Farrell Climbs the Podium at Capital Stage Race

Event Name:	Capital Stage Race
Date:	June 15-17, 2012
Description:	3-day, 4-stage race in and around Olympia, Washington
Cat 3 Men:	Jesse Nofziger: Stage One 33rd GC ST; Stage Two 15th GC + :34; Stage 3 45th GC +5:38; Stage Four 21st Final GC +5:50 29th Aaron Griffith: Stage One 34th GC ST; Stage Two 28th GC + :48; Stage 3 29th GC + :48; Stage Four 13th Final GC +1:00 18th
Cat 4/5 Men:	Tim Farrell: Stage One 19th GC ST; Stage Two 3rd GC + :17; Stage 3 16th GC + :25; Stage Four 10th Final GC + :25 3rd

Race report below from category 4/5 overall 3rd place Tim F.

As many of my friends/teammates know, I have a hard time motivating myself to write race reports.  Luckily, I have not had to do many of them.  However, I am very motivated to race my bike, and once in awhile I have the privilege of writing a race report, which will of course pale in comparison to many of my teammate's.  On this occasion, I am writing about the Capital Stage Race in Olympia WA.  Stage races usually consist of standing around, race prep, a little bit of racing, standing around, hanging out in hotel rooms, checking gc racing incessantly, race prep, and with what's left you actually get to enjoy the town.  After hanging out in Wenatchee the week before, the natural surroundings were amazing, however the town left a little to be desired.  Next to Walla Walla, Olympia has to be one of my favorite stage race towns.  On Friday, after the early road race, I went and hung out at the Olympia Farmer's Market.  It is a huge market and it was really busy on a sunny Friday afternoon.  I got some produce and other local items for healthy eating over the course of the weekend and then I walked around town.  The town seemed much more vibrant and healthy than last year and there appeared to be a lot of new businesses around.  I tried some new ones like Sammy's Deli [great Banh Mi], and then kept to the staples with Batdorf and Bronson Coffee and Quality Burrito.  Staying at the Governor Hotel for the entire weekend, I was central to everything and was really happy to not drive back and forth to Seattle. 

Oh, and there was some racing:

When I got to the Capitol Forest for the first road stage, I noticed that some future teammates were racing, Brad, Gabe, and Travis.  I was pretty sure that I didn't have any official teammates coming but I held out hope.  Turns out, as future teammates, we were all well matched and it was great to hang out with them over the entire weekend and I can't wait for more races to come where we can further collaborate.  The first stage was a little harder than I thought it would be until the last half lap, then I think that everybody came to the realization that there were three more races.  By that time, I had resigned myself to a pack finish and save energy for the TT early the next morning.  Brad had a great sprint finish and I cruised up the side comfortably in the group as people fanned out at 200m.    

I tend to like longer TT's, however I was able to keep the power pretty high and get third place.  I was able to hold that for the remainder of the race, and even after checking GC racing about a million times, I truly did not realize that most of the field was about 4 milliseconds behind me.  The crit was relatively spirited and like just about every other dipstick that races these things, my strategy was to stay with the front and allow the others to do the work.  There were two new WA racers from Louisiana that were up to that task and they pulled us around pretty much all weekend.  Unfortunately, Gabe H went down with two laps to go and luckily he was okay and got the same time as the pack which Brad and I also finished in.  

The final road race stage was IVRR backwards, which is a pretty challenging course with some good climbs and good flats to splinter the group.  Amazingly, after three days of racing the pace was high, but consistent which I tend to do better with than really schizo attacking.  I was perfectly comfortable all day and debated creating that schizo behavior, but in the back of my head I always came back to defending the GC and not fighting for it.  Brad, Gabe, and I all came in top 10 and managed to wrap up a very successful weekend in all respects.  

Hecht is Washington Champ

Event Name:	ReedKJ Photography Longbranch Masters/Junions Road Race State Championships
Date:	June 23, 2012
Description:	Rolling course with a steep half-mile climb on each 10-mile loop
Master Men 50+:	1st - Dave Hecht



ReedKJ Photography

For additional photos go to the ReedKJ Photography site.

10 Hours + 15,000ft of Climbing = Another Criminale Win



Event Name:	Test of Endurance 100
Date:	June 16, 2012
Description:	100 mile race in private forest land near Blodgett, Oregon; 14,000+ feet of climbing and fast, twisty single track descents.
Open Singlespeed:	1st - Martin Criminale



Martin C's race report:

I ran out of descriptors for the hills after finishing the Test of Endurance 100. Here are a few that I can remember.

• soul-sucking
• leg-breaking
• mind-numbing
• 17,000'
• really, really hard

This race was four laps of a 25-mile loop and after just one lap I was not sure how I was going to finish this thing. But I made it. And obviously perseverance pays off.

For more, see Martin's blog.

Mountain Man Criminale 2nd At Echo Valley

Event Name:	Echo Valley 60 Mountain Bike Race
Date:	June 9, 2012
Description:	Second race of the NW Epic Series on the trails of Echo Ridge/Valley above Lake Chelan
Open Singlespeed:	2nd - Martin Criminale
Race Report from Martin C.

14 seconds.

In some situations it can seem like the blink of an eye and in others it's like an impossibly high mountain of time. I'm happy to say that today it was more like the former and less like the later.

I had what might have been my best mountain bike race to-date today and it netted me 2nd place at the Echo Valley 60 which is the second race in the NW Epic Series. In the end I finished just 14 seconds behind 1st place.

Click here for the full report.

Griffith Upgrades To Category 3

After his impressive performance at the Wenatchee Omnium, Aaron G. is taking his game to the next level in Category 3.  He recently shared with me how he got into racing and what his experience has been like. 

Jed Barden: How long have you been racing? 

Aaron Griffith: I started racing in 2010.

What got you into racing? 

I was fat.  I needed something to get me into shape.  I did a triathlon at the end of 2009.  I hated running and swimming but loved the bike racing.  So I decided to just try bike racing.   I worked with Rob Velez and he raced bikes so he kind of helped get me started.

What was your experience racing in cats 5 and 4?

I had a blast.  Looking back I would have spent more time racing cat 5.  I moved up after 5 starts and it was probably too soon.  I was in shock that category 4 racers would hire coaches and spend the kind of money they do on bike racing.  It was a little disturbing.  Last year my season went fairly well.  I had some family stuff come up and it probably set me back a little.  Then I smacked a truck at the end of the season, and was very fortunate to come away from that with minor injuries.  This off season I trained a little smarter and had decent results.

What was your experience like in your first cat 3 race?

It was fun!  I did the Capital Stage Race as my first cat 3 race.  The races were a lot faster and longer than the cat 4 races.  I was pretty tired at the end, but was happy I didn't get blasted off the back.

Favorite race memory?

Wenatchee Criterium win.  First win, super close finish, home town, lots of family there.  Its going to be hard to top that one.

Favorite on-the-bike food?

I don't like to eat on the bike.  Maybe shot blocks.  Are they food?  If I got a McDonalds French Fry handup in a race I would probably like that a lot.

Favorite workout?

Recovery ride.

Goals for this year and next?

Have fun racing with our cat 3 and masters 1/2/3 teams.  Try to learn as much as I can from all the experienced racers on the team.  Upgrade to category 3 in cyclocross!

Griffith Wins Wenatchee Criterium and Omnium GC

Event Name:	Wenatchee Valley Velo Omnium
Date:	June 9-10, 2012
Description:	Two-day, three-stage omnium race in and around Wenatchee, Washington
Cat 4 Men:	Aaron Griffith: Time Trial - 3rd; Criterium - 1st; Road Race - 4th; Omnium GC - 1st Tim Farrell: Time Trial - 2nd; Criterium - 14th; Road Race - 25th; Omnium GC - 7th Andrew Eisen: Time Trial - 4th; Criterium - 15th; Road Race - 14th; Omnium GC - 10th
Race Report from winner Aaron G.

Andrew, Tim and I showed up to race the full set in category 4.

Stage 1 - Time Trial

Windy as advertised.  Super fun going out, brutal on the way back.  Good thing you know everyone else is suffering too.  

Stage 2 - Downtown Criterium

Very fun criterium course with fast downhill turn and a punchy uphill turn.  Roads definitely way better than the reputation.  I was pretty determined to have a successful crit because of the omnium points format of the race.  I typically sit in and try to save my energy and finish with the main group.   I tried to stay up toward the front for most of the race which was pretty easy to do since there was only 23 guys in the race.  I would surge a little on the prime laps just in case a split happened so I wouldn't miss it.  Nothing ever really happened until the last few laps, when a very small gap formed with about 5 of us in it.  Heading down the back stretch for the final time the big move came from behind and launched up the hill.  I tried to stay with it but he had a pretty good gap.  The finish stretch felt like it was into a 25mph wind so it made it pretty long.  I finally got into the guys draft  with maybe 20 meters to go and it allowed me to sneak by him at the line.  I was pretty fired up.  It was my first win.  Wasn't expecting it to come in a crit.  It was also nice to do it in my home town with a bunch of friends and family in the crowd.

Stage 3 - Road Race

The weather finally turned nice for us the morning of the road race.  I got a horrible nights sleep and my breakfast wasn't digesting very well.  I'm not sure if I ate something bad, was dehydrated, sleep deprived or what, but I definitely didn't feel good.  After cruising around on the bike for a few minutes I felt like my legs were fine, so I wasn't too worried about the race.  The race started out mellow as we rode the TT course before heading up the mountain.  There were a few surges and attacks but I don't think anyone cared.  I was more than happy to let people tire themselves out before the climb.  About 5 miles before the climb there was a pretty good move that took 6-7 people up the road maybe 30s ahead.  Not very many guys wanted to chase although a few bridged up.  The climb started out pretty hard and the field started to splinter.  After the first surge I realized my legs were not ok.  My power meter went wonky so I had no idea how hard I was riding except that it felt extremely hard and I kept seeing 180w.  I decided to just ignore it.  I lost contact with the lead group and saw second place fly up the road.  I had figured before hand that if he won, I needed a 5th place finish.  As he pulled away from everyone I was assuming he was going to win and I needed to figure out how to get 5th.  I slowed up and just rode tempo to try to get to the top of Joe Miller where I could recover and see if my legs started feeling better, I knew we had a 20 mile run out to the finish.  My wife was at the feed and told me there were 10 guys ahead of me.  I thought that sounded pretty reasonable so I just kept riding my pace, trying to avoid a major bonk.  I caught an ex-teammate just after the feed and we rode together for a while pulling a few guys into our chase.  I was feeling much better at this point and started taking harder pulls and we had caught about 5 guys when we started the descent and had a decent chase.  As we turned onto the highway for the final 8 miles we caught another 2 riders, and another ex-teammate.  I asked him how many were ahead and he said 2.  That was pretty much my last pull.  I told them I was done, and decided to sit in for the rest of the race.  One of the JL kids (Ben) attacked with about 3 miles to go, and just as he was being caught David (also JL) launched a counter.  He stayed away for 3rd and I had a pretty easy time taking the sprint in our chase group for 4th which secured the overall.   A very satisfying race for sure.  Tim and Andrew both ended up with top 10 results overall, so it was another good event for the category 4 team.

Kauper 7th in Mt. Hood Cycling Classic Stage 1

Event Name:	Mt. Hood Cycling Classic
Date:	June 8-10, 2012
Description:	3-day, 4-day stage race in and around Hood River, Oregon
Masters Men 40+:	Greg Kauper: Stage 1 - 7th; Stage 2 - 30th; Stage 3 - 15th; Stage 4 - 28th; GC - 26th +29:48
Cat 3 Men:	Jed Barden: Stage 1 - 29th; Stage 2 - 31st; Stage 3 - 33rd; Stage 4 - 26th; GC - 23rd +23:26

Kauper makes the break of the day on Stage 1 and secures a top ten finish.

Stage 4 profile:

Team scores top tens at Washington State Time Trial Championships

Event Name:	Washington State Time Trial Championships
Date:	June 3, 2012
Description:	40k time trial; 24.8 miles
Pro/1/2 Men:	12th - Alex Telitsine 54:03
Cat 3 Men:	8th - Jesse Nofziger 57:44
Cat 4/5 Men:	4th - Tim Farrell 56:13 5th - Andrew Eisen 56:57

Criminale Rides 100 Miles Of Nowhere

From Velocity: The Seattle Area Cycling Blog: 

For the past three years Tom Wick (Garage Racing) and Martin Criminale (FareStart Cycling Team) have joined Elden Nelson’s (aka “Fatty,” aka the “FatCyclist”) 100 Miles of Nowhere project, which is “to ride an infuriatingly small course for 100 miles to raise money for the fight against cancer.” Picture hundreds of riders all over North America (or beyond?) riding rollers or around “infuriatingly small courses” for 100 miles. This is year five of the 100 Miles of Nowhere, and it has become so popular that it now sells out in about 12 hours.

For more see: http://blog.seattlepi.com/velocity/2012/06/06/100-miles-of-nowhere-2012/

From Martin's blog:


Well, who would have thought it? Here it is June and here I am again with my good friend Tom riding my bike a long way but not getting anywhere.
For the fourth year in a row Tom Wick and I are knocking out the Fat Cyclist 100 Miles of Nowhere and I must say that early on in the ride I was thinking this might be the last time… To try and stimulate ourselves we again chose the Marymoor Velodrome for our effort as trainers/rollers was a bit extreme and mind numbing. Not to mention crotch numbing.


For more, see Martin's blog at http://martin.criminale.com/2012/06/100-miles-of-nowhere.html

Bravetti 10th at Ballard Criterium

Event Name:	Ballard Criterium
Date:	June 2, 2010
Description:	Four-corner criterium in downtown Ballard.  Intoxicated crowd and nice weather.
Masters Men:	25th - Greg Kauper 45th - RC Rogers DNF - Martin Criminale
Cat 3 Men:	10th - Tony Bravetti