Saturday at the Races-

South Carolina State Road Race Championship race report-

From such humble beginnings, a team of contention is emerging. The SCRRC will be one of the last road events on the GTSC calendar this year and we turned up in full force to stamp our mark upon the race. While I have been struggling with some sort of cold\virus, the rest of the team has been fairly healthy (Lynn is recovering from a crash). The day started for GTSC with the woman’s Cat 4 and although Lynn was not sure about her fitness after the setback from her recent crash, she at least wanted to get in there and give it a go to get a feel for how a road race against locals would play out. Although she did eventually get dropped from the peloton, she hung in there and gutted it out to get her name on the board. The next event for us was the men’s 35+ Cat 5 race. I knew I would not be very strong but wanted to give it everything I had to help the team in whatever capacity I could. After debating the merits of various tactics I settled on one basic premise: line up at the front and make it hard for everyone. This tactic also served to keep us out of trouble as there was a crash on the first lap and a mishap on the second. From the gun we lined up at the front with David and Al taking the brunt of the work while I maintained some working space for those who wanted to get back in after taking a pull. After the first half of the course went by, someone took a flyer and was immediately joined by Al and another rider. They stayed gone for a few miles, during which time a rider put his hand on me to push me into position to take a pull, which I was not going to do, and he was told in no uncertain terms not to push. The break was caught just before “the wall” and we hit it pretty hard, softening everyone up quite a bit. When we came around the start finish the pace went up again considerably and the field started to crack. As we hit the first long climb for the second time a few more were dropped, almost including me. This was where I could really tell that I had been sick. I did manage to fight back on until the second time up the wall where I was gapped for good. I quickly tried to take some deep breaths and start getting the gear turning over as I picked up another rider. I was pretty cooked and asked him not to pull off yet, a few more breaths and I was getting good. We caught two more riders, one of which took exactly one pull and then those two were gone. I told him, “nice and easy, just me and you”, as I did not want to get caught by anyone and thought we might catch some other riders. We took a few turns and I caught a glimpse of a rider ahead in the distance. I tried to keep a nice quick cadence but after another rise in the road my ally started gasping and I knew I was going to have to go. When we hit the next rise I dropped a gear, stood up, and increased the pressure, dropping the racer I was with and closing the gap on the racer in front that I recognized. I guess Joey heard me coming because he looked back and saw me and as soon as he turned his head to look ahead, I dropped another gear and stood up as we were coming up on the finish. I did not dare to look back and just kept drilling myself into the ground to take a 17th place finish. Meanwhile at the front of the pack, the racing was fast and tight, David had to swing wide and take the full force of the wind to sprint for a 4th place while Al hung on for 8th. This was David’s first race and although I am sure he would have liked to take the win, 4th place in the South Carolina State Championship Cat 5 road race is not too shabby.
-Cheers

New Sponsors...

A few years ago, largely out of boredom I dabbled with a fitness program/lifestyle change featuring an ayurvedic diet. My interest and research brought me to a local healing arts center called Kimah. Little did I know at that time, Kimah was also partly owned by a mother of one of my son’s school friends. He would recount delicious stories to me about spending the night with this friend and walking to the store to partake in divine peanut butter milkshakes….healthy ones.

A few months later, I discovered George Gantt and realized that he worked at the same place… Kimah. Wanting to encourage my mother to partake in a healthier lifestyle, I researched and a few weeks later signed the both of us up for a class with George. George is a Tai Chi and Quigong instructor as well as a certified Chinese massage therapist. George also has extensive knowledge in Chinese medicine. I love alternative medicine and was easily intrigued by George’s classes, his calming demeanor and his therapeutic presence. In contrast to other hyped, intense personal trainers in Greenville who want to see you dead lift x amount of pounds or chisel out a 6-pack, George approaches fitness in terms of lifelong health, not just an outwardly pretty package, but an inner balance and fitness.

During my first consultation, he quietly listened to me, looked at me, listened to my pulse and almost eerily but accurately told me my weaknesses – what I eat too much of, what I drink too much of, what I needed physically. He did the same for my mother. I was impressed by his serenity, his ageless appearance. What I loved most about my class with George was that it was held outside. We met in the park, surrounded by nature, breathing fresh air to work on running, strength training, de-stressing, food choices, etc. At the end of the program, with better over all fitness, I moved on to other running programs, boot camp programs, on my own. George probably wouldn’t remember me, he has so many students…but I tucked the knowledge I gained away for safe keeping. That was about 2 years ago. Since then, I still see him in the park as I ride by on my bike…with new classes, new students who want to make the same lifestyle changes.

As we began to look for sponsors for 2010 for our cycling team, we were all in agreement that we wanted to support local businesses and vice versa, in which we really believed. Kimah was the first to jump to mind. After a few meetings with Tina (one of the owners), we were all eager to partner together. Kimah’s healing arts center offers a full range of fitness for every individual… from martial arts, to massage, to tasty snacks. It’s more than a “workout” place, it’s a lifestyle, which is exactly what Go Tri Sports and the Go Tri Sports Cycling Team wants to foster… it’s not just a store, it’s a lifestyle. We couldn’t have picked a better match.

The day we made it official, Tina had a pleasant surprise for us. Not only was Kimah going to sponsor us, but so was George Gantt, with his Equilibrium Gym. We’re grateful for their willingness to sponsor our young cycling team and allowing us the opportunity to represent their wonderful businesses in the cycling community. They have so much to offer. Check out their classes at their location on Augusta Road, in Greenville or stop by for an organic lunch or snack in their café.

The cafe at Kimah...

George Gantt performing Tai Chi...

Batter up!

It’s a boy!

After many months of a nationwide search (not really) we’re glad to announce our newest team member, David Chambers. David has been beatin’ up on the B group at Donaldson for quite some time now and Rob decided it was time to snatch him up. David enthusiastically accepted and is proudly sporting the colors. . We’re holding to our original goal of wanting to create a Cat 4/5 team, a development team (if you will) FOP (for old people) and slowly but surely, we’re chugging along.

In gearing up for next season we’re excited about the growing team, many opportunities to race and most of all, having a good time. We’re not so worried about the numbers or the results at this point… we believe those will follow in time.

If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself.
~Henry Ford

Post by Lynn

French Broad Cycling Classic

Thrilling race weekend recap –

Wow, what a weekend. The Go Tri Sports Cycling team made it to the French Broad Cycling Classic and it was spectacular! This would be my first complete Omnium and given my general lack of form, I really just wanted to do the three days of racing for the experience. Little did I know that the “experience” would be so epic.
Day one started with an ITT that followed the French Broad River. A fantastic course, slightly uphill to the turn around then slightly down but into a headwind on the return leg. I did not go into the red very far as I really needed to ride my way into this weekends racing. Still, I felt slow, and slow feels rotten. Lynn on the other hand was free to ride hard as she had opted out of the road race and so would get a day of rest in between events. Congrats to Lynn as she set a PR for her solo average speed as well as ticking another check box off, first ITT.
Day two of the Omnium was the RR, a short 40 mile course but with 6000+ feet of climbing. Six thousand feet in forty miles, sounded tough but I had no idea it would be that tough. The climbing made a forty miler more like racing for sixty. I was so cooked that both quads were cramping on the last brutal climb, but I did manage to keep the gear ticking over till the finish. The other factor that had a big impact on me was the first large hill after only one mile of racing from the start line. I was not warmed up enough to push as hard as I needed to and had to watch the group ride away from me. I got into a good rhythm and gave chase and I was soon joined by a few riders and we started taking pulls and building speed. It is hard however to match the pace of a speeding peloton and my hope was to keep picking up stragglers to help with the work . At one point our chase had grown to six or seven but after watching two riders almost go down on a 35+ mph descent vying for a piece of road, I got cautious, braked a little too hard into a corner, and was instantly dropped. In just a few minutes I was joined by a Les Amis rider and we worked together for quite a while until getting caught by a group of about 10 right before the first of two serious climbs. This made the climb tough as we were both tired from our two man pursuit and the group soon splintered but I was able to hang on and then there were six of us. The final few miles before the last climb would see the our chase group pick up a rider or two and lose one or two, me being on of the lost. I managed to hold on to 42nd place and was glad to have it.
The criterium was business as usual, I got pushed off the road once which could have been my fault and I shouted at one rider to get off me, which was definitely not my fault. Lynn however had a mishap in corner four and left some skin on the course. She managed to make it in to the pits and after a quick bike check, she was ready to get back in. I managed a 13th place and Lynn hung on for 17th. That made me 29th overall and Lynn 27th.

-On On

POA Crit Series

Race # 1 –

New venue, tough new course. The POA Crit series kicked off last night with a Big Bang. We were all wondering how the course would be setup, with it being in the Greenville Municipal Stadium parking lot. It turned out very nice, with two wide sweeping turns and a nice grade to climb every lap. One thing is for sure, there is no hiding in the pack on this course, as most of us mid-packers were strung out and left to dry in no mans land after only a few laps. Many, many DNF’s last night, a surprising number of them actually. And it was hot, the first hot laps of the season. It’s going to make for some great racing this season and there will be the extra incentive to race hard…NO DNF!

Pics from Pivotal Fitness Race Weekend...

Pivotal Fitness Race Weekend

Race report:

This weekend was the Pivotal Fitness race weekend and the GTSC team was ready to tackle a new set of venues as well as their first women’s race. The weekend started Saturday with Lynn’s first ever cycling race and although she might not have been at the fitness level she would have liked, she did want to get a feel for what this was all about. A bobble on the first lap caused her to get gapped and after chasing for many laps Lynn decided to throw in the towel and call it a day.

This weekends racing was going to be a solo affair for GTSC in the Cat 4\5 and I was planning on testing the legs and putting in a solid effort in anticipation of the race on Sunday. A crash in the first chicane in the first quarter mile of the race set the tone for what would be a very dangerous day of bike racing. After managing to avoid the first crash, I chased hard to make the first group and this put me on the defensive and at the back of the pack for the first few laps, finally resulting in getting gapped and relegated to no man’s land for the next couple of laps. I continued my solo effort until it was obvious that there were not going to be any others to regroup with and give chase. The group that finally caught me however was not willing to go very hard and seemed to be content with sitting in and letting whoever wanted to pull, do so at their own pace, and so after taking many semi-hard turns at the front, I started planning on attacking on the last lap with an all out – all in effort to the line. Even this was to be ill fated as we were caught just before the treacherous third corner and in the confusion, there was yet another crash (the third or fourth of the day). After narrowly escaping the tangle, all that was left was to pedal to the line and lake my 19th place finish.

Sunday would be an even faster but less technical course. The first lap was uneventful with the fireworks starting on the second lap, just after the start finish line. It was at this point that some of the heavy hitters ramped the pace up and I put in a hard effort to make the selection in the first group. From there on out it would be good clean racing with some very hard efforts until the last lap when the pace really strung things out, but I was able to hang on just long enough to turn in another 19th place.

All in all it was a good weekend for GTSC in that we learned a lot about where we are and where we want to be as a race team.

Side note: I also got to witness a sprint that was nothing short of spectacular by the POA team that also hails from the upstate. Good job guys (and girl)!

First race of the season pics...

Post by Lynn:

With this past weekend being the first of the Greenville Spinners Spring Series, I couldn’t help but wonder if we jumped into this season a bit late. Too little training, too little organization, too little publicity; however, as the weekend unfolded, it became evident that our Cat 5 team of “2” at this point, was actually more like a team of 8, what with Ron, Hal, me, Al’s wife, little one and dog in tow. I’ve seen much larger teams that don’t work together or understand the concept of “team work” near as well as Al and Rob did.

The weekend really started Friday night over dinner at Compadre’s. Rob giving quick last minute instructions in “tactics of road-racing” to Al (an accomplished Triathlete)—Al taking it all in, as his anxiety mounted. Saturday morning, we pick Al up, bright and early from his “home away from home” at this point… a hotel room in Greenville. Quick trip to his store to get his bike, stop for coffee and we’re off. It was cold, early and exciting.

I was surprised when we got to Donaldson to see that Ron was already there, “Go Tri Sports” tent in tow, ready to assist any rider that needed some mechanical assistance. This, in and of itself, should show you the caliber of people that make up the “Go Tri” team. The race went well, a bit of a mishap when Al crossed the yellow line…. unable to wait patiently to release his speed any longer! Clearly, other riders were more worried about his impropriety, as some sat up, failed to pay attention and multiple riders went down. At the end of day one, Rob finished 9th, Al took 13th out of 27. Great results for a first race of the season and a first road-race ever for Al and the first ride together for a brand new team!

Day 2, Al was invigorated, determined and highly motivated. His only strategy, kick ass from the start line! Rob was ready to sit back, let him go and do what he could to keep the pack off of him. It worked. I’ll never forget the incredulous comment from another local racer when he saw Al fly by, off the front, with only 3 other guys on his wheel as he exclaimed, “that NEVER happens in Cat 5 races!” Al had a great finish of 4th, Rob took 9th again. For two men that have never ridden together, let alone raced together and who only threw this team together, literally, about a month ago, you couldn’t ask for better results.

Ron, Hal and I were “fans” from the sidelines, Keri and Rosa and the team puppy from the car (it was a blustery day for the little one). Overall, it was a great weekend for the GTS team. Great visibility for the store, a great debut for the team and many high hopes for a fun-filled season of new friendships, productive alliances and competitive racing.

Go Tri Sports Mission:
The Go Tri Sports (GTS) cycling team has been founded to give like minded Cat4\5 racers an opportunity to train and race in pursuit of excellence in their sport. There are many teams in the upstate, but few dedicated Cat4\5 race teams and GTS seeks to fill a niche not occupied by many (if any) of the other upstate teams. I hope to recruit only a few racers to train and compete with this season. Given that I have only the GTS store as a sponsor and one licensed racer (me) so far, these are humble beginnings to say the least. That said, the season is approaching rapidly and I hope to change that as the kits do look awesome!