Ballinrobe 2 day

Ballinrobe was the venue for my second stage race on consecutive weekends. We had a slightly depleted squad with a couple of late withdrawals but it turned out to be a great weekend.

We dominated the race claiming thirteen prizes from a five man squad. The highlight was the overall win which was taken by Colm Cassidy. The win was made that extra bit special as Irish Olympian, David O'Loughlin placed second on GC. I placed third overall, getting 6th on stage one and 5th on stage two along the way.



It was an solid performance from the team and the support staff which traveled with the squad. This is the last stage race of the season but with a couple of the younger lads showing impressively this weekend next season looks bright.



My next racing will be in Belgium from the 10th - 19th of August.




Overall
1st Colm Cassidy UCD 4Hrs 26'20"
2nd David O'Loughlin Cunga CC @06"
3rd Anthony Walsh UCD @19"
4th David Brennan Castlebar CC @24"




Photos from irishcycling.com

Superweek Victory

Spirits were high going into the Friday evening’s Brookfield Criterium. We took a lot of heart from the previous nights’ race. Although it was tough, now had a belief we were capable to getting a result. The atmosphere was on the night was special. I normally laugh at the over zealous, ill-guided American patriotism but tonight was different. As the local singer inspired the on-looking crowd by bellowing out her best rendition of the star spangled banner I couldn’t but notice the goose bumps on my arms. It was an atmosphere I hadn’t experienced at a bike race and I loved it. As the national anthem echoed in the background I had a moment to take cognisance of the surrounding and I now knew why Superweek was special. It wasn’t just the racing, it was the entire package: the celebrity announcer (Italian villain from cult classic ‘Breaking Away’), the hoarding, the crowds, Miss Milwaukee as starter and yes, the American zeal.

The race itself was a super technical seven corner, one kilometre circuit. The plan was similar to the previous day with Ed on the offensive early. This time it paid off – Ed found himself in a strong move which worked well together. With Ed away life became easy for the rest of us. We jumped with any move that looked dangerous in an attempt to get a free ride across to the break. About midway through the race I followed some wheels that looked dangerous and found myself in a chase group of about ten riders. With a man up the road no one expected, or got, any contribution to the workload from me. Meanwhile Ed’s group had lapped the main field. Sean, the team director, informed me of the situation and asked me to sit up and go back to help secure the win (very pro-tour).

The chase group was the only immediate concern. The plan was simple. Use me and Kevin to contain the chase group and keep Pete fresh to lead Ed out for the sprint. Time seemed to stand still as we made an uncomfortable tempo lap after lap. We were all expecting an attack from one of Ed’s fellow breakaway companions but they seemed content to leave it to be decided in the sprint. That suited us just perfect. Chemstar p/b United Healthcare also had a man in the break and contributed to the pace making. Kevin and myself lasted until just inside the final lap when the Chemstar p/b United Healthcare came over the top of our lead out train with their own. Pete never panicked. He bumped his way onto the back of their train and sat in until the last corner. Then he went for home with Ed in his wheel. He hit the front of the race with 250 meters to go and pulled to the side. Ed put his head down and opened up, nothing but clear road ahead. I was rolling in a few hundred meters back and I heard the announcer screaming, Ed Veal from Jet Fuel. Yes!! We won a Superweek race.



Ed was almost overcome with emotion as the team embraced to the backdrop of Queens’s iconic soundtrack, We are the Champions. We posed for photos with spectators and soaked up the atmosphere. It was a race I am not likely to forget for a long time -an incredible feeling.

The following evening was, ‘The Downer’, the biggest race on the Superweek calendar. The organisers’ anticipated a crowd of 30,000. In all honesty I don’t think the crowd was that big but it was substantial and made all the more impressive when you consider the crowd lined a one kilometre circuit. The race is held on Saturday night and it has a real Saturday night feel about it – spectators are in party mood, drinking and generally being loud. The Downer had all the atmosphere from the previous night, plus some more. It was a unique experience for me and although we all had tired legs from seven races in eight day, you could find that little extra in the legs when the cheers went up. The race itself was non memorable, we attacked and gave it everything we had but ultimately we came up short. A late breakaway contested the win.

As we took the chequered flag to conclude the race, spectators handed us beers. We rode a few laps to sample the crowd and toasted a great weeks racing.



Photos from www.pedalmag.com
results on www.internationalcycling.com

Milwaukee Superweek

Long drive on the cards to kick off the week. Scorching heat. One car with air conditioning. One car without air conditioning. Damn, I drew the short straw. It’s going to be rough getting out of the car and racing after a seven hour drive. We stop a couple of times en route to Chicago and my legs are like lead. The guys are all keen to race that evening despite the long drive - only a natural disaster will stop us doing the first race. Oh yes!!....A natural disaster, a storm hit Chicago. Roads are closed, power cables are down. I can rest easy and begin Superweek with fresh legs tomorrow.

The usual Superweek race format was a 100km criterium. The first two races were unremarkable. We raced aggressive but were unlucky to miss the major moves in the races and ended up scrapping for minor placing outside the top ten. The tactics seemed right so we vowed to persevere.

Thursday night South Shore Classic rolled around. I was starting to get the hang of these crits. I wasn’t getting gapped out of the corners. I am not saying I was comfortable through the corners but I was surviving. The corners are where the selection is often made so I was happy to be surviving through them. There was also a notable increase in standard at Superweek compared to the preparation Midweek crits I rode back in Toronto or even the Detroit and Windsor races the previous weekend. In the races the previous weekend we were the controlling force, dictating when breaks would be brought back and which breaks would survive. This was a different story. We were more at the mercy of the peleton but we still had a few cards to play. We just needed to be smarter about playing them.



The plan was for Ed to be active early, attempting to get into breakaways in the first half of the race. The rest of the team were going to play the waiting game and gamble on later moves. Mid way through the race we lost Kevin Hazzard with a back injury. As per our plan Ed was aggressive early but unsuccessful. A break of eight riders was away from about the half way point. They seemed to be working well together and considering the make up of the break it looked as though they would be the ones contesting the race win. With three laps remaining Pete lined the bunch out for me to try and take a flier across to the break. To be honest I don’t think I would have made it on my own. At the moment I attacked another rider, Michael Chauner from Team Cykelcity , also went on the attack. We rode full gas and caught the break just as they started the last lap.

I have played the moment we caught the break over and over in my head. It was the key moment and I shit my pants. I should have taken a run at them without hesitating but I choose to sit in, just for a moment. That moment’s hesitation was enough to cost me the race. As I drew breath my fellow escapees started their sprint. I had poor positioning out of the last corner and not much left in the legs for a sprint. SHIT! 6th place.

And the winner…….the lad Chauner from Team Cykelcity. He took the flier as we caught them and barely held of the pursuers. In retrospect it was a decent result in a tough race against a good field but at the time it didn’t feel like it.

O-Cup Windsor

After coming so close the day before in Detroit the team were very motivated for the win in Windsor. Being back on Canadian soil meant the lads knew the competition. We talked about who the strong riders were and where possible threats would come from.

The first thing that struck me about the race was the heat. It was like racing in an oven. I am not sure of the exact temperature but it was well into the high thirties. It was so hard to get a breath and this was only going to get worse as the race hotted up.

Early in the race we were super active, firing men up the road in every move. It was only a matter of time before one of the moves stuck. The elastic snapped and Kevin Hazzard was set free with three other guys. We patrolled the front of the bunch to ensure no counterattack could make it across to them.

The break worked well together and lapped the field with still about thirty minutes of racing remaining. From here the pain would begin - it was time to start making that uncomfortable tempo. Pete and me went about making the pace while Ed was kept fresh to look after Kev in the finale. A chase group had gone clear but it was decided not to chase at one hundred percent but instead to make sure they didn't catch the back of the main bunch. We had Dave up in the chase group messing things up and it all panned out well.

Me and Pete shared turns until one lap remaining. I opened up through the start finish line to string out the bunch and gave it full gas for about 400 meters. Pete hit it hard as soon as I pulled off, bringing Ed and Kev into the second from last straight. Out of the last corner Ed went for it with Kev in his wheel, with meters remaining Kev stuck his head out in the wind and accelerated to claim victory.

I felt like I had won the race as I heard the announcer proclaim the winner. It was a magical feeling a truly great team effort.

Elite 1 Men – 65km
1. Kevin Hazzard (Jet Fuel Coffee/ La Bicicletta)
2. Anton Varabei (Cycle Solutions/Angry Johnny’S)
3. Brandon Spencer (Kallisto/Wheels Of Bloor)
4. Chris Balestrini (Garneau-Club Chaussures)
5. Jeffery Schiller (Garneau-Club Chaussures)
6. Dave Byer (Jet Fuel Coffee/ La Bicicletta)


Photos from cyclingphotos.ca

Detroit City Criterium

I touched down in Toronto a few weeks ago. The plan had been to hook up with the Jet Fuel/La Bicicletta squad to race the tour de Toona but for one reason or another the team decided to withdraw at the last minute. Instead of a stage race I was left with the prospect of racing criteriums everyday for eight days.




There were so many unknowns starting out the week. I haven't raced a lot of crits in the past and the thought of racing around in circles for two plus hours was less than motivating. Also this was my first real block of racing in North America so I wasn't sure what standard to expect.



We traveled down to Detroit - which I had been warned was rough and rundown. It turned out to be nice city and an ideal location for a bike race. We raced in the heart of the downtown area and although the crowds weren't huge at this one, a unique buzz was in the air. The races are really packaged over here. Every race is a presentation with an announcer, rider call ups and hoarding.




The squad for the day consisted of Pete Morse, Kevin Hazzard, Ed veal and Dave Byer. Sean Kelly was the teams director. This is a team of people I'd get to know very well over the next week. All bar Dave Byer traveled to Milwaukee with us. I love these blocks of races/stage races, the banter is always on a different level to one day races.

Boom...and the race was off. From the very first corner I had difficulty with the speed these guys were hitting the corners at. A majority of the races over in North America/Canada take the form of criteriums and this was really reflected in their cornering style. Fast into the corner, late off the power, lay the bike down at a crazy angle and early on the power through the exit. I was losing easily three bike lengths through some corners and fighting to catch the wheel before the next corner came. The first half of the race really followed the same format for me, brutal in the corners and playing catch up in the straights. Despite my poor cornering my legs were good. I just needed to sort out how to go around corners and I would have a great week.

Late in the race Dave got into a good move that looked as though it would stay clear.The problem for us was Dave found himself in a three man break away with two riders from the Mazur Team. We knew if we let this break go to the finish they would play a one two on Dave and take the win. With about five or six laps remaining me and Kevin starting riding a heavy tempo on the front to bring the move back. Although it felt counter intuitive to be chasing our own man, we were riding for a win. We rode hard, lining out the bunch until the last lap and got the break within touching distance. From here Pete was going to bring Ed to the last corner (about 300 meters from the finish) where Ed would open up his sprint. The plan was working well until Pete and Ed got separated briefly just before the last corner. The wind Ed hit took away from his sprint and he was beaten by a wheel length. Second place!

It wasn't a bad start to the week and one thing I knew going into the rest of the week was that the boys had some fire power and used it not for individual good but for the collective good of the team.

Results Pro 1 Men
1. Jeff Schiller (Garneau) 17:45.1
2. Ed Veal (Jetfuel Coffee/Labicicletta) 0.18
3. Jason Valenti (Nine2Five Pro.com) 0.43



Photos from www.cyclingphots.ca

Paddy Flanagan

Just back from a super weekends racing at the Paddy Flanagan. Team mate and all round top dawg Colm Cassidy took the overall honours over the three stage event.

The race went pretty much as we would have hoped - it must be the first time we have got something tactically spot on. I was up the road in the early break on stage one with team mates sitting on getting a free ride in the chase group behind. The chase group eventually caught the break making a strong twenty man front group with all the GC contenders. Casso attacked getting third on the stage and a few precious seconds on the chasers.

A good TT put Casso into yellow for the afternoon crit around Newbridge town center. As expected the crit was fast and furious. There was three right hand turns in the course, this was a slight concern as neither me nor casso can go around right hand bends. With only a three second lead in the overall it was never going to be an easy afternoon but we managed to keep it all together and hold onto the jersey. The team was super strong with Ciaran, Fiachra and a few friends putting in a solid shift to hold onto the jersey.




Great result for Casso and UCD!

World Cup in Segovia

I rode my first tandem World Cup races last week. It was a enjoyable but very different experience to road racing. Everything on the tandem seems to happen in slow motion, you can see where you want to move in the bunch but it doesn't pan out the way you imagine it. I am not entirely sure of the reason, the bike is a lot less responsive than a standard solo bike - slower to accelerate, slower to corner and cumbersome to maneuver.

I rode a 21km TT and a 108km Road Race finishing pretty much middle of the road in the races. The result was roughly as expected for a debut off the back of a difficult Ras.

A very enjoyable week for the squad was capped off by a Gold Medal performance by the girls tandem (Fran Meehan and Catherine Walsh) and a double Gold for World Champion Mark Rohan.

It's back to road racing on the solo bike for me but the week in Segovia was a welcome change of pace.