tues

July 2nd, 2008

So the big news of the night is that there was a bad crash and Sheble and Bill Evans went down. Bill hit his head and had a case of CRS (can’t remember shit) disease and had to go to the hospital. Hope he recovers well. There was sketchy stuff gong on all night. A lot was caused by a certain buy doing his first A race. Ed McNellis bumped my bar on the curve and kept apologizing but stuff like that was happening every lap so it wasn’t a big deal. I even almost took out myself in a suicide move with Mark North. Luckily I was leading through the bottom corner when I went through at lightspeed but managed to stay on the road. Had a flashback to Gaudio doing that and ending up in the woods.

You can tell that guys are starting to trade form. The guys who were flying in spring are now done, and the guys who paced themselves are going good. Here are some midseason recomendations or commendations:

JH - Selective racing has done him well. form is building and will be good for cross.

Yeager - Tired but knows it. Time will be better spent tubing on the river and starting cyclocross training.

Ben Rickey - Ouch. Huge winter training weeks and full collegiate season. Stick a fork in him. Time would be better spent buying girlfriend some clothes that don’t violate public indecency laws.

Jeff Brandon - the guy is a robot.

Well, I need to end the post. No time. Need to shower and get to my one day at the Letts. Check out Baker’s pics from the race. Link to the left.

sd

Racin’ for Salami: Why the BAR is a joke.

June 29th, 2008

Here are some reasons why the VA BAR is the biggest joke in cycling. See the end of the post for a solution:

1. The payouts are downright disgraceful. Ok, so everyone already knows about a recent race with an entry fee of up to $40 paid out in merchandise. The fact that on the flier/website it wasn’t clear that the prizes were completely up to the promoters discretion didn’t help. You cannot bring in an elite field (or at least not again) without a payout that will at least cover the top guys’ expenses for the race. This is just one example. There’s another BAR race coming up with a $300 1/2/3 purse.

2. It promotes dumb racing tactics. So you’re trying to win the team bar. Is that an excuse to chase down the strongest guy on your team when he’s in a break just to try to pack the top 15 with your guys. You know who I’m talking about.

3. It promotes dumb races.  If you let any race become a BAR race, then there’s no incentive to put on a worthwhile event. I think everyone’s had enough Sportsplex.

4. It kills late races. In the spring everyone thinks they have a shot at the BAR, so every early race in the freezing cold is full. By the time June hits the competition is decided down to a handful of contenders so there’s no reason for the no-hopes to keep showing up. Promoters know this so they go for the early dates first to get the most entry fees paid. This leaves August with only re-schedules and series races. Maybe spread the calendar out a little so guys don’t get burned out.

5. The best rider never wins. the best riders in their categories always do some VA races but try the tougher competition in bigger regional races.

6. It’s time trial heavy. TT’s are easy to put on and you’re guaranteed a decent field because of all of the crossover tri people and rec riders who desperately want to call themselves racers but are afraid of a pack. The bad thing is that putting such an importance on tt’s can alienate new racers who can’t afford the ridiculous gear that you see at PLT races. Plus time trials are just dumb. Bike racing is about tactics, not beating your pr.

7. The team BAR competition reduces the number of races. Who wins the team BAR? Big teams. Big teams that have to put on the same number of races (1) as little teams. You want to win the BAR - make the biggest team with all categories covered and still only put on one race.

8. The team BAR competition dissuades mentoring.  A team wants to win the BAR, and all race results are awarded the same points no matter the category. I don’t think Cat 1/2 guys should be given everything, but it’s good to have them around to teach the new guys how to race. Give these big clubs a reason to keep good riders around. Most of the best riders in the state ride on small teams or even one from out of state.

Okey, so it’s easy to point out problems. It’s easy to fix this one, too. The BAR should be weighted, and not the way it is now with state championships getting double points. Texas has been running a system for years that works great. It’s kind of like UCI ratings. The easiest way to measure is by payout, which is the way USA Cycling rates races. Bigger payouts generally mean more of an effort has been put into the race so you know everything is taken care of. We should have other standards, too, like having neutral service at higher level races. We could even assign points to training races.

Another thing is to get rid of the one club, one race rule. If you’re a club the size of, say, Nature’s Path, it’s not fair to other clubs to only have to promote a single event. We have 5 guys and put on a three day event. Altius is only about 15 strong and they handle 16 Tuesday night races. Carytown is the same way. It should be a minimum of one race per a determined number of members, and only teams of under 8 would be allowed to co-promote.

Well, that’s my rant. Don’t think I’m negative about bike racing. I’m really excited about the Roanoke weekend coming up. It looks like three awesome events, and I’m keen to do well in what looks like is going to be my new home.

sd

What the #@%&!!

June 26th, 2008

That’s the title of the show the comes on after the Tour of Pennsylvania coverage on versus. It’s really dumb and just like every other show on Spike TV but it’s still better than the cycling coverage. Today’s stage was a road race but they only showed it for less than 10 minutes, then they interviewed some guy dressed in a kilt and revolutionary war garb for longer than they showed the stage. Then they interviewed stage winner Kevin LaCombe. Not the 30 second post finish interview that you usually see. This one was LaCombe sitting down for like 10 minutes talking to the two announcers. By the time What the #@%&!! started I was really ready to see some motorcycle crashes.

(Internet) porn & trashtalking

June 26th, 2008

The only thing worse than an obsessed amateur bike racer is a devote “blogger” and when the two meet up especially with in one damned soul the consequences are devastating. Within a couple of years a blog from this person will sooner than later turn into talk about the good ol’ days when they were “good” or had the “legs” when in fact their greatest achievement may have been their devotion to their blog entries and not to earning race entries back. This is in line with the cosmos. For these said souls ad more meat for the grinder. Not only one more body in a silly bicycle race but a ton of space all across the interweb. The interweb originally being built out of satin sheets and Lubriderm to pave the way of streaming carnal excitements (that’s porn) Between the pornography and pictures of yourself looking fast off the back of the amateur races we can find the #2 reason for the internet and blogging in general. To piss people off with the INTERNET TRASH TALK!!! Duh!!

Which brings me closer to my other points:

CBC Blog= still trying to close the gap on the break that’s lapped the field already! Sorry dudes but it’s awkward when you have another team represented on the top page of your blog. As flattering as it is I’m still looking for some endorsement deal with this or $omething!!

Pornography= KAZANE RACING CALENDER (look for it at a newsstand or local bike dealers bathroom) is it a joke? Or they really making a calendar? I don’t know? Should we? Have we already? hahhahahahah NEXT YEAR? This year? FULL OF KAZANE DOOD for your scheduling pleasure!

Trash talk= is Braden implying from the reference of Idiocracy that we all should marry hookers and become Macho President of the USA! Or that we should all be mediocre because in the future (if we happen to make it there in a frozen pod) we just might be something great just by comparison!!!!

CBC Team (not associated w/ internet)= SOLID

DISCLAIMER-the views expressed in the previous blog are for sheer fun and do not express the views of Kazane Racing as a whole or as an individual or for that matter do not represent Richmond Cycling by any means at all.

www.ultrapasswords.com

PAYN-GAME

June 25th, 2008

=License plate I saw coming up Main St yesterday.

This last week of racing def made me dig deeper than I have ever before. During the races I wanted to shoot myself and a during work I found my legs were oddly weighted and shaped like cinderblocks as well. I’d like to thank Bio-freeze, The Stick, and tight doodz for making the working mans stage race and this weekends races survivable. Oh yeah and the sauce I need to thank the sauce!!!
Stoked that the team has been getting some good results lately. Working as a unit and a team feels awesome when its successful, even when it doesn’t work out you should know that you did your best and raced aggressively.
KAZANE RACING IS AGGRESSIVE!!! Aggressive like off the front till a break is made, aggressive like the Best sketchiest lines you wish you could take, aggressive like putting you in the ditch (depending on the opponent and their lack of riding skill) aggressive like don’t come complaining to me cause “What happens in a race stays in a race!”

Shawn got 4th in yesterday’s BP and I’m glad since trying to get a break going yesterday was tough. Chasing Mr. Haymes is the PAYN-GAME.

Rest week this week no riding except for $$$-
***** Call us up and buy Shawn and me a beer. *******

Pros as of lately:
Coffee
Coffee
Coffee
Family style dinners w/ friends
Dog walking
Feet up /head down
Stratton’s hard work he put into his business/team/ and cycling as a whole.
Elvin (sp?) winning RVA hat prime
Matt bringing back the break (I love racing with my Dr.)

CONS as of lately:
Broken budget
Dispatch
Fucked up work bike
Certain team(s) who can only get it together to get in the way!
Mr. Buckles ignoring doodz because his new “huss” is around. (Did this one forget her ID as well?)
Hessian’s post on CBC (who is this guy and why does he go so off topic?)

-109

WMC Thursday Results

June 20th, 2008

Results:

  1. Eric Barlevav, Time Pro cycling
  2. Gera Castro, Richmond Pro Cycling
  3. Dan King, Nature’s Path/3Sport
  4. Jeff Hopkins, Inferno Racing
  5. Dave Fuentes, Battley Cycles
  6. Jeff Brandon, HPC
  7. Esteban Jukich, Richmond Pro Cycling
  8. Mason Haymes, 3Sports

 

Final Overall:

  1. Eric Barlevav 21
  2. Gera Castro 18
  3. Jeff Hopkins 12
  4. Dave Fuentes 10*
  5. Jeff Brandon 10
  6. Jeff Buckles 10
  7. Dan King 9
  8. Mike Stoop 8
  9. Mike Gann 5
  10. Andrew Troy 2 (top Cat 3)

 

4/5 Results:

  1. David Treece, VBV
  2. Robert Pullin, Carytown Bicycle Co
  3. Dewey Reynolds, Bike Works
  4. Bob Carrico, Altius
  5. Chad Rathbone

 Cat 4/5 overall winner - David Treece.

Photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/gbakerellett

More photos from Wednesday:

http://picasaweb.google.com/samuel.perry/20080618_WorkingMansClassic.

The winner at the after party:

 

WMC Wednesday Night

June 19th, 2008

Time Pro Cycling continued its winning streak with Mike Stoop taking the win over Jeff Buckles (Richmond Pro Cycling) in a two-up break. Jeff Hopkins (Inferno) took the field sprint to round out the podium. The Battley Cycles trio of Dave Fuentes, Evan Fader, and Keck Baker took the majority of the primes along the way. Eric Baralev (Time Pro Cycling) still leads the overall after his win Tuesday and 4th Wednesday. Gera Castro and Jeff Buckles are close behind in the competition for a painting by Ed Trask (www.edwardtrask.com).

David Treece won an aggressive 4/5 race , while Dominik Meier took 2nd and enough points to put him in the lead for the overall prize – a bike fitting by Jim Miller and an Alan jersey.

Baker Ellett of Blue Dog Properties took more photos. They are here - http://picasaweb.google.com/gbakerellett/WorkingMansClassicDay2.

 

 

Results:

Pro1/2/3

  1. Mike Stoop, Time Pro Cycling
  2. Jeff Buckles, Richmond Pro Cycling
  3. Jeff Hopkins, Inferno
  4. Eric Baralev, Time Pro Cycling
  5. Gerardo Castro, Richmond Pro Cycling
  6. Dan King, Nature’s Path
  7. Dave Fuentes, Battley Cycles
  8. Jeff Brandon, HPC

 

Points overall after 2nd night:

  1. Eric Baralev 13
  2. Gerardo Castro 11
  3. Jeff Buckles 10
  4. Mike Stoop 8
  5. Jeff Brandon 7
  6. Jeff Hopkins 7
  7. Dave Fuentes 6
  8. Mike Gann 5
  9. Dan King 3
  10. Andrew Troy 2

 

Cat 4/5 Wednesday

  1. David Treece, VBV
  2. Dominik Meier
  3. Joel Miller, Nature’s Path
  4. Bob Carrico, Altius
  5. Ben Hatton, Carytown Bicycle Company
  6. Marc Warner, Nature’s Path

 

Cat 4/5 Points Overall Wednesday

  1. Dominik Meier 8
  2. David Treece 7
  3. Wayland Hundley 5
  4. Joel Miller 3
  5. Mike Oughton 3
  6. Bob Carrico 2
  7. Dewey Reynolds 1
  8. Benn Hatton 1

* note tiebreaker will be highest finish Thursday.

June 18th, 2008

Last night was a huge success. Both fields were full (or close to). The 4/5 ended in a field sprint with “Flaylin” Wayland Hundley taking the win. The Pro 1/2/3 race saw Harlem winner Eric “BBQ” Barlevav take Gera Castro in a sprint. A break of 7 got away with a lot of the usual suspects (plus cat 3 rider Andrew Troy).

Baker Ellett has some pictures here - http://picasaweb.google.com/gbakerellett/WorkingMansClassicDay1.


Results:

Pro/1/2/3 50 starters:
1. Eric Barlevav             Time Pro Cycling
2. Gerardo Castro          Richmond Pro Cycling
3. Jeff Brandon             Hefler Performance Coaching
4. Mike Gann                 Toshiba-Santo
5. Dave Fuentes            Battley Cycles
6. Jeff Buckles              Richmond Pro Cycling
7. Andrew Troy              Carytown Bicycle Company (1st Cat 3)
8. Jeff Hopkins             Inferno Racing

Cat 4/5 46 starters:
1. Wayland Hundley       Hefler Performance Coaching
2. Dominik Meier
3. Mike Oughton            Carytown Bicycle Company
4. David Treece             VA Beach Velo
5. Dewey Reynolds       Bike Works
6. Robert Pullin             Carytown Bicycle Company      

 

this week

June 15th, 2008

so i based my racing on accuweather and decided to stay home. it ended up dry but honestly i’m not too disappointed. i maybe have 15 races left in me and with roanoke 3 day, bp circuit race, and crossroads there’s not much more on top of that.

watched the harlem race on that wcsn website. the coverage was terrible. the commentators didn’t know who anybody was except for tyler. watched stoop try to go 8 seconds on his top tube after pulling out of his pedal. watched eric barlevav win the race by a tire then eat shit after the finish. i’d never heard of this guy until stoop called me asking if he could race. i’m glad there was room. fuentes attacked the rock racing leadout with 2 to go. esteban took 5th and all of rpc rode hard. hopkins was in good position for the sprint but it was hairy with some crashes. best part is that all of these guys are coming for the working mans race. it’s a fun week of racing and chilling in rva. after party at palani. after-after party at the buckles/pullin residence.

about to watch game 5 of the nba finals. still a diehard abl fan. anybody but lakers.

-sd

state crit

June 8th, 2008

Yesterday was the state crit down at the sportsplex (or scorchplex) in VA beach. There was no shade at all and the temp was about 105 on the course. It was the hottest i’ve been in a race. we made every break except the one that mattered. everyone was watching Jim Bender because he can drive a break. Stu heard some rumor of a planned early break with the big hitters so we covered everything early then when it really went we were gassed. Dee ended up in the best spot at 11th. thee were a lot of carnies staying in trailers in the middle of the course.

On another note, the t-shirts for the Working Man’s classic are done. A few will be available to racers for $15. Kate Brandon did the design, based on 1920’s socialist party posters.