April 2009 News Articles

By Patrick Malach

Bissell’s Paul Mach and Jeremy Vennell roared into the windswept Columbia River Gorge and took the top two spots on the podium of the inaugural Cherry Blossom Cycling Classic in its very first stage.

There was more drama in the women’s competition. Heather Albert (Riverstone Women’s Racing Team) battled Robin Secrist (Veloforma) and Patricia Bailey (Wines of Washington) throughout the three-day, four-stage race, which ran April 3-5. Bailey won three stages, but in the end the difference proved to be Secrist’s victory in the stage-2 time trial.

Stage 1: Columbia Hills Road Race

Men covered four laps of the 18.6-mile Columbia Hills Road Race course, which featured a long gradual climb in a treeless landscape, squarely into the famous Gorge winds.

A break that formed on the first lap eventually grew to as many as 15 riders before attacks whittled it down to five. Mach and Vennell had been taking turns riding away from the break, and halfway through the third lap Mach finally cut the cord, soloing away to win the stage more than 10 minutes ahead of the field.

Vennell, the New Zealand time trial national champion, followed his teammate’s example on the last lap and rode in alone for second at 2:36. Sam Johnson and Nick Clayville, from the powerful regional team Hagens Berman out of Seattle, Washington, finished third and fourth, respectively, 3:36 behind. Evan Elken (Land Rover-Orbea) finished fifth at 3:57.

“The third time up the climb I attacked, and Jeremy just kind of sat on,” Mach said of his final escape. “I was just going to wait and see what happened. If they caught me Jeremy would be fresh. Plan B was looking pretty good. So I just went for it.”

Vennell said the race was a tale of two courses.

“On one side you’re doing 50,” he said of the tailwind side of the circuit. “On the other you’re doing 10.

In the women’s opener, a seven-rider break formed on the big climb going into the headwind and quickly started putting time into the chase group throughout the three-lap, 60-mile race.

Bailey, Secrist and Albert escaped the break near the finish, and the three riders worked together until Albert attacked with about 400 meters to go. Bailey was able to come around her for the win and hold off a hard-charging Secrist. The trio put nearly a minute into Erin Ford (O) and Kelly Woznicki (Hagens Berman) and nearly four minutes on the rest of the field.

Stage 2: Crash Canyon Time Trial

The Hagens Berman team came out swinging Saturday morning in an 8-mile, out-and-back time trial dubbed “Crash Canyon” for the carnage reaped when the 2007 Mt. Hood Cycling Classic sent a large pack down the twisting, narrow farm road.

The Washington riders claimed two of the top three spots in the time trial after falling prey to the Bissell one-two punch the day before. Adrian Hegyvary set the best time of the day (17:04) with Patrick Stanko third in 17:44. Vennell was sandwiched in between the two at 17:12.

Despite Hagens Berman’s success, Mach remained comfortably atop the GC after finishing seventh in the time trial. Vennell remained second at 1:44, with Clayville third at 3:31.

Secrist, meanwhile, used her winning time trial to take the overall lead in the women’s race. Her time of 19:44 gave her a 31-second lead over Albert, who finished in 20:15. Bailey was third in 20:43, 59 seconds down on GC.

Stage 3: Cherry City Criterium

The winds ceased and the sun warmed things up for Saturday evening’s Cherry City Criterium, a four-corner, 1km crit in downtown The Dalles. The men’s race was shortened from 50 minutes to 35 after a crash on the last lap of the women’s race delayed the start.

After being shut out in the first two stages of the race, Land Rover-Orbea tuned the team game to perfection, launching Roman Van Uden across the line ahead of the Hagens Berman’s lead-out train and Bissell’s pros. Steven Beardsley (Gentle Lovers) hitched a ride on the Hagens Berman train to take second with Joshua Liberales (Ten Speed Drive) third.

“It was really a full team effort for the last few laps,” Van Uden said. “Evan (Elken) was my last man out there. He took me through the last two corners and I came right off his wheel. Steven Beardsley was right there, but he had some issues taking the last corner too tight and skipped out his wheel. Even he said afterward you had to be second wheel coming out of that last corner to win the race. And that’s where I was.”

The women’s winner was first out of that final corner — stage 1 winner Bailey collected her second stage victory ahead of Albert with Secrist third.

In a race typified by attacks that were quickly swallowed up by the motivated field, Bailey knew she’d have to be first out of the last corner to win a field sprint.

“In the earlier races, no one changed position coming out of the last corner,” Bailey said. “So I decided to (attack) on the back side of the course into the wind. Team Group Health girls did a great job of keeping the pace up, and that was really, really helpful.”

But her victory was marred by a terrifying last-corner crash that sent four riders to the local hospital.

Stage 4: Columbia Gorge Road Race

The finale was all about control for Bissell. With the nearest competition more than three-and-a-half minutes down and the field nearly 10 minutes back, the quartet of pros had just a couple of riders to mark.

The 82-mile race sent riders grinding up a long, exposed climb up into the Columbia hills, then down a hair-raising descent through downtown Mosier that saw speeds in excess of 50 mph. A technical descent through the Rowena Loops on the Historic Columbia River Highway followed. Temps passed 70 and the winds subsided for the second day in a row.

Stage 2 time trial winner Hegyvary, 9:35 behind Mach, soloed away on the second of three laps to take the stage win. Mach rode away from a small chase group and attempted to bridge up to the leader, but fell a bit short, finishing just five seconds behind. Land Rover-Orbea’s Elken took third, pipping Vennell at the line.

“I was inching closer and closer and closer,” said Mach. “But I just ran out of pavement.”

Vennell, meanwhile, said he wanted to chase down Hegyvary, but the team decided to wait.

“I was keen to bring him back,” Vennell said. “But we had a bit of a discussion and let him slip away almost up to three minutes there. We wanted to keep it under control and only have to bring back a minute or so. Three minutes is a bit uncomfortable. We would have liked to get a stage win. You don’t want to get too greedy. But winning’s always nice.”

The race had little effect at the top of the GC. Mach won the overall in 7:46:35 with Vennell second at 4:38 and Clayville third at 6:25.

Secrist was playing defense, too. Bailey scored her third win of the Cherry Blossom by out-sprinting a group of seven, finishing in front of Albert and Secrist. But while she and Albert battled throughout the race for the crucial seconds to overturn Secrist’s overall lead, both fell short. Secrist only needed to finish near her fellow riders to take the overall, and the lead group approached the line together.

“That was some real racing out there today,” Secrist said of the 55-mile women’s race. “It was really hard. That is quite a climb and some technical descents. Heather Albert is an amazing technical rider, so we had to work really hard to try and keep her in sight. She was getting a lot of distance, and we had to chase back on.”

Despite Bailey’s hat-trick weekend, Secrist’s winning time trial was the difference in the overall — the rider from Kirkland, Washington, finished with an overall time of 6:41:30. Runner-up Albert was 31 seconds down with Bailey third at 59 seconds.

“I even had a good time trial,” Bailey said. “Robin (Secrist) had a better one.”

Race notes

The Cherry Blossom Classic marked the first race back for Bissell pro Omer Kem, who broke his hip last month in the Amgen Tour of California crash that also knocked out Columbia-Highroad’s Kim Kirchen and Rabobank’s Oscar Freire. Mach said the recovery of Kem, a resident of Salem, Oregon, played a part in the squad’s decision to come to the race.

Race promoter Chad Sperry, who also puts on The Cascade Classic and the Mt. Hood Classic, said he was happy with turnout for the race’s first year — nearly 400 riders in all categories. “We’ve had good numbers for the first year an the weather’s been very cooperative for us,” he said. “The community seems to be pretty stoked about the event.” Sperry said the race will be back for next year, and he’s got a few other irons in the fire for 2010.

http://velonews.competitor.com/2009/04/news/mach-secrist-win-cherry-blossom-classic_90309

Report by Paul Mach:

Had some good racing this weekend at the collegiate conference championships in Davis. Here is the 411.

Saturday morning team time trial. My team has been winning without me by minutes all season so we weren't too worried. We won, I don't know by how much

Saturday afternoon road race. 4x20 miles with a 4 mile gravel section. UC Davis had 1of 2 guys off the front with 1 lap to go. 3 Davis guys bridged up to make it 4 of 5. We worked the other guy over and us 4 rolled across the line together. I got second.

Sunday's Crit, 60min, 6 corners in downtown Davis. Rode hard. Spent the second half in a break, attacked with 5 to go. Soloed to the win.

Ended up 2nd in the season long individual omnium even thought I only did 5 regular season races, that was unexpected. UC Davis won the team omnium.

Yeah, I know it's no NRC racing, but it sure does build the confidence before Gila.

Stage 2 was Thursday’s 80 mile Inner Loop Road Race and again saw some major climbing but even tougher on the riders were the steep and narrow descents. The BISSELL team was on the offensive today from the very start in an effort to force Levi’s hand and put all the pressure on his two man defense. However, every attempt that BISSELL made was closely watched by Astana’s eyes as they knew that BISSELL was a threat. Every move resulted in an increased tempo to make a tough day even tougher. On a very technical descent after the second categorized climb of the day, Floyd Landis (OUCH), Luis Amaran (Colavita), Sean Milne (Team Type 1) and Caleb Fairly (Felt-Garmin) got away. Once the hill bottomed out (40 miles in) Ben Jacques-Maynes did an incredible bridge effort to the Landis group. At one point, the Landis group was 4 minutes up on the field and Ben’s chase made it within 1 minute of the break. Astana was forced to push the chase as things were looking bleak for Levi's jersey defense. If Ben had bridged to the lead group, it would have made Ben the leader on the road and put him in the leader’s jersey. However with 20 miles to go, Astana received help from BMC, Planet Energy, and Kelly Benefits and brought what was left of the field to the line. It was a field sprint to the finish with Colavita’s Haedo taking the win. There were no changes in the GC.

Friday brings the very tough Tyrone Individual Time Trial. The out-and-back course is 16.15 miles and includes the Little Burro Pass which delivers 5% grades going out and close to 8% grades on the return. The added element of high altitude will require a huge effort tomorrow.

The BISSELL Pro Cycling Team put in a great day of racing in the opening stage of Gila and delivered Burke Swindlehurst to the finish in 5th place, 1:18 behind race leader, Levi Leipheimer (Astana/Mellow Johnny’s). The first day’s course was typical of the brutal climbing that the riders will face this week. Wednesday’s 94 mile point-to-point course included a final 6.7 miles of climbing where grades reached 19% and had a finishing altitude of 6794 feet. The BISSELL Team was very active in controlling the peloton during the frequent attacks during the opening 60 km. The break of the day came 2/3 into the race when Chad Beyer (BMC) attacked. Fifteen riders went with him, and Sheldon Deeny was BISSELL’s man in the move. The gap quickly grew to 3 minutes and forced Astana to control. With 10 km to go, the gap was hovering around a minute and Astana really threw it down in the crosswind to further shatter the field. BISSELL did a great job to protect Burke and Tom on the approach to the final 3 mile climb, but they couldn't quite hold onto Levi's final acceleration. The climb was virtually an individual time trial up Mogollon as each BISSELL rider raced within themselves to the best of their ability.

One of the toughest stage races in North America, the SRAM Tour of the Gila kicks off on Wednesday where it challenges riders with five days of leg busting climbing, arrowing descents and often brutal winds in New Mexico. And if the swirling rumors are true of Levi Leipheimer, Lance Armstrong and more from the Astana team showing to race, well it just got harder.

Who best to describe the race and the stages than the (only?) three-time winner BISSELL’s Burke Swindlehurst who also conquered the Gila Monster four times in his career … so far.

His overall victories came in 1996, 1998 and 2005, with the last one being the sweetest for Swindlehurst.

“I was on a team that was essentially falling apart at the seams at the particular time and I thought it might possibly be my last race as a professional even so to be able to come through and win and particularly to do it on the very last day was extremely satisfying for me.”

Obviously, the race has changed quite a bit in the past 13 years since his first win. The first major change was a move in the calendar as the race used to be held in late June in 96 and 98 making it much hotter which suited Swindhlehurst.

“I like the heat quite a bit, it was a little bit more tailor made for me back then than it is now. So I think the race has changed quite a bit mainly because of the change in the calendar and also it seems like every year the field gets a little stronger as well. This year is going to be ridiculous.”

Then in 2008, the organizers changed the order of the stages, moving the time trial from the first stage to the third stage to open the race, which Swindlehurst likes.

“In the past, it’s been possible for somebody to come out and just blaze the TT and then if he had a strong enough team around him, he can essentially ride through the entire race. I think that putting the TT in the middle makes it a little more wide open, particularly for racing on the first day. I think that going into the first Mogollon stage, there’s not necessarily a defined leader. “

While the order of the stages makes it more interesting, the last stage, the Gila Monster is still the defining stage of the race.

“It doesn’t matter how good a time trialist that you are, the Gila Monster is kind of the defining stage just because it has so much climbing, you have to be a climber to win the Tour of the Gila or at least pretty darn good at it. “

The combination of the altitude from anywhere from 4500 to almost 7000 feet and the winds makes this “one of the toughest races”.

“The wind has become much more of a factor, back in June, it didn’t seem like the winds were quite the factor that they are now, so the wind has definitely played a role particularly in Mogollon stage because you’re in there and it’s often exposed and there’s definitely opportunities to split the field in the wind because it’s always crosswinds instead of a straight on block headwind.”

The first stage, the Silver City-Mogollon Road Race is 94.1 miles (151.5km) long with 5,650′ of climbing. Most of the climbing comes in the final 35 miles with the finish atop a 5.5-mile category 1 climb on a very narrow alpine road which includes gradients of up to 19%.

“Generally, it can be a bit of a nervous stage because the climb doesn’t being right away so there’s still a good portion of the peloton is there for ninety percent of the race and being the first stage of a race, there’s always some nervousness in the peloton. You definitely need to stay on your toes, the terrain is pretty rolling but nothing too serious until you enter the town of Cliff and that’s where the climbing begins in earnest. Basically it’s about staying safe and staying out of the wind and then you come out of the town and make a right hand turn where you start the climb up to Mogollon, that’s a very difficult climb and it actually has two parts to it. There’s a bit of a false flat of about a mile halfway up the climb and then the final climb has some serious steepness to it and the roads surface is pretty poor as well, it’s a pretty dead road so you just feel glued to it no matter how deep you’re going. “

“Generally a break will get absorbed before or on the climb, but I have seen it a break stay away. In fact the first year that I won it, that’s how I took leadership of the race, I got in a break that stayed away and I think that all but two of us were absorbed by the peloton.”

The second stage, the Fort Bayard Inner Loop Road Race, is a 80-mile (129km) loop with 5,781′ of climbing.

“Shorter climbs and there’s actually some challenging descending as you come out of the Pinos Altos, some serious hairpins that will often catch riders off guard and they either misjudge their ability to go down a hill like that or they misjudge the turns so it can be a little hair raising. The terrain is pretty good, it consistently climbs with shorter climbs and wind can often be a factor especially near the end of the race, it’s out of the valley and opens up a little bit more. It’s another race that you have to stay on your toes, stay out of trouble and be aware of the wind and also positioning going into the final rollers to the finish.”

The stage includes the dangerous 3-mile Sapillo Descent, a very technical drop of over 1000 feet with numerous sharp corners, hairpins and two switchbacks.

“I feel that I’m a pretty good descender. Generally if you climb a lot you end up descending quite a bit too.” laughed Swindlehurst.

But it’s often the other guys that need watching.

“I often find though that you can be as good a descender as you want to but if the people you’re descending with aren’t good descender, then it doesn’t really matter how good you are if you’re surrounded by people that aren’t that good, you always have to stay on your toes. Unless you’re solo going down the descent, that’s the only time you can really let your flag fly if you’re a really great descender.”

“The Gila has some very challenging descents and I’m personally very comfortable with those roads, I’m not comfortable with riders that think that they are the newest incarnation of Paolo Savoldelli heading down a road they’ve never seen before.” laughed Swindlehurst.

The third stage is the 15-mile (26km) Tyrone Individual Time Trial on an out and back course with a total of 1070′ of climbing.

“The TT is one of the hardest time trials out there I think, at 16 miles it’s a petty long effort, the winner generally comes in around the high 30 minute mark which is pretty long for a time trial. You have to be able to climb really well and coming back, often the limiting factor is what kind of gearing you have on your bike. You’ll spin out a 55×11 coming back. I think it was in ‘96, Steve Hegg somehow had a 10 tooth cog and used it very well and pretty much obliterated everybody coming back on that rolling a 10 tooth. Everybody talks about that mythical 10 tooth cog when they talk about the time trial at Gila.”

While it might seems that Thursday’s crit would be a time for the climbers to sit in but not in this race. The 43.2-mile (69.5 km) Silver City Downtown Criterium is a long one raced on a four 90-degree corner course with 80 feet of climbing per 1.08 mile lap.

“The Gila crit is actually one of the toughest crits because it does climb quite a bit. It has a nice little climb on the back and it’s a little longer too, it’s borderline circuit race. It’s not your standard cookie cutter crit where you can just kind of sit in and stay out of trouble. You definitely have to put some power into the pedals every time you go up that hill.”

And then there’s the Gila Monster Road Race, the final stage on Sunday. The 105.7-mile course with 5 categorized climbs delivering a total 9,131′ of climbing and some dangerous descents with steep grade and blind corners. Last year, Swindlehurst’s teammate and race leader Tom Zirbel crashed out of the race with a broken collarbone in this stage. Sadly, the same crash left Fausto Espanza Munoz (Tecos) paralyzed. Swindlehurst ended up winning the stage last year for the fourth time and finished second overall.

“I absolutely love that race. It has the long sustained climbs that I really like and you typically don’t get to see at too many races outside the Tour of Utah this year where you can be climbing to upwards of 45 minutes at a stretch. It also has some very challenging descending which unfortunately we saw the results of that last year. I’m really hoping that the riders will take that descending seriously and realize that the race isn’t won going down the hill but it can certainly be lost there. I’d say it’s probably one of the hardest stages I’ve ever done because you have pretty good elevation, I think you get up to 9000 feet at one point, and you must climb I’m guessing around 30 to 35 miles during the stage.”

Swindlehurst has tamed the Monster four times (so far) but there is no secret formula to winning the stage.

“It’s been different every time, that’s the beauty of it. I don’t have a particular formula for the Gila Monster, it’s just one of those races that when I get there , a switch gets flipped inside of me, I just have very special feelings towards the race. I’ve somehow have been able to find that extra gear and extra motivation and inspiration and I’m hoping for more of the same this year.”

The strategy for winning the overall at the SRAM Tour of the Gila is pretty simple – well to say at least – stay close and give it all in the final stage.

“Obviously you can’t lose too much time on any given stage to the climbers. I guess, for me, it’s always been to try and keep myself as close as possible in the GC going into the final stage and knowing that the Gila Monster is a race this is kind of custom-made for me and if I can get to that point without being too far down, that I just let my instincts take over for the Gila Monster. “

A strong field will be present and even stronger if the rumors of Astana’s presence led by Leipheimer are true.

“Well, obviously, if the rumors are true, Levi is probably the guy to watch based on the form I’ve seen in the last week or so. Mogollon, Gila and TT, he could sow up the race right there. I’m really excited to see that field that will be assembled. Obviously, he’s not going to be the only rider to beat. Aside from Levi and whoever is going to be showing from his team, it’s still going to be the best field assembled for the Tour of the Gila. It’s quite exciting for the event and I’m really happy to see it finally get the attention that’s been due to it.”

Leipheimer has raced at Gila before, when in 1996 he helped his then teammate Swindlehurst capture his first title when they both together on the same amateur team.

“Oddly enough he was actually, in 96, he was my teammate and helped me win that race. He has experience at the Gila. He was pretty instrumental in me winning that race particularly on the Gila Monster, he kept guys like Horner in check for me going up the Gila Monster, he’s certainly not new to the race but it has been thirteen years since he’s done it.”

The BISSELL team is not focusing on any single rider but will play on the strengths of its team going into the race.

“I think that Tom [Zirbel] is motivated for the race. I know that he was really disappointed to have what happened last year because I think he really wanted to test himself and see how he could climb on that last day and see if he could preserve the lead. I’m sure he’s keen to hopefully reproduce the same results he did last year and see what happens on the Gila Monster. Obviously, I’m really excited for it. Jeremy Vennell, I think he’s riding really well and I think he’ll be an asset to the team. “

“I think we have a few cards to play and I think we’d be remiss to count on any single rider, I think success this year is going to go towards the team that isn’t afraid to attack. I don’t think it’s going to be, for anybody except possibly Levi, it can’t be a formulaic race, it can’t be I’m going to out timetrial everybody or I’m going to out climb everybody because Levi can do both. I think it’s going to take some creative racing by the other riders to shake things up.”

Swindlehurst is ready. Already living at altitude in Utah, he’s been training on the larger climbs around his home to get anywhere from 30 to 60 minutes of sustained climbing at a time.

“The form is coming along. I was really encouraged with the sensations that I was getting at Sea Otter particularly in the road race, when I get aggressive in a race it’s usually because I’m feeling pretty good. I’m really happy with it, I’ve been following my same formula for success as far as getting ready for Gila, as far as doing the big climbs. Regardless of how I feel when I get to Silver City, something different happens, a switch gets flipped inside of me. I try not to get too worked over how my form is because just being at Tour of the Gila changes things for me.”

Speaking of Sea Otter, Swindlehurst also raced in the pro mountain bike cross country race and finished in the top 25. He added mountain bike racing this year, both for fun and to see where he can go in that discipline.

“I really enjoy riding my mountain bike, that’s generally how I spend my fall, on a mountain bike pretty much everyday. I started thinking last year ‘man I enjoy this so much, I might as well try my hand at it again’. I actually tried back in the early part of 2000 and 2001 to do a little mountain biking, I didn’t spend as much time as I do now and it didn’t really go quite as well as I’d hoped. I’m pretty encouraged with what happened at Sea Otter and I’d definitely like to see what I can do. I think it’s possible to race both the road and the mountain bike. The mountain bike schedule isn’t particularly heavy so I think it’s possible to throw a few in there.“

On a final note, Swindlehurst (aka TBird) has been quite active on twitter (@sltbird) and is enjoying the instant feedback provided by the twitterati.

“I had blogged for probably three years and I enjoyed that but I found that I wasn’t getting any feedback from people and it wasn’t until I quit blogging that people told me how much they enjoyed my blog, well ‘jeez I had no idea that anyone was even looking at it’. The twitter is a cool thing because you do get that instant feedback, you find out that people enjoy what you have to say or maybe they don’t but you don’t get that feedback mechanism and that’s something I really like, I like to interact with people. It’s fun, I’m really enjoying it. “

http://www.podiuminsight.com/2009/04/27/talking-gila-with-burke-swindlehurst/

Report by Frank Pipp:

Day 2 of Battenkill. The big one. Yesterday was the “warm up” and Zirbel did his part for the BISSELL team. The rest of us weren’t much help sitting in the bunch about 20 minutes back! Today we hoped to stack the odds a little more in our favor.

Race started out with plenty of attacking and eventually a little move went clear with 2 riders. No problem, not a chance a little duo was going to stay away on this course. This course being 2 laps of 100 km. Each lap containing about 4500 feet of elevation gain and 25 km of gravel roads. A total of 9000 feet of climbing and 50 km of gravel. Good times!

Back to the race... First lap after the 2 riders departed from the peloton the rest of us got to know the course a little better (we did one lap of it yesterday.) There was some splitting up but most everyone regrouped after the more difficult sections. Unfortunately on one of those rough sections, first Sheldon and then Zirb’s flatted. Sheldon got a wheel change and was able to get back on but Tom was left standing on the side of the road with wheel in hand. Apparently a spectator was kind enough to give him a tube so that he could ride back to the hotel. Hitting the showers early!

Second lap the pace heated up with one of the teams sending all of their riders to the front. Eventually they must have decided this course was too much for a chase because they started launching their riders off the front one by one. Eventually one did get clear and that was the end of the chase. The pace slowed way down and I began to wonder if we were now racing for 4th place. Others must have been asking that same question because soon enough the attacks started again and a group of 3 got away. And that was when the bunch decided enough was enough- the pace became steady as a chase began. We sent first Omer, then Sheldon, to take part. The boys did well and brought this group back and that’s when the real fireworks started.

30 km to race, and not an easy 30 km! Of the 8 dirt sections, 4 of them were left with plenty of climbing in each one. And at 170 km in, every time the road turned upwards or the tires slipped on the gravel you felt it! With Sheldon and Omer having done their work, Graham and I took turns covering attacks. The group rapidly trimmed down and soon there were only a handful of us in the front with dozens of others always trying to catch up from behind. With about 20 km left to race, we caught one of the original 2 that had gone away early in the race. Only 2 up the road now, both solo, one somewhat fresh and one that had been away all day. Back in the dwindling group the bombs never stopped. Everyone was taking their turn. Soon Graham was playing the catch up game. 2 gravel sections left and my legs were feeling every pedal stroke. Knowing the suffering everyone was going through I attempted a couple of digs, but nothing happening. Then it was my turn to be calling wait up! Coming from behind is never the way to race and after several efforts doing this the legs were no longer there. Before entering the last dirt section I could only watch as some of the favorites rode away from our group. One of those ended up catching the 2nd place rider on the road, but no one ever saw the one sole leader- out front all day, much of that solo. Impressive. I finished in a group of 15 or so, what was left of the “peloton.” Good for a mediocre 13th place on the day. Graham ended up 32nd. Omer and Sheldon finished the day together in a group further back. Not quite what the Bissell team was hoping for but I think this race turned out more difficult than most of us planned! Of the 160 starters there were 62 finishers. We are already looking forward to some redemption next year!

http://bissellprocycling.blogspot.com/2009/04/tour-of-battenkill-day-2.html

From Tom Zirbel:

A small contingent of racers were sent out to NY to race the Tour of Battenkill this past weekend. It was just Graham and the CO boys: Omer, Sheldon, Pipp, and myself. We're talking old school style here - no massages, cleaning and maintaining our own bikes, hauling ourselves around, etc. The kind of stuff that Glen and Eric did back in the day when they would carry extra inflated tubes around their shoulders and have to flip their wheel around if they wanted to use the other gear. Anyhow, racing unsupported is a good way to help us spoiled pros realize how good we've got it for the majority of races. Plus, we did have an arrangement with the Empire Cycling Team so they would hand us bottles in the feed zone - that was crucial for those long brutal courses. So being as Sun. was the premier event, the plan for Saturday's race was to be represented in all breaks, get a good look at the course (same as Sun.) and try to conserve energy if possible for the 200km throw down the next day. 2 out of 3 isn't bad, is it? Unexpectedly, the 2nd attack of the day stayed away to the finish and I was the lucky winner from the Bissell team to be represented in it. There were 13 of us at first and I was a little outnumbered with 5 different teams having more than one rider in the break, so I had a good excuse to just sit on for the first 40 min. or so. Then BMC started to get wise to the situation and sent Jon Garcia up the road solo. Though only halfway through the race, people were already starting to get tired so I started pulling through to keep his lead in check. The course started to take its toll on the riders little by little be it the long gravel sections, the steep climbs, or just flat tires and soon the break was whittled down to less than 10. With less than 20 miles to go, I took a long, slightly uphill gravel section to do some "visualization" where I pretended that I was Boonen turning the screws on the lead group at Roubaix. It was about a 3 min. effort and when I looked back everyone was still there and I had a "Well, I'm not quite a Boonen just yet" thought. But on the next riser, I attacked again and it was quickly down to 5 guys, so I'd like to think that my visualization did some damage. :) Beyer from BMC and I took turns attacking after that and it came down to Josh Dillon, Beyer and myself with 4k of flat to go. Unfortunately, Dillon flatted out so it was left to Beyer and me, and Beyer played the team card saying that his teammate (Garcia) was chasing so he couldn't pull through. Garcia was sitting on a group of 3 coming back to us fast so instead of trying the sprint in a group of 5, I took the initiative to make it a 2 man sprint and after pulling the last 1500m, Beyer came around me in the end to take the win. I was bummed not to take the victory, but I knew that I would have to come to the line solo if I wanted a sure win and Beyer showed his strength by not getting dropped during my attacks and fighting to the finish. A podium is always nice though and the quart of local chocolate milk that they gave each of us on the podium was so creamy and delicious that it helped wash away that bitter taste in my mouth from getting 2nd.

http://bissellprocycling.blogspot.com/2009/04/battenkill.html

On a recent trip to California, Fausto Pinarello was witness to his company's sponsored US continental team, BISSELL Pro Cycling Team, command the Sea Otter Classic Circuit race which was won by BISSELL's Andy Jacques-Maynes. Also rounding out the top 5 for BISSELL were Jeremy Vennell in third and Kirk O'Bee in fourth. On Sunday, the team joined Fausto at Above Category in Mill Valley for a group ride through Marin County and up Mt Tamalpais.

Click on link to watch video:

Talk To Fausto Pinarello - "I Don't Have Enough Bikes!"

Bissell, Jacques-Maynes regain control from Leipheimer

Dominating the SRAM Circuit Race at the Sea Otter Classic, Team Bissell used superior numbers and a balanced attack to take first, third, and fourth places. The riders were able to conquer Tour de France star Levi Leipheimer (Astana), the winner of yesterday's road race.

Riding to a solo win was Bay Area native Andy Jacques-Maynes (Bissell) in a dramatic turnaround after struggling on the Laguna Seca circuit for the last two years. Colavita/Sutter Home's Cuban Luis Amaran claimed second place from Bissell's Jeremy Vennell, from New Zealand.

"We went head down and committed; we had nothing to lose. I was surprised the gap went out so quickly," Jacques-Maynes said of the trio's attack.

Despite cramping, his acceleration over the final climb secured the victory, while Amaran dropped Vennell on the back side of the racetrack in the final mile. Fourth place went to another Bissell rider, Kirk O'Bee, while Leipheimer led home the field for fifth.

"It was tough today; it's a punchy course that was hard for me to control," said Leipheimer. "It was good training and good to see that the event has grown so much."

Amaran was certainly the day's most aggressive rider, making the winning break after spending the first 20 laps of the 30 lap race in a six-rider breakaway that hovered between one and two minutes off the front.

Third time a charm for Kiesanowski

After consecutive second place finishes in the first two days of road racing at the Sea Otter Classic, Team TIBCO's Joanne Kiesanowski broke through with a narrow victory over Colavita/Sutter Home's Catherine Cheatley in today's 50-mile SRAM Circuit Race. The two New Zealand riders went clear of the pack on the second-to-last of 20 laps on the famed Laguna Seca racetrack, when Cheatley followed Kiesanowski's attack over the top of the course's 300-foot climb.

With Colavita's sprinter Tina Pic lurking in the field, the burden was on Kiesanowski to drive the breakaway all the way to the finish where she outsprinted her compatriot.

"Jo and I are old friends," Cheatley said. "I knew she has a good sprint and I attacked the last time up the climb to take the sting out of her legs, but I made it close at the end."

Describing Team TIBCO's strategy, Kiesanowski said: "We had a race plan and we stuck to it. We stayed calm and didn't worry about attacking or not [over the first half of the race]. Then we started launching attacks at five to go to put Colavita under pressure."

The strategy paid off for Kiesanowski and Team TIBCO, who prevented a Colavita/Sutter Home sweep of the Sea Otter Classic road races after the victories of Kelly Benjamin in Thursday's criterium and Tiffany Cromwell in Friday's road race.

From Ben Jacques-Maynes:

The BISSELL pro cycling team headed out to remote Milton CA for the Nor-Cal Classic Copperopolis Road Race. Sunny skies belied cool temps and breezy conditions making for perfect racing conditions for the five grueling laps and a total of 105 miles. Toeing the line for team BISSELL was Andy and Ben Jacques-Maynes, Tim Farnham, Pete Latham (in his return to the road after the track world championships) and a rare appearance by director Eric Wohlberg.

A group of three attacked from the gun, but experienced racers knew that this was not the course to spend too much energy too soon. We sat in for the first lap and part of the second, at which point it was time to start racing. I hit out after a previous attack and bridged up directly, and when no one else came after us we set about tracking down the original breakaway, now three minutes up the road. We combined with them and stayed away for another 60k, when defending champ Levi Leipheimer of Astana rode across on the main climb, taking three riders with him including AJM. Over the next half lap the race came slowly back together, and a disinterested peleton of 25 was together. It seemed most were content to wait for Levi to hit out on the final climb, so I attacked again and got a quick gap, this time with Scott Nydam of BMC. We extended our gap to 1:30 before Levi was curiously DQ'd for a centerline violation, at which point there was not enough firepower to close down the gap on such an arduous course. Scott and I worked evenly but the sting was out of our legs and so we waited for a sprint to the line. Scott lead out but I had enough to come around him for the win, tired but triumphant. To cap it off, Andy attacked his chase group to finish a clear third, putting two BISSELL riders on the podium at the "Hell of the Nor-Cal". Pete showed his fitness by finishing in the top 15, a great result considering the highest climb he's done recently was up a track banking, and Tim and Eric showed their never say die attitudes by fighting to the finish.

The rest of the Cherry Blossom Stage Race went pretty well for Team Bissell. There were three more stages with a double day on Saturday and a road race on Sunday.

Saturday's morning TT was an 8 mile out and back with a head wind and steady 2% climb on the way out. The first half was a suffer fest, but the way back was like a bobsled track, you kept going faster and faster. Jeremy finished 2nd, 8 seconds back and I was 7th, 50 seconds behind the winner.

The crit in the evening was a four corner rectangle with a tail wind on the home stretch. We started late and since it was getting dark they shortened it from 50 to just 28 minutes. We all raced really hard and attacked a bunch but the field was too fresh for anything to stay away. One lap to go came out of nowhere and we all just cruised in with the pack.

Sunday's road race was 3 times up a steady 7 mile climb for 84 miles total. The pre-race plan was simple; keep the GC placings and maybe go for the stage.

For the first two laps Jeremy and Omer rode tempo on the front. There was some arguing between them as Jeremy wanted to make sure he did just as much work as Omer, but other than that it went pretty smooth. I just sat 3rd wheel the whole time.

Omer, just coming back from his injury, was killing it on the climb. The first time, half way up, 5 miles into the race, people were already making bad choices. Some bumping, shouting and spokes into quick releases. The second time up Omer did the same thing. He'd look back to see people suffering and that just made him go harder.

With a lap to go the group was down to about 20 and they told us it was 3:30 to the break. It was clear the field was hurting since the group was so small. So the third time up the climb I attacked with the intent of catching the breakaway. A few of the GC contenders went with me, so I attacked again. I was going deeper into the pain cave as I went up the hill but finally caught all but one of the exploding break.

That guy still had 1:30 on me at the bottom of the decent so for the last 15 miles I chased and chased and chased. The gap got shorter and shorter. 30, 25, 20, 18, 15, 12 seconds. In the end I ran out of pavement and he won by 5 seconds. Almost. Jeremy was in the chase group and finished 4th.

It was a good weekend. Me and Jeremy Vennell went 1 and 2 in the GC with 1 stage win and 2 second places. That night we barbequed with our host family in Hood River. Can't wait to see them again when we head back for Mt. Hood Classic in June.