2009 Reflection

Going into the 2009 season, I was very excited for many reasons; the first being I was going to be at the top of my age group and also I would have five other teammates to race with, all of whom were very strong and smart riders. Two thousand and nine looked very bright and full of gold medals for Team Specialized Racing Juniors. Both the 15/16 and 17/18 teams would have the numbers and talent to control and dominate the local races. 2009 was also a year of learning many valuable lessons.

In September I had surgery to remove the plate and screws that were in my femur. As a result, my winter training started a bit later, however, my leg is now 100% healed and I was able to put that injury behind me.

Come February the race season was here! Like always, I started my racing season with the first NCNCA Junior Points Series race, Cherry Pie. This year they made a change to the course, they added a chicane at the bottom of the hill. Even before the race, many were not in favor of this addition to the course and some would be even more opposed after the race. With 56 competitors, this was a large field for a Northern California junior race, which meant crashes were bound to happen. James, Chris and I went down in a crash in the lovely chicane and Marcus was taken out with less than a lap to go. James, Chris and I were more fortunate than Marcus was, because the worst that happened to us was a DNF placing for a race, where as Marcus ended up with a broken arm. This did not stop the team from victory. A fine example of teamwork was demonstrated when Joel towed Peter up to a break and David was able to catch on. Peter was able to win the sprint and David was the only 15/16 in the break giving him the victory for the 15/16 race and a 4th place overall. Besides the crashes, Cherry Pie showed good signs for Team Specialized Racing Juniors. Lessons were learned, and probably the most obvious one for Cherry Pie was not to ride in the back of the pack.

Two weeks later it was time for the Merco criterium. Known as a fast race, it was also one of the earliest and coldest races of the year with a 7:30am start time. However, Peter, Joel, James and I were able to fire up our engines and show how a team works together. The race started with many attacks and every time there was a big white S in the break following the attack or attacking. Nothing was going to get away without at least one of us in it! About half way through the race, James and two other riders were able to get away and stay away. That left Joel, Peter and myself to control the pack, and boy we did. One of us followed every attack and not one single rider was able to bridge up to the break. As a result of our teamwork, the break was able to get a big enough gap to lap of the field with one lap to go! This lead to the positive result in that James one the race, but both Joel and I, both of which race often on the track, did not think about what happens when the field is lapped. No one in the field sprinted and the race was over. Lesson learned.

However, the true test of our strength and ability to work as a team had not been fully tested because our goals were to dominate national races and to win those races. In April, we had our first chance to dominate a national race, Sea Otter. Looked at by USA Cycling, Sea Otter has been an important junior race for many years. Not only are the courses challenging, but also many people from across the country come in for the race. The first of the two races was the circuit race. This year was the first time I have ever done this race. Previously something had always interfered with it, but this year the calendar was clear! One of the best things about the race is the Laguna Seca racecourse. Known for the corkscrew decent, the racecourse is very well known and I had raced it countless times on Gran Turismo for Playstation. I had also seen the course on my favourite (spelling dedicated to the nationality of the show) TV show Top Gear (http://www.topgear.com/uk/videos/nsx-v-playstation.) However, racing a bike on this course was very different from driving an animated car or watching someone else driving a car around it. The first big difference was the hill. On the bike, the hill hurt like heck! However, every time up one of us Specialized boys put our nose in the wind and controlled the pace up to the top of the hill. However, in the sprint we were unable to dominate and bring home a win. This was disappointing but we fought hard. We would strike back with the wrath of the gods in the road race! The road race was longer, harder, and hot as he-double hockey sticks. However, this proved to be good for us. Early in the race, Yuma Koishi (San Jose Bicycle Club) and I broke away. My loyal teammates controlled the field and Allistar was able to bridge up to Yuma and me. However, Allistar kept the pace high on the main climb and I said so long farewell, auf weidersehen good-bye (wait this is not The Sound of Music) this left Yuma and Allistar in the lead, me about a minute and a half behind them and then the pack. Yuma had a wheel problem and I was able to pass him before neutral support reached him. After changing wheels Yuma was able to reel me in, but when we hit the hill, he was dead and I was able to ride away from him. Allistar finished first, me second and Yuma third. The teamwork definitely paid off!
My legs continued to operate correctly the next weekend at Wente road race and criterium. The race stayed together until the second time up the finishing climb when the field completely blew up! There was even a little mushroom cloud. I was dropped and went into chase mode. Allistar was the only one with the leaders. I was able to ride back up to the leader about three fifths away around the course. However, I did not sit up; I just rode right by them. They all got on my wheel so I sat up. There was a little bit of attacking, but nothing got away. We then formed a pace line and when we passed the start line and went under an overpass, I pulled through and I do not know how but I had a gap. This was not the first time this had happened (three years ago at the district road race, the same exact thing happened but I did not step on the gas and I ended up getting caught very easily) and I had learned my lesson from the first time, so I hit the gas hard and did not look back. I was able to get a good gap thanks to teammates controlling the pace in the pack, but not blocking. When I hit the finishing hill, it was as if I hit a wall. I lost quite a bit of speed and a group of strong and fast riders were reeling me in. I dug deep and went as hard as I could. Thankfully, I was able to cross the finish line first, but only about two seconds ahead of Bjorn Fox (Above Category Racing.) Teamwork was definitely a big factor in this race once again. The next day in the crit, we almost had a full team, and Specialized dominated, but we had some mistakes … okay I made a very big, über mistake at least I guess they consider working at the front when you have a teammate off the front a bad thing; who knew? (for those who do not get the sarcasm, I realize I was being a horrible teammate.) Moving on, Peter was off the front for ever and then some more, but was caught and with two laps to go, I became an eagle or bought a bagel, aka attacked and when I came around to the front stretch I heard Mr. Ruggy Holloway, the master himself, yelling at me to go faster or something along those lines (I guess oxygen deprivation makes it harder to remember what people said hehe) I shifted to a harder gear and really started to go into the pain cave. The last lap felt like one of the longest laps ever! However, I held my lead off until the finish line and was able to take the win. We went one, two, three in the 15/16 race and Mr. Peter, I’ll just ride a majority of the race off the front Taylor, sprinted in for first place in the 17/18 race.

May brought the team’s second chance to race at a national level at Edgar Soto Classic in Nashville Tennessee. Not only was this the world championship qualifiers for the 17/18 and the winner of the 15/16 would be guaranteed a spot on the Belgium team. Obviously, there was a lot at stake for this race. The race was divided up into two days and scored as an omnium. The first day was the time trial and the course felt good after the pre-ride. It was an out and back course with a steady uphill on the way up with two little descents. I rode to a fourth place, Marcus and David both placed in the top ten too. However, the road race was going to be a hard race. Not only was the course very difficult, but the competition was VERY fast, but we were too! The race was very hard with somebody always attacking when we hit a hill. The field ended up breaking up. David suffered a flat within the first five kilometers and was out of the race. Marcus and I were able to stay with the leaders until part of the last lap. I finished 6th and Marcus 7th. All of us were had a good fitness level, but needed to get faster if we wanted to do well at nationals.
In July, Track Nationals came and I was ready. Along with Joel, I traveled down to the Home Depot Center in Carson, Ca to the ADT Track for the second year in a row. This is the only wood track in the USA besides the track in Bolder, Colorado. I was registered for the team sprint, and 15/16 omnium, which consisted of a sprint tournament, scratch race, points race, and five hundred meter time trial. The main highlight was my points race. I rode away from the pack and was later joined by two other riders. We lapped the field and I won my first at national race! (video can be viewed here: part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ai7yY06CBo and part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9t7a9-uiO0&feature=related) Three weeks later was road nationals in Bend, Oregon. Unfortunately I did not have as much luck there. In the road race I had a flat and the wheel change took over a minute for a front wheel. I was unable to chase back to the field and my race was over. In the time trial I rode to an eleventh place.
After nationals I did a couple of Cal Cup races in an effort to earn upgrade points, this did not go as well as I had thought, but it could have been worse. However, in September I had the chance of a lifetime to go train in Colorado and stay in at the Olympic Training Center for part of the ten days. I was allowed to attend a national junior Madison camp! Another bonus was Larry was attending as one of the coaches. At the camp I learned a ton! The Madison is a very complicated race and a very popular one on the international level. The camp was also a blast! It was fun training and learning with people I usually only see once or twice a year. This was definitely a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Overall, 2009 was a good year, but it could have been better. Without the support of the team sponsors, many of the things that made the year would not have happened! Their support is priceless, to me at least. I am very thankful to all of them for their support and time. I am also very thankful for my excellent teammates. It gives me great pleasure to say I suit up in the same kit as all of you guys. Your support means a lot to me and I greatly appreciate your help at races and hope my support and help is beneficial to you too! I am very excited for 2010, and all of the opportunities that open up and look forward to an excellent season!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Thanks for reading,

--Andrew Lanier, II

A Look Back

Before looking onwards to 2010 I want to look back at some highlights of my ’09 season.
Pinole Team Time Trial: This course is a forty minute loop designed to be as painful as possible; the road starts downhill and gets progressively more windy and hilly as the kilometers tick by. This year I did the race with Charlie Avis, soon to be National Time Trial Champion. This was a lesson in survival and I was so relived and pleased when we crossed the line shattering the junior course record and winning by a nearly three minute margin. The hard effort was good for me, and a turning point in how I viewed time trialing. I realized that if I wanted to be good at time trialing I would need to train more in the TT position and be willing to suffer more than everyone else, or at least as much as everyone else. Although my time trialing is still a work in progress I improved markedly since this event which earned me 2nd in the State Championship and 16th at the National Championships.
Santa Cruz Classic: This race came at a crucial time for me while I was still looking for those last few upgrade points. I tried to stay up front as much as possible to make sure that I didn’t miss out on a break. With five laps to go Joel told me to get back in the field and get a little rest from the wind; I had been second wheel almost the entire race, so this was a good suggestion. Thanks Joel. Fast-forward a few laps and I was 8th wheel coming out of the last corner, probably just a bit too far back. I waited and with about 200 meters to go jumped as hard as I could. I threw my bike at the line to take the win by a hair.
National Criterium Championship: After the Pinole Team Time Trial this was the hardest race I did all year. I tried to stay up front and out of trouble, but with about 8 laps to go I decided to take a risk and bridge to a break of three riders containing the National Road Champion. I attacked out of the group and was quickly joined by Juan Carmona and Anders Newbury. We worked together and nearly caught the break, but began to lose ground with four laps to go before finally being brought back into the fold with three to go. I drifted a little far back after being caught and I spent the remaining two and a half laps moving up to take 6th in the field sprint and 9th overall. The group that I was a few meters from bridging up to went on to win. This was my last race of the ’09 season and was a great way to finish the season.

Racing for Specialized

Happy holidays everyone, my name is Matthew Valencia. I would like to thank Larry Nolan and Wyatt Weisel for inviting me on this team and for taking the time to help the juniors improve. Next year racing for this team, i will be looking forward to the support i get from the masters team and racing with some of the fastest teammates in the country. Our team has many goals and i think we will be able to achieve them in 2010

Dream Come True

I have raced six full seasons now and I finally got to do the race I had always heard about. Since my beginnings on the bike I had always heard amazing things about the level of competition as well as the awesome experience that came along with the Tour de Le Abitibi. The world renowned 17-18 Junior race is held in Northern Quebec every summer and features National Teams from all over the world as well as a few Regional Teams from the US.

The selection process started months in advance; the first criterion was whether or not a rider was attending a regional camp. Historically there were only a few camps that sent teams, but with the new process a rider could attend any camp and if selected would race on regional team from a different area. I was invited to join Tim Redus and his Texas based team for the week long race.

Now to the exciting part, the actual race; all of the racers and team support leave out of the school in Val D’Or for the week of racing. Each team got a classroom and foam mattresses to sleep on. This is easily one of the coolest things any cyclist could imagine, a school full of hundreds of cyclists! As far as the racing went it was also unlike any other. Our pack of over one hundred and twenty riders would take off from a variety of nearby towns and race back to Val D’Or, averaging 40+ kph for three to four hours, for six stages.

2009 was a fantastic year, a year during which I got to experience something that I will never forget. I hope to go back and race again at Abitibi and will hopefully improve upon my top ten results and climb up to that top step of the podium.

Countdown to 2010 Race Season

Hello everyone. I'm Torey Philipp and I live in El Dorado Hills, California. I am very excited to now be a part of the Specialized Junior Race Team and I'm looking forward to racing with my awesome, new teammates. I have had a great year of racing road and cyclocross and I am extremely motivated and have goals set for 2010!

2009 by Chris

2009 was full of wins losses and close calls. But mostly huge accomplishments. We had Larry, Peter, David, Daniel, Charlie, James, Dean, Billy, Kevin, Rob, Marco, Alistair, Andrew, Joel, Craig, Rob, and Dylan has won at least one race during 2009. and some are on national levels and others on international levels. and this next year we are trying to get more national and international wins throughout the entire masters, and Juniors teams. We have already held a pre 2010 team ride in Napa a few weeks ago. And we are about to have another team ride in pleasanton and a mentoring tutorial on the same day. lets make it a great year.

Eamon Lucas

Hello my name is Eamon Lucas. I live in Pacific Grove, Ca. I am so happy to be on Team Specialized and am very motivated for the 2010 racing season. My off-season training is going well and i am right on schedule. I had a good season last year and i cant wait to better my self and the team this year. I am very thankful for all the support i receive from Specialized and all the other sponsors and i know this is going to be great year.


I also have a personal blog that will be updated through out the year.http://big-es.blogspot.com/?spref=fb