Check out the Rigs

Swung by to visit with James Flatman of Alchemy Bikes today as I received an update that two of our frames were completely welded. Here are a couple pics of Jed's and my bike.

Super Stoked to see the masterpiece that James and I came up with in the flesh. It should go to paint (actually powder-coat) this week.

Yep, That's Mine!

That's Jed's

Almost there. Headed to the Paint shop in Colorado (Spectrum Powder Works)

The Process of Bike Building

I rode over to Alchemy Bicycles today to play with Bendi and watch James build up Joseph's new frame. It was the first time I'd been around an aluminum bike being built. The frequency of welds was higher pitched than what I've heard for steel. While I was there, James mitered the downtube, chainstays, and tacked the dropouts to the chainstays.

Rear-end of my frame before the brake brace is mounted

James Flatman mitering away

Bendi on guard

James tacking the dropouts to Joseph's chainstays

Joseph's front triangle

First Alchemy / Toyota Frame Tacked

OK, so I was excited before, but seeing this thing tacked together has me waaayyy more excited now.

Team Bikes...the Raw Material

Through the process of having our new team bike made by Austin Custom Builder James Flatman of Alchemy Bicycles, we'll be bringing you little shots of them being made. Since James puts so much hard work and TLC into the rigs he builds we figured a little behind the scenes action would be great. Plus we're pretty stoked to see the bikes that we'll be riding being made first hand...Thanks James, for letting us hover for a while!!

Alchemy Bikes to be at '09 Texas Custom Bicycle Show

Be sure to go checkout the clean work of James Flatman and Alchemy Bicycles at the Texas Custom Bicycle Show this weekend. They are our bike sponsor for the 2010 racing season. We all can't wait to get our hands on ours.

Downers Grove Eye of the Storm

I went out to Oak Forest Nature Preserve yesterday for a nice easy ride with a couple openers in preparation for tonight's Pro-Am in Downers Grove IL. This race is prior to Sunday's Elite National Criterium Championship. Crit Nats has been a goal of mine for about 3 years. Once I figured I had a crack at getting my Cat 1, I marginally fixated on this race ever since. So with the upgrade in the bag and my first time being eligible to do this race I figured I should make this trip to Chi-Town to give it a whirl. I used the title "eye of the storm" because there's been quite a flurry of preparation, travel and a little stress getting here...so Now an easy ride before the real action gets cranked for tonight's event.


and when I mean easy I mean easy...Yes that's 63watts.

Toyota / Cycling Team pb GCCA '10 Sneek Peak?

These photos just surfaced:






This appears to be the Toyota Venza driven by Toyota / Cycling Team pb GCCA parked high enough to catch some Austin skyline.






Matthew Mahon, local Austin hot shot photographer could not be coaxed into telling us what the photos were for.






Is this the team we think it is, cause there appear to be FOUR pairs of legs!?

We hope to find out what this is about soon.....

Rockwall Criterium

After a night of pedalling around on our bmxs, cruisers and basket bikes on the east side and watching films at the Bicycle Film Festival, Toyota / GCCA members Jed, Joseph and I set off early Sunday morning to Rockwall, TX in hunt for some upgrade points for Jed at the 60 min Rockwall Criterium.



.9 mi course, four turns, very exposed, with some stiff headwinds after turn one.



A Kelly Benefits rider took the heat from the street and set a fire to the field. This would be a day of the gutter. If you were too far back, the gutter was your race course. If you were on the front, better like to ride in the wind.

Our only objective today was to get Jed some upgrade points. Without making any excuses, not one of us made the ten man break that included Kelly Benefits, Heath Blackgrove (THSJ), Bret Crosby (TX Tough), Andrew Dalheim (Metro VW), etc. This was truly the winning break and we were left out in a field of riders content to let time tick away the "getting dropped from the race" on their to-do list.

Jed managed to sneak away with a few riders and I later bridged up with "Surfer" Nick Kiernan (TX Tough). Surfer and I broke away with 3 to go as the leaders lapped the field and Joseph surfed with them up to Jed's group.

Surfer and I decided to drag race it to the line. It was the noble thing to do and I was impressed I didn't get completly smoked. Jed won the field sprint while Joseph took 3rd at the line.

12th, 13th and 15th. Not the results we were hoping for but the team dynamic is coming together and we hope to pull off a big surprise at the upcoming Austin weekend and TX Tough!!




Time for some lunch.

- Post From My iPhone

Cooper Clinic Race Report

We loaded the Venza for the first race Jed, Joseph and I were to all compete together outside of Austin since Houston Grand. The Cooper Clinic in McKinney, TX was a Toyota sponsored event where we were treated with ice cold water (heaven with temps near 110), shady tents, and a massage therapist all courtesy of Pat Lobb of Lobb Toyota. 

The .9 mi, ten turn course will one day be the neighborhood streets Dallas suburbanites will raise families and teach their offspring with training wheels. But on this scorching day, before any brick was laid or foundation poured, we ordained these streets worthy of a crit course. Better yet, Bret Crosby of TXTough made a bid to have a street named after him by winning the 75 min race with a tactful solo move that saw him lap the field. 

Attacks were aplenty and Toyota / Cycling Team p/b GCCA displayed early dominance by taking the first two primes. Brian Fawley of Park Place Lexus and Matrix RBM also were always at the head of every reshuffling. At about minute 25, a very active field lulled temporarily, having made many combinations of a break that kept coming back together. As if on cue, "Surfer" Nick Kiernan of TXTough set the stage for what would be a one-man act. Kiernan strung out the field for an entire lap and when the dust was settled his teammate, Crosby, snuck away while most were like men lost in the desert, promised water if they do as they are told. At about the time it was obvious Crosby was not coming back Leo Frayre and Steen Rose made away as quick as virgin newlyweds. Surfer Nick was next, catching the two escapees about the time Crosby lapped the field. Brother Joseph was the last to escape the charred remains of the peleton to put in his solo bid for 5th place. I led out Jed for the field sprint in 6th position. I held on after the lead out for 8th, being passed by Fawley. 

All in all, not a bad day with the entire team finishing in the top ten. Many thanks to Lobb Toyota and its friendly staff and for having the cool shaded station where we all hashed out our post race excitement. Also, many thanks to Josh with Rol Wheels for the neutral support!

Tour of Lawrence

Jed Wins. Photo courtesy of Tom Soeteart

The team set off this past week in Hanna’s trusty ole' Toyota 4-Runner to the Tour of Lawrence in Kansas. The ToL was a first year event and it was well run to say the least. The events consisted of a Friday night Street Sprint (200-meter standing start up hill race), Saturday evening Criterium and a Sunday Circuit race on a 4.4-mile providing 7,000 ft of climbing in 53 miles.

Jed absolutely destroyed the Street Sprints on Friday evening including the Pro riders and sprinter extraordinaire Josh Carter. The Final was between Josh and Jed and Josh definitely got the jump on Jed but by the half way point Jed's leg turn-over was too much and he finally overtook the savvy sprinter in the last 5-meters or so. All told, Jed had to go through about 8 sprints during the night, winner moves on style. Josh is one hell of a competitor, hats off to him for giving Jed a run for his money.

If you’ve ever wondered what is takes to beat a Pro in a one up sprint check out the power file from Jed’s winning sprint.

After a great nights rest at the Hotel Eldridge where the race promoter placed us, we were game for our race of choice in the Saturday evening criterium. The field was stacked and included reasonably large team in TradeWind Energy/Trek, Mercy, Team Hotel San Jose with “pros” Sean Sullivan and Health Blackgrove. Team Champion Porsche was in attendance with crit specialists Frank Travieso, Yosvany Falcon, and Seth Hansely.

Joseph and Bryan cruising. Photo Courtesy of Tom Soeteart

Considering we had a small three man squad with the addition of composite rider Bryan Fawley, we decided to employ late race tactics and not worry about the super aggressive teams at the beginning of the race. With about 25-20min left to race Bryan and I were riding up front when we realized that Jed was riding in the back of the pack (I asked him to get some rest and surf some wheels for a while), so as not to waist our sprinters legs the duty goes to me to fall back and bring him up to the front of the bike race. It was a relatively easy effort and it was back to patrolling the front.

Jed on Front pushing the pace. Photo courtesy of Craig Sparks

Two riders were off the front, so with about 5 laps to go I gave good hard pull to excite the pack into working to bring them back.

Joseph on Front putting in a dig with 5 laps to go. Photo courtesy of Tom Soeteart

The effort was to no avail and the larger teams (to our utter amazement and disbelief) did not go to the front to bring the dangling break of two back, only 10-seconds up the road. Ubber-pro Health Blackgrove took the victory.

Jed and Bryan had solid finishes coming in 7^th and 8^th overall respectively.

Bryan finishing 8th. Photo courtesy of Tom Soeteart

It was then on to the local pub to celebrate and give back to the local community. Lawrence Kansas is a rocking little town when the sun sets.

Sunday presented a brutal course to the riders as we lined up for the final race of the weekend. Jed and Bryan got call ups as did all top ten finishers of the previous nights crit. Bryan raced extremely well and was part of the initiating group to cause the front break away. The course proved too difficult for our crit loving legs and we did not place in the race. That said, considering Toyota / Cycling Team p/b GCCA scored an overall victory in the Street Sprints and two Top Tens in a fast, technical crit we walked away with fond memories of Tour of Lawrence and looking forward to next year.

Alkek Sprint Night

Joseph and I went out to Houston for the last Spring race of their season. Due to the blazing heat, it was a low turn-out. Joseph also raced out there the night before, then did a 3 hour ride in the morning, so he was pretty blown before even starting his flying 200m Time Trial. He was grossly under-geared, but still pulled off a pretty good TT and almost edged out his first opponent during in his first match sprint ever. He finished off the night with a 3rd Place and some tired legs.

I tried a new gear ratio for my flying 200, but I think the headwind on the back-straight was working against me. It was the slowest 200m TT I've done so far at 12.1 seconds, but somehow was enough to barely squeak by for top time. Since we only had 5 riders, I had a by-run for the quarter-finals. Dan Morgan got a really good jump on me in the semi-finals which forced me to chase for a full lap. I was laughing at how bad he got me. It was like I was sleeping up there by the rail. Brendan Sharp and I had a really fun Final—conversing in the first two turns. I drew the obligation, but could not get him to come around me. We waited really late to start our sprint, which was a good thing for me, but my reaction times were still lagging.

Next weekend: Tour of Lawrence!


Semi-Finals: Dan Morgan vs Jed Rogers



Finals: Brendan Sharp vs Jed Rogers

Lots of racing

OK, so it's been a while since we've updated the blog. However, we've been real busy racing, training, and recovering. The Venza has been strategically placed at every single race we've been to and we've had a handful of spectators come take a peak and learn about it.

We had a great time in Tulsa a few weeks ago even though our firecracker of a sprinter and attacker was back in Austin healing up from two consecutive crash weekends. Friday's crit ended well despite a crash that took out Joseph early on—I snuck down under a bunch of guys in the last turn to pull of a second place. Saturday's crit was super hot. Aaron Sinclair from Houston rode very strong, covered some attacks, and got in a break mid-race. Joseph was also very active covering breaks, going for flyers, then on the last lap made a miracle happen. I was winded after going for a silly prime with 10 laps to go and I slid really far back in the pack. Joseph came back, latched me on to his wheel and with about 1km left, pulled me from about 45th to about 15th and delivered me perfectly into the inside of the last turn. I cut the turn as hard as I could and sprinted the last stretch to get 7th! I could not believe what we had just pulled off. Sunday was really hard for Joseph and I because of the hilly course, but Aaron rode really strong and finished the race respectfully. After everything was said and done, I was able to hold on the 5th overall at the 2009 Tulsa Tough.

The team will be headed to the Alkek Velodrome this weekend for a Texas Cup race. Wish us luck.

Colton Jarisch of Velossimo and I warming up along the river in Tulsa

Friday night's strategic parking on the inside of the first turn

Saturday's Crit finish line parking job

Hustlin'

Saturday after LaFico made a miracle happen

We heart Tulsa

Joseph hearts salsa

Zheng Gu Shui

Ahhh, good ole' Zheng Gu Shui. You know Zheng Gu Shui..right? Ok, I'll acquiesce with the smarty-pants Chinese herbal jargon. My point here is this stuff is fantastic for healing up ones blown out shoulder. As my mate John so eloquently stated in the last post, it's been a hard couple of weeks, with illness and crashes. The great thing is that when you surround yourself with good people, good things happen and progress continues. After a couple early season crits in St. Louis and Dallas with good results, it seems as though I've been plagued with a wee bit of bad juju. First the sinus infection which I thought I could kick on my own, (wrong!) led to an exacerbated ilness. I then lined up this weekend and hit the deck straining my AC joint...again. The great thing is that the crit season is upon us and that excites both myself and my teammates. Thus I need to make sure that I can ride well and score some results for our wonderful sponsors. This leads me to Zheng Gu Shui and it's wonderfull effects. Along with the chinese herbs, massive icings and Advil I've been able to get back on the bike (inside) and keep the progress going after just one day's rest. Long live Chinese Medicine and riding fast.

Race Reports and Coping with Crashing

The last two weeks have seen just as many members involved in crashes.

The Matrix Crit, held in the Wilson Block Historic District, Dallas started the two day event under windy overcast conditions. During the 90 minute event, just as an 18 man break reeled in and the sun took of its cloudy mask, the right breakaway artists played their deal making hand. A hard chasing field was spitting out riders on every lap of the technical course. In the ensuing charge, I found myself on an unknown rider's wheel. This was the first sign that I was on the rivet myself. Like a swinging pendelum, the wheel in front of me sweept my wheel and I, along with several around me went down. The result is I took a free lap (or two), finished in the field, which is like the 4th group to cross the line and miss Sundays race along with about the next two weeks for healing. With JLa out again (this time on antibiotics for a sinus infection, geez), Jed is the only Toyota / Cycling Team memeber who starts on Sunday. Jed's race tactics are marred by the exclusion of the "one hot lap" prime. He positoned himself perfectly at the start of the race and was likely set to take the first prime offered except he overshot a turn and went off-road. What could have easily been a quiet ride home in the Venza, was quite the opposite with a stop at our favourite place to fill up and get kolache's in West, TX.

The Sugarland, TX Sugar Crit's venue is "a pedestrian-oriented, main street city center and a central business district that is within walking distance of stores, services, restaurants, sidewalk cafes, entertainment, and a hotel & conference center." The P12 race was marked with numerous crashes that affected the outcome for the team. At about minute 30, Jed put a lil $ in his jersey pocket for winning a prime. This would be the only luck for the team. Joseph got stuck behind a crash and was able to take a free lap while Jed took to chasing and used valuable reserves trying to get back up to the field except it was already three groups away. Joseph was involved in another crash, this time injuring a shoulder that had only just healed from a recent crash. The team is holding vigils for healing, sunny weather and victories for the month of May.

Ivan Mukasa/James Bailey P1/2 Race Report

Toyota / Cycling Team were excited to finally take the new, freshly wrapped team car on its first road trip this weekend. Brother Joseph out with the sniffles, Jed and I loaded up on Friday night and headed up to Ft. Worth for a weekend of racing. Here's the report:

Sat April 18th
P1
The Ivan Mukasa Memorial Race was held at Eagle's Canyon Raceway in Decatur, TX on an overcast morning. The P1 race had 15 starters. About 15 minutes in, Dave Wenger (Super Squadra) attacked and took Geoff Godsey, Nick Kiernan (TX Tough) and Scott Veggeberg (GS Tenzing) to complete the winning break. I tried to stay on the neutral side of the battle royale that was occurring between Super Squadra and TX Tough, but I got spit out the back after thirty minutes and finished last, 13th place, one slot out of the money. Congrats to Mr. Wenger for the W.
Cat2
Jed Rogers could not wait to get his new race whip out to a Texas Cup race. The hands down winner of the one lap to go sprint at this week's Driveway Crit, a little refresher on lap cards was all he needed to go into Saturday's race with a head full of confidence. The race had about 40 starters and was stocked with attacks, all to no avail. Mario Arroyave (Velossimo) earned the Most Aggressive Rider award with his numerous solo efforts off the front and almost ruining the field's opportunity for a sprint for the win with a last minute attack. Gary Glanger (Lexus Park) and Tom Kubicek (Tilson) were off the front and sprinted for a mid race prime, won by the latter. All of these details will only be remembered by those that raced or stood on the sidelines on this overcast morning. All the history books will have about the 2009 cat 2 edition of the Ivan Mukasa Memorial Race is that at 200 meters to go, Jed Rogers shot out of a 35 man field to claim his first victory of the year, Congrats!

Sun April 19th
James Bailey Memorial Race
The morning of the James Bailey Memorial Race greeted us with rays of sunshine. In exchange for that, we raced on a very flat course with a stiff, 15+mph wind for 77miles or 16 laps. About 40 starters for today's P12 race, the two teams to watch were TX Tough and RBM. I knew TX Tough were going to want to make up for missing out on the win yesterday, but I was not prepared for Stefan Rothe (TX Tough) to make the first and only statement at two miles in. Ryan Wolhrabe (RBM), on the other hand, was, and the two of them were never seen again. With the two riders from the only teams big enough to strategize in the break, the race was quickly shut down and the chance of an escape was like taking a roll of the dice. My break was caught and countered by the first successful chase group of 6. For the next 7 laps, the 15 or so riders left in the field could never organize a chase and we just chased each other down if there were any attempts. At 6 laps to go the RBM rider from the chase group was dropped and carried a message from the front lines to the rest of his team. RBM was quickly on the attack and I jumped into an 8 man chase group. Some were sitting on and I coaxed most into rotating through, except Geoff Godsey (TX Tough). Luckily for us, his seat broke and he was forced to abandon. The seven man chase group cooperated perfectly for the next 5 laps until about 1 mile to go. We were sprinting for 8th, so i think we were looking for the finish line mostly for the finish. I took the sprint and all the glory that comes with it. My top ten earned me enough for a full tank of gas and a kolache.

2009 TOYOTA Venza now wrapped

The awesome new team vehicle just got a little more awesome! With the help of Sibley/Peteet Design, 787 Group, and Austin Graphics our brand new TOYOTA Venza got it's own team uniform. There's also a rumor that this may be the first wrapped Venza in North America... errr, wait... OK, I'm starting the rumor now. 360 view below. See you at the races.

How It Came To Be

After a few phone calls to one another Jed, John and I thought it would be a swell idea to concentrate on a singular goal..... race crits....Well.  You see, with Jed's quick leg speed from his formative days as a BMX Pro, John's late race breakaway tactics and cunning finishing talent, and my heft in a late race sprint for primes or podium placements, we decided that we'd get together and race our bikes this year.  We have diverse backgrounds, talents, and quirks but the one thing that was apparent when we discussed our 2009 plan was our collective nose for the finish line.  We like seeing it with clear wheels and we decided it would be a great combination of skill and fun for 2009.  

We'll be bringing you our pics, videos and tales from P/1/2 races and training regiments.  That said one of the most important pieces of our success is our sponsors.  So we'll be highlighting them as much as possible, brining you the best their industry has to offer.  

The NEW 2009 TOYOTA Venza

Expect to see the TOYOTA / CYCLING TEAM PRESENTED BY GCCA's new 2009 Toyota Venza at upcoming cycling events and tune in here to learn about all the great things this new cross-over vehicle has to offer. Toyota really did their homework on this one and the team is excited to have such a great vehicle to travel the country in. If you see us out and about and you're nice, maybe we'll let you take it for a test drive.

For more info on the Venza, click on the title of this blog entry to link directly to the Venza website.

Welcome

John and Joseph leading out the Point-a-lap

Joseph burying himself off the front for the second half of the Point-a-lap

Beautiful Alkek sunset

Jed took the newly formed team down to Houston this weekend to hone some technical skills on the Alkek Velodrome. Joseph and I were newbies and raced in the 4/5 category while Jed raced with the big boys in the 123 category. Joseph and I shared first place in all the races we competed in while Jed waited until the last race of the night to get his result. The 50 lap 123 scratch race came down to a sprint of about 12 guys including Daniel Walker and Alan Ting. Jed took second, a well deserved result considering all the efforts he put in that night. He's in the old green skinsuit in the video below.



The last two laps of the 123 50 Lap Scratch Race
1st Daniel Walker
2nd Jed Rogers
3rd Alan Ting