Paul and Steve Contest 60+ Crit

On a perfect weather day with a fun technical course Paul and Steve were amped up to ride the National 60+ Criterium. The expected national players were all on the start list and from the gun they got down to serious business. With beautiful team work we were alternately covering moves off the front by the danger men. The pace was never really relaxed. By the mid-point of a 30km race there were about 8-12 guys still in it. Paul snuck off the front solo, bridged to a group being lapped and continued up the road. One other adventurous sole bridged to him - and boy was I liking that scenario. Eventually, after 3-4 laps, some of the guys got anxious and worked hard to close it down. Threading the needle while overtaking the lap riders was probably the most dangerous time of the race for me. The race was attack and counter attack continuously. Finally, the bell rang and about four guys seemed to be still in the race - it was not possible to make an assessment of what was happening behind.

Paul got delayed in the final lap by a crash on the back stretch - fortunately he did not get nicked and was able to come in clean finishing in the top ten. I gave it full gas after the final corner, should have attacked the last corner first - hind sight is truly wicked, and was out drag raced by Le Duc with Fuller coming in a close third. Of note, Wayne Watson of Colorado, came in 5th.

Brother and Sister Ride

After two years of planning, some practice racing and training, and the good will of Paketa and wheel sponsors (Dave, Terry, Ella, Jeanne), and help from Bill S., Paul, and Len, the brother and sister team (Steve Worley and Beth Graff) arrived in Bend OR for the National Championship mixed tandem competition. Beth started the day with an ITT then after a short rest was back at the starting line for round two. Seven teams entered, mostly couples, making us odd since we are from Washington and Colorado. No one knew what to think!

The race route began with a 7 mile climb, mostly big chain ring (56), but also some middle ring(44) efforts were needed. Wow, I thought the torture would never end. We were making progress relative to the teams in front of us, but when we turned for the return downhill run it was full gas - and really fun. The bike was a rocket, paketa = rocket in Russian, and we passed two teams on the decent. We were absolutely flying in the 56x11 - eyes watering and the wheels singing at 45-50 mph. The race was 2/3 done when we finally slowed for a turn into a golf community. This part was rolling and twisting terrain - not the best for a "big bike". All the roundabouts, punchy hills, and downhill turns were negotiated with caution - did not really care for a pine forest or sage brush adventure to liven thing up. We pushed absolutely as hard as we could to stop the clock at the end. As we cooled down we speculated we should be in the top 3. And we about fell over when our friends (Lee and Corlet) informed us we won by 9 seconds and 3rd place it turns out was 19 seconds behind that. What a deal - a brother and sister win the Nationals together!!

The biggest compliment came from second place team, who was chasing us the whole ride, and were the defending Champions (two ex-cateogory one riders) - when they said they "just could not close any distance anywhere" - that is sweet!

Rob Kelly Gets It Covered

Stage 6 of the US Pro Cycling Tour, Golden, Colo.

Rob Kelly interviewed by Training Peaks regarding his Lookout Mtn. Hill Climb record and power outage.

Team-member, Bekoff, 9 News Interview Re: Recent Bear Attacks

Colorado State 45+Criterium Championships

Fast Times in Fort Fun

The Masters State Criterium Championships were contested on Saturday under sunny skies in Fort Collins, on a fast, flat 8-corner downtown course at the courthouse. Joe Paulson and John Talley lined up in their Blue Vic's Espresso/Peerless kits, ready to ride on the defensive against several more well-represented teams.

The 50 minute race got underway at a moderate
pace, but things soon picked up as riders began to make forays off the front. JT inserted himself into one of the more promising moves, but it didn't really get established, nor did any of the other attempts JT and Joe went off with throughout the race. On the last few laps, all eyes turned to the big powerhouse Bob Dahl, who is well known and feared for his long and fast finishing kick. Sure enough, Bob took over the front on the last lap, and Joe won the battle for his rear wheel. Keeping the pace just high enough to discourage anyone from sticking the

ir nose out into the wind to come around him, Bob led the way into the final two corners, with Joe still firmly attached like his shadow. He then punched it down the final full block into the last corner, and was still accelerating all the way to the finish line. Joe simply had no answer for Bob's superior horsepower, and in his disappointment faded to 3rd by the line. Meanwhile, JT was advancing from behind, and came across right behind Joe in 4th.

Placing both riders in the top five against much stronger teams was a nice accomplishment, but not the state title the boys were hoping for. However, the top two riders didn't show for the much-

delayed awards presentation, so Joe got the podium ladies all to himself.

Team-member, Pettyjohn, Quoted in Denver Post / Daily Camera Article

Bannock, Still a Team Favorite

Len, Dennis, Bill, Mike, and Steve lined up to contest the long-running Bannock Street Criterium in Denver. It was before 8:00am, although early the riding conditions were perfect. Some of the bigs dogs had a plan, not the Vic's plan. From the gun it was high gear, big watts, and a take no prisoner attitude. Per normal, Mike was immediately chasing the two who were attempting to escape. Steve gave chase going into turn one and bridge mid-way down the back stretch - thus a group of four was formed. Two Vic's and two competitors - we know how to deal with that. In the group there was some chasing, but Bill pretty much shut that down by popping around on second wheel and gliding the corners. Time tick down and the break extended a huge lead. Mike was always game for applying pressure on the front, so the group was happy. The competitors threw in the towel with 3 laps remaining and Mike set steady tempo and was the lead man for the final lap. He gave a good kick going toward the final turn - assuring no surprises! This was a perfect set up for Steve to cut inside and accelerate uncontested to the finish. Even with loaded legs Mike got the 3rd place. The Bannock course remains a favor for teams with great riders and tactical savvy.

The final days at the T-town Track Nationals were event loaded. The 60+ men had Points Races on Saturday night and Team Pursuit Sunday morning. Mostly, it was a total success. The one bummer was Twitch got caught up in a crash with 7 laps to go in the 65+ Points Race. He got bang pretty hard, but bounced up without anything obviously broken, but was certainly out of the race. It appeared he was headed to some major hip and hand swelling. Wish him well.

Lars went one-on-one in the 65+ PR with a top rider from California. Post crash circumstances and a badly timed trap down (getting surrounded by other slow track riders and being unable to sprint) push the fastest man into a second place finish.

Steve, Paul, and Barry had a breakaway as plan A. With a short race, 30 laps, and no success with plan A the team made an impromptu shift to plan B - Steve sprints the field 6 times. Teamwork, especially on the setup laps (one before the sprint), enable Steve to win two sprints, take 2nd on two, and 3rd on one. This was enough for the GOLD medal. Barry ended in 4th and Paul 7th. This race was probably our best. The field was expecting the Vic's oriented pursuit team to go for breaks, but we quickly changed plans and beat them at the sprint game. How good is that??

Team Pursuit was our known entity, because we hold the 60+ National Record. Nevertheless, we did a maximum effort ride. It was excellent in all forms and fashion - perfectly matching kits, tight formation, crisp exchanges, and a fast time - 3:44 (only 1 second slower than the National Record). A very nice GOLD medal for Lars, Paul, Barry, and Steve.

A few pictures are attached here. Keep an eye out for a future posting that will direct you to a full set of photos for the event. We will try to round up everyone's and some professional photos we had taken. Over and out from the speed merchants.

Ever seen a minivan doing laps on the track? This is a good one. Marty Nothstein - track manager and ex-pro track rider - did high speed laps with the mini-van to help dry the surface after a rain storm. They take racing seriously at t-town.

What sort of fool tries an unplanned solo attack 35 miles out?

Guilty. While this result pales in comparison to the steady flow of inspiring results from our gentlemen in Trexlertown, I entered the Cat 3 (yes, I still need more upgrade points...) Salida State Championship Road Race yesterday and found myself amongst unfamiliar faces. Just over 5 miles per lap for 9 laps in the heat, 500ft of climbing per lap mostly on false flats with a few short steep pitches, a long downhill and a few technical bits.

After 2 laps, I moved several yards off the front through a turn hoping to get a few riders off with me, or at least help whittle down the large pack on tight roads. No takers, and shortly I’m 100 yards off the front contemplating 35 hot miles to the finish. Shoot! Maybe I should rethink this. Instead, I thought “what the hell”, put my head down, stepped on the pedals and figured I would give it a lap and see what the gap looked like (halfway hoping too small of a gap would give me an excuse to settle back into the pack and recover). With no organized chase initially, the gap opened and I realized I might be in for an hour and a half of hurt. Having been mentally and physically humbled by Mt Evans last weekend, I reasoned there was no way it could possibly hurt more than that. The laps slowly ticked down and, although I didn’t get time gaps until 3 to go, I got out of sight and started passing dropped riders and groups from other races, which I hoped might confuse a chase. Drilling the false flats, surviving the steep pitches, and recovering in a low tuck on the long descent I realized that amongst the few dozen muscles I’ve had cramp these past two weeks, one’s eyeballs can actually cramp when looking up too long from said low tuck – I hoped they wouldn’t stick that way as it would have been awkward to explain riding myself into a ditch due to that! I crossed the line a few laps later 2 minutes up on 2^nd and 3^rd place for the Cat 3 State Road Championship. A pretty good day! - Ken O.

By the way, I wasn’t there to see it, but congrats to Frank Z on the 45+ crit win on Saturday!

2011 Masters Track Nationals: 50+ Report

Why not race everything?!?

Joltin' Joe here with the 50+ report from Track Nationals. My apologies for the lack of interim reports, but I was busy doing every race I could find. Unless I lost track somewhere, I believe I ended up with a total of 10 starts:

Tuesday, 7/26- 500m TT: 10th;
Wednesday, 7/27- 2km TT: 6th (missed a medal by 0.2 seconds; didn't sleep much that night); Team Sprint (w/ Jet and Dave Meitel): 7th;
Thursday, 7/28- Points Race: 5th;
Friday, 7/29- Flying 200m: qualified 5th; Eighth Finals Sprint: won; Quarter Finals Sprint: lost; 4 up 5-8 Sprint Final: 6th;
Saturday, 7/30- Scratch Race: 4th;
Sunday, 7/31- 40+ Team Pursuit (w/ Jet, Rob, and honorary Vic Pat Laraby from Hammer): 4th

When I finally stopped moving, I had 3 medals, finished 4th in the Best All-around Rider Competition, Vic's Espresso/Peerless was a close 2nd in the Best All-around Team Standings, and I had tons of great memories of watching fine performances from all my teammates, including copious National Championship-winning rides. What a week!

Penn. Roads

The 60+ men took a day off the track and did a nice 90min ride through the country roads around Trexlertown, PA. To our good fortune the bike routes are well signed - we would have been lost for certain without them. Back to more serious race preparation tomorrow.

More photos from T-town

Second edition of photos from Paul. The warm up tent, Alex - the best mechanic is the world, Lars 2K podium.

2K Stars and Bars

The track equivalent of the "race of truth" is the individual pursuit - a rider against the clock. 2 and 3 km distance is the standard for masters cyclists - 50+ age competes at the 2km distance and the young boys ride longer. Lars cut the thick Pennsylvania air first posting a 2:38 that was at least 4 seconds faster than the next competitor - another gold medal and jersey - he needs to stop the collection soon, or his baggage will be overweight.

Steve was seeded in the 60+ second heat and had no knowledge how fast the best guys could go - so, what does one do? Go all in. The time was good at 2:30. Then the waiting game began as another 16 riders did their best. In the end, the time stood out as outstanding, 5 seconds faster than the next best man. Both Paul and Barry did fine rides finishing 6th and 5th, respectively.

MOST IMPORTANTLY throughout the day Neal was in pit with all the riders. Giving confidence talks, taking lap times, and riding his own race. Neal's father Jack was also on site and everyone had chance to meet a great guy. The point is, Vic's is a team that operates a notch above all others.

Races of hair; Bosch nipped at the line, Twitch sneaks into 4th

The 5km 65+ mens scratch race came down to a last lap gallop. Lars held his spot a little to long before surging for the line - nipped by inch - see photo. Twitch on the other hand maneuvered his way through traffic and squeaked out a fine 4th place, also in the photo. This team is picking up the bling.