Cold, fog, and light rain greeted us this morning for the finale of the BBL winter training series. Mitchell from Mitchell’s Place was on hand to cheer us on as we left from Gravlee Fitness. We started the action early with a KOM to the fireworks driveway entrance.

KOM #1
Wes Douglas (Tria Market/Ivan Leonard)
David McNeal (Citigroup/BBC/Tristar)
Brian Toone (Tria Market/Ivan Leonard)
Sammy Flores (Tria Market/Ivan Leonard)
?

We cruised through Camp Winnataska Rd this week with no attack zone at the end. Then as soon as we made the turn onto 43, Terry blew the whistle and the pace skyrocketed. Still, everybody was up to the challenge and a good majority of the group was still together on the Vandiver climb. Darryl S launched a massive attack at the bottom and only Wes D could bridge up and maintain the pace. Here’s the order of the finish at the top:

KOM #2
Wes Douglas (Tria Market/Ivan Leonard)
Brian Toone (Tria Market/Ivan Leonard)
Pat Allison (TNT Fireworks/Bob’s Bikes)
Terry Duran (Citibank/BBC/Tristar)
Darrell OQuinn (BBC/Tristar)

The KOM #2 finish above was also the group that made it over the top to contest the Mimosa sprint which ended up like this:

Mimosa Attack Zone
Pat Allison (TNT Fireworks)
Brian Toone (Tria Market/Ivan Leonard)
Terry Duran (Citibank/Tristar/BBC)
Wes Douglas (Tria Market/Ivan Leonard)
Darrell OQuinn (BBC/Tristar)

After this attack zone, the race for 1st men’s overall was tight with me in the lead by 1 point ahead of Terry and Darryl both tied for second.

Going into the final attack zone – the Irondale City Limits / Cemetery Hill double attack zone, the pace was fast and Jim Brock led home a crazy fast sprint with this order:

Irondale City Limits
Jim Brock
Chris Allison
Joseph Greenway
Pat Allison
Wes Douglas

With Terry, Darryl, and I out of the points for the Irondale City limits sign, only one point seperated the top three places going into the final sprint. In the drag race up the hill, I came out on top followed by Terry, Pat, Darryl, and Darrell:

Cemetery Hill
Brian Toone
Terry Duran
Pat Allison
Darryl Seelhorst
Darrell O’Quinn

After the ride, we had lots of fun eating Taziki’s and raffling off door prizes while I worked to get all the points tallied. Here’s the final spreadsheet! Congrats to all!!!

Google docs points spreadsheet (updated 2/14/09 – 8:00pm): http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pBZmIyeXgZQ_gX1PuoFhvLA

Mmmm, mmmm – you’ve got to hand it to Tria Market for the most delicious post-ride food so far this season! It was another exciting week, beautiful spring weather, and a huge turnout for today’s ride. Here is the placing on the attack zones (please comment to fill in the missing spots or correct as necessary) –

Camp Winnie
1st – Darryl Seelhorst
2nd – Brian Toone
3rd – Chris Allison
4th – Terry Duran
5th – Jim Brock

Vandiver KOM
1st – Darryl Seelhorst
2nd – Pat Allison
3rd – Brian Toone
4th – David McNeal
5th – Morgan Ramey

Mimosa Loop Attack Zone
1st – Darryl Seelhorst
2nd – Terry Duran
3rd – Brian Toone
4th – Pat Allison
5th – Darrell O’Quinn

Irondale City Limits Attack Zone
1st – Mike Powell (with a perfectly timed counterattack)
2nd – Pat Allison
3rd – Terry Duran
4th – Darrell O’Quinn
5th – Jim Brock

Great riding by all – we look forward to an exciting conclusion to the series next week. Don’t forget that the ride will be leaving from Gravlee Fitness. Can Darryl hold onto his lead? Who will battle it out for second place? And who will round out the podium?

Yes, it started out a bit chilly but warmed right up (hence the name of this ride!) – especially with all the action towards the overall points series. It was a great day of riding ending up with beautiful spring-like conditions. There were three attack zones in today’s ride. Tria Market with a show of force took 1st-4th in the first attack zone on Camp Winnataska with Wes Douglas edging out teammates Sammy Flores, Brian Toone (me), and Darryl Seelhorst. Mike Powell rounded out the top five. The attack zone started out with an early attack by Darryl, a counter attack by Amy Gravlee, another counter by me, followed by John Close taking a flyer. After the turn onto Winnataska everything was pretty much together until Morgan Ramey launched one of his massive power attacks. The Tria boys slowly brought it back, led out the sprint, and ended up taking the first four positions!

The second attack zone was complicated. Darryl had flatted at an inopportune time so he was out for this one. Jim Brock and one other rider got things started early in the attack zone with Terry chasing hard to bring them back. Then a little while later Morgan hit out again with a hard attack that only Jim and Wes Douglas were able to latch onto. Morgan drove the move like a machine, but then Darrell OQuinn and Mike Powell moved to the front and laid it all down to bring them back. At about that time Jeff Cloar launched a strong attack on the last hill before the sprint, but OQuinn was having none of it and brought it back at the start of the sprint. I ended up taking the sprint with Terry close behind for second and then I’m not exactly sure what the placings behind me were as I was pretty delirious from the sprint. The weird thing is I remember talking to somebody afterwards and I had all the placings straight in my head but I have completely forgotten who I was talking to and what the placings were! Here is what I have right now, please correct as necessary in the comments (thanks!)…

Attack Zone #2 (Sterrett)
1st – me
2nd – terry
3rd – mike
4th – wes
5th – jim

For the final attack zone, Morgan Ramey put the hurt on everyone with a strong early attack. Tria moved to the front to get things moving, but then Mike Powell came pulling through and closed the gap substantially. A good rotation got moving in the group and Morgan was brought back right before the climb. Alvin put in a strong counter move that gapped everyone on the climb. Terry led the chase up the hill closing the gap and in the process dropping everyone but me, Wes, Darryl and Alvin once we caught him. With strength in numbers, Tria was able to take 1st-3rd (Darryl, Wes, Me) followed by Terry and Alvin.

Attack zone #3 (Cemetery Hill)
1st – Darryl
2nd – Wes
3rd – Brian
4th – Terry
5th – Alvin

The women’s competition is still close as ever with 1st and 2nd separated only by a point. Amy Gravlee moved into 1st one point ahead of Terri Jones by winning the first two attack zones with Terri following in second. Terri reversed the order on the last one taking the climb up Cemetery Hill. Deanna entered the mix, too, taking third in the first two attack zones.

For the men, Darryl and I are tied for first with Terry Duran only two points behind in third. Sammy Flores and Jim Brock round out the top 5. Check it out here: overall series standing

Again, I am a little shaky about the ordering on the second attack zone so please comment or email me with the correct finish order for that zone (I apologize in advance to whoever I have goofed up and left off or gotten out of order).

Today’s BBL ride was canceled due to the inclement, cold, rainy Belgian weather. Unofficially, we had a handful of riders survive a 50 mile, 5000 feet of climbing version of the hill loop. No point were awarded today so the series overall remains looking like this:

Men
1 – Darryl Seelhorst (Tria Market) 24 pts
2 – Terry Duran (BBC/Tristar) 23 pts
3 – Jim Brock (Bob’s Bikes/Alabama Masters) tied with Brian Toone (Tria Market) 20 pts

Women
1 – Amy Gravlee (Team Medplan) and Terri Jones (Team Medplan) tied for first 25 pts
3 – Katie Curtis 18 pts

Hopefully next week’s weather will be better, but rain or shine come on out and enjoy the fun!!!

With the arctic cold swooping in from the north and west, the BBL ride was delayed until high noon today. Even with the delayed start time and frigid temps, we still had a pretty good turnout today with another exciting battle for points. The pace was pretty fast throughout the ride. Congrats to all who rode and survived the winter blast!

Here’s how the attack zones played out… Terry blew the whistle immediately after 78 veered to the right and like a cannonball fired out of a cannon, Darryl Seelhorst launched himself off the front. Lennie worked his way to the front and then attacked hard to bridge up to his teammate Darryl. The two of them began to put time on the peloton that hesitated like a deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming tractor trailer. Never quite out of the sight, the leading duo had to give everything they had to try to stay away for the nearly 7 mile attack zone! Meanwhile, a series of attacks and moves in the peloton saw a few people get close — the most promising moves included Pat Allison launching off the front and making it halfway across the gap before the peloton reeled him back in. Then two more riders slipped off the front with less than a mile to go with me and Sammy Flores patrolling the front of the group to make sure Darryl and Lennie stayed away. With 500 meters to go, Darryl and Lennie had locked in the first two spots and it looked like 3rd and 4th was locked up too, but then I led out the sprint and we quickly gobbled up the late move with me taking 3rd, Terry close behind for 4th, and Chris Allison charging hard for 5th.

Zone 1
Darryl Seelhorst
Lennie Moon
Brian Toone
Terry Duran
Chris Allison

For the second attack zone, we moved the finish to the Rock Ridge Rd sign at the top of the Cemetery Hill climb. Terry blew the whistle shortly after turning onto Hwy 78 from Rex Lake Rd meaning the attack zone was just under 4 miles. The pace picked up fast and we moved along with a few riders trying to get away early. The group wasn’t having it and we made it to the bottom of the Cemetery Hill climb pretty much together. Terry put in a hard attack at the bottom which I covered, but without hesitating Terry attacked again and then another time. The strong group of riders that was left wasn’t about to be dropped so far into the ride though, and a group of maybe 10 was still together by the time we crossed I-459 to setup for the Rock Ridge Rd sprint. Darryl launched the first move about 1km out, but was marked closely by Terry. I didn’t like the odds with Terry not being motivated to pull so I attacked hard to join up. With the group nearly splintered, Pat Allison put in a massive dig, but Terry and I were both able to catch onto Pat’s wheel. Then a second or two later, I came around on Pat’s left and Terry came around on his right. I was able to pull away and take the sprint by a few seconds with Terry coming in for second, Jim edging out Darryl for the sprint for 3rd and George hanging on for 5th after some incredibly long pulls into the headwind on the climb.

Zone 2
Brian Toone
Terry Duran
Jim Brock
Darryl Seelhorst
George

The exciting racing led to a bit of a shakeup in the overall points with Darryl moving into the top spot, Terry Duran 1 point behind in second, and then me and Jim Brock tied for third.

A surprise BBL with 3 attack zones led to a shakeup of the overall series. Sammy Flores vaulted into the lead by taking 2nd place in all three attack zones. Terry, Darryl, and Jim are all tied for second with Chris Allison close behind. Jim Brock wrote up an excellent report – read the scores below and please confirm via comments or email the places Jim marked with a question mark. Thanks!!!

From: Jim Brock
Sent: Saturday, January 10, 2009 5:33 PM
To: Terry Duran
Subject: RE: BBL Jan-10

I attacked in zone one from the turn onto Winny road and set what I thought was a solid pace up and over the first climb. The strongmen responded and gathered at the front which resulted in more of a steady pace than a series of attacks, chases, and counter attacks. Morgan Ramey launched a well timed attack, the 1st of 3 on the day, got a gap and the peleton responded. Big Daddy , Jeff Cloar, drove the train to reel in Morgan . He was kept at a safe distance until Darrell O’Quinn led it out with me on his wheel and the others waiting to pounce (my lead out man David F flatted) . I gave it my all but it was a little past my optiminim distance and Wes, Sammy, and Chris got by me.

Zone 1

Wes
Sammy
Chris
Jim
D-Mac (please confirm)

The next attack zone would set the stage for the remainder of the ride. Morgan, The Machine, launched early and got it rolling. D-Mac and Jeff C worked to establish a nice gap but it would succombe to the pressure of an antsy peleton. Morgan had a nice gap and the group focused on the field sprint. After several attacks, Allison Dad put in a nice pull to string it out for his boys, Wes hit it hard as did a GSMR rider. I locked on to Sammy and he lit it up after the turn. No way I was getting by and Morgan had held it. Jeff had a good run on me at the line followed by an unknown rider.

Zone 2

Morgan
Sammy
Jim
Jeff C
??

Repeat–see above. The Machine attacks, and without Darryl’s presence to command a “Tria Train” chase, we all watched Morgan gain valuable time. Several riders put in some big efforts to lift the pace, Wes, Sammy, O’Quinn, D-Mac were noticed at the front. With Morgan coasting to another victory Wes threw down the gauntlet, the lead out was on with Ty’s tri buddy ramping up the effort. I had Sammy’s wheel again and was begging him to GO! He finally did, gapped the hell out of me with his accleration, I clawed back on, and took us past Wes to the line. “Welcome Back Pat” and D-Macwere 4th and 5th.

Zone 3

Morgan
Sammy
Jim
Pat (confirm placing)
D-Mac (confirm placing)

Great day in the saddle!

I am currently out of the country in Nicaragua so the only details I have are the results, posted below:

Zone 1)

1. Chris Allison
2. Sammy
3. Darryl
4. T.Duran
5. J. Brock

Zone 2)

1. Darryl
2. Chris Allison
3. J. Brock
4. T. Duran
5. David McNeil

Please chime in with comments if anyone would like to add to the ride report. Also, please update me with the women’s results. Thanks!

Another awesome turnout this week with well over 50 riders making it out for a ride with temperatures peaking in the mid 70s. The pace was moderate and pretty steady again this week. At the “nature break” stop just outside of Leeds, Terry announced that we would extend the attack zone by blowing the whistle on Hwy 43 right after we crossed over the bridge from St Clair county into Shelby county. This added about 1.5 miles to the total length of the attack zone.

When Terry blew the whistle, the pace ramped up pretty quick with Travis Sherman (Marx and Bensdorf), Lennie Moon (Tria Market), and I (Tria Market) all drilling it at the front. My goal was to see if we could get a gap by rolling hard at the front – but that didn’t happen. Instead, the pace of the entire group just sky rocketed. We were going about 27mph cresting the small hill about 1/2 mile before making the left onto Hwy 55 when Darryl “fast as a horse” Seelhorst launched a massive solo attack and quickly established a lead. Ty “powerhouse” Stanfield (Inferno Racing) moved into position and then attacked to bridge up to Darryl. Will “moving like a train” Hibberts bridged up too and the three riders extended their lead. As the leading trio railed up front eventually becoming two with Darryl and Ty laying it down at pro-tour level speeds, Joe Eldridge (Team Type I) and another rider launched a strong attack breaking free from the field but not quite able to close the gap on the leading duo. At least once or twice after that it looked impossible for the break to stay away – but never giving up and relentlessly pouring out the watts, the two managed to extend their lead coming into the final hill.

Back in the pack, I maneuvered into position at the front waiting to see what Terry would do. A young rider from GS Montagna Rossa launched a perfectly timed attack just before the hill. Jim Brock (ERA Oxford Realty/Alabama Masters/Bob’s Bikes) attacked shortly thereafter. Jim caught and passed the GSMR rider and looked like he was on his way to third place as the rest of the group eyed each other. Terry was stuck in the front as we rounded the bend at the church at the top of the hill. I was in perfect position behind Terry so as he ramped up the speed, I came flying around him knowing that a quick enough acceleration would take me to the line before the big sprinters could wind it up. As a surprise bonus though, I managed to squeak by Jim just before the finish line for third. Jim rolled in a tenth of a second later quickly followed by the Tria sprinting prowess of Sammy Flores in fifth.

Meanwhile, up front, Darryl buried himself to keep the break away and Ty was just able to come around him to take the victory!

For the women’s competition, Amy Gravlee (Team Medplan) stayed right up there with the men and a new rider Elizabeth rode strong too coming in behind Amy for second place.

Ok, that’s it for today – see you next week! Here is the updated series standings.

Another great turnout, lots of winter riding fun! A big thanks to BBC, Milo’s and Tracy’s for the awesome postride food. Yummy burgers from Milo’s, baked beans from Tracy’s, chips, and drinks!!!

Here’s how the ride played out…

With temps in the upper 60s and lower 70s, you would never guess that it was Mid-December. At least 60 riders departed the BBC promptly at 9:01 AM. Smooth rolling for such a large group until a traffic light in Leeds caused the day’s drama with a few unfortunate souls having to chase back on when the rest of the group didn’t realize the light had turned red. For future rides, don’t panic and don’t chase! We have a scheduled stop at the abandoned feed store on the other side of Leeds. Please ride together at your normal pace and rejoin the group at the abandoned store.

After the scheduled stop, we rolled along at a good pace on Hwy 78 with a tailwind at our backs before turning onto Camp Winnataska Road. Having traversed the rollings hills, twists and turns, we made it to St Clair Hwy 27 and headed into a brisk headwind. The jockeying for position started here and continued across the bridge into Shelby County and didn’t stop until the start of the attack zone when a small group rocketed off the front. Ty Stanfield (Inferno Racing) and Darryl Seelhorst (Tria Market) made the initial move with Terry Duran (BBC) bridging up a little while later. Will Hibberts (Alabama Masters/Bob’s Bikes) and Wes Douglas (Tria Market) bridged up, too making this look like an unstoppable move. At this point, however, as the move started to solidify, several attacks from Scott Staubach (ICS Chain Reaction), Joe Eldridge (Team Type I), and others in the main peloton kept the pace fast. Just when it looked like there might be hope that this would be the first move to survive all the way to the finish of the attack zone, a series of attacks on the long downhill and across the short valley brought the move back at the start of the “kicker hill”. Darryl Seelhorst launched another move with Ty Stanfield but big man Morgan got to the front and drilled it back with me and Terry right on his wheel. As we rounded the corner, I kicked it into turbo mode passing on Morgan’s left with Terry going around on his right. I came across the line first followed shortly by Terry followed by Chris Allison (Bob’s Bikes) who made a strong move. Andy Maddux and Jim Brock (Bob’s Bikes) rounded out the top five making this a strong showing for Bob’s this week. Can they find the elusive top spot?? Stay tuned until next week!

The women’s race is neck and neck with Amy Gravlee and Terri Jones only separated by a point!

Official Results
Men
1. Brian Toone (Tria Market)
2. Terry Duran (BBC)
3. Chris Allison (Bob’s Bikes)
4. Andy Maddux (Alabama Masters/Bob’s Bikes)
5. Jim Brock (Alabama Masters/Bob’s Bikes)

Women
1. Terri Jones (Team Medplan)
2. Amy Gravlee (Team Medplan)

Here is a link to the current series standings.

I had to miss the ride again this week so the results below are tentative … PLEASE email me or comment with any corrections. I am going by what I was told by my teammates and others. Thanks! Terry has a great ride report I’ve included first (and then the results):

Yes another good day in the saddle. 50+ riders began on the best day yet in the BBL. As expected a moderate start of the group all anticipating the one and only attack zone. As usual with 1500m before the zone, Tria makes there way to the front. The attacking begins leaving three off the front (Justin-Tria, Stewart-Tria and Ty-Kenda Pro). The move was solid as it stuck almost 2/3 of the zone. Unfortunately for the break, on this day there was too much horse power remaining in the field. Travis Sherman had enough and went to the front and began to motor and pulled the field within 1000m when Will Hilberts took control and reeled in the break. At the time the break was caught, was at the base of the short steep hill and then the jockeying began. With anxiety building within the Tria crew as they had all eyes on T.Duran for they were in a do or die situation and could not afford to let TD take another win. 100m before the right turn to the finish, a rider from Team Type One launched the move with Lennie, TD, Darryl and others in tow. The second effort was made and was TD vs Darryl with Darryl prevailing by a half wheel.

Unofficial results
Men
1. Darryl Seelhorst
2. Terry Duran
3. Josh Gamble
4. Sammy Flores
5. Lennie Moon

Women
Coming soon…

Here is a link to the current results spreadsheet.