'09 CBR State TT

Good day for me, rolled a 46km/hr average for the 40k TT. Won the Cat 1/2.

Super pumped for Southland!

I signed with a Pro team for next season, I just wanted to thank everyone on the team/club for your support and enabling me to gain expierence on this team and in Europe this season. Im so excited for next year, big things to come. Wild card spot in Tour of Cali!

Ill keep everyone posted!!

Eric Bennett

Race Report CX Oct 24/25

Spooky cross night race cat 3/4 with a huge field.I start in the middle of the pack,off we go and its a fluster cluck from the get go,I hit the gas and move up a half dozen and hold on till we come to the first dirt run up/ride up and its all over....big crash with me in the middle and I some how punch myself in the face and blood is pouring out my nose,I get dropped to the back and I proceed to crash in a groupe one more time and fall off my bike 3 more times,I finish with a smile and a beer some one handed me after the last fall.

Oct 25th (I was married a year ago today)
My wife and I both raced a little........By a little I mean,I came out like a rocket with the hole shot and blew up .........I never checked my bike from the night before and my d- railer was jacked and I dropped a chain.My first DNF.........

Next week is Muddy Buddy..woooo hooo

CX Report Masters 35+ 1-2-3

Ok team,

Here goes the cross reports for the men's Masters 35+ 1,2,3
Sat. Oct. 24th Irvine. Evening Spooky cross race. lots of live music and crazy costumes.
I lined up with Nate Whitman taking part in his first ever cross race on a borrowed bike!
Of we go and I'm in the front group which contains a former World Mtn. bike champ, former pros and former Nat. Champs. Pretty good field!
I'm cautious since I haven't been on the bike much in the last two weeks because of travel. Basically I get into a group about 20 sec. behind the front guys. With half a lap to go I jump them and come in for 6th.
Not great but not bad either!

Sun. Oct. 25th Silverado. Urban Cross race. Super crazy course. NOT really a cross course but everyone has to ride it so?!
Nate again lined up with me. We had a super small field so Nate (smartly riding his Mtn. bike) and I decide to punch it from the gun get a gap and see what happens. I'm leading this series so I know I can usually take these guys. Well thanks to Nate's unselfish riding we are gone baby gone! He pretty much drags me around for the better part of 60min then let's me take the W to hold my lead and get the national ranking points so I get a good start spot at Nationals.

Thanks again to Nate for giving up what would have been an easy win for himself!

Tues. cross practice is on this coming week so bring it!
6:30AM San Vicente and 26th

Thanks,
Bruce

Race Report Cat4 CX-Family style

Kids race report first....My daughter Zoe took 3rd in the U10 girls race and my son Dallas upgraded to the 10/14 Jr boys race and took 9th place.My wife Catherene sat this one out (only to buy a new cross bike after the race) .As for me I pulled 14th place out of a crowded start of over 70.I sprinted for the hole shot right from the whistle and stayed in the lead (for the first time ever) for a good portion of the first lap.I had some company soon enough and a few mistakes later I was surrounded.Still stoked from my start I dug in and passed a few that had passed me and finished strong.My lungs are still burning and my legs are sore but I cant wait for next weeks night race.

NOW-MS Society Readies for '09 Tour of Southland (UCI 2.2)

NOW-MS Society Readies for the 2009 Tour of Southland (UCI 2.2)

The Tour of Southland (Nov. 2-7) is rapidly approaching. We are proud to be sending:

Tyler Locke
Nick Martinez
Sergio Hernandez
Eric Bennett
Corey Farrell

Aaron Schneider is the alternate (a tough job to keep training with no assurance of going and it is greatly appreciated).

The teams and their rosters are available here (the race is using old logos for NOW and MS Society - my apologies; I will try to address):

http://www.tourofsouthland.com/index.php?pageLoad=6

If you're unfamiliar with the race, you can learn a bit about this toughie in an article I wrote titled, "Taking a Stiffy on the Nose and Other Musings of the Almost Lantern Rouge of the
2003 Tour of Southland. Here is a link:

http://velo-fit.com/new/tour_of_southland.php
We’ll send out more information before the race starts.
Eddie

Julie Guthrie ace Report: CX #2 Palos Verdes FIRST PLACE AND SECOND!

Who: me by my lonesome :)
3/4 race: 2nd
1/2/3 race: 1st

Cloudy, cool morning, great for keepin' the arm warmers on. After hitting the snooze button a million times (why am I so tired??), got up to the PV course with minimal time to warm up. I kept hearing rumblings of 'you are so lucky you are on your mountain bike instead of a cross bike...' Well, not so much on the first race. I took the first corner not so great and had to put a foot down, allowing the other girls to fly ahead. The soft deep dirt proved quite challenging to re-clip in and get going. Had to chase the entire first race, and the girl who won simply gapped me by too much in that first technical spot for me to catch up...
Second race: 3 minutes following the first one! Enough time to get a bit of water and line up again. The good thing about this time was that I had the first race to figure out the better lines to take. Jumped out in front (Amy Hutner did the same thing I did the first race and chased me the whole time, which did push me to not let up) and pretty much kept the same pace. Enough to win, which was nice! I certainly don't think I would have been happy on a cyclocross bike, though! Any of you girls on the mountain bikes: this series of races (for some reason) has been smaller fields, very friendly and welcoming - I would love to have some company. Hope to get my feet wet at one of the Prestige Races soon!

Julie

So CAl CX Prestige Series Cat 4 Race Report

Where-San Dimas, Bonelli park
Who- Kevin Hinton,Wife,Both kids
The first race was the Jr 10 and under,11 to 14 and 15 to 18.My kids are 9 and 10 so they raced 1 lap.My son came in 1st and My daughter 3rd.So the pressure was on.
Next it was my turn,I only had time for half a practice lap and a few sprint start warm ups.
So Off we go, myself and 5 others get the hole shot to the first turn.We stay together for the first 3 laps (of 4) and I get that sinking feeling,Oh man,they start to pull away and the second chase group is 100 yards behind and gaining.I need to dig deep and not get spit out the back when they get me.Well.....six get past and I hold off the seventh dude to finish in 13th place.
Once again I had a great time and cant wait till next sunday.
The third race was my wife Catherene's race (her second).She finished on her bike smiling and wanting her own bike..........I wonder if I could get new race wheels if she gets a hole bike?
I f you would like to see video of the past few races check them out on you tube from riptidetattoo

Race Report: Urban CX 234 and Pro open

I rode my mountain bike for the first time in months with Bruce's Tuesday crew this week. He inspired me to try this 'cross thing at today's Urban Cyclocross race in Palos Verdes.

The 3/4 race was harder than the elite race. Almost Brentwood Pro/1/2 hard. Maybe it was dragging my mountain bike up that long, steep run up with barriers disingenuously slapped in the middle of the hill, but I was hurting. The fat tires worked great for the soft mulch and sand, though, and at least I had my favorite race number. I f'd the last barrier and went from an easy sprint for fifth to seventh.

Nobody showed up for the Pro/open race! Thanks to some generous and timely loan-sharking from Julie and Ben, I reg'd and jumped in with six other freds and Brent Prenzlow competing for eight cash-paying places. One legit rider? Easy money! With the practice from the 3/4 race (ten minutes earlier) I was able to cruise through the technical sections this time. I comfortably took First Poser behind Prenzlow, who sat at the start for a minute or two as the rest off us scrambled off in a frenzy. I am happy to say that I was not lapped.

Julie and Ben, I owe you a fizzy return on your investment.

Julia and Lauren at Elite Nationals

While the rest of our U25 girls (and of course the “O25’s”) were racing the MS Ride on Saturday and Sunday (and it was a race — don’t tell anyone tell you different), Julia and Lauren were at the Elite Track Nationals. Congratulations for qualifying for the finals and racing so well against world class track stars. Very impressive. Below is a re-cap from both Julia and Lauren.



Julia:
Scratch; qualified pretty easily, 5th place. when the final sprint came around I was in 4th position but was boxed in at the end and ended up 11th. Points race: I managed to get some points and had I finished first in the last sprint I would have gotten 5th, but I messed it up a little and ended up 8th. However it was a great experience and a REALLY fast race.

Lauren:
Scratch race. There was a crash right next to me in my qualifying heat. I rode into the apron all the way to the gate to avoid it and barely made it back on the track in time for turn 3. Got pretty scared but found my way out of the box on the last lap to sprint for 8th (10 out of 18 from each heat qualified). The final was REALLY sketchy. One girl forced me into the blue where my bike hopped sideways and I somehow stayed upright. Another girl hit me from the side and my foot got stuck with something on her bike but again I managed to not go down. Got too scared to do anything and finished 17th out of the 20 girls that qualified. Shelley Olds (last year's scratch champion) ended up lapping the field to take the win again.

Points Race. My qualifying heat was pretty stacked with Sarah Hammer, Shelly Olds, Kristin King, and Theresa Cliff-Ryan and thus really fast. They were taking the top ten riders into the final and I was a little scared when 6 riders lapped the field. Coach was yelling at me that I was still ok that I just needed to get some points. I went for two of the sprints and finished the heat in 9th with 6 points. Coach said he was getting tired of me cutting it so close and making him have a heart attack. During the final it was REALLY fast. Like insanely fast. Sarah Hammer lapped the field twice, Shelley Olds lapped once. I have never been in a race, road or track, with so many aggressive females. I found myself giving up wheels left and right and never figured out how to set it up for the sprint. The ability and strength was there, I was just too scared. Next year I want to do some training riding that close to people and bumping/fitting through small holes at 36 mph so I can get on the podium.
__._,_.___

So Cal MS Ride 2009

Hi Everyone,

As you all know by now team NOW-MS Society won! We did it...to date we have raised nearly $113K! Thank you all for rising to the challenge to make this happen. Not only did we raise money for the MS Society buy our club will be getting a nice check from the MS Society for our hard work.

For those of you that couldn't make it: This was my 3rd year riding and it was so great to be in Ventura and not have to Shuttle. The MS Society did a wonderful job of planning the route, rest stops, food, beverages (coffee!) that made for a great weekend. The weather was great on Saturday and we did somewhat stick to our plan. We stayed together at a conversational pace to the 2nd rest stop. Picked it up to the 3rd and after the 3rd rest stop the pace picked up and it turned out to be quite a workout (at least for me). By the end of the ride the massage in the tent and the beer garden were nice rewards.

Saturday night: Greek food, "professional entertainment", and lots of laughts. Yes, it's true - Eddie can dance (watch the video Linda posted)

Sunday: I slept in but I heard it was really windy.

So, as head of the "nagging" committee I just want to say once again THANK YOU all for supporting the MS Ride. If you have any suggestions to make next years ride/fundraising/dinner/etc any better please email me directly while the ideas are still in your heads.

Next years ride will be 9/25-26. Put it in your calendar now so you can make it (Howard).

I posted some pics from the ride here. Please note you can add pics as well.
http://socalmsride2009.shutterfly.com/

cheers,
David...

MS Ride

You mean the one of Eddie and David belly dancing? Yes it was an INCREDIBLE weekend.

Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

From: "John B. McNamara"
Date: Mon, 05 Oct 2009 08:43:48 -0700
To: VRC group
Subject: [teamvrc] Thanks for an AWESOME weekend


I wanted to take a moment and thank everyone for the warm welcome I received this weekend. Since I don't live in Socal this was my first time with the group. Yeah I'm the nut from Las Vegas....
Anyway, what an awesome bunch of people. The entire weekend was just an incredible experience and I am so grateful for the time and energy that everyone put into raising money for MS. It sure feels good to be part of an awesome organization that is more concerned about the greater good of mankind than themselves. The only complaint I do have is the 30 MPH pace set on the rides (LMAO). I'm going to need to get a whole lot stronger in the off season or somehow get younger :o)


Take care everyone and watch for some videos I will try and post for the group (if I can figure it out). Some of the footage is very good from Saturday night.

Cross Report-Bruce Weyman

Well I can't let Kevin have all the fun so here's my cross report from today.

Men's 35+ 1,2,3
25-30 guys 45min.
All the usual suspects were there Mike McMahon, Jeff Herring, Jeff Prinz, Garnet Vertican, etc.

I'm started in the second row. The gun goes off and boom! elbows flying trying to fight for wheels leading into the first 180 mini sand pit!

Make the front group of 7 or 8 and we are off. There's already a gap after 2 laps. I'm feeling good and thinking about what section will allow me to get a jump on the group. Into a sandy twisty section and I bobble big time. Then I over cook the next 180 trying to get back on.

From here on out I'm about 10 seconds behind the race for first. With a group like that if you make one small mistake it's really hard to come back. I end up 6th but feeling better and better every week.

2 months until Nationals! Let it rain baby rain!

Bruce

Cyclocross Race Report-Kevin Hinton

Race #no 1.....cat 4 30 min (my second cross race ever),with 70 plus lined up to start and me in the very back, I was more than a little nervous . The two cups of coffee,one GU,and a 5 hour energy were kicking in and I was gona blow. Sprint start to the loose gravel,dust is everywhere,people are falling yelling ect....I clear the wrecks and I pass 15 or 20 on the way around,more loose gravel and hairpin gravel run up which I practiced ahead of time .I pass a few more up the hill and down the black top to the grass switchbacks . It's thinning out and I get some space to relax for a sec.The back lot was all loose gravel with more than a few large rocks,loose focus and it's a dirt bath . I saw many dudes eat it hard out here . Slowly I began to pick people off and in the end I came in 32nd.

Race #2....cat 3/4 45 min...........I dont think I was last.
Race #3 My wife..not last either (her first race)
Race #4 My Daughter 2 nd place
My son was grounded (no racing)

Next race is Sun,bring your BBQ,family,dog ect....

Race Report: This Track stuff...

...is fun. I started training at Encino in February because I could find enough daylight around my class schedule to ride on the road. A few months later, I accidentally qualified for Elite Nationals as a track cat 4 in a sprint event (?) in which I flatted (??). So, I figured I at least had to go to the show. My goal was to not finish last.

9/26 LAVRA Cup 4/5 Omnium. I crashed myself out of the points race like an idiot. I was embarrassed, so I won the tempo, the scratch, and the omnium to save face. The prize money went straight toward Tegaderm to cover up the square foot of skin I donated to the Home Depot Center. It was nice to finally win something this season, especially since that win came on the eve of the biggest ass-whooping bike racing has ever given me.
10/1 1km TT at Elite Track Nationals. I showed up seven hours before I raced, excited but with zero delusions about my ability to compete. Got bored, warmed up too early, didn't eat enough, realized Taylor Phinney and Giddeon Massie were warming up for the same event, freaked out, choked, and raced significantly slower than my already-pathetic PR. But didn't finish last!
10/3 Bike MS Ride. 100 miles and 2 pints of beer are great prep for a team sprint. Right?
10/4 Team sprint at Elite Track Nationals. Woo, 9th place. NOW teammates would have been better, but I managed to not place last once again! Mission accomplished: I did not DFL at nationals.

Danny, thanks for letting me borrow your skinsuit.

U25 Joe Patterson