On the road in Arkansas
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It’s
Saturday night, the night before the downtown Fayetteville criterium . . .
Fayetteville, home of Wal-Mart. All the bikes have been washed, bottles cleans,
Rubies fed and now I have some downtime to get out an update as to what we have
been up too.
We
arrived Little Rock on Monday night and hooked up with Jenn, a huge LAF
supporter and crashed at her house. Tuesday, we built our bikes and then it was
off to ORBEA to meet Tony and the crew and do an easy lunchtime ride with
Justin. Wednesday we met with the Arkansas Children’s hospital (pictures to
come) and the team visited four floors handing out tons of LIVESTRONG wristbands. I’m not really sure
who was excited more about meeting the guys, the kids or the hospital staff . .
.it was all-good. After the hospital visit, we rolled over to Little Rock’s new
baseball stadium, where we met up with about 80 people waiting to meet the
team, including the Mayor of Little Rock. Speeches where give, the team again
handed out LIVESTRONG wristbands and with a police
escort off we went on a 22 mile LIVESTRONG ride through the heart of Little Rock with 80 of our
closest friends. The guys chatted with all the people who came out to ride with
us, and show support for all those who have battled cancer. –It was an awesome
site and I was very glad to be part of it.
Joe
Martin Stage Race
Stage
1 – things where
a touch different this year, this year the JM stage race started with an
opening time trial. The guys would ride it hard to set up on GC for stage 2, a
110-mile road race the next day. Josh was first to go, he rode the first bit of
the hill hard, a little too hard and blew a few of his matches when it came to
the flatter section . . .Josh let his teammates know of his mistake so they
wouldn’t repeat it. Logan was second, Shaun third and Roman fourth. Logan
clocked the best time for Rubicon coming in at 9:12, followed by Roman at 9:19,
then Josh and Shaun.
Stage
2 – Wal-Mart Road
Race
After
a 5-mile neutral start and many nature breaks by the field it was game-on and
the pro teams wasted no time attacking the field. Riders went off the front,
they came back and so forth until a six rider break stuck. I was a little
nervous on how the boys would work together as it’s been a period of learning
how to work together as we have four new riders on the squad this year . . .but
I’m proud to say, the guys of Rubicon are rolling together as a team. In this
stage, Logan came back two times to the team car collecting bottles for the guy
and Shaun came back to get a few more. For the most part, the boys just rode
this stage conservative looking for their NRC legs. However, Roman did see a
bit of action as his handlebars gave way in the field and that sent him heading
for the ditch. He held it together skirting the grass until he hit the ditch
and fell about 1.5 meters down, but it true get up and go sprit, he grab his
bike ran back up the hill and had the SRAM car fix his handlebars and got on
his bike and proceed to get back in the game. Roman had to chase for about 3
miles, hard, to catch the peloton, which had Healthnet up front setting tempo,
but he did it. About 70 miles into the race the road turned up for 6-miles,
guys where getting dropped left and right as Healthnet continued to set the
pace to bring back the break. The break was back, reset, new race, the 110-mile
road race was now a day for the sprinters . . .the ones who made it over the
climb anyway. Roman and Logan finished in the field in 22nd and 36th place
respectfully. This finished moved both Logan and Roman up on GC. Logan was now
sitting in 28th position and Roman in 33rd.
Stage
3 – 8am start
–augh. That’s 200 miles in less than 21 hours. Stage 2 finished up at 7pm and
Stage 3 started at 8am –rough, but everyone had to do it.
Today’s
stage was out to the Devils Den circuit, do three laps and ride back to the
start finish area. When the official said go, so did the first set of attacks,
just like yesterday, the field kept attacking until something stuck. Healthnet
again controlled the pace, and brought back the break on the third lap around
Devils Den.
The
finish on this day was flat and fast. The boys where looking to set up Shaun
for the sprint. 10k to go, 6k to go . . .and so on. Shaun was up front itch’n
to take a run at the finish when we crossed the finish line . . .WTF? The
course was 3k short of the distance called out in the race bible . . .and the
officials where just as surprised as we where. So instead of having a full tilt
sprint, a mass bunch rolled through the finish, with one rider off the front .
. .AUGH! This was horrible, Shaun was ready for the sprint and had good legs,
but instead of getting the opportunity to sprint, he just got pack placement of
19th. This was true
heartbreak. I went and talked to the officials afterwards, and they where sorry
this happened, and said the course need a 10k, 6k and 3k signs calling out the
finish. Rubicon’s order of finish on today’s stage was, Shaun 19th, Roman 22nd,
Josh 56th and Logan 66th. Overall GC, Logan is still sitting 28th and Roman
moved up one spot to 32nd. Tomorrow is the criteirum, this crit is hard, and it
has got to be one of the hardest criterium in US. Game-on for the boys in
yellow.
Day
4, the criterium
Sunday’s
start was at 1:30 pm start, which was nice after the 8am start on Saturday. The
guys said their final good-bys to a 4-pound, very round, overweight chewaia
named Taco –short for Taco Bell.
On
the starting line the guys all had good position, up front of the remaining
84-rider field. The announcer did some call-ups and Aaron Tuckerman got one
–good for Aaron. Dot, the official said the race would begin on the sound of
the gun, then she started the count down . . .3, 2, well there goes have the
field, 1 the other half left, then the gun shot. Hum, in track racing we would
have called that a false start, but it was rather funny to watch the poor
starter fire the gun with no one on the start line.
Not
even one lap into the race there was a crash in the back straight, I counted
yellow nose as the field went by, all the Rubicon guys where safe within the
field. The peleton wasted no time getting up to 30 mph. If you have never been
to the Joe Martin Stage Race, the criterium is similar to Mt. Tabor, only
harder. Logan was tangled up in one crash and made his way to the pits unharmed,
next it was Josh’s turn to get caught in a crash which he found his way up in
the barkdust.
Roman
and Shaun stayed carefully tucked away behind the Healthnet train for a good
portion of the 90-minute race. By the hour mark, at least 40 riders had
either dropped out on there own accord or had been pulled by the officials.
Heathnet, drove a steady tempo, keeping the 4-man break within 15 seconds of
the field waiting orders from Corbett’s to bring it back. With 15 minutes to go
and the break down to 10 seconds, 3 more riders bridged up to the break and
everyone knew what was about to happen. I yelled at Roman to get to the front
quickly, then it came, Corbett issued the order and the Heathnet train went
into overdrive. Riders began blowing off the back in sets of 2, 3 and 4 at a
time as Healthnet just went faster and faster. Roman, our last rider, was
dropped with 4 to go, he stayed out there and finished in 42nd place. Placing
him 41st on GC, one spot out of the money –dang. Logan finished 51st and Shaun
and Josh finished in the lower 60 in GC.
It
was a good opening tour for the guys, they learned how to work together as a
team and it showed. I was proud of the guys, they’ve come really far in
6-weeks, considering two thirds of the team is new for 08. I received
complements from Danny, director of Jelly Belly, Jeff Corbett and Bruce Dunn
all in the same day . . .and both Danny and Jeff said they will be watching the
guys closely this year waiting to pull another Aaron or Kirk out of our team
roaster. Danny, Jeff and Bruce all told me that Rubicon is doing a good job
bring young riders up to the pro division –comments like those make it
all worth it.
Now
it’s off to drive back to Little Rock (3 hour drive), break down bikes, pack
equipment and at the airport at 5am for a 6:45 flight to Portland and the Mt.
Hood Cycling Classic.
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