Ron Palsgrove - Showing off the Orange and Grey in New Hampshire!!

Congratulations go out to Ron Palsgrove who, even while on vacation in lovely New Hampshire, chose to do a couple of races.

First things first:  Prior to Ron departing on his 2 week vacation to New England, Mr. Palsgrove took the liberty to upgrade to a CAT 4!!  It sounds as if Ron is back in the groove of things, his fitness has returned, and he is looking forward to attacking the hills and rivals at the Ocala Race Weekend with the rest of the Cat. 4 riders.

Now for his latest results as a newly christened Cat 4 rider:

Ron got 3rd at the New Hampshire International Speedway race held this past Thursday night (9/6/07), and finished with the pack on Saturday over a course described as 'rolling hills'.  Of course, much to his surprise, the hills 'roll' a lot bigger than they do down here in the flat lands.

Congratulations on both counts Ron, and we look forward to riding and racing with you when you return.

Great Results in Palatka!!

Saturday’s Crit Results:

Junior 10-12 - Justin Pfaff – 4^th Place

Cat 4 – Roger Montes – 10^th Place

Masters 35+ - Scott Pfaff – 12^th Place

 

Sunday’s RR Results:

Junior 10-12 - Justin Pfaff – 2^nd Place

Cat 4 – Roger Montes – 2^nd Place

Cat 4 – Steve DeRoche – 5^th Place

Cat 5 – Ron Palsgrove – 8^th Place from what we could see (No results listed with FL Cycling.com)

Masters 35+ - Scott Pfaff – 14^th Place

 

 

Sunday’s road race began with a little confusion and disorganization, but trudged on nonetheless.  As we arrived and realized the races were running approximately an hour and a half behind, we also heard stories of the local residents dropping tacks, dirt and rocks in some of the corners.  As the day went on, the help by the local authorities (and plenty of them were there to assist with the event) helped quell the redneck rampage.

We watched the Cat 5’s go off with our single rider Ron Palsgrove tucked neatly in the pack.  His break off of the bike must have done some good with his tactical decision making because he seemed to be racing in a much better position, staying protected in the field as much as possible.  AND WHAT DO YOU KNOW?  Saving all of that energy paid off in the end.  Ron finished with the pack, and got 8^th place overall. 

CONGRATULATIONS RON.  We look forward to racing with you in the 4’s next year!!

With the combining of the Cat 4’s and 3’s, the 6 Cycle Logic racers in this race had a feeling it was going to be a tough one.  The rolling hills throughout the course didn’t seem like much, but we knew with the addition of speed from the Category 3 riders, they would become much more of a challenge.  To our surprise (and luck), the 3’s really didn’t make much of a show.  As a matter of fact, more than half of the top 10 spots were taken by Cat 4 riders.  Michael Niemi of course made it into the lasting break, and eventually won the 3’s race, but with only one cat 4 rider in the break, it was a hectic race for 2^nd place.  Cycle Logic’s 6 starters included James Penrod, Roger Montes, Steve DeRoche, Regan Woodall (in his first cat 4 event), and new member Ken Sallot.

After the fast and furious first lap, we all thought for sure the 3’s would split the pack, but it never happened.  After that 25 mph average lap, the pace slowed a bit (or we just got used to it).  The average speed of the entire race was 24.2, so it couldn’t have slowed much.  Veronica popped after a lap and a half, but she got in the trenches and battled it out with the rest of us for as long as she could.  That left five of us in the race, and everyone looked pretty good, although VERY HOT with 2 laps to go.  Roger came up with a plan to get us on the front and ‘drop the hammer’ through the last corner of the last lap, and we passed the word around to the remaining Cycle Logic teammates.  Unfortunately Regan got blocked in coming into that corner, but Ken led us out on the first pull to the corner, and James, starting from about 10^th position, seeing that Roger was right behind him, laid into it and passed the entire pack (to their obvious surprise).  This caused the entire field to spread out into a single high speed train, and deter any sort of organization on the front by any of the other teams.  As James popped at the bottom of the hill, the pack ate him up, and it was up to Roger and Steve to take it home on the final climb to the finish.  The final climb, although not deadly steep like sugarloaf, and not even as long became tougher as the heat, distance, and speed took effect on the field.

Roger and Steve dug deep up the hill, and passed too many riders to count, with Roger finishing 2^nd and Steve finishing 5^th!!

Of course, I think the toughest part of the whole race was the battle with the organizers and other riders to determine placings in the field.  Without a camera to record the finish, and without timing chips, it was left to word of mouth vs. the honor system vs. the ‘buddy’ system (“I was in front of you, and ‘my buddy’ and ‘my other buddy’ were in front of me”).

All in all, it was a great weekend for Cycle Logic

Congratulations to all that participated, and a big thank you to Doug for volunteering his services to keep the roads clear of riders, and a HUGE thank you to Vern, Ron, and Satan (did I forget somebody?) for feeding us all during the race.  I really don’t think we could have done it without you guys there to help.

See you at the next one!!

 

JP/CL

 

Cycle Logic Welcomes Two More

A warm Cycle Logic welcome to Rob Robins, and Doug Folkerth, our newest Cycle Logic teammates.

Rob lives in Gainesville, and has been racing Category 4 (and placing well, I might add) for a little while now.

From the e-mails I have received from Rob, and the impressions provided by the Gainesville riders, it sounds like Rob is excited about his move to Cycle Logic.

 

I don’t have much information on Doug at the moment, but my understanding is he is a strong recreational rider, and is looking forward to participating in future Cycle Logic events.

 

It sounds like both Rob and Doug are looking forward to showing off the Orange Grey later this year, and into the 2008 season.

 

We all look forward to meeting you guys, and riding and racing with you in the near future.

 

Welcome!!

 

JP/CL

 

Cycle Logic Dominates Lake Louisa Series!!

Cycle Logic showed up IN FORCE last night with 6 riders at the last of the Lake Louisa circuit series hosted by Team 19’s Adam Baskin.

First, I’d like to say thank you to Adam and everyone that helped put on the series. It is definitely a breath of fresh air to be racing in a smaller series with smaller groups. The smaller races take a little more tactical decision making, and with all of us being able to race together, I think it helps with the team dynamics, and gives everyone the chance to see what it’s like to race as a group.

Now, on to the race. James Penrod and Steve DeRoche came to defend their tie for 1st place in the series, knowing that they really only had to get minimal points to keep their lead, but more importantly, keep points from the 2nd placed riders that were nipping their heals in the overall rankings. Showing up to assist in this effort were Veronica Geist, Ron Palsgrove, Ed Sabol, and Josh Pittman. Everyone came with their own level of expectations, limitations, and abilities, and I think everyone used what they had very wisely.

Ron, knowing he probably wouldn’t be able to stay in the race the whole time, jetted off the front early in the race on the first hill, picking up the pace a bit to thin the pack. Later in the race, he provided some more accelerations until the effort really took a toll on him, and he popped. Even off the back, he provided updates to the CL riders still in the pack as we passed on each lap, giving us key information as to the status of the breakaway.

Ed, who admittedly had no clue what to do did a wonderful job doing whatever needed to be done from sheltering James in the head wind, to showing off his time trialing skills to assist in catching the breakaway.
Veronica, Josh, James, and Steve all worked hard to assist Steve in his positioning, as well as aiding in capturing the breakaway.

From the beginning of the race, we all had an idea of what was to come. The Team19 guys were talking about Cycle Logic even as we lined up at the start. We heard murmurs that we were “the pace setters”, and we were “the ones to watch”. Even during the race, they were literally counting us to see how many Cyle-Logicians were left.

On the first hill, in the first half lap, Veronica provided her best acceleration to make sure everyone was taking her seriously, and to prevent anyone from breaking away.  Half of a lap later Soon after the start, Ed broke off the front, and being a time trialist, we thought he would stay out there. It soon became evident that everyone else in the pack may not have been riding for Team19 (although some 19’s were obviously riding incognito), they were definitely not going to help us out. Several riders bridged up to Ed, and as they dropped off one by one, the single Team19 rider staid out there. After a lap of Cycle Logic cutting the gap, only to have everyone else hold back, Ed noted the rider off the front was an excellent time trialist as well. Trying to relay this to the remaining Orange and Grey still in the pack, we all knew that in order to catch anyone, we were going to have to do all of the work ourselves.

We sporadically came to the front, after recovering from our previous efforts, and worked our quads off to decrease the lead of the one man breakaway, and with half a lap to go, we caught him and the group became one, albeit a much smaller one. Soon after the catch other riders, sensing some weakness in the ranks of Cycle Logic, picked up the pace once again on the climb to the finish. Josh Veronica and James came to the front to assist in Steve’s eventual sprint to the finish, and soon had to leave it up to him to complete the last π mile by himself. Steve ended up with 3rd place with a decimated, but very satisfied Team Cycle Logic left in his wake.
After discussing our efforts and achievements over pizza after the race, it was evident that we all had a blast, and were all very satisfied with our efforts, and especially the results of our efforts. We all got a laugh at everyone talking about how we were the ‘strong’ team to watch, when we really just came out to have fun, and enjoy racing with each other. It is very satisfying to know the principles of having fun that we set for the team early on are still alive and kicking.
Final results for the series:

1st Steve Deroche – Cycle Logic
2nd James Penrod – Cycle Logic
9th Josh Pittman – Cycle Logic

Congratulations!! and congratulations and thank you to all that helped achieve this. We really couldn’t have done it without you.

JP/ CL

Cycle Logic Results - MTB & Triathlon

Cycle Logic would like to congratulate two of it’s teammates for their exceptional results this past weekend.

 

Regan Woodall

NORBA National Mt. Bike Series #6 - Stage 9 - Sugar Mountain, North Carolina, July 27-29, 2007

3^rd Expert Cross Country

http://www.cyclingnews.com/mtb.php?id=mtb/2007/jul07/NORBA_6_07/NORBA_6_079

 

Ed Sabol

2007 Summer Sizzler Triathlon Festival Weekend

July 28-29, 2007

4^th overall male

1^st in his age group (by 5 and a half minutes!!)

http://sommersports.com/results/displayresults2007.asp?event=sizzler2007&file=sdivis

 

 

JP/ CL

New Cycle Logic Teammates - WELCOME!!

We have two new Cycle Logic teammates that we should all welcome on board:

Mark Swart who lives in Ocala and will be racing most likely as a 35+ so Scott will have some orange and grey company.

Ken Sallot who lives in the Gainesville area.  I haven’t gotten much info on Ken except that he is fast!

 

Welcome to both of you from all of us.

I’m sure we all look forward to meeting you and riding/ racing with you in the near future.

 

JP/ CL

Cycle Logic Puts the 1-2 Punch to Lake Louisa Series

“It was like racing in the Tour”

“The team work was amazing”

“The team tactics couldn’t have been any better”

…all quotes from the Cycle Logic teammates represented at the Lake Louisa Series #4 this past Tuesday night.

Cycle Logic showed up once again with James Penrod, defending his lead, Steve DeRoche, fighting to break the tie for second, and helping with their efforts were Joshua Pittman and Veronica Geist.

 

From the first lap, Cycle Logic showed they meant business.  Josh threw down the gauntlet attacking at the last climb of the first lap, forcing Team 19 to react.  Sitting calmly in the pack was James, Steve, and Vern, allowing everyone else to bring back the break.  Once the group was back together, other attacks were made, and pulled back.  It was pretty evident the group was not going to allow a break to succeed.  That meant the pack was going to chase anyone that went off the front.  Josh surged again, forcing a reaction, and hopefully wearing them down, and thinning the pack.  DeRoche surged on the downhill section with 3 laps to go, breaking up the field briefly, but forcing some pressure on all of the riders.  On the next lap Veronica attacked, and much to her surprised was taken very seriously.  One lap later, on the first climb of four heading toward the finish, Veronica sat on the front again, whipping up the pace to keep everyone in check, and not allowing anyone to break off the front.  Steve DeRoche, seeing his opportunity ran away up the hill with virtually no reaction from the pack.  Soon after with two short climbs to go, James Penrod broke off from the front of the pack, hoping to sustain the effort to the end.

 

In the end, Steve DeRoche got 1^st place with plenty of room to spare. 

Although aiming for the wrong finish point, James Penrod still crossed in 2^nd with another rider nipping closely at his heals. 

Veronica and Josh staid in the pack to the end.

 

I can’t say enough about the efforts Josh, Veronica, and Steve put out to defend my lead.

I appreciate all of their help, and hope to have just as successful a race for the finale.

 

 

JP/CL

 

Another Cycle Logic Baby!

Congratulations to Rodrigo and his wife Gaby on the birth of their first child. Santiago was born today (7-3) at 10:00am and weighed 7lbs. and 7oz. and was 20" long.

Mommy, Daddy and baby are all doing great and we wish them the very best, Congratulations!

Penrod Leads series

Our very own James Penrod is the current leader of the Lake Louisa Summer Training Series. James placed 2nd and 3rd respectively in the first two editions of the series amassing 9 points and securing the top spot overall. James' lead held through the third race of the series even though he was unable to attend.

With James' recent absense, the leaderboard has gotten tight. There is currently a 4-way tie for 2nd place just two points behind James. Another Cycle Logic teammate, Steve DeRoche is amongst those sitting at the second place position due to his sprint victory at the 2nd installment of the race series.

With only two more races remaining in the Lake Louisa Summer Training Series (July 24th & August 7th), we need to do our best to ensure that one of these guys finishes as the overall winner of the series. We should all make a solid effort to head out to Lake Louisa for these last two races and either take points away from the other cyclists in the field, or help James and Steve add to their point total.

Get the printable race flyer here.

They're Here!

After a few delays from the factory, the Team Cycle Logic cycling caps have finally arrived! Those of you who ordered caps can pick them up from Paul at the crit in Deland on sunday. If you would like to receive your caps sooner than that, he'll have them at his house in Gainesville. For those of you who will not be in attendance at this weekends race, Paul will send any caps belonging to Ocala/Leesburg teammates home with a representative from that area (i.e. DeRoche).

Moose has already picked his caps up and will be proudly displaying them on the roads of California this week while on vacation.

Rodrigo, we'll ship your caps to your address in Pennsylvania...you should receive them before the arrival of your son at the end of this month (if caps aren't received by end of month...just wait longer)

Those of you who ordered caps, and haven't paid James for them yet, shame on you. Be sure to give your $8/cap to James asap.

Those of you who completely dropped the ball and didn't get in on this great opportunity, there are a few extras that can be purchased from the team, contact James Penrod for more information.

Thanks for your patience and enjoy the caps.

Cycle Logic Take 1st, 3rd, 4th at Lake Louisa

Competing in the very wet B’s race at Lake Louisa on Tuesday, June 19 were Steve DeRoche, James Penrod, Josh Pittman, and Veronica Geist.

Cycle Logic made a good effort to diminish the spirits and legs of the other competitors on this hilly course, while immediately answering any accelerations and breaks. Although a few riders were dropped in the process, many stayed integrated in the pack and tried their best to do battle with the Orange and Grey at the end. In the uphill sprint, Steve DeRoche walked away with his 1st place finish, James battled for second, but ended up with 3rd, and Josh (although initiating the final jump to the line) came in with a 4th place finish. Veronica was happy to finish nipping at the heals of her teammates with the rest of the field.

Congratulations to all, you all worked well.

JP/ CL

FL. State TT Championships

The Florida State Time Trial Championships were held this past weekend just east of Lake City. The course was flat, fast, with very little wind, and almost completely traffic-free.

Cycle Logic Teammate Veronica Geist came out of the woodwork to show off her time trialing skills. With a time of 1:07:08 for the 40K course, she came in with a 4th place finish in the Women’s Category 4 field. WELCOME BACK BABY!!

James Penrod also raced, and when asked how he fared, he was quoted as saying “I didn’t get last place”. Further research through Floridacycling.com confirmed this to be a true statement.

Congratulations to Vern and James!!

FLORIDA STATE ROAD RACE CHAMPIONSHIPS

What a tough race!

This year, the Florida State Road Race Championships were held at a new venue in Ocala, Florida. Although a departure from the Tallahassee location of past, the rolling hills took it’s toll on many of the riders. Probably the most menacing challenge of the weekend was the 100 degree heat, which took it’s toll on everybody, spectators and riders alike.

I would like to thank everyone that showed for their support, as well as many of the Cycle Logic teammates that volunteered their time, cars, and significant others to the cause. I can’t say enough about volunteering for these events because if there are no volunteers, the quality, quantity, and safety of the races will diminish.

This year, the races were spread over two days. Saturday hosted the age-group riders, and Sunday’s event included the category riders. Our up and coming super star Justin Pfaff performed superbly on the hilly, overheated course on Saturday to gain a 3rd place finish in the Junior 10-12 race. If you didn’t get a chance to ride this course, trust me it was no joke. We’re all really proud of you Justin.

Sunday, Cycle Logic had riders in the Women’s 1-2-3, Men Category 4, and Men Category 5 races.

Rachel Hallum gave it all she had in the Women’s race to finish 12th in a much smaller field than us men are used to competing in. If you’re unfamiliar with racing in a pack, it is a much harder race when there are only 10-15 people racing than with a pack of 50-75 people. Drafting becomes an issue, especially when riders start dropping off. Congratulations Rachel.

The Men’s Category 4 race included Paul Messal, James Penrod, Scott Pfaff, Roger Montes, and Steve DeRoche. With the race starting at 1:00 in the afternoon, and the temperature rising near 100 degrees, we all knew hydration was going to be an issue. Thankfully, we had some great support with Joshua Pittman managing the support in the Cycle Logic feed zone. With the combination of the hills, the heat, and the squirrely riders in the pack, we lost a few riders half way through the race, but James and Steve stuck in the pack to see how they would fare at the end of the race. Unfortunate results were had by both unfortunately: James took an unsuccessful flyer off the front on the last hill before the finish, opening a gap that just couldn’t be sustained on the 40+ mph approach to the finish line. Steve, in hopes of getting to show off his sprint, got bumped off the road at about 300 yards from the finish, and although an accomplished mountain biker, and excellent bike handler, he chose not to sprint for the finish in the grass, and through the spectators tents.

The Men’s Category 5 race included Anthony Hutton, and new Cycle Logic teammate Regan Woodall. For some reason, the hills didn’t seem to affect our two mountain biking cat5-ers, probably because their used to climbing.
Local Gainesville Cycling Club member, "Naked Ed", and new addition to Team Cycle Logic, Regan Woodall, warm up prior to the start of the Cat. 5 race.
Regan looked poised to stay off the front at the beginning of the race, with a gap opening after the first lap, but the pack closed the gap, and the group finished together. Unfortunate results again cursed the Cycle Logic riders. Apparently a rider that was not competing in the race somehow got caught up in the pack, forcing riders to scramble out of the way of the slower rider, resulting in a chain reaction that sent several riders rolling along the asphalt at 35+ mph. Thankfully, Anthony and Regan were not injured, but both suffered in their placings due to the wreck. Anthony still pulled out a 5th place finish, and Regan 10th. Good job guys.



We look forward to seeing everybody at the next race.

Keep the rubber side down.

JP/ CL

Magnets & Banners & Magnets Oh my!

Team Cycle Logic is going to be well-represented at this weekends State Championship Road Race in Ocala. Not only will we have a full Catagory 4 team, but Team Cycle Logic members are pitching in to make sure that the race production goes off without a hitch.

There will be Cycle Logic team members marshalling corners of the course, driving wheel trucks and driving USCF officials around throughout the weekend. Due to our volunteering with the races, we will be able to display our team banner at the start/finish line. What team banner you ask? The team banner that our sponsor, Quality Banner, is printing for us. see above image

In addition to the beautiful banner flying the Orange and Gray at the S/F line...you'll also see the official cars and wheel trucks that are driven by us bearing our logo as well. James and Paul put together some Cycle Logic car magnets for use this weekend and should be a nice compliment to all the Cycle Logic marketing that will be going on.

If you are racing, watching or especially volunteering this weekend; be sure to wear your Cycle Logic team T-shirt or team jersey or your vest/jacket. The more exposure the better...this is, after all, a hometown race.

Out For A Ride

Over a year in the making, and three code frameworks later, Out For A Ride is finally ready for public consumption. Tell all your friends!

***Keep in mind that this is ALPHA, the designers/programmers haven't even made it to BETA yet, so there will be tons more features coming in the future.

This is a site that I've been helping to test over the past few months. Created by Stephen Hallgren aka "Teevio", a designer/cyclist from the Boston area. Out For A Ride is a great place to log your rides, your routes, what gear you ride with, what bikes you ride on as well as plenty of ability to chat, leave comments and basically socialize online with like-minded cyclists.

Still in it's infancy, Out For A Ride will only continue to grow. This is our opportunity to get in on the ground floor and be some of its early members. Out For A Ride was only made public today and already is attracting cyclists from all over the country.

Out For A Ride would be the perfect place for all of us to see what, where and how much we all are riding. For those of you who decide to check it out and see what Out For A Ride is, leave a comment here and let the rest of us know what your "Out For A Ride screen name" is. If you're curious, you can check out what I've ridden the past couple of weeks by looking up "PMESS". I've also uploaded our team kit image in my "Gear" section...check it out.

Hope to see you guys there!