March 24 Founders update

Team Specialized Racing Juniors & Masters

San Dimas Stage Race, Category 3
Torey Philipp (15th GC), Daniel Tisdell (4th GC), Andrew Lanier Jr. (25th GC), Marcus Smith (8th GC, 1 day in sprint jersey), and David Benkoski

March 24, 2010

week of of March 19-21 @ San Dimas Stage Race
week of of March 12-14 @ Madera Stage Race
week of of February 12-14 @ Valley of the Sun Stage Race

The team has been stage racing lately and we want to share some of our successes with you. Valley of the Sun was covered in a previous e-mail so let’s catch up on our last two weekends.

Madera is a farm town in the Central Valley of California and the promotion is low-key, but the racing was HOT. With no junior field offered the juniors raced in their “category”, which is to say that they are racing against adults, including some professional riders in the combined category 1 and 2 and pro race. We did not win stages at Madera but we learned a great deal about teamwork, nutrition, hydration and recovery. All very important aspects of bicycle racing as each of these nuances are accentuated during an event where you are racing up to 3 times in 24 hours. The team was also treated to some wonderful 15 mile per hour winds which meant that we were racing in single file. This “gutter style” of racing is very common in Belgium and France, so the timing was great for these young athletes. Masters teammates Craig Roemer, Chris Lyman and I were able to race with junior teammates James Laberge, Eamon Lucas and Peter Taylor in the 1/2/Pro so that we could observe and discuss before, during and after the races.

Last weekend we traveled with 8 junior teammates to the San Dimas Stage Race. 4 mile hill climb, 56 mile road race and one hour downtown criterium over three days. I entered the old guy’s race which allowed for me to reconnaissance the courses and strategize their races. I am happy to report that all 8 juniors climbed that hill faster than me! In the category 3road race Marcus Smith, just one day shy of his 16th birthday, bridged to a small breakaway, helped to drive the pace up and then took out a fantastic win by the closest of bike throws. Impressive.

The highlight of the Sunday downtown criterium was that James and Eamon sprinted to 2nd and 4th in the category 2 race. This is a great result against a very competitive field. At the same time, it is a learning experience. Both Eamon and James have great sprints and they were communicative in the last laps of the race, but we will need sacrifices to bee made by teammates at junior road nationals if we are to earn that top step of the podium. I don’t want to take away anything from a great weekend, but this team is very capable and needs to be held to the highest of standards.

Thank you for your support.

Larry Nolan, Team Specialized Manager

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