2006 Past News
1-4-2006 January Update Rumor has it Josh has been on his bike at least once since Christmas. Doug and Travis W. have been spotted in the Hootch practicing their kayaking for adventure races this year. Daniel is exercising by rolling around in his desk chair. Chris and Michael have been "good boys" and have been putting in a lot of base miles. Jeff and Laura have been skiing for cross training. Trish has been practicing her pavement butt sliding during group rides as well as trying to pick up hot EMT's in the ambulance on the way to the ER. Don has been spotted on an afternoon group ride. Richie has been doing weights. Brad has been eating airplane food. No one knows where Ryan is. Brett has been seen lurking about the roof of the Albert-Hurst household with shingles in his hand. Travis C. is rumored to be riding.
1-8-2006 OTR's First Win of 2006! OTR Cycling had its first win of 2006. On January 7th, Travis Cross won the 16 mile division of the Snake Creek Gap mountain bike time trial in Northwest, Georgia. Travis raced in the Clydesdale division. Way to go Travis!
1-20-2006 Sponsors OTR Cycling welcomes back our Title Sponsor, Strenflex/Ace Industries. Ace Industries is a leader in the crane industry with their Strenflex synthetic slings. Strenflex will be helping the team ride their best this year and look their best in Voler clothing. Harrington makes crane hoists for the construction industry. 9 Mile Trolley is a leading real estate agency specializing in "In Town" Atlanta housing. Perimeter Remodeling can help with all your remodeling needs including siding, kitchens, and roofing. The Bicycle Link is outfitting the Men's Cat. 3 team with wonderful Litespeed road bikes. The Bicycle Link will also provide support to the team throughout the year for team members that live intown. Boneshaker Bicycles is back for their second year supporting OTR Cycling and will provide support for the team members Outside the Perimeter.
Gu keeps OTR Cycling fueled and racing with proper nutrition and recovery with Gu gels and Gu2O sports drink. Maxxis Tires help keep the team rolling. Tifosi Optics is outfitting the team with stylish eyewear. Southeastern Cycling will once again host the OTR website.
Welcome to our new sponsors this year! Perimeter Remodeling, 9 Mile Trolley Realty, and Tifosi Optics. Please check out our sponsor page.
Team Update Most of the team is now training for the 2006 racing season, which begins in late February with the Greenville Training Series and the Albany round of the Georgia Cup. Chris and Michael have been putting in long base miles. Josh has been exercising rolling around in his desk chair and doing the Airport ride. Jeff and Laura have been weight training while moving. Trish has been recovering from her fall on Dec. 31 with slow base miles and will have oral surgery this week. Travis W. has been kayaking. Doug has been spotted kayaking as well and on his *gasp* mountain bike. Travis C. started his race season January 8th with a win at the Snake Creek Gap MTB Time Trial. Don, Ryan, Brett, and Andrew are also doing base miles. Brad is doing spin classes during the week and the Airport ride on Sundays. Richie has been flying around the country with his son's motocross racing and is looking forward to getting back on the bike.
1-24-2006
OTR Strenflex 2006 Roster
Atlanta, Georgia, January 24, 2006--The OTR Cycling-Strenflex cycling team
announces its 2006 roster. Composed of amateur racers from Atlanta, Georgia, OTR
Cycling will concentrate on the Georgia Cup series, Georgia Championships
Mountain Bike Series, the Southeastern Regional Championship Series and other
races throughout the Southeast. OTR Cycling is also planning to travel to
several NRC road races and NCS mountain bike events this year.
OTR Cycling returns with the same riders that were among the best Cat. 4 riders
in Georgia 2005. Josh Arwood, Ryan Pumpian, Chris Hurst, and Jeff Wheeler return
to form the core of the Cat. 3 Men’s team. Addition Michael Steimle will give
OTR Cycling another rider for the overall classification at omniums and stage
races. Cat. 3 rider Richie Hunt will lead the Masters riders at selected races.
Ranked at the top of the NORBA Sport Women’s standings, Cat. 3 Trish Albert will
focus on East Coast UCI Cyclocross races in the fall. Brett Goldenberg and
Travis Cross will be focusing on the GCS and SERC mountain bike series in their
respective Sport age divisions.
OTR Cycling is sponsored by Ace Industries, a leader in the crane and hoist
industry. Its flagship product is Strenflex Synthetic Crane Slings, the market
standard for rigging accessories and products. Southeasterncycling.com is the
leading website in the Southeast for racing information. Boneshaker Bicycles and
the Bicycle Link will be providing mechanical support. Additional sponsors
include Litespeed, Gu Sports, Tifosi, Maxxis Tires, Harrington Hoists, Nine Mile
Trolley Realty, and Perimeter Remodeling
Roster
2006 OTR Cycling Team
Road
Cat. 3
Josh Arwood, Atlanta, GA aka The Sponsor aka Bridesmaid
Richie Hunt, Powder Springs GA
Ryan Pumpian, Atlanta, GA
Chris Hurst, Smyrna, GA
Jeff Wheeler, Atlanta, GA
Michael Steimle, Atlanta, GA
Cat. 4
Doug Gravino, Roswell, GA
Cat. 5
Daniel Arwood, Atlanta, GA
Brad Moulard, Alpharetta, GA
Donald Coggia, Atlanta, GA
Travis Wright, Summerville, GA
Andrew Diffenderfer, Atlanta, GA
Brett Goldenburg, Atlanta, GA
Travis Cross, Atlanta, GA
Women-Cat. 3
Trish Albert, Smyrna, GA
Women-Cat. 4
Laura Sconyers, Atlanta, GA
Mountain Bike
Sport
Brett Goldenberg, Atlanta, GA
Travis Cross, Atlanta, GA
Women-Sport
Trish Albert, Smyrna, GA
Cyclocross
Women's A/Elite
Trish Albert, Smyrna, GA
1-25-2006 OTR and Cyclingnews.com How cool is this? OTR Cycling made
cyclingnews.com!!
SO here's the scoop....
The WBL Alto was not that tough. Of course, this is from the perspective of not
contesting any of the three sprints. The group size was about 125 people with
inlcuding John Murphy, Nathan O'Neil, Tina Pic and no less than 18 pros and 3
national champions from Australia, Trinidad and the USA. The ride was very
controled for its entire duration (110 miles) and the speed never jacked up
until the attack zones for the sprints began. Even then, only a portion of the
peleoton would go for it. The pace stayed around 18-22 the entire ride except
when things picked up in the attack zones. There were three sprints with two
being at the end of two nasty hill climbs (Alto and CrackBack). The third and
final sprint zone was near Athens just after commerce and had a ten mile attack
zone.
1-29-2006 WBL Alto Report From Chris: "For the most of the
ride I just sat in and never jumped on the front to pull. Thus, since I did not
pull I was not thinking of going after any sprints (of course I knew I would get
my rear kicked). Alto was a long tough climb but not killer. I managed to reel
in several folks as I made the climb and never felt like I was pushing my
limits. After this first climb/sprint there was store stop which everyone
re-grouped at. The second climb was not as long and the peleton did not attack
until very near the hill. The descent after Alto was fast and steep. A nasty
head/cross wind made the downhill run a little scarry since you were getting
pushed around quite abit but the road itself was wide open, straight, and smooth
so I can see how folks could come close to hitting 60 mph. I was chicken and
never allowed myself to get past 50. On the 10 mile wind up for the lats sprint
I had hoped to go with the sprint group but was too far back in the pack to move
up and catch on to them. Me and about five others tried to form a chase group to
go after the sprint pack (about 25 folks) but we could not catch them. After
realizing we were on our own, I just settled into a nice 20-2 mph tempo and
rolled along on my own for a couple of miles. The group that was with me a bit
earlier reformed and we rolled into town as the second wave of three of four
groups.
One of the other cool things during the ride was that the City of Commerce
police blocked car traffice at several big intersections for us as the whole
peleton rolled through town on the way back to Athens (this was before the third
and final attack zone so everyone was together). There were two police cars and
they would hopscotch around each other and set up the blockades. I plan to write
them a Thank You letter since you don't get this kind of service very often for
a group ride. John Murphy took overall title, and Nathan O'Neil supposedly did a
number on everyone and destroyed Crackback Hill, supposedly the asphalt was
melting under his blazing tires. The final average pace was about 20mph."
2-7-2006 Kick Off Party OTR Cycling had its kick off party this past weekend. Thanks to "The Sponsor" and his lovely wife, Leigh, for hosting the party. The team got together for a retrospective presentation on the successful 2005 season, good food, and meeting the new members. Click here for more photos.
2-20-2006 Mountain biker Andy Diffenderfer started his race season this weekend with a Top 30 placing (out of more than 100 entries) at the Tundra Time Trial in the Cat. 5 category. Congratulations Andy!
2-27-2006 Chris went to the Albany Georgia Cup this past
weekend, his first Cat. 3 race. Here is his report: "On Wednesday I started
feeling a bit of a cold setting in, and by Friday I had a lot of congestion and
a slight fever. The forecast for Saturday called for heavy downpours and rain
all day. Much to my regret the weather report was correct. The early morning
started off cloudy with light rain, and the TT went off without too much of a
hitch. The course actually crossed a rail line which caused a bit of trouble
when a train came through, and they had to delay the starts by 20 minutes. So,
after warming up and rolling to the start, I learned that I had another 20
minutes to wait. My TT start was clean, but the course had a lot of turns and
the barricades were set up in such a way to separate one side of the road into
two lanes for the out and back of the TT, which made it a little difficult to
read as you made the turns. Since the roads were a little wet, the course was so
short 2.1 miles, and there were a lot of turns I did not put much effort into my
effort and finished 24th out of 28th.
The crits for the day began around noon, and the Cat 3 was at 2:30. Just as the
ladies were in the last 15 minutes of their race, the rain began to fall in a
steady flow. The Masters and Cat 5 racers were drenched. At the start of the Cat
3 crit the rain subsided to a light rain ,but 5 minutes into the crit it began
to rain hard once again. It began very difficult to see with glasses on, and I
was concerned about making the turns at speed. In no time I was on the back and
found myself struggling to stay on. My legs felt heavy and had no energy, so
within 15 minutes of the start I was off the back and just going along on my
own. Twenty-give minutes into the crit I was lapped rolled back to the car
and hung my head in shame, cursing myself and the weather.
After this miserable showing on Saturday I made it a point to do better at the
RR on Sunday. The forecast was for clear sky and a high of 60. Again the weather
prediction was correct. The 60 mile course was mostly flat and exposed with a
few rollers, and in my opinion, was a great place to start off the season. The
wind was fairly strong, which was certain to make all break efforts difficult.
At the start the pace was controlled. Everyone was taking it easy. At about 10
miles into the action started up with a few folks trying to make some short
attempts to drive the pace but it would settle back down. Everything was staying
together with no one really getting away. As we rolled through the feed I
decided to launch my own attack and see what would happen and who would try to
come along. Two others came with me but neither were with the bigger teams of
Aarons (5 guys) and Camp Highland (7 guys). Even though we the three of us were
working well together, we were not able to sustain the effort to make the break
stick. We were called in about 15 minutes. As the group rolled along there were
two more attempts at breaks, and of course I was a part of them : ) I was
feeling strong enough and was hoping that one of these efforts would stick. With
about 9 miles to go there was another person going. Yes, I went for it again. It
turned out that it was Mitch with Camp Highlands and another rider and the rest
of the Camp Highlands was setting up blocks for the pack. As I went for the
effort to bridge another strong rider with (Can't remember his name) with
Peachtree Bikes and the current Yellow Jersey rider bridged up to me, but my
efforts to make hard pulls were not working out and my top end speed into the
wind was only reaching 27mph wasn't enough. The other two kept at it, but I fell
off quickly. Then the pack went by me. I just managed to catch on and begin to
recharge the engines for the finish. As we came to within about 2 miles to go
the two folks who I tried to go with were brought back in, and with 1 k and half
to go the other ride who was with Mitch was brought in. At 1 K to go the pace
climbed to 30+, and folks began to jockey for position. There was a lot on
bumping going on, but everyone kept the bikes upright. At about the 300 m mark
folks started to cramp and pop, and I had managed to bring myself up to about
20th wheel. At the 200 m mark the left and ride sides were slowing up do to
tiring/cramping riders, but he middle continued to move well. I tried to find
someone to follow through with but couldn't muster enough effort to push up a
few more spots and ended up finishing around 15th. Mitch Askew (Camp Highlands)
was able to stay away with a well timed attack and finished first, Marek was in
the top 5, and I am not sure who else finished well but I believed it was a
couple other Camp Highland folks (Richard Shell?).
Many folks asked where the rest of OTR was and I told them the rest of you were
in no rush to come out and start winning. I look forward to racing with my own
team mates and can't wait to go at it again when I do not have a cold : )
Team Update The team clothing is in and looks great! Team--check the email list for updates on how to pick it up.
Dr. Travis and Trish were up at Bear Creek training this past Sunday and getting in some early season climbing. With the rainy weather this winter, the mountain bikers on the team will take any nice but cold day they can get to hit the trails. Doug and Travis W. did a ride with Doug's coach out in Between, Georgia. Josh was spotted rolling around in his desk chair on Friday.
4-18-2006 Boston Marathon by Michael Stiemle.Well, the Boston finish is
pretty interesting…with about 1 mile to go you dive down a slight hill, the make
a hard right, climb up 2 blocks and make a hard left. Going into the right
hander, I glanced at my watch to see how hard I was going to have to push to
make a sub three and I noticed my HR was at 191…not good for a marathon. I was
really fighting cramps and exhaustion…not to mention the worst blistering of my
feet ever. Well, I made the last turn and had a little more than 2 minutes to
make it to the finish. I knew in that instant that if I were going to go under
three it would be the absolute worst 2 minutes of my life. I stretched my stride
and began my kick but my body totally rejected it. During the sprint, I am sure
I dry heave at least 4 or 5 times but just told myself that I had to let go and
push harder. Just as I crossed the line, I shut down my watch and saw
3:00:04…..I was in disbelief. To come this far and miss my mark by 4 thousandths
of a second. I could not walk for a few minutes and got some help walking the
rest of the way through the finish area. As soon as I got to my bags, I answered
my phone which was ringing…as I answered…all I heard was my mother say,
“2:59:56…..you did it son”. I am not an incredibly emotional person but I
immediately burst into tears. I have never, to this day, worked so hard for
something as I did this race and was overwhelmed by the fact that I had actually
done it.
Web Goddess's note: Of course OTR is a cycling team, but we are all proud of
Mike for qualifying for Boston and reaching his goal!
5-1-2006 Roswell Criterium Ryan, Chris, and Trish raced the Historic Nalley Roswell Crit on April 30th. Despite being new Cat. 3 racers, Ryan and Chris decided to mix it up with the 2's in the Cat. 2/3 race. Both guys did great and hung in! They were surprised at the high pace of the race.
Trish did the Cat. 3/4 Women's race for her first crit in a year. She hung on for the first 3 laps and then got dropped. Another racer caught up to Trish, and they rode together the rest of the race.
Ryan Pumpian in the Cat. 2/3 Race at Roswell
Chris Hurst in the Cat. 2/3 Race at Roswell
Josh Update Josh is doing much better since his crash in Gainesville. He hopes to be back on the bike later this summer!
5-7-2006 Brasstown Baldbuster by Michael Steimle
"Earlier in the week, the weather forecast was ugly for Helen, GA – 65 and rain,
but on Saturday morning at the start it was gorgeous: 60 degrees and not a cloud
in the sky. My ride was late picking me up so despite having to rush and getting
left by the group, the ride was off to a great start (we had to time trial a bit
to catch the pack). The ride took us out of Helen and across some of the
smoothest roads in some gorgeous mountain country. Despite where we were, the
roads were just rolling with a few short, steep climbs of less than ½ mile.
During the ride, I had to stop at three of the SAG stops due to not carrying
enough food and hammering to catch the group was extracting more energy from my
legs than I would have liked. Fortunately, the rest of the group (with the
exception of 4 riders) began to at least easily roll while some of us had to get
refills and use the bathroom. Upon returning to Helen, some of the group peeled
of to finish with 80 miles while the rest of us headed toward Hogpen. Well, at
the foot of the climb, there were 8 of us and we quickly caught one of the four
riders who at the last stop, according to the SAG workers, had 3-4 minutes lead
on us. One of the riders from the group of 8 went a little ahead and I caught up
to him and we rode together for about a mile until he blew up. 25 minutes into
the climb, I had caught site of the second of the four breakaway guys and
finally passed him just before the top of Hogpen. We took off downhill and I
could really feel my legs getting tired but wanted to work with this guy to see
if we could catch the leader who was nowhere in site. We climbed Jack’s gap and
saw a rider coming the downhill and as he passed he yelled, “you guys can still
catch him!” He apparently did not know how tired our legs were. Well, as we made
the last turn up Jacks to where we could see the turn off for Brasstown, we saw
the lead rider. We started the climb and that first pitch hurt quite a bit but I
kept tapping out a constant cadence and I could tell I was gaining on the
leader. I glanced back and the guy that had been with me for the last 10 miles
was falling back. In about another minute or two, I caught up to the leader who
was shocked to see anyone and he looked bad. I was pushing at this point just
enough to climb quickly but saving a little for “the wall”. With 97 miles in my
legs at this point, that was tough to do and I certainly had to stand quite a
bit. I saw the wall just ahead and hit it full force. I knew all I had to do was
keep moving and I would be well ahead of anyone else. I hit the steepest section
of the wall and glanced at my computer: All I remember seeing is 3.2 mph and 192
bpm!! I was gasping for air and my legs ached so bad but I could see the top of
the wall so I just pointed the bike straight up, stood up and hit the last bit
with full force. Once I was past it, the climb eases up so I shifted up a few
gears, sat down and hammered up the rest of the way. I could see the ride
volunteers scrambling as they saw me coming up so I picked up the pace, zipped
up the jersey and put both hands in the air as I finished 1st!!
I could not believe it!! Turns out, none of the four guys who were out front had
stopped at any of the SAG stops so I was stoked! My time was 6:10, about two
minutes faster than last year."
Dauset SERC Trish did the Dauset SERC race on Sunday. The trails were in good shape for the Beginners, who went off at 9:30. By 11:00, it was pouring out and continued to do so for about 45 minutes. The trails were a mess by the time Sport and Expert started. In addition, I had air in my rear hydraulic brake line; therefore, I had no rear brake. I lost my front brake about 3 miles in; it faded but did not completely go out. I had very little control going down hills. Conditions were too bad, and I DNFed after the first lap.
5-14-2006 Florida Half Ironman From Andrew Diffenderffer
I "Saturday was a great day for
racing on the 'Redneck Riviera'. The first wave of professionals went off at
6:15 am with sunshine, temps in the low 60's and almost no wind. My wave went
off about 6:45 and the ocean was still fairly
calm. I took it easy on the 1.2 mile swim, knowing I had a long 56 mile bike and
13.1 mile run ahead of me, and I didn't want to blow up too early. I came out of
the water in a respectable 32 minutes
and headed into transition for the bike. My goal on the bike was to keep my
heart rate in the low to mid 150s, and after the first 5 miles, I was still in
the upper 160s. I tried to tell myself to slow down, but I felt good and was
hungry to race. So I pushed it and came off the bike in 2:30, averaging about
22.5 mph. Now came the half marathon. The run is always where you find out (the
hard way) if you pushed too much on the bike. I wanted to break 5 hours, but my
secret goal was to hit 4:45, which would put me in about the top 5% overall. My
heart sank when I did the math and realized I needed about 7:25 miles to hit
4:45. But I put my head down and just hammered. My heart rate was hitting a
frightening 177 through the first 8 miles, but I felt like I had it in me so I
kept going. I somehow crossed the finish line in unbelievable pain at 4:45:29!
That gave me 89th place overall out of 1800. I will be recovering through
Tuesday, but am ready to get back out on the road bike now and focus on some
road racing!
Up the Creek Without A Pedal Chris and Trish went to the Up the Creek Without a Pedal Century in Rome. This is a fantastic event that is very well supported. Trish did the 60 mile option, and Chris completed the century in 4:45.
Josh Update Josh has been seen out and about with the team after rides at dinner. He's feeling a lot better after his elbow surgery and is on the trainer.
Highland Rim RR and TT by Michael Steimle "Marissa and I
went to the McMinnville, Highland Rim Cycling Classic this past weekend and the
weather was absolutely perfect. The RR started at 8:20 and it was about 60
degrees. The Cat 3 group was small (about 35 maybe) and it started out pretty
tame. I did as much research on the course prior to getting there to no avail so
I just asked the locals who informed me that there was a 5K climb, (8-9%) at the
15 mile mark. Juris and TriStar cycling were there in large numbers and about 4
miles into the race, the TBRA points leader went off the front solo. My strategy
going into the race was to sit in and make a move on the climb but I wanted to
be near the front so as not to get blocked by the slow pokes on the hill. Well,
I found myself caught in front of the entire group and watched as the TBRA dude
just rode away. Not a single person made an effort despite sitting up and
coasting several times (about 4 Juris riders were on the front). So, despite my
plan and better judgement, I grabbed the drops, shifted up two gears, put my
head down into the wind and attacked. My goal was simply to get across to the
leader and sit on his wheel. I figured the peleton would gladly form a single
file line and follow along and after I settled in, resting my forearms on the
bars and pumping away, I could see a wheel right behind me. About 4-5 minutes
into this I glanced back to see…not the peleton but 1 rider, tucked in behind
and being pulled along. He did not speak any English, but I know he understood
me when I pointed at him and then in front of my bike. He came around and pulled
for the last 50 feet. The marshall came across and told us we already had 90
seconds and it was growing.
The three of us worked to the climb but my heart sank after I asked the leader
about the course. He said that once on top of the climb, it was dead flat,
windy, and no one could stay away. Well, he was right…about ½ mile before the
summit, a chase group came on us and attacked as they approached. We all stood
up and joined in. Luckily the 3 of us managed to stay with this group all the
way to the finish.
The TT was later that day and was 2.5 miles of 8% grade…no breaks. Despite my
warm-up, my legs completely protested. I also realized about 50 feet into the TT
that I had changed wheels to my Mavic SL’s that had my 11-23 on it…oh well. I
managed to catch the guy in front of me but it still only got me 10th place. Oh
well, not the best performance but it is still early in the season for me."
Ft. Yargo Sprint Tri by Jeff Wheeler "Laura and I did the
Ft. Yargo Sprint Tri this weekend. It was 46 degrees outside at 8am start. Water
temp. was 71 degrees. It looked like everyone was in a wet suit but me. I was
swimming ok until the turn around point and started realizing that only swimming
once is not proper training. I came out of the water very slow 15 min. and felt
a bit dizzy in the transition to get on the bike. They changed the course this
year and it was a swim bike run bike run. so you never got your legs back or
your heart rate down. The bike course was very hilly and I just never felt
right. I felt ok on the 1st leg of the run, and a little better on the second
leg of the bike, then the last leg of the run I felt like crap and had to really
push it not to stop. My times were pitiful and finished 20th out of 36 or so. I
wish I could blame it on something, but I cant, it just wasn't a good day for
me.
Congrats to Laura for winning her age group ,,,,again!!! and finishing time
within seconds of me....She blew her age group away (second place was 5min
behind)."
First Place Laura!
5-30-2006 Ed Soto Stage Race Over Memorial Day weekend Ryan, Mike, and
Chris did their first stage race at the Ed Soto Stage Race in Tennessee. Here is
the race through Chris's reports:
Stage 1-Time Trial
For various reasons we did not have a good TT on Friday and to make things even
more difficult the winner of the Cat 3 TT had the best time of the day, with a
time of 15.25, even beating the top Pro (Cesar Grejales?). Ryan and Chris are
currently abut 2 minutes and fifteen seconds down and Mike is abot 2 minutes and
fifty seconds down. During the TT all three of us ended up getting rained on or
having to roll on wet roads. Mike also had the misfortune of having his chain
pop off at the start line right before he was ready to go, which was a huge
mental distraction for him. The course itself was not too bad, but there were
some broken sections of old pavement and spots of loose gravel. Chris also had
to go around two different work trucks during the race, one near the start and
again near the finish."
Stage 2-Criterium
OTR is on the podium!
Knowing we were not going to make up much time today in the overall GC, we set
up a plan to simply sit in and be prepared for the sprint finish and allow any
small breaks to stay away. The plan was for Chris to set up our final sprint,
and for Mike to lead Ryan out for the finish. After my recent experiences with
field size, I opted to skip the warm-up lap so I could have good start line
position. Mike and Ryan did go around for the warm-up lap and ended up in the
back of the pack for the start. So, those two had to try and immediately move up
to avoid suffering through the surges of all the turns. Ryan was able to quickly
move toward the front by finding an open lane but Mike got caught in traffic and
ended up being buried at the gun.
Ryan and Chris were able to move and stay into good position for the fifty
minutes of the crit. The pace started out very fast but settled in bit until the
last couple of laps. The overall average speed was around 25 mph. Rolling into
the last couple of turns, Chris was in about 23rd spot and was ready to move up
to Ryan who was in about 12th spot and of course a crash takes place right in
front of Chris. He was able to avoid the sliding bikes and keep it upright but
lost all chances of moving up (he actually should have not been this far back at
this point of the race in the first place). Ryan, however, showed his usual form
and was able to place 3rd and was very close to winning but was boxed out by the
winner of the crit. Chris rolled in for a 20th place finish, and because of the
crash he and the rest of the field on the final lap were assigned the same time
as the crit winner.
The bad news was that the winner of the crit was the GC leader who demolished
the field in the TT. So he picked up an additional 20 seconds of bonus time and
also gathered a few time bonuses during two of the four intermediate sprints. It
is very unlikely at this point that we have a chance for an overall win;
however, Ryan is not too far out of contention for a podium in the points
competition, and thus. our goals are changing. We are going to go for a stage
win either at the circuit race of the road race and also try to get Ryan into
second or third spot in the points competition which has decent cash payouts.
We have a plan of attack for the circuit race on Sunday and will be acting in an
aggressive mold in order to accomplish the new goals. If all goes well, we will
take the stage win and gather more points for Ryan toward the sprint
competition."
Stages 3 and 4
The first annual Soto Memorial Stage race is now in the books and OTR was able
to make a strong presence at this stage race but was unable to come home with a
GC podium finish. Ryan Pumpian was the strongman for the team over the entire
weekend with a 3rd place in the stage 2 criterium, a 2nd place finish in the
stage 3 circuit race, and an 11th place finish in the 77 mile road race. Ryan
was able to finish 5th in overall GC standing and picked up a green points
jersey on Sunday by taking points in the intermediate sprint and the finish.
The team went into the circuit race knowing that we had a lot of work ahead of
us in order to try and make up for our time deficits from the time trial. We
took the time on Saturday evening to drive the circuit course twice and scope
out good spots to try to initiate breaks. Our plan was to try and set up Ryan
for an early break in the first of three laps in order to gather as many sprint
points as possible and maybe even stay away to take a podium at the circuit
race. We found a few riders from other teams that seemed interested in going out
on a break to help. If this plan did not work out work out, then Chris would
initiate an attack on the first big climb of the second lap. The way the circuit
race actually unfolded was a bit different. Mike and Ryan were able to get set
up for a leadout as we approached the end of the first lap which as also the
first intermediate sprint but ended up getting boxed in by a large leftward
shift of the peloton. However, this opened up the right side where Chris was at,
so he decided to go for the sprint. As the front runners powered up and started
to charge to the sprint line, Chris did his best to grab wheels and stay with
them. His plan was to break around at the last moment and grab one of the three
spots for points in an effort to keep other persons or teams from gathering
them, thus helping Ryan. Although Chris tried he was only fifth across the line.
Chris launched his attack for the climb, which was just a mile after the
start/sprint line. Although he tried to get away, there were too many riders
expecting an attack at this location, and they were able to catch Chris near the
top of the climb. Ryan initiated a second attack right after we made the second
of three turns along the course, and a couple other riders joined up with him.
This effort proved to be successful, and Ryan was able to stay away with these
other riders. Ryan made an agreement with one of his remaining breakaway
companions that he would let the person take the finish if he could have the
second lap intermediate sprint points, which placed him in Green for the day.
Ryan honored his word and sat-up at the finish and let the other person take the
stage win. Part of the reason for this was that the other rider did take longer
pulls during the break effort, and Ryan was hoping to have gained enough time on
the break to move within striking range of the GC. As it turned out, they did
gain time but only around 45 seconds which was not as much as really needed.
On Monday, Ryan was the best positioned person on the team in GC, so the plan
was for Mike and Chris to work for Ryan by helping him out during the first of
two sprints and then on the final 3.5 mile climb to the finish. At the start,
the team discussed strategy and worst-case scenarios and was ready to go. The
plan of attack for the day was to set Ryan up for the first intermediate sprint
in an effort to keep or stay on the podium on the points competition and to try
and pace Ryan up the climb to try and move up to the podium (gain time on
competition) for GC. Again, there were unexpected problems. Around mile 5, Chris
had a flat in his rear tire and had a terrible wheel change. The race was set up
with a neutral wheel pit, which meant that only a dozen riders were selected to
place wheels in the truck in which any rider could use. When the truck stopped
for Chris, the girls driving the truck had no knowledge of what was involved
with a wheel change. They kept asking Chris what his number was and which wheel
was his. Since Chris did not have any of his wheel in the truck he tried to
explain that it was a neutral wheel support. So, he grabbed the first rear wheel
he could see and struggled to get it on. As he finally set it in place and
jumped on his bike the truck took off and did not offer any sort of draft. A few
seconds later Chris realized the wheel was not on properly and was rubbing on
the chainstay. After a few more minutes, Chris finally had the wheel properly
seated and took off and was easily 5-6 minutes down on the peloton. He tried to
chase to the peloton for about 30 more miles, and as he passed race volunteers
he kept hearing that his time was slowly falling further back. Although he
finished the race, he was never able to catch back onto the pack. It also turned
out that he grabbed a 9-speed wheel that had started with a 14 tooth ring making
it impossible for Chris to get any kind of high end speed on the flat parts of
the course. Mike and Ryan forged on, and Ryan was able to gather additional
points at the intermediates sprints. There were two crashes during the race. One
was minor involving two racers, whom were back up and in the race fairly quickly
and the other was serious in which a solo rider being overly aggressive on a big
descent crossed the yellow line and hit an on-coming car. He was very lucky and
only ended up with a broken collarbone. As the pack approached the climb, the
group broke up very quickly and riders tricked in. Ryan established himself
within a group of three during the first attack on the climb and could not move
himself up to the other two small groups ahead of him, which continued to gain
on the group he was in.
As a side note, the second and third place GC winners were 18 and 14 year old
kids and the 14 year old recently won the Cat 4 races at Twilight and Roswell,
moved up to Cat 3 and placed well at McMinville and now placed well at this
stage race. I am sure he will be racing Pro within a year.
Ryan Pumpian (OTR Cycling) on the podium at the Soto Memorial Stage Race
OTR Rocks Bump N Grind! OTR Cycling rocked the Bump N Grind AMBC, qualifying 3 of its riders for the US National Championships in 2006. Travis Cross was 2nd in Sport Clydesdale. Brett Goldenberg was 3rd in Sport Men 35-39, and Trish Albert was 5th in Sport Women 30-39. Congratulations everyone!
Sport Master Women: 1st: Kari Linder (Sorella Cycling), 5th: Trish Albert (OTR Cycling)
6-12-2006 Dahlonega Georgia Cup The boys raced the Dahlonega Georgia Cup this past weekend. OTR was well represented with Ryan and Chris racing in the Cat. 3s and Andy, Don, and Sean G. in the Cat. 5's.
Andy's Georgia Cup Report The Cat 5 Road Race began at noon on Sunday
with temps in the 90s. A group of three broke off the front before we even left
the school and everyone let them go. The pace was easy over the rollers leading
out to the first gap. As soon as we hit Woody's the entire field broke up. Sean
surged ahead and stayed with the first chase group. Don and Andy quickly fell
off the pace to about mid-pack. The breakaway group stayed off through Wolfpen
and up Neels. Then a serious motorcycle accident caused a traffic jam on the
backside of Neels and the marshalls stopped the entire field. We were held up
for about 20-30 minutes on Neels while the life flight carried out the
motorcycle accident victims. Once things cleared, the marshall sent off the
breakaway group and then the chase group (including Sean) a few minutes later.
The remainder of the field
(including Andy and Don) were asked if they wanted to just go straight back to
the school since we had no chance of placing top 10. The unanimous vote was
"YES". Both Andy and Don were tired, out of water, and quickly decided it
was not their day. So the race ended for them with a leisurely ride back to the
school. Sean, on the other hand, kept with the chase group for a blistering
climb up Woodys, where he stayed on pace and finished 9th overall.
Congratulations to Sean for a top ten placement in an incredibly difficult race
against a competitive field.-- Andrew Diffenderffer
Ryan's Georgia Cup Report Good $$, it’s the middle of the night . . . fine I'm up . . . Everybody take it easy so I can warm up . . .that's straight up . . . Good rhythm . . . Little too fast now . . . Ow . . . Double ow . . . Mother @&@&@ . . . Weeeeeeeeeeeeee! . . . Rollin, rollin, rollin . . . 1.5 miles to the top . . . Hey, how come my computer still says 1.5 miles to the top, $hit . . . Easy juniors, that hurts . . . Weeeeeeeeeeeeee! . . . . . . Ow, ow . . . I should quit . . . Weeeeeeeeeeeee! Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! . . . Rollin, rollin, rollin . . . Neutralized, no way . . . By the masters, those guys are too old, aren't they . . . Here we go . . . Hello again masters . . . Good bye masters . . Ow, ow, triple ow . . . Uphill field sprint . . Why is everyone going faster than me . . . No, don't take my picture now . . . The end.--Ryan Pumpian
OTR Cat. 3 rider Mike Stiemle was spotted with his lovely girlfriend, Marissa, at the Dick Lane Veldorome at the Festival of Speed on June 17.
