TEAM CYCLE ESCAPE - MONTGOMERY AL

The Final Post

2008-12-10T18:56:00.000-08:00

Members of Team Cycle Escape –

For the past sixteen years I have done business with Cycle Escape and have built a friendship with the past and present owners Phil Jones and Sid. The shop has sponsored our team and been part of us since the team’s inception, and I’ll always look back on these years with great memories. With hard work, we have taken a small team and accomplished great things in the local cycling community. We’ve helped spread this great sport of ours, and for that we should be proud.

As you may have heard, because of the hard economic times, Cycle Escape has decided to close. Due to that, it is with a sad heart that I have decided not to continue the team. I want to thank all the sponsors who have supported us over the years; without your generosity, we could not have had the great looking team kits or put on our great cyclocross race here in Montgomery, which many racers throughout the Southeast have said is the best race venue in the Bamacross series.

I also want to thank my fellow teammates. I have enjoyed traveling and racing with all of you over the years. I have always been proud of the way we have conducted ourselves and represented our sponsors on the road and at races. Not only are each of you my fellow teammate, you are also my friend. Even though I know some of us will take different paths, when we see each other at the races or on the road, we will always be teammates.

Jeff

In a cyclocross race a long-time ago

2008-11-03T18:02:00.001-08:00

Blake Gill Race Report

2008-10-27T18:53:00.000-07:00

I raced Sunday in the ADPi Rolling across the Plains race! Basically a fundraiser for one of Auburn's Sororities, this ride brings out all cyclists and everyone else with a bike for a 12 mile out and back through Auburn. I overheard the organizers say they had almost 160 riders competing in the "every man for himself" type race. I lined up on the start line with the Auburn Flyers and quite a few "Mellow Mushroom" team jerseys and we all took off. Being only 12 miles this immediately turned into one mass team time trial!! At the halfway turn around point It was just me, a mellow mushroom guy, and the Auburn Flyers coach. We averaged about 29mph for the last 6 miles and resulted in a 3 way sprint...Auburn's coach beat me by 10 feet, with Mellow Mushroom 20 or so behind me! I'll take a 2nd place any day (especially to this guy, whom after looking him up, is a nationally accomplished masters racer).

Blake Gill

Bamacross #2 Cooter's Revenge

2008-10-24T16:37:00.001-07:00

As I have said before cyclocross is for me, the most fun type of racing I do! Last Sunday I raced the second race of the BamaCross series held at Cooters Pond and promoted by our friends at ICS Completive Velo, and It was a great event! As far as my racing goes about all I can say is I started out real strong (2^nd position in the 45+ category) and slowly worked my way back to a 5^th place finish..... yep, that about sums it up. No bike problems, no problems with the barriers, no nothing to really blame it on. But you know, to me, the great thing about cyclocross racing is even if your not having a stellar of a day, if you look real close at the pictures you can still see a smile. Two weeks till the next race in Tuscaloosa so I figure I can get in two more sessions of intervals and a couple of more efforts at race pace and maybe improve my fitness a notch, we’ll see.

Jeff Dorminey

A few Steve Timms Photographs of Jeff D. and Brooks G.

2008 Dead Dog 8

2008-10-16T19:30:00.000-07:00

WELCOME TO OUR NEWEST TEAM MEMBER
STEVE TIMMS

This makes it official, Steve rode with us at the Sprott and Bull Gap Time Trial. Steve has been new competition at this past year's MBC time trials as well.

Dead Dog 8

Steve Timms

10.12.08

On an overcast and cool morning, my pit crew and I arrived in Trussville for Dead Dog 8. Though the rain threatened none ever materialized and the mild conditions were just right for racing. The 40-49 beginner flight was set to go off at 10:04 and the organizers were faithful to their word. Fortunately I had been able to scout the trail earlier in the week so I was prepared for the hilly, tight and technical trail, if not the exact route. A quick downhill led to the trail and I was second into the woods. Each lap on the 5 mile course was a test but by my count I was second through the first lap. I was pulling past riders from earlier flights but was not able to hold off two riders from my own group which put me into fourth. I was able to hold onto fourth place to the end and finish the 10 mile distance in 1 hour 4 minutes. Overall I was pleased with my performance and look forward to improving and trying again next year. Also on the scene were several friends from the Montgomery area who shared in the fun.

Bamacross #1 Avondale

2008-10-12T17:27:00.000-07:00

The first race of the Bamacross season was on October 5th at Avondale Park in Birmingham. The BBC Team did a great job of setting-up and running all the races. The stairs up the amphitheater was a killer...over and over again. For those who did 2 races must have relished the pain in deed.

Well once again Jeff and Carl represented the Cycle Escape Team, with both of racing in the Master 45+ category. This was 45 minutes of extreme cycling fun that only comes with cyclocross. Neither one of us performed well enough to make the front page of the Montgomery Advertiser, lucky for me that my chain kept falling off to give me a ready-made excuse.

We did have the pleasure of socializing with many of our good buddies on the Chain Reaction Team, as well as running into a couple guys from Montgomery. Part of the fun of racing is socializing with the other racers from current and past years.

The West family shared some photos with us that Beverly took, so we give here the credit.

Chad Wins Georgia Cup race!!!!

2008-09-15T19:01:00.000-07:00

Atlanta Criterium
Day 1 Friday Race 4:00 Eastern Standard Time Race #1
Had to work late that night before and that next morning so I did not get any proper nutrition before the race but even if I would have I still would have had the same outcome because I need some race training.
Race started 30 minutes late and there was only 8 guys and we started and I felt terrible my heart rate is way too high so after about 3 or 4 laps they were giving a $25 dollar preme and I wanted the $25 and I was gonna get it that was my plan. At that time I was sitting last at about 800 yards and a head wind I went after the preme 110% I flew around them and one guy had enough sprint to catch my draft and about 100 yards to the line for the preme I was going 36.9 mph in a head wind and heart rate 198 I blew up and lost the preme and that guy finished it all by himself and I had to ride all but the last lap by myself and got 5th and these guys were way back except the one that passed me I just could not believe someone stayed with the jump I had from 20 to 36.9 quick. So that race stinked but I did learn from it.

Day 2 Saturday 8:00 race #2
I did not eat 3 hours before race so I got up at 5:30 and20got a protein shake and banana and peanut butter. So at 8 I had warmed up and was ready and the race did not start till 8:30 12 to 14 guys so that was nice. Right before the start they said the 1st lap is a preme lap for a Hincapie jersey we took off and since the day before I knew a little more how to do it,do not jump 800 yards before the line and wait on the right time to jump and pick who to draft behind and it was crazy because the pack was going slow until 200 yards then they all jumped which was good for me because I could stay in the draft and I could see this Spanish guy 5'5 140lbs he went left and I went right and got him by a bike and got my $100 jersey then I settled back in and rode smart the pace was slow 23 in a draft thats slow but we rode a few laps and I was saving myself for the finish and another preme came up and they were going so slow I just got that one by 4 bikes or more. We still rode hard but not over 170 heart rate except on a few jumps 189 max and 34.2 mph and I got 2nd right behind the Spanish guy so I start to wonder if I would not have got that 1st or 2nd preme could I have one. Who cares I got the jersey.

Day 2 Saturday race #3
I did not eat 3 hours before the race again and had some hammer gel 30 minutes before and spike my glycogen level and my goal this tim e was to win and the guy that passed me on the first one was there so I knew stay behind him and get him back for taking my preme. After lap three I said lets go to him and took off and he didn't go so I settled back in and watched him one lap to go I stayed behind him 1 and 2 and one turn to go and a slight up hill 40 yards 6 people got in front somehow they blocked me in I was on the right so I cut across to the left and sprinted and passed them all on the hill and got behind the guy and as he turned right he looked back at me to see if anybody had stayed with his jump and he kicked it in again 800 yards to go I started to smile because I was in his draft and got him by ¾ of bike length my first win I turned around and said got you back. Power helps a lot on the sprint but placement and draft help 50% more. Top speed on that race 30.2 and that was at the finish a slow race me and this guy were by far a lot faster and he is faster than me I have to work on making my engine bigger by doing zone 2 training.
Day 3 Sunday race #4
Got there right on time fueled properly and ready to go did my warm up and ready to start they said it was going to be 8:15 and then 8:45 and then they said the Jrs were going first and cat5 would be at 9:45 and we had to be at the Atlanta aquarium at 11:00 . I didn't check the race bible is what they call it changed Wednesday of last week. So at 8:30 I rode my race by myself and this course was hard and a lot of climbing and one downhill 34.6 mph max heart rate 188. So that would have been a good race Me and that guy could have seen who was faster he was a lot lighter so it would have been hard to beat him. Praise God that I did not check the correct time because if we would have got to the aquarium after 12 it would have taken an hour or so to get in. So all in all I am happy with the outcome and the defeat on the first race which taught me how to better plan. Need you guys you would love it Fun Fun!!

Blake Gill Race Report

2008-09-15T19:00:00.000-07:00

I raced this past weekend in the Peachtree City southeast triathlon club championship race, Peachtree City, GA. The weather was pretty exciting...light rain on and off all morning with very gusty winds up to 35mph. I went into the race without having spent a lot of time on my swim training, but ending up with a PR anyway. The lake we swam in was like a swamp with all the grass and weeds that were in it! I took a lot of risks on the hilly wet bike leg, but made up some ground. I felt like I had the best run of the year, but ended up being a god bit slower than what i would have liked my pace to be. I ended up getting 161st out of 1100. 19th in the 25-29 age group, which i'm pretty proud of. This was my second triathlon ever and i'm hooked. I'm already researching training plans to get me ready for a half-ironman sometime next year!

Suffering at Bull Gap and Beyond

2008-07-29T19:18:00.000-07:00

Jeff Dorminey, Carl Viars, and Steve Timms made the trip to Sylacauga for the Bull Gap Time Trial sponsored by the Cyclists of Greater Sylacauga. We met up with Mike Herring, along with a few of the Chain Gang cyclist. This 22 mile time trial out State Highway 148 for 11 miles to the infamous Bull Gap is quite the workout. The results are posted on the event website; we'll leave it up to you to look if so inclined. This trio doesn’t want the suffering to continue any further by adding the poor showing to this site. On a positive note we're still faster than 99% of population of the tri-county area. Below are a few photos depicting our activities to include an unknown photographer who's work is available at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/diddlee/sets/72157606406876500/.

Race Report _ Bump N' Grind

2008-06-05T18:22:00.001-07:00

Photo Credit to Beverly West, Vicki Hamilton, and David Hiott

I am pretty pleased to make the podium in my first Bump n' Grind, 3rd place in the beginner men 50+ (8 in that class). I do have to say my 8 mile race is pale in comparison to my team mates' 17 mile race. With that out of the way I have to reflect back on my pre-race jitters...this was the worst case of "I've got a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach." I tried to warm-up a little, but I was so nervous it lacked the structure of a good warm-up and only served to burn-off some of the anxiety. I tried to take advantage of my road fitness and hit the 1 mile of paved road (all up hill) at the start hard prior to entering the trial. When I entered the single-track I had a pretty big lead on all the others in my class. I pushed as hard as my single track trail skills would allow, but between the 2-3 mile point the guy who would take 1st place passed me and that was the last I saw of him. Not much longer and the 2nd place guy passed me, but I was able to pass him on the 2nd lap going up the paved road, but he managed to overtake me between the 2 and 3rd mile again. I was really pushing hard to catch-up with him during the last mile, but I could make-up the last 20 seconds or so. In the post race analysis I was able to assess my good points and my bad points and leave with a good feeling about the race. For me I want to improve my "trail skills" so I can take advantage of my road fitness. Thanks to Jeff Dorminey and the West family for making our pre-ride several days prior a real special event...so to speak.

Carl Viars

This past weekend was the one the two targeted races I’d been training for since the first of the year. The weekend of the Bump and Grind mountain bike race. As I drove up to B_ham Sunday morning, I was asking myself the usual race day questions, am I ready? Is my bike in good shape? Will that new tire hook up like I hope? And so on and so on. I guess the race day jitters were getting to me. After I had arrived and registered, I started my warm-up routine and as I was warming up I started answering those pre race jitter questions, am I ready? Yep, this is what I’d been training for, hadn’t done all those super hard hill repeats up bald knob till I felt as though I was going to puck for nothing, is my bike in good shape? Again yep, Sid had fine tuned it for me. Will that new tire hook up like I hope? You know it will, you used that tire here before. The more I warmed up the better I felt, I just hoped my luck would hold out. Finally they called the sport 50-59 class to the line. As we were on the line I noticed that the class was not as big as last year, it seemed as though ONLY THE FAST GUYS showed up this year. READY, GET SET, GO! We were off. When we got to the single track we were all still fairly close together. I was probably in about 7^th place, not wanting to blow myself up right from the start (there’d be plenty of time for that later). After about a mile or so I started to pass a couple of my competitors and worked up to the 4^th position with the 5^th place guy right on my wheel. The two of us were already passing riders in other age groups that had started before us. I was working pretty hard trying to drop this guy, with no such luck and finally asked if he wanted by, “no” he said “he was going as hard as he could”. After he told me that I decided to slow the pace down a little (had too) to try to save something for the 3 mile climb and if he wanted to pass me he was welcomed to. Things stayed about the same till we got to the climb, still passing other age group riders and him still on my wheel, but after we crossed the bridge half way up the hill, he attacked and started to open up a gap. I tried to follow his attack, but when I hit the highest heart rate I have EVER SEEN in a race I decided to back it off some (had too again!) and try to catch him later. After I reached to top of the climb, I shifted back into the big ring and keep a fast speed along the ridge road. Turned off the ridge road back into the single track heading down toward Blood Rock. Blood Rock is no problem for me, as I decided about 4 years ago to walk it. There is no decision to be made when I get there, a no brainer! As I was walking(actually half running) down blood rock I heard the spectators (people how want to see riders fall) saying “rider back” so I stepped over to give him room and as he passed I realized he was in my class, I had just gone from 5^th to 6^th place, but I did notice that as he was passing me a looked out of control (he crashed at the bottom of Blood Rock) As I was descending the bump trail( the rocky rough trail right after Blood Rock) I saw several riders off to the side with flats, and there he was, the guy in my class who had just passed me off to the side with a flat. Back in 5^th and still had Johnson Mountain and the last section to go. Still trying to catch the 4^th,place guy, I keep pushing hard, not letting up, I know he’s just ahead I keep telling myself. Still passing other riders along the way (just not in my age group). Finally crossed the line with a time of 1hr 26minutes 10seconds. The guy in 4^th finished 1minute 25” and the guy in 3^rd finished 1 minute 48 seconds ahead of me. Even though I could not catch them I was still pleased with my results and felt as though I rode the best race I could (I averaged a heart rate of 172 bpm and hit a max of 186 bpm). After I cooled down, I hung out with some of the other folks from our team and some from ICS Chain Reaction, talking and laughing about our races.

So in conclusion how do I rate the 1^st half of the year? I am pleased overall. I had two targeted races that I wanted to do well in (Attack on Swayback-2^nd and Bump and Grind-5^th). Going to chill a couple of weeks and than start my build up for the 2^nd half and my favorite season, cyclo-cross!

Jeff Dorminey

So this past weekend marked another road trip up to Birmingham for the Bump N Grind mountain bike race. This year I have been fighting off being sick and really wasn't all that excited about going. But I went ahead and registered knowing I would have fun when I got there. I think during my lack of excitement, I forgot to re-check the time that my race started. I left Montgomery about 8:30 thinking my race started at 10:30. This would give me about 45 minutes to warm up, or so I thought.

Got to Oak Mountain, found a parking spot, and headed over to registration. As they were getting my goodie bag together, I kept hearing over the loud speaker something about Sport class lining up. I figured it was another age group or something. But I thought I would ask what time my race started... she said, 10:00. WHATTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I looked down at my watch and it said 9:47 and this lady is asking for my driver's license to verify I was who I was saying I was. After providing DNA samples to verify identity, I raced back to my truck, threw my clothes on, pumped my tires up, grabbed my CamelBack and raced back to the starting line! I didn't have time to go all the way to the end of the parking lot so I had to cross the barrier fence since my group was starting in 30 seconds. I couldn't hop over the fence because it would not have held so I figured I could fit "through" it. WRONG! Luckily Dave Hiott and several other people (including the 40-44 class behind my group) got a kick out of watching me fight and wrestle my way through the fence which kept getting hung on my CamelBak. Luckily a guy was standing there and helped me through as the announcer did the 10 second countdown! This was the first race I have ever entered where they started the race and I was not even on my bike! Needless to say, I started in dead last.

The next few minutes I was at red line trying to pick off as many spots as possible before hitting the woods. Once in the woods, I settled down and focused on keeping a good pace but not blowing up too early. I knew the fire road climb would kick my butt later on. About 4 miles in, some guy said he was coming around and asked if he could pass. I told him to wait just a second cause this was not a good spot. Well, about the time I said that, I hear him barreling beside me through all the brush up on the embankment of the trail and he nails the tree that I had had my eyes on the whole time. The next few seconds went like this... he hits tree, he rams me into the other tree on the other side of the trail, we both go down in a cloud of dust at about 15 mph, his bike, my bike and all 185 lbs of me land on him. I have never been that close to a man before in my life! If he hadn't been so apologetic, I would have thrown his bike down the side of the mountain. After untangling the bikes and making sure all my body parts still worked, I got back on my bike to try and chase down the 5 or so spots I had lost. I am pretty sure the next time he thinks of passing a fellow racer, this little run-in will remind him to use a little caution.

For the next couple of miles, my body was sore from the crash. But the pain from the race soon helped me forget that. The singletrack section were fast. I was riding better than I had ever ridden before but I knew I still had to climb the fire road so I didn't push too hard. Once out on the gravel road, I knew the next couple of miles was going to hurt. The road turned upwards and my speed went down. The heat was killing me. I passed a few riders but got passed by several more. Even though my progress up the fire road was slower than molasses, it was steady. I could feel that I had improved over last year so that kept me going. Once over the top, I put it in the big ring and hammered it! I felt surprisingly good! I passed a couple of riders, and started seeing more and more people on the side of the trail with flats. I had never seen so many flats and I was just praying I would get through the race without on. This kept me motivated cause these were spots I was getting back.

I eventually turned off the dirt road and headed down to blood rock. Years ago, I used to ride down blood rock all the time. I have even ridden up it several times. But I guess with old age, family, responsibilities, or maybe it's just an increased wuss factor, I always end up walking it during the race. But seeing that the only times I have ridden Oak Mountain over the last 3-4 years has been at the Bump N Grind race, I think that is a smart decision. Not to mention, the ambulance I saw leaving as I was arriving that morning I think spooked me. :)

Anyway, as the rocks became larger, I hopped off the bike and ran my happy little tail down blood rock. Which looking back, I passed two people, one of which was laying on the ground (he should have walked). Once down, I hopped back on, and proceeded down the Bump Trail. Now the Bump Trail has always had bumps and rocks and what- not. That's why it has that name, I get it. But it seems like the last couple of years, it has gotten almost ridiculous. So much of your success in this race depends on whether or not you can get down the Bump Trail without getting a flat. It seemed like there was a person on the side of the trail every 20-30 feet fixing a flat!

After the Bump Trail, I crossed the gravel road and started in on Johnson's Mt. As I crossed over the covered bridge, I felt my rear tire rolling... A FLAT TIRE!!!!!! NOOOOOOOO! In all my years racing I had never gotten a flat tire before in a race! I pulled over after the bridge and take a look. The pressure was way down but it was still holding air so I hopped back on thinking I could make it. WRONG. It was rolling on the rim pretty bad so I pulled over again. I had already watched about 4-5 people come by me and I was about 3 miles to the finish. I did not want to lose any more spots. I didn't have time to change the tire so I pulled out my CO2 and pumped it as hard as it would go praying it would hold to the finish. Climbing Johnson's Mt. I had my sights on 2 riders. I saw one was hurting pretty bad and the other was not moving too fast. Jeff Dorminey had passed me while I was fixing my flat so I paced behind him as long as I could. I picked up the first rider and set my sights on the 2nd. I could tell my tire was losing air as I caught the send guy going into the last section of woods past the gravel pile. I stuck to his rear wheel like glue putting as much pressure as I could on him while trying to recover from my efforts. I figured we would probably have a sprint finish towards the end. Well, about a 3/4 mile from the finish, he lets me by and hops on my wheel. My back end was all over the place as I did my best to drop him before we came out of the woods. As I crossed the paved road out of the woods, I looked back and he was no where to be seen so I cruised in on a flat tire and a big smile on my face!

This was definitely the most fun I have had at the Bump N Grind. I ended up with 26th place out of 45 racers in my class. Nothing spectacular but I took 2 1/2 minutes off my time from last year and with all the problems I had, I am happy with the results. Congratulations to everyone who got out there and raced!!!

Brooks Gant

I went into this race without doing any extra preparation (unlike usual) before a big race. No extra hydrating, no carb loading days in advance, etc. (I also completely forgot my camelback, but happened to have a water bottle in my car!) This venue is my favorite by far so I went into it wanting to just go and have a good time. I lined up with what must have been 40 other 25-29 sport riders. I somehow exploded off the front, got the holeshot, and carried the lead for quite a while into the woods. I had two riders on my tail and new that with all of the fire road coming up it'd be better to try and get any draft as possible so I let them by. We traded places throughout the 3 mile climb, each one pushing the other to get up the mountain faster. My rear tire lost traction in the steepest part of the climb about a quarter of a mile from the summit causing me to dismount as I watched the other two slowly ride away from me. Soon after the trail started going down I somehow broke a front spoke. While my wheel didn't go out of true really at all, my spokes are titanium so there was a substantial amount of flex going on...enough to cause me to slow down on a couple of really fast rocky sections. I was caught close to the end by two other guys in my group, but really got into a good rhythm for the last third of the course. I ended up finishing in 5th, almost 5 minutes faster than my time last year (which got me 3rd). For some reason I felt better in this race than any other this year. Maybe I am getting TOO hydrated or eating too much food before races??? I guess that is an entire different beast to tackle on its own!

Blake Gill

Race Report - GSC #4

2008-06-05T18:16:00.000-07:00

BLAKE GILL -- GSC # 4 Athens GA

While this past weekend was nothing to write home about, I thought i'd give an update anyway. The past two weeks have been pretty bad from a training standpoint because of a back injury (which occurred at work no less) so I was a bit pessimistic going into the GSC #4 race in Athens, GA Sunday. Being a part of the GSC and SERC racing series' we had the biggest sport 19-29 fields I had seen yet this year. I went into the woods in 6th feeling pretty good and starting to feel a bit more optimistic about my fitness when we hit the first mud hole. It all seemed to go downhill from there! The middle 3rd of the course consisted of mainly off-camber trail with roots going diagonally across the trail. WET roots. I went down for the first time and just laughed it off...taking it as my sacrifice to the trail I guess. But, then I went down HARD. There's nothing like have a back popping fall 5 miles into an 18 mile race and wanting to limp out of there and drive home. While I could never bring myself to drop out of a race without serious issues, I had pretty much become so paranoid about every single little root that I didn't have a fighting chance. My whole state of mind was shot. I ended up finishing out of the top ten...but as of today I am ranked 6th in the GSC series!

I look forward to the Bump and Grind this Sunday and then two more GSC races (and maybe the Sprott Time Trial) to round out the month of June.

Blake Gill

Chad Wiswald's Sunny King/Cheaha Report

2008-05-07T19:51:00.000-07:00

Big Chad 4th Place Cat 5 in the Sunny King Crit

Woke up Saturday and it was raining really bad so I was thinking of passing since the last time I rode in the rain I fell.We got to the place and it looked really disorganized so that made me want to pass so I was going to at least get my shirt so I signed in and there was no shirt and when I walked out the rain had stopped but the streets still wet.So I warmed up for a few minutes and took to the races and they postponed it for thirty minutes so I got to do a proper warm up and 5 minutes to the race I lined up off we went.I started top 4 and one kid took off and one guy droped back so I was behind a guy making him work and we did a few laps at 185 to 192 heart rate and I heard on he intercom the kid in the front was 21 years old so after about 5 laps I thught he was going to hold it so I jumped up and sprinted to catch him and told him we got to work together and we hit fists and off we went. The best part was when I broke from the pack and passed you could hear and there goes Chad Wiswall from Montgomery he even said my name right. Each Time we went around you could hear how many seconds we were ahead by him talking.The 21 year old weighed around 130 so he would take the climb and I would take the downhill but on the last 4 laps they caught us and we got in the top 3 and then I let a guy pass thinking I would save some energy but it didn't work I could not sprint to the finish. But 4 th will do for now. Where did my power go????????????? I lost it

Cheaha 7000 feet of elevation> Richard and I left a little late from the hotel and I had to get in the back to change wheels and Richard was driving 95 in a 55 I thought I was going to die before we got there Richard had too much coffee. We got there with 5 min to spare.We started out 27 in a tail wind and I had a 120 heart rate it was great so I was drafting and trying to stay wih a group with same speed so I could cheat the whole ride but Richard got boxed in. So I went back and me and him rode the two of us so no drafting. The hills were long!!!!!!!!!! long! long!long!Itseemed like a 30 minute climb or longer going 5 miles an hour then you got to go 50 down a winding road and I passed a motor cycle like he was standing still. If you went down that would be some road rash.Once we started climbing 175 to 184 depending how long the climb was.And Richard heart rate was 145 to 160 what a machine. And as we hit 67 mile marker he got faster and I just had to watch his back the rest of the ride.I think I lost about 5 pounds of leg muscle on the top of the mountain. It was fun in a crazy kinda way very challenging especially when you would see people walking up the hill making these awful sounds as you passed them. One guy had a shirt that said what have you got me into you suck. I was behind him on this hill reading it and I made the comment i like your shirt but as I passed him he said hey You suck that was pretty funny as we were going 5 to 7 miles an hour. Overall the first 67 was ok the last 13 miles sucked and it as a flat road anda head wind. Tip of the month DON'T RIDE CHEAHA unless your CRAZY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That was my first 100 miles what was I thinking I must have got too much lactic acid in my brain doing that crit Saturday.
Chad

Brooks Gant Dirty Spokes Solo 6 Hour Race Report

2008-05-06T18:33:00.000-07:00

Brooks Gant Goes Solo...Well, this past weekend marked the beginning of a new direction in my mountain bike racing, solo endurance racing. Ed Hamilton, from Team ICS-Chain Reaction, and I left out of Montgomery a little after lunch Friday afternoon headed to Fort Yargo State Park in Winder, GA, about 45 minutes east of Atlanta. This was where the second race of the Dirty Spokes 6/12 Hour Race Series was being held. I had spent all week getting ready for this both physically and mentally, but not really knowing what I was getting myself into. I did know one thing... it was going to hurt.

After fighting Atlanta traffic and swearing we would never, ever live there, EVER (don't get me started) we arrived at the State Park and headed straight to the race venue to put up my canopy. Ed had called a few of his buddies from the SORBA board who were already setup and they were nice enough to save us a prime piece of real estate to set up our pit for the race. Nicki from Columbus and Charles from Marietta were also showing up for the race and the 4 of us had the perfect spot to come through on each lap.

Friday night, Ed and I hung out at the campsite trying to come to grips with what we had to do in the morning. I don't think either one of us slept all that well. I had brought my pop-up camper thinking it would help, especially since there was a strong chance of thunderstorms. But my mind was racing most of the night. Ed learned that the LOW FAN setting in my camper can essentially turn the place into a meat freezer. He was a light shade of blue when he woke up the next morning. :)

Race day morning: luckily the race didn't start till 10 AM so we had plenty of time to grab a couple of bagels and PB, some fruit and relax a little before heading over to the race. Once we got there, it was on! I love race day mornings! People are running around everywhere, trying to find there stuff, getting registered. It is like organized chaos, or maybe just chaos. Dirty Spokes runs a tight race and everything ran perfectly smooth the whole day. Registration was a breeze and Tim who organized the event was extremely helpful and courteous to all the racers.

At 10 AM, Tim gave the soundoff and almost 400 riders did a mass start. The race started with a parade lap of about 1/2 mile that spread out the pack some. Maybe just a little. There was a train of bikers as far as I could see behind me for the first lap. I had no intention of getting in the mix from the beginning so I sat at the back with Ed and we entered the woods to work on setting a comfortable pace that would keep us from blowing up too quickly. The first lap I stayed on Ed's wheel and worked on keeping my heart rate down and finding a ryhthme. Each lap was about 12.5 miles long. This trail is one of my favorites cause the climbs are short and the singletrack is like heaven! Fast and flowing. After the first lap, I come in behind Ed, swap out my bottle, take a couple of endurolytes, and in less than a minute Ed and I are off again on our second lap.

The second lap went about the same. Ed was pushing the pace a little faster and i knew by the 3rd lap I was going to have to let him go and race my own race. I remember looking down at my computer at around 24 miles thinking everything was going super smooth and feeling great. That would soon change.

I came into the pit about 15 seconds after Ed on the second lap. Charles was there getting ready for his third lap. They wanted me to come on out with them on the 3rd lap but I told them to go ahead cause I needed to have a little "nature break." That pit took a little longer than the last one but I was all fueled up and ready for another 12.5 miles. I could tell about 30 miles in that my riding was getting a little sketchy. My upper body was getting tired and looking back, I didn't eat enough to counteract the number of calories I was burning. Toward the end of the 3rd lap, I felt the first signs of cramps and I knew I was in trouble. I had to hop off the bike a couple of times and when I did, I got extremely light headed and feeling sick. I had pushed myself to hard too quick and was now in a bad place, way too early in the race. To help with the cramping, I put it in granny gear and spun the rest of the hills knowing I had to get some food in me on the next pit stop.

Once at the pit, I was done. My computer only said around 38 miles and I was on the verge of quitting. My legs were killing me, my stomach was uneasy, I was light headed. All in all, I felt like crap. I guess I was a little confused cause I couldn't figure out how much time I had left in the race. My watch was on CST, but we were in EST zone. Luckily Nicki came through and we figured we had 2.5 hours left in the race, including the extra hour you get at the end. After hearing that, I knew I could get in another lap no matter how bad I felt. I also thought of Charles' jersey he was wearing that day. He had written names of men and women that were given to him from friends and family of people overseas fighting in the war as well as missionaries serving all over the world. He had worn it in the Cohutta 100 a couple of weeks ago and he said every time he wanted to quit, he just looked down on his chest and those names kept him going. Well, those names kept me going as well.

After an extended pit stop involving peanut and butter and bagels, endurolytes and Sports Legs, I was ready to push through my final lap. Overall it went a lot better than the previous lap. I toned my speed some trying to conserve energy and actually enjoyed the trail a little more concentrating on my lines. Once I pulled into the pits, the first I wanted to see was the milage... it read 49.99 miles! By the time I rolled it my truck it turned over 50 miles. Sweet. :) My goal was 5 laps, I ended up with 4 with 20th place out of 38 racers. I'll take it.

Endurance racing is a whole new animal. I have a lot to learn but I learned a lot during this race about nutrition. Ed told me on the way over that the 3 most important things about endurance racing are pacing yourself, nutrition and how strong you are mentally. This wa s great day of racing and I love pushing myself to see how far I can go. And this type of racing lets you do just that.

After my race, I went back to the campsite, got cleaned up, ate everything in sight, and headed back to the race to watch the 12 hour solo racers. What an amazing thing to watch! Talk about pushing yourself to the limit. Congratulations Ed on 9 laps, 110.00 miles exactly and a 6th place finish!

Next up in the Dirty Spokes Racing Series is Conyers, GA in October. I rode there one time and said I would never go back. To say it is brutal is an understatement and almost laughable. The thought of doing a 6 hour solo race there... I am just happy it is 5 months away. :) I think I will go ride now and not think about it.

Attack on Swayback Race Report

2008-04-22T19:02:00.000-07:00

Jeff Dorminey 2nd Place Sport Class 50+
Brooks Gant 19th Place Sport Class 30-39
Carl Viars 2nd Place Beginner Class 50+ (4th 40+)

Photos by Ed Hamilton

Jeff Dorminey

Every now and then something happens that makes me think; maybe I have learned a little something about setting up my training plan after all. This past Sunday I raced in the sport 50 + age group. As I have mentioned in the past, this is one of the two targeted mountain bike races that I want to do especially well in (the other one being Bump and Grind). The funny thing about following a systematic training plan is that if you don’t have faith in what you’re doing, sometime you’ll think its not working. Example, after lifting heavy weights all winter your legs feel heavy and hurt, you go on a group ride and you have a hard time keeping up, the other guys seem to be flying and your not , you wonder am I that slow? Have faith, follow the plan and if it’s a good plan with the right amount of stress and recovery, BINGO your ready! Ok, back to the race. As I said I raced the sport class 50+ and as usual we were the last sport class to go. Riders ready GO!!! I had told myself this time get a good start, but started in a wrong gear and got smoked to the single track , nothing like making it hard on myself. I followed the other competitors for the first mile or so, letting things sort themselves out. Ok time to go, I told the other guys I needed to pass and thanked them as I went by (us old guys realize we have to go to work the next day, so not to much shoulder rubbing in our group) , and starting moving up through the field. By this time the group had strung out and I was able to really start pushing a big gear (thanks to my winter weight training) and keeping my pace right at my lactic threshold (due to me spending long, boring hours on my trainer doing lactic threshold rides). I was feeling good, having a great time. Nothing really happened unexpected; just keep trying to push as hard as I could, without blowing up. Although a couple of times I would go over my lactic threshold (LT), sometimes way over, but because I have also been doing anaerobic threshold work, I knew I would recover, so I was able to keep pushing. Somewhere near the end of my first lap I really stated catching and passing other riders in different age groups. This got to be fun! One of the things that made my day was that I caught up with a younger guy, I told him I needed to pass. He said “is that you Mr. Dorminey” yep “man I’m getting my butt kicked by an old guy” I still don’t know if that was a complement or not (old guy?) . I finished up the first lap with a time of 45 minutes. Sid, from CycleEscape handed me a fresh bottle and a Gu (thanks Sid) as I started my second lap. I knew I was running in second place and was hoping to catch the first place guy on the second lap. Again nothing really happened unexpected during the second lap, still passing younger age group riders, having a good time, but never seeing the guy in first place ( and after seeing his time, no wonder, that guy was gone, great ride Henrik) I finished out my second lap in 47 minutes for a total ride time of 1hour 32 minutes and finishing in second place in the sport 50+.

Am I happy with my results? Very much so. I feel as thought I could not have done a better race. I was able to push a big gear, averaged a 171 heart rate (right at my LT) go way over LT a couple of times per lap (max heart rate 181) and recover, and finished second in my class to boot!

Plan to take it easy this week, then start building up towards my next target event, Bump and Grind!

Carl Viars

One of my 2 goals for this year was to become a more competitive mountain biker...actually it was more like get out of the unofficial "novice" classification,which is more of a personal stigma than anything else. To do this I planned several MTB races prior to AOS hoping to have improved skills and know-how. All this almost came unglued with a couple crashes during a pre-race ride at Columbus last week. I didn't get to race last Sunday, but managed to heal enough to ride this Saturday and race AOS on Sunday. My race strategy was different than previous years...actually race in the race. Well I went pretty hard and but still couldn't beat the MS Bulldog Swim Coach on the old rigid Trek MTB, he has beaten me in the last 3 races, to include the 2007 AOS. I felt pretty good with the 4th place in the SCRCS Beginner 40+ group and 11 out of 25 beginner men. Maybe I am starting to shed that "novice" label. I have to give a big thanks to my personal coach and advisor Jeff Dorminey. The 9.8 average MPH was a personal best for me. In the post race analysis I have to say it was a tremendous amount of fun and a large satisfying challenge. For me MTB riding and racing is a big thrill, source of great peace, and enjoyment. But! The socializing with a the other cyclist is the icing on the cake.

Brooks Gant

I Love It When A Plan Comes Together...

Last Friday I spoke of a plan that I had meticulously put together for the 2008 Attack On Swayback that marveled the likes of Johan Bruyneel of Discovery Channel for it's tactical precision and absolute ingenuity. It went something like this...

Go as hard as you can from the start and see what happens. Forget about pacing yourself. Well, mission accomplished! But I paid for it dearly by the end.

My race started at 10:30 am so I arrived at the venue about 9:45 to give myself time to get ready and warm up a bit. Lined up and surveyed my competition. Thinking in the back of my head.. he looks fast, he IS fast, so is he and him and him and him and him... this is going to be interesting! This was only my third Sport class race but I was feeling good and ready to put myself through some serious pain. I was telling myself, when the whistle blows, go! Don't wait and see who goes where, just go. And I did. Entering into the woods, I was still about 10 spots back but that was a lot better than my usual starts where I am fighting my way back from second to last place.

Once in the woods I was able to hang on and keep with the group which really surprised me. My heart rate was looking good and I just stayed on the guy's wheel in front of me. We made our way about 2 miles in and some guy up front was holding everybody up. Everybody was nice the first 10 times they asked if they could pass. But after that, it started getting a little ugly. Patience was wearing thin but this guy wasn't budging. I guess he didn't get the memo that if you can't hang at the front, get to the back! After about a mile or so, he finally realized he was holding things up. Duh. But each time somebody passed him, he would scream at them! Not exactly sure what this guy's problem was but he was definitely not having a good day. When it was my turn to pass, I just put my head down (knowing he was going to scream at me to pass) and floored it. I am not a big of of crazy people! And that was the last I saw of him thank goodness.

The rest of the first lap went great. We eventually spread out but my first lap's time was the fastest I had ever ridden that trail, 47 minutes, averaging just over 11 mph. My plan was working out beautifully!!!! Or at least I thought.

Coming out of the woods to the fire road to finish out the first lap, I sucked down a hammer gel, rode past the parking lot and entered back into the woods to start my second lap. I was feeling my earlier efforts but still had some spunk left. I figured I was about mid pack and saw 2 guys up ahead that I eventually caught and passed. Everything was going smoothly till one of those 4 inch trees literally jumped right out of the ground and leveled me flat on the ground! Well, not really. I took a turn just a little too hot and caught one of the trees and went down like a load of bricks. I knocked my right ankle against the frame of my bike and for the rest of race I really enjoyed the sensations that was providing!

Anyway, a little slower and a lot sorer, I kept pushing it. Coming around the lake for that quick uphill that took us to the Zippa, I look up and there stands Ed, photog of the day, catching everybody coming up that climb. Luckily for me, I spin out on a root which literally almost sends me over my handlebars!!!! And Ed is there clicking away with that fancy new camera of his! (thanks Ed) :) Mark Vickers comes up behind and passes me as I am getting back on my bike and I hop on his wheel for about a mile. Not long after, he drops me and I feel my engine start to cough and hiccup and sputter and I am losing power fast. I eventually hit the wall and have nothing left. This was about 13-14 miles in so I knew I still had about 5 miles left and I had to figure out a way to recover. It took about 3 miles of easy pedaling to get my legs working again and by that time I had lost about 4-5 spots. Things were not looking good and I was feeling the hurt. Once I went back into the woods for that last mile of singletrack, I knew I could hammer through there and just try and not loose any more places. Once out on the fire road, I shifted into the big ring and turned it into a time trial back to the finish. I was very happy to be done with this race cause I was done.

Not sure of my place yet, but it was somewhere near the bottom I am sure. But I am very happy with my performance even though I bonked toward the end. This was the fastest I had ridden this trail and I know my results will improve as long as I continue training. Just have to work on my endurance. Looking at my Camelbak when I got home, I didn't drink nearly enough liquids as well. But I can honestly say I think it was because I was having so much fun. It just caught up with me at the end. Once I cooled down, I hung out with some of the guys after the race from Cycle Escape and Chain Reaction. It was good to see such a large number of locals coming out to support their local race. This is such a great race and they have really done a great job with it. Can't wait till next year!

Jeff's Money Worth List

2008-04-20T18:38:00.000-07:00

For the past two years I have sent out this e-mail so again I thought it might be fun to list my favorite items and see if they match up with others. So here I go.

Road bike stuff:

1) Speed play pedals- if you have any kind of knee or hip problems, these are the way to go.

2) Over size carbon bar with oversize stem- I use to get numb hands after about 40 miles till I started using this, doesn’t happen any more, also the oversize stuff keeps the flex away.

3) Cork tape- nothing has the fill of cork tape.

4) 16 tooth rear cog- for me and a lot of others, the 16t is the perfect gear.

5) Seats with cut out- I don’t know if they really help, but it gives me peace of mind.

6) Light Wheel set- If you what to take weight off your bike, wheels are the best place. Replace heavy tires with lighter ones (230 grams or less) or if you can, a wheel set weighing less than 1500 grams.

7) Co2 air- to fix flats. Much faster than a pump.

Mtn bike stuff

I don’t really ride my mtn bike as much as I use to so I really don’t have that much.

1) Time pedals- have used them since 95 or 96 and really like the float and release. This past year I tried a pair of egg beaters and they work about the same as the Time but maybe a little lighter.

2) Hutchison python tires- there are newer tires out there, but these have always worked well for me in most conditions.

General everything else

1) Knee and arm warmers- if you want to still be riding when you 60, you need to take care of your knees when you 30. If its 63° or less I’m going to have them on.

2) The high end Giro helmets- First time I paid $150 for a helmet, I had second thoughts about my sanity, till I felt how light it was and the HUGE amount of air that got sucked through it.

3) Bibb shorts- I bought my first pair 10 years ago and have not had anything since (look at what the pros use).

4) Pro link chain lube- apply, wipe off repeat, presto clean chain.

5) ¾ length or full length zipper- I will not buy a jersey with anything less with the heat we have here.

6) Specialized water bottles- they just have the right fill, not to hard not to soft and with good tops.

7) Cytomax – keeps the cramps away for me.

8) Peanut butter power bars- I like the way they taste.

9) Plain gu- if you forget to eat your peanut butter power bar and you bonk, this will give you about 30’ worth of juice, than take another.

10) Good gloves, seat, and shoes- you only make contact with your bike in three places, so you want the best you can afford.

11) Cyclops fluid trainer- great for indoor workouts or warming up for a race.

Well that’s if for me. If you have any thoughts send them out so others can compare. It might also be fun to list any thing you bought or tried that you thought was junk or a waste of money.

Jeff Dorminey

Blake Gill Race Report - Mullet Man at Flora Bama

2008-04-20T18:31:00.000-07:00

Blake Gill does a little cross-sport event in the form of a TRIATHLON

The infamous Flora Bama Mullet Man

I had perfect weather! The swim started in red flag current making it take twice as long as planned. I passed over 40 people on the bike and was passed by about 15 on the run. There were 15 or so waves for the mass start so I had no idea during the race where I stood but ended up getting 10th in my 25-29 age group. 64th out of 500 overall!

Just in case you were thinking... http://www.mulletsgalore.com/

Race Report - Flat Rock

2008-04-14T16:41:00.000-07:00

GSC # 2 - Flat Rock Park MTB Race - Columbus GA April 13, 2008

Jeff Dorminey & Blake Gill

JEFF DORMINEY'S RACE REPORT

What do you call a mountain bike racer lacking tight single-track technical skills? In my case yesterday, a 5^{th place finish.}

This past Sunday, Carl Viars and I drove over to Columbus Ga. for the Georgia State Championship #2 at Flat Rock state park. I raced in the sport grand master class. After my pre-ride the day before, I felt as though this course would be to my advantage, as it was composed of open single-track connecting tighter and twister single-track (What’s open single-track you ask??? Single-track through wide open woods and fields). We got there early, plenty of time to register and get warmed-up, but because the temperature was –cold° and windy, my warm-up consisted mostly of standing in the sunshine and talking to friends, my plan was to finish warming up during the race, so,,,, My class lined up and we were off. I had a decent position from the start, not pushing too hard, still getting the old body warmed-up. After about the 2^nd mile we hit the 1^st technical section, a bunch of big, loose rocks. I jumped off my bike and ran the section as fast as I could. When I got back on my bike and looked up it was like where did the folks in front go? They were out of sight. Lucky for me we were back on the open single-track and I could see the person ahead of me. I caught and passed him just in time for the next section of tight single-track (tighter and twister then anything around here) As I had passed him I told him that if he needed back by to say something and I would let him by (not wanting to hold him up, although I did not think he would be able to keep up with me). We had not been in the tight single-track 50 feet when he asked to come by, so I let him pass and then watched him ride away from me! Got back to the open single-track and again saw him up ahead. Once again I caught and passed him, just in time for the next section of tight stuff. Yep, in the tight stuff he passed me again as I laughed out loud and told him “you’re just faster than me in the tight stuff” to which he gave me some good advice, don’t use your brakes. Don’t use your brakes, what about the trees! (I’ll need to practice this I guess) well this happened through out the 1^st lap and ½ the 2^nd lap until we got back to the big loose rocks and I had to get off my bike again. After that, he was gone, not to be seen by me until the finish. He finished 4^th and I finished 30 seconds back for 5^th, with the 3^rd place guy only about 2 minutes ahead . The 1^st and 2^nd place guys were a good 7 to 8 minutes ahead (already cooled down, changed clothes and packing up by the time I finished).

So what do I think? I need to work on my tight single-track skills to compete with these guys on that kind of course, but luckily my biggest targeted mountain bike races (Attack on Swayback and oak mountain’s Bump and Grind) courses aren’t nearly that tight and I do think that my fitness is comparable to the front runners and better than most of the other guys in my age group, stayed tuned we’ll see!

BLAKE GILL'S RACE REPORT

I actually started this race a week ago. I drank more water in the 4 days leading up to this race than I normally do in a month! I ate right, drank right, road, and recovered hoping to atleast stay in the top 5 if not break into the top 3. I pre-rode the course Wednesday (which had totally changed by race day) hoping to give myself an edge as most of these races I show up for i've never ridden before...

To make a long story short none of this seemed to work to my advantage (I blame it on the hot dog I had for dinner the night before, haha). I actually led the race for 3/4 of the first lap. While riding an open section the guy behind me asked who I was and if I had raced Arrowhead cause I was making him work (he ended up winning). Soon thereafter I caught a stick in my derailleur and had to stop and play to get it out, losing a few positions in the process. I hop back on, finding a good rhythm and catch back up to third. With about 3 miles left, I was in 4th with 5th and 6th right behind me when a big pine tree jumped out in front and grabbed me. I went down about as hard as a 6'4" 200lb person can and watched as the other riders rode away. I managed to ride in and keep 6th place...less than 5 minutes behind 1st.

Blake Gill

2008 Alabama Senior Games

2008-04-10T18:46:00.000-07:00

ALABAMA

SENIOR

GAMES

The bi-annual Alabama State Games for cycling was held April 5th & 6th. On April 5th the 40K road race was held in the community of Cecil, Al. The conditions were wet and overcast which provided the motivation for the Cycle Escape Team to play it safe and stay home...so much for amateur cyclist who depend on another job for their livelihood. On April 6th the conditions were made to order for the 5K ITT, 10K ITT, and the 20 circuit road race. Team Cycle Escape was represented by Mike Munk, Karen Bauer, and Carl Viars

All three participated in the 5k ITT, with Mike Munk taking the Gold Medal in the 60-64 age group and hammering down the best time of all participants. Karen took a Silver Medal and Carl took a Bronze Medal in their respective classes. Carl Viars was the team solo participant in the 10K and 20K events, taking a Silver Medal in both events.

In the post analysis I would offer that fun was enjoyed by all that participated. Phil Jones and a crew of volunteers ran a well organized series of races. A number of out of towner's', along with many from other southern states participated as well. I enjoyed meeting and competing with the assembled group of cyclist. The ITTs caused the most pain and agony...hey, time trials are supposed to hurt! I didn't set any personal bests or anything. Now the 20K circuit road race was fun...I tried and tried to whip things in to a frenzy when possible. In retrospect I would have to say any day cycling is a much better day because of it. Carl Viars

Chad Wiswald Race Report T-Town

2008-04-03T19:13:00.000-07:00

T-Town according to Chad

To start the day off, I didn't get to warm up and my cadence was not working so once again my heart rate was 160 while I was talking to Brooks. I started in the back of the pack, not like the first race where I started at the front. We had a neutral start that was nice. After the first 5 miles, my heart finally settled in at 154 and we were going 28 mph in a big peleton. I would ride then break, ride then break a lot of 90% to 0%. My goal was to stay behind Chris but I was too far back. Finally, at the first climb, the group started to split up but I did not climb this hill in my big ring. At the top of the hill we had dropped them and it was just 15 of us flying down to complete our first lap. We had to do 3 laps of 10 miles each. I was doing good and I was behind Chris finally and starting to settle in. When we got to the hill once again, my chain skipped about 6 times and I had to put it back in a harder gear and during this time, three guys passed me. So I was running last in that 1st group. It wasn't that my gear slipped, these guys were just faster than me. The last guy was 15 feet in front of me and my heart rate was 191 and I just couldn't dig in to spint and catch him. But I told myself twice to get him but I just gave up. So at that point they just pulled away like I was standing still. At this point we were 1:11:28 seconds in the race so I finished the last two miles by myself for lap # 2. I was so tired that I ddn't know my name. I just kept riding all by myself and I didn't even know where I was. I had to ask one lady if I was still in the race or was it over. She told me eight laps to go (she was kidding)! I thought I was going to die! So finally I got my thoughts together and just rode like we do at home. At 1:19:57 I heard people behind me and I looked back and there was a huge group flying by me like I was sitting still. I could not believe that 10 people or so passed me. I was upset and said to myself that you have come this far and you are gonna get last! What a waste. So I sprinted to get in the group and caught them and pulled in behind 2nd and they broke off to the left and flagged me around to lead. I was like no, but hell no! So I broke left and got in the back and looked up and we were about to go up the huge hill where I got dropped. So we climbed and three fell off and I was tired but by this time I remembered at the top of the hill it is all down hill from there so I hung on. I made it and we started flying to the finish. I got some energy back up and I couldn't pass until this big sweeping right turn. I crossed the lane line for a couple seconds to get behind 4th guy but couldn't pass anymore. We were all too close and that's when it got crazy. 5 guys going 35 sprinting in one lane width. Wow! I would love to see that on camera. 2 inches between us! WOW!!!!!!! I got 20th.

Now that I know what to do and if I wouldn't have been so nervous and have bike problems it would not have made any difference on how I rode or my placement because there are some good riders I am just glad I survived. It does give me a new understanding and drive. Road racing is extreme. When you guys refer to me as the animal I know now what kind of animal you are referring to me as. (Guinea pig)

Finished race in 1:24:05

1754 feet of climbing

Max hill 4.1% grade

Avg Speed 21.9

Avg hrt 176 max hrt 191 power avg 253 max power 995

Chad

Brooks Gant Race Report - T Town

2008-04-01T04:06:00.000-07:00

Tour de Tuscaloosa

Gotta give it up for Chad W., he did awesome this weekend up in Tuscaloosa. 11th place finish in the Crit and 20th in his first road race! Congratulations Chad on some great racing! And Chad summed it up perfectly in his report, road racing is extreme! When the winner of the Cat 5 averages 24 mph for the race, it's just crazy how fast these guys are. And this is only cat 5!!!! As far as my race, I think I will keep my day job!!!! :)

Our family ended up making this race a short camping trip. We left Montgomery Saturday around noon with the camper in tow and headed up to the home of the greatest foot ball team to ever assemble on a playing field, that's right, Tuscaloosa! Caught up with Chad and his family as we were entering the campground. They hung out with us as we got everything set up. The kids had a blast playing on the playgrounds before the storms blew in. Our family hunkered down and hoped our little heaven on earth (aka. Jayco pop-up) would not end up becoming a Unidentified Flying Object on the military's radar! I didn't think it was ever going to stop. It finally settled down around 9 pm.

We all still had a blast even with it raining and everybody was ready to go come Sunday morning! The wife took the kids to get herself caffeine seeing that our kids were bouncing off the walls at 6:30am! I got all my gear ready and road my bike down to the start line. Our race went off at 8:35. We had a rolling start out to the main road. Compared to last year, the first few miles were a lot easier and a lot more in control. There was a lot of "right turn" and "SLOWING" being yelled out in the field. Everybody was working together to keep it safe. I stayed with Chad during the first lap and we were situated about mid pack. About 5 mies in you could sense the pace picking up and the surges begin to happen. We were climbing hills at 19+ and cruising at 24-26. About 3 miles from the finish is a 90 degree right hand turn that is at the bottom of a hill. After the turn is about a 1.5 mile relatively flat road back to the park entrance. I knew once we made this tun, the group would be strung out and it takes everything you have to get back i the group. Well, we were all in a bunch coming into the turn and I played it conservative and ended up slowing down too much and having to max my heart rate out to get back in the group. The problem now was there was no recovery. We were doing over 30 mph to the turn in the park. Problem number 2 - a short, very climb steep right after the turn. Here I was starting to get passed. Problem number 3 - a very long, steep climb about a 1/2 mile further down. At this point I was off the back and watched as Chad went off to fight his own war. I was feeling the hurt but pushing as hard as I could to fight to stay in the second group. This group started to split up and I had to find a wheel or I was going to be in no man's land. I ended up hooking up with Steven from Chain Reaction and I was able to recover for a minute before coming through the start/finish for our second lap. Here we picked up a guy from Bob's Bikes and another guy. But Steven pulled ahead of us on the next climb. We kept him in sight the whole second lap and were pulling him back. I was riding strong but little did I know, I was using up precious fuel. I was putting in strong pulls of 23-24 mph and we caught a couple of others.

So our group grew from 2 to about 8 and we were motoring! One thing that was really making me mad during the second lap was one of the guys was pulling out of line when it came to be his turn to pull. He did it every other time his turn came up. He would just pull out and go to the back. Especially if a hill was coming up. I was thinking he was hurting but looking back, he was just saving himself. We finally made the right-hand turn to head back to the park entrance and we hit the after burners! There were about 3-4 riders that included Steven down the road and we were killing it!!! I looked down and we were going 32-33 mph but our pace was starting to slow as nobody wanted to pull anymore. Everybody was feeling the pain. I knew I wasn't going to be able to hang with this group on the following climbs so when it was my turn to pull, I cranked it back up and bridged us up to the group ahead and pulled the group of about 10 guys to the park entrance. At this point, my problem from the first lap was about to be my problem with this lap... we turned into the park and got hit immediately with those 2 climbs. I watched as about 10 spots rode off in the distance. I was cooked. I was done. I was hurting. My heart rate was out the roof. But I told myself that the 2nd lap was some of the best racing I had done and that I needed to settle in and ride the last lap as a personal time trial and not lose any more spots (that was if there were any more spots to lose at that point!).

The only racers I saw the third lap was a the leader of the junior race who flew by me on one of the hills and the Pro Women who motored by me on the last big climb. It was amazing amazing to watch the power those women had pushing up that climb! In the end I ended up with 40th place out of about 50 riders. Like I said, I will be keeping my day job. :) It seems like every race I do, no matter how I place, is always more fun than the previous. And this race did not disappoint. It was a blast! I learned a lot more about road racing (this was only my second road race) this weekend as well and hopefully I can improve.

Race time: 1:32

Avg Speed: 20 mph

Avg Heart Rate: 175

Max Heart Rate: 195 (I have never seen my heart rate this high before!)

Distance: 30 miles

Blake Gill Race Report - GSC# 1 Macon GA

2008-03-30T18:30:00.000-07:00

I did the GSC #1 mountain bike race, Macon GA, this morning (left here at 4 am) and managed to finish 5th in sport senior men 19-29 (in 47 degree rain for half the race!). I had major mechanical issues for about a fourth of the race so once I get those under control I should be able to reach top 3.

Blake Gill

Byron Smith Race Report -- Ride to Live @ Barber

2008-03-25T18:53:00.000-07:00

The Ride to Live race at the Barber Motor Sports Complex was my best race experience to date. This was a great course with a beautiful landscape. The race was well organized and will be a definite must do next year. My results were 26th out of a 60+ field in the Cat 4/5 -- age 30+.

Photo Credit: David Hiott - http://compvelo.com

Eighth Annual Ride of Love, Saturday, May 17, 2008

2008-03-19T18:39:00.000-07:00

Hello Jeff Dorminey, I wanted to check to see if you would include a ride on your website or share with your club to help spread the word. We have over 400 pediatric cancer patients/survivors from over 180 communities across the state and continue to make the ROL a statewide effort since we have children from your area participating in our programs. I can send information cards and other literature if there is a reason to. Thanks in advance for your help. Stephanie

Eighth Annual Ride of Love, Saturday, May 17, 2008

benefiting Camp Smile-A-Mile, a year round program for young cancer patients across Alabama. A very unique ride since you don’t just ride for the cause you get to go to the campsite and meet the children and families that you have ridden for!!

Cost: $20 entry fee and each cyclist must raise a minimum of $250 (the cost of Camp Smile-A-Mile to send a child to weeklong camp).

The Ride of Love is a 150 mile bicycle ride from Tuscaloosa, AL to the Camp Smile-A-Mile Campsite in Alexander City, AL. We leave from the IHOP in Tuscaloosa at 6 a.m. and travel through 6 different counties (Tuscaloosa, Bibb, Chilton, Coosa, Tallapoosa, and Elmore) and arrive at the campsite by 6 p.m. This is a group ride that takes 10-12 hours to complete and e maintains a pace of approx. 16 mph and will have a lead rider and a sweep rider to maintain this pace. Once we arrive at Camp Smile-A-Mile, we are greeted by the cheers of the children and families that we have ridden for. We present the staff of Camp Smile-A-Mile with the “BIG CHECK” and then head off to the showers and then dinner with the children.

In 2007, we had 73 cyclists to participate and raised over $125,000 for Camp Smile-A-Mile. This year’s goal is to have 80 cyclists and raise over $125,000.

For more information visit www.campsam.org/rideoflove.asp or call Stephanie Wilkins at 205-323-8427.

SCRS #1 - Back to The Bogue: Mobile AL

2008-03-10T19:18:00.000-07:00

2008 South Central Regional Championship Series Race #1
Chickasabogue State Park, Mobile, Alabama

The Jeff Dorminey and Carl Viars Road Show

Prerace:

Jeff D: Made the decision to preride the course, had one hour before the start, course was suppose to be only 6 miles, well they changed the course to 9 miles. Saw that I was going to be late to my start so my pre ride warm up became a full scale race against the clock! Got back just in time for the start, ouch!

Carl V: It was around 32 degrees when we arrived at the start at approximately 7:30 AM. With that kind of temperature I don't have the motivation to do a proper warm-up. It was hard enough to drag myself over to the registration table. I forced myself to saddle-up and do a few laps in the parking lot and exchange a few greetings with some of the other beginners. I managed to pre-ride the first 1/2 mile of the course, but that in know why clued me into what laid a head.

Race Start:

Jeff D: Because I had just pulled up to the line when the starter said go I had to start in the last row, and just having finished doing one hard lap I knew I was not going to race everyone into the single track. After we got into the single track I started moving up pretty fast.

Carl V: At the line the starter informed us that the race had changed to one lap of 9 miles vs. 2 laps of 6 miles each. I was ok with that, but felt that distance would be to my advantage--small if it was. I felt unsure since I had never rode the course, other than the first 1/2 mile. Being a complete NOVICE!! This was out of my comfort zone (Swayback), which I am still learning. Well this was one of my objectives...expand my comfort zone and build my MTB experience base. I was planning to start at the back and play it safe.

The Race:

Jeff D: First lap- No problems having a good race, filling good, passing folks, moving up through the field. Second lap - up until about the halfway point I was still filling good, then I started running out of gas, my pre ride loop (done at race pace) was telling on me. I started going slower and slower and not a thing I could do about it! Three competitors passed me in the final 4 or so miles.

Carl V: It felt good to get under way, the first mile was a blur and was filled with a lot of obstacles that I managed without stressing out to much. I did manage to come across several obstacles that did raise my concern level pretty high, but the most scariest (collarbone Canyon - a huge drop-off) I just did it and felt good about it afterward. It was the longest 9.2 miles I ever rode on a MTB.

Finish:

Jeff D: Came across the finish line in sixth place with a total of 27 miles (but only 18 race miles).

Carl V: I finished 6th out 8. It was a big confidence booster for a big chicken like myself. I managed an 8.4 average MPH pace on a course I didn't preride...I think that is a record in the speed category for me. I still have a lot of room for improvement and I plan on doing that. I finished with a :)

Post Race Analysis:

Jeff D: Overall pleased with how I rode, felt good for about 22 miles, the only problem was that I had to go 27. If I had not done the 9 miles at race pace before my race, I believe that I would have finished in the top three. And after racing for 27 miles I hope that when I do the average sport class distance ( 16-18 miles) it’ll be a piece of cake!

Carl V: I am going to keep trying!

Brooks Gant Race Report - Snake Creek Gap Time Trial

2008-03-05T18:32:00.000-08:00

Well, this past Saturday marked the 3rd and final Snake Creek Gap Time Trial for 2008. In a way I am sad because it has been some of the best racing I have had the opportunity to be a part of. This truly is an epic race that should be on everyone's mountain bike race calendar next year. But I know my bike and body are happy it will be 9 months before I have to go to Dalton, GA again!

Ed Hamilton and I found ourselves making the trek over to Dalton, GA again. Due to rushing around last time trying to make the shuttles, we decided we needed to leave a little earlier. So the alarm went off at 3:45 am and I was out of the house at 4:15 to pick Ed up. It was going to be a very long day for sure.

The ride over was uneventful but I do believe Ed and I may have solved a majority of the economic and social problems that plague our nation, as well possibly finding solutions for the rising gas prices and alternative fuels. But that is a whole 'nother post in itself! As soon as we tweak a few ideas over the course of the race season, I am sure we can have our economy back in the black!

Anyway, we arrive in Dalton, GA, make a pit stop at McDonalds, and head to the race site. The place was packed and I could tell my nerves were starting to wake up. The extra 45 minutes really helped as we each got suited up, signed in, loaded bikes on the trailers and hopped in the shuttles for the drive to the starting lines. I asked the guy driving if he was taking us to the flat part of the course. He just looked at me with an evil little smile. It was going to be a long day.

Last month, I was running late so when I got to the start line, there were only 6 other people (who had also been running late) in the parking lot with me. This time there were about 30 people lined up to start. Each one going off at 2 minute intervals. It was a little more stressful but I kept telling myself I just had to race my own race. Don't worry about the others and just focus on the task at hand. My time came, they wrote my name/number, and time down, wished me luck (I would need it) and I was off (off meaning 4 mph climbing speed from the start for the next several miles)!

Overall, I felt good, but I knew the reason why I came back was to do one thing, beat last month's time. So I kept my heart rate in check, but pushed myself harder than I had before. All I had to do was keep a steady pace and keep pushing but not blow up. If I blew up, my race would be over. The trail was in great shape, hardly any mud and I was really enjoying myself. If you enjoy climbing, this trail will not disappoint. As I came up onto the gravel fire road I could feel that I had been pushing myself. My legs were a little more tired than last time. A lot of it had to do with watching other riders and pacing myself behind them. But I still felt good and kept a strong pace up the fire road to the sag station at the top of the hill. Once I got up there, I grabbed a swig of Hammer gel from the volunteers and turned back into the trail marking the beginning of the toughest part of the race course. I knew in about 30 minutes, it was going to get ugly.

The rocks were just as I had remembered a month ago. Brutal. For the most part, I road the second half of the trail a lot better than last month. I didn't fight the rocky sections like I did last time. Mainly because it was fighting a loosing battle. I was concentrating more on keeping my momentum through the bad sections and not trying to pick the best line. Because there weren't any "best" lines. A lot of times, there were no lines at all. One section that I rode last month really well, got me this time. Maybe my nerves were rattled when I got to it but I noticed my left leg was unhooked a lot more than it was in February. But I don't think I lost any time, it just didn't look good!

About 12 miles in, I passed a guy standing on the side of the trail and he tells me "you got a big climb coming up down the trail." I thought great, the fun is about to really begin! About halfway up this beast of a climb I look back and laugh to myself. It looked like a death march. I had one guy about 10 feet in front of me and 3 behind way down the hill. We were all off our bikes and had our heads down pushing our machines up this hill that was doing its best to rip my hamstrings out of my legs one by one. Over the past month, I have thought of this climb and told myself I was going to do best to run as much as I could up this hill. HA!!!! Obviously I had forgotten how I felt when I had gotten to this point last race. I was doing everything I could just to get my bike to move in a forward direction. Once there, reality kicks in and you realize you are in the belly of the beast! Rocks and rocks and more rocks.

I kept to my original plan and kept pushing, staying on my bike more and walking only when it got ridiculous. I remember reaching the rocks that had taken me down last month and busted my head on, cracking my helmet. I road right by it with a smile on my face and that was encouraging. The last couple of miles are a blur but I do remember looking up in the tree tops and finally seeing the radio tower. Just as I noticed it, a guy told me "only about 1/2 mile longer and it is all downhill." The only problem was that 1/2 mile is the longest 1/2 mile you can spend on a bike. Once out of the woods and onto the gravel road, I felt relief that I was almost done. I looked down at my watch (first time that day) and saw that I was going to beat my time and could possibly make it into the 2:30's! So I hammered it down the gravel fire road, taking corners way too wide and was pretty much out of control. I was thinking if I go down here, Ed will be driving me home in a casket! There is a small single track section that I somehow missed last time that takes you from the gravel road to the paved road. Last time I just took the gravel road down to the paved one. This time there was somebody standing there directing you back into the woods. Needless to say, this section was new to me and I had waaaaay too much speed going in!!!! After hitting who knows what and almost flying over my handlebars, I made it through and got out on the nice paved road with a big smile on my face. I was big ringing it all the way down at 40+ mph cause I knew I was cutting it close. As I got closer to the finish I knew I wasn't going to make the 2:30's but that was alright. As I crossed the finish line, I stopped my watch and saw I ended up with 2:41. I was happy. I beat last month's time by 9 minutes! Mission accomplished!

One thing that will keep bringing me back to this race, besides the killer racing, is the killer chili! I threw all my bike gear in my truck and headed straight for the chili line when I was done. It definitely helped ease the pain a bit. Then I climbed into the back of my truck and went to sleep! I knew it was going to be a while before Ed showed up from the 34.o I might as well catch a few zzzzz’s. About an hour later, Chad Hungerford wakes me up asking where Ed was. We were at the 4 hour point so Stephen McConnel was about to come through and Ed would not be far behind him. Well, Stephen comes flying through almost missing the finish line with a huge smile on his face!!! This guy tore the trail up and it looked like he wanted more. He is an animal! About 20 minutes later Ed came through and was looking pretty happy about his results.

The organizers really have something special with this race series and I see it getting a lot larger over the next few years. Chad Hungerford told me when it started 4 years ago, they had 7 people show up! Now there are over 200. The trail has a little of everything, except for climbing, it has more than a little of it!

All in all, I had a blast. Perfect weather, perfect trails. They even handed out to all racers custom laser-etched stem caps. Congratulations to Ed as he hammered his way through for a personal best time of 4:25. AWESOME job Ed!!! Also, Stephen McConnel finished his first Snake at a blistering 4:05 in the Over 50 category! Job well done!!!! Next year, I will be lining up with you guys to tackle the 34. See you next year!

Distance: 17 miles
Total time: 2:41
Average Speed: 7 mph
Max Speed: 40+ mph
Max Heart Rate: 183
Avg Heart rate 173
Total Climbing (ft): 2500+

You can read more about Brooks @ http://pedalhardcycling.com/

Race Report - Jeff Dorminey

2008-02-25T18:00:00.000-08:00

Part one: Off to a good start.

Yesterday kicked off the start of my race year, ready or not. I rode with Dave Hiott to the first of three 2008 Camp Sumatanga training races. My grand plan was to ride the “C” class and then do the “B” class for a total of 60 miles. I have done this in the past because it is a great way to get is some good race miles. A big part of my winter training has been lifting weights, HEAVY weights, three times a week, and I known from doing my longer rides of Saturdays that my legs are tired and sore. As I started my warm-up I realized that this was still the case (as expected) but I hoped that maybe they would loosen up. The C class was called to the line and we were off. I think due to the race only being twenty miles, (two ten mile loops) the pace was fast from the start. I was filling good with the pace, tired legs and all, enjoying the race. I played around with trying to move up in the field, falling back and moving back up, having a good time with it. Nothing really exciting happened other than the usual squid or two not knowing how to ride in a fast group and doing stupid stuff to keep everyone else on their guard. I had decided not to contest the sprint in the C class but just try to finish strong in the lead group, which I did.

Part two: what are you doing?

After the C class, I had about 30 minuets between races. I had worked up a sweat in the C race, and while waiting for the B class to start, I started getting cold, as the temperature was falling and the cloud cover came in. Finally the B class lined up and we were off. The pace in the B class was also fast from the start, not any faster than the C’s, but we were going to do twice the distance. After we made the first turn we had a few rollers, nothing major but not flat. Well after about the third roller my legs asked me “what the heck are you thinking!” they were hurting, I asked them to try to continue on but they just laughed at me. That was it; my second race was over before it even started good. I guess with the time between the two races and the cold weather my sore, tired leg muscles decided they had done enough. I finished the lap, and from the sidelines, watched David Hiott and Chad Taylor, who both had a good race.

Conclusion

So, was this training race good training? Yes I believe it was, If nothing else it was good practice racing at speed in a large group, also its only February and the important races for me are still a couple of months away. Even though I did not complete the second race I know that in the long run , after I finish my heavy weight training and my legs have recovered and regained their snap and speed, I should be ready for the races I have targeted.

Brooks Gant Race Report on the Snake

2008-02-03T19:21:00.000-08:00

Race Report from Brooks Gant

Snake Creek Gap Race Report: February 2, 2008

Well, yesterday morning started at 4:22 am for me. This was the earliest I think have woken up in a very, very long time. Luckily I got to bed at a relative decent time and woke up ready to tackle the infamous Snake Creek Gap Time Trial #2. Ed Hamilton arrived at my house about 5 am and we headed out for the 3+ hour trip to Dalton, GA. Once we arrived, the place was swarming with racers. Ed had about 30-40 minutes to get all his gear on, get his bike loaded on the shuttle and find room in a van for the 34 miler. I, on the other hand, figured I had another hour before the 17 milers would head out. That was the first mistake of many for me that morning.

A few minutes after Ed left, I moved my truck, and hung out for a bit clearing my head, trying to find a game plan for something that I had only read and heard about. I figured I needed to get my gear and be ready for the first shuttle so I could go ahead and get this thing over with. A few minutes later, I look out in the parking lot and I see a van leaving with a trailer full of bikes. I thought nothing of it, figuring they were some late 34 milers. But I decided to ask the guy from Bear Creek Cycles when the 17 milers were planning to leave. He said, “well, it looks like they are leaving right now,” pointing out at the parking lot as the white church van left the parking lot.

Oh, CRAP, I thought!!! I just drove 3 hours and I just missed the whole freakin race!!!! So I run over to the registration and was assured another shuttle would be back. So me and about 5 other riders sat around for almost an hour till the next shuttle arrived. It actually worked out well though cause it was a cool group of people and we had a lot of fun on the ride to the starting point.

Once we arrived at the 17 miler starting point, it became apparent, with the mountains looming over head, this was NOT Swayback. This was not Oak Mountain. And I was definitely not as well prepared as I should have been! I walk over and take a look at the trail head and I have to strain my head upwards to follow its path. With 3 of the riders from our group having already hit the trail, I decided it was my turn and away I went, at 4 mph. L It was about 2 miles of relentless climbing. The first mile I spent trying to keep my heart rate in check and keep a steady pace. I knew if I could get through the first few miles without blowing myself up, I would be able to finish this thing. The climbing never seemed to end but after a few miles I was feeling amazingly well and I began fooling myself into thinking I had tamed the 17 mile version of this beast.

Once we hit the fire road climb, I starting seeing people in the distance and my pace was steady and I picked off a couple of riders and was feeling strong. Not sure of the distance but I think once I turned off the fire road climb, I was around the halfway point. I knew I had about 2 miles before the infamous “last five miles.” I was feeling decent but I was pacing myself a little faster than I should have been trailing behind a guy that had been on the van with me. I was able to take him on the climbs but he was getting me on the rocky technical sections and the extremely rare flat sections. We eventually made it the section where we descended down some of the nastiest, rockiest, craziest, deadly boulder infested trail I have ever ridden. This stuff made Blood Rock at Oak Mountain look like paved sidewalk! I knew at any moment my body could take a very nasty change of shape if I were to eat it. It was absolutely the scariest stuff I have ever ridden. But I noticed I was putting time on the guy behind me so I kept pushing it. There were a couple of times where my right foot was unclipped and I was just floating through a couple of sections, just hanging on for dear life. The rocks were killing me, my forearms were starting to burn but I was still in a good place mentally. My frame of mind was good and I was just happy I had not had a flat.

It wasn’t too long before the race pretty much came to a screeching halt. The Snake had been waiting for me, taunting me with these sections I thought I was defeating. I believe it was around 13 miles in that the trail bit back. Heart rate was out the roof, walking up one climb that was sending my legs into fits. The only positive thing I could get out of it were the holes in the side of the hill where numerous other riders had dug the toes of their shoes in before me doing their best to get up the hill. After that it is hard to put it into words. I have seen pictures of this 2 mile section of the trail and they don’t even come close to showing the magnitude of difficulty. I would ride for 20 feet, walk 50, ride 10, walk 40, ride 4, walk 20. It never ended. It went on and on like this for over an hour. I had found myself in the middle of the “last 5 miles” and it was a dark place to be. My hamstrings were killing me, my riding had gone to complete crap. There were no skills, it was all about survival at this point. I was beat but still pushing myself as hard as I could possibly go. Riding everything I could, running when I had the energy, walking when I had no other option.

About 15 miles in, the Snake showed its fangs and I finally ate it. Trying to pass over some crazy rocks, my front wheel caught the left side of one of the rocks and I went down hard on my right side, my head hitting first. My right leg was still clipped in and I just layed there until the stars went away. Except for a few scratches, a sore neck and a cracked helmet, I was good to go, but it was slow goings from then on.

About a ½ mile before the radio tower, both my hamstrings locked up and sent me straight off my bike in pain. I have never had my hamstrings lock up like that before and I knew it was not looking good. Luckily I was only about a mile from the finish. I had been drinking and methodically taking my Hammer Gels every hour but I knew what was causing the issue. When I was getting ready before the race, I noticed my CamelBak lid was not all the way tight and had leaked out over half the bladder of my Heed energy drink in the bed of my truck. So I scrambled round the truck looking for water bottles and filled the CamelBak up with some of Ed’s water. So I was essentially running the race on water and gels. I just hadn’t gotten in enough calories for this type of effort.

Once I hit the fire road down the mountain, I did my best just to keep from cramping up anymore. I hit the paved road down to the finish and pushed it as hard as I could doing 40+ mph to make up any time I had lost. I turned into the parking lot and that slight incline set my hamstrings on fire! I couldn’t even pedal and hardly made it up the hill to the entrance to the gravel parking lot. Once I crossed the finish line, I just stood there over my bike.

This is by far the hardest race I have ever done by myself. I researched everything I could about this trail and as I look back, it was wasted energy. Nothing can describe it. For all the guys/gals that stepped it for the 34 miler, I have the utmost respect. I remember when I was in the “last 5 miles,” the leader of the 34 mile group came flying by me. I just stood there and watched in disbelief as he powered over those rocks at a speed that blew my mind. This race hurt more than any other mtb race I have ever done and left me feeling the same way after my first triathlon… wasted but wanting more!

I can’t wait for the March race. There are a lot of things I am going to change to hopefully beat my time. Overall, I didn’t do real well, but I am very satisfied with my race. But I know I can do better! The next 4 weeks will be all about “The Snake!” J

Length: 17 miles

Overall time: 2 Hours and 50 minutes

Average Heart Rate: 175

Max Heart Rate: 189

Average Speed: 6.7

Max Speed: 42

2,500 feet of climbing

2008 Season

2008-01-29T19:49:00.001-08:00

UPDATED

2008 is here and with it bring a new cycling season, new team mates, new sponsors, and a redesigned website.

It is with much appreciation that we thank our returning sponsors Cycle Escape, JR Smith, Dr. Scott Bell - Apple Medical, Mike White - Webster, Henry,Lyons & White, P.C.

We welcome our new sponsors Dr. Michelle Goodwyn - Family Dentistry, America by Bicycle, The Waters, and Bridge Street Market.

Our team roster as of this date is:

Returning members Chris Crisler, Jeff Dorminey, Carl Viars, and Byron Smith.

New members Brooks Gant, Blake Gill, Mike Munk, and Karen Bauer.

Bamacross #2 - Tuscaloosa

2007-10-28T18:08:00.000-07:00

:)

Bamacross #2 was hosted by the Tuscaloosa Velocity Pro Cycle at Sokol Park. The weather was a little cool at the start with a north-east wind. The sun was bright and it quickly warmed-up, but remained pleasant. Jeff Dorminey and Carl Viars represented Cycle Escape with about 8 riders from Chain Reaction. Jeff D. raced in the Masters' 45+ and if that wasn't enough he also race in the B race. Two 45 minute races in one day is a big chore. Jeff placed 4th in the Masters' 45+, he was racing against some of the best riders in the state. I raced in the C's and barely managed 13th out of 18, barely meaning it was a sprint finish with some guy from GCC. It was a fun course and of course an opportunity to work yourself over.
Jeff and I will attest that cyclocross is the most enjoyable of the cycling races.

Next week is the Chain Reaction Cyclocross race at Cooter's Pond Park.

Race Report AOS by Carl

2007-10-22T16:14:00.000-07:00

The 2007 Attack on Swayback turned out to be an exceptional event on a most beautiful day. The crowd seemed large and the trial was in super shape. I was really nervous for some unknown reason...more than likely performance anxiety. Being in the beginner 50+ class is not particularly worrisome with such a small field of old slow guys. Regardless, I still want to try my best and put forth a respectable effort. I always have a goal of trying to do a little better each time I race. I felt like I was off to a good start, got hung up with a few crashes in front of me, trying to keep moving as fast as I could and still maintain control. Some where around 3-4 miles my rear triangle bolt came loose forcing me to stop several times and go real slow. It took me a while to figure out what the problem was, which I did just prior to the sharp right to climb to the zipper. I thought about abandoning, but at the last minute I changed my mind and headed up to the zipper. Just prior to starting down the zipper I stopped to see if the bold had fell out and a guy stopped and lent me an allen wrench. After securing the bolt, I kicked it in gear and tried to make up for lost time (remember it's me). The remainder of the race was fun and stress free. I finished in 49 minutes, which was my time last year. That was comforting, I felt despite the mechanical issue I still made better time than last year. Despite that I placed 3rd in the beginner 50+ (out of 4).

Dead Dog Race Report

2007-10-17T18:24:00.000-07:00

Dead Dog mtn bike race report

By Jeff Dorminey

Last Saturday I hitched a ride with Dave Hiott, and we drove up to Trussville to pre ride the course. I did two easy laps and one moderate lap, enough to get the fill of the course. Dave did two easy and one @ race speed. Dave told me later he felt good, which proved to be true the next day. (Congrats Dave on your 1^st place in the 40 to 49 age group.) After the pre ride we stopped on the way home and had some good Mexican food.

Sunday morning, Dave once again came by and picked me up and also catching a ride with us was Mike White (who came for team support). We all had a good time on the drive up and I new it was going to be a great day. We arrived at the race in time for me to get registered and a good warm up. Finally it was time for the sport riders to line up, by our respected by age group, with the 50 + age group being last. 5..4..3..2..1..GO! we were off; I was second going into the single track. The competitor ahead of me was faster in the single track, not by much, but getting a little gap. I did notice that when it went up hill, I was able to close the gap pretty fast. I also notice (felt) that I was riding at my limit and wondered how long I would be able to follow this guy, at this speed. When we had completed about ¾ of the first lap we came to the ball field hill (what I think is the hardest hill of the course)I was just about to have to back of my pace a bit when the guy in front started to slow, so I made the pass , wow! That hurt, Hey I’m in 1^st place! Ok, so I thought to myself, the guy I just passed is going to recover and come back pass me like I’m sitting still. With that thought in mind, I really keep pushing, way past the point of pain, managing to hold that intensity for the remaining 2 ¼ laps, and came in with the win. After Dave and I collected our hard earned rewards, we packed up, and the three of up drove back to Montgomery, with Mike and Dave having to listen to me talk about my race the whole way home. It was awesome!

Dead Dog

2007-10-14T18:38:00.000-07:00

CONGRATULATIONS!

Jeff Dorminey placed 1st in the Sport +50 class today at the Dead Dog MTB Race in Trussville, AL.

BamaCross #1 West Homewood

2007-10-08T19:06:00.000-07:00

Well the first cyclocross race for 2007 had a big turn out. BBC hosted the event at a city park in the west Homewood community of Birmingham. The course was well laid out, consisting of all the necessary elements for a good cross race. Each of the categories had plenty of competition, including a big group of Georgia CX'ers. Jeff Dorminey and Carl Viars represented Cycle Escape.

Here's a link to some photos that Amy and I took.

http://good-times.webshots.com/album/560980943jBUJQw

12 hours of Tsali race report

2007-05-21T18:20:00.000-07:00

What a great weekend! My Hunny & I drove up to Bryson City on Thursday and moved into the little mountainside cabin that would be our home for the next few nights. The weather was perfect & the views were magnificent. Friday morning, after a big pancake & French toast breakfast, we headed up to the trails at Tsali for a bit of a ride. My wife, who has limited singletrack experience, did great on the trails and had a blast. She only fell a couple of times, & those falls were more related to the clipless pedals that I had recently installed for her. We ended up riding the entire 11 mile race course backwards which was a bit more than we had bargained for, but she was a trooper & hung in there.

The day of the race was cool and very dry, giving rise to some very dusty trail conditions. That's better than mud in my book! I had some friends who were doing a 3 person team and since I was entered in the 6 hour solo division, I set up my pit with them.

The Lemans start was 400 or 500 yard uphill run to the bike drop area. I knew that as a non runner, I would not gain places with a strong run, but I sure could burn a ton of matches. Needless to say, I was the next to last one on my bike!

The course started with a long gravel road climb and I tried to keep the heart rate down. I was passing some riders and feeling pretty good. After I topped the climb, I heard a course marshal say to go slow as they had a rider down. I did go slowly and as I passed this huge mogul on the downhill I saw a rider laying on the ground. A volunteer was checking them. I kept a steady pace for the rest of the first lap and stopped at the pit just long enough for some chain lube. The dusty conditions were making my chain squeak & I hate that.

Just as I topped the first climb on my second lap, the medical ATV pulled out in front of me and the medic guy said that they had a rider down. I stayed behind the ATV for most of the descent until he came to the same spot that the rider on the first lap had crashed. I later heard a helicopter overhead and I assumed that he had been airlifted out. The next lap I saw that they had taped off that mogul and detoured us around it. That was a good idea.

I kept up my steady pace, reeling off three laps, all at about 1 hour each, including pit stops. I was being conservative on the climbs but letting it hang out a bit on the descents. Man that is one fun trail!

Just a few minutes after leaving the pit on my 4th lap, my chain started skipping. I couldn't figure out why it would suddenly start this. In my mind I was thinking that all that had been done was a little lubing of the chain. How the heck could that make it skip? On the second big climb (the one that was like a V shaped drainage ditch) I found out what could make it skip when my chain broke. It didn't break with a "snap" like a chain usually does; it just kind of fell apart. When I looked at it, the links were fine but the pin was gone. It was then that I remembered getting a stick caught in the spokes & I guess that did it! Anyway I whipped out my trusty bag of tricks, put in a quick-link and was on my way. I figured that the incident cost me about 8 minutes.

I finished that lap, and by the time I started the 5th lap, I was feeling the day's efforts. I had noted on my last trip through the finish line that the cut off for going out on another lap was 4:40. It was now about 3:40.

I was starting to struggle on this 5th lap. I would go through periods of feeling like total crap, and then I would feel good for a few minutes, then feel like crap again. I kept plugging along & finished the lap at about 5:46 or so. I missed the cut off by just about the amount of time it took to fix my chain! I was ok with that though, as I was toast anyway. One more lap would have probably turned into a death march.

All in all, this race was a blast! I'm really starting to get hooked on this endurance thing after Yargo & Tsali. I'm looking forward to Dausett this fall and maybe next year I'll be ready for a 12 hour. Right now, I can't even imagine doing 12 hours.

I sure hope that the riders that I saw injured are ok. If anybody has any info on them, please pass it along. I'm sure that they are in all of our thoughts today.

Ed's Dirty Spokes Solo 6 Hour Endurance Race

2007-05-07T15:06:00.000-07:00

.
This had to be one of the most fun events I've ever done! A special thanks to the ICI/Chain Reaction guys for putting up with me on Friday night & really helping me during my pit stops. They would fill my camelback, lube my chain & help me with anything else I needed. I hope I wasn't too demanding guys!

Now on to the race report!

Dirty Spokes 12 hour race, Ft Yargo Ga. (6 hour solo sport division)

Mission accomplished.

I met every goal that I set for myself. Since this was my first attempt at this type of thing (6 hour solo), I set the following goals;

5 laps of the 12 mile course (that would put me at 10 mph avg.)
Consistent lap times
Start conservatively, finish strong
Don't die

Here were my results (I kept my time on my watch);
lap 1 - 1:14:47 (with parade lap & tons of slower riders to pass)
No stop between laps 1 & 2
Lap 2 - 1:11:01
Pit stop - 5:37
Lap 3 -1:11:07
Pit stop - 4:37
lap 4 - 1:09:53
Pit stop - 4:51
Lap 5 - 1:11:58

Total for 5 laps (60 miles) - 6:13:49

This is a fun, flowing trail and I love some single track! I felt like I was letting it hang out on the descents and in the twisty stuff. I also held back on the climbs so that I would have the legs to finish. This led to me passing people on the downs & then getting caught on the climbs. Since I had no crashes and actually only had to unclip in self defense once or twice, I think I had the right strategy. I finished 7th out of 19 starters on my class. I'll take it!

Big kudos go out to Dave Hiott for that 6th lap and 4th place finish. He was riding super strong! He caught up to me on one of the first few laps (I don't remember which one, some of that day is kinda fuzzy in my brain!) right before this long climb up a gas line. In about a half a mile he put about 40 seconds on me. Ouch! I don't think I could have ridden a 6th lap if I had another 6 hours. Way to go Dave!

Thanks again to the ICI/CR crew for all the help & support. All you guys that mountain bike need to try one of these endurance race things. Honestly, a 6 hour solo is about like riding a century on the road, but a ton more fun!

Ed

Ft Yargo MTB Race

2007-05-01T19:36:00.000-07:00

Fort Yargo Mtn Bike Race Report

I’m getting back into racing my Mtn Bike this year, so this past Sunday J-rod, Abby (J-rods future better half) Ed Hamilton and myself loaded up the old van and left @ 3:30 A.M.( note to self- 3:30 A.M. is very early) and headed over to Georgia. J-rod and Abby slept all the way but Ed stayed awake to keep me awake, self-preservation I guess. I had wanted to get to the race about an hour and a half early to be registered and warmed up. We actually got there about 45’ before the start. By the time I got registered I had a good 15’s of warm-up (note to self- I need at least 45’ to 1 hr for warm-up).Because I am now 50, I get to race in the GRAND MASTERS CLASS, or as my loving wife calls it, the last class you’ll ride till you die. I guess because we are so old, the race organizers fear that it’ll get dark before we finish so they let us race first. After my good 15’ warm-up, I lined up on the start line for my first time with the other GRAND MASTERS, and with talking with them on the start line I was told that generally this age group does not get tested for performance enhancing drugs because the officials don’t really think its nobody's business who uses things like Celias, Geritol or Grecian formula hair tonic. Because I did not get to pre-ride the course and due to my lack of adequate warm-up, I quickly came up with a plan, just follow the group and after I get warmed up ATTACK and start moving up through the class. Great plan, or so I thought. The starter yelled go…twice (none of us old guys hear that well), and we took off like a bunch of wild Indians, old Indians but wild ones, had to get finished before dark you know. I went into the single track as planed, last place but still had the group in sight (and at my age that’s not that far). About 30’ into the race I started getting warmed up and put the second part of the great plan into action, ATTACK. As we hit the power line, a slight climb I passed a couple of folks, one in my class and somebody else just out walking, at the top of the climb I was really letting it hang out, so I zipped up my jersey so my stomach wouldn’t show as much and keep charging, trying to catch and pass others in my class, when coming down a fast hill, I noticed a very sharp turn with a big dip, even though I noticed it, I could not react to it and took a trip over the handlebars and hit the ground hard (note to self- 50 year olds don’t bounce they kinda thud ) the person that I had worked so hard to pass came back by as I was picking myself off the ground and asked if I was alright, I said yea I think so, just a little scared. By the time I got going again nobody was in sight and I had decided that my plan was NOT TO GOOD so I quickly came up with a second plan, finish the first loop with a little caution and ATTACK on the second loop. I finished the first loop with out another incident. Now that I had gained all that knowledge from the first lap I was able to ATTACK the second lap at a much greater speed, a good 1/2 to 1 mph faster... at times, and even passed a guy in my class (thank goodness he was on the side of the trail with broken a chain) and even a couple of junior sport class riders (ha take that you young wiper-snapper) and I even managed to finished the race before dark as well. Did I have a good time? Heck yea. Did I learn anything? Yea (1) all kidding aside the grand masters class is not any slower than some of the other sport classes, (2) pre ride the course if at all possible, and (3) get a good warm-up. Well that about sums it up for this time. My next MTN bike race will more than likely be the Bump and Grind in Birmingham. Hope to see you there...

Jeff Dorminey

Whistlestop Race Report

2007-04-19T18:28:00.000-07:00

Whistlestop Duathlon Race Report by Carl Viars

For the 2007 (12^th) Whistlestop Duathlon one thing was clear to those who raced and to those that stayed home—Sunday, April 15^th was winter-like cold and windy. Yesterday the high and low temperature for Birmingham was 41/53 degrees, combined with the winds and overcast conditions made most wonder if they should have stayed in bed. Whistlestop is part of the Powerman Alabama Duathlon Series which pro athletes compete along with amateurs of various athletic abilities. The Whistlestop format is a 2.7 mile run, a 17 mile bike, and a 2.7 mile run. The Powerman format is a 5 mile runs and a 33 mile bike leg. I don’t have the running base for the double 5 mile runs of the Powerman, so I have stuck with the Whistlestop to get my fill of multi-sporting.

With the winter-like conditions you didn’t see people out warming up prior to the start. Most were huddled-up inside until their group was called to the starting line. For a novice like myself my strategy was to warm-up on the first run (2.7 miles). I tried to pace myself and not push it too hard on cold muscles to avoid an injury in the first 20 minutes. I quickly realized that I had overdressed, being so cold and windy I thought I could get way with wearing my bike jersey with arm warmers over my base layer of a singlet and a Underamour shirt. Wrong! It quickly got real hot, I had to pull my arm warmers down and suffer through the run. Then I was real concerned about being hot, wet, and sweaty…then jumping on the bike for a freezing. The transition to the bike leg was slow and uneventful…but it was a big relief to get on the bike.

The bike leg seemed like it would be dismal with the cold weather, overcast and windy conditions—fortunately it didn’t rain. Despite the weather the 17 mile ride wasn’t bad, I actually was a little on the warm side, and the time/mileage went by pretty fast. I felt real comfortable on the bike and on the aerobars. I didn’t experience any discomfort, but didn’t break any personal records either. In retrospect I was probably in a “survival mode” mentally speaking and wasn’t pushing myself against the weather elements. Several times I had guys pass by me real fast with a “P” marked on their calf; I realized later that stood for “PRO.” The transition to the second run was once again slow and uneventful…unlike the last transition I wasn’t glad to move on to the next leg.

The start of the second run was significantly different than my two previous Whistle Stop attempts—I wasn’t hit by lower back spasms immediately after starting the run…Thank goodness! This leg was simple trying to keep moving one foot in front of the other to finish. The 2^nd run turned out better than any previous attempt and I even had a little left at the end to finish strong—relatively speaking.

My total time was 1:46:42 which was 65^th out of 175 Whistlestop racers and 4^th (of 9) in the 50-54 age-group. Compared to 2005 I was about 45 seconds slower this time on the first run, roughly 5 minutes slower on the bike, and 2 minutes faster on the 2^nd run. I know the conditions for the bike leg was tough, but you always look to improve your performance. I am glad I toughed it out so to speak and competed this year—the epic weather conditions will provide the ingredients of many stories in the future.

Arrowhead race report

2007-03-28T18:12:00.000-07:00

During the early morning drive over to Macon Sunday morning I had the feeling that I had forgotten something, but I just couldn't put my finger on it. We (My Hunny & I) had pulled out at 4:15 am, after spending 6 hours in the car the day before taking our daughter to Mobile to catch a cruise ship.

I knew it was going to be cold during my warm up time (about 38*) so I took my trainer & cross bike to warm up with. About 5 minutes into my warm up, I remembered what I left at home.

Legs.

I do my trainer rides by speed, using a rear mounted computer, so I know how much power I should be able to produce. My power during the warm up was way down. I finished my warm up & headed to the start.

I had a good time chatting with all the usual Sport 40+ class suspects. Duckman of course had to yell out "Hey, does anybody gotta go pee?" I asked who all was new to the class this year & got a few hands to raise. I then asked them if they had any weapons such as guns, knives or billy clubs on them. When they replied "no", I told them that if they would go over to the sign up desk, that they would give them one! It's a brutal class! Then we all got to see Duckman, one of the old hands, whip out his multi tool and tighten up his front rotor bolts like he had all day. Thing is, he started this operation with about 45 seconds to go before the start!

As soon as they said "go!", my worst fears were confirmed. I had nothing. Let me tell you, MTB racing ain't no poker game. You can't bluff your way to the front of the pack! I decided to just make the best of it & ride my own race. I went as hard as I could, but still had an average HR about 4 or 5 bpm below threshold. I usually run about 2 bpm over. Not good. But the course was tight, a bit techy & in great shape, so I still had a blast. I managed to catch one guy in my class, make a pass & drop him for good. That was satisfying!

Well, the result of all my efforts was a 12th place finish out of 26 starters. I am still at a loss as to why my legs were so bad. Maybe I did too much the week before? Maybe the driving? Bad nutrition? I don't know. But like the Governator said, "I'll be back"!

Race Report: Sumatanga Practice Race #3

2007-03-16T19:52:00.000-07:00

My son (Jerrod) and I both rode in the "B" class, Jerrod stayed in the front of the pack, and me, hanging out in the back , I rode three out of the four laps with the group ( about 50 of us), but at the start of the fourth lap, I peeled off and started the BIG CLIMB (a very hard climb) a lap early, so I would be at the top when Jerrod finished ( I knew he would be one of the top finishers and I was not worried about hanging with the pack for one more lap) and, I also wanted to make the climb.I was at the top when the finishers crossed the line and saw Jerrod finish fourth about 45" after the winner. Overall a good day even though I did not officially finish (it was only a training race) I did what I had set out to do, hang with the pack and get back in the groove of riding in a big group a race speeds.

Jeff Dorminey

Velo News Photo Contest Winner

2007-01-24T18:44:00.000-08:00

Cycle Escape Team Member Carl Viars
Wins Week 2 of the
2007 Velo News Photo Contest

http://www.velonews.com/news/fea/11500.0.html

Snake Creek Gap MTB/TT

2007-01-08T18:44:00.000-08:00

Ed Hamilton has kicked off the 2007 with the first race of the year.

Check out http://www.photoreflect.com/pr3/OrderPage.aspx?pi=0EPS0017020066&po=67&c

Yesterday I went up to Dalton, Georgia for the Snake Creek Gap MTB/TT, and let me tell you, this is one tough trail! The sign in & finish is right in Dalton, but the start is several miles south of town so we loaded our bikes in trailers and onto car roof racks and were driven to the start. About 3 minutes into the drive to the start, I realized that I had forgotten my electrolyte capsules. Not good. Oh well, nothing to be done now.

We started 3 at a time with a group leaving every minute or so. The start was along a gravel road leading to the first single track. When they said "go", my start partners took off like it was a 15 mile X-C event and I said "see ya!". There was no way I was going to try that on a ride that has the rep of the Snake. My race strategy was simple; start easy, back off a bit in the middle, then really ease off at the end. Easier said than done on this trail! On the first climb I was approaching threshold while "spinning" the granny gear. Think a hill like 2 mile hill or teeter-totter hill at Swayback, except 3 miles long. The rest of the ride had every type of climb imaginable, from steep & rooty to middle ring fire road. The descents were the same. Some fast, smooth & swooping, some steep & gnarly. There was even a down hill fire road where I swear I hit 40 mph!

After almost 2 hours of this kind of riding, I hit the sag stop. It was supposed to be at 17 miles, but my computer said about 15 miles. I stopped only long enough to check the air in my rear tire as it had lost a little pressure. Here's a tip for ya; avoid doing a ride like this on brand new tires that you have never ridden. I felt good as I left the sag and settled into a good rhythm. Rhythm would be important as the climb out of the sag was a long one.

Somewhere around mile 23 or so I came to a stretch of very rocky trail that was some what uphill with some descending thrown in. Most of this section reminded me of the way the rock garden at Oak Mountain used to be, with a mix of baby heads & boulders. I felt good in this section & it was a bunch of fun, so I kinda let it hang out a bit. May I pushed a bit too hard, because when I hit the last 5 miles, I was getting tired. I also felt the twinges of cramps beginning. Remember those electrolyte capsules? I wish I had!

The last miles were the hardest of the whole ride. The rock gardens turned into rock forests & the baby heads were full grown monsters! Kind of like a flat to uphill Blood Rock. Then the trail turned up. And up. And up some more. These were the steepest, longest, most technical climbs that I have ever seen. It seemed like it went on forever, and it got steeper as it went on. I had to walk a bunch of it and some of that walking was difficult. Ever pushed your bike along at a zone 4 HR? Big fun.

I didn't think that it would ever end, but it did. I eventually came out onto a paved road (the only pavement I had seen for a long time) and was directed towards the finish. About a mile of screaming downhill on the paved road & I was done. 5:05:47 (that's 5 HOURS!), with a ride time of 4:48 something. My average was just under 7 mph.

I think that this ride tests all aspects of mountain biking. A rider not only needs to have the fitness to make the miles and hold the intensity, but also the technical skill to make the climbs, clean the rock gardens and rip the descents. I see now why there are so many good mountain bikers in Georgia!

BTW I saw Saul Raisin (Credit Agricol Pro tour rider, http://www.saulraisin.com/sitemain/ ) in the parking lot. He is from Dalton. How cool is that?

This was the first of three Snakes that will be held this year. The next two are on February 3 and March 3. If anybody feels up to the challenge, give me a call and ride up there with me. I hope to do them both & improve my time with each attempt.

Results: http://www.nwgasorba.org/Snake2007/Results_Jan07.htm

Event website; http://www.nwgasorba.org/the_snake.html

Ride lots!

A Little More Cyclocross

2006-12-20T18:42:00.000-08:00

The 2006 Cyclocross Crew consisted of:

Cris Crisler
Jeff Dorminey
Ed Hamilton
Carl Viars
Mike White

More photographs from the SideTracked Magazine

http://www.photoreflect.com/pr3/thumbpage.aspx?e=2487053

The Last Cyclocross Race

2006-12-17T17:14:00.000-08:00

ALABAMA STATE CYCLOCROSS SERIES RESULTS

MASTER 45+ FIRST PLACE Jeff Dorminey

Oops! not so fast...after further review of the facts
CX-4 MALE ~~3rd~~ 4th PLACE Carl Viars
it felt good to be on the podium thought

2006-12-12T04:26:00.000-08:00

ALABAMA STATE CYCLOCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP RACE

SATURDAY DECEMBER 17TH

http://cullmancyclingclub.com/cyclocross.html

Bamacross #5 Fain Park

2006-12-06T19:06:00.000-08:00

Team Cycle Escape not only hosted Bamacross #5, but also raced as well.

Jeff Dorminey - Master's 45+ 2nd place and 3rd place overall in the 35+ and 45+ field.

Ed Hamilton - Master's 35+ 8th place

Carl Viars - CX-4 4th place

Cris Crisler - CX-4 12th Place

more results and standings at http://bamacross.blogspot.com/

2006-12-06T18:48:00.000-08:00

Team Cycle Escape really appreciated all the support required to host Bamacross #5 Cyclocross Race at Fain Park on December 3rd. Specifically, our sponsors, our own team members, members of Chain Reaction-TOLA, and the volunteers on race day.

Special thanks to the City of Montgomery and the Parks and Recreation Department.

Jeff D and Martha White making the first race registration

Looks like registration was the busy place to be

Our registration team - Pam Dorminey, Martha White, and Robert Richert

Thanks to our USA Cycling Official Paul T.

2006-12-06T18:37:00.000-08:00

More photos available at Sidetracked Magazine http://sidetrackedmag.com/

Special thanks to them for covering our event and the Bamacross Series.

Cris C. getting up speed after the barriers

Carl V. heading to the finish with Cris Woods (Chain Reaction-TOLA) in hot pursuit, but he didn't catch me. We raced hard against each other and swapped positions several times.

2006-12-06T18:30:00.000-08:00

Carl V. finishing a lap in the CX-4 Race

Cris C. also finishing a lap in the CX-4 race

Carl V. flying through the barriers, just like the DVD...

uh...the...what was that?

Cris C. picking it up and jump, skip, hop.

2006-12-06T18:06:00.000-08:00

Jeff and Ed ready to start the Master's Race

Jeff making the big effort

The Mud Pit

2006-12-06T17:56:00.000-08:00

Jeff D. is ringing round the rosie

Jeff D. coming up out of the ditch

The mud pit - it was deep and like axle grease

Jeff D. riding through the mud pit

Pictures of Jeff and Ed Bamacross #5 Fain Park

2006-12-06T17:29:00.000-08:00

Jeff D. in the Master's Race

Jeff D. ready for the start

Jeff D. in the lead in the first lap

Ed H. in the Master's Race

Jeff D. making a tricky right turn

2006-12-06T17:26:00.000-08:00

Join us on the 17th at Cullman for the State Championship

Updated Fain Park Flyer

2006-11-24T18:35:00.000-08:00

Please note this correction, exit 11 off of I-85.

Bamacross #5 Fain Park Course

2006-11-24T18:32:00.000-08:00

Race Report Bama Cross #4 Anniston

2006-11-15T17:45:00.002-08:00

Anniston was a well prepared layout and it tested your cyclocross/aerobic abilities.

Hats off to the Anniston Team for a well hosted event.

Jeff Dorminey placed 3rd overall in the Master's Division

Carl Viars placed 4th in the CX4 beginners Division.

In both races competition was tough!

A couple weeks off and the next race is MONTGOMERY DEC 3RD.

More Photos Bama Cross #4

2006-11-15T17:45:00.001-08:00

Also Check out the photos @ http://dougclark.com/Bamacross/

and @ http://annistonrunners.com/photo_galleries.htm

Photos Bama Cross # 4 Annistion

2006-11-15T17:34:00.000-08:00

Bama Cross # 3 Race Report

2006-11-05T15:59:00.000-08:00

It was the Jeff and Carl road show up to Leeds AL for Bama Cross # 3.

Jeff D. was looking really good today and finished strong. Carl V. figured out to avoid a pinch flat--add more air.

Jeff D. Placed 1st Master 45+ (2nd in the Master 35+ & Master 45+ combined)

Carl V. Placed 5th in the "C" race, no flat today!

The Cycle Escape Cyclocross road show is looking for a few good men to join us.

A little video for your cycling enjoyment (click here)

BamaCross # 3 Photos

2006-11-05T15:46:00.000-08:00

Jeff Dorminey showing us how it's done.

BAMA CROSS # 3 Leeds AL

2006-11-02T17:12:00.000-08:00

Bama Cross # 3 is back to Leeds Al and the last race at that venue.

If your interested in going call Jeff D. or Carl V.

http://bamacross.blogspot.com/

Attack on SwayBack

2006-10-29T17:59:00.000-08:00

Team Cycle Escape had 4 riders in this annual local MTB event at the Swayback Bridge MTB Trail.

Carl Viars 2nd Place Beginner 50-59

Byron Smith 2nd Place Sport 50-59

Jeff Dorminey 4th Place Sport 40-49

Ed Hamilton 3rd Place Sport 40-49

Thank You to TOLA for a super race.

Attack on SwayBack

2006-10-29T17:30:00.000-08:00

Ed Hamilton with a big spider on his back.

Team Cycle Escape behind the new banner...thanks to our sponsors!

Jeff Dorminey smiles for his wife taking the photos...what did he say?

Byron Smith at the finish of the Sport 50-59

Bama Cross #2

2006-10-23T03:29:00.000-07:00

Bamacross #2 at Leeds Al at the horse farm. It was wet, which means the race course was real muddy. As the day progressed the course got real slick and muddy.

Jeff D. placed 3rd in the Master 45+
Carl V. had another flat, but managed to finish at 7th.

Bama Cross #2

2006-10-23T03:26:00.000-07:00

Bama Cross #2

2006-10-23T03:20:00.000-07:00

Upcoming Races

2006-10-20T18:01:00.000-07:00

October isn't over yet, there are several more races...

Oct 22nd BamaCross Race #2 at Leeds http://bamacross.blogspot.com/

Oct 29th Attack on Swayback http://www.attackonswayback.com/

Contact Jeff Dorminey or Carl Viars if your interested in going to these events.

Team Banner

2006-10-20T17:55:00.000-07:00

Bana Cross Race #5 Fain Park Montgomery AL

2006-10-19T19:08:00.000-07:00

E-mail c.man@knology.net for a PDF or Word version.

Bama Cross Series #1

2006-10-17T19:32:00.000-07:00

First race of the inaugural Alabama Cyclocross Series was at the Viola Horse Farm in Leeds, Al. The course was very tough and very rough. Jeff Dorminey, Mike White, and Carl Viars made the trip. This was Mike White's first cyclocross race and seemed to enjoy the experience.

Jeff D. placed 2nd in the master 45+ category
Carl V. flatted and ended up in 6th in the "C" race
Mike W. place 7th in the "C" race.

More photos can been viewed on the SideTracked Magazine website at http://sidetrackedmag.com/

Below are some of the photos taken at the race.

Hope we can get more riders involved and make this series BIG!

Bama Cross Series #1

2006-10-17T19:27:00.000-07:00

Cycle Escape was in good company with the guys from Chain Reaction (David, Ray & Jerrod)
The shot below was to cool not to include, Jerrod Dorminey's 1st place finish in the "B" race.

Bama Cross Series #1

2006-10-17T19:18:00.000-07:00

Bama Cross Series #1

2006-10-17T19:12:00.000-07:00

DEAD DOG VI October 8th

2006-10-17T19:08:00.000-07:00

DEAD DOG VI October 8th

We made the trip up to Trussville and for Jeff D. and Carl V. it had been many years since they had competed in an MTB event.

Ed Hamilton 4th Sport 40-49

Jeff Dorminey 5th Sport 40-49

Carl Viars 2nd Beginners 50-59

Below are some of the photos from the event. It was very fun for all of us.

DEAD DOG VI October 8th

2006-10-16T17:18:00.000-07:00

DEAD DOG VI October 8th

2006-10-16T17:03:00.000-07:00

Bama Cyclo-Cross

2006-09-24T11:32:00.000-07:00

Alabama now has a cyclo-cross series.

Check out the bamacross blog for the schedule.

Montgomery will host the December 3rd race at Fain Park.

Senior Olympics Again...

2006-04-09T18:33:00.000-07:00

Article from Montgomery Advertiser on April 3rd.

Ed's East Macon MTB Race Report

2006-04-06T18:56:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday was the first race in the new GSC mountain bike series and as you know it was HOT! The temp in Macon was easily in the mid 80s and though that's not too bad by July standards, in April it's pretty toasty.

The course for the race was a tight and twisty 5.5 miles of sandy middle Georgia fun. The first quarter mile or so included a wide open start, a lap around a BMX track (complete with jumps, table tops and NASCAR style turns), and a 90 degree right hand turn that only one bike could fit through and that almost required a dead stop. Standing on the start line were almost 40 guys who all knew that the start would be critical.

I couldn't squeeze my way onto the first row, so I lined up behind Bobby T., who I knew loves to go out hard. I can still hear him at the SS race a few weeks ago yelling "GO! GO! GO!". He didn't disappoint and I hit the BMX track in about 5th or so. I lost a couple of positions because, well, a BMXer I ain't. The first half of the first lap was not too difficult as there was no room to pass. As it stretched out I started hitting it harder.

Then the heat kicked in. Towards the end of the first lap I knew that I'd have to back off. I figured that if I eased up a touch on the second lap that my third lap would be much better than if I tried to keep it pinned. That turned out to be a good call.

Just after the second lap started I got so hot that I started getting chills. That's a bad sign. I kept drinking and by the third lap I felt better. I kept the best pace I could and felt like I left it all on the trail. I ended up 11th out of a posted 35 riders in the Sport 40+ class and was about 6 minutes out of first. All in all, it was a tough but fun day and I rated my performance as acceptable.

The next race is May 7 at Jackson Ga. (near Macon) Series flyer here: http://www.goneriding.com/2006/GSC/FLIER-main.pdf

Results posted here: (scroll down to MS 3 40+) http://www.goneriding.com/2006/GSC/GSC-1-Eastmacon/results/06-GSC-1-YELLOW.htm

You guys who ride the dirt need to make the trip over with me! I plan to do the whole season if (as my Grandmother used to say) the wheels don't run off my wagon.

Day 2 Senior Olympics

2006-04-02T18:02:00.000-07:00

Day 2 of the Alabama Senior Olympics was a 5K & 10 Time Trail and a 20 Road Race (Circuit)

Jeff D.: 1st 5K Time Trial (50-55) and 2nd 20K Road Race

Tom R. 3rd 5K Time Trial (50-55), 2nd 10K Time Trial, and 1st 20K Road Race

Carl V. DNP 5K Time Trail (50-55), 1st 10K Time Trail, and 2nd 20K Road Race

Jay S. I will have to find out which events medaled

Pictured Jeff , Tom, Jay, and Carl.

2006-04-02T17:58:00.000-07:00

Tom R. 20K Road Race Presentation.
Check out Tom's "Big Brother" bill board on the Northern By-pass.

2006-04-02T17:56:00.000-07:00

Jeff D at the 5K Time Trial Medal Presentation.

2006-04-02T17:54:00.000-07:00

Sponsor Jay Smith at the 5K Time Trail Medal Presentation

2006-04-02T17:52:00.000-07:00

Carl V. at the finish of the 5K Time Trail, looking really canned.

2006-04-02T17:49:00.000-07:00

Jeff D. & Sponsor Jay Smith lining up for the Senior Olympics 5K Time Trial.

Alabama Senior Games 40 K Road Race

2006-04-01T19:36:00.000-08:00

Cycle Escape Team members Jeff D, Carl V, and Tom Risher competed in the 50-55 age group in the Alabama Senior Games (Senior Olympics) 40k Road Race. Cycle Escape took 1-2-3. CE pushed the pace from the start, to include a Jeff D. break away for a number of miles before the pack got nervous and had to reel him in. On the down hill side of the race another break away occurred which eventually only inlcuded Jeff D and 2 others in the 55-60 age group.

2006-04-01T19:32:00.000-08:00

Medal Presentation: 1st place 50-55 Jeff D (Not Pictured), 2nd place Carl V, and 3rd Tom R.

2006-04-01T19:25:00.000-08:00

Here is Jeff D coming across the finish line and a shot afterwards.

GA SS Championship March 19, 2006

2006-03-21T20:33:00.000-08:00

Sunday was the Ga. Single Speed mountain bike State Championship race. As most of you know, I love riding my SS MTB. Usually, anyway. This course just outside of Athens Ga. was BRUTAL! The climbs were long and steep and so were the downhills. I blew up completely midway through the first lap and went into survival mode for a while. I ended up 27 out of 40 or so finishers in the sport class. There were no age groups so I take some consolation in the fact that I was racing against all those young punks! Oh well, this wasn't a high priority race and it was still a blast.

The next race is April 2 in Macon. I'll have gears this time and I'll only have the other old guys to contend with. It should be much fun!

Brooks RR March 18, 2006

2006-03-21T20:07:00.000-08:00

Jeff D, David B, and Byron S. Started with the Time Trail.

Jeff D. rode in the Master Open in the RR and finished the 52 mile race in 2:06 minutes with better than 24 mph avg in the main pack. Very respectable finish.

Todd Hanning had a blow-out in the first 5 miles and didn't have a spare wheel.

David B., Byron S., and Carl V. rode in the combined CAT 4 and 5 race. It started off really fast...dropping all in the first lap, David B. hung in there and completed the 52 mile race.

Pictured is Jeff D. after the finish.

Team Picture at Brooks RR Mar 18 06

2006-03-21T20:02:00.000-08:00

First Team Photograph for the 2006 Season. Jeff Dorminey, Byron Smith, Todd Hanning, David Burnett, and Carl Viars. Who's missing?

Albany GA, Maxxis-GA CUP Series Race Report from Colin A.

2006-03-19T06:22:00.000-08:00

Albany GA, Maxxis-GA CUP Series Race Report from Colin A. Well, I am still in one piece physically. But mentally I am shattered. Maxxis cup was FAST. Out of 45 riders I finished 23rd overall for the weekend. But, I was just hanging on all the time. There was a crash in the crit that split the field. I was in it but didn't go down. Blew a tire though with 4 to go and couldn't get back on. TT was in the pouring rain. Best thing about it was that I kept the rubber side down. The RR was as fast as anything I have been in 20 years. We did 56 miles in 1hr and 51minutes. That's a 29 mph average!! Mr. Johnson our district rep. says that the 35+ class is the second fasted group in the region. Only bested by the pro 1,2 category.

GCC Training Race

2006-02-26T18:18:00.000-08:00

First race of the 2006 season brought David B., Jeff D., Ed H., Byron S., Carl V., and Mike W. to the rolling hills of Camp Sumatanga, about 50 miles north east of Birmingham.

Congratulations! to David Burnett for placing 2nd in the "C" Race.

We also had our first crash with David B., Byron S., and Carl V.--all were taken down by some tri-geek new to road racing...he did apologize. Byron had a broken finger and a banged up bike. There is next time...

Photos From Bama Crit last spring

2006-01-05T17:43:00.000-08:00

I found these on the web...it's Jeff D.

2005-12-14T20:08:00.000-08:00

Dec 10, 2005. Alabama State Cyclocross Championship, Team Cycle Escape's Jeff Dorminey took the Bronze Medal in the Master's 45+ class. Congratulations Jeff. This was the last race of the 2005 season. Many thanks to our 2004-2005 sponsor's Jay R Smith Mfg., Apple Medical, and our LBS Cycle Escape.

2005-12-14T20:03:00.000-08:00

Another shot of the top 3 Master 45+

2005-12-14T19:37:00.000-08:00

Carl's bike looking pretty muddy--must have had a lot of fun.

2005-12-14T19:35:00.000-08:00

Jeff going down a really fun ditch yea haw!

2005-12-14T19:34:00.000-08:00

Jeff carrying his bike over the obstacles and looking happy about it--must have been early in the race, this was a really hard course.

2005-12-14T19:32:00.001-08:00

Jeff avoids the mud...why?

2005-12-14T19:32:00.000-08:00

Jeff Dorminey makes his first lap. Couldn't ask for better weather...low 30s and windy.