Pine Flat Road Race

So, two weeks ago I embarked on my first pro one/two road race. I took the proper preparations, packed my pockets full of food, filled my bottles and talked to my legs. I treat my legs like a deer and her baby Bambi, I nurture them, test them, and keep them smooth and soft! My day was going pretty well, besides the very early morning wake-up, it was going especially well when I did not see Rand Miller pre-registered for Pine Flat. It was almost disappointing though, Rand is a breakaway guy, I'm a breakaway guy, although I am not sure I can tuck low enough to get a draft off of him. My teammates Marcus and Matt were there, having teammates is always a "pro" on your race day "Pro's and Con's" list. We started the race.

We start with an immediate uphill, not enough to flick riders, but enough to get your legs cooking. I start to notice faces, I see a lot of winners. The first part was very slow, like group-ride pace and I'm thinking, "Hey, this is nice, these races are EASY". Then the attacks came, it felt like Chris Phipps was punching me in the face with his power. Then I decide, "I'm just gonna lay low see what goes on, and not attack". We're about two-thirds way through the race and Matt and Marcus are attacking, doing my job, I see a guy slip off the front. I ask the legs "How you doin?" Before they even got a chance to reply I was shooting off the front with a Dolce Vita rider, who eventually won the race. We establish a gap the guy that attacked is now gone, it's just us. We are both thinking the same thing, "WHAT ARE WE DOING?!" We gave a Lance stare at each other and knew what we were both gonna do, we are gonna try and make this breakaway work, remember we still have 1.5 hours to the finish. This was just a totally stupid move, having so far to go to finish, but we are cyclists, I think we all have a hint of ADHD, I think we are all a strange life form who lives for pain, we are the the mad scientists of the sports world. In this break we are moving! We could not see the field anywhere, not on the straightaways, not ANYWHERE. I'm getting all excited, hoping they forgot about us, which would have been really nice. We get to the final climb, a dense cloud covers the road, impairing everyone's vision, my breakaway companion slips away in to the white sheet of cloud that lay in front of me. My legs are talking to me, screaming at me, furious at me, I shut them up as I went my fastest up a local climb. I descend alone, hoping the remnants of the main field are far behind, I zip down this hill, knowing every turn, every crack every pot hole. At this point in the race I am seeing things, starting to lose my mind. I am about one kilometer from the finish, Chris Phipps passes me. BAM. His leg power seemed to throw another punch, putting me on the floor, almost down for the count. I'm not gonna give up that easy, I go, losing all composure, rocking my bike like a mad man. Another group passes me, BAM another hit, Marcus passes me, BAM another hit and one more guy passes me, I dodge the blow because I am heaving on my top tube. I roll across the finish line, going about two miles per hour. I get to the edge of the road, stumbling over my bike, to fall down in the softest grass I have ever laid in. (or I was so done, anything felt good at that time) I finish 10th. Ouch, not so much of a group ride pace!

Picture above: I believe my face explains how I was feeling.

Jack Maddux

New Clothes

2012 Jersey 

This year we went back to Squadra, for our 2012 clothes. The main reason was so that we can race in our kits as a team. Squadra is a great brand of clothing for any cyclist out there. The long sleeve, and short sleeve are made from 100% polyester which makes them extremely comfortable to wear while riding, or racing. The design of these kits are great, and it almost has a Lotto Belisol look to the bib shorts. The shorts have a good fit, and the chamois has a comfortable feel. The straps on the bib shorts do not restrict your movement. The gloves are very plump like a pillow. I do not expect them to last for the year. The arm warmers fit very well, but the top seam should be much more comfortable. In other words they pinch your upper arm. I did not order leg warmers, or knee warmers. One more thing the arms on the long sleeve jersey have a great fit, and are warm. The vest is a little plump in the middle, but is very warm, and made of good material to whisk any water away.

THE DREAM TEAM

Hello, my name is Sean Mcelroy and I'am going to talk about how I got into this fantastic sport. I first started racing BMX when I was seven years old and I said to myself, this is the sport I want to do. When I first got on the BMX track I thought I had what it took to be a pro. Every Saturday I raced at my local track in Lancaster and I always finished second  to the same person every time. But because I got those second places, I had enough points to go from a novice to a intermediate. That's when I started winning races. Every race I would go to, I would win. But that all changed when I went expert.

I rode my first expert race in Sacramento and let's just say, I'd always ended up last. I kept on asking myself and my dad, why am I not winning. My dad told me that you have to train harder since your at a higher level now. So that's when my dad got me a road bike. It was a Specialized Allez and I loved it so much I knew I wanted to switch to road racing.

So  Christmas 2010 my dad got a Specialized Tarmac SL2 for me to race the 2011 season on, and my road racing career started, at age 11. My first road race was the Valley of the Sun and I finished 6th overall, boy what a eye opener. So to make a long story short, I went on to win the BMX cruiser, road, crit, and mountain bike nat. titles. And now I'am very fortunate for Larry Nolan to have asked me to be on the Specialized racing team and so far Ive had alot of fun with my teammates. And I know this year isn't going to be easy but I'am up for the challenge.

So far I've had alot of fun,and have alot to learn. But I'am going to work as hard as I can for my teammates so we can come out on top. This is the team I always dreamed of being on.

                 Sean Mcelroy

Valley of the Sun

Arizona is great.  I love going there this time of the year because it is much warmer than where I live in Colorado.  Our racing doesn't start until sometime in March so this is always one of my first races.  The first race of the year is always the hardest, mentally and physically.  You aren't used to the speed, the intensity and you kind of forget how to race.

I had been training a lot before Valley of the Sun since October as I didn't race cyclocross this year.  I was feeling great up until the week before the race where I got hit with an ear and sinus infection.  So I was off the bike for 7 days.  I was on antibiotics so it was the real deal.  I still wanted to race and I got on a pretty painful ride of the TT course the day before the TT with lots of coughing and stale legs.  I raced the time trial and actually improved my time from the year before by a minute.  That was my best feeling day of the race.

The road race was a tough day mentally because I got dropped on two laps to go. The course mostly flat with the only climb being the place where I got dropped.  I wasn't going to drop out and that meant another 30 miles alone to finish.  I finished. 

I made it through the hardest day and the last day was the crit in downtown Phoenix.  Downtown crits are the best hands down.  I was 55 minutes away from finishing the stage race.  Marcus had a good day but I came in towards the back.  

This being my first stage race of the year doing this awful it is easy to get unmotivated.  But it's back to training to do well at my next race with Team Specialized, San Dimas!

--Dean Haas

Valley of the Sun

It's barely February and our goal was to get some good training in warm weather. The team came together with last minute plans to race Valley of the Sun in Phoenix, AZ. At 4 am on Thursday we packed the team van in Fremont and set off. The van stopped in Fresno, LA, and Palm Desert collecting teammates and booting dads into the other car. In Palm Desert we went for a team ride to loosen up our legs and dividing the 12 hours of driving.

The Time Trial was Friday and we were all excited to try out our winter legs in the 80+ degree air. Diego's family drove an RV to the race the night before and staked out parking for us right near the start. We literally created a 3 walled (RV, Team Van, another Van) warm-up/living space. Carpet and canopies were set up to separate us from the elements during our warm-ups. We each did our TT's over the course of a few hours (separate categories) and then went for a team cool down ride. Kyle rode with us (came to the race just to hang and ride with the team, because he is recovering from a surgery. What a teammate). After the ride we packed up the compound and headed to dinner and then the hotel.

Saturday was the RR. It was a very chaotic day and we had to constantly adapt. Dean and I started the 2s RR (94miles), but were forced to stop on the side of the road for 45 min because of a crash in the Pro field. Side note: The rider flew into a car. He ended up being ok other than a sprained pinky (other riders were not as fortunate). We saw his Specialized helment that night. It was cracked everywhere and looked like a egg. It still held it's strength though and likely saved the rider. After the wait in 81 degree heat we set off again and finished our race. We tried to make a few breaks on the climbs, but nothing was sticking. It ended in a field sprint from gutter to gutter for the last 2km. We were unlucky in the sprint, but learned from the mistakes. That night Barney King invited us to a BBQ at his house. We had a great time talking to him and the other guests. He taught us some of his BBQ techniques and we enjoyed his wife's amazing cooking.

The crit was Sunday. It was a new course because Arizona was having a party on the old course for their 100 year anniversary. The new course was much tighter, but kept the figure-eight, 8 corner design. Our hotel was close enough to ride to the race and we used that as a warm-up. With 5 laps to go I got into a 3-man break, but one rider wasn't working so I attacked and reshuffled into a new 5-man break. The riders were tired from the past days of racing and didn't have the fire power to hold the field. We were caught with half a lap to go and were forced to finish with the field. It was great to get some good training in before heading back home. From there we immediately set off for the 12 hour drive home. We had some expert navigating by Larry to avoid a 3 hour traffic jam and some impressive endurance driving by the dads. We arrived in Fremont at 3:30 AM in time to get home and sleep a little before Monday.

- Marcus Smith

20120 Team Bicycles Plus/Sierra Nevada Criterium Masters 35+ race report

So there I was, trying to warm up for 50 minutes my legs/lungs/heart hadn't experienced since September. I'm on some road behind the course going hard and I see one of the Lange Twins riders ahead of me; I'm going pretty hard but this guy isn't getting any closer to me. Who the heck is it I ask myself? Then it clicks, must be Jason Grefrath - he's beaten me in more than one TT over the years. Someone to keep in mind for the race.

But isn't it ski season? What the heck am I doing in Folsom in February? I must have had 10 people ask me the same question (admittedly, all Reno dudes). Well, there's no snow and my new teammates are in pretty good shape and that whole Merco Stage race thingy is coming up...

Back at another start line. Dean and Bubba are wearing their well-deserved national championship jerseys and I peer around the group thinking about how the race will play out. Dean, Bubba and I had gone through some scenarios before the start but we knew we might be at the mercy of a few teams today. I told myself the same thing I tell myself before every race. It's boring, really.

Whistle blows and I make it into my pedal w/o issue - early season success! This seems to be a good "it's February and I can't concentrate and go hard at the same time" type of course - basically room everywhere, good pavement and not technical. You get the occasional goose on the course but the old guys are all pretty good about pointing stuff out.

Things start heating up and attacks are flying - Lange Twins, then Mercedes, then Specialized, then Sierra Nevada. Rinse, repeat. But nothing is sticking. There were a couple times breaks had good representation but they came back and we seem destined for a pack finish.

Bubba and I found Dean (actually I think he found us - he's always where he needs to be, eh?). 5 to go, 4 to go, 3 to go. I'm thinking about filing my taxes, post-race beers, what $50 of Stuzio clothing really means, etc and in an instant someone was off the front. Huh? This is going to sound horrible but I honestly have no idea how it happened. Now at 2 to with Bubba on the front, Dean behind him and I'm moving up from 8th to figure out how worried I need to be. Then I hear the announcer, "Jason Grefrath not waiting around for the field sprint...has 15 seconds." Oh no. Arguably the best TT'er in the field is off the front poking wholes in our leadout strategy.

Okay, no panic here but we can't wait for the last lap. Bubba is moving good and I'm now behind him, Dean on me. Lap and a half to go and I yell at Bubba to move left. He sits there. I yell it again. He must be in the zone. No, I have a sore throat and he can't hear me. Finally he moves and I take over. Up through start/finish, around the corner 1 but we don't seem to be getting closer to Jason. I'm hurting. Hummingbird heart rate is up and I start shaking my head - no way we are going to catch him. I pull off to turn it over to Dean. 2/3 of a lap to go.

Then the pack starts surging. Michael from Clif (I think that's his name) goes for a flyer and the pack is moving, faster, faster. Dean 4th, Dean 3rd, froggering his way around. I'm drifting back, sitting up, still wondering how we ended up in this position. The pack is getting close to the final corner.

I got hands off my bars (don't worry, nobody around, all is safe) trying to see through the business parking lot, over the grassy knoll and up the finishing stretch. On my tippy toes now and Dean is going. Oh my, is he going to make it? No way. I can't see anymore and turn an ear towards the announcer. j;jdasflkasdfj; j lkkjjapdf..... DEAN LABERGE WINS IT!!!

I laugh a bit to myself. I know Dean can sprint but I've only raced with/against him 5 times or so and I'm just starting to pick up on his ability. The year has started off very well for Dean and Team Specialized.

- Jason Walker, Team Specialized Masters