Nowak Cross Report: Jackson Park

And so it begins...

Yesterday was the first race in the ChiCrossCup series with a total of 12 races this year.

This was actually my 3rd 'cross race of the year as Ben Demong and I teamed up for the 2-Person Relay race and then I went down to Rantoul to do the Patriot CX last weekend.  Still working on my fitness level but its getting better each week.  For me personally it will be a long season of 'cross as I am looking to do Nationals and then Master Worlds in January (yep January!) so I'm working on getting fitter as the season goes on.

xXx Racing always hosts the kickoff race each year and in the 6 years of racing there I don't thing the course has ever been the same.  There are some similarities each year but they always throw in some different twists and turns.  This year they decided to explore the far west end of the park and I have got to say that the course they laid out in that section was very fun.  Lots of tight, fast turns with explosive sprinting out of them.  If you were willing to take chances you could catch and pass people in those areas.  In addition, the weather added a bit of drama as it was an off/on drizzle.  There would be sections where the grass was wet and then other where it was bone dry making it a challenge at times to figure out a line.  By the end of my second race though it was becoming a more uniform track with everything getting greasy slick.

I raced twice, the 40+ race which was the first of the day and then right after in the 30+.  Overall pretty happy with that race as I ended up 11th just missing a call up for the next race.  In the 30+ I got to the start line late and ended up starting in the very back.  It ended up being a good training race as I worked on passing people and racing in traffic.  Felt good for the first 4 laps and then the lights went out.  12 laps total done at race pace over the two races.

Overall ABD had a nice day.  Brian McVey on his HOT new tubies ended up 7th in the Cat 3, Ben Demong was 13th.  Walt Stoops in the new 60+ category was 6th, and Konrad Witt racing in only his 2nd cross race ever ended up taking 5th in the Jrs.  I talked to his Mom last night and she said he only fell 4 times on the FIRST lap!  Also saw Andy Walker, Jerry Meister and Waylon in the results.  Many more ABD'ers than in the past but I know there are many more of you out there!!!

Next race is in two weeks, Oct 2nd at Hopkins Park in DeKalb.  For us Western 'burbs, this is an easy drive down Rt. 38.

For those of you heading up to Madison next weekend for USGP, Good Luck!!

I'm not going to Madison next weekend.  Not sure if there will be any Bandit CX next weekend, but I'll pass anything along if/when I find out.  Worse case is that there will be a practice on Saturday.

Jim

Jeannie Report: Tour de Gaslight

Jeannie's Cookies: 21 Aug Tour de Gaslight

While this race report is well overdue, accounts of our US visit just wouldn’t be complete without a report on our last race, Tour de Gaslight. We’re back in New Zealand now, back to work—the main reason for the long delay in writing this report!—and nearly adjusted to the chilly spring temps (in contrast to the sultry heat of a Midwest summer). The venue for Tour de Gaslight was East Grand Rapids...

Meshberg Gateway Cup Report

Kristin Meshberg has poster her report from the Gateway Cup series over Labor Day…missing teeth and all.

ABD fielding Women's and Men's Elite Teams in 2011

The cat has been creeping out of the bag for a while, but it's time to make it official. In 2011 ABD will field both Elite Women and Men's teams. In continuing ABD's pro development tradition (15 pro alumni to date), this year’s teams are made up of riders that are eager to work together to earn results and help each other take the next step. Both teams will race the bigger Midwest races and travel to select NRC events as well as Nationals in Augusta, Georgia. The team is receiving support from Prairie Path Cycles, Serfas (tires and sunglasses), Voler clothing and PowerBar.

The 2011 rosters are:

Women
Stacy Appelwick - Naperville, IL Sarah Demerly - Ypsilanti, MI
Elena Dorr - Chicago, IL
Jeannie Kuhajek - New Zealand
Kristen Meshberg - Lyons, IL
Jessi Prinner - South Elgin, IL

Men
Ben Damhoff - Sterling, IL
Waylon Janowiak - Michigan City, IN
Ryan Freund - Lake in the Hills, IL
Bryan McVey - Naperville, IL
Bryce Mead - Rock Falls, IL
Danny Robertson - Rolling Meadows, IL
Hogan Sills - Champaign, IL

Stacy, Sarah, Elena and Kristen are kicking their season off locally over the next couple of weeks and will be joined by Jessi before she heads to Europe and China with the US National Team. Jess's schedule currently includes both the women's edition of Fleche Wallone and the Chongming World Cup. Jeannie is wrapping up a full season in New Zealand, where she recently wore the green jersey in the Tour of New Zealand, and will arrive stateside in the end of May to join the team at the Quad Cities weekend.

On the men's side, Waylon, Danny and Hogan are still in school so will join the team on a more permanent basis in the end of May. Meanwhile, Ben Damhoff is training this winter in New Mexico while he prepares for the Tour of Gila and will make his way home in May and will meet up with Bryan at the Joe Martin Stage Race along the way. Bryce is returning to ABD after three seasons with Jelly Belly and will share his experiences with the younger riders as they try to make the same jump he did. The team will also be joined on occasion by Dylan Lewis and Mike Ebert, who will also direct both teams.

All of the riders will be filing reports through the ABD Blog and below are their Twitter ID’s (for riders that have them) if anyone wants to keep up with them 140 characters at a time.

Bryan: @bryanmcvey
Danny: @bikerdanny
Elena: @elena_dorr
Hogan: @hogansills
Ryan: @ryanfreund
Sarah: @femdem
Waylon: @waylonjan

Appelwick Report - Indoor TT#2

Well, the weather outside was frightful, but inside the Winfield Middle School, it was so [de] lightful. Yes, in spite of a power outtage, the resourceful ABD club forged ahead with the 2nd indoor TT of the season. Thanks to all the volunteers who got the generators cranking to keep the computrainers going so we racers could continue to "race" nowhere fast in the dark!

Since we all choose to live in this part of the country and love this crazy sport, we're forced indoors during our "off-season" to keep some kind of form until the weather breaks. We mid-western racers mostly only use these events to push ourselves harder than we normally would if left to train alone in our basements. Being that I was in the last wave to go off today, I was able to use the motivation of trying to put in the best women's time to my benefit. There were many great results posted earlier on, the time to beat was by Kelly Whitley with a stellar time of 16:42 shortly before my wave. Seeing her result got my nerves going and it hurt really, really badly to better it by only a little more than 10 seconds. Jenn Howland was the third fastest woman of the day.

Although it was horribly painful, I'm greatful for everyone who makes these indoor events possible! I hope many of you had a great event today and felt satisfied in knowing you laid it all out there. Thanks to all the ABD volunteers who as always put on fun, well-organized events.

Stacy

Ryan Freund Wins Stage 1 of TOAD!

Originally published at www.VerizonCyclingTeam.com

Ryan Freund won the first stage of the Tour of America's Dairyland, winning out of a breakaway that was all but absorbed by the field in the final sprint. Freund jumped around Team Kenda powered by Geargrinder rider Chad Hartley for the win and former Pro criterium champion Raashan Bahati won the field sprint for third place.

Freund almost didn't make it to the race as he came straight from his job two hours away and was caught in traffic. He was the final rider to check-in before the officials closed registration.

When asked about how the final laps played out, Freund said, "I was feeling good and put in some hard pulls, but the whole time I was just thinking, 'How am I going to beat Chad.' He's a fast sprinter, but I knew that he was concerned with the overall standings and I think that lead him to do a little more work in the sprint. I'll be getting married next weekend so I was able to just focus on getting the win today."

Hartley joked, "Last year I went down to the ABD Cycle Club's Fall series and beat up on Ryan at his club's race, so I suppose it's only fair that he came up and won the race that Geargrinder sponsors."

See Photos from the Stage

Pair of Seconds. Will Nowak's C-U report

Will throws his bike to the line in a bid for the win in Urbana.

Republished from www.verizoncyclingteam.com

Tour de Champaign

This race started off quick, but we Verizon guys were chilling mostly in the pack just letting everyone chase each other down. I bridged to one threatening move that had all the big teams (Panther, RGF, Texas Roadhouse, Nuvo) but we came back. Soon thereafter, Chris Uberti (a familiar name in these race reports by now) attacked and I followed. We were quickly by my teammate Ryan Freund and riders from Geargrinder and Roadhouse. This move had all the right teams represented in it and after a short period of miscommunication we started working well together. There were some fast finishers in our group, especially after Jeremy Grimm of RGF bridged solo, but I had to be confident that Ryan and I would be strong enough to attack the group and get away.

Our gap grew and grew and I attacked for the crowd prime with 8 to go. I was quickly brought back but Ryan immediately threw down a counter-attack as the group sat up and he was gone. The three remaining riders tried to organize a chase and I did my best to disrupt it. After some strong attacks by Chris and John Grant (Roadhouse), Ryan still had his gap, and I knew he had it locked up. Uberti had been working hard and in the finish came around him for second. Mike Sherer won a blazing field sprint for 5th and it felt great to go 1-2-5 with the Verizon masters and our sponsors watching.

Urbana Grand Prix

This was an absolutely brutal day. 95 degree heat, a half-mile course and a 180º turn with 250 meters to go led to massive attrition in every field of the day, and ours was no different. Although 75 riders started on Saturday only 53 toed the line on Sunday. In our pre-race meeting we likened this race to a flat Snake Alley in that the race would only be at the front with gobs coming off the back, and I worked to stay in the top 10 pretty much the entire race. The pace and the heat took its toll, and in the end the 'peloton' was worn down to only 11 riders, of which we had three as Freund and Sherer both made it into the group. The pace and the weather were excruciatingly hot, and my attacks didn't really go anywhere. It become apparent that this race was going to end in a sprint (or as much of a sprint as you can have .5 mile course with 4 turns and a 180). In the last few laps I took to the front to ensure that no one snuck away from Sherer, but in the end I wasn't able to hook up with Mike for the sprint and had to go for the win myself. I made it through the final corner in 3rd or 4th wheel, but failed to come around everyone, with John Eisiner (RGF) beating me with a bike throw at the line. Third place Kirk Albers was only inches behind us.

Despite not doubling up on wins it was a great weekend of racing for Verizon u25 pb ABD and Mark Swartzendruber put on a pair of fantastic races. A huge thanks to him for a good weekend, and to all of our sponsors for their support.


Will

Prinner Photos from Spain

Jessi Prinner wrapped up her successful European campaign with a 2nd place in the road race stage of the Costa Brava Tour. At one point her and two other USA riders had a 6 minute gap on the field! Here's a few pics of her with her teammates and USA Cycling posted a great photo of the entire team. We're looking forward to Prinner's full report.

Josh Carter Wins Day Two at Elk Grove Village!

        Josh Carter exploded out of a chase group with 400 meters remaining to overtake two late breakaway riders and win the Sunday category 1/2 race at the Alexian Brothers Tour of Elk Grove. ABD teammate Jeff Schroetlin, who took second in Saturday’s race, set Carter up for the win and held on to finish in 7th place.

The Closing Laps:
        With 15 laps remaining in the race ABD rider John Meyers took off after a $100 prime, only to miss out by a wheel. His effort, however, forced a split of 15 riders off the front of the field. Small groups bridged across over the next few laps, including a group of four with Schroetlin and a duo with Carter. With 10 laps to go the lead group had swelled 27 riders total, including Schroetlin and Carter for ABD and Saturday winner Frank Travieso.

        With two laps remaining, six riders escape the lead group of 27. The move included Schroetlin, former ABD’er Rob White and former pro Heath Blackgrove. Shortly thereafter, White and Blackgrove set out on their own for the finish, but at the same time Travieso bridged to the remaining four with Carter glued to his wheel. With less than a lap remaining the duo of White and Blackgrove had 75 yards on the chasing group of six and Carter told Schroetlin “keep them within 100 yards and I can catch them”. Schroetlin did as he was told and after they came out of the final turn with 400 yards remaining Carter gave it full gas, catching the duo with approximately 200 meters left and holding off Travieso by a bike length.

Schroetlin Takes Second at First Day of Elk Grove

ABD Elite team member Jeff Schroetlin took second place in the Men’s 1/2 category at the first day of the Alexian Brothers Tour of Elk Grove. Schroetlin was in a breakaway group of five riders that was held off a late charging field. The win went to former pro Frank Travieso.

Other notable ABD results include Mike Vail’s 8th place finish in the Category 4 race (apparently Mike gained some fitness during his recent ride across the United States!) and ABD Juniors Mike Wilkie and Konrad Witt both finished 11th in their respective Senior 5 heats.

Prinner Takes National TT Title!

The official results are in and ABD's own Jessi Prinner won today's
Women 17-18 National Time Trial Championship! She posted a 40:43 over
the 24km course with a winning margin of 55 seconds over second place.

CONGRATULATIONS, JESSI!

This is ABD's second USA Cycling National title this year after Tom
Weil's victory in the road race at Masters Nationals in June.

ABD Mid-Season Results Update

2009 is shaping up as a memorable season for ABD as team stalwarts MJ Redlich, Konrad Witt, Jessi Prinner, Marilyn Powell, Jim Flechsig, Gary Rulo, Bill Kallas, Rob Jungels, Josh Carter & Jeff Schroetlin continue to stack up the results, but it’s also been a year for some new faces like Adam Leibman, Jared Seivert, Dan Madsen, Curtis Bice and Ryan Freund all consistently placing this season.

We also need to give one more big shout out to ABD “rookie” Tom Weil for bringing home the USAC National Championship in the Men’s 65-69 age group.

Following are some more ABD highlights from the last month. Keep up the good work team!

International Cycling Classic - 7/0 - 7/26
Despite stiff competition, the ICC (aka “Superweek”), is still proving to be one of the country’s top series with a stacked international field!
Adam Leibman finished 3rd @ Evanston and 2nd @ Bensenville in the Men’s 4/5
Jared Seivert finished 9th @ Elgin in the Men’s 4/5
Josh Carter took the win in Blue Island, 9th @ Elgin, 9th @ Richton Park, 6th @ Bensenville and another 6th @ Shorewood. He’s still sitting 9th overall
Ryan Freund finished 3rd @ Arlington Heights and made the winning break at Evanston only to dig a little too deep.
Other ABD’ers that have been duking it out at the Superweek races include Paul Zelewsky, Ben DeMong, Sue Semaszczuk

Tour De Champaign - 7/11 & 7/12
Jeff Schroetlin finished 3rd on Saturday and took the win on Sunday!
Marilyn Powell finished 4th in the Women’s Cat 1-3 on Saturday
Sue Semaszczuk took 5th in the Women’s 3/4 on Sunday

ABR Illinois State Championship - 7/5
Jeff Schroetlin won the Men’s 1/2 and 30+ state titles
Jessi Prinner won the Women’s Open
Kim Gialdini won the Women’s Cat 4
Marilyn Powell won the Women’s 50+ title
Michael Wilkie is the state champion in the Men’s 17-18
Pat Murphy won the Men’s 75+
John Dunne finished 3rd in the Category 5/Beginner
Bill Kallas was 2nd in the Men’s 60+
Fred Yoder finished 2nd in the Men’s 65+
Konrad Witt and MJ Redlich finished 3rd & 4th, respectively in the Men’s 13-15
James Sneddon finished 3rd in the Men’s Category 3 race

Proctor Cycling Classic - USAC Illinois State Championship - 6/28
Jeff Schroetlin tooks the Men 1/2 title with teammate Carter finishing in 4th
The Double/Double Punch!! Konrad Witt & Joshua Crane finished 1-2 in Junior Men 10-14 age category with Dani Witt & Kayle Crane repeating the feat in the Women’s 10-14
Marilyn Powell is the 2009 Women’s 45+ Champ!

Team Apache 20k TT - 6/27
Dan Madsen smoked the Mens’ 55+ category for the win
Curtis Bice finished 2nd in the Men’s 3
Zelewsky was 5th in the Men’s 4
MJ Redlich finished 2nd in the Junior Men
Rob Jungels finished 2nd in the Men’s 30+

2009 Overall Series Results Standings as of 7/22/09

R.O.T.Y. Standings
Rob Jungels sits in 2nd in Men’s 1/2 & Men’s 30+. Teammate Rich Mstowski is in 6th in the 30+ category
Jessi Prinner is 3rd & Semaszczuk in 5th in the Women 1/2
James Sneddon is 3rd & Curtis Bice in 5th in Men’s 3
Jim Flechsig leads Men’s Cat 4 with Zelewsky in 10th
Gina Kenny sits 3rd in the Women’s 4 with Kim Gialdini in 6th.
MJ Redlich, Konrad Witt and Mike Wilkie sit 1st, 3rd & 5th in the Junior Men’s standings
Gary Rulo in 2nd in the Men’s 50+ & Bob Marshall is in 10th
Marilyn Powell leads the Women 50+
Dan Madsen is in 2nd in the Men’s 55+
Bill Kallas leads the Men 60+

MATTS Standings
Jungels in 2nd Overall in Men’s 1/2
Prinner in 3rd in the Women Open
Curtis Bice in 4th & James Sneddon in 5th in the Men’s Category 3
Flechsig leads the Men’s 4 field w/ teammate Zelewsky in 5th.
Kim Gialdini sits 3rd overall in the Women’s 4
MJ Redlich in 2nd, Konrad in 3rd & Wilkie in 5th in the Junior Men
Jungels 4th & Mstowski 5th in the Men’s 30+
Rulo in 5th & Marshall in 8th in the Masters 50+
Dan Madsen leads the overall in the Men’s 55+
Tom Egan still sits in 3rd and Kallas in 5th in the Men’s 60+

TOI/W Standings
Josh Carter in 2nd and Jungles in 6th in the Men 1/2/3
Semaszczuk in 3rd in the Women Open
Sneddon in 6th in the Men’s 3
Mike Vail in 3rd in the Men’s 4 with teammate Leibman in 8th
Gina Kenny is in 2nd in the Women’s 4
Konrad Witt is 2nd overall in the Junior Men with Mike Wilkie in 7th
Jungels sits in 5th in the Men’s 30+
Gary Rulo is in 3rd in the Men’s 50+ category
Marilyn Powell leads the Women’s 50+
Dan Madsen is in 7th in the Men’s 55-59
Bill Kallas leads the Men’s 60+ with Tom Weil in 3rd.

Special Note: ABD Alumni Reid Mumford & Bryce Mead showed up to the Wolfgang Freitag Two-Person TT to absolutely smoke the course with a time of 1:03:23.04!

Remember, you can keep up with latest ABD news updates by following ABD on Twitter here.

Daily Herald Story on Jessi Prinner

The local papers are picking up Jessi’s great story!

South Elgin high schooler taking her bike overseas

Jessi Prinner Makes the Junior World Championship Team!

Hello Team,

As most of you know, last May I travelled to Nashville, TN, to compete in the Junior World Championship Trials in an attempt to make the Junior National Team for the 2009 World Championships.  Even though I came close, I did not manage to win either the TT or the road race to earn an automatic qualification, so I had to wait until July to hear who would get to fill the final spot on the USA Team Roster. 

It's been a long, hard journey for the past five years I have been racing, but it wouldn't have been made possible without the help of such a supportive team.  From the endless tips to loaned equiptment (Rob Jungles), I've never felt unprepared for any National event (or local for that matter). ABD has never let me down and I have made just too many friends to want to go anywhere else.  With that said I'm happy to announce two days ago I was informed that I had made the 2009 Junior National Team, and willl leave for Moscow, Russia on August 2nd.  The time trial will be held on the 7th and the road race on the 9th. 

As I was told by the Junior Endurance Manager, Ben Sharp, it's important to keep in mind that making the World's team isn't the final goal, but instead to always strive to reach higher levels and represent the US well in international competition. 
And represent ABD, of course!
 
Thanks,
Jessi

Tom Weil becomes ABD's first USAC Masters National Champion!

The early report from the USA Cycling Masters National Championship in
Louisville is that ABD "rookie" Tom Weil bested his breakaway
companions in the Men 65-69 age category to become ABD's first ever
USAC Masters National Champion. Congratulations, Tom!

Update: Tom is ABD's first USAC Masters National Champ. ABD's first ever national champion was Junior Woman Jackie Kurth from Florida at the 2006 Junior National championships.

Report from the Field: Leibman takes ABD's first win at T.O.A.D.

Jenny Cerwin phoned in a report this afternoon from Milwaukee's Downer Avenue that Adam Leibman won today's 4/5 race! It's ABD's first victory at the inaugural Tour of America's Dairyland. 

Adam and fell ABD "rookie" Jared Seivert have both had a strong month in the Men's 4/5 category with solid results at the Winfield Criterium and Fox River Grove Criterium. Adam also finished second at the RFK Criterium in Washington D.C. over the Memorial Day Weekend.

Freund Report: Spring Training with Ebert

First I suppose an introduction would be appropriate.  I am Ryan Freund and I suppose the newest member of the ABD elite team.  I have been racing for quite a while now... probably about 10 months, so almost a year... OK so maybe not that long.  I played football at Elmhurst College and after 4 years of that I decided it was time to give cycling a try, so I bought a bike in January however I was not able to ride it until may.  My first race was actually the winfield crit and to this day was probably one of the hardest races I ever have done.  I lead the entire race only to get caught.  Which led to a break of 2 guys which I then joined immedietly then won the sprint.  I went on to get a little smarter about how to race and had a fairly decent year last year and hope to have a great year on ABD.  

Well I figured the best way to make up for lost time would be to spend a week training with none other than Thee Mike Ebert.  So for my spring break I decided to fly out for a small training camp.  I figured since Ebert lived out where it was warm and he has actually climbed mountains before I would show up and he would be dragging me up and down those things.  However this was not the case.  My days have been filled with comments like - "you go ahead, I'll meet you at the top" or "hey easy man were on a downhill".  No I'm just kidding it has been great out here and all of this climbing is definitely a different type of monster.  Anyway here is what we've been up to.

Sunday  I flew in and when we got back to Ebert's I assembled the madone (the team bikes are great) and we went for an easy 1.5 hr spin.  I like the bike alot however I had some derailleur problems but I think that its taken care of now.

Monday - We rode for about 3.5 - 4 hrs about 65 miles.  Ebert let me loose on some 10 - 15 minute climbs and most of the day we kept at a moderate pass.  The ride was big rolling stuff with those 2 climbs back to back in the middle.  This was pretty much my first experience with climbing and suffering.  The problem I quickly came across is that I need to get used to a different suffering position.  No longer am I all over the front of the bike and over the handle bars.  Now I'm kinda pushed back and my chest is up and I'm using a lot more glute and hamstring.

Tuesday:  A 65 mile ride with a good amount of climbing and rolling.  Also one climb that started not so bad then kicked up a little and then all of a sudden a wall for about 3 minutes.  Must be about 12% grade maybe steeper.  Ebert let me loose at the bottom and I was going along pretty good.  In fact I kept up the pace cause it felt almost easy and then I got to the wall and it was all I had just get to the top.  There was no hiding on that climb.  I was at probably a 70 or 65 cadence and in the 39X26 cog.  I was worried I was going to fall off the bike or that my heart would explode.  However when I got to the top I had some time to recover (while waiting for Ebert) so I decided it would be a good idea to ride the steep section again.  It seemed like a good idea until about halfway up when I thought it was the worst idea ever.

Wednesday:  A slightly shorter day at just under 3 hours for total ride time however the first hour and a half was spent going uphill.  We had a pretty decent pace for most of the climb and talked about tactics and lead outs.  Kind of Ironic considering we were climbing the whole time.

Today will be a day off before the San Dimas Stage Race. 

Happy riding,

Ryan

Carter Race Report...Or How to Take Dead Last in a TT and Still Finish 2nd Overall

Horse Country TT, Denton Rhapsody Crit, and Jesuit Road Race

So it was another exciting weekend of bike racing for me and my family. My wife, Julie, took her college riders to Tunis Roubaix for the first collegiate racing of the season. I decided to stay close to home and went to the races near Denton,TX. At first I was going to race just the crit and RR because I am not that good at Time Trials. I was home alone for the weekend with no wife and kids and I got incredibly bored so I thought “what the heck, I have nothing else to do,” so off to the TT I went. Now for those of you who do not know me very well, I do not Time Trial at all. I do not own a TT bike, the closest thing I have is a pair of short clip-ons to put on my road bike. So I must have been REALLY bored to convince myself that this was a good idea. I am also one of those guys that coaches hate because I do not warm up for anything, just a little bit of a ride from the car to the line and I am ready to race. Just for the record that is not a good idea for Time Trials. Hindsight is always 20/20. I started out really good and after about 3k I thought I was catching my 30sec man. Well, it went all down hill from there. I quickly remembered why I do not do Time Trials. They hurt way too much and I do not have the desire to push myself that hard by myself. So needless to say I got dead last. It was expected though and it was worth laughing about so I had a lot of fun regardless.

Next up was the Rhapsody Crit. This was a cool little course. With wide open corners I figured that this was going to be a very fast course. The race was very aggressive from the start and I quickly found myself in a 9 man break. Just as we were getting ready to lap the pack, Brett Crosby (TX tough) attacked to be the first to lap up. This was a great move, if he could make it to the pack before anyone else from the break could, he had his team there to drive the field and make it hard for the rest of the break to catch up, if not impossible. Ryan Dewald (Batley-Harley Davidson) chased after him immediately. I recognized the potential danger that was happening and I went after them. It was by far the hardest effort I did all day, and the only thing that was going through my mind was “why did I do that Time Trial this morning, this is not good”. I finally made it to the pack and was able to rest only to find out by the time I made it to the front of the pack that Ryan had gone solo off the front. Now we still had something like 30 laps to go and after what I had just gone through to get to where I was, I was happy to cut my losses and take a chance that I was racing for second place, knowing that I had a good shot in the sprint. Long story short that is how it ended up, Ryan made it look easy and rode away from us and I won the sprint for second, and my man Jesse Moran finished third.

Finally was the Jesuit Road Race. This race was pretty straight forward, it was the last race of the weekend and I just really wanted to ride as hard as I could to get some good race miles in the legs. After the first few miles of just “chilled riding” it started to get aggressive. Team Velossimo was on the front trying to keep it all together until, their man who won the Time Trial, Vasanth Coorg, could get into the right move. After a few attempts at establishing a break, I finally was able to get away with 7 other riders including Vasanth, Ryan Dewald, Brett Crosby, and Colt Trant. It was a good move; the elastic broke from the field and we were gone. With 30 miles to go, it was a nice steady ride to the finish. With 3k to go I expected some of the guys were going to start attacking to try and get away, but that never happened and I thought “this is good for me, I can win this”. With 1 k to go we started playing cat and mouse with each other, no one wanting to pull and work. With 300 meters to go I started my sprint and was able to take the win with Ryan getting second and Vasanth coming in third.

This weekend was a lot of fun and it helped out a lot of high school junior racers. It was a lot of good race training and it was good to see some old friends. See you at the races.

~ Josh Carter

ABD Pro Development Team Weekend Race Report

The ABD Pro Development Team riders are spread out around the country right now prepping for their assault on the Midwest and they are showing a lot of promise for the season ahead.

Josh Carter has been racing for over a month now and already has two wins and a handful of podiums finishes under his belt. There's a great pic of him at the Texas Bicycle Racing Racing Assocation site winning the field sprint ahead of Steve Tilford and Chris Wherry and ALMOST catching Phil Wikoff, who’d been off on a breakaway. This past weekend Josh raced “La Primavera @ Vista Del Lago” and on Sunday had 14(!!!) Kelly Benefits/Medifast riders to contend with. Unsurprisingly, KBM put four riders in a break of six that stayed away, but their leadout for the field sprint was foiled by Carter, who beat their man Jake Keough to the line for 7th. Josh is currently leading the Texas Central Regional Cup.

This weekend also provided opportunities for ABD rookie Ryan Freund and team veteran Zach Watson to test out their early-season legs. Ryan started off with some Midwest collegiate racing and Zach raced a crit on the campus of my alma mater in Colorado Springs.

Ryan finished third in his road race on Saturday and second in the criterium on Sunday. He was actually away solo in the criterium but decided to wait for two riders coming across to him- not knowing that the duo contained none other than UW/ISCorp’s fast-man Steve Scholzen. Steve won the race, but Ryan’s solid results make him the early leader of the Midwest Cycling Conference Standings.

Zach went on the attack early in his criterium as well, powering a four-rider move that stayed away. Focusing on early-season fitness instead of tactics, Zach swapped pulls with Caleb Fairly of Garmin/Slipstream for most of the race while the other riders sat on and just sat on the front as Caleb stopped pulling with one to go. Caleb won the sprint but Zach had enough left in the tank to handily take second.

Carter Report: VOS, the Walburg Road Race & the Pace Bend Road Race

Here’s a quick recap of the races down here the past few weekends.  I will start with Valley of the Sun in Phoenix, AZ.  It was a 3 day stage race with a TT, RR, and Crit based on time.  Now, it is no seceret that I hate TT's, but I actually was ready to really try and do well at this one, full on areo set up.  5k into the 22k TT I managed to find the biggest nail on the rode that went clean through my wheel.  Two thoughts went through my head: 1st- I am so glad that I have a great excuse as to why I did not do well.  2nd- Oh crap I have to ride the next 17k on a flat wheel so I can start the next day, I hope somebody will be there to score me in a hour or so.  Lucky for me they had a sweeper to pick people up in my situation and they gave me 5 minutes slower than the slowest time of the day, so I could start the next day.  RR went well, the results show me as getting 2nd (and I still would have done well) but with 1k to go they neutralized our finish because of a crash at the finish line in the 3s race.  So it did not really count.  The Crit went well also, long story shot, a Rock Racing guy and Waste Management guy got off the front with 1 lap to go and I got 2nd in the field sprint for 4th.
 
This last weekend I went the suburbs of Austin, TX to the Walburg and Pace Bend RRs (two big TX races that everyone has been talking about).  Saturday was Walburg- it was a long hard day in the saddle.  We had cold, clouds, rain, sun, warm, and wind (a lot of wind).  It was so windy that for about 5 miles in the cross wind I was trying to control my deep carbon Bontrager wheels at an angle as if I where going through a corner (only I was going straight).  I could feel my bike sliding sideways on the wet road.  I missed the 3 man break.  In the last 10 miles a 4th guy got away and I won the sprint for 5th.  Sunday was Pace Bend, it was a very cool race.  A 6.2 mile fully enclosed wide road loop with rolling climbs and a lot of dudes (130+ starters)  I quickly figured out that this race was going to come to a field sprint, it was too easy to sit in and to many guys with fresh legs.  Now with that being said it made it very hard to position for the finish.  There was a corner 400 meters to the finish and it was all up hill (not exactly my cup of tea) but I was ready for the fight.  I got boxed in coming out of the corner and had to soft pedal to get an open lane with 200 meters to go.  I got boxed in again and soft pedaled to get the line.  By the time I hit the finish I had caught all but 1 guy, all I needed was 10 more meters, but that is bike racing.  I will take 2nd place anytime.  That is all the races I have to report for now!  I will be at it again this weekend at Lago Vista.  Wish me luck!
 
~Josh