Tria Cycling presented by DonohooAuto

Thanks to one of our new co-title sponsors for 2010, Dan Taylor at Infinity Med-I-Spa hosted us for a laid back fall mini training camp at his house on Lake Martin. Absolutely beautiful base location for three great rides. Thanks Dan!!! Check out the photos and details below.

Friday, 11/20/2009
A few people were able to take off work early on Friday and head on down. With crazy Friday traffic so close to Thanksgiving holidays, the guys only had time to do a short 55km ride before sunset.

Saturday, 11/21/2009
This was our big ride day with a 75 mile ride around Lake Martin on tap. We kept the pace moderate throughout the ride except for two designated attack zones near the end of the ride where we split up into two teams and practiced team tactics for winning the attack zone sprints. Team “One” came out on top for both attack zones. Check out the topocreator.com map of the ride:

Sunday, 11/22/2009
We woke up to a wet cold morning with a strong wind coming off the lake – but nothing was going to keep us from having another amazing ride. Dan picked out some great roads (Tallapoosa County 20 is awesome) and even though it misted a bit we were able to get in some good pacelining and echelon practice. Also, we revisited the same two attack zones for Team “Two” to try and rework its strategy to come out victorious for the attack zones. But alas, Team “One” still had it worked out to come out on top for both attack zones — all in the name of good fun, practice, learning, and hard training. Check out the topocreator.com map of the ride:

While most of the team headed up to River Gorge for the BMW Omnium, I headed over to Georgia to try to retake the lead in the Georgia Cycling Gran Prix series. Alas, I fought hard, but it wasn’t to be. Still with another podium finish in yesterday’s road race, I am happy to have finished 2nd place overall for the 11 weekend race series. Today’s circuit race was canceled because of a nasty thunderstorm with lots of cloud-to-ground lightning. Even though I wasn’t able to win the series, I was very happy with how it was organized and how it gave me and our team a goal for something to fight for all season long! Here’s a picture that Kristine got of the podium yesterday.

GCGP Summer Finale RR Podium Pro 1-2, (L-R) Brian Toone, Joey Rosskopf, Oscar Clark

Wes leading the road race breakaway

Mike Lackey keeping the pack under control

Quite an exciting weekend with a big “W” for Mike Lackey winning the Cat 3 bonus on Sunday and taking the overall Cat 3 omnium for the weekend. The organizers combined the 1/2/3 field but split the payouts and omnium for the Cat 3 race. So Mike in addition to winning the Cat 3’s was able to work along with Wes, Darryl, and Stuart to help me to 3rd place on Saturday, 3rd on Sunday, and 3rd in the overall for the 1/2 race. Terry and Sammy raced the masters race with Terry taking the crit win and overall 45+ omnium win.

Here’s how it all played out in the 1/2/3 races:

Saturday Criterium, 65 minutes scheduled (62 minutes actual)

This race got off to a fast start with Stuart hitting out on an early break on the first lap that lasted for a couple laps. Darryl, Wes, Mike, and Sammy were all active covering moves and getting into a few breakaways each time something was reeled in. My opportunity to try a move came 15 minutes into the race, when I attacked going into the quick right-left-right series of turns. Three riders responded immediately and we had a small group of four rolling. Soon more riders bridged up including a couple more Herring Gas riders (bringing their total to 4 riders in the break), Eric Murphy (Myogenesis), Paul Tower (warp9bikes.com), and Ben Gabardi (Hot Tubes). As soon as I realized my situation, I did not want to work with the break. Unfortunately, Herring Gas had enough riders in the break to not only help it stay away but also launch riders off the front of the break. To avoid having to cover or bridge to the small mini-moves that kept on forming, I decided it was best just to roll through at a slower speed whenever I made it to the front in the rotation. So that was the status quo for the next 40 minutes.

I felt great when they flashed “3 laps to go”. Eric was pretty aggressive and tried to get away a couple times. His attacks whittled our break down to just four riders going into the last lap. Brian Rizk (Precision Racing) attacked first going up the hill in the middle of the quick right-left-right. I covered and found myself in second position going into the last corner. I decided to hit out before the corner. I had a bit of a gap coming out of the corner and with a tailwind sprint, I thought I could hold it – but Eric and Bain Foote (Herring) were both able to come around me so I ended up third.

Sunday Road Race, 65 miles
Today’s road race went off really well for us with Mike getting the Cat 3 win. Nickole and Cindy were there to help us in the feedzone. We all communicated well. We put the right man in the break. We sprinted decently — but for all of that we ended up losing the 1/2 race in the last mile. About 250 meters into the race, Wes said that he wanted to attack. I said go for it, and away he went. This attack was covered, but then Darryl counter attacked immediately and was away for a while. When Darryl got brought back, Wes must have been feeling very spritely because he attacked a second time, and we didn’t see him again until 64 miles later.

Clark Butcher (Herring Gas) covered the move from Wes, and the two of them had a steady gap of 2.5 minutes for most of the race including all the way to halfway through the last lap when they still had a 2.5 minute lead. Myogenesis was content to defend Eric’s GC placing, and Eric was happy he didn’t have to cover a bunch of attacks. Warp9 was content to ride a steady tempo keeping the break within remote striking distance, but ultimately it was the late race attacks by Herring that ramped up the pace enough to bring back Wes and Clark with less than 1 mile to go. Paul Tower (warp9bikes.com) launched a strong counterattack covered by Pat Allison and Bain. This got brought back quickly because there wasn’t enough cohesion amongst the three of them. Once they were caught, Paul launched another attack that nobody covered this time. Bain attacked from just over 500 meters and again nobody was covering so I did a short bridge to him, started my sprint at 300 meters and ended up getting passed by Eric Murphy on the line. Paul held on for the win by just a few meters which also meant he overtook me in the GC so I had to settle for 3rd in the race and 3rd overall for the weekend. Still – kudos to Paul for such a strong late race attack. Also, Wes proved that he is a beast of a bike rider driving a break for 64 miles – I believe this is his third race-long break of the year, and all of them have helped lead to wins or high finishes for somebody else on the team … it’s definitely going to be his time to win soon!!!

Dahlonega Road Race

5/31/2009

Wes Douglas

I did this race “mountain bike style” by driving over on Saturday after work and arriving at the Montaluce Winery Dahlonega road race start location around 1AM….Slept right there in the car.  Before the start I took at quick look at the hill leading into the S/F line. It was something of a stair stepping climb…not too long but brutal with about a 18-20% grade starting out (with no momentum) then a second kick of about 13-15% and then a more gradual 8% or so to the top and the Start/Finish.  We were going go have to climb this after each lap.  Immediately after the neutral start the attacks began.  Nothing on this course seemed to be flat….It all seemed to be either up or down and what I would call a bit of a meat grinder for me.  There were a few small breaks and a few flyers on the first lap but the pace was killing me because we would go super slow and then all out….Off and On…Off and On. 

After the first lap and climb to the S/F and the following climbs I was getting a little worried about even finishing this race….I did not feel good at all.  I decided I needed to put an end to this stop and go business, if I could.  To that end, I waited until we were back on the main road where the terrain would allow me to use power and maintain some momentum.  Previously a Pacesetter rider had been allowed to go solo off the front and was still out there.  Once my heart rate and the pace had finally settled down I decided to give it a shot and made the attack hoping I could get away with another rider or two.  I slipped off pretty easily and was quickly joined by Myogenesis Adam Ray.  Looking back I saw this was going to work….at least for a while….and after a few minutes we had joined the Pacesetter rider.  The three of us were really working well together but it was obvious that on this day Adam was the faster climber followed by me and then Pacesetter.  I was certain that if we managed to stay away I would end up second. 

After the third lap the Pacesetter rider popped on the S/F climb even though we didn’t want this.  He was trying to hold on and Adam and I though for a second about waiting to see if he could latch back on but decided this would be the wrong decision.  We had to go.  We knew there was a chase but weren’t too sure about how far back they were or who was in it or their numbers.  Adam and I were crushing it now.   He would lead up most the climbs with me being able to hold on and do more work on the rolling sections.  It was getting really hot and with the hard work (my HR was averaging 180 the whole break) we were doing and I was going through a bottle of water every lap.  Halfway though the 4^th lap we got a glimpse of the chase group.  We could see there was a big group but didn’t know for sure who was in it.  I was just praying we could hold them off or that Brian was back there and staying fresh.  Adam and I doubled our efforts and were putting time back on them.  After climb to the S/F there was still no sight of the chase group but Ruth was holding a radio and let me know they were a minute back going into the 5^th and final lap. 

On the second climb I lost a little more ground to Adam but I though I would catch back on when we hit the main road however, just before I did the chase group surprised me as they came by.  I grabbed onto the last wheel and started to recover.  Adam was also caught a few seconds later.   It was a good run but now it as time to change tactics.  Time for me to recover a little if I could!!!  I saw a few stragglers trying to make it up to us but I didn’t want them to make it so the second I felt a little rested I went to the front to drill the pace….It worked…no one else got into the break of ten.  Still, Myogenesis and most of the other riders seemed want to take it pretty slow, rest up and let the Start/Finish hill sprint decide things.  Well at this point I knew I would not be winning that contest and I didn’t want the any other riders to catch and have a chance either…nor did I want the group to rest and have more energy to use against Brian.   To keep this from happening I attacked every time the pace got too slow, going off the front and forcing a chase.  At one point I got way out there and out of sight so these efforts forced the group to chase and not take it nice and easy until the sprint. 

I was pretty much dead and cramping on the hill sprint and came in ninth.  After I rolled though the S/F I saw Brian rolling back towards me signaling a number ONE….Awesome Day!! 

Mens cat3 criterium, 17 or 18 riders in the field.  VeloCity, Cumberland Transit, Mellow Mushroom, BBC, Jittery Joes and a few other were represented.  Jacob and I were the only Tria riders.  The first laps rolled fast with Tim Heard and a Cumberland guy getting off the front for a lap.  This was brought back and another small attack was covered by Jacob.  As we rounded corner #2 going into #3 the field had just made the catch and was sitting up.  I jumped wide and shot through the corner and opened up a gap.  Cumberland Transit and Jason Donaldson of BBC bridged up.  Jacob and BBC controlled the field to let the gap grow.  The three of us worked well together and got over a minute by the finish.  With a lap to go I attacked into the wind between corners 2 and 3 but they were on me.  We came down the back side three wide across the road.  I heard Donaldson rub his brakes and that was the signal to hit the gas.  I went into the last corner hot and put a gap on him that he could not close.  The Cumberland rider was better at the corners but was in bad position.   I got up to 34 mph in the sprint, 26.4 mph average for 20.25 miles.

This is a great course, downtown!  The corners are like fly paper!  Thank you Mayor Langford for repaving!  I hope this race is around next year.