First race in Oregon

Spring is in the air, but its February. This weekend I made my galiant return to racing after a great cross season. It's always weird to get used to the line at the porta-potties and their distinct smells.

The Banana Belt race series was cold and wet last year. However today was a different story. Mid 40 degree temps, low clouds, some sun breaks, dry pavement, and a still Hagg lake. I even saw my shadow. It was a really good day for the nice white Specialized kit.

The Pro 1/2 race went off just fine, as we set out on 5 laps of the 11 mile course. It's weird how quickly racing comes back. The reactions to he group, and attacking. It's all so automatic. The bigger teams set out to make every roller hard. Land Rover-Orbea always had someone up the road. I got in a few breaks, but nothing ever stuck. My legs felt the familiar burn as we crested each roller. My lungs were another story. I woke up with a little bit of a sore throat, and I think I'm catching something. Nevertheless I felt good.

On the final lap attacks came and went, as I tried to line myself up for the eventual sprint. But coming onto the dam some lady was in the middle of the road, and caused a pile up that I was stuck behind. I stayed mostly upright, but still had to unclip and deal with bikes in the way. I saw any hope of a good finish ride away with the rest of the group. So I ended riding back with an old friend on Land Rover to claim some spot at the back. Great. Perhaps next week a crash won't rain on my parade, instead it will just rain.

VOS and team BIKE!

Hey Everyone
I had such a good time with teammates at VOS. It was such a good learning experience racing with the older kids. Most of you know, I had mechanical difficulties during the race(dropped my chain), but rode 2 TT's 2 days in a row. One being a real TT and then the RR became a TT trying to catch the main group. I only finished 4-5 minutes behind the pack, me being the youngest kid(racing age 13) out there in that race (15-16). I can't even explain how many great times I had that weekend! It is going to be awesome riding with my teammates in the near future. Thank you for letting me go it was a BLAST!

My team bike is AWESOME. It is and will ever be the best bike I have ridden. The bike is great! Also the the new team kits are awesome, and look GREAT! I can't wait to race Snelling RR on the new bike and with the new Team kit
Thanks,
JACK MADDUX

Valley Of The Sun 15-16

In the beginning of the year the 15-16 team planned to race Valley of The Sun together. We had a strong team: Alistair Eeckman, Chris LaBerge, and I (Marcus Smith). Two weeks before the race the 13-14 team: Jack Maddux and Matt Valencia looked at the 13-14 profile and decided that a 44 mile RR was better for their fitness than a 9 mile RR. Now with 5 teammates we had a great chance to do well and practice teamwork.

Friday was a 14 mile TT. TTs have always been a challenge for me, but I felt great. I kept my mind focused and pedaled as fast as I could. Alistair also rode a great TT and I finished 3rd 10sec in front of Alistair's 4th out of 30 racers.Matt (14) finished 13th. His speed over 14 miles would have won the 13-14s 7 mile TT by over a minute. 13-14s better watch out at nationals.

Saturday was a 44 miles RR. On the GC 2nd to 5th place were each separated by about 10 seconds. I originally wrote the report and was too lengthy. In short: Alistair attacked on the climb and made everyone hurt, but was caught. Chris and Matt attacked on the last lap to keep it fast. They did a great job and scared the field. On the finial climb Alistair and I countered Matt's attack. We got away from the group and we started to work together. Alistair did some strong pulls, but Erik Volotzky (5th in GC) bridged up to us and caught us with 500m. He kept going and won. I got enough time to move to 2nd in the GC. Alistair held his 4th by 1 second to Erik.

Sunday was the crit. The officials said we were racing separately from the 17-18s, but with 30sec before our race they put us in the same field. Alistair tried to attack and get time in the GC, but the field was too strong. The top 15-16s covered all the attacks and it came down to a sprint. Going into the final 2 turns Erik attacked and I tried to go with him. I couldn't hold my sprint for 750m. I ran out of gas, tried to hold off Alex Darville (3rd in GC). I finished 3rd and Alistair 6th.

I ended up 2nd and Alistair 4th.

I owe the best team at Valley of the Sun a big thanks for all the work they did.

Valley of the Sun Stage Race

Valley of the Sun was a great experience for me. I have never done a big stage race before and I learned how to work and communicate with my teammates so that we could dominate.
The race started off with a 14.2 mile time trial in Buckeye, Arizona (which happens to be in the middle of nowhere). The weather was perfect for a TT because there was not a lot of wind. Team Specialized dominated the entire TT podium with Eamon Lucas 1st, Andrew Lanier Jr. 2nd, and I 3rd. Daniel Farinha was only 6 seconds behind me so I knew that he would be aggressive in the road race and try to take 3rd place from me.
The next day we headed to Casa Grande, Arizona for the road race. The course was a 16.4 mile loop in the middle of the desert with a small climb. We raced 3.5 laps (about 57 miles) in the afternoon. There were many attacks during the road race. James Laberge put in an effective attack and stayed off the front for a while but eventually got caught. About 32 miles into the race, Andrew told me to attack so I went off the front and bridged up to a rider from SC Velo. I worked with him for a couple minutes and then he dropped off and went back to the peloton. I ended up riding 24 miles solo all the way to the finish! I would have never been able to accomplish this without the help of my great teammates. The time bonus for 1st place also helped to reinforce my spot on the podium for overall classification.
On Sunday, we went to Phoenix for the criterium. Our race was 30 minutes and the plan was to lead out James Laberge. With 5 laps to go in the crit, Specialized was all at the front keeping the pace high. With 1.25 laps to go, I started the leadout. Going through the chicane, I almost collided with a lapped rider who swerved right in front of me. I pulled off and Andrew lifted the speed up. The sprint began after the final corner and Eamon crossed the line first and James finished third!
Team Specialized dominated the whole podium for the overall classification in the 17-18 category and also won every stage. I’m looking forward to next stage race with the team!

-Torey Philipp

Cherry Pie

This years Cherry started off the same as the previous two years have done. Cold, but sunny and dry. In case you do not know the course, it is a "p" shaped with a slight uphill finish. I did my usual routine of getting ready/warming up and headed for the start line about 10 minutes before the race was set to start. As the last few times, roll out took a while, in fact we started the race about 8 minutes late. That resulted in the race being 21 minutes long (or should I say 21 minutes short) From the gun there were a few attacks. Cody Tapley (DBC) tried going off a few times, but no success. About halfway into the race, Peter Taylor and Andrew Lanier were off the front. They were obviously working great together and took a 1-2. Knowing we could still fill one of the podium spots with a big "S", we now all looked to James Laberge to take the field sprint. Half way into the last lap, the pace slowed, not the ideal situation before a sprint. I decided to hit the front knowing I could carry James all the way through to the last 250m. As I pulled off at the beginning of the hill, James initiated his sprint, but disaster, he overshifted and his chain fell of his big ring. Luckily, Eemon was still there to take the sprint and James managed a top 5.



The Cat 3's was a whole different story. It started off pretty slow the first few laps, but then attacks came flying from everywhere. A nice break with Andrew and Eemon formed and stayed off the front for a few laps. With about 3 laps to go, Marcus bridged. Unfortunately for them though, they got caught on the line with 1 lap to go. I knew it was my time to shine. I held 5th wheel through the whole last lap, and coming out of the chicane into the last few hundred meters I had the perfect line. With about 200m to go the fellow racer on my left elbowed me out of his way and almost into the curb. This had messed up my plan because I wanted to stay in the draft as long as I could and then pop out at the last second. Anyways, now that I was in the wind, I put it into gear and went. I held on for 5th place. Not bad, but I know I could have done much better.

Peter Taylor was the real star that day. He raced the P/1/2's and bridged to an 11 man gap with Adam Switters. As he was sprinting for second place, he and Ryan Eastman collided and they both went down. Let's all hope he heals soon from his road rash to bring in a great result like that!

Thanks for reading
David Benkoski