Nationals 2011

I got into Augusta, GA on June 22nd; just 1 day before the National Time Trial. I got off the plane, jumped in the car, and drove straight to the team housing. Team housing was great and I can't thank enough to Susan O'Donnell for all her work to stay at these nice houses that were right near every course. I got to the house and immediately got dressed and drove out the the TT course. I slept on the way over there and didn't want to ride at all. I got out on the course and got in a good rythm and was wide awake. I liked the course and was excited for the next day.

It was bright and early and my group (17/18) were 1st up. The humid air hit all of us as we warmed up on our trainers and rollers and even with ice on our backs, we were still melting. I got out on course and felt good compared to most TT's that I've done. I ended up placing 34th out 108 riders and I was satisfied enough with that result considering that I got there a day before.

The criterium was the next day and I was the guy for everyone to work for in the 50km race. It was fast from the start; as expected and it was hard to move up. We had guys follow all sorts of attacks but nothing was getting away or getting more than 10 seconds. Unfortunately, an attack went in the closing laps and we missed it. We started to set up for a field sprint, so I had Jeff Perrin help me move up into position for the sprint (he crashed bad earlier in the crit and still managed to help lead me out). Hot Tubes came up right before turn 3 and I jumped on their train and sprinted to a 6th place overall (3rd in field).

We had a rest day before the road race but it was still an early start at 8am. It was only 95km long but it was sure to be a tough race. We were up there in almost every big attack and it looked to be a field sprint with only 10 miles to go. That is until 2 guys got up the road and I realized it was a Hot Tubes guy and nobody was chasing. I attacked out of the group through a small hole where only few could fit through and was able to bridge solo right away. We worked together for 4 miles or so but that's when I realized I couldn't keep doing those kinds of pulls if I wanted to win a National Championship. I took a short pull and got yelled at; I took a pull off completely to catch my breath and really got yelled at. Eventually, the non-Hot Tubes rider kept riding and the Hot Tubes rider sat on me while I was waiting for just to pull through so that I can catch my breath but instead he attacked me to bridge back up to the other rider. I didn't have the jump at the time and went onto time trial mode trying to chase them back. I was averaging 28-30mph trying to catch back up to them but I just stayed at 10 seconds behind then. The field was also charging hard, trying to catch the lonely 2 up the road and myself trying to chase. There's a hill that lasts for 600 meters in the last 1.2km and at 800 meters to the line I got caught by the field and my chances at podium and top 3 and possibly winning were over. Marcus went on to finish strong for 8th place.

Overall, it was a good trip for the team as Jack Maddux won his TT in his age group (13/14) and we had a couple other podiums. I would like to thank all the parents that came out and put their time and hard-earned money to let us race our bikes to have the chance to win a National Championship. I would especially want to thank Darryl and Tania Smoth as the adults for the house I was in as they everything organized and everything was smooth. I also want to thank Larry, Wyatt, Steve, Fred, all of our sponsors, and anyone else who contributed to this amazing trip and experience. I'm looking forward to returning to Augusta next year for U23 Nationals!

Thank you for reading.

--James LaBerge

(written at Augusta Regional Airport)

OUT OF THE SEAT...ON TO THE PODIUM!

I remember my first crit race last year…I hung in okay and placed 4th in the Jr. 13/14 race. After the race my parents mentioned that I never got off of the seat to sprint for the finish. Looking at photos, sure enough they were right! I was down on the seat while my competitors were standing on the pedals, out of the seat and sprinting. In the following weeks I practiced standing up and sprinting on training rides or whenever I thought of it. This was working okay but my mom suggested that I should go to the track for some high speed cross training. So we went down to the track and signed up with Track Coach, Tim Roach. I borrowed my neighbor's track bike and started riding the track on Monday and Wednesday nights.

The track is different than the road. The bikes have no brakes and you cannot coast. They call it fixed gear. After a couple of sessions of basic training I was given the okay to participate in the nightly group warm up of 40 laps or so. After the warm up we would do various exercises from sprint training to intervals to time trialing and mock races.

Keep in mind I went to the track to improve my sprint but found out the track is really a lot of fun and a great workout. I increased my top-end speed, developed a smoother pedal stroke and improved my bike handling skills. Sure enough with my new found track workouts, I was able to sprint for wins in local races, sometimes with total dominance. Especially for crit racers, there is no better training for the road than racing on the track. Bottom line is, if you ride the road you should ride the track, and if you ride the track you should ride the road. Fast forward to 2011, I’m still training at the track and winning some crits and road races thanks to cross training at the track.

See you at the track….

Diego Binatena

Dunlap TT

Yesterday was the NCNCA (Nor cal/Nevada) State Time Trial Championships in Davis, CA. It was raining the night before but luckily the rain held up while we did our TT's. Jack Maddux was 1st in the 13/14 age group and won! Congrats to him as he has been on a tear this year so far. Next up was Matt Valencia in the 15/16 group and finished in 2nd. 2 straight podiums and it was up to us, the 17/18's to deliver another win and state championship to the team. Chris, myself, and Andrew were up 1st going that order respectively. Andrew had a fast time and ended up finished 3rd and Chris and I finished 10th and 9th, respectively. Marcus and Torey were up next and they both posted some really fast times. Marcus came in to finished 5th, and Torey had the fast time of the day and won! Overall, we cam away with 6 victories at Dunlap TT including wins in the p/1/2, masters 35+, 45+, and 55+! It's great to such winning style by the team and I'm glad to be apart of it because National Championships are coming up and that's our end goal.

On Saturday, Marcus Smith raced at Dash for cash by himself in the wet weather and braved himself to a 9th place and earned him $100 for being the 1st U23 accross the line. Congrats Marcus! With nationals coming up soon, it's great to see our strengths starting to come out.

Thank you for reading,

                                       James LaBerge

They must be on drugs…

...the cows, they are so big in Belgium, they MUST be on something…

Now back to what I was originally going to write about, my trip to Europe with the US Junior National team. I set off to Europe on a Monday morning. The travel day went as smoothly and hassle-free as possible. All was good as I arrived in beautiful, sunny, warm Brussels. It even said gullible on the ceiling of the airport! In all seriousness, it was a typical Belgian day, cold, wet and cloudy. I met up with other juniors that had been invited on the trip. Dean Haas, my friend and teammate from Team Specialized, Ben Wolfe from one of the states on the east coast that isn’t New York so I could never remember it, Austin Boswell from a place where they shoot animals to feed themselves (Bend OR), Eric Volotzky from one of those small cities by LA that isn’t LA and where there are always wildfires, and Kristo Jorgenson from that place up north where they grow potatoes (Boise ID).

Now that we know who I spent nearly three weeks living and sleeping with, let me tell you how the actual trip was. Racing in Europe is literally having someone else’s’ handlebars brushing up your hind side and a crash/some kind of traffic furniture/attack/150 guys in front of you at all times. Sounds fun!

The first race we started was “3 Ettapen de Rundfarht”. This was started off with an 8km time trial through a park near Frankfurt. With 3 turnarounds and 5 turns, this sure seemed like a tough little course. I finished around 50^th on the day. Not very satisfied, I was greatly looking forward to the next day, a 113km road race with approximately 5,000 feet of climbing. (I must have overlooked the climbing part to be so excited about it). Unfortunately that was not a fantastic day for me either; I got dropped going over the cat. 1 climb around half way through and rolled into the finish with a gruppetto. Now would again be a good time to state that gruppettos are not really easy. In order to make time cut, we non-climbers still have to go pretty hard throughout the remainder of the stage. Now to the final stage, a 100km or so out and back road race with only two cat. 3 climbs, not too bad, except for the rain. By that time, I started to get acclimated to the feeling of racing in Europe I sat pretty well that day and finished with the pack.

The second race we did was “Driedegaase van Axel”. Another 3 day race, this time in Holland, with testing factors such as cobbles, massive crosswinds and extremely narrow roads. Excited about racing in such conditions that would suite my strengths more as a “rouleur”, I readied myself for stage one, a hectic 120 kilometers with six sections of cobblestones, the first one coming just within 8 kilometers of the beginning. I finished in the top 60 on that day, unsatisfied again but it was an improvement. Unfortunately, that day had taken a lot out of me and I never felt as sharp or fresh the remainder of the stages.

In the end I was proud of being able to race at such high level races in Europe and being given the opportunity to do so was exceptional. The amount you are forced to self-teach while racing in such tough, fast and arduous races is second to none. I am able to bring all the knowledge back here to the United States, and with nationals just around the corner, I could not feel anymore ready to succeed. Hopefully I will be given more opportunities to keep moving up in the cycling scene and return to my home continent in the near future.

Finally, I would like to give a huge thank you to everyone who helped make this trip possible and ran it as smooth as possible. Ben Sharp for giving me the opportunity to race in Europe, Viggo (soigneur) for always being there at the races and around the house for just about anything we needed including massages! Aaron Fairley and Andrew Haggerty for being great mechanics and van drivers, and Nicole for making us some incredible meals while we were at the house! At last but not least, I would like to recognize Billy Innes. The amount of work and time he put in the make sure everything went perfectly and all of us need not to worry about a thing was amazing. Even when we ran into trouble that was out of everyone’s control (top secret story, will divulge in return for money) he kept his cool and still managed to get us to the race almost seamlessly.

Thanks for reading!

-David Benkoski

Going Up

In Northern California our bike racing season is really long. We start competing in January after months of training and preparation. With a little luck we’ll race through August and into September before shutting it down for a break.

Junior riders look for early race successes and the opportunity for a selection to the US National Team abroad. Mid-season (now) means District Championships and in a few weeks, Nationals. For masters this is pushed out even further with Districts in June and August, and Nationals in early September followed by Worlds.

Such a racing schedule means it’s nearly impossible to have good, let alone peak, fitness for the duration. Cushing early season races is great for confidence but brings the risk of being too good too early, and flat later in the year when it really counts. Conversely, going out and getting beaten over and over in the season’s opening weeks is as challenging as the hardest workout, and requires an unwavering discipline to keep moving forward without losing motivation.

Over the past couple weeks we’ve seen hard work and patience pay off. The juniors have won District road race, crit and TT championships as well as taken top podium honors at nearly every other race contested. All this bodes well with Nationals just around the corner, where the culmination of fitness, confidence, racing skill and patience will pay off.

-Chris Lyman, masters teammate

Racing in the Rain (Almost)

On June 4th I was signed up to race the Cat. 1/2/3's race, at 2:45, at the Dash for Cash Criterium in Pleasanton, CA. In the years before, when we go to this race, the worst it has gotten has been light sprinkles and mid to high 60's. This year was not like any years before, in that the weather report was low 60's and 90% chance of rain. But, at around 9:00, my older brother, younger brother, and my dad drove to Santa Rosa, Ca to buy a car for my older brother. When they left my dad told me to get the bikes ready to go so that when they get back we could all leave right away. I finished getting the bikes cleaned, wheels on, and lunch packed at about 10:00. I sat around the house for the next three and a half hours, until I got a phone call from my older brother. He said they were still filling out paper work and they were not going to make it in time to make the races. So, I decided to unpack all the things I had already packed up many hours earlier. This took a long time because I was so bumbed-out that I was not going to race with my teammate Marcus Smith. An hour into my unpacking I realized that the next day was Dunlap Time Trial in Davis ,Ca, and Marcus was signed up for that race as well. I got so happy I almost threw the bananas into the freezer. The rest of my day was happy and I was in Davis in no time.

Europe

Wake up at 8 am.  Jump out of my bed.  Eat my muesli and yogurt for breakfast.  Ride at 10.  Chill for the rest of the day.  A usual day in the National Team House in Izegem, Belgium.  This was a great experience for me to be on the junior national team.  I raced with 5 other team mates, Austin Boswell, Kristo Jorgenson, Erik Volotzky, Ben Wolfe and Team Specialized's very own David Benkoski.  We raced the 3-Ettapen Rundfahrt Frankfurt, Germany and the Driedaagse van Axel, Netherlands.

Europe really is a different place; the food the culture and the customs are different than ours in the United States.  The biggest thing I found that was different was the roads.  Although they still drive on the right side of the road, I found the road to be extremely confusing which I have to say is a good thing I wasn't driving!  I found myself very confused most of the time in Europe surrounding simple things like roads.  Pasta, bread and oats in different form became a staple of my diet (not that they aren't already).  During my stay at the hostel in Frankfurt I had pasta for every meal for three days straight and I actually got sick of it! Europe all and all is a great place to visit and I found it a huge honor to be invited to race there.  Staying at the house is really a great lifestyle.  Your only obligations are to ride your bike, eat and do an occasional load of laundry.  I am looking forward to my next opportunity to race across the pond! I want to thank USA Cycling and Team Specialized Racing for making my Euro trip possible!
-Dean