Bank of America Wilmington Grand Prix Report

From Scott Zwizanski:

I raced today along with Joao and Sven, who was fresh off his last final exam on Thursday in Michigan. The race was in downtown Wilmington, DE, 56 laps of a 0.9-mile course. The race is just a 40min. drive from the town I grew up in, so I raced the Wilmington crit several times as an amateur. I was excited to come back home and race the grand prix now that it has NRC status.

The race was strung out and aggressive from the start. Wind was a big factor; it funneled between the buildings in a couple spots to add difficulty to the course. About 15 laps into the race I went on the attack and a break of about 5-7 riders formed. All the big teams there were represented. I was in there along with Colavita, Kelly Benefits, Battley Harley Davidson and Rite Aid. Within 4-5 laps the break quickly ballooned to about 14-riders, this move had the right combination to stay away the whole race. We held a 25-45 sec gap most of the race while Sven and Joao patrolled the chasing peleton.

With around 10 laps to I went on the attack again and slimmed the front group down to just 6-riders, Borrajo(Colavita), Veilleux(Kelly), Hamblen(Time Pro), Dewald and Fuentes(Harley). With all the teams, with multiple riders in the breakaway, represented in this 6-man group we gained time quickly and some cat and mouse began once we were under 5 laps to go. Lots of little attacks going off but no one wanted to let one guy go. With time running out, I started to think that we were going to go to a 6-up sprint. Borrajo, the fastest sprinter in the group, was a little winded from towing back 2-3 attacks in a row and I saw an opportunity with 1.5-laps to go to get away and I gave it one last shot. I attacked on the backstretch in the windiest section of the course and with the effort I was putting out I knew I was either going to win or get 6th place. It worked out and I soloed the final 1.5 laps to get my first NRC win.

Aaron's New Machine

Aaron is trying out his newest machine...you won't find this in the wind tunnel...

2008 Sea Otter Circuit Race Report

From Morgan Schmitt:

This is now my second year racing the Sea Otter Circuit race. After this year, I am beginning to wonder if the race is ever held under calm weather conditions. Last year torrential downpours flooded the track and delayed the race. This year 40 mph wind gusts blew race fencing and dust clouds in the paths of the racers.

BISSELL brought a smaller team compared to the full 8 rider squads of Kelly, Rock, Successful Living, and Colivita. In attendance for Team BISSELL were Graham, Burke, Joao and myself. The race was held on Laguna Seca Raceway and consisted of 31 two and a quarter mile laps with a total of 7000 ft of climbing.

The break went surprisingly early containing Grabinger, Jensen, White from Successful Living and Clinger from Rock Racing. Many of the riders did not know there was a break up the road until we started hearing time gaps of two minutes. Halfway through the race a split occurred, containing around 25 riders. I was the only BISSELL rider who made the split. Right away the four Colivita riders in the split started chasing hard but were unable to take time out of the four-man break. After this no one else chased and there was very little action from the split until one lap to go. Coming through the start/finish on the final lap two riders successfully attacked up the right while I was boxed in on the left. At the base of the hill the reining champion Daniel Ramsey from Time Pro Cycling attacked. No one went with him until I bridge a gap to get on his wheel. The two of us had a gap until the top of the climb when the group clawed their way back onto my wheel. The counter attack came on the descent from the Healthnet rider John Murphy. Murphy then managed to bridge up to the two riders racing for 5th. Our last half lap was filled with attacks none of which stayed away. Our group then came down to a sprint that Colivita's Alejandro Borrajo won. I finished 16th, Joao 28th, and Graham 44th,

The team has the form, we just need some better luck. Expect big results at Tour of Gila. Until then…

-Morgan

Brad Lewis Memorial Criterium Report

Photo courtesy of wheelsinfocus.com

From Morgan Schmitt:

Sunday, the 13th, I scored my first local win of the season at the Brad Lewis Memorial Criterium in Seattle. This race is one of the major criteriums in Washington that all the local racers and sprinters want to win. The course is a relatively flat three corner course that is less than 1k in length. It was against all odds for me to win, as flat crits are among my biggest weaknesses.

Shortly before the start, rain began to fall. It is in conditions like these where I rely on my cyclocross background to maintain traction in the corners. The first couple of laps I noticed I was ridding through the wet corners better than any one. I was opening a gap on the field coming out of every corner, and early in the race I went on a solo breakaway that lasted 10 minutes before I rejoined the group. The last 20 laps a break finally went away with me and three other riders. Our break worked well together, keeping our distance from the pack. With 2 laps to go, our group started attacking each other. I made the last attack, which strung out the group and I was able to hit the finish line first!

Winning this race tells me I have pretty good form. I can't wait to see what the racing holds in the next couple of weeks.

-Morgan

Graham Howard Wins the Tokyo Joe's Spring Crit!

From Graham Howard:

This past Sunday Garrett and I attended the Tokyo Joe's Spring Criterium held near Golden Colorado. The course was a simple 1k loop with half the course being slightly uphill and the other half slightly downhill. Garrett and I were active early and about 15 minutes into the 75 minute race were both off in a group of about ten others, including Frank Pipp of Health Net, Henk Vogels of Toyota United as well as riders from Vitamin Cottage, Slipstream and Team Type 1. The break stayed out all day, but was never very clear of the field. Attacks started to go from within the break with about five laps left in the race. Slipstream had numbers and they did the bulk of the chasing. Inside the last lap the break was all back together just dangling in front of the field, and as everyone let up to set up for the sprint, I took off. I came around the last corner knowing it would be close and just held off Vogels and Pipp at the line. Ohhhhhhhhh it feels good to win. I'm off to Seaotter this coming weekend with Joao, Burke and Morgan as the rest of the team heads to Georgia. Hopefully we can keep the momentum rolling.

School Talk

From Teddy King:

Pretty poor picture but it documents that we were in fact there!

Jeremy, Tom, and I talked everything bikes to a few hundred 3rd and 4th graders this morning. Tom was worried that they jump him in the playground so he wisely wore his helmet all day.

Santa Cruz Classic Crit

From Scott Zwizanski:

Raced solo again today. About 75 riders lined up for 50 laps of a hard circuit with a little climb every lap that was made extra hard because of a big headwind. Several breakaways happened throughout the race, but none got further than about 15-20 seconds up the road. I got into a breakaway of 9 riders with about 12 laps to go that finally got a big gap. There was lots of attacking out of this group but nothing getting away until i launched an attack at the 5-lap to go mark. Finally everyone was out of gas and no one wanted to chase, so i was gone. I started catching groups of lapped riders with 2 laps to go. And i held on to win solo. It was cool crit course, super hard. And the course has been used since 1970, so it has some history too.

Also, here is the newspaper article:
http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/sports/ci_8837205