Bring it On...

Get ready...the road racing season will arrive in Gainesville soon.
Keep January 17th and 24th open for a little bike racing!













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Ending With A Bang

With the completion of the Ocala Stage Race, yet another season of Florida bike racing has drawn to a close. Cycle Logic represented itself well with a few podium performances.

Saturday
Our superstar Junior racer, Justin Pfaff, continued his season long domination of his age group by winning the road race. Per usual, Justin's age group was combined with the next older age group. Justin and one of the older age-groupers attacked the field and put about 2 minutes on them by the end. At the line, Justin out sprinted his break partner and took a comanding lead in the overall stage race.

In the Cat.4 Road Race, Anthony Musalo worked tirelessly to deliver teammate Tal Mincey to the front in time for Tal to sprint his way to second place (see photo at top left). Also on Saturday, both Eric Stubbs and Roger Montes (see photo at lower left) finished in the top ten of the Cat.3 field while Eric also finished top 5 in the Time Trial. Rob Robins truly finished the season off with a bang in the Cat.3 road race...Rob crashed hard but will live to race again (his LOOK was okay too).

Cycle Logic has been increasing it's numbers in the Masters 35+ field lately. James Penrod and Ken Sallot once again threw down to help our M35+ team leader, Scott Pfaff out in the race. Scott used the team to position himself and earn enough points to secure his 7th place finish in the season-long Florida Points Series (out of over 200 M35+ racers!)

Sunday
The Forest Road Race was much flatter than the previous day's offering. Once again Roger Montes and Eric Stubbs overcame lack of numbers. With selfless teamwork, Roger placed Eric exactly where he needed to be towards the end of the race. Eric was able to capitalize on Roger's effort and crossed the line for a Cat.3 win!

By placing 6th, 4th and 1st in the weekends individual races, Eric secured yet another podium by placing 2nd in the overall Stage Race.

Our Junior sensation also finished the stage race with the lowest overall time thus giving Justin the podium step that he is most used to, the top one.

An Intense Itinerary

Our out-of-state team member, Rodrigo Sagastegui, completed the Six Gap Century with us this year...but with a travel-laden work schedule, it was anything but easy. We asked Rodrigo to recap his hectic agenda and his obvious love of the bike.

To talk about my Six Gap experience, you need to go back 3 weeks prior to the ride. September was a busy month for me due to the amount of business/communications we normally have with European customers/colleagues. It is a tradition for many Europeans to take long vacations and/or time off during the summer in order to take advantage of the good weather conditions. Everything seems to shut down for a few weeks and as soon as the summer is over (September), everybody is running around trying to catch up.

This year I had some meetings in Sweden (Sandvik's headquarters) on week 37, but left a few days early (Friday 9/5) to look around Stockholm. I go to Sweden a few times a year and it is normally an easy route... a direct overnight flight from Newark to Stockholm (7hrs), and then either 1 hr by train (or 2 hrs by car) to Sandviken. I got back home from this trip late on Friday 9/12, and tried to spend a few hours on the bike both Saturday and Sunday, but the jetlag only allowed me to do a couple of hours each day.

The following week was quite rainy and made it hard to get out and ride, except for the weekend when once again I rode both Saturday and Sunday. On Monday 9/22 I had to fly to Edmonton via Seattle to prepare our exhibit for a trade show. I had packed my bike Sunday night and dropped it by Fedex on my way to the airport. I stayed in Edmonton until Thursday, when I got back home via St. Paul late at night. Friday 9/26 I was in the office all day, and Saturday I flew from Newark to Atlanta for our Six Gap ride.

The problem was that I had a meeting scheduled in Sweden at 8:00 AM on Tuesday 9/30. This meant that If I still wanted to ride Six Gap, I had to find the way to ride all day on Sunday 9/28, and still being able to get to Sweden by Monday night (9/29 - My birthday). As it turned out, the only way to accomplish this was by flying directly after the ride from Atlanta to London (9 hrs), then to Amsterdam (2 hrs) , then to Stockholm (1.5 hrs), and finally a train to Sandviken (1 hr). This put me in my hotel room on Tuesday 9/30 at 3:00 AM, being able to lay down (couldn't sleep due to jet lag) for 3 hrs, take a shower, and go to work.

I know some may think this is insane. I spent $650 between bike shipment, car rental, lodging etc.. Spent my birthday alone & sleepless for 48 hrs, sitting in airplanes with cramping legs (no, I do not fly business class)... But why? Because right below spending time my wife and son, riding my bike is what I love most. My only regret... not being able to spend more time with you guys in Georgia this year. I hope to see you all again for the Tour de Georgia next spring !

Best Regards,
Rodrigo Sagastegui

New Cycle Logic Apparel

Express your support for North Central Florida's Bicycle Racing Team...simply.

For stylish weekend comfort anytime, guys will want to live in our Fitted T. Made of ultra-fine, combed ring-spun cotton, that gets softer with each washing. Lightweight for summer comfort or winter layering. Grab attention with this vintage fit that loves to hug skin. (Size up for a looser fit).

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To order, click here

Some Images for Six Gap

click on images to view them larger

Eric Stubbs Wins!

Apparently hairy legs improves climbing and sprinting - at least it seemed that way for our Fuzzy Logic teammate Eric Stubbs (henceforth known as "Il Flaco.") at this years cat 3 Dahlonega mountain omnium. He was simply best at everything all weekend long. And to paraphrase Big Carlos (Smith), "the dude doesn't even eat meat!"

Uphill "TT"
The victorious vegan began his winning streak at the Saturday a.m. 7 mile "TT" up the west side of Wolfpen Gap. The "TT" was actually a by-category, mass start, point to point, 7 mile (actually 8.5 mile) road race. The climb itself was about 1.5 miles preceded by 7 miles of rolling hills.

The 43-rider strong peleton surged along (containing a handfull of 30+ masters) until a small break formed by some aggressive bad etiquette blocking and powered by Daniel the cat 1 super master. Eventuality Daniel rolled the hapless posers off his wheel about 1/2 k from the start of the 1.5 mile 8%+ climb to the summit. At this point Il Flaco flew across 500 meter gap and latched onto Daniel's wheel just as the climb started. The Dogg winced and whined at the lunacy of this dubious maneuver but Il Flaco apparently needs only seconds to recover and managed to clamp down hard on Daniels wheel all the way to the top where two polka dot jerseys were waiting patiently.

The Dogg opened his doggy-bag of courage and when the pack exploded half way up, managed to fend off all but two 23 year-olds and take 4th for the 3s - about 20 seconds and tantalizingly close to the winners, sight-wise.

Circuit Race
Three hours and one 30 mile transfer later we all lined up for a 30 mile-3 lap extremely hilly circuit race.

The pace was fast and furious as the jilted power riders and large teams fired off their best motors in an attempt to reclaim lost points from the earlier race. Il Flaco, Dogg and Big Carlos mostly chilled and surfed the back until we moved up 3 miles from the end in anticipation of the 1k 3% grade sprint finish. (Big Carlos was off the back about 2 miles opting to do solo hill drills instead.) The Dogg fought his way to the front at the last corner looking to lead Il Flaco into the headwind but noticed he was being towed around the corner a good 50 feet ahead of us all.

Giving the field the Lance look, he roared away from his faded companion and soloed up a headwind hill long enough to startle spectators with strange and primitive bellows (which he refused to recreate for us) in the final brutal seconds when he was inched out by just one chaser.

The Dogg was in 7th position when the sprint start but had to sette for 12th of 15 point places due to two fading riders who, side by side, simply stopped pedaling at the 200 meter mark and forced many of us to slam on the brakes, zigg-zagg twice and restart our sprint. Ok, yeah. Coulda, woulda, shoulda.


Road Race
The next morning was Il Flaco's 24th birthday, what a present eh? The final epic 40-mile road race started with Il Flaco firmly in the lead - truly a marked man. So where did Cycle Logic position itself in the peleton? At the front? Nope! Gators can climb but we descend like plucked chickens with vertigo. The first 4 miles of the race descended super fast switchbacks that kept us huddled in abject terror at the very back - and sometimes behind that shameful spot.

Several times we wasted valuable energy chasing back on when we should have been coasting happily. Eventually, near the halfway mark, (with Big Carlos doing more OTB hill drills) after a god-awful "The Wall" section, a much thinned peleton wound it's way down a safer feeling but huge-hilled road and we felt "all better now". We felt good enough to go to the front and help chase down a dangerous-looking escape group.

At that point we didn't realize that Super-master Daniel was 1.5 minutes off the front with a zero points Team Florida racer named John Moore. We never saw those two again. Daniel said he towed John the whole way but I'll give him credit for getting in the good break. John also did a spectacular but doomed 10 mile solo breakaway in the circuit race the day before.

Eventually the 30-something pack emerged onto a 3 mile climb up the North side of Neil's gap immediately followed by a 3.5 leg breaking final climb up the East side of Wolfpen Gap. At the start of the climb the two teamates rode side by side grinning at the "epicness" of this stage. One mile later they were locked into a grim, painfully slow dance of death with less than a dozen climbers. Near the top Il Flaco threw down a 2mph "surge" which shattered the pack and allowed him to solo away to stage field and omnium victory.

At the 1 k to go flag, the Dogg decided he could amp up the pain, especially to humiliate rude little snot-nosed junior, and managed to claw around enough of the twenty-something escapees to claim 6th in the stage and 6th overall in the omnium.

Not too shabby for a couple of flatland Crackers who's two man team bested all of the 5-7 man teams.

Kerry Duggan

Swampman Century recap

*Click on photos for larger view. Bottom photo, courtesy of About Bikes

Fast, Fast, Fast!
Can you say sub-4hr. century?!


A large contingent of Cycle Logic members made their way to the start of the 2008 Swampman Century. The lead group kept an average speed of over 26 mph for the entire ride. That pace was pushed in large part by the Orange and Gray. In the bottom photo to the left, the leaders have already knocked out the first 30 miles and at that moment were pushing 30 miles per hour, nine of the top ten cyclists in the paceline were proudly flying the colors of Cycle Logic.

Cycle Logic climbs Mt. Washington

submitted by James Penrod
Coming back from a weeklong vacation is not easy, so pardon the lack of punctuality on this post.

Things I learned in New Hampshire:

• Lake Winnipesaukee is wicked beautiful (and not an ounce of flat roads in the entire area).
• You can never eat too much Lobster.
• If you’re ever on the south coast of Maine, you MUST stop at Brown’s ice cream parlor. I think they have perfected the art of sticking a half gallon of home made ice cream on a single sugar cone (seriously).
• Riding 7.8 miles is no problem. Climbing 4400+ feet in elevation in that same distance, however is no easy feat (the locals say “it’s wicked hard” and “you’re wicked stupid for trying it”).

SO…Mt. Washington!!
I think they said it all before we started:
“Same distance as Alpe d’Huez, but 1,000 feet higher in elevation”
For those that don’t compute hill climbs regularly, that means a much more wicked steep climb than those French hills.

I’m not sure if we planned it right or not, but we arrived the day before the climb on Friday and took a short ride through the rolling roads of The Lakes Region of New Hampshire, and returned home to dine on some excellent baked Ziti courtesy of Ron’s (Baldy-Locks) in-laws, who’s house we stayed at. We figured it would be better to get the climb out of the way before wearing ourselves out over the next week, and it seemed to work out pretty well.

The next morning, we awoke bright and early to make the record-breaking time of one hour to get to the base of Mt. Washington (courtesy of Ron’s father in-law Richard and his chipped pickup truck). Arriving with almost three hours before the start gave us plenty of time to take in the beautiful weather which was a balmy 56˚ and sprinkling. With Mt. Washington being known for ‘the worst recorded weather in the world’ and the highest recorded wind speed of over 250 mph, we were skeptical of the conditions we would encounter on our climb to the heavens. As the time got closer to the start cannon going off, the weather appeared to be clearing toward the top elevations. But still, the weather has been known to change drastically (wicked fast) within a few minutes, so we were still a little hesitant to take off our under shirts, arm warmers, vests, leg warmers, etc. Eventually we did, and I think between the three of us, we shed about 30 lbs.

After the final pee and poop breaks before the start, we sat in our respective start groups with Ron and James in the second group, 5 minutes behind the elite group and Vern 10 minutes behind us in the fourth group. Watching Phil Gaimmon take off and sprint to the front of his group was INSANE! I can’t imagine holding that pace for the duration. I was still hoping to hold my projected 5 mph pace (seriously).
As for the climb, it’s hard to explain. I’m sitting here typing, trying to find the words. Imagine Sugarloaf not leveling off at the top, and extending almost 8 more miles with only about three sections of flat (around 15% grade) road extending about 25 feet each. It’s a little harder than that. Luckily, the weather was probably the warmest and sunniest in the history of the climb.

“How did we do?”, you may ask yourself.
“Did any of us walk?”, you may be hinting at.

Well, Mr. Palsgrove finished in 01:20:34 – 30th in his age-group
Mr. Penrod finished in 01:30:30 (right in line with his projected goal of 1.5 hours) – 51st in his age-group
Ms. Veronica ‘Bronzey’ Geist finished in a very respectable 01:34:23 – 18th out of ALL women, and 3rd in her age-group!!

OK, enough about the ride, now I can talk about MY GIRL!!!
THIRD PLACE BABY!!!
What a ride!!

I think we were all sitting around at the awards ceremony after filling our bellies with the complimentary homemade turkey dinner (with all the fixin’s and all homemade) just waiting for the ice cream to come when they announced Vern’s age group finishers. We all just paused for a second, not thinking any of us had done anything really spectacular by finishing this wicked pissa of a climb. “Did they just say Veronica Geist?”. We all looked at each other in amazement….then let out a huge cheer for our Cycle-Logic, Florida flat-lander, climber!!! What a ride. And to think, she had been asking to leave for the past 30 minutes.

The conversation immediately turned to how we could improve her time for next year. Gears, training, wheels, new bike (of course, a new bike was her first thought). After that day, I think Vern had a little more torque to her cadence during our rides through the rolling hills of New Hampshire. I found myself lagging behind while Vern would stick to Ron’s wheel on even the fastest climbs over the next week. I, of course used the excuse of looking for Moose and Bear as we passed the scattered lakes and ponds, but the truth is, I just couldn’t stick to Bronzey’s wheel.

That girls is WICKED FAST!!

Two Cycle Logicians Become One

From behind the windshield of her car, Rachel Hallum spotted a spandex clad Roger Montes pedaling his bike. The year was 2005 and she knew then that the two of them would "ride" together one day. Rachel approached Roger and invited him on a bike ride and the rest, as they say, is history.

Although Roger has proven to be the better sprinter of the two, Rachel ascends mountains like an angel ascending towards the heavens...unfortunately for Rachel, they are in Florida and she rarely gets the opportunity to spank Roger (on the bike at least).

This relationship has now come full circle and the two have decided to take this union to the next level with...wait for it...wait for it...

AN ENGAGEMENT!!! That's right, young love has blossomed into a fully matured love. The wedding isn't planned until late 2009, so we all have plenty of time to save our pennies for that tandem bike we're gunna get them.

Felicitaciones from the Cycle Logic family!

Cycle Logic crosses the pond!

Dana and I returned Sunday a.m. from a Team goodwill tour of the French Alpes. Highlighted climbs include The Telegraph, Galibier and Alpe d' Huez.

While our group consisted of mostly fit club riders we did have an incredible 74 year old woman from Miami who has been racing all her life. Her name is Joan Paul and she knows more about domestic and international racing than anybody I've met.

Dana and I were the only group members that race ( except for a mtn. biker from Latvia) so we ended up off the front on most rides, particularly the classic climbs. The roads were incredibly beautiful and challenging but I know most of you motorheads are more interested in the statistics - so here they are:
(Disclaimer: We rode these climbs sight unseen for the first time after several hours of cycling to get to them so we are SURE we could have done better- yada, yada, yada - coulda, woulda, shoulda.)

The Telegraph - 12 k long - average grade 7.3 up to 9.8.
Time K-Dogg 55 minutes. Dana 65 minutes.

The Galibier - 18 k long - average grade 6.9 up to 10.5
This thing kicked our azs because of wind gusts of 40 mph.
Time K-Dogg 1.5 hours. Dana 2.0 hours.

Alpe d' Huez - 14 k long (plus or minus depending who you believe) Average grade 7.9 up to 10.5.
Time K-Dogg 58 minutes. Dana 68 minutes.
Pantani's time 37 minutes. Dude.
Side note: Dana's goal was to beat Sheryl Crow's time of 1hour 37 minutes. All the women in our group beat her except for Joan. Sheryl was no althlete it turns out.



Kerry
**click on images to view larger

Cycle Logic climbs Mt. Evans

G'day trendsetters,

Tal and I are officially the first CL'ers to climb to over 14,000 feet. With that said, Mr Duggan did the Mount Evans race last year although he wasn't a CL member at the time. Kerry's time also eclipsed ours... by a bit ;)

If you're ever out in Colorado, this is a must do ride. Elevation above 10,000 - 14,000 feet makes breathing difficult and speaking for myself, dizzy in the noggin. However, the suffering was all worth it for the photo :) and the hour long descent.

Tal and I were both a little under-dressed and froze our arses off but made it down
unscathed. Gloves are recommended above 11,000 feet - I ignored Kerry's advice :(

Ta ta from Vail, CO.

Jayson

Team Video

Rider Profile: Justin Pfaff

Leading at the break...
Making it all the way to the "Seventh Inning Stretch" of the Florida racing season, Cycle Logic team member Justin Pfaff, is currently leading the Florida Points Series for his age group.

Justin's eleven 1st place finishes have helped towards achieving his goal of winning the FPS at the end of the season. As a bonus, Justin's knack for winning races has also helped with his lead in the Florida Cup as well.

The awards for the Florida Points Series and the Florida Cup will be given out on September 20th at the Season Finale FPS Party following the Pinellas Park Circuit Race. The FPS party is also where Justin will officially receive his State Champion jerseys for his wins at the State Road Race and the State Criterium earlier this season.

Stronger than ever and armed with his new SRAM Red component gruppo (that he received for his 12th birthday in May), Justin hopes to continue his run at the title when FPS racing resumes this August in Jacksonville.

Already able to hold onto group rides with much older, faster and more experienced racers, it won't be long before this young gun is riding everyone off his wheel. Cycle Logic is sure to maintain a presence at the top of the podium for years to come thanks to it's youngest teammate, Justin Pfaff.

Stay tuned...

Team Ride Route

Full size version

Fitchburg Longsjo Classic Stage Race Report

by Mike Arena

July 3, 2008
Stage One: Individual Time Trial

The time trial course was 6.9 miles long, and fairly steadily uphill for the first 5 miles, followed by a fairly quick descent to the finish. I had a chance to ride the course the night before, so I knew what to expect. I had an early start the next morning (8:38:30), and got plenty of sleep, but not quite enough of a warmup. I opted not to borrow any clip-on aero bars, as I hadn’t trained with them at all, and was running a regular road setup. This might have been a mistake, in hindsight.

When I got to the starting ramp, there were gaps all over the place in starters – I didn’t have a 30 second man, and my one minute man was missing two people in front of him. I walked my bike up and tried to breathe deeply. The holder started squirming, and I nearly ate it before I even started.

The launch went smoothly though, and I quickly accelerated up to speed after, of course, posing for the five cameras lining the road just past the ramp. I hit the first hill entirely too hot, and nearly blew up before I reached the top. I dialed it back a bit (kept the heart rate down to 186) and kept going. I caught my one-minute man about 2.3 miles into it. I caught sight of my 2:30 man at about mile four. By the time we crossed the line, he was about 100 meters in front of me. I had closed in a bit closer by the top of the climb, but his aero bars and disc wheel (and legs too, I suppose) let him open it back up on the descent.

I kept it in the big ring the whole time, which definitely saved some hassle, but found myself out of the saddle twice, barely turning over 53x25 (I refused to dump it to the 27). All in all, I came in with a time of 19:46.08, good enough for 19th place, and I think possibly the best time for a non-aero setup. It felt good, and was a blast. Time trials are definitely in my future.


July 4, 2008
Stage Two: Road Race

The road race was only 46 miles long, but with a fairly large amount of elevation change. The staging area was in the parking lot of a ski resort, and went down a quick descent (started halfway down) into a hard right, which then rolled for a few miles, before turning and heading straight up a wall into the town of Princeton, taking a hard right, and continuing straight up out of the town for about another quarter mile or so. The road then climbed steadily up before rolling slightly and reaching the King of the Mountain points line (and also the turnoff for the mountain finish). I’m not sure about the exact elevation numbers (somewhere around 900 feet per lap), but my ears popped twice – once on the way up, and once on the way down.

I’ve never started with such a huge field of riders. I believe there were 130 or so. Straight off the bat, the race hit 40mph heading down the second half of the descent with a huge pack of nervous folks. By the time we got the first corner, I was on the outside and managed to keep my speed through the turn and make up about 20-30 spots to put me toward the front of the field, but still about 40 riders back.

The beginning of the race was fairly uneventful – lots of dropped chains, a few flat tires, but no major hang-ups. The first time up the wall, some guys at the front decided to push it and see who was there to race. It was a tad nerve-wracking having 130 guys all out of the saddle and rocking their bike at the same time, but everything ended well enough. The pace picked up as people were gunning it for the KOM points, which I gladly sat in and watched them rack up – conserve, conserve, conserve. The first time down the hill was fierce, easily hitting 57-60mph. I was tucked fairly well and trying not to touch the brakes. Thankfully, they’d opened up the entire road for this part of the course, so there was plenty of room to move around.

I stayed toward the front for the next lap, and found myself sitting about three back for the second time up the climb. A friend on Cambridge Bicycle’s team (and the race leader at the time) was out in the wind, so I offered him a wheel to follow and paced him up the climb.

The third lap read much the same; surges everywhere, faster on the ups than the downs, a few chain drops, a few flats. The wall was starting to hurt a bit (as if it didn’t on the first lap…) but it was still manageable and I was still feeling incredibly good. That is, until we got to the descent.

I’m not quite sure as to the cause, but my chain popped off the ring to the outside just as I was getting up to speed down the hill. I tried not to panic (difficult when things are going wrong at 55mph) and attempted to shift it back on. Somehow it became jammed between the small ring and the chainstay, and my cranks locked up. Uh-oh. I managed to barely come to a stop safely (of course just at the bottom of the hill) and quickly jump off and fix it as the field absolutely flew by me.

I hopped back on and used the little that was left of the hill to get back to about 45mph, but with the field still flying, it was useless. I made the decision to give it everything to try to get back on, as the first few rollers were generally recovery time in the pack. The smart thing to do would have probably been to ride tempo to the finish, climb the mountain, make the time cut, and race the next day. I’ve never said I’m a smart rider. I kept seeing lines of stalled traffic at the top of every hill, giving me hope that the pack was just over the next roller, and I’d be back on in a few minutes. Not the case. After about six miles of chasing at my absolute limit, I hit the wall and quickly realized the folly of my ways.

Never before in my life have I hated the sound of clapping and cowbells so much. I barely struggled up the hill, nearly falling just before the corner. By the time I got to the KOM points line, I was toast. There was a delightful rock pit on the side of the road where I single handedly won a cookie-tossing contest. With only two miles and 700 feet of climbing left, I was finished.

Given another chance, I’m sure I’d make the same mistake again and try to chase back on with everything I had. If I’m not racing to win, I’m not really racing.

Support for local racer

There is a HUGE 5 day juniors stage race (The Tour de l’abitibi) held in Canada (40th annual this year) at the end of July that has been touted as the largest junior stage race in the world, and is part of the UCI Juniors Nations’ Cup.

Two of our fellow Central Florida Cyclists have been invited to attend as members of the Florida Velo Development Team (Jimmy Page of Citrus Cycling and Will Willis of ASV/Gold’s). Obviously this is a HUGE opportunity for these guys as well as the rest of their team plucked from South Florida (Preferred Alliance) and North Carolina (Hincapie) as these guys will be competing against 26 other teams from around the WORLD (including the USA National Development Team)!! This international competition is considered the most important development road race of its category. It is also North-America’s most difficult and longest in duration and distance.

Obviously, traveling and supporting a 5 day stage race takes some funds, so Citrus Cycling is holding a benefit ride (metric century and some shorter distances) to help these guys pay for their trip the weekend after Independence Day. It would be great if we could get a bunch of us to show up and support these guys and ride alongside the future legends.

I’ve attached some links that explain the race and the benefit ride below.

floridacycling.com

TourAbitibi
(click on the English tab at the top right if you cannot read French)

Citrus Cycling

Team Armada


JP/CL

They're Here!

The long-awaited, much anticipated photos from our trip to the Tour of Georgia. There are many many many photos, some may seem like duplicates, but this slideshow was generated by compiling the photos from three different groups of people.

A large amount of work went into trying to add captions and descriptions for most (at least the fist half) of the pictures...so make all the time spent on this stupid thing worth while by reading a few of them.

If anybody would like a high resolution version of any of the pictures in this slideshow, contact the team and we'll work something out for $20-$30/photo.

Enjoy the photos by clicking HERE
-OR-
Go to www.5count.com/ToG-Gallery/

Catching Up

Be sure to scroll down our blog to find new additions, announcement and results. We have also updated some older posts with great photos thanks to our resident pro, Gerry Bouchard. We've been lax in our updates and have recently made a concerted effort to bring you back up to speed, "Catchup", if you will. Some entries of note:

• Stolen Bikes!!!
• State Road Races, Age Day and Category Day
• New Member: Tal Mincey
• Sugarloaf photos by Gerry Bouchard
• A State Crit report by Scott Pfaff
• Photo Slide show from the trip to North Georgia for the Tour of Georgia

STOLEN BIKES

This past weekend, two of our teammates had their bikes stolen. Below is the original email from our very own Rachel Hallum regarding this heinous act.

Hey everyone,

Last night Roger and I had our bikes stolen from the Turkey Creek area (off Hwy. 441, near Alachua). Some jerks literally ripped them off our roof racks.

The bikes are a silver and black CANNONDALE SYSTEM 6 and a black and white SPECIALIZED TARMAC EXPERT with red handlebar tape (both are between 49 and 52 cm; I can't remember the exact frame sizes). The Specialized has a couple of scratches on the top tube. Both of them are missing their front wheels, and the Cannondale is also missing the back wheel.

PLEASE, if you see these frames anywhere, or if someone tries to sell them to a local bike shop, PLEASE LET US KNOW.

My number is 386-956-9231.

Roger's number is 352-870-8600.

State Road Race Championships-Age Day

photos by Gerry Bouchard
It was once said, "To be a cyclist is to be a student of pain....at cycling's core lies pain, hard and bitter as the pit inside a juicy peach. It doesn't matter if you're sprinting for an Olympic medal, a town sign, a trailhead, or the rest stop with the homemade brownies. If you never confront pain, you're missing the essence of the sport." -Scott Martin

Members of Cycle Logic confronted pain this past weekend on the beautiful State Road Race course surrounded by horse farms in the Ocala area. Saturday's races were reserved for all the age-groupers and Cycle Logic made it to the podium on more that one occasion.

The Juniors 10-12 race once again saw Justin Pfaff step up onto the top of the podium as he took his second State Championship jersey of the year (ed. Justin also won the State Criterium Championship back in May).

Kerry Duggan, Ken Sallot, Rob Robins, Tal Mincey and Scott Pfaff were the other brave teammates to vie for a State Championship crown.

The veteran, Kerry Duggan, had no problem keeping pace with a deceptively strong 45+ Masters field to finish in the lucky 13 spot for his 50-54 age group. In the 30+ Masters race Ken Sallot got caught behind a gap in the peloton and was forced to venture forward solo. Despite having to race the following day, Ken drove it hard to the finish for a respectable 39th on the day.

Competing in the same race as Sallot- Rob Robins, Tal Mincey and Scott Pfaff were left to fight for position in the field while some of the fastest men in the state forced the pace at the front. Tal's first experience in Masters races proved to be a successful one as he was the teams top finisher in the ultra competitive 35-39 age group. Tal finished 12th and more than proved his worth as Cycle Logic's newest teammate. Rob Robins continued to show his great form as he slotted in just two spots behind Tal for 14th.

Still in the same race, but competing against the 40-44 year olds, Scott Pfaff pfinally reaped some glory after sewing the seeds of consistency all year long. Racing against these same guys week in and week out proved to be the advantage for Pfaff as he knew the wheels to watch in the closing laps. Staying close to the front and giving it everything all the way to the line resulted in Scott's first ever podium finish as he placed 2nd in his age group!

State Road Race Championships-Category Day

Cat 3's
With our expanding number of category 3 teammates, Cycle Logic was able to field four strong, smart, competitive cyclists for the Cat 3 race. So Rob Robins, Eric Stubbs, Gerry Bouchard and Kerry Duggan toed the line. (Would have been 5, but some moron stole Roger Montes' bike the night before the race)

With the feed zone packed with other Cycle Logic teammates and supporters, the heat of the day was kept at bay by way of copious amount of ice-cold fluids. The boys in Orange and Gray were vigilant at the front in the early laps and Rob Robins was diligently going with everything that attempted to go up the road.

In the end, it was gruppo compacto and a bunch kick was surely going to be served. Due to Eric Stubbs' pension for finding the front at the end of a race, the boys sacrificed themselves in hopes of yet another good finish by Eric and once again, he didn't disappoint. Placing 7th gave Cycle Logic an outstanding finish in a supremely competitive field. Rob gave it a dig in the sprint but was bumped into the grass and was forced to roll through cyclocross style.

Cat 4's
Ken Sallot, Anthony Musalo, Mike Arena and James Penrod took to the line in the Cat 4 race which started in the heat of the day at 1 o'clock in the afternoon. The blistering sun would soon be replaced by Armageddon-like clouds which ultimately brought hurricane force winds, lightning, thunder and cold rain.

With all our 4's on top form for this race, hopes were high that we'd be able to work some tactics and have a serious card to play in the finale. With Sallot working tirelessly at the front in the early laps covering any promising move, the field thinned under the pressure and heat of the day. Musalo and Arena negotiated the hills effortlessly while Penrod found the pace to be easier than his spirited training rides over these same roads.

As the storm approached the race officials shortened the race by two laps and gave the field "one to go". With lightning strikes hitting the ground only a stones throw away from the finish line and the wind blowing riders all over the road, a portion of the field wisely exited the race and took cover along with the many stranded spectators.

Musalo bravely forged ahead for the final lap managing to stay at the front of the attacking field. As the remnants of the cat 4 field came into view on the finishing stretch, the wind was blowing the rain and the riders sideways. Unable to see the finish line Musalo misjudged his kick slightly and still managed a 9th place finish.

All of our team, friends, family and supporters stayed safe and the worst of the storm passed without casualties.

All in all, a great weekend of racing and some more great results for Cycle Logic. Thanks to all the teammates who came out and raced, volunteered driving wheel trucks and official cars, worked as corner marshals, or picked up trash along the course following the races conclusion. Cycle Logic has once again shown it's support for the Florida racing scene through its willingness to help.

Welcome, Talmadge Mincey

Cycle Logic would like to announce it's newest member, Talmadge "Tal" Mincey.

Tal's incredible work ethic and ability to ride fast will be a valued asset to the team, but his easy-going, friendly personality is what makes Tal such a great aquisition. We look forward to having Tal in the orange and grey and representing our team for years to come.

Tal had one heck of a debut for the team this past weekend at the State Road Race Championships held in Ocala. Only a cat 5 and participating in the most competitive field of the day (the Masters 30+), Tal more than impressed with his 12th place finish in his age group. Just keeping pace with a field chock-full-of Pro,1,2's certainly speaks volumes to the potential of our newest member.

Please join us in welcoming Tal Mincey to the team by leaving a comment.

photo courtesy of Gerry Bouchard

Lake Louisa Circuit Race #3 Recap

Ron and James showed up at the third installment of the 2008 Lake Louisa Circuit Race series this past Tuesday night  to test their training.  Both of us had only been on the bike seriously for about a week and a half.  My work schedule and Ron's injuries from the Deland crit kept us from doing any serious training in the weeks prior, but it turned out to be a blessing in disguise, allowing us both a well needed rest from the early Florida racing schedule.  We are both ramping up for the State Road Race in Ocala in June, so we figured we'd try our legs on the rolling hills of Lake Louisa.

With only two Cycle-Logic teammates showing up, and about 6 Armada teammates present, we saw immediately we were outnumbered.  I gave Ron explicit instructions not to start any fights (he's bad about that sometimes J).  Seriously though, with that many of one team showing up, we figured they would ramp up the pace, and hopefully take some responsibility in pulling in any early breaks.  Although we watched them intently waiting for one of them to charge off the front, it never happened.  One unattached guy got away early, and two more joined him in the following laps. 

Ron and I both tried to share in the work, attempting to keep the pace high enough to wear out some of the other riders while diminishing the gap at the same time.  With the wind in our face on the final descent, Armada put their big guy on the front and he hammered his way down hill, reducing the gap to mere seconds.  After the turn around, Ron immediately got away from the group, and with no intentions of slowing down, immediately caught two of the three guys who had been in the wind off the front for nearly the entire race and expeditiously passing them on the first small hill.  Unfortunately, one of the Armada guys (Dave Perry, I believe - a lanky hill-climber-looking guy) was right on Ron's tail and stayed there until they were halfway up the final hill. 

I still being in the pack approaching the final ascent to the finish, attacked the field with the craze of a rabid mongoose.  Keeping an eye on my shadow to make sure nobody was following, and watching my heartrate steadily climb far past my comfort zone, I kept my head down, and stayed as aero as I knew how.  Although we did have an uphill tailwind, I pegged my HR at 185, and reached deep to keep my momentum as I approached Ron and Dave.  Once I reached them, they stood up and started accelerating again.  It took all I had to not give up at that point. 

 

I mean, I was dying!!  

 

The hopes of possibly getting a 10 second draft off of these guys was all that kept me from passing out!

 

 …and they stand up and accelerate?

 

Looking back, I could see the pack far enough away to tell that if I held my pace, I should be able to hold my current 4^th place spot, so I just pulled whatever motivation I had out of my burning legs, and aching lungs and kept it going.  Although I sounded like a steam engine with my huffing and puffing at the finish, I kept my 4^th place, with Ron coming in 3^rd.

 

We both came out to test our legs, and get a good workout, and came away with a 3^rd and 4^th. 

Congratulations Ron.

With three and a half weeks to go, I think we should be ready for the Ocala Road Race.

 

See you there.

 

JP/ CL

State Criterium Championships

Weekend Race Report - submitted by Scott Pfaff

Saturday, May 17th 2008
Scott's race
Saturday’s race was held in the parking lot across the street from the Lakeland Civic Center. When I first looked at the course on Friday night I thought “alright! this is going to be flat, no problem I can handle this..” well let me tell you this 6/10th of a mile 8 corner course was anything but easy. It seemed all you did was: pedal..corner, pedal..corner, sprint..corner and then you got to coast for about 10 seconds along the back stretch just before you slammed into a tight left hand turn that was about as wide as a sheet of plywood.

The first 7 or 8 laps were the worst then you finally got the rhythm of the course and then only thing you had to worry was when your heart was going to burst out of your chest. The pace of the Masters 35+ race claimed its fair share of victims, I was almost one. For some reason I stopped paying attention and drifted way too far back, you know like 20th place, the place where you watch breaks go away and there is nothing you can do about it. I was back there thinking about crocheting or needle point or something important when the next thing I knew there were giant gaps all around. It took about 4 laps to recover from that fiasco and get back on with the lead group, yeah I know it serves me right but when you only have 3 matches to burn in a race everyone is precious (yes I only have 3, I’m old remember). I held on to the bitter end and finished in the spot they hold for me in every race, 14th.

Justin's race
Justin’s race was for some reason very nerve racking, his mom and I talked about it after the race and we couldn’t quite put our finger on why we were both so nervous about this weekend. Maybe it was the word “Championship” attached to the weekend or maybe it was because it has been almost a month since his last race. What ever the reason we both had butterflies for Justin.

Justin started his race by attacking immediately and was able to get a gap of about 20 yards. We had talked before the race about doing this and seeing if he could get one of the older kids to go with him. If not he would hold it for one lap and then ease back into the group. Well he held for 1 lap and none of the older kids would bite so that was that. As he eased back into the group one of the older kids from Colavita attacked and stretched the group out in a straight line for about a half lap fortunately Justin was paying attention and was able to fold right into the group and stay with the leaders. Team Calovita had two riders in the 13-14 age group riding in support of their 10-12 year old points leader. It was allot of fun to watch the kids experimenting with team tactics at this age, it makes the race feel like a scaled down pro event. The points leader would attack while his teammates would block and Justin would have to cover with no help from the other team. It made me happy to see him pay attention to the race and understand the tactics that were being employed. He never let the break get too far before he would reel it back. This happened about 4 or 5 times before they gave up and decided to let it come down to a sprint.

The bad thing about our position on the course was that you could not see the last two corners before the final sprint. You could see the course up to 3rd to the last corner but that was it. Justin was 4th wheel going into that corner so I felt pretty good with his position in the group. But I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw him come around the final corner with about a 10 yard gap on the field. He was standing and sprinting out of the saddle like we had talked about so many times before but he never really seemed to know when to do it. This time he had it timed to perfection and was going for all he had. He just got nipped at the line by a 14 year old to get second in the overall group and first in his division. The kids in his division never made any ground up on Justin once he started his sprint. The best part of the win was the new handle bars Justin won for me, well okay, he’s not really going to give them to me but I can dream.


Sunday, May 18th 2008 “Championship Day”

Justin’s race was at 7:45 am and needless to say the butterflies started at 5:00, Jan and I both felt exactly as we had the day before. We have always felt a little nervous before Justin’s races I think that’s normal for parents but I’m beginning to think that because Justin is becoming more competitive in his racing we’re becoming more anxious for him.

Justin’s race started with an attack by the boy who leads the 13-14 age group points series and was the boy who nipped Justin at the line on Saturday. Justin went with him for awhile but came back to the group. When we talked after the race he said he was afraid he would blow up and not be able to sprint in the end. The group worked fairly well together with a few attacks on the hill leading up to the finish line. Justin was able to react well to all of them and was well placed going into the final laps. This race was not nearly as exciting as the day before as I think the older kids, while still riding in support of their points leader, were obviously thinking of their own podium position on that day.

The boy who broke away at the start was never really threatened by the group and won the overall race easily. The part that I did not expect was how the rest of the race would unfold. This course has a long incline leading up to the finish line, it’s not really steep but after going over it time after time after time it really hurts, I speak from experience on this one. The other feature of the incline is that you can’t see the corner or the lead up to the top of the hill from the finish line so it’s always a surprise as to who is going to be leading at the crest of the hill. Well to my surprise who comes blowing over the top first but Justin and he has about a 20 yard gap on the field. This time though there is nobody in the field to challenge him to the line and he wins riding away. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t excited as a pig in a mud bath! I was excited for the win but I was also excited because I think Justin maybe starting to realize how to finish a race, that’s something I still haven’t learned how to do!

My race started the way they all do, I look up and down the start line and say, "what am I doing here?" It seemed every pro that was 30+ years old had decided to have a go at winning the “State Championship” jersey. I know what you guys are thinking “that’s no way to start a race”! Well I still haven’t gotten over this feeling and I have been racing with these guys for 2 years now so I doubt it’s leaving anytime soon. I think it may stem back to this same race last year when I pre-rode the course in my car the night before and thought humph that hills not so bad! Well 10 minutes into last years race and 8 times over that D#$% hill and I was, how does James say it, “Attacking off the back”.

So we are sitting on the line and the official is going over all of the pre-race stuff and the guy next to me, who I have been racing with for awhile, leans over and says “what are we doing here with these guys”? Well immediately I feel this great weight lifted off my shoulders, I think at least I’m not the only one. About that time the whistle blows and the pain begins. The first fifteen minutes of a race are always the hardest for me, it seems like I always struggle to find that just right position in the field. The one where you only do the amount of work that is expected and not one bit more, remember I only have 3 matches.

The pace was hard this year but I was able to hold my position throughout the race and while I’m not going to make any teams stand up and take notice, except maybe the ones in my dreams, I finished the race without getting dropped. Yes I know, I finished in one of those reserved spots for Scott J. Pfaff, 16th.

More Sugarloaf photos

by Gerry Bouchard