TT July 16, 2008

It looks like the weather will hold (we hope so anyway), so we'll see everyone at Gay City this afternoon.

Here are the results from tonights race with some commentary from Matt:

Dear Participants – Last night’s race was spectacular. We had very good weather conditions (for a change) and good turnout. All 22 participants rode 20 mph averages (if you round up) or better. We also had 21 year old Alister Ratcliff from Colorado. Alister broke the course record set in 2008 by Jeff Kozlowski by 27 seconds. At 27.45 mph Alister said it was 2.5 mph slower than his TT speed on a course in Canada earlier this year – “because this course is hillier”. Congratulations to Alister and thanks to all participants. The next race is July 30. See you then! Place

Name Category Time Speed
1 Alister Ratcliff MR2 13:33.1 27.45
2 Michael Chaplean MR3 14:28.6 25.68
3 Paul Novotasky MR3 15:08.6 24.55
4 David Marti MR5 15:31.6 23.95
5 Cliff Kenyon MR3 15:33.9 23.90
6 Joeseph Nucera MR4 15:37.2 23.82
7 Steve Abbot MR5 15:46.9 23.57
8 Paul Armstrong MR4 16:22.5 22.73
9 Barry O'Grady MR4 16:36.6 22.39
10 Amanda Lawrence FR3 16:38.1 22.36
11 Neal Popovich MR3 16:42.9 22.25
12 Jim Dunphy MR6 17:23.4 21.40
13 Dean Montgomery MR4 17:37.2 21.12
14 Bob Ludecke MR6 17:43.2 21.00
15 Jeff Buske MR3 17:47.5 20.90
16 Troy Hopkins MR4 17:48.4 20.90
17 Donna Davis FR4 18:23.9 20.22
18 Robert Winter MR5 18:24.6 20.20
19 Laura Mullally FR4 18:24.7 20.20
20 Steve Cabelus MR3 18:30.0 20.11
21 Steven Yau MR3 18:35.6 20.00
22 Katie Mullaly FR1 18:54.2 19.68

Jon

It's not if, but when

So I decided at the last minute to go out to Bethel and do the Wednesday night crit. I asked Paul to come , but he had a premonition, I guess, and declined. I should have known better my self. Of the three times I've done this race, two of the nights there were crashes. Last night it was my turn.
I was accomplishing my goal of geting a hard workout in. I rode solo off the front for a lap and a half and was in a short lived break of about 4 laps, so the workout was good. As we got down to the last few of 30 laps, I was thinking, "OK, good ride this will help with this weekends mounntain bike race". All I have to do is ride in the last two laps and go home. Wrong, winding up for the final sprint, coming around the last corner before the hill, and ther it is, my crash. The only image I remember is the guy leaning at a 45 degree angle right in front of me. I hit him had and go over the bars and slam to the road on my elbow and side. I think the reason I didn't get much road rash is because I just slammed down. I ended up in Danbury Hospital emergency room with a fractured elbow, 13 stiches, a seperated ACjoint in my shoulder and some cracked ribs. Since I'll be off the read for several week while my elbow heals, it's time to revise my race schedule. Thanks to the guys at the race reassuring me it wasn't as bad as it seemed and showing me how quickly there road rash healed. Extra special thanks to my friend Frank Navone, who also went down and had to get checked out. If you need an awesome guy to help you out, Frank's your man. As they say...."that's bike racing"
Jon

Tip: Cross the Finish line

Today was the Domnarski Farm race. From every thing I'd been told about the course, I wasn't really looking forward to it. After a pre-ride on Friday, I was less than enthusiastic. Jonathan Sawn and I lined up for the start and had at it. Jonathan went out two groups before mine. With my lack of enthusiasm, I got a pretty crappy start. I pushed fairly hard for the first half of the 10 mile lap and ended up in 2nd with the Snowman (Matt Snow). I drilled it on the pavement, thinking we could get a gap, but when we hit the dirt again, John Allen and Will had caught us. The second half of the lap is a lot more technical, but there are a couple of hard climbs. I thought I had dropped everybody on the climbs, but by the top of the last one I had been caught by two guys, Will (riding flat pedals and sneakers) and Bikebarn guy. Will got by me in one of the extra deep mud bogs when I didn't see the go around route and plunged head long into the slop. I think I swore! Bikebarn Guy got me just at the end of the Jeep trail before the last section of single track. I knew I was done then. Bikebarn guy played that expertly and I totally appreciated being beaten fair and sqaure. This is where the tip comes in. I was in such a hurry to congratulate Bikebarn guy for his skilled tactics and riding that I sort of forgot to ride through the finish line. I took probably 30 seconds for all the people screaming to get my attention and when I turned to see what all the yelling was about, they were all staring at me and screaming in this disgusted tone as if to say "I can't believe they let someone so stupid do these races". That's when I realized what I thought was the finish was actually the start line. Duh!! Anyway three guys crossed the line before I managed to drag myself over the line. I think I would have been in 4th, but probably will get credit for 8th-ish. I talked to the official in a half hearted plea for my spot, but didn't press the issue. Who's the idiot? (that would be me!)
In the end I actually liked the course and the racing was good. So often these races turn in to a time trial, solo ride through the woods, but we had some good action. Good race boys. Matt crashed hard and hit his head, he was pretty banged up. Hope he's OK. Props to John Allen for stopping and checking on him. Good to see my buddy Frank Navone.

CCTTS July 2, 2009

I swear, it wasn't raining when I left my house, but it sure was when we got to Gay City. After stalling for a while it cleared and had the race. My IT department just got back from vacation and is unavailable to post the chart, But everyone who aced should have gotten an email from Matt. If you want the results, shoot me an email. No race next week. See you in two.

East Hartford Crit June 30, 2009

Yep, That was fun. Paul and I just pinned it and attacked repeatedly throughout the whole race. I won the first prime and Paul won the next two. He finished second to some young whipper snapper in the final sprint. I think I was around 9th. It's cool to have the fitness to be able to go hard like that for the whole race. We'll be back

Putney West Hill Mtb Race June 28, 2009

This is one of my favorite courses of the series. Plenty of climbing, some nice single track and some wicked fun downhills. The recent rain made things a little slick, but there really weren't any mud holes. A couple of the climbs turned into run-ups, but that's the way it goes. Paul forgot his tube and CO2, so he started the race with my lame ass mini pump and cheapo performance tube. I told him the pump would take only slightly less time to fill the tire as it would to walk back. Needless to say, he flatted on the first lap. when I passed him he was struggling trying to get the tire off the rim, but he was gone on the next lap so I figured he got it fixed. I had made a couple of water bottle holders out of some old ski poles for us. When I came through the feed, Paul's bottle was gone, so I knew he was back in the race. Trust me there was no way he was going to DNF, if he had to carry the bike for three laps, he was going to finish. After the race he said he had to stop every half lap and pump the tire with the near-useless mini pump. With all that he managed to hang on to 15th of 23 starters. Awesome effort.
I got a pretty crappy start, but after some sketchy passes (that I probably would have complained about) just before the single track, I got up to about 5th. I was right behind George and was watching Matt and Sylvain at the front. After the next single track I had passed George and closed in on Matt. Matt went down next, which suprised me. That left just Sylvain at the front. I just couldn't get up to him and that's how the race ended. Sylvain in 1st and me in 2nd. George got 5th and Matt finished 10th. This was my first sport race last year and I think I finished 2nd from the other end. I'm really happy with the way the season's going. Makes all those cold rides in January seem worth it.
Check out some pictures taken by Scott Frison and Paul.

Taylor Valentine (one of the sketchy passes, sorry Taylor)

Scott Frison, checking his email, I think

Paul on Cemetary Hill

Heartbreak Hill

Cycling Videos on CyclingDirt

Check out this video where Paul Novotosky randomly rides past during the Seamus Powell Interview- too funny

Time Trial July 2, 2009

I'm no weather man, but the radar looks like this storm will be gone by race time. So we're on for tonight. Hopefully we don't get caught in a storm.

Jon