Episode 5 of the PODCAST

This episode includes some listener email questions, an interview with legendary coach Chris Carmichael, race coverage from the not-so-pro peleton, an interview with Joey Coddington about the brand new DLP pro team and a discussion on race tactics, and the helmet shootout. The Bell Sweep-R, the Giro Atmos, and he Specialized S-works helmets are put to the test. Enjoy!

Fierce weather and competition in NC

This pretty much summed up our racing in NC. The team headed to Salisbury, NC or just north of there for some racing. This would be the 4th weekend in a row of racing and many of us would be taking a welcomed break after the weekend. First things first, there is racing to be had. Jimbo, Jimmy T, Rod, Sean and Dave would team up for a RR Sat in the rolling hills of NC. We get to our destination with some help of some locals in Albmarle, NC, thank you sir and hope the few dollars came in handy! As we pull into the starting area we learn our race would be starting..ahhh just few minutes late...ahh make that over 2 hours late. Fantastic. With the wind blanketing the entire parking lot with a road kill aroma...this was going to be enjoyable. Fast foward 2 half hours...yes that is right more than two hours later and over 10 calls to tell us the mother of all storms is coming our way. Add to this all the people using cell phones with internet..oh that red on the screen is that huge black mass in the sky just above us? Fantastic... Can we please start the race. But of course...the officials pre race instructions resembled more like a crisis management how too. With the weather coming in you may experience some strong winds, rain, hail and possible tornadoes...if this is the case we will shorten the race by ringing a bell(guy standing on a corner with cow bell) as the course was a lolly pop.
After completing one lap and starting our 2nd...Armagedon was unleashed...first the wind went from 20 to 30 to 40 mph,the temp dropped 20 degrees to about 45, the rain starting coming down in sheets at a 35 degree angle...and finally the the hail started. This all happened at the conclusion of lap 2. Somewhere, someone decided the race would be concluded NOW...so as we raced passed the guy that was suppose to be ringing the bell??? we finished with one official on the platform holding onto the equipment for dear life, so it did not get blown away or he did not get blown away. Needless to say there were no results and the promoter was persuaded to give us our entry fee back...thank you.

We make our way to our hotel for some showers...though more for the heat than the actually water. Grabbed some food with some guys from Piedmont Orthopedic and then some coffee at Starbucks where Jimbo made a new fried, with whom we thought would be a TEAM CTM fan the following day at the crit and bring us some free coffee...no such luck.

Steve and Rick raced the 45+ crit with Steve coming in for 4th. Rick is just now recovering from some continued sickness but still hung in there for a 12th. They stuck around to double up with Jimbo, Rod, JimmyT and myself for the masters 35+.

Well the 35+ race did not go as planned and long story short I was in break with 4 other guys and 3 of which were from the Carolina Masters. 2 of the guys are very strong elite riders, let alone masters racers. I tired to attack a few times with hope of pulling just one of them with me and bettering my odds. 2 of the guys being strong and smart would have none of this and finally one countered and rode away. As luck would have it I look back to see one rider bridging the gap to our now break of 4. I realize it is another guy from the Carolina Masters. I begin to set a hard tempo so not to allow him to bridge, but with 3 guys sitting on (one guy not on this team did no work) yet another Carolina Masters guy eventually caught us. After a few laps later there were some attacks and counter attacks by the Carolina guys particular 2 and I had to choose my poison as both guys are very good TTers. As luck would have it I chose wrong and the 2nd Carolina guy flew up the rode with me is chase and 4 guys on my wheel. I out sprinted the other guy not on the Carolina Masters team for 3rd. Steve throwing the double came through for 8th in a small group that got off the front of the field.

Dave joined Jimbo, Rod, JimmyT and myself for the P12. Standing at the start, looking around at 6 Time Pro members, 2 Bissell members, 2 DLP members, 1 Rite Aid, 1 Toshiba 7 Lees McRae guys and 8 Hincapie guys, it was obvious the race would be HARD. The race started from the gun with attack after attack after attack. 7 guys got off the front and had a nice gap. Time had only one guy in the break. Hincapie, Lees, and Team CTM had none. Soon I found myself in a chase group of 6 with three being from Time. We were all working hard to close the gap with the exception of one Time guy who was sitting on the back. When we got close, the Time guy jumped hard to bridge and made it. At that point the other two Time guys sat up and let us three continue to try and bring the now 8 guys back. Myself and the three guys continued to pull hard but eventually the break pulled away and the field pulled us back. The field being led by Hincapie continue to chase the break but would never catch them. Team CTM would follow a few moves late but nothing else was getting very far. The field sprinted for 9th TEAM CTM just finished out of the top 20.

Though not great results it was good to have almost the whole team present in 2 races. The winning break of the P1/2s also consisted of all Pro riders and we just missed it.

Look for more TEAM CTM results very soon as we get everyone completely healthy and racing together.

Thanks for reading....now go RIDE!

TUES NIGHT WORLDS...

I have been racing for a little over a month now but it never seems to amaze me the number of people that show up for the first of the TNWs. I think it is one of the many things that make this sport so damn intriguing. Maybe you are a new parent that use to race but now this is all that time allows...call the babysitter...TNW is here. Maybe you raced as a young man or women and just got the bug to hop back on the bike. Maybe it is fact that all the local has beens, are nows and will bes are all in one place. What ever the reason....welcome DST and welcome 2008 T N W!

Here's what I learned

So I learned a few things over the last few weekends as well, in no particular order they are:

1. Bike racing is fun when you are doing well
2. Bike racing sucks when you don't do well
3. My fitness is coming along nicely
4. I think I have to take a week off now to let my overuse tendinitis knee heal
5. Some riders ride like they are on motorcycles, I'm not sure how they do it
6. The same guys we always race against are still around, but this year, a bunch have pro licenses
7. The Time pro team is very young, strong but still learning
8. Drink enough water - you would think I should know this by now
9. You can't do well in every race, or at least I can't
10. The team rocks and we'll only get better!

Still Learning at nearly 40...

Stones sing "time, time, time.... is on my side....yes it is" Good to know as I learned yet another lesson during this final weekend of racing in the Spring Series. During the Masters 35+ race, I was hoping just to sit and sprint. It looked as though this would happen until a little after completing lap 1, one guy got off the front and then another and yet another. The filed seemed very content to allow anyone but Pat McCallion and myself to get away. We each tried on several attempts to escape both together and separately. I was finally able to escape and hooked up with Joe R from Land Rover to roll away. We soon rolled up on two more guys and stayed away until the finish. We never caught one guy that was putting in quite a TT performance and had been out front since lap one. As we came into the finish two guys decided not to contest the sprint, which left myself and one other unknown(to me) rider for the sprint for 2nd. I felt quite confident I could out sprint this guy and just sat on this wheel. He had been pushing a huge gear all day and I just did not see any sign of sprint. WRONG....he jumped and got a quick bike length gap...UHHH....RRRut Rrrrroo RAGY...I was able to get back to his wheel and then jumped myself. I got my own bike length gap and thought I have this...UHHHHH... WRONG...again. He was able to get back to my wheel at about 100 meters and I well just plain got TOOK at the line. VERY VERY disappointing. I could use 100 different old guy racer excuses but point is...well he took my lunch money. Just another LE(learned experience) of this little think called BIKE RACING!


Congrats to Pat McCallion for winning the overall in the Master 35+!

Ahhh racing against guys our own age.....

Rodney, JimmyT and myself decide to take a break from the P12s for Sunday and race against some guys our own age for a change. We lined up with about 50 35+ guys, ready for 6 laps of Donaldson. The plan was to be aggressive and watch some of the other top guys in the field but at all cost put at least two of us in a move. The race was on from the gun and after the quick right hand turn the pace came to a bit of a slow down. I decided to hit the gas and just see who I would bring with me. One guy from Smith Barney came riding up and away he and I went. We rode together for a while and I took a look back to see 3 more guys rolling up to us. Rod had tucked himself on the back of two of the strong men we had talked about earlier. We all fell into smoothly taking pulls and after the first lap we had pushed our gap to field well over a minute. We continued to work together over the next 4 laps. Though Rod and I were both hurting from the 75 miles the day before, we maintained our poker faces. Just prior to completing lap 5 or 6, Pat McCallion attacked with me right on his wheel. He sat up shortly after and Ryan Jenkins countered wit Rod glued to his wheel. I should have jumped again to go with these two...next time...always next time. Rod and Ryan rode away with Pat towing me around. Pat and I made like attorneys once again and negotiated a deal where in I take 3rd by helping keep him away from the field. We worked together for the final lap and I rolled across the line for 3rd. Rod rolled through for 2nd just behind Ryan and JimmyT took a flier from the field for 5th. As a team is was our best performance yet and looking for many more.

Episode 4 of Team CTM Cycling Podcast

Episode 4 of the podcast is complete.

Click here to take you to the podcast page.








In this episode:

• Tales from the not-so-pro peleton. The first 2 weekends of racing.
• Rich Hincapie with history of the Greenville spring series, news from the hincapie clothing company and about George
• Winner of the Category 5 race - a cool story
• Report from the women's race
• Interview with Lees McRae College athletes
• Tips for racing in the wind
• GA-cup update
  
• A discussion with Tim Crunk, physical therapist

Why change a good thing....

This was our thoughts heading into last Saturdays Fork Shoals RR. The good thing would be a Jimbo Cunningham duplication of his performance on this same course just 5 short months ago when won the SC elite state title. So to get back to the original thought...Team CTM lined up with same 5 from the prior weekend which included Jimbo, JimmyT, Josh, Rondey, myself and new member racing with us for the first time this season David Forkner. The goal like last year Rodney and myself cover early moves, and let the other guys sit for a while. This plan lasted all of about 2 miles into a 75 mile race. Jimbo countered a move that I was in and away he and his 3 break companions went. All the big teams were represented including DLP and Hincapie. So, the rest of us sat back and followed wheels. The race got strung out a few times during the next 3 laps with big pulls coming from Mr. George Hincapie and another pro from Bissell Ted King. Lap 4 saw the most action with many little moves going up the road. Team CTM was represented in all the moves with the hope of bridging to the original break with Jimbo. No move gain more than a few seconds and was then brought back. The break continued to stay at about 1:00 through 1 lap remaining of the 15 mile hilly course even though the 4 breakaway riders were down to just three after Scottie Weiss came back to the field. However, within half a lap that 1:00 gap went down to 22 seconds and it was just a matter of time before the break was caught. The three did manage to hold off the charging field until there was only about 5 miles remaining. As the race took the final last left and had K to the finish Team CTM has three guys up front for the finish. A late split in the group caught the guys off guard but Rodney, JimmyT and Dave were all able to finish in the top 20 with Rodney taking honors with 12th. We did not pull off another top 3 but a good days work non the less.