At the Saturday race in Monson, MA, EXPO contested the Cat 4 and Masters 35+ races.  Lance Jones won the Cat 4 race, with David Dubos rounding out the podium with a 3rd place finish.  Joe Tindal finished strongly in the top 10 with his 10th place finish.  The Masters 35+ field is always especially tough.  Cliff Kenyon and Dave Hildebrand raced the 35s with Cliff making it into the top 10 with his 7th place finish.  Dave was knocking on the door with his 12th place.

EXPO contested the same races on Sunday in Palmer, MA, and added the Masters 45+ race to the menu.  Continuing his impressive weekend, Lance got on the podium again in the Cat 4 race with his 3rd place finish.  Joe got another ’cross race under his belt, coming in 23rd.  Seeking to do even better the second day running (and jumping and riding), Cliff got onto the podium in the 35+ race with his 3rd place finish.  Dave was also mixing it up with the 35s, coming in 16th place.  Finally, Jon Tarbox, showing the young’uns/young guns that age is just another barrier to jump over, came in the top 5 in the Masters 45+ race, finishing 5th.

But ‘cross racing is at least as much about the relationships as the results.  Not only is it great to be out in the beautiful fall weather with your friends and teammates (though this weekend felt more like the middle of July than the last weekend of August), but it can be a family affair as well.  Maybe he knew he was going to be on the podium two days in a row, or maybe it was just a lucky coincidence, but Lance brought his family out to the races – and his son Zander was right out there racing with dad both days!

All in all a great weekend showcasing what the EXPO Wheelmen are all about.

Cool temps, steady rain and the first cyclocross race of the season.  Do I need to say more?  I guess so.  Blunt Park in Springfield Ma. has been the first cross race of the season for the past few years.  The Cyclonauts do a nice job putting together a fun and challenging course in a tight area.

Joe T. and Lance were up first in the cat. 4 race.  Who knew the wet pavement would be SO slippery?  Not Lance until he went down while jamming his brakes hard to make the 180 degree turn in to a single track.  Joe made it through unscathed and Lance picked himself up and quickly got going again after falling to about 30th position.  By the end of the race Joe had finished somewhere around 20th and Lanced pulled himself back up to 9th.

Joe T

My race, the 45+ men, was next.  Everybody cleared the start and made it  through the first trail section.  The second section of pavement took out two guys in front of me, on a straight no less.  I rode in 5th spot for all but the last 2 laps when the two guys who had been riding my wheel got around me in a tricky running section and got a gap.  I managed to close the gap, but couldn’t come around them and finished 7th.

Jon T

Cliff and Dave were up next in the 35+ race, which is typically a very hotly contested race, yesterday being no exception.  I missed most of the race as I was giving my bike a quick wash and lube.  When I got to the race, Cliff and Dave were trading spots for 3rd and 4th, each with a healthy drool going on.  Good stuff in a cross race! I didn’t notice the blood on Cliff’s knee until a friend pointed it out.  Apparently Cliff didn’t get the memo re: slippery pavement, or he chose to ignore it.  Either way, he apparently did a full on belly slide at the end of the starting pavement.  In the last lap Dave took advantage of some lapped riders to put some time into Cliff.  Dave rolled in 3rd with Cliff in 4th.

Cliff and Dave

For me, this is the cycling season that makes me happiest.  There is such a sense of community and comradery.  If you’ve never raced one, you should.  It’s a blast and could even make you a better rider.

EXPO/Superior Energy got on the podium this past Sunday at the Blount Fine Foods Criterium in Fall River, MA.  Teammates Chris and Aki lined up for the Cat 3 race that went off at 1pm.  Unlike the previous two years of stifling heat, the conditions were just about perfect.  The racing was still hot though, with a number of well-known Cat 3/Masters racers in the field.  After a race full of attacks, counterattacks, and break attempts – and rare back-to-back-to-back primes (3 prime laps in a row!) – the field was still together at the bell lap.  Aki provided his wealth of technical and strategic savvy, and Chris – hungry for a chance at the field sprint – saved his matches for a big fire at the end.

The final corner is a LONG way from the finish, and into a headwind, but Chris thought he was in a good position, even being 10 or so guys back.  Waiting as long as he could, and seeing guys at the front beginning to launch, he pulled out on the left side and sprinted for the line.  One guy was clear off the front, but as the line came up, Chris heard a guy coming around him.  Digging deeper, he and the other guy threw their bikes at the line.  The officials said it was too close to call and had to review the video.

Chris got nipped out of 2nd by inches – a true photo finish.  But still good enough to get our jersey on the podium and some exposure for our sponsors!

For Chris’ perspective on the race along with additional details and photos, click here.  For Aki’s view (he always seem to see and notice more), click here.

Team Expo lined up five Cat 4s together (Dave J, Dennis D, Joe T, Mike M, and Tom H) in the deep field of almost 100 riders at the race on August 8th, 2010.  Even though they started together, it didn’t take long before each of them were separated and off racing on their own.  The hills and tough competition, combined with varying degrees of fatigue and differing levels of fitness made for five very different Expo experiences.

Dave J’s mental fitness was clearly in excess of his physical fitness as he toed the starting line on Sunday morning.   A couple of days of riding immediately prior to the Tokeneke event clearly sapped his energy and he reluctantly retired at the start of the second lap.  He ended up driving away armed with a big lesson learned, and determined not to repeat the same mistakes.

Dennis D has perhaps raced one too many races over the last few weeks as he suffered and suffered pushing the pace over the first lap.  He changed tactics on the 2nd lap though and managed to hitch his wagon at the back of the lead group and pretty much let them pull him to the last hill, leaving him in 27th place and a minute forty off of first.  For more details on Dennis D’s trials and tribulations, read here.

Tom H tested his mettle in his first ever Cat 4 race.  The field challenged him in ways he hadn’t experienced previously with the Cat 5s.  The pace was much faster on the descents, forcing Tom to hold his brakes with a white knuckle grip.  The field attacked the hills harder as well, but Tom managed to stay close enough to the field such that he could close the gap with a group of chasers on the few occasions he was dropped.  Even the officials seemed more challenging – one official barked some harsh words (though done clearly as a demonstration of “tough love”) to motivate his group of chasers to close the gap.  Fortunately, Tom responded to all of the challenges, and ultimately bombed the final decent placing himself in the upper half of the field prior to the start of the final climb (reaching his race goal).  He climbed his way to 33rd for a good finishing result.

Mike M started the day still smarting from a flat tire and subsequent DNF two weeks ago at the Tour of the Hilltowns, so his goals for the day were more focused on finishing – ride a strong pace and finish with a pack.  While Mike lost contact with the lead group on the day’s first large climb, he got into a groove with two different groups throughout the course’s two laps.  Due in part to the “share the pain” approach Mike and his chase groups employed, he ended up finishing strong and feeling that it was a fun race and a good course.

Joe T had registered for the Tokeneke Road Race with even more modest goals than Mike – taking a big step in his physical recovery and finishing his first road race of 2010.  Well to make a long story short (the long story can be found here), Joe finished the very well organized race feeling as though it was the perfect day for him and inspired him to already look forward to racing it again next year.

As Saturday morning arrived and with the forecast calling for sunny skies and temperatures in the low 80s there was little debate as to what to do, time to race the mountain bike!  It’s been several months (May 23^rd to be exact) since the last time I threw a leg over the mountain bike in competition.  I arrived at the venue around 10:30 for an 11:20 start and proceeded to see a few friendly faces upon registering for the event.  I did my usual prerace preparation which consists of asking a few people who actually pre-rode the course what to expect.  Since I was actually early to a race, by my standards at least, I set out to find Jon Tarbox who was also racing the Cat 1 race and see if he had any additional information I could use.  He was just heading out for a preride and warm up but let me know that I could ride the beginning of the course and come back the dirt road.  With 20 minutes until the start of my race I set out to see the first part of the course.  To my surprise the first mile or so was tight singletrack with loads of corners and a decent amount of rocky terrain.  Once seeing this I started to get excited as I knew that the race would reward more than just fitness which is generally a good thing for me!

Based upon my limited preride I decided that if possible I wanted to get the holeshot and try to lead for the first part of the race until the course opened up on a dirt road after a mile or two.  My plan was executed perfectly and I was able to get a reasonable gap on the first section of singletrack.  From there I backed off as I knew it was going to be a long tough race.  I was passed by 2 guys about half way through the first lap on the one section that had a sustained climb.  I was already at this point working on how to save energy as the race was on the longer side, 24 miles for how demanding the course was.  The back third of the course had lots of flow with many corners and a few tough rock gardens.  It was on this section I was able to pass back for second and get close to the first place guy.  As we were just approaching the finish line I saw the leader pull over and start to fix a rear flat, perfect, guess I’m going to lead the first lap!  Around halfway through the next lap I was passed again on the longer sustained climb section and was not able to recover the gap on the back section.  In the end I finished second a few minutes from the win but also five minutes up on 3^rd place.

All in all it was a great event and I will sure to be back next year but this time I’ll be slightly more prepared and looking for a win!

Hodges Village Dam MTB Races

Recent Expo addition Jim Honda took on a competitive field in the Cat 1 Men’s 19-29 group at Hodges Village Dam as part of the Root 66 mountain bike race series.  A fair amount of dust to line the lungs didn’t detract from overall excellent conditions, and the hard packed motocross-esque course was perfect fodder for Jim’s new Trek Top Fuel machine.  After challenging for a podium spot for much of the race, Jim suffered debilitating cramps which saw 6 riders pass by on the last lap.  The legs recovered enough to bring it home to the finish line for a 9th place result.  Congrats to Jim on his top 10 finish!

Tour of the Catskills Stage Race

All eyes in New York seemed glued to the exploits of Floyd Landis this weekend, including Dennis D’s wife whose only race photos from the two road races were of Floyd and the rest of the Pro field.

Floyd Landis & the Pro Field

Back in CT though, team Expo’s attention was focused on its sole representative in the three day stage race.  Dennis D took on the tough hills (including the infamous Devil’s Kitchen) and the even tougher Cat 4 competition on the beautiful roads at the extremely well run event.  In short, the hills and competition proved to be just a tad tougher than Dennis D as he just barely cracked the top 20 overall in the final general classification.  Check out these links for more details on the prologue, stage 1, and stage 2.

Stage 2's Finish Line

This year’s Greylock adventure included four Expo Wheelmen (Vickie Monahan, Todd Mozzer, Chuck Scott, & Dave Jacoboski)  A couple of teammates bowed out at the last moment, but none so gloriously as Mr. Jeff Buske.  (To “Buske”, now a verb, is defined as one who bags the ride days in advance based on the meteorological forecast, or drinking too much the prior evening…). Also joining our group for most of the ride were four members of the Thread City Cyclers (TCC) out of Willimantic. 

Showers had been predicted, which was enough to dissuade about half the normal riders to forego the experience.  A steady rain would accompany us for about the first 70 miles of the ride.

The first few miles of the ride were easy pedaling on a flat bike trail for the first 5 miles or so. Mount Greylock comes at about the 10-mile mark and climbs about 2300 vertical feet over 10 miles. While it is not a particularly steep climb, it is relentless, especially in the pouring rain.  With fresh legs still under us, we all spun quickly up the mountain.  Dave J tried to get away at the two thirds mark, but was aghast as a TCC rider snatched the yellow jersey from him with a couple of hundred yards to go.  At the summit, soaked like wet rats and shivering in a cold 50’s wind and rain, we all looked at each other and laughed at our interesting situation.  Before hypothermia fully set in, we headed down the north side of the mountain, which drops much more steeply for about 2500 vertical feet. Because of the wet road conditions, we had to hang onto our brakes the entire way down with speeds on the straightaways of no more than 20 mph and no more than 10 mph on the switchbacks. We all decided this is a climb/descent that would be better done on dry roads.

From North Adams we headed into the second climb of the day, a 5-mile 1000-footer up Route 2 to Whitcomb Summit, along the Mohawk trail. On a clear day there is a great view at the hairpin turn at the two-thirds mark, not that day however, we slogged on…

After a rest stop we were off on a long descent.  At the high point, there was a sign announcing that the Hoosac Railroad Tunnel passed under the road at a depth of 1040 feet. We proceeded to drop all of that height, ending up at the low point of the ride at the 50-mile mark. Todd and Chuck were so far off the front on the descent that the others needed binoculars to see them in the distance…  As soon as we finished going down we turned onto East Hawley Road, which climbs back over 1000 vertical feet over a 5-mile distance. We all agreed that this climb was tougher than Greylock itself due to its steeper grades and the fact that we’d already done two major climbs.

The event organizers had a nice lunch spread at the top of East Hawley Road and we re-energized ourselves with peanut butter and jelly bagels and pasta salad. Including pasta and fruit salad served in huge blue Tupperware containers (Yes the kind you store in the garage, basement or attic. Yum!)

After lunch the demeanor of the ride changed somewhat, with no more enormous climbs but lots (and lots) of smaller equally steep climbs.  The final rest stop was manned by a cute elderly couple and stocked with (among the much needed fluid and other nice selections) Hammer Huckleberry gel and cans of Coca Cola, and an assortment of chairs to sit down and relax in.  I think most of us tried the Huckleberry gel and claimed it to be quite tasty.  The couple graciously filled up all our water bottles. I think at that point if any of us sat down, we would have done so to wait for the SAG wagon!

The rain DID let up late in the ride, which made for decidedly more pleasant riding conditions. At about 90 miles we turned west on Route 9, and started down a hill that continued all the way back to the finish, a very pleasant (and relaxing) way to complete a ride that provided an arduous test for all of us. I’m thinking we’ll do this ride again next year, but without the rain.  One last note: based on their performance this day, Vickie and Todd are both ready for their upcoming Leadville 100 adventure, good luck!

Sponsor and teammate Aki S raced at New Britain July 11 (report here) and he, along with Chris A, raced at Naugatuck the following Sunday, July 18 (report here).

For those of you that don’t race but want to see what it’s like, be sure to check out Aki’s helmet cam videos.  His footage of the Keith Berger Cat 3 race is a study in team tactics and includes prominent displays of EXPO kit (not to mention bike handling skills).  Check it out here.

Finally, if you want to try out racing, you probably already know about the weekly crit series at Rentschler Field in East Hartford on Tuesday nights.  It’s a fun venue and will give you lots of practice in a safe environment.  There are two races – “B” and “A” – with the beginners through Cat4s racing first in the Bs.  But don’t let the laid-back atmosphere fool you – both races are hotly contested.  But EXPO is well-represented, especially among the Cat4s in the B race.

Teammates Aki and Chris do the “A” race and were able to surprise the Cat1s and 2s last Tuesday, July 20 with Aki leading out Chris for the win.  Read more about it here.

With July winding down and the Tour de France over, there are only a few races left – that is, until ‘cross season starts.

Those posts will have to wait, but only for a little while…

In the cycling world, a gran fondo is a massive group ride/race, which can attract riders numbering in the thousands, encompassing all ability levels.  This ride took the spirit of a gran fando and added some interesting changes and called it a Gran FUNDO!

The ride consisted of a 62 mile scenic route with minimal auto traffic and 20+ miles of dirt roads with some dirt roads being just slightly better than mountain biking double track.  The route included several long steep climbs strategically placed towards the middle of the ride which in turn resulted in some fun descending at the end.  Overall the ride was well supported with several rest stops including an ice cream truck rest stop at 35 miles.  For some reason Cliff was the only one out of the group which actually enjoyed ice cream at the rest stop!!

At the conclusion of the event all sat down for a pig roast where the ice cream truck made a second appearance.  A great day and event and one we’ll certainly attend in the future.