A hearty crew of 25-30 riders braved the initially cold start to enjoy a beautiful day and some good attack zone action. It has been a long week of riding for me, and I’m a bit foggy right now about the attack zone finish so please double check what I have below and write into the comments with any corrections. Here’s how the two attack zones played out:

Camp Winnie – the roads were still a bit wet, so the attacks were limited, and we found ourselves altogether with about a mile to go. That’s when Warren St John (NY Velocity) launched his attack. He extended his lead, and it looked like he might hold it for the surprise solo win, but he came up just a bit short as we caught him at the base of the final hill. As we jockeyed for position to start the sprint, I launched out first with about 250 meters to go up the hill, but couldn’t hold it to the line. Will Hibberts (Bob’s Bikes/Alabama Masters) came flying by to take the attack zone with me coming in for second just ahead of a hard chasing Jason Kellen (Mellow Johnny’s) who got third. Behind him was Jim Brock (Bob’s Bikes/Alabama Masters) followed by Brandon Thorton (BBC).

Irondale City Limits sign – this was our first green jersey attack zone of the year. We started the AZ right after the traffic light at the shops at Grand River and then finished at the Irondale City Limits sign at the bottom of Cemetery Hill. Ed Whitehorn and I found ourselves at the front at the start of the attack zone on the long downhill. As he and I pulled over, several people attacked and pretty soon the two of us were at the back of the group. Fortunately, the group bunched up a bit going up the short hill after the Cahaba River bridge. I attacked to move up simultaneously as Jason Kellen (Mellow Johnny’s) launched off the front. This worked out perfectly for me as I was able to slot in right behind the Jim Brock / Will Hibberts lead-out train with momentum coming off the slingshot from the back to the front of the group. So when Jim started his sprint with 200 meters to go, I tucked in behind him and then came around to take 1st with Ed Merritt (BBC) coming in 2nd, Will Hibberts 3rd, Brandon Thorton 4th (BBC), and either Jason Kellen or Warren St John (NY Velocity) coming in 5th.

Sara Phelps was the sole, brave lady on the ride today, so she had a clean sweep of the two attack zones.

The points shake out was quite a battle between BBC and Bob’s Bikes/Alabama Masters with BBC taking the win by a single point! So that means all the BBC riders on today’s ride get an extra two bonus points towards their individual score.

For our second week of points, we had lots of great action. Pat Allison wrote up a great summary on his blog (http://leaditout.com), and I’ve quoted it at the bottom of this post.

First, here’s my quick summary. In the first attack zone, things started off with Lennie Moon attacking, Darryl Seelhorst following, and Joe ? (Bob’s Bikes) bridging to make an initial break of three. These guys worked together for a short stretch, but Joe was crushing it and went off on his own before getting reeled back in. On the flat run-in to the hill, Lennie attacked forcing others to chase him down at the base of the hill where it was grupo compacto again. Then on the hill, Darryl launched first with me grabbing his wheel. Then Sammy came by with me switching to his wheel. Then as Sammy started to fade, I launched out pretty much right at the turn by the church. Pat came around just before the line, and I held on for second with Chris Allison behind for third followed by Jim Brock in fourth and Stuart Lamp flying into the picture for fifth.

The second attack zone was also our first KOM zone of the year. I attacked after following a strong pace set by a rider whose name I don’t know. He was chasing Joe (Bob’s) who had attacked at the bottom of the hill and gotten a bit of separation. When I attacked, I wanted to establish a selection of maybe 3 or 4 riders so I came from behind the rider I was following and hit it really hard not anticipating having to maintain that pace all the way to the finish. But when I saw it was just me and my teammate Stuart together, I kept the pace high. Stuart pulled through across the windy I-459 bridge sacrificing his chances to give me a short rest. I was hoping we could both stay away, but when I saw a hard charging Pat and Will, I had to drill it again. I was just able to stay away with Will and Pat coming up fast. Darryl, Wes, and Stuart battled it out for the 4th and 5th spots with Darryl and Wes coming out on top.

Great ride guys and gals. All-in-all, this week’s ride went really well. Thanks everyone! There were some jerks on Hwy 25 – but fortunately none were riding bikes, instead they were all driving cars. Maybe we could have a bit of a group discussion this week to talk about how best to approach Hwy 25 to minimize car frustration. Here’s 3 ideas:

1 – In Dunnavant (after crossing the train tracks), pull over to the side of the road in that parking/grassy area. Let all cars that have queued up behind us on the climb from Vandiver go by while we split up into roughly 3 groups of 20-25 riders each. Then each group could leave Dunnavant in 1-2 minute intervals to establish passing zones for cars so that they don’t have to try and pass the entire group of 75 riders at once. This would also apply when we add the Mimosa loop except we’ll break up into groups before re-entering Hwy 25.

2 – In Dunnavant (after crossing the train tracks), pull over to the side of the road in that parking/grassy area. Let all cars that have queued up behind us on the climb from Vandiver go by. Then re-enter the road and proceed as one large group.

3 – Use an alternative route (e.g., reverse the current route to traverse 25 in the opposite direction which may make it easier for cars to pass on the steep climb up Vandiver)

Just some food for thought – add your comments to this post if you have additional suggestions or preferences about what we should do.

Here’s Pat Allison’s recap of the ride today. Excellent recap – check it out on his website http://leaditout.com or copied below:

Standard loop again today with attack zones set on Sterret and Cemetary hill. Team Tria split up teams today, which made for very fast and exciting attack zones. Darryl Sealhorst kicked up the pace immediatly and created a nice gap, lennie moon also tried for a solo attack as well as Wes douglas. The group chased hard and were able to bring the finish down to a sprint. The stronger riders seemed to use the hill to move into position. Sammy Flores played the lead out role for Chris and Pat Allison to perfection. Darryl Sealhorse started early and hard but was swallowed up by Smmy followed by Brian Toone. Pat Allison came around Brian for the win with Chris Allison, Jim Brock and Stuart Lamp For third forth and Fifth. The pace was good and controlled until the second attack zone beginning at the Bottom of Cemetary Hill. The action heated up quickly with an attack by Brian Toone. Only teamate Stuart Lamp was able to match the attack. Pat Allison went for a solo bridge and was only able to catch Stuart. Brian Toone Just held off Will Hibberts, who came flying out of the chase group passing Stuart and Pat. The pack was splattered ending with Brian for the win, Will Hibberts for second, Pat for third, Wes douglas nipping Stuart at the line for forth and fifth. “Team Sprint” edged out “team climb” by just one point for the extra two bonus points. Funny it seems that the guys who want to push the pace on the hills outside of the attack zones never seem to make it to the finish when it counts. Touche!

Also – I have only included the women’s results from the first attack zone. Please let me know how all the women finished on the second attack zone. Thanks!

Great turnout today for the points kick-off! Let me re-emphasize that the entire purpose of this series is to encourage, motivate, and push people beyond just another mediocre year of winter training. We want to encourage everyone from the fastest Cat 1 to the slowest Cat 5 or unlicensed rider to improve their fitness through friendly competition in the attack zones and a good steady tempo for the rest of the ride.

With regards to encouragement and motivation, we are trying out a slightly revised points system this year (finalized at the store stop today). Here’s how it will work. For each attack zone, points will be awarded for 1st – 5th places just like last year as follows:

5 base points + category bonus points – 1st
4 base points + category bonus points – 2nd
3 base points + category bonus points – 3rd
2 base points + category bonus points – 4th
1 base points + category bonus points – 5th

Category bonus points will be different this year with increasing weights for lower categories as follows:

0 points – Cat 1
1 points – Cat 2
3 points – Cat 3
5 points – Cat 4
7 points – Cat 5 / Women

With regards to women, the same bonus point structure will be in place for the women’s overall competition with the exception as noted above … if a woman places in the top 5 with the men, she will receive 7 bonus points regardless of her category but not in addition to her normal category based bonus points. This is a little tricky, so let me describe it with an example: if Katherine had won the women’s sprint AND placed 5th in the attack zone with the men, then she would receive her normal 5 points for winning the attack zone plus an additional 7 bonus points for placing with the men for a total of 12 points. She would not receive her normal 3 points as a Cat 3.

The team competition has been updated a bit this year in two ways: first, all individual riders on the winning team for the day get an additional two points added to their individual overall score. Second, Tria has been split up into four separate teams based on Cat 1 leaders on the team as follows:

Tria Green – Brian Toone
Tria Red – Pat Allison
Tria Blue – Terry Duran
Tria Yellow – Paul Tower / Darryl Seelhorst

This makes the team competition a more fair and exciting competition rather than Tria winning the team competition another year based on the sheer number of riders that we have participating. We are still working on our internal team structure beyond that, and it did cost one of the Tria teams some points today because Chris Allison’s points weren’t able to count towards any of the Tria teams since we all raced individually today. Still, the Tria team leaders’ points will count toward their respective team totals for the BBL training series.

This leads us to a quick recap of today’s solitary attack zone and the points awarded. We rode the old school Camp Winnie + Sterrett route with a very strong tailwind on the way out of town. This kept the pace high, but manageable with the tailwind. Once we made it to the Sterrett attack zone, it was fireworks from the moment Terry Duran blew the whistle. Several riders slipped away early on the first hill getting a good gap. As the strung out pack finally caught up to them before the crest of the hill, Darrell O’Quinn (Moontoast Tristar) put in a perfectly timed solo attack and pushed it hard extending his lead on the downhill as the group worked out who should chase. Finally, there was a flurry of attacks and another solo rider bridged across to Darrell, but the relentless pace in the pack caught the two riders at the base of the final hill. Jim Brock put in a monster attack halfway up the hill and got away solo. I attacked near the top of the steep part of the hill and bridged across to Jim before the final turn at the church. Chris Allison saw my move and was immediately on my wheel. I had broken my rear derailleur shifter earlier in the ride so I was stuck in one gear and knew that I couldn’t slow down or try any cat/mouse games. So when I made it up to Jim, I attacked hard again to go right by, but there was no shaking a very strong Chris and he came around to take the sprint easily. I came in second with Jim in third ahead of the group. At the front of the group, Pat Allison took the sprint ahead of Will Hibberts to round out the top 5.

As far as points goes, here’s the explanation on how the points worked out ordered by the placing in today’s attack zone:

Chris Allison – 6 points total – 5 base points (1st) + 1 category bonus point
Brian Toone – 4 points total – 4 base points (2nd) + 0 category bonus points
Jim Brock – 6 points total – 3 base points (3rd) + 1 category bonus points + 2 team bonus points (Alabama Masters won today’s team competition)
Pat Allison – 2 points total – 2 base points (4th) + 0 category bonus points
Will Hibberts – 4 points total – 1 base point (5th) + 1 category bonus point + 2 team bonus points

There was also heated competition for the women’s sprint with Amy Gravlee going hard early and then fading a bit, and a new contender, Hallie Blunk, taking an early lead in the women’s competition by winning the first attack zone of the year. Katherine Herring came in second with Terri Jones behind for third, followed by Beth Hollingsworth who made the drive up from Tuscaloosa along with a great group of Velocity Pro Cycle riders. Amy slid back to 5th rounding out the top 5 in the women’s competition. I have updated the points based on Kat’s comment (thanks!).

Here is a link to the current points standing: http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0At4CJfC5J_FPdDJTODdxdFdvWDMxeVRaa1BHVndrRXc&hl=en

Pat Allison also posted a great recap on his website leaditout.com – check it out!

Pat Allison’s ride report – thanks Pat!

Another great ride this Saturday. The weather could not have been any better. Around 40 riders showed up for the ride and without Brian’s leadership, we decided to do the old Camp Winnie, Sterret, Vandiver loop that most everyone knew, and it turned out great. I had right under 60 miles. I was very proud of how controlled the vandiver climb was. Everyone stayed two abreast at a slow controlled pace. No riders were dropped and cars had no trouble passing. Except for the last climb on 78, which I personally gave the “mountain goats” a green light to go ahead, we finished with the same number or riders we started with. We had some new faces show up from out of town and they seemed to enjoy the ride. Next week we start the attack zones. The 1,2 riders from Tria have decided to split into 3 teams of three for this years BBL. Teams and rules will be announced before the next ride. Check the Tria Cycling web site and this one for more details. Great Ride!

Great weather for today’s BBL with temps approaching 70 degrees by the end. We explored a new route out through Lola City to the twists and turns, ups and downs of Annie Lee Rd. Even with the new route everything went pretty smoothly – great riding by everyone today! For reference I’ve posted my heartrate and power stats for people wondering about the intensity of the ride.

Average speed – 19.3 mph
Average heartrate – 132 bpm
Average power – 165 watts
Total climbing – 3169 ft
Total distance – 60.7 miles in 3:09:26 (19.3 mph)

Come on out next week to shed some Thanksgiving turkey pounds! Ride details to be posted later this week.

Awesome weather for today’s BBL ride. We had 54 riders for the first BBL…Routes will change as the series continues. Keep up to date via TriaCycling.com, Twitter and Facebook.

Dewayne Minor (DW) was involved in an accident at BBL and needs the help of the cycling community. Please consider donating money. All funds collected will go straight to Dewayne to help offset costs associated with his recovery. Please read the latest updates on his progress below to find out more information.

Dewayne Minor (DW) and Brandt Van der Gaast were both injured in the bad wreck this past Saturday’s BBL. Brandt broke his collarbone and is back in Auburn healing up. DW is still in the hospital with two broken wrists and a crack acetebulum. Hannah has created a website where you can sign up to take Dewayne and Caitlin a meal to help during the recovery process. Caitlin has been updating us on DW’s progress passed along via Hannah (thanks Caitlin and Hannah) … see the updates below

Latest from Caitlin: 2/11/10 11AM

Dewayne’s mom is going to come down and help us for a couple of weeks. It will be such a blessing.

However we are trying to find a way to fly her down as opposed to having to take a bus (which will be about a 23 hour trip!) I’ve found a flight, but right now, we are not in a position to pay for the ticket. One way is about $200, but if we go ahead and get the round trip ticket for a little over $300. [emphasis added by ed.]

Praying God will show us a way to get her down here. We desperately need her help during the day as they’ve told me they’d “prefer” him not be alone.. and between work and the Bar…well… that’s a challenge. He’s excited that she may be able to come…he never gets to see her.

For everyone who was planning on hanging out with him…he is really looking forward to it!!! Even with his mom there, he’s so social!

Thanks for your prayers.
—
Caitlin

Latest from Caitlin: 2/8/10 10AM

Dewayne is out of surgery & in post-op. No hip surgery as I said earlier, which is great!! They did do his right wrist.
We’ll be up in 8202 [8th floor, UAB Ortho] in a little bit. Probably will not be back to my house until Thursday sometime.
Thank you for everyone’s prayers and offers of help… it all means so very much to me and to DW. I will be in contact as we get closer to see what we need.
Love you all
Caitlin

Earlier from Caitlin: 2/8/10 8AM

Dewayne is in “surgery” now…I just found out he will NOT have to have the hip operated on…unless it weakens. Follow-up scans next week to make sure it is still stable. IE…if he tripped and fell the hip might not fare as well as an non-fractured hip. His right wrist will still need surgery. They are working on his wrist now. We’re looking at another 2-4 hours of surgery right now. It is really good that they’re doing this now. The less general anesthesia the better.
His spirits are OK…. he’s frustrated with himself for not sticking with with the original plan on Saturday which was to ride at the Christy’s. Also, knowing that surgery or not, he’s not going to be able to put any weight on that left leg is going to be really challenging.
Have a few prayer requests if you don’t mind:

1- just for him to heal quickly first of all, so glad that he isn’t hurt worse of course.

2- coming home will be a challenge. We’re in a split level house so we’ve got stairs to get in regardless. We’ll get him set up in the upstairs part.

3- I have the bar exam on Feb. 21-24. I’ll be in Montgomery for that time period. My Dad I believe is going to come stay with him. The same week however, my younger sister is 9 months pregnant. She is due on the 24th! (I know…the irony). So if Meg & Mary Clark, our new niece, need my parents, we’ll have to readjust.

4- please pray for my sanity… I’m really stressed out b/w the bar exam and all this. I am running low on time to study and DW will need lots of attention. We probably will have some home home health help, but I’m really concerned about how to figure this all out, get back to work at some point and get through the bar exam prepared. I really would like to PASS!
Sorry for the length.
Love you all,
Caitlin

Original update from Caitlin: 2/7/10 2PM

Dewayne wrecked his bike on Camp Winny road yesterday (2/6) on the BBL ride. They were in an attack zone … and the rider 2 people in front of him went on the center stripe and went down. Rider right in front of him went down and DW launched himself over the handlebars.

He has 2 broken wrists and a cracked acetebulum. His right wrist will require surgery and the left wrist and left hip are to be determined. He will be in UAB until at least Wednesday we think.

Tomorrow he will go under general anesthesia in the morning and they are going to test out the hip. At this time, MAYBE we’ll be able to get the surgery on his right wrist. If they find out that the hip is cracked enough, they’ll repair that, which entails a fair amount of work.

He will be without use on the right wrist for several weeks, left will heal quicker, but he’s going to be non-weight bearing on his left leg for 3 months (AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!)

Rena Stewart is his ortho..thank goodness she’s an athlete!!! Gonna have him good and busy when he can on PT.

Tomorrow may be 20 minutes, 4 hours, or 6 if they have to do the wrist (4) or hip (6).

I will do my best to keep y’all posted.

Thanks so much
Caitlin

There was a bad wreck on the ride. Please keep your thoughts, prayers, and positive thoughts with Brandt from Auburn (broken collarbone) and Dewayne from here in Birmingham (broken wrists and hip).

Also, I had a last minute family emergency and had to miss the ride 🙁 so here’s the update/ride recap from two of my teammates who were there … first up, the recap from Jacob –

John won the first AZ out of a sprint, with Jennifer Schuble and Tony behind. I think Brad, who opened up the sprint, may have gotten 4th?

The Camp Winnie AZ was wild. Darryl took off early and the bunch didn’t want to let him go. AL Masters guys pulled and brought it back. As soon as he came back, Miro attacked but didn’t get much of a gap. We crossed the bridge and climbed the last steep double hill, and I lifted the pace at the top to try and trigger a move. Sure enough, Terry jumped out and immediately opened a big gap. Robert (Masters) went after him and I’m not sure if they ever hooked up, but Terry soloed it in. Darryl pulled Robert back, and as soon as he was caught, Gavin attacked. I chased him down and caught him at the base of the final hill, but the pack was closing fast so I didn’t pull through. Brock led out the sprint for Will, who launched midway up. Darryl came around him for 2nd, Will 3rd, me 4th, Brock 5th.

The KOM at Vandiver was Darryl, with Gavin in 2nd, right? I was behind the front group of those 2, Will, Miro, Robert, and Brock. [Editor’s note – there was a misunderstanding about whether a regrouping was going to occur before the start of the next attack zone so we are scraping the Mimosa results.]

78 started like last week, with nobody eager to slog it out in the headwind. Finally TD took off and Will went with him. I went for and got the city limits sprint for 3rd; I think Miro was 4th and not sure who for 5th. I was done after that, so not sure how the 78 climb played out. [Editor’s note – see Darryl’s recap below for the cemetery hill attack zone]

And here is Darryl’s recap:

KOM….I attacked from the start and then Terry attacked with Miro and I just let them hover a while before Gavin started his signature chase. I took his wheel and as he raised the pace and we separated from the group. Gavin tried 3-4 attacks but nothing really stung and I just came by him for the KOM at the turn. Terry was 3rd. That’s when I looked back and Terry was coming hard. We killed it up the train track and all the way to the line [at Mimosa].

I was right after Miro for 5th at the sprint zone on 78. After a quick little dig for Jacob, I sat up and caught my breath for the hill. I came by Will. Gavin had put out a chase so he was cooked for the hill. Greg (not Robert) from AL Masters bridged up to me and then Miro came up too right about the time T was ready to go again, I attacked and T and I rode away with T taking it to the top. Greg was next, then Miro. I don’t know who got 5th.

So please make any corrections and fill in the missing details so I can update the points. Thanks.

Wow – could the weather get any worse??? Light drizzle all day with temps hovering in the lower 40s for the first part of the ride and dropping into the 30s for the latter part of the ride. About 25 riders braved the mess and came out stronger on the other side. Congrats to all who came out today – you are all winners in my book! Here are the results and summary of the attack zones. Please fill in / correct as necessary by emailing me. Thanks!

Five riders contested this attack zone. With the cold temps, the pace was moderate up until the very end when John Adams launched out taking it ahead of Jennifer Schuble and the other three riders. Somebody please update me with the order for 3rd, 4th, and 5th. Thanks.
TNT
1st – John Adams
2nd – Jennifer Schuble
3rd – Tony Robbins
4th – Katherine Herring
5th – Travis Yost

After the TNT zone, we had about 25 miles of moderate paced, bitterly cold riding before the next action with the first of two “double-doubles”. Darryl started things off at the base of the climb with a strong attack. I attacked to join him, but the two of us couldn’t stay away. Will Hibberts brought us back with a steady hard effort. Then there was a few attacks that each got reeled in and a group of 5 made it to start of the KOM sprint. Pat caught us by surprised with 300 meters to go and held it to the line with me coming in second and then I’m not sure of the order after that … was it Wes, Darryl, Will or Darryl, Wes, Will, or Will, Wes, Darryl or Will, Darryl, Wes? Somebody update me!

Vandiver KOM
1st – Pat Allison
2nd – Brian Toone
3rd – Wes Douglas
4th – Darryl Seelhorst
5th – Will Hibberts

Immediately after the KOM, we started the Mimosa sprint and a group of 4 separated itself down the mountain and onto Mimosa Rd. With 3 Tria riders against Pat, it was attack, counter-attack. But Pat was strong enough to cover each move. Miro Novak kept a steady hard effort and made it up to us. Tria decided to let him roll off the front to force Pat to chase, but after some miscommunication that didn’t work out and it ended up being me leading out the sprint with Darryl able to come off Pat’s wheel to take the sprint. Wes and Miro both came around me and I rolled in for 5th a few seconds later.

Mimosa AZ
1st – Darryl Seelhorst (5+1hbp)
2nd – Pat Allison (4 + 0hbp)
3rd – Wes Douglas (3+ 1hbp)
4th – Miro Novak (2 + 2hbp)
5th – Brian Toone (1 + 0hbp)

For the start of the next “double-double”, it was Tria launching the attacks in this zone. After one or two attacks, Darryl got a good gap and built up a solid lead to take the sprint solo. Jacob Tubbs led out the sprint for second edging out Jim Brock with Pat Allison and me close behind. I launched a counter to try to bridge up to Darryl while Pat was recovering, but Pat was able to jump my wheel so I shut it down to let Darryl push the pace out front to stay away. Pat pushed the pace hard toward the mid part of the climb and caught Darryl by the I-459 bridge. Terry put in an immediate counter attack, but Pat was able to cover. About 10 seconds later, Darryl put in another hard attack – but again Pat was able to cover it. Finally, I launched an immediate counter-attack, and was able to hold it to the line with Pat taking the sprint for second followed by Darryl, Wes, and Terry. Again – I’m not sure about the specific order – somebody please update. Thanks!

Irondale City Limits AZ
1st – Darryl Seelhorst (5 + 1hbp)
2nd – Jacob Tubbs (4 + 2hbp)
3rd – Ed (3 + 2hbp)
4th – Pat Allison (2 + 0hbp)
5th – Brian Toone (1 + 0hbp)

Cemetery Hill AZ
1st – Brian Toone (5 + 0hbp)
2nd – Pat Allison (4 + 0hbp)
3rd – Terry Duran (3 + 0hbp)
4th – Wes Douglas (2 + 1hbp)
5th – Darryl Seelhorst (1 + 1hbp)

I have started updating the points, but I am going to wait until I have gotten more clarification on the order of the finishes before I finish updating the points for today.

Today’s ride was crazy hard (and awesome). Great turnout and much colder than expected weather. We had a couple issues I need to address:

1 – DON’T CROSS THE YELLOW LINE … EVER (capitalized for emphasis). We had a few riders crossing the yellow line today. Don’t do it. Just a warning today to EVERYONE, but future infractions will result in immediate punishment.

2 – Deanna fell hard near the Cahaba River bridge on 78 because there was some trash/debris in the road. PLEASE everyone call out a warning if you see something on the road (holes, trash, plastic water bottles, etc) so that this doesn’t happen again. She had to be taken away in an ambulance, so please pray/think/well-wish that she is OK and somebody email me so I can update the group with how she is doing.

The ride today must have been hard because sitting at my computer a few hours after the ride I can’t remember the placings very well at all. So please email me with corrections and fill in the blank so I can update this recap and the points. Thanks!!!

First attack zone – a large group of maybe 15 riders contested this sprint. Omar absolutely crushed the competition when he started the uphill sprint. Taking second was John Adams followed by Jennifer Schuble – beyond that is anybody’s guess as I couldn’t see. Somebody please update me!

Cat 5 / Women TNT Fireworks
1st – Omar Fraser
2nd – John Adams
3rd – Jennifer Schuble
4th – Tony Robbins
5th – Norm Hagan

Camp Winnie was much better this week without the rain. Faster, harder, and strategic all at the same time. So hard in fact I don’t remember much about it except the end. The pace was pretty high so there wasn’t very many long-lived attacks early in the zone. Terry Duran, Jimmy, and Adam were in a late move that got a few seconds on the field. But when the sprint started in earnest we swarmed them with Jim Brock leading it out followed by me followed closely by Mike Powell. I came around Jim as we approached the finish, and Pat Allison inched by me on the right and then Sammy came flying by us both to win it at the line.

Camp Winnie Attack Zone
1st – Sammy Flores
2nd – Pat Allison
3rd – Brian Toone
4th – Mike Powell
5th – Jacob Tubbs

The Sterrett attack zone sneaks up on you pretty quick after the Camp Winnie one so about half the group got caught off guard when a large group including a number of heavy hitters – Will Hibberts, Darryl Seelhorst, Jacob Tubbs, and a bunch of other people rolled up the road. Adam Goldwebber, Gavin, Jimmy, Omar, me and maybe one or two other riders were in the middle. After we made the turn on Hwy 55 there was still a good separation of the three groups, but Omar laid it down hard to finish closing the gap to the front group making it two groups out on the road. Right as we started the sprint at the end, Pat Allison and Sammy finished pulling the second group up to us. Terry got things started with the first attack. Then it bunched up again and Jim Brock and Darryl attacked. I was in perfect position behind Jim and was able to come around him to take the sprint. I believe Darryl was second, followed by Jim and Pat in nearly a dead heat with Terry Duran hanging on for 5th. Somebody please confirm that!

Sterrett Attack Zone
1st – Brian Toone
2nd – Darryl Seelhorst?
3rd -Jim Brock?
4th – Pat Allison?
5th – Joseph Greenway?

This was already a hard ride by this point, but it was only to get even better after the store stop. When we turned onto 25 and approached the base of the climb, a rider surged forward and got a good gap on the group going into the steep part of the climb. Does anybody know what that rider’s name was? We caught him towards the top of the steep bottom part of the climb and Terry put in a hard effort separating himself from the group. I looked around to see if anybody was going to chase. I didn’t see anybody making a move so I shifted into the big chainring waited a second or two and then attacked hard (23mph) so that I didn’t pull anybody up to Terry and yet could still separate myself from the group. It worked and the group split up behind with Gavin surging off the front and a number of people chasing. I was able to stay away to the top, with Gavin closing in near the top for second, and the group behind them coalescing for the KOM sprint for 3rd place. Pat Allison came out on top for that with Darryl and ? coming in for fourth and fifth.

Vandiver KOM
1st – Brian Toone
2nd – Gavin
3rd – Pat Allison
4th – Darryl Seelhorst
5th – Terry Duran

Mike Powell and Joseph Greenway got things started on the last attack zone – easily getting a 20 second gap on the field after their initial attack. We worked on the downhill slowly bringing it back until we crossed the Cahaba River bridge and a small surge saw a group of about 5 separate from the chase and put a few seconds on the group. As we passed the Irondale city limits sign we eased up the pace on the front, but Gavin wasn’t having any of that. He came to front and pushed it hard up the hill bringing back the remains of the front group quickly with only Terry still left in front. Terry was pushing it hard and Gavin ever so slowly clawed it back until we were within 25 meters of Terry with about 300 meters until the line. Jim Brock saw that we weren’t going to catch Terry so he started the sprint. Pat saw Jim start to sprint and started his own sprint. I saw Pat start his sprint and so I started mine and hopped on Pat’s wheel for a few seconds. With 150 meters to go, I pulled out to come around and we were both sprinting as hard as we could side-by-side with neither of us able to pull ahead. Fortunately (for me) I had about 5 pedal strokes more than Pat left in the tank and I was able to just barely pull ahead at the sign. Pat was inches behind for second. Darryl and Jim came in for 3rd and 4th with I believe Terry (???) coming around Gavin for 5th. But for his incredible efforts on the KOM and also for his monster pull all the way up Cemetery Hill, I believe Gavin gets the most aggressive rider of the day award.

Cemetery Hill Attack Zone
1st – Brian Toone
2nd – Pat Allison
3rd – Darryl Seelhorst
4th – Jim Brock
5th – Terry?