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.

Thanks tons to BBC, Scott Bikes, and Zipp for sponsoring an awesome points kick-off ride. I got to ride a sweet pair of Zipp wheels that weren’t quite enough to get me past the always fast, always smart Terry Duran.

Here’s how the day played out: temps in the mid-20’s when everybody was making their way over to BBC for the ride start. BBC opened its doors very early to accommodate all of us shivering bike fanatics. We had sign-up sheets and I think most everyone signed in. I of course will not publish any of those emails, but if you would like to opt yourself out of the master rider list that I will be creating soon, please email me and let me know.

I started out at the very back of the group and it was awesome to see the huge group riding two-by-two up Montevallo and onto Hwy 78 on the way out of town. We made it through Leeds and onto the Camp Winnataska road at a nice tempo before making our way out towards Sterrett for the start of the inaugural attack zone of the year. Tria started things off launching a massive attack with D-fast-as-a-horse-Seelhorst galloping away not to be reeled in until well into the attack zone. Tria continued to launch bullets off the front, but BBC was up to the challenge reeling in each one. Then Lennie-the rocket to the-Moon launched a perfectly timed attack that only strong T-the man-Duran could respond to. I saw T-man launch himself and quickly responded too bridging up to T-man and then counter-attacking. But there was no getting away from T-man as he latched on to my wheel and then came around at the end to take the inaugural 2008-2009 BBL sprint. Congrats T … enjoy your well earned victory this week until we all square off again next week!

L-rocket who started it all held on strong to finish third. J-can you rock the-Brock took the field sprint for fourth with J-pumpkin-Gilmore coming in 5th. Check out the points spreadsheet (google doc) to see the preliminary results.

Come back next week for round 2!