked together in a nice smooth two man rotation until we picked up a cat 2 (Velobrew guy) who had gotten popped. We asked him if he wanted to roll with us, and he joined us, but after a few minutes he dropped off.

With about 6 miles to go to the finish, I decided to go ahead and attack Donald and leave him behind. We hit the longer hill (College), and I gunned it. Donald cramped, and dropped off. I continued on, just cruising in solo mode. I passed a few other cat3s who had also dropped off on the final two miles before the long final climb which crests at "Duggan Road". I found bitter irony in that street sign, because Kerry should be world famous for digging deep on every climb in an effort to inflict damage on the people behind him, and I definitely was starting to feel it in my legs as I slogged up for the last time at a measly 14mph.

I finally rolled into the finish about 18 minutes after the main peloton. That's when I also found out I was the only guy from my team to finish the race -- the other four had better sense than me and abandoned.

As for those fabulous FPS points, I should be somewhere between 23rd and 25th for cat3's and somewhere in the 70s overall. But the preliminary results had me down a lap (even though I finished a minute or two before Humberto and Andy), we'll wait until next week to see the final results.

Backstretch of the Cat. 3 Downtown Gainesville Criterium.

Scott Pfaff heads off in pursuit of a one-man break.

Cycle Logic members in the field: Jayson O'Mahoney, Chris Bilowich, Tal Mincey, Carlos Smith, James Penrod, Roger Montes and Ken Sallot

Labels: video

Great weekend for Cycle Logic! On Saturday, there were time trials held out in Archer, Florida. Jayson O'Mahoney narrowly missed the podium in the Cat 3 ITT but helped the Cat 3 Cycle Logic squad (also containing Ken Sallot, Carlos Smith and Tal Mincey) take 3rd place in the TTT. Our sole entry in the Cat 4 time trial, Mike Arena, walked away with the whole thing as he proved that he's a force to be reckoned with.

Sunday was the classic downtown Gainesville Criterium. Mike Arena once again showed that he is a beast. The Category 4 final results don't adequately tell the whole story, so we'll give you the abbreviated version here. After attacking off the front numerous times in the early stages of the race, Mike dropped a chain, dropped from the field, stopped, got off the bike, fixed it, got back on, chased like a daemon, caught back on and attacked again! The cat 4 field ought to be thankful that he wasn't full gas in the final lap! By far, the most heroic ride of the day.

Eight Cycle Logic boys toed the line in the Cat 3 field and made for one of the most fun races spectators have seen in a long time. Damn it was fun! The guys started with a plan and put it into action from the gun. Jayson was a constant fixture at the front of the field making sure nothing dangerous went up the road, if it did, one of the guys would go with it. Tal and Roger stayed comfortably in the pack while the teams presence made everyone else uncomfortable.

More than halfway through the race we all got a nice scare as Scott laid it down in the second corner. After cautious examination by the medical professionals on sight, it was determined that Scott was fine and will live to race another day (his bike notwithstanding).

There was constantly Orange and Grey at the front of the field and as the last few laps were counted down, Tal and Roger made their way to the front. In a hotly contested sprint, Tal lead the field up the hill toward the finish line only to be swallowed up in the final 10 meters! Roger stayed close to Tal as they finished 6th and 5th respectfully and scored some solid FPS points for the team.


The guys utilized textbook teamwork to almost perfection and gained a ton of knowledge about themselves and the team in the process. The season ahead looks bright and we're all looking forward to seeing how things unfold throughout the year.

Thanks to all the friends, family and fans that came out to support Cycle Logic this weekend. Damn that was fun!

view a ton of photos from Sunday's race here

Labels: race report

Just like the first week of "Bring it On" racing, Cathy Bester was at it again and providing us with some fantastic race photos.

All of these photos are available in their full-resolution glory for a mere $10.

View the week two images
and
Contact Cathy for more information

Friend of Team Cycle Logic, Cathy Bester, has taken some beautiful shots of this past weekends "Bring it On" race. She is selling the full size image, sans watermark, for $10.00.

The photos can be viewed HERE
Cathy can be reached via email at cathybester@hotmail.com

Shameless plug for a great Gainesville-area home for sale:





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A friend and I have just put together a web site that sings the praises of my newly listed property. Stop by and check it out...be sure to scope the built-in grill on the back patio that I built a couple of years ago...great for entertaining!

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Get ready...the road racing season will arrive in Gainesville soon.
Keep January 17th and 24th open for a little bike racing!













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With the completion of the Ocala Stage Race, yet another season of Florida bike racing has drawn to a close. Cycle Logic represented itself well with a few podium performances.

Saturday
Our superstar Junior racer, Justin Pfaff, continued his season long domination of his age group by winning the road race. Per usual, Justin's age group was combined with the next older age group. Justin and one of the older age-groupers attacked the field and put about 2 minutes on them by the end. At the line, Justin out sprinted his break partner and took a comanding lead in the overall stage race.

In the Cat.4 Road Race, Anthony Musalo worked tirelessly to deliver teammate Tal Mincey to the front in time for Tal to sprint his way to second place (see photo at top left). Also on Saturday, both Eric Stubbs and Roger Montes (see photo at lower left) finished in the top ten of the Cat.3 field while Eric also finished top 5 in the Time Trial. Rob Robins truly finished the season off with a bang in the Cat.3 road race...Rob crashed hard but will live to race again (his LOOK was okay too).

Cycle Logic has been increasing it's numbers in the Masters 35+ field lately. James Penrod and Ken Sallot once again threw down to help our M35+ team leader, Scott Pfaff out in the race. Scott used the team to position himself and earn enough points to secure his 7th place finish in the season-long Florida Points Series (out of over 200 M35+ racers!)

Sunday
The Forest Road Race was much flatter than the previous day's offering. Once again Roger Montes and Eric Stubbs overcame lack of numbers. With selfless teamwork, Roger placed Eric exactly where he needed to be towards the end of the race. Eric was able to capitalize on Roger's effort and crossed the line for a Cat.3 win!

By placing 6th, 4th and 1st in the weekends individual races, Eric secured yet another podium by placing 2nd in the overall Stage Race.

Our Junior sensation also finished the stage race with the lowest overall time thus giving Justin the podium step that he is most used to, the top one.

Our out-of-state team member, Rodrigo Sagastegui, completed the Six Gap Century with us this year...but with a travel-laden work schedule, it was anything but easy. We asked Rodrigo to recap his hectic agenda and his obvious love of the bike.

To talk about my Six Gap experience, you need to go back 3 weeks prior to the ride. September was a busy month for me due to the amount of business/communications we normally have with European customers/colleagues. It is a tradition for many Europeans to take long vacations and/or time off during the summer in order to take advantage of the good weather conditions. Everything seems to shut down for a few weeks and as soon as the summer is over (September), everybody is running around trying to catch up.

This year I had some meetings in Sweden (Sandvik's headquarters) on week 37, but left a few days early (Friday 9/5) to look around Stockholm. I go to Sweden a few times a year and it is normally an easy route... a direct overnight flight from Newark to Stockholm (7hrs), and then either 1 hr by train (or 2 hrs by car) to Sandviken. I got back home from this trip late on Friday 9/12, and tried to spend a few hours on the bike both Saturday and Sunday, but the jetlag only allowed me to do a couple of hours each day.

The following week was quite rainy and made it hard to get out and ride, except for the weekend when once again I rode both Saturday and Sunday. On Monday 9/22 I had to fly to Edmonton via Seattle to prepare our exhibit for a trade show. I had packed my bike Sunday night and dropped it by Fedex on my way to the airport. I stayed in Edmonton until Thursday, when I got back home via St. Paul late at night. Friday 9/26 I was in the office all day, and Saturday I flew from Newark to Atlanta for our Six Gap ride.

The problem was that I had a meeting scheduled in Sweden at 8:00 AM on Tuesday 9/30. This meant that If I still wanted to ride Six Gap, I had to find the way to ride all day on Sunday 9/28, and still being able to get to Sweden by Monday night (9/29 - My birthday). As it turned out, the only way to accomplish this was by flying directly after the ride from Atlanta to London (9 hrs), then to Amsterdam (2 hrs) , then to Stockholm (1.5 hrs), and finally a train to Sandviken (1 hr). This put me in my hotel room on Tuesday 9/30 at 3:00 AM, being able to lay down (couldn't sleep due to jet lag) for 3 hrs, take a shower, and go to work.

I know some may think this is insane. I spent $650 between bike shipment, car rental, lodging etc.. Spent my birthday alone & sleepless for 48 hrs, sitting in airplanes with cramping legs (no, I do not fly business class)... But why? Because right below spending time my wife and son, riding my bike is what I love most. My only regret... not being able to spend more time with you guys in Georgia this year. I hope to see you all again for the Tour de Georgia next spring !

Best Regards,
Rodrigo Sagastegui

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Apparently hairy legs improves climbing and sprinting - at least it seemed that way for our Fuzzy Logic teammate Eric Stubbs (henceforth known as "Il Flaco.") at this years cat 3 Dahlonega mountain omnium. He was simply best at everything all weekend long. And to paraphrase Big Carlos (Smith), "the dude doesn't even eat meat!"

Uphill "TT"
The victorious vegan began his winning streak at the Saturday a.m. 7 mile "TT" up the west side of Wolfpen Gap. The "TT" was actually a by-category, mass start, point to point, 7 mile (actually 8.5 mile) road race. The climb itself was about 1.5 miles preceded by 7 miles of rolling hills.

The 43-rider strong peleton surged along (containing a handfull of 30+ masters) until a small break formed by some aggressive bad etiquette blocking and powered by Daniel the cat 1 super master. Eventuality Daniel rolled the hapless posers off his wheel about 1/2 k from the start of the 1.5 mile 8%+ climb to the summit. At this point Il Flaco flew across 500 meter gap and latched onto Daniel's wheel just as the climb started. The Dogg winced and whined at the lunacy of this dubious maneuver but Il Flaco apparently needs only seconds to recover and managed to clamp down hard on Daniels wheel all the way to the top where two polka dot jerseys were waiting patiently.

The Dogg opened his doggy-bag of courage and when the pack exploded half way up, managed to fend off all but two 23 year-olds and take 4th for the 3s - about 20 seconds and tantalizingly close to the winners, sight-wise.

Circuit Race
Three hours and one 30 mile transfer later we all lined up for a 30 mile-3 lap extremely hilly circuit race.

The pace was fast and furious as the jilted power riders and large teams fired off their best motors in an attempt to reclaim lost points from the earlier race. Il Flaco, Dogg and Big Carlos mostly chilled and surfed the back until we moved up 3 miles from the end in anticipation of the 1k 3% grade sprint finish. (Big Carlos was off the back about 2 miles opting to do solo hill drills instead.) The Dogg fought his way to the front at the last corner looking to lead Il Flaco into the headwind but noticed he was being towed around the corner a good 50 feet ahead of us all.

Giving the field the Lance look, he roared away from his faded companion and soloed up a headwind hill long enough to startle spectators with strange and primitive bellows (which he refused to recreate for us) in the final brutal seconds when he was inched out by just one chaser.

The Dogg was in 7th position when the sprint start but had to sette for 12th of 15 point places due to two fading riders who, side by side, simply stopped pedaling at the 200 meter mark and forced many of us to slam on the brakes, zigg-zagg twice and restart our sprint. Ok, yeah. Coulda, woulda, shoulda.


Road Race
The next morning was Il Flaco's 24th birthday, what a present eh? The final epic 40-mile road race started with Il Flaco firmly in the lead - truly a marked man. So where did Cycle Logic position itself in the peleton? At the front? Nope! Gators can climb but we descend like plucked chickens with vertigo. The first 4 miles of the race descended super fast switchbacks that kept us huddled in abject terror at the very back - and sometimes behind that shameful spot.

Several times we wasted valuable energy chasing back on when we should have been coasting happily. Eventually, near the halfway mark, (with Big Carlos doing more OTB hill drills) after a god-awful "The Wall" section, a much thinned peleton wound it's way down a safer feeling but huge-hilled road and we felt "all better now". We felt good enough to go to the front and help chase down a dangerous-looking escape group.

At that point we didn't realize that Super-master Daniel was 1.5 minutes off the front with a zero points Team Florida racer named John Moore. We never saw those two again. Daniel said he towed John the whole way but I'll give him credit for getting in the good break. John also did a spectacular but doomed 10 mile solo breakaway in the circuit race the day before.

Eventually the 30-something pack emerged onto a 3 mile climb up the North side of Neil's gap immediately followed by a 3.5 leg breaking final climb up the East side of Wolfpen Gap. At the start of the climb the two teamates rode side by side grinning at the "epicness" of this stage. One mile later they were locked into a grim, painfully slow dance of death with less than a dozen climbers. Near the top Il Flaco threw down a 2mph "surge" which shattered the pack and allowed him to solo away to stage field and omnium victory.

At the 1 k to go flag, the Dogg decided he could amp up the pain, especially to humiliate rude little snot-nosed junior, and managed to claw around enough of the twenty-something escapees to claim 6th in the stage and 6th overall in the omnium.

Not too shabby for a couple of flatland Crackers who's two man team bested all of the 5-7 man teams.

Kerry Duggan

*Click on photos for larger view. Bottom photo, courtesy of About Bikes

Fast, Fast, Fast!
Can you say sub-4hr. century?!


A large contingent of Cycle Logic members made their way to the start of the 2008 Swampman Century. The lead group kept an average speed of over 26 mph for the entire ride. That pace was pushed in large part by the Orange and Gray. In the bottom photo to the left, the leaders have already knocked out the first 30 miles and at that moment were pushing 30 miles per hour, nine of the top ten cyclists in the paceline were proudly flying the colors of Cycle Logic.

submitted by James Penrod
Coming back from a weeklong vacation is not easy, so pardon the lack of punctuality on this post.

Things I learned in New Hampshire:

• Lake Winnipesaukee is wicked beautiful (and not an ounce of flat roads in the entire area).
• You can never eat too much Lobster.
• If you’re ever on the south coast of Maine, you MUST stop at Brown’s ice cream parlor. I think they have perfected the art of sticking a half gallon of home made ice cream on a single sugar cone (seriously).
• Riding 7.8 miles is no problem. Climbing 4400+ feet in elevation in that same distance, however is no easy feat (the locals say “it’s wicked hard” and “you’re wicked stupid for trying it”).

SO…Mt. Washington!!
I think they said it all before we started:
“Same distance as Alpe d’Huez, but 1,000 feet higher in elevation”
For those that don’t compute hill climbs regularly, that means a much more wicked steep climb than those French hills.

I’m not sure if we planned it right or not, but we arrived the day before the climb on Friday and took a short ride through the rolling roads of The Lakes Region of New Hampshire, and returned home to dine on some excellent baked Ziti courtesy of Ron’s (Baldy-Locks) in-laws, who’s house we stayed at. We figured it would be better to get the climb out of the way before wearing ourselves out over the next week, and it seemed to work out pretty well.

The next morning, we awoke bright and early to make the record-breaking time of one hour to get to the base of Mt. Washington (courtesy of Ron’s father in-law Richard and his chipped pickup truck). Arriving with almost three hours before the start gave us plenty of time to take in the beautiful weather which was a balmy 56˚ and sprinkling. With Mt. Washington being known for ‘the worst recorded weather in the world’ and the highest recorded wind speed of over 250 mph, we were skeptical of the conditions we would encounter on our climb to the heavens. As the time got closer to the start cannon going off, the weather appeared to be clearing toward the top elevations. But still, the weather has been known to change drastically (wicked fast) within a few minutes, so we were still a little hesitant to take off our under shirts, arm warmers, vests, leg warmers, etc. Eventually we did, and I think between the three of us, we shed about 30 lbs.

After the final pee and poop breaks before the start, we sat in our respective start groups with Ron and James in the second group, 5 minutes behind the elite group and Vern 10 minutes behind us in the fourth group. Watching Phil Gaimmon take off and sprint to the front of his group was INSANE! I can’t imagine holding that pace for the duration. I was still hoping to hold my projected 5 mph pace (seriously).
As for the climb, it’s hard to explain. I’m sitting here typing, trying to find the words. Imagine Sugarloaf not leveling off at the top, and extending almost 8 more miles with only about three sections of flat (around 15% grade) road extending about 25 feet each. It’s a little harder than that. Luckily, the weather was probably the warmest and sunniest in the history of the climb.

“How did we do?”, you may ask yourself.
“Did any of us walk?”, you may be hinting at.

Well, Mr. Palsgrove finished in 01:20:34 – 30th in his age-group
Mr. Penrod finished in 01:30:30 (right in line with his projected goal of 1.5 hours) – 51st in his age-group
Ms. Veronica ‘Bronzey’ Geist finished in a very respectable 01:34:23 – 18th out of ALL women, and 3rd in her age-group!!

OK, enough about the ride, now I can talk about MY GIRL!!!
THIRD PLACE BABY!!!
What a ride!!

I think we were all sitting around at the awards ceremony after filling our bellies with the complimentary homemade turkey dinner (with all the fixin’s and all homemade) just waiting for the ice cream to come when they announced Vern’s age group finishers. We all just paused for a second, not thinking any of us had done anything really spectacular by finishing this wicked pissa of a climb. “Did they just say Veronica Geist?”. We all looked at each other in amazement….then let out a huge cheer for our Cycle-Logic, Florida flat-lander, climber!!! What a ride. And to think, she had been asking to leave for the past 30 minutes.

The conversation immediately turned to how we could improve her time for next year. Gears, training, wheels, new bike (of course, a new bike was her first thought). After that day, I think Vern had a little more torque to her cadence during our rides through the rolling hills of New Hampshire. I found myself lagging behind while Vern would stick to Ron’s wheel on even the fastest climbs over the next week. I, of course used the excuse of looking for Moose and Bear as we passed the scattered lakes and ponds, but the truth is, I just couldn’t stick to Bronzey’s wheel.

That girls is WICKED FAST!!

From behind the windshield of her car, Rachel Hallum spotted a spandex clad Roger Montes pedaling his bike. The year was 2005 and she knew then that the two of them would "ride" together one day. Rachel approached Roger and invited him on a bike ride and the rest, as they say, is history.

Although Roger has proven to be the better sprinter of the two, Rachel ascends mountains like an angel ascending towards the heavens...unfortunately for Rachel, they are in Florida and she rarely gets the opportunity to spank Roger (on the bike at least).

This relationship has now come full circle and the two have decided to take this union to the next level with...wait for it...wait for it...

AN ENGAGEMENT!!! That's right, young love has blossomed into a fully matured love. The wedding isn't planned until late 2009, so we all have plenty of time to save our pennies for that tandem bike we're gunna get them.

Felicitaciones from the Cycle Logic family!

Dana and I returned Sunday a.m. from a Team goodwill tour of the French Alpes. Highlighted climbs include The Telegraph, Galibier and Alpe d' Huez.

While our group consisted of mostly fit club riders we did have an incredible 74 year old woman from Miami who has been racing all her life. Her name is Joan Paul and she knows more about domestic and international racing than anybody I've met.

Dana and I were the only group members that race ( except for a mtn. biker from Latvia) so we ended up off the front on most rides, particularly the classic climbs. The roads were incredibly beautiful and challenging but I know most of you motorheads are more interested in the statistics - so here they are:
(Disclaimer: We rode these climbs sight unseen for the first time after several hours of cycling to get to them so we are SURE we could have done better- yada, yada, yada - coulda, woulda, shoulda.)

The Telegraph - 12 k long - average grade 7.3 up to 9.8.
Time K-Dogg 55 minutes. Dana 65 minutes.

The Galibier - 18 k long - average grade 6.9 up to 10.5
This thing kicked our azs because of wind gusts of 40 mph.
Time K-Dogg 1.5 hours. Dana 2.0 hours.

Alpe d' Huez - 14 k long (plus or minus depending who you believe) Average grade 7.9 up to 10.5.
Time K-Dogg 58 minutes. Dana 68 minutes.
Pantani's time 37 minutes. Dude.
Side note: Dana's goal was to beat Sheryl Crow's time of 1hour 37 minutes. All the women in our group beat her except for Joan. Sheryl was no althlete it turns out.



Kerry
**click on images to view larger

G'day trendsetters,

Tal and I are officially the first CL'ers to climb to over 14,000 feet. With that said, Mr Duggan did the Mount Evans race last year although he wasn't a CL member at the time. Kerry's time also eclipsed ours... by a bit ;)

If you're ever out in Colorado, this is a must do ride. Elevation above 10,000 - 14,000 feet makes breathing difficult and speaking for myself, dizzy in the noggin. However, the suffering was all worth it for the photo :) and the hour long descent.

Tal and I were both a little under-dressed and froze our arses off but made it down
unscathed. Gloves are recommended above 11,000 feet - I ignored Kerry's advice :(

Ta ta from Vail, CO.

Jayson

Labels: video

Leading at the break...
Making it all the way to the "Seventh Inning Stretch" of the Florida racing season, Cycle Logic team member Justin Pfaff, is currently leading the Florida Points Series for his age group.

Justin's eleven 1st place finishes have helped towards achieving his goal of winning the FPS at the end of the season. As a bonus, Justin's knack for winning races has also helped with his lead in the Florida Cup as well.

The awards for the Florida Points Series and the Florida Cup will be given out on September 20th at the Season Finale FPS Party following the Pinellas Park Circuit Race. The FPS party is also where Justin will officially receive his State Champion jerseys for his wins at the State Road Race and the State Criterium earlier this season.

Stronger than ever and armed with his new SRAM Red component gruppo (that he received for his 12th birthday in May), Justin hopes to continue his run at the title when FPS racing resumes this August in Jacksonville.

Already able to hold onto group rides with much older, faster and more experienced racers, it won't be long before this young gun is riding everyone off his wheel. Cycle Logic is sure to maintain a presence at the top of the podium for years to come thanks to it's youngest teammate, Justin Pfaff.

Stay tuned...