Living on the east coast, you get used to the variable weather that the summers bring. Each of us Rogues are very familiar with the spontaneous thundershowers that ruin bar-b-ques, postpone lawn-mowing, and cause race cancellations. Five of us were faced with that very same predicament for the last Dixie Classic Crit of the month. We wanted to race, but a 50/50 chance of thunderstorms had us on edge. Still, we made the drive down south to Winston-Salem, gambling our race-eagerness with some Mother Nature whims. 
We made the right choice because Mother Nature had a soft spot in her heart this Tuesday. Only the third vehicle in the parking lot, we arrived just in time for the officials to debate the race – some light rain having begun falling at that point. Minutes later, the rain ceased, the sun came out, and the wind was just as terrible as it was before. So, let’s race. 
Actually, let’s race after an hour of warming up. The first crit, Cat 5 & citizens, began almost an hour late due to the tardy people registering. The course was an old go-kart or small auto track – dead flat with dozens of surface imperfections and regular bumps throughout. Warming up on the track at speed, it was an uncomfortable track, to be sure. A warm up under our belts, we watched as the Cat 5 crit rolled off the line. 
Matt Cage was representing Rogues in the Cat 5 race. Sticking to the pack for most of the race, he made several attacks resulting in some exhausted pursuers. At least from my perspective, it looked like a great race. He finished in the main field. 
Some minutes later, the Cat 3/4 crit began. I was in this field along with Tim Ciarkowski, John Webb, and Eric Carlson. The field was a huge mix-match of ability and steadiness and, fortunately, the half-dozen of uneasy moments never resulted in a crash. Without any change of grade with which to shine on, I was fine with the knowledge that I wasn’t going to win in a group sprint so I prepared to work for the other Rogues. In order to keep my other teammates safely back in the pack while exhausting some eager riders, I attacked off the front on two occasions. Just like all of the other breaks that made an attempt throughout the 45-minute event, no one ever seemed to want to rotate with me in these breaks – a complete lack of cooperation that was the order of the evening. So, after running near threshold for a minute, I would reduce my pedaling and allow us to get pulled back in. Eventually, I succumbed to the field and just rode in the slipstream of other riders to the finish. Oh, and Tim won a mid-race $10 preem. We all finished at various points in the pack. 
The flat course was nice to no one but the sprinters. A field of 47 riders and some narrow turns meant that moving up the field over a half-mile track was practically impossible. As the pace of the 3/4 crit picked up, it was clearly impossible to make it to the front unless you had already found your spot there. And, without inter-team cooperation in the breaks, the 3/4 field was a mess. 
Anyways, the Pro 1/2/3 crit rolled out shortly after the 3/4s had changed back into street clothes. Tim and John Webb were feeling lucky and decided to go out for round two, there Cat 3 classification providing that opportunity. The lights above the track were turned on as the sun set, fulfilling the promise that these Dixie Classic crits would occur “under the lights”. 
The Pro 1/2/3 race was a beast. The pace was fast. The cornering smooth. The breakaway of three Time Pro Cycling riders was the highlight of the race. Watching the pace of the main field made be weak in the knees, but then seeing the Time riders lap the main field twice could have made me vomit my Clif bar were I not careful. Tim finished in the field while John Webb knew better and pulled back. 
Afterwards, IHOP. It’s where a cyclist properly refuels. I’m really glad we took the chance against impending weather and I hope we venture out for some of the remaining Dixie Classic crits this year.

This weekend (May 10th and 11th) the Rogues taveled to McMinnville TN to do the Highland Rim Cycling Classic. John McKenna and myself (Tim C) went.  The race promised to be a paradise for climbers; a long mountain climb during the road race followed by rollers, an uphill time trial later that day, and a crit the following day. I have learned one important thing from the first day. It is only fun being a climber when you aren’t racing with climbers. If you race with climbers, things tend to hurt a lot.

Road Race– A nice 3 mile uphill section 10 miles into the race sorted things out nicely in the Cat3 race. I was in a lead group of 10 after the climb and were joined by two others about 20 miles later. So, this lead group of 12 was the group going to be soup sandwiching themselves to the finish. Twas not to be. Two riders decided to touch wheels and cause a four person pile up. Luckily, I had just finished my pull up front and was away from the crash. 8 riders left. The pulls hurt. I definitely don’t feel up to snuff this weekend. I have found myself to have some extra time to ride lately and have been doing a lot of miles and now my legs feel it. Alright– fast forward to the finish– I am in good position until the rider in front of me decides to sit up/explode in front of me. I have to swerve left a bit and end up 5th. Ehh, not terrible… I have to learn how to win sprints.

Uphill TT– My race. My race? It was very similar to Harding Rd, but with 55 miles worth of racing already in my legs it was going to be tough. The length was 2.5miles with a 8% grade. I finish in 12:21…. was it good enough for first? No. I came in second. Not bad, but still. I fancy myself an uphill TT specialist. Ha. Is there anything more useless than an uphill TT specialist? I’m not going to be training for that kind of stuff anymore… I’m going to start focusing on my weaknesses.

Tomorrow– I think I’m sitting in about 3rd place or so for the overall omnium points. The crit should be pretty tough. It is 0.6miles for the loop and is pretty technical. Fun Fun Fun

————————————————————end of Day 1—————————————————

The day of the criterium. It was an eight turn crit that was 0.6 miles long, very technical and the wind was gusty. Gusty enough to knock over a port-a-jon and it did. No one is in it.

Coming into the race I was tied for 3rd overall in the omnium with another rider a mere 1 point behind.

The race was really fast. I thought that something was going to go off the front and the pack would let them go because the pace was so high. Maybe the pace wasn’t that fast, maybe it is because this is one of my first cat3 crits. Well, I stayed near the front for the premes just in case something went off the front after the sprint. I even attempted to win a preme, but I didn’t. Nothing went off the front. Of the 35 or so riders at the start about 15 riders were able to hang onto the front. Coming into the last 3 laps I started jockeying for position. I sat in 8th wheel. The last lap was pretty much all out and there wasn’t any moving up. I finished in 6th, being able to pick off a few riders. I’m alright with getting 6th. I think with better positioning I could have placed much higher. I guess that will come in time. It was a much better race than I was able to do in Athens, GA.

Overall I was able to beat the rider I was tied with, but not able to hold off the rider right behind me in the standings. I received 4th place in the omnium.

I picked up 3 upgrade points (all from the road race) during the weekend and 2 more from the GC standings. So, I need 20 more to upgrade to cat2. I think it will be close. If I can get in a few more road races this season it will be easier than doing a lot of crits, that’s for sure. 

——————————-McKenna——————-

John was racing in the Cat4 events and ended up finishing 6th in the road race, 4th in the uphill TT, 2nd in the crit, and 2nd in the overall.  He looks to be in great shape and looking to grab a few more upgrade points at the Knoxville Omnium and then move up to Cat3.

I went to the Sonny Hutchins crit in Richmond, VA with a few teammates: Cole, Matt Cage and Matt Lester on Sunday, March 2nd. We enjoyed nice weather and fast racing.

The first race I participated in was the 3/4 race. The race was full with 50 riders that were ready to go. A number of small attacks went early one but none stuck. My legs were feeling good so when I saw a break that looked promising I went. Matt Lester went with me, but given that our break was about 10 people large the field was anxious to pull us back and they did in a hurry. I then saw a break of two riders go, they looked strong and I was feeling antsy so I bridged. We were making time on the field, but one rider blew. He wasn’t pulling through and since we still had half the race left, I wasn’t about to pull through for him. We gave up and got sucked back by the field. At that point I realized that I should conserve for the bunch sprint finish. When the laps started getting into the single digits I kept myself in fifthish wheel. On the last lap to go I was in third position when the two riders in front of me pulled off. We had about 300 or so meters to the finish line and I was in a tricky position. I knew I didn’t want to maintain position and lead some joker out for the sprint, but I also knew that if I slowed up I would get swarmed, so I jumped as hard as I could and luckily no one got on my wheel. I crossed the line with my arms in the air. Number of crits entered at that point in the season: two, number of wins: two.

I also entered the Pro/1/2/3 field and despite trying to make the break, I was pack filler. Those boys have some power.

Thanks to demoncats.com for the excellent photos.

I went to Raleigh, NC this weekend with a couple of teammates, Matt Cage and Dan Repella. We had a road race on Saturday in rural Chatham county and a crit on Sunday on the NC State campus in Raleigh.

The 55 mile cat. 3/4 road race was on rural NC roads. Saturday’s results were pretty mediocre with me finishing in 18th place and Dan just a few spots behind. Not great, but better than mid pack. This was Matt Cage’s first race (he raced the cat. 5 race) and had a solid, pack finish.

We had fantastic weather for February and raced in short sleeved jerseys and shorts.

After the race we retreated to our luxury hotel, The Raleigh Hilton, and enjoyed the evening. The Rogues normally don’t travel in such style, but priceline came through with a rate of $45 ($58 after taxes and such).

The Sunday cat. 3/4 race was a 45 minute criterium on a back corner of the NC State campus (in or near their research park) with 42 starters. The course is a one kilometer D shaped loop with one hill and a technical back section that contained an S turn. From the start I felt good and held my position near the front of the race. I put in three attacks but was never able to get a group off the front, so with 12 laps to go I started conserving energy. I put myself in third wheel into the last corner and when I saw the finish line I punched it as hard as I could. It was enough to win by a good margin. I’m now five points closer to category two, $80 richer, and full of early season confidence.

John McKenna won the overall Master’s 35+ Mud, Sweat, and Gears series last weekend. McKenna was the top or one of the top finishers in each of the six races in the series and clearly won the overall, series podium. Nice work.

Eric Carlson has been working hard on the new kit design and it’s looking great. Here’s the latest rough draft.

Rogues have been making a strong showing so far at the Mud, Sweat, and Gears CX series in TN. Here are some highlights:

Dave Lehn powering around despite the squishy, heavy mountain bike. MSG #2, Men’s CX 4.

Tim Ciarkowski on his way to a sixth place finish. MSG #2, Men’s CX 4.

John McKenna on his way to second in the master’s 35+ field at the MSG #2.

Thanks to Bart Nave for the pics.

The team had their end of the year party last Friday (09/28/2007) at Clyde’s place. Good food, good conversation, and good beer was had. In addition to socializing, we elected new officers for the 2008 season:

President: Rhonda Phillips
Sponsorship: Cole Harden
Treasurer: Dan Repella
Web guy: Matt Phillips
Race coordinator: Matt Phillips
Clothing manager: Rachel Lauer

A few highlights:

One score and 12 days less ago 5 Rogues, a girlfriend, and a trusty canine ventured south to the cancer producing haven that is Winston-Salem, NC. Featuring an open, undulating circuit and temperatures reaching into the mid 90’s, the Hanes Park Classic guaranteed an epic battle.

Dan Rapella and I rolled off the start line with a pack of 60 tense Cat 4’s around 9 am. The race was a rather timid affair with a few short-lived break aways. I was unconcerned with these futile attempts because I knew Dan and the other teams would bring them back in short order to setup the inevitable field sprint. The open, flowing nature of the course made moving up (and back) in the peleton relatively easy. I was feeling just this side of terrific as the laps started ticking down. I held third wheel coming out of the last turn when the pace fell off and I found myself at the front. I was faced with a decision; go long from 350m out and risk dying within view of the line or wait to get on another wheel and risk being boxed in near the line. I decided to hit the jets early and held it to the line for my first win on a road bike. Dan and I celebrated with a magnum of champagne and numerous kisses from the podium girls. We even got some digits! Phil Ligget was so impressed with my sprint that he tracked me down after the race and proceeded to tell me I would be the next Robbie Mac!

Kevin Crosby and Matt Phillips took to the streets late in the afternoon for what was to be a combative 2/3 race. Numerous strong attacks forced the groupetto to work very hard to haul back breaks the majority of the race. With only a handful of laps remaining, Matt P looked to be in a good spot to unleash his massive sprint. However, it was not to be. A crash with 2 laps to go left our Rogues gapped from the winning group, but thankfully no worse for wear.

The soothing tunes of Wilco took us home…

Disclaimer: The accounts used in this description may have been exaggerated for dramatic effect.

I had a healthy dose of vitamin W at the Blue Ridge Properties Kingsport crit in Kingsport, TN on July 15. Here’s how it happened:

John Webb and myself drove two and a half hours to Kingsport on Sunday afternoon. We surveyed the course and found a 1.2 mile rectangle with a roundabout in on the back straight. We slipped into our fine looking Rogues kits and got warmed. We roled up the line of the 3/4 race and found that the field wasn’t huge: maybe 20ish guys. That made for reasonable odds for us, but on the other hand, the hosting team, TCRC, had about a third of the field. We quickly decided that if one of the TCRC guys got off the front in a break, one of us had better be with them.

The race got started and had the usual attacks in the first few minutes. Nothing too serious until a couple of riders got a gap of about 100 meters on the field. I watched it for a bit and noticed that it had a TCRC guy in it. I jumped across to them before the gap opened up too much and started rotating through. It seemed like the two guys were willing to work, so I was willing to work. We quickly got about 20 seconds on the field with our smooth, even pulls. We held the 20 second gap for about 20 minutes and then, all of a sudden we hear that the gap us up to 40 seconds. The field had obviously stopped chasing and we made up 20 seconds in one lap! At that point, I realized that I might have a good shot of winning the race and that I should start thinking about the end race strategy. The announcer started counting down the laps and I paid close attention to my breakaway companions to make sure they weren’t going to skip pulls or attack our small group. They behaved themselves, and so after the stronger guy in the group (the TCRC guy) took his pull, I attacked with everything I had (with about one kilometer to go) and was able to hold it. I crossed the line with about 100 meters to spare.

John Webb was back in the main pack at this point and was ready for the bunch sprint. Approaching the line, John took off early, at about the 400 meter mark, and easily won the bunch sprint. In addition to the bunch sprint win, John took a prime earlier in the race.

First and fourth is pretty good in my book. Fun race.

They didn’t get pictures of the 3/4 race, so the sculpture in the middle of the roundabout will have to suffice.