From TK across the pond

TK's email to his pops...

I finally got some internet access here...so the race is over and I'm getting a bit sick, but I'm taking vitamins and cold medicine and I think I'll be okay before PDV starts. The first day of PDV is just a 3k TTT, so I have till friday to really get healthy.The race went pretty well. We won the KOM with Nick and I was his leadout man for the KOM sprints. It was fun working with him, and we won most of the sprints. Nate wore the best young rider jersey but he crashed on a descent on the last day and had a concussion and broke his wrist so he's out for PDV. I guess they're sending over Cody Foster to take his place. I didn't have a great ride in the TT, but the road stages all went well for me. I was in the big break on the first day with Nate. We got about 20 guys and we rolled up to almost a 2 minute lead. I drove it while Nate sat in, because he was the obvious GC guy. That stage finished on some really hilly circuits in the city and after driving the break away for 50k I got dropped with about 10k to go when the #1 guy in the world, Michael Kwiatkowsky of Poland, attacked the break. It worked out good though because Nate still finished in the break with a minute over the field. I finished in the pack.I found it pretty easy to ride at the front, even though it rained at least a bit every day. On the fourth stage I was in a four man break from about 25k out. I dropped the others on a long twisty descent and we never quite worked together real well. We had 35 seconds with about 7k to go, but Kwiatkowsky had his whole team on the front chasing. I went solo at the bottom of the final climb and got swallowed up with 500m to go. overall it was a good race for me in that I could really compete with the A-teams from all the top countries in the world.so I'll try and email again tomorrow.

and a few from Ben Sharp, USACycling's junior director...

Stage 1, moderately hilly terrain with 5 closing circuits that were all up or all down. 104km, Blieskastel-Saarbrucken, 21 teams of 6 riders, all national teams as this is a Nations Cup event.
The goal of the race was for everyone to stay out of trouble and make it to the closing circuits in tact. If a group slipped up the road, our ambition was to be represented. Brown and Phinney were the “protected” riders. The opening 2 circuits (before the point-to-point part of the race to get to the Saarbrucken included 2 trips up a very steep, wet, cobbled climb. Our riders managed to stay in the front and out of trouble, with Bax notching up first place points on the 2nd KOM. After about 60km, a massive group of 25 muscled their way up the road with Kuphaldt and Brown representing the Stars and Stripes. In an effort to help Brown gain time on the chasing peloton, Kuphaldt did his share of work and ended up paying for it as the group went away with about 15km to go, leaving him to finish with the peloton. Brown won a KOM on the finishing circuits and rolled in with the breakaway, in 20th. Phinney, Bax, and Kuphaldt eased across the finish line with the peloton and Leibovitz and Tickemyer lost contact in the finishing laps. The stage was won by Polish superstar Michael Kwiatkowski who bridged across the 40 second gap from the peloton to the breakaway, then won the gallop. Last year he was the World #1 ranked junior in the UCI and two weeks ago repeated his win at Course de la Paix in the Czech Republic.

Stage 2, slightly flatter terrain but with a difficult circuit of 22km to be repeated 3x at the end. 101.0km, Hoburg-Wittersheim.
A little bit of excitement today as Phinney flatted at the most inopportune time, on a narrow climb through a town but, the neutral support got him taken care of and he was able to get back into the bunch with Leibovitz’s help, after a 10km chase through the cars. Meanwhile, Bax was off the front with a German and a Dane, and able to earn points (and the jersey) in two more KOMs. The break came back before the final circuit and the group finished more or less in tact, with Sabastian Lander form Denmark taking the win. Kwiatkowski was second and able to extend his lead thanks to a time bonus. Brown, Kuphaldt and Phinney finished in the bunch while Leibovitz and Bax paid for their early efforts and came in well within the time cut. Tickemyer came off in the final 8km, a definite improvement from where he was a week ago.

Stage 3a, rolling 11.7km Time Trial, Bockweiler-Altheim.
On alternately drizzle-slick and dry roads the boys rode quite well this morning. It was incredible to have the rainbow jersey representing the U.S. in the T.T. final results are below. Kwiatkowski beat 2nd by 14 seconds with Phinney 20 seconds back. Brown is in the hunt for the Young Rider’s Competition after a sterling ride that should put him in the top-6 going into this afternoon’s stage. Adam Leibovitz was the 4th rider off and held the top time for about 45 minutes, eventually finishing in the top-10. Bax and Tickemyer, as per my instruction, took it relatively easy for the TT, with the intention being to have some strength to defend the KOM jesery. Kuphaldt had a solid ride to turn in a 15:05.
Phinney 4th, @ 20” (15th G.C.)
Brown 11th @ 32” (3rd G.C., best young rider)
Leibovitz 15th @ 38”
Kuphaldt 47rh @ 1’12”
Bax 86th @ 1’49” (KOM leader)
Tickemyer @ 1’53”

Stage 3b, hilly circuits on wet roads, 77.7km, Volklingen-Grosrossein
The plan was to defend the two jerseys and stay out of trouble in preparation for tomorrow’s 135km test. The event was relatively uneventful with no mishaps for USA. With some help from Leibovitz and Kuphaldt, Bax was able to take 4th on the sole KOM sprint and keep his lead by a mere one point over his Russian competitor. Kuphaldt found himself in an uncooperative break with 3 others that was caught on the final climb, about 250m from the finish. Because of splits in the peloton on the finishing climb, Brown slipped one spot on G.C. and lost the young rider’s jersey. The team however is in great shape and even after losing Tickemyer today are eager for tomorrow’s test.

and stage 4...

Stage 4, undulating 24km circuit to be completed 5.5 times, with twosignificant climbs per lap. Nothing too steep but quite long. 134 kmtotal.The race today started in Rimling, France and skirted the French/Germanborder. Within a stone's throw, you could hear two distinct languages asthe primary form of communication. The forecast was for high temperatureswhich we figured favored our boys. We had two strategies for the race:1) defend the KOM jersey for Bas, as his lead was narrow and the first threetimes up the first climb on the circuit counted for points.2) advance Brown's position in the G.C. On paper, it looked like he couldclaw his way into the top-3, earning the Young Rider's jersey along the way.Plan # 1 went to perfection. Bax dug deep and with the help of Kuphaldt andLeibovitz was able to match the accelerations of the Austrian, Sokol. Aftertwo ascents, no ground had been made up on Bax's lead and before the 3rdKOM, a group of 16 rode off the front. With no one there to mathematicallythreaten the dotted jersey, all Nick had to do was finish within the timecut to keep the fancy shirt.Plan # 2 didn't go so well. The first time off the descent of the KOM hill,Brown crashed solo into a tree. I estimate he was going close to 60km andinstantely came to a stop. When I got to the scene, the paramedics werealready there but, he had yet to move. My mechanic, Benoit, hopped out ofthe car and as he got to Nathan, they made eye contact. We saw him move hisright arm. Briefly we checked in with the medics and they assured us he wasok. Of course the race progressed and this being the land ofmis-information, we got alternating reports over the radio regarding hishealth. Eventually, it was confirmed that he was ok and had been taken tothe hospital by car (not by medi-vac as initially reported!!!) forobservation, the concern being the concussion he had sustained. It wascomforting to have most of the other team director's in the caravan ask,from time to time, if we had heard anything. Even the chief commissairecalled us to the front to see if we had any news. In the end, he broke hisright Radius and suffered a mild concussion. The trashed helmet (and intact skull) is a testimony to the value of wearing a lid. He's back at thehotel with us now and in moderate spirits. Being the trooper he is, evenafter I offered to arrange to get him home ASAP, he's going to endure theArmy Barracks at Pays de Vaud with his teammates.Back to the racing...The large breakaway dominated the race until the teamof Poland's race leader, Kwiatokowski took over at the front. They broughtall but two of the break back on the last lap and Belgium's Tosh van derSande held off the hard charging pack by 10 seconds to take the win.Phinney came across the line 14th with Kuphaldt easing across the line withthe field. Leibovitz showed even more signs of life today and motored achase group that finished 1:30 down. Finally, Bax came in with his KOMcrown a few minutes later.As a last minute replacement for Nathan Brown, Cody Foster is en route thisafternoon to meet us at Le Tour du Pays de Vaud in Switzerland. In themeantime, we are staying at the Hotel Bliesbruck in Herbitzheim, GER untilwe head to Moudon, SUI on Wednesday. They guys are enjoying some down timeand socializing with the podium girls from the weekend. Ah, to be 18.If last year is any indication, there will be no internet available while weare in Switzerland. I will try to get word out on occasion on theBlackberry.Results for Trofeo Karlsberg can be found at www.romers.nl

pictures can be found at http://eventfotos.net/frames.htm

Racing with the Grown-ups

A few years back AWfoSho and Thor went thru a period when they dominated the 3's... If memory serves it was 06 when they finished on the podium at Santa Rosa, EMC, and Golden State. The rest of the 3's started marking them... paying attention to what DBCJRT was doing.

I guess it is becoming a kind of tradition...

Rewind for a moment to the 08 EBC crit. Staz manhandled the 3's, taking the field sprint for the top spot. Next up Golden State. I keep waiting for the pics of the 3's finish to come up. Somebody has to have a picture of Staz's victory salute... Arms spread wide, eyes rolled up to the sky. The impression was one of, "come on guys, that was too easy!" And yesterday the kidlets did it again... Staz made a perfect job of showing El Gigante how it is done... delivering him to the last corner first. Where El Gigante could do nothing but cross the line first... three consecutive races, three "W"s... The kidlets are marked again... El Gigante says that the fight for Staz's wheel on the last lap was epic... elbows, shoulders, the whole nine yards. the field sprint was full-blown out-of-the-saddle banging. And the kidlet's big enough that I wouldn't want to be leaning on him when push comes to shove. Staz and El Gigante will try to make it four in a row in Pleasanton this weekend.

AWfoSho spent Monday afternoon prime whoring... with all the big dawgs (DHolla, McCook, Magnall, Vigus, Klein) out to play, he figured the best place to showcase his skills was during prime laps... The kidlet bided his time at the back of the pack while the prime bell rang for coffee and bike shop gift certificates. He waited for the big money primes later in the race... Timing was perfect when, with six laps to go, the boyz chasing the win chose to sit in and save it for the finale... The bell rang for $100 and AWfoSho came out to play... a quick bridge to a solo break, an equally quick attack of the break, and AWfoSho soloed across the line to claim his crisp $100 bill. Funny thing is that he earned as much as DHolla did for the win. Maybe someday he'll be the one foregoing the primes for the victory, but he was more than happy to take the big money prime on this day.

I know that some of the other kidlets raced all grown-up like in the 4's and 5's, but haven't got the reports yet... chime in boyz. As soon as I know more I will pass it along...

And just to whet your appetite, got a few emails from across the pond... TK finally found a moment to update us. I'll do my best to compose those into a little something for you to read tomorrow night.

In the mean time, feast your eyes...

El Gigante and Staz start the 3's at Golden State

Janwich always complains that he can't watch the race and take video or pics at the same time... I say priorities, dude. I'd like to say that he is usually better at it, but I've come to expect this... either way, this is the only finishing shot of Staz at Golden State that I've found.

At least this one isn't blurry...

This finish line shot of El Gigante at Memorial Day Crit belongs to Scott Mosher. Check out the real deal at http://em.scottmosherphotography.com/p/940e3/2008-05-26-5109

Scott also got this shot of AWfoSho on his way to payday at the Memorial Day Crit

GoldenMountHamiltonMemorialStateDayCrit...

or something like that... it all gets crazy-mixed-up when there is so much racing going on.

Saturday it rains, but the kidlets aren't made out of sugar and spice so they don't melt. AJ, Mechanical, Tapinator, Torey, El Gigante, Staz, AWfoSho, and Rookie (don't know why she didn't melt because she's a princess and must be made of sugar and spice) braved rain slicked roads and a new 180 degree hairpin in the junior showdown at Golden State. Lombardi's Evan Huffman had made a bet with ex-dbcjrt-kidlet-turned-terrorist Thor, saying he'd beat AWfoSho... game on! The race turned into a slugfest between Huffman and AWfoSho... off the front, bring him back, off the front, bring him back... meanwhile, Mechanical was touching pavement in the u-turn, Tapinator was trying to figure out the whole wet pavement thing, Staz was puking, AJ and Torey were gutting it out and Rookie was riding laps around her competition in the ladies version of the same race. In the end, El Gigante threw his chances at a "W" in the 15/16 affair to the wind so that he could lay down a sick lead-out for big bro. And AWfoSho made Thor $10.00 richer... while Rookie took her first "W" in the ladies contest.

Sunday the roads tipped skyward and Andreas was the sole kidlet at Mount Hamilton... learning to suffer like a champ... hat's off for finishing that thing.

Monday the sun finally came out. And Specialized had their act together. AWfoSho felt the frustration of being a marked man in the 17/18 race... anybody else goes up the road and everybody looks to him to bring it back. He goes up the road and, well, you know that saying about stink on... the whole field is all over him. At one point, with Huffman up the road, Mechanical and El Gigante dug deep into the pain cave to bring the race back together for their captain, assuring a field sprint... until Specialized starting playing tricks. With one to go, they started attacking and countering. AWfoSho covered the first two while the rest of the pack sat on him. Then Avis took off and the kidlet hesitated a moment too long... Avis had 15 meters on AWfoSho out of the last corner. AWfoSho had fifteen meters on the pack. And that's the way it ended with Staz best of the rest of the field to take the third spot... Little LaBerge won the 15/16 race for Specialized and an up-and-coming Marcus Smith did the same for the Sboyz by nipping Alex Freund at the line in the 13/14 race... Good on the kidlets wearing red...

That's how the junior versions shook out anyways... but there were big doin's in the elite categories for the kidlets... something about two more "W"s, $100 primes, and up-grade points...

those tales will have to wait for another night because I can see heavy eyelids on all the young'ns 'bout now.

btw, Janwich took the pic at Golden State. I think the kidlets were telling me how it was gonna all go down. Either that or we were looking at the... well, who knows what we were looking at.

Lotsa Action...

The kidlets were racing all over the place this weekend...

While a bunch of the boys were volunteering at the Davis Double Century on Saturday, El Gigante and AWfoSho made the trek to Modesto for a little crit action (hadn't been to Rick and PJ's race before, but gotta admit, they put on a good show). El Gigante suffered in the heat during the 3's race, finally succumbing when the asthma monster crushed his chest in a vise... didn't stick around for the finish of the 3's, so don't know how it all turned out because in one of those quirks, the proseys raced before the 3's. Two bottles were barely enough to get AWfoSho through the heat blasted, 60-minute fast guys contest, but he was able to squeak out a 4th place... behind Viktor Rapinsky and DHolla no less.

Sunday's racing saw DBCJRT kidlets spinning at Panoche, searching for a district championship... early reports from my not too reliable source have the 15/16 podium as Peter Taylor, Andreas Freund, and Ryan Eastman... in that order. The same source says that Alex Freund took the jersey in the 13/14 race. Wish I had more to report, but I guess we'll have to wait for the tales of guts and glory to surface on the interwebs a little later.

Staz, AWfoSho, and El Gigante chose to hit Rick and PJ up one more time for the world's biggest crit. More formally known as the Modesto RR, the course is a pancake flat, nine mile circuit. Most of the fields stayed together all day because the air was dead still and hot enough to melt butter. DHolla single handedly kept things together in the prosey race then easily dispatch the bunch in the field sprint. AWfoSho eaked out another top ten, finishing ninth. The only race, that I know of, that didn't end in a bunch kick was the 3's. Three riders snuck away early and maintained a slim 45 second advantage til the line. Staz did his best to bring the escapees to bare, but it wasn't his day. El Gigante finished second in the bunch kick behind the break to nab fifth on the day. Good enough for a few more upgrade points, five bucks, and a t-shirt...

those in the know... use a little bandwidth to fill me in on the happenings at Panoche... I'm curious...

It's just that corner...

There is something about that corner... you know the one. You're just about home, relaxed, spinning easy, goofing off just a bit. The ride is almost over.

In our case, that corner is off of Arlington and onto the Village Homes' bike path. That corner got Kelbster once, Karcherific another time. This evening it got April... The thought crossed my mind shortly before making the left hander that I should warn the kidlets, but I didn't...

April, like Karcherific and Kelbster before her, hit those rolly polly little pine cone thingies and washed the front wheel out. She moves right quick though and got unclipped and caught herself with her hands before knee and hip could hit the ground. Not a mark on her...

Karch and Kelbster are all boy... when they hit the ground they drew blood. April, she's just a princess. Much to regal and demure to bother with any blood.

Thought maybe I could get the nickname, Princess, to stick... but earlier in the ride I'd already settled on Rookie... for the rookie marks that April likes to sport on her right leg. Mechanical is jealous of her new moniker, but I told him, "Too bad!" He earned Mechanical... and Rookie suits April much better anyway...

but what's in a name anyway?

looks like we got it right...

TK is heading to Europe in a week or so...

which kinda posed a problem. The season plan had him peaked for Sea Otter in search of that elusive win. But, with the Europe trip following so close on the heels of the Otter Jesse kinda had his work cut out for him. The problem was that the time in between was too long to maintain a peak, but not long enough to really take TK all the way down and rebuild him...

Talked to the kidlet this evening. He finished third at Bazerkely Hills today in the proseys. He was second, but Jesse passed him in the finale... TK says he has his race legs back like he did early in the season. Jesse got it just right... shut TK down after the Otter, but kept the engine idling with just enough rpms to allow it to crank back up for the European campaign... BUT not quite enough rpms to beat the old coach at Berkely Hills!!!

TK will have access to the interwebs across the pond so watch for updates in a week or so...

Chris 'I got the W' Stastny

Staz crept within one point of his 2's upgrade today at the EBC crit. With a short finishing stretch, Staz launched his sprint between the 3rd and 4th corner, took the hole shot into the final straightaway and held off the charging field to earn his second W of the season...

El Gigante finished shortly behind, in 8th...

It's been fun to watch Staz's attitude change from I can barely hang with the 3's to I own the 3's over the last few months. Coolio when a kid figures it out.

You all know already...

got scooped by Hernando today, but not because he found out before me. Got to read EOB's email in real time. It's just that 31 fifth-graders wouldn't give me a spare moment to post this morning.

But, what Mike doesn't know is that I was instrumental in getting PaulMach.com to shave his legs (no matter what Paul tells you) and Phil 'shoot for the' Mooney still owes me $42 for the helmet he will be wearing when he races tomorrow and Sunday... I even have nicknames for the collegial kidlets. Yes, both those boys race for DBC when they aren't wearing cow kits, I've cooked dinner for them in tiny extended-stay kitchenettes and handed up bottles to them in too many feedzones not to claim them as my own. Tdibble and Shawn R both are DBC products as well...

gotta grab a piece of the stars and bars jersey while I can :)

BTW Tdibble thinks I'm the coolest thing since sliced bread...

Congrats boys. now go get a couple more jerseys!!!

So...

El Gigante is home sick... and telling me that I need to post something just so he has some verbage to read.

Well, here's what's up...

Kelbster's riding dirt on Wednesday evenings...

Mechanical has been doing that swim, bike, run thing. And doing it quite well...

AWfoSho got beat by Greg Andersen again at Wednesday Worlds...

TK missed his start time again. Thank God that Wednesday Worlds happens again in two weeks...

Tapinator's got a new position on his TT rig...

Davitamon's been racking up huge volunteer hours. Gotta hand it the boy who can't even race this year...

The Aggie boys and girls have run off to CO to win a few stars and bars jerseys. Go PaulMach.com, go TDibble, go Phil 'shoot for the' Mooney...

AWfoSho is not pronounced Aah fo show. It is pronounced A Dub fo Show...

I still have a bunch of Rudy Project glasses that need to get picked up...

Astana's going to the Giro... oh, that is old news. But, Velonews (the paper version) still doesn't know it yet...

Velonews (the cybersmut version) lists Tom Danielson as a contender for the maglia rosa... sphincter sez waa?

Protour cycling loses its luster after the Spring Classics are over... the grand tours are fun and all, but oh so predictable...

Petacchi won't sprint...

Hushovd can't sprint... fast enough...

TK's leavin' on a jet plane in 9 days to race his bike all eurostyle...

Other than that, not much is going on...

Off Days...

Got to spend the day with the carpet cleaner and the mop. Was kinda weird sleeping in on a Saturday morning. With housekeeping on the docket, I figured that the longer I slept in the longer I could put off the chores...

While I was playing happy homemaker Tapinator, Andreas, Alex F and Staz were playing in Los Gatos. Don't know much except that Staz was 8th in the 3's and that we grabbed a couple of third places in the junior races. details anyone?

I guess that Swift's Ryan Eastman tore it up again, winning both the junior 15/16 race and the 3's... that boy's got loads of talent and is hyper-motivated right now. Hope he can stay on top of the form and not ride the J out of his legs before nationals.