2010 Kit - Sneak Peek 1

We're anxiously awaiting the arrival of our 2010 apparel. We're HOPING that the delivery lands on our doorstep before this weekend's Bring it On race. We told you earlier that we'd be giving you some sneak peaks of the new kit prior to it being revealed completely, so here's the first tease...stay tuned.

Bring it On - facebook

Are you a facebook'er? Wanna see who's coming to the Bring it On race? Check out the Bring it On event page on facebook. While you're there, let us know if you'll be attending as well...we'll save a race number for you.

2010 Kit design

Stay tuned to CycleLogic.org for the unveiling of Cycle Logic's new 2010 kit.

Currently in production, the 2010 kit will arrive in early January, but we'll be showing a sneak peak here on the team blog prior to its arrival.

We're excited to showcase our new sponsors with a fresh look for the upcoming racing season.

Stay tuned...

Saylor Socks!

Our generous sock sponsor for 2010 and 2011 is none other than Gainesville resident and bike racer extraordinaire, Ryan Saylor a.k.a. "The Cyclist's Realtor".

In addition to racing bikes and selling houses, Ryan has become locally infamous for his cycling socks. Cycle Logic will be receiving a redesigned version of the Saylor Socks with our very own orange and gray color scheme.

While the delivery of socks will be here in plenty of time for the 2010 racing season, we have been sent a photo of a sample pair. Just for reference, the back of the cuff has a stylish placement of our sponsor's name.

It's that time of year once again. The days are shorter, the evenings are darker and bike racers all over the state are spending time on indoor trainers or squeezing in rides whenever or wherever they can...all in an effort to be ready for the start of the racing season.

Cycle Logic will be kicking things off once again in 2010. Two weekends of training criteriums on a wide, flat, 2-turn,1-mile course in Alachua, Florida. The Bring it On races have been a staple of early season racing for a long time. They allow everyone to reintroduce themselves to the racing peloton in a relaxed and friendly environment.

Come out and be a part of the tradition:

Saturday, January 16th and 23rd 2010
Races start at 2:00pm
Registration opens at 1:15pm

Click here for a PDF of the RACE FLYER

Team Apparel -2010

Cycle Logic's team apparel for the 2010 season will be produced by California based Voler. A well-known and well-respected company with a long history of supplying cycling teams, clubs and organizers with a quality product, Voler will be a great fit for our team.

We are all looking forward to another successful season and we're looking forward to it while wearing Voler kits.

...by the way, it's pronounced, vo•LAY

Tiki Ride Photo

The Cycle Logic group in Clermont at the start of our team ride 8-29-09.
(l-r) Justin, Rachel, Roger, Jayson, Carlos, Rob, James, Veronica, Paul, Scott, Tal, Steve, John, Ken, Ron, Ed

Now Accepting Sponsors for 2010

Team Cycle Logic is getting their ducks in a row. We've got big plans for the upcoming season and would like to give you the opportunity to be a part of it.

Swing by CycleLogic.org and click on the sponsorship link for more information.

Team Ride

Ride to Remember

I was remembering the ride so much that I forgot to post the picture
from the start line.

Three State, 3-Mountain summary

written and submitted by Rob Robins

This was not my finest moment as a cyclist. I gripped the brakes as much as I dared, just short of locking them up. My bike did not slow down at all like I expected. Like it had so many times before. It was as though it had become a willful beast that had elected this moment -- of all moments -- in which to ignore my commands. Through the downpour I could make out the shape of the bend in the road ahead, but of its particular pitch and surface I could determine nothing. And the wisdom I had felt so sure of while putting on my sunglasses just before my plummet down this mountain was beginning to unravel as well. Sure, the rain was no longer stinging my eyes – but if anything my vision was further impaired. A mile or so more down the mountain and the little trembles that were building somewhere deep in my back and limbs would realize full metamorphosis in the form of head-to-toe body shakes, uncontrollable shivers, and the all too familiar involuntary chattering of teeth. These were the initial warning signs of hypothermia.

This was my introduction to the 3 State, 3 Mountain Century in Chattanooga, TN. Six Cycle-Logic riders and their friends made the trek this year largely at the invitation of team member Tal Mincey, who really rolled out the red carpet for his pals. We set up in a great cabin not far from Chattanooga and made ready for a great weekend of biking.

Mother nature had other plans of course – plans that she made clear in advance in the memos we read with big, bright, blotchy, moving paintings we like to call radar, but cyclists being an absurdly headstrong breed we mushed forward undeterred, hubris and misplaced confidence tucked securely in our hip pockets like so many water bottles and spare tubes. Among us were grizzled veterans of Six Gap, the sub-four hour Swampman Century and the various race categories of Florida Cycling. We could handle anything! The challenge laid before us this morning was a mere 100 mile leisure ride – “Pish Posh!” – One and all exclaimed and we sallied forth. Little did we know that by 11 am, our once proud ranks would be reduced to drunkards in spandex and the publicly nude and indecent.

With temperatures lingering in the high 50’s, the first drops fell moments before the 8 am start. And while they were few, these were big, fat, glossy rain drops, unmistakable as harbingers of a day-long-deluge, not just any old hit and run sprinkling.

Having agreed to do this ride not for time, but for companionship and sight-seeing, we felt no urge to line up at the front. This of course violated several core principles of the riders in our group, most significantly the one that goes something like “To thine own self be true.” Immediately we began racing toward the front. Through the squirrels, around the slip-and-slide and dump-oneself-on-the-train-tracks-for-no-reason-riders and a host of others we proceeded. Reaching the base of the first climb we began to tap out a steady rhythm.

Here I began a fun game of cat and mouse with Tal. The longer it went on, the more riders we passed and the more it became clear to me that Tal was a very lithe and agile mouse and I a listless and much-coddled house cat. Nevertheless I made it to the top with Tal by shamelessly sitting his wheel for a goodly portion of the climb.

It was at this juncture that we were forcefully served the terms of the memo we had chosen to ignore. The icy deluge began. We waited for our teammates as agreed upon but it soon became hard to make out the riders as they passed. Down the mountain I went shortly after Tal, Mike Robinson, and Jayson O’Mahoney. Deft and fearless descenders all, I knew I would not see them again until the bottom.

My ride down, as previously characterized, was also to include such ignominious happenings as getting passed by people approximately twice my age and by a lot of them. I confess that I thought of home and I thought of what it might feel like to slide off the mountain and wrap my body around a tree.

Near the bottom I came upon Jayson, who normally descends like a turd dropped by a bird flying over a car wash – fast, right on target, and sure to ruin your day. But his carbon rims were in a dispute with his brake pads and Jayson was desperately trying to arbitrate the disagreement with language like “Bollocks!” and “Bloody Hell!” All to no avail.

At the bottom the huddled masses immediately got serious about huddling and being a mass. With each passing moment rider upon rider joined the confused and trembling flock at the first sag stop. By the time I found the wits to go inside a gas station convenience store for warmer air and hot drink, my estimate of the crowd outside was of 150- 250 disheartened souls. Crowded as they were together, milling about in little concentric staccato movements, it was as though the deep Antarctic night unfolded before my eyes and The March of the Penguins was on display before me in Chattanooga, TN. Then again, another hallmark of hypothermia is delirium.

As still more riders came down the mountain and dismounted, those with the greatest resolve bedraggledly began to head back over the way we had come. In the end, I have no idea how many abandoned the century, but we joined their ranks and rode back to Chattanooga.

Jayson, Mike and I got a guided escort from some real class acts, local riders in Krystal Burger kits who were as thoughtful as they were fun to ride with. Vern, James, Tal, and his pal Paul took their own route, one that apparently required a stop at a bar for some mid-morning shots. Upon being presented with their drunken parking lot tomfoolery the three amigos responded in the only way appropriate, that being of course a synchronized triple-moon. We hesitated but for a quick check for police and school children before dropping our road-grime-coated bibs in unison.

In the end, this was not a great day for team Cycle Logic’s racing pedigree. But we’ve always been a somewhat muttly bunch, not overly concerned about results on the road as much as we are about riding hard and safe. Let the results come as they may. I for one harbor no regret about 3 State 2009 and am thankful for the companionship of my friends and for the good times in spite of the lousy conditions. Here’s to 3 state in 2010!

Webster-Roubaix Part Duex:

Race Photos by Gerald Bouchard. Email Gerald by clicking here

A couple of weeks ago was Webster-Roubaix, a race that is quickly becoming a Florida classic. With 2.5 miles of dirt roads per lap of the 9 mile circuit and the longest race of the year, just finishing the Webster-Roubaix race is a feat in and of itself.

Our own Tal Mincey took part in the Masters 35+ race which is arguably the most hotly-contested field year in and year out. Packed with the who's who of Florida racing, including many former and current Cat 1 and Cat 2 racers, Tal more than held his own on the demanding Webster course.

Finishing in the top 10 without any teammates is more than worthy of praise. Cycle Logic truly appreciates the contribution that Tal is making to the team and look forward to the inevitable day when Tal cracks this field wide open.

Also testing his mettle in Webster was our very own "Patron of the Pack", the "Elder Statesman of the Race-men", El Jefe...Scott Pfaff. Scott has submitted his very own race report, so here you go:

Last year's Roubaix started out well enough but ended abruptly when my handle bars broke with one lap to go. Fast forward one year and one new set of carbon bars later and we are at the start of this year's Webster-Roubaix, or as I heard the announcer call it, "The Hell of the West”.

Tal and I pre-road the course the week before so we knew what we were in for, dirt and loose gravel. My plan was to stay at the front or as close the front as possible on the dirt sections to avoid the melee in the field that was to sure to happen.

The first few laps of the race I road at the front in order to pick my own line through the course. With 50 guys in the race I didn’t want to have to worry about someone else forcing me into a bad line.

On the very first lap two guys decided to have a go and see if they could last the 105 km’s on their own. The break never really got very far and was left dangling for a while. On the 3rd lap there was more interest in making something happen and the front of the race really came alive. This is were it pays to be at the front, if you were caught in the last half of the pack you were really going to have work hard to keep a good line in the dirt and to bridge across to the group that made it to the pavement first. This was the first selection and it easily cut the field in half.

On lap 4, a group of 12 was able to force a break on the dirt and make it stick. By lap 5 the break had been reeled in and unfortunately the guys were spent and couldn’t stay with the main break. We lost 4 from the original break of 12 over the last 3 laps to finish with 8 in the lead group.

This course doesn’t lend itself to a standing sprint, it’s more of keeping your head down and driving the pedals as hard as you can. I was lucky and managed to get 3rd overall in the 45+ field. Thanks to my wife and Justin for handing me bottles so I could wash down the extra dirt I managed to ingest on every lap. This is one race that when you finish you say to yourself, “I’m never going to do this again”, but after a few days you start thinking about next year!

Scott

Congratulations to both Tal and Scott!

All Post-Race Photos provided by Scott Pfaff

Vicious Piccolos in South Florida

Ok, not a fun weekend for Big Ryan, Il Flaco and the Dogg.
Saturday's .5 mile flat crit course at Brian Piccolo park was shaped like the letter "B" but rode like an "F."

The curvaceous course and 25 mph crosswind singled up every race like a string of sweaty, gasping, dayglo pearls desperately trying to cling together. Every lap found racers torquing hard left then right then sprinting out of the saddle over and over then slamming into a headwind on the only straightaway. The string was constantly broken with loose pearls scattering every single lap until only enough remained to make a small bracelet.

In the Pro 1,2 race only a dozen or so finished as a group. Ryan was rolled off a little before that.

In the 3 race I'l Flaco managed to roll up a $50. preme while The Dogg finished with the pack panting and drooling dog slobber everywhere.

The next day at Vista (Vicious) View park the gusty winds were even stronger and two surprisingly steep hills worked us over.
Vista View is a man-made mountainous anomaly of trash piled 100' high and situated at the edge of the dead flat Everglades. Covered with grass, the 30 or so acres has a winding, hilly paved road circuit of 1.5 miles that is only totally opened to the public for bike races.
The view of suburban neighborhoods stretches for miles in all directions and it appears homeowners, desperate for any change in elevation above southern swampland actually pay a hefty premium to back their homes up to a toxic landfill.

The race, with a hill top finish was all about staying in the front to maintain momentum in the tricky, often off- camber corners. The first hill had 70' of elevation change and a stiff crosswind. At the hilltop you expect a little rest on the decent but a rude headwind practically pushed you back up. Upon hitting the bottom you make a hard 90 then climb up 50' in elevation to the start/finish. At this point riders who had a little left tried to jump away on the 1/2 k flat but curving flat top. Then you plummet back down to a greater than 90 degree off camber left turn then head back to the big hill. Over and over you were either sprinting up two big hills, chasing solo breakaways or trying not to fly off the course into a toxic pond at the base. Every race broke up fast and finished with about a dozen.

B. Ryan placed 8th - 3 out of the money and Il Flaco about the same but with another $50. preme.
The Dogg, having an inexplicably bad day, got dropped early on but managed to team up with another loser and finished just ahead of the lapping leaders and emerged victorious ahead of all the other losers!

I can't wait to try this course again.

K-Dogg

Ronde predictions?

Go ahead, let's hear your prognostications for this weekends Tour of Flanders. **try not to name Boonen the winner

Winner gets a free Cycle Logic cycling cap*** (James'll mail it to you)

***some restrictions apply, winner to be determined by correct answers on a 1st come 1st serve basis.

100-mile team ride

This past Saturday's (3-7-09) team ride was one for the books. The most gorgeous weather that 2009 has offered us so far was more than taken advantage of.

A great group of ten Cycle Logic teammates set out from Flemington Park in Marion County for a 100-mile jaunt through horse and peanut farms alike via the lesser-traveled roads of the area.

Fun, social, inspiring...just some of the words used to describe the ride. From spotting the rare fox-tailed squirrel to sprinting for every city-limit sign (or any green sign really), the ride was an absolute blast.

Sure the miles wore on all of us (some more than others), but being surrounded by such a great group of people who really encourage each other while still sprinkling in the trash-talk kept the pain out of mind and forged some great memories of an epic ride.

If you're able to, be sure to join us for the next installment of Cycle Logic rides.