Colorado Mini Classic

Recently I raced in the Colorado Mini Classic, which takes place in Silt, Colorado, a small town outside of Grand Junction, Colorado. There were over 130 junior racers in attendance from all over the US.  A week prior to the race I crashed in the Superior Morgul Classic, so I was still sore going into the weekend. The time trial, on Saturday, was an out and back with a slight downhill on the way out. I felt great during the race. I finished first place with a fifty-nine second lead over second place. I also had the best time of the day. Stage two was a road race. A forty-two mile race outside the town around all the agricultural land of the area. It had quite a few rolling hills on the course. The race was very fast and physically demanding from the end of the neutral start. There were attacks on every hill, but nothing really stuck for more than a couple of miles. On the last hill I put in a big effort to get away and it stuck. I finished with a six second lead over the chase group and a forty-five second lead over the main peleton. The next day was the criterium in downtown Silt, Colorado. It had eight corners and circulated around a park. There was an attack from the start and the field was single-file for the rest of the race. The group broke up quite a bit and with about fourteen minutes left I broke off the front and came close to lapping the field. Overall I won the overall race and had a great weekend at the Colorado Mini Classic.

Patience

Last weekend I raced Devils Punchbowl Road Race in a stacked cat 3 field of solid So Cal road racers. I started the race feeling horrible. The weather didn't help much either since it was in the 100s. That days race was going to need patience with the move I was going to make. Half way into it, I was at the front on the climb thinking "why am I doing this? I'm going to get dropped." I suffered over the top and then boom. A strong attack went. I said to myself "patience, wait til the last lap. Be smart." On the final climb, I set a hard pace and created a gap towards the top. 4 guys bridged up to me, and that was that. We worked well but only another guy and I made to the finish together. I eventually took the win and was able to outsprint my breakaway mate at the end. This special victory taught me a lot about being patient, including pushing through a spell when I didn't feel good.  Thanks for reading.

~Nick Castellano

For the past 5 weeks, I have worn a cast. It has almost seemed like an anchor holding down my athletic soul; I have been very anxious to get it off. I miss training and racing very much and wish to be back on the bike as soon as possible.

Yet, my accident has helped me focus on patience, a very important trait for a cyclist. Larry and Billy helped me realize that rest can be the best thing for a growing junior, and that if I learn to balance enough rest with my training, I will continue to perform at my best. I've been taking my unbroken body for granted lately and this has really helped me perceive just how precious and delicate it is in working order. I have also had more time to spend with my parents and increase my academic skills, such as the trumpet and my grades.

Thank you to everyone who's given me advice and encouraged me to stay positive; it has really helped keep my spirits up. I look forward to riding my bike!

Jules

1-35

Cycling, like any sport, comes with frustration, anger, determination and glory.  This season, I have raced my bike 36 times and have only won once. 36 times where I can say I gave it my all, and tried my best. Even though winning one race so far this season seems to be discouraging, it actually helps put things in perspective.  I know I am on the right path to achieving my goals.

The win came at Cat’s Hill Classic in the Juniors 17-18 Category last weekend. Although it is not the biggest and most important race of the year, it is surely one of my favorites as I now have won this race two years in a row.  This win meant more to me than the last because I was determine to win it the “Billy Innes” way - ride away solo from the field by attacking on the climb, which I did. The win at Cat’s Hill Classic has fueled me to work harder, to never give up and to keep on pedaling.

Last lap attack

-Matthew Valencia 

One down, more to come

Last Saturday I finally broke through at the Cat's Hill Classic.  After riding in the Masters 123 field for a little over a year, I was able to notch my first win.  But more importantly, this was also my first win flying the Specialized team colors.

Larry did a good job of setting up the anticipation for Cat's Hill with a recount of the success the team has had in the past years.  On top of that, the day started with two great wins (plus a 2nd and 3rd) by the juniors.  With a combined 35/45 field, we had a strong team with Larry, Craig, Kevin, and myself.

As the only one under 45, I was free to look for any promising opportunities.  As it turned out, Kevin put in effort into the main hill about 1/3 of the way through the crit.  It didn't quite create a gap, but it lined out the field.  Sitting maybe 10th wheel, I just carried momentum over the final kicker as the field slowed up.  Before I knew it, I looked back to see about a 10 bike length gap.  OK, go time.

Powering down the hill, I looked back to see Chris Phipps (Thirsty Bear Cycling) sprinting out of the pack.  He caught up to me a half lap later and we both started working.  (Little tip: get to know your fellow racers, both on a personal level and on a cycling level.  You never know who you will end up in a break with, but you need to be able to work well together.  You also need to know their strengths and weaknesses).  We traded pulls fairly evenly and quickly built a 30s lead on the pack which we were able to hold until the finish.

Knowing that Chris is a great climber, but not a great sprinter, I made it a point to be attentive each lap on the climb.  This worked out as I was able to stay with him and jumped in the final downhill.  Jumping again out of the final turn, I took the win by several bike lengths.

It was a great time racing and spending time with friends and teammates.  I want to thank Wyatt, Craig and Larry for giving me the opportunity to race for the Specialized Masters team.  It has been a great time so far this season racing and I'm looking forward to more good times ahead.

Cheers,
Jeromy

6 Special(ized) Years

So it’s my turn in our blog rotation and I had something all planned, which I’ll save for next time, but Larry suggested I think about being a team member since 2007 and something clicked.

When Mick and I joined the team six years ago, we were a two man team/wrecking crew. Before we joined the team we won almost every 45+ race we raced in locally but never the big ones nationally or internationally, at least not on the road or in the TT. I had just won the world championship on the dirt in the cross country race but that’s all about fitness and decent bike handling. It’s not about thinking how to win a bike race.

Since then I won the world TT championship but more importantly the elusive world road race championship that we all so badly crave. What changed? Not my fitness or strength, that doesn’t happen with each passing year at my age. It must be something else and that’s what’s clicked today.

Mick and I were and always will be geeks when it comes to equipment. We tried everything regardless of cost and always rode the best. Mick and I spent many, many hours researching and thousands and thousands of dollars testing everything. And we always had whatever would make us fastest. We had to have anything that would give us a legal edge because we thought that at the best level of masters racing there ain’t much difference in fitness. So as long as you got as fit as you possibly could, the only other thing holding you back was your equipment.

That scared me when I joined the team. I thought I would have to ride something that wasn’t the best. In fact, I didn’t even race on our sponsor’s bike back then. No team was worth the cost of a world championship. But then things changed, we got (S)specialized. And by the way, back then, I wasn’t racing on Specialized bikes, if you know what I mean.

Now this is not meant to be an advertisement for Specialized, I am not that type of person. I don’t get paid to race bikes, in fact I have to pay to race Specialized bikes and, amongst other things, I race bikes to win championships. Today I race and ride on nothing but Specialized bikes and I win championships.

I have two Specialized mountain bikes, a full suspension Epic and a hard tail Stump Jumper and I love them both. I have raced on all the best mountain bikes out there and even if I weren’t on our team. I would race on these two bikes.

I have a Shiv TT bike, (how can you love something that causes you so much pain? I don’t know but I do). The Shiv was the last piece of the puzzle in winning the world TT championship in 2011, the aerodynamics are unmatched and it handles better than any TT bike I have ever ridden and I have ridden many. The value of the aerodynamics are obvious but on the very technically challenging and rain soaked TT course in Belgium two years ago, I crushed it.

And finally, I race on a Roubaix and a Venge, depending on the course. There is nothing more in a road bike that I want that I don’t get from these bikes and the Roubaix was under me when I crossed the finish line alone to win the road race last August at the world championship.

Specialized isn’t always the first to come out with something that is the best, but when they figure it out, they get it right.

Now there is another important aspect of six years on this team that has made a difference and it’s what I have learned from my teammates. The two world championships and six national championships while I have been on this team are the direct result of my relationship with my teammates. When we decide we want to win a bike race, any race for that matter and we get all our guys together and race, we win. Nobody beats us.

Sure, we lose races but it’s simply because the whole team is not there. Not to demean our competitors but there is a reason we have world champions, national champions and Olympians on our team and when we all come together, we are unstoppable.

Watching and learning from the likes of Larry, Kevin, Craig and Billy to name a few, was what I needed to finally get the brass ring. I tried for years to figure it out on my own but never quite got there. Our juniors are lucky to have Larry coaching them and if you ever want to learn how to be the very best team leader on the road, watch and talk to Billy. I don’t remember ever losing a race when Billy was there and I don’t mean Billy won all those races but he made damn sure someone on the team did. Now that I have been part of this, I often scratch my head when I see what other talented teams do in a race and wonder what the hell are they doing? I never scratch my head and wonder what we are doing in a race when we get the team there and decide to win.

So as I work to get my fitness back post-surgery, I am thankful that Wyatt asked Mick and I to join the team six years ago and I know there is still plenty to learn from my teammates.

Rob

How to do everything right and still not win

One thing I know about the Wente Road Race is that if I want to win I need to not have Chris Phipps near me for the finish. This year I came around the final corner to the finish climb with about a 10-15 second gap over Chris in the chasing group. And yet I did not win.

 Again... On the plus side, as a team we did everything right.

On the second lap Jeromy got away after the top of the climb and was shortly joined by Dan Bryant (Folsom Bikes) and Nick Theobald (Safeway). Over the next few laps the gap grew to two minutes while Craig, Mike and I sat in and enjoyed the free ride. Things heated up on the third lap and the gap started coming down. After we got the bell and got to the top of Flynn Road the gap was down to 15 seconds on our reduced group of around 10-15. After the descent and on to Patterson Pass Road heading towards Cross Road I saw that Jeromy had left his companions behind. They didn't have enough gap or enough gas in the tank to hold it, but Team Specialized was still in excellent position. As we crested the last roller on Cross Road I saw an opportunity to attack and got away clean. On to Tesla Road and I caught up to Dan and Nick. I eased up for a second on their wheel so that I could go by "with authority" and not allow them to catch my wheel.  This did not work.  So I sat on them. In no mans land. I couldn't bring those guys back up to Jeromy. On the big roller on Greenville I attacked again and got a gap.  But they caught me again.  Out of nowhere, teammate Mike Sayers came by and we all came together into a group of five with THREE Team Specialized riders. This was getting good. Mike was recently back from a USA Cycling trip coaching the U23 development team and not at his best so he rode hard tempo on the front all the way to the Motocross park on Altamont Road. His job done, Jeromy took over at the front. Because you know, it's not like he had done anything yet. :-)  The gap behind looked reasonable. I was fresh and getting a chariot ride to the finish. All I had to do was go full gas for about 3 minutes at the end to win the race. Nobody in my group was going to challenge me after being off the front all day. Things were looking good.  Jeromy got me to the corner and I took off. I dropped Dan and Nick pretty easily and tried to get the most out of my legs to get me to the finish ahead of the hard charging field.  As I crested the steepest part I heard somebody say "Phipps is coming". No what I wanted to hear. Sure enough, about 2 minutes into my 3 minute death march Chris came up and by me with Nate Parks close behind. I tried to dig for more, but I was tapped out. What I was doing was all that I had. To add insult to injury Andres Gil was coming too. I dug for all I had and just....   Got caught with about 5 meters to go.  So as it turns out what for me is a 3:08 full gas effort is only a 2:46 full gas effort for Chris (and a Strava KOM to boot)  This exact same thing happened to me in 2011. I need to learn how to get a bigger gap!  So, what could we have done better?  Nothing. We rode a perfect race. Jeromy took his shot and in doing so kept the pressure off of the rest of us. I made a text book move to bridge up to my team mate clean, Mike did the same and we had three out of five in the final group. I paced my effort really well I think. I didn't go to easy and get caught. I didn't blow up and flail my way to the finish. Chris, Nate and Andres just went faster.  The only problem is that Chris is just a freakishly good climber and 10-15 seconds at that point just isn't enough.  We are riding well, our tactics are sound, the wins will come.

Kevin Metcalfe