Gainesville Race Day

The University of Florida's cycling team, Team Florida, held their annual race weekend this past Saturday and Sunday here in sunny Gainesville Florida.

With the help of various spectators, we've assembled some pictures to better illustrate the goings on of the weekend.

Cat 5's
Many of our friends from the Gainesville Cycling Club (GCC) showed up to show support for their friends and family. Rodrigo (far left), who raced the Cat. 5 race was there along with his wife Gaby (left).

The Cat. 5 race went well for our two GCC entrants, Rodrigo and Scott. Rodrigo finished 13th on the day, but avenged his DNF from the same race last year. Scott posted his best result of the season finally breaking the top 5. Both guys are riding strongly and should be upgrading before we know it. (side note: Earlier in the day Scott's son, Justin placed 4th in his Juniors race see previous post about Justin)


We've highlighted Scott and Rodrigo coming through the 1st corner.

Cat 4's
Danny had mentioned to me the night before the race that he'd like to try for a prime in order to "open his legs up". Then he said that he would sit in a bit to recover from the effort and hopefully be able to put in a good sprint in the end. Well, that's exactly what he did. He won a prime and then put in such a good sprint in the end that he won the race too.

Things were fast right from the start. The dip in the middle of the course kept us fast on the downhills and sprinting on the uphills. Breaks were attempted on the lead up to the S/F line, but nothing really came close to getting away. Although the cobbles and tight corners created opportunities for disaster, we all managed to keep the rubber side down (until the finish, more on that later).

With only a few laps to go, I knew I had to force myself up towards the front if I wanted any chance of: (1) staying out of trouble, and (2) Getting across the line with a respectable placing. I worked around the outside in the corners to sit in the top 12 or so. Shortly after, Danny made me aware of his presence on my wheel.

I like to think that I worked hard to keep Danny in the front all the way to the last corner (he probably could've done that on his own though). Coming out of the corner, I went wide and I saw Danny launch himself up to the lead. There were plenty of guys with enough legs to put in good sprints, so my sprinting efforts did little more than kept me in the top 20 (I finished 16th). Danny obviously went on to get the win, but I couldn't see him as I was distracted watching Big Phil hitting the deck just off my right shoulder.

CRASH!
I knew that Phil would end up with some pretty good road rash as well as a scuffed up Giro Atmos at the very least. What I didn't know was the affect that his crash would have on our friend and GCC riding companion "Naked Ed" (who was standing on the sidelines watching the festivities).
When Phil (Team Florida) went down in front of Nate (Chain Reaction) (pictured at the left: Phil on the front, Nate sitting 2nd wheel), Nate was forced off the course and barreled into Ed, knocking him unconscious.

Big Phil was okay, aside from the obligatory road rash and need for a new Atmos. Nate had minor cuts and scratches and Naked Ed was taken to the E.R. in the back of an ambulance after drifting in and out of consciousness.

5count is happy to report that Ed is just fine. The paramedic just wanted to run some tests and make sure he was able to enjoy his passion for "full-contact bike race viewing". It'll take more than a cyclist running him over at 30+ mph to keep Ed out of commission.

Most aggressive award goes to...
Jayson O'Mahoney made more than one suicidal attack in the Cat 3 race on Sunday. His finish wasn't indicative of how much heart he rode with, but those who were there saw the Australian sensation make attempt after attempt at getting away, no matter how futile it really was.

All in all...
It was a good weekend at the races. Beautiful weather, good finishes and a great group of local support.


In an unrelated topic...
Some pictures of Joe Brew came into my possession recently. I put them together in somewhat of on homage to Lil Joe Brew in his native environment (collegiate middle distance track).

ToC Final

Landis Wins!

As the ToC drew to a close, the opportunities to overtake the race lead became fewer and fewer. As a result, Floyd Landis won the innaugural Amgen tour of California.

The only change on sunday's stage was the ownership of the Clif Bar Green Jersey. By winning back to back bunch sprints on Saturday and Sunday, Olaf Pollack (T-Mobile) earned enough points to take the final green jersey from George Hincapie.

All in all, the ToC had been vastly successful and looks to increase in size, sponsorship and field size for next years edition. I really liked having the biggest stage race in America over here in the east (Tour of Georgia), but I have to admit...the ToC seems to have been even bigger, ToG has it's work cut out for them come April.

War wounds...

Tom Peterson (TIAA-CREF) was involved in the big pile up in the opening lap of sundays race, but in order for him to claim the Best Young Riders jersey and the $5000 check that went with it, he had to finish the stage. At only 19 years old, Tom showed a lot of heart, fight and determination to finish with the bunch. Keep an eye out for this kid in the future...Congratulations Tom.

In the same crash, Phil Zajicek also went down and was unable to continue. I've been following Phil's blog and keeping track of his results in the race. It sucks to see him have to abandon when he was soo close to finishing with a very respectful 15th on GC. We hope Phil is feeling better soon.

Holy ripped-ness Batman!
Check out this picture of my legs...not really, I think these monsters belong to Olaf Pollack from the T-Mobile team.

click on image for larger view

ToC Stage 5

George Hincapie won his second stage of the ToC on friday, giving him enough points to take the green jersey from J.J. Haedo.

The only real climb of the stage didn't turn out to be a leg-breaker, but did serve up the only real drama of friday's race. Levi Leipheimer had his teammates push the pace at the start of the climb and he launched himself off of the front in hopes of taking some time out of Floyd Landis.

Long story short, Levi's break didn't stick as he was caught on the descent into Santa Barbara. A selection of about 35 guys held off the chase group which contained the big-time sprint men. Disco led the charge to the finish as they had like 6 or 7 of their team present at the front.

George was able to hold onto the win even though he started his sprint with about 350 meters left to the line. Fabian Wegmann (Gerolsteiner) and Chris Horner (Davitamon-Lotto) finshed 2nd and 2rd respectfully.

Floyds grip on the leaders jersey seems a bit stronger now that there are only 2 stages left, and neither of those have climbs tough enough to put Phonak into any real trouble.

The leaders jerseys are now held by Americans:

Floyd Landis - Leaders jersey
George Hincapie - Sprinters jersey
Levi Leipheimer - Climbers jersey
Tom Peterson - Best Young Riders jersey

Very Interesting
In yesterday's post, I mentioned how there was an aweful lot of "buzz" surrounding J.J. Haedo's top-notch sprinting capabilities. Look at this picture from cyclingnews.com...


...looks like Bobby Julich may be planting some seeds about moving over to the CSC team???

Good Luck

To all those who are taking part in this weekends races (USCF or Collegiate) in Gainesville, Florida...Good Luck.

Hopefully the weather will cooperate and everyone will stay safe!

I'll probably be posting audio blogs from the races...stay tuned!

P.S. I've added a poll to the side bar...check it out.

ToC Stage 4

Juan Jose Haedo takes his second stage win in the ToC ahead of Fast Freddy Rodriguez. For a guy who said that he wasn't feeling that good in the later part of the stage, he sure is doing a pretty good job against a bunch of stud pro-tour sprinters.

Get a good look at J.J. in his United Pro Cycling team jersey, because he's not going to be wearing it for long if he keeps this up. There's a lot of reported chatter amongst the pro-tour teams that Haedo is super-talented and should be riding for a European pro-tour team. We'll see...

Something else
Read the Decontructing the Break section on Velonews' report of stage 4. There was a lot of "controversy" regarding Chris Horner bridging the gap to the day's main break.

Here are my thoughts:

Horner's move was full of great tactics for his team. If the guys in the break don't like it, then either drop him or shut up.

If Phonak didn't like it because they weren't able to pawn the pace-setting duties off on a sprinters team, too bad; that's the price you pay when your guy is in the leaders jersey.

If Phonak thinks Horner really bridged to that group as a result of seeing Floyd have a mechanical, then they're delusional. Chris has been around pro-cycling long enough to know the basics, and Phonak should've realized that and not whined to him when he returned to the peloton.

Grow up, this is bike racing!

Another Something else
I noticed while watching the end of yesterday's stage this morning...The UPC team may be disrespectful to the "stars and bars" jersey of the U.S. champion by having their kits look too much like it, but one thing about their kits that I do like is the last name of the rider is printed on the back each of their jerseys. That is something that could make deciphering who's in breaks a lot easier if more teams followed suit.

As For Today
Another opportunity for everybody to attack the poo out of Phonak. 105.32 miles from San Luis Obispo to Santa Barbara.

Stage 5 begins along the flat coast before heading inland towards a four-mile category one climb across San Marcos Pass. This area, near Solvang, will be familiar to many teams such as the Disco boys, who were training here just a month ago. The location of the San Marcos climb near the beach front finish in Santa Barbara will be strategically significant for a stage win, or possibly a GC move.

Although the climbs aren't all that difficult [for the pros], you never know what could happen after 5 hard days of racing. Them Phonak boys might be gettin tired.



Friday's Joke

A Tallahassee area mortician had a new apprentice who was learning the embalming ropes. He walked into the embalming room where a cadaver was lying on the table.

Thinking he knew enough now to begin the procedure without his boss, he began examining the body. He rolled it over and to his amazement there was a cork in its ass. Mystified, he pulled it out, and immediately heard, the Florida State Chop song come out the guys butt.

Startled by what had happened, he shoved the cork back into the cadaver and ran up the stairs to find his mentor. 'Sir, you've got to come down and help me, I've just seen something I can't believe.'

Annoyed by the naivete of his assistant, he said OK and followed him downstairs. 'There, look at the cork in the ass of that body, I couldn't imagine what it was doing there so I pulled it out. Please you do it.'

The mortician was a bit surprised to see the cork, too, so he walked to the table and removed the cork. Then the Florida State Chop song started playing.

Exasperated, he replaced the cork in its appointed position, turned to his assistant and said: 'What's so surprising about that. I've heard thousands of assholes sing that song.'

ToC Stage 3 etc., etc., etc...

I guess havin' your arms up in the "bent over the pew, praying for speed" position is the way to go! Floyd Landis' new TT position allowed him to time trial his way to a stage win and the overall lead in the inaugural Tour of California with an average speed of 28.39 mph.

Besting the time of Dave Zabriski, who placed second, Floyd now leads the ToC by 29 seconds which Johan Bruyneel believes could be enough to win the whole thing based on the remaining parcourse.

Floyd looked good on the hardest climb of this tour in stage 2, being one of only three riders to summit the peak ahead of the field. If his team is able to fend off the inevitable attacks by Discovery and CSC, he may just be the winner of the first ever Tour of California.

Youngin'
TIAA-Cref's new stud, nineteen year old phenom Tom Peterson, currently hold the best time by a rider under the age of 23.

This is Tom's first year as a pro and his first big test against the sports elite...and what a test it is. This kid who was born in 1986 (the year I started middle school, and coincidently the same year that Scott became eligible for retirement) is out-performing veterans of the peloton.

If he keeps this up, forget Saul Raisin, TP will be the American stud of the future.

Damn ESPN2
The damn DVR was set to record the TT stage early this morning once again, and once again the previous show ran into the ToC coverage! This time it ran over by like 15 minutes so I still missed the finish of the stage despite adjusting the record timer to run over 5 minutes.

In the words of Jerry Seinfeld, "What's the deal with ESPN2".

Or maybe Cox Communications is to blame, I mean really... if you're going to advertise a start time of 1 a.m., then why the F*&# don't you start the damn show at 1 F*&#ing a.m.? My box set of ToC stages is now ruined!

Other Blogs...
Phil Zajicek of the Navigators Insurance Cycling Team has a blog where he's been posting text and audio about the ToC. It's an interesting view point from one of the riders actually fighting it out day after day.

Zajicek is actually sitting in 15th place on GC right now. He's one of only two non pro-team riders in the top 20 and had been riding strong all week long. Check out his blog here.

In Other News...
Eight people from a meat packing plant in Nebraska are splitting the $365 million lottery jackpot that they won. I'm happy for those people, cause people who make a living packing their meat don't usually make a very good income, just ask Jayson O. (he just does it because he loves it)

ToC, Stage 2

The top 5 on GC in the ToC shouldn't be any surprise to those of you who paid any attention to my list of favorites a few days ago. Those of you who didn't think any of the big names would win this race because it's too early in the season obviously underestimated the determination of the American cyclists to have a good showing on home turf...namely Levi Leipheimer. Levi hinted loudly in his cyclingnews.com diary that even though he lost the jersey yesterday, he should be able to get it back in the TT today.

1. USA HINCAPIE George DSC 7.20'28"
2. USA LEIPHEIMER Levi GST 7.20'32" @4"
3. USA JULICH Bobby CSC 7.20'37" @9"
4. USA LANDIS Floyd PHO 7.20'38" @10"
5. USA ZABRISKIE David CSC 7.20'41" @13">

The stage was won by big George Hincapie (DSC) followed by Chris Horner and Josep Jufre Pou, both of the Ridley-riding Davitimon-Lotto team. The time bonus earned gave George the lead over Levi by just 4 seconds.

It'll be interesting to see if Hincapie can hold onto or extend his lead in today's ITT. There are some undulations on the 17 mile course that will make it tough, but I think that George will do well enough on the fast flat portions to keep it really close to the other TT specialists (Floyd, Dave Z., Bobby J., Levi etc...).

Web site notes:
Recent additions that have been made to the 5count blog have reportedly altered the layout of the site. Through much investigation into the code, I've come to the temporary conclusion that I don't know what is going on. However, I have realized that there are certain things that can make your viewing experience better.

•If possible, view 5count on a browser other than Explorer (Safari, Firefox, Mozilla etc.)
• If using Internet Explorer, make sure that you've upgraded to at least version 6.0 .
• Make sure your screen resolution in as big as posssible, preferably 1280x1024
• If none of these things help, then just deal with it until further notice!

ToC, Stage 1; DVR suckiness

Well the first stage of the ToC finished just as we all expected it to, with a bunch sprint to the line. Juan Jose Haedo (ARG) from the newly formed United Pro Cycling Team took the sprint easily over Olaf Pollack (Ger) from the T-Mobile Team and Stuart O'Grady (Aus) from Team CSC.

The GC didn't get shaken up due to the fact that all but 16 riders were awarded the same time as Haedo. Today's stage has long been pegged as the real catalyst to separate the true GC contenders from everyone else. There is a category 1 climb just 23 miles from the finish line of the 94.88 mile stage, so whoever wins today will most likely come from a lead group that summits the climb first. Look for the usual suspects to be there: Levi, Floyd, Bobby J., Dave Z., Tommy D., George, Cadel etc. etc. etc...

DVR Suckiness
So I've set my Digital Video Recorder (DVR) to record all of the stages aired on ESPN2 for the whole week. I wake up an hour early in order to have time to watch the previous day's stage before going to work.

I had to really use some will power to not get on the computer last night to check out the results of stage 1. I wanted the conclusion of the race to be a surprise.

I got ready for work and eagerly sat down with my bowl of Cracklin' Oat Bran to watch my pre-recorded race.

I became very involved with the way that the stage was winding down...the 3 finishing circuits, the jockeying for position, the lead out trains moving to the front...I was on the cusp of the climactic sprint finish...one K to go...STOP!

"what the F*#&"

Apparently, the stupid Gonzaga basketball game had been aired just prior to the start of the ToC coverage. The stupid basketball ball ran over the allotted time frame and into the ToC time block, thus not allowing the stage to finish before the pre-set record time had elapsed. UUHHHGGG

I got to work and checked out the results of the sprint (which I would've done anyway), but not before re-adjusting all of the record times for the remainder of the week to run over 5-10 minutes.

Being a cycling fan is hard work.

Greetings from...

wutcha think???

ToC Prologue, In The Books

Levi Leipheimer won the prologue in the inaugural Amgen Tour of California yesterday.

It seems to me that Levi is super-motivated to win the whole thing being that the race is taking place in his back yard. Today's stage will take the peloton right near Levi's house where he lives with his wife, Odessa and their weird little "ParisHilton-like" Chihuahuas.

With a large representation of American riders in the field, it's not really a huge surprise that the top 5 finishers were all from the U-S of A...but it's good to see none the less.

I'm TiVo-ing (actually DVR-ing) all of the stages as they are being aired on ESPN2. I guess ESPN isn't thinking of the sport of cycling as "prime time entertainment" due to the fact that the stage recaps don't come on until 1 or 2 in the morning...but at least there is some coverage (hint, hint Tour of Georgia).

In local cycling news
Saturday's RR in San Antonio (FL) sucked! My fat A$$ isn't cut out fer dem hills! Until I cut about 15-20 lbs. and am able to ascend hills a bit more gracefully, I'm gunna stick to the flat stuff. Oh well, at least I was able to danate my $32 to local cycling.

5count updates:
...nobody has made mention of the sweet new header at the top of this BLOG. It really gives the page some cycling character, no?

Readers Poll:

Who's Gunna Win the Tour of California???

The editorial staff of 5count has put together the following list of possible winners for the upcoming Tour of California (TOC). Review our list and comment on who you think the winner will be.

Levi Leipheimer

Bobby Julich

Floyd Landis

Paolo Savoldelli

Cadel Evans

Gilberto Simoni

Michael Rogers

David Zabriskie

Tom Danielson

Chris Horner

Saul Raisin

George Hincapie

Danny Pate

Tim Johnson

Chris Baldwin

Mark McCormack

Scott Moninger

Tony Cruz

Ben Jacques-Maynes

Paul Messal

Speaking of color...

Why have Phonak's 2006 version of their BMC bikes been changed to red and black when the teams colors are green and yellow???









And who the hell approved THIS!!!


And don't you think there's too much blue in the peloton???
click on image for larger view

example

Now this is a good looking kit!!!

hope your ordered your 2006 GCC jerseys, you're going to be regretting it if you didn't come April!

Change of color???

Has the Disco team darkened the blue in their team kits? I came accross this picture of Roger Hammond racing in the Vuelta Andalucía and it appers that the kits seen on Team Discovery during the training camp in Solvang have possibly changed.



Anybody heard anything?

The 1st Race

This past weekend I traveled to Lake Mary to take part in my first official bike race of the season.

I took with me the confidence gained by competing in the last two races of the "Bring It On" crit series at the Progress Park put on by Dan and Rebecca Larson (I was busy wrecking myself in Vegas for the first of the 3 races). I had placed 5th and 3rd respectfully and was looking forward to testing myself in a full Cat. 4 field.

It was a beautiful day, if you don't mind a high of 53 degrees with 20+ mph winds that made it feel like 40 degrees.

The cat. 4 race was scheduled as the last race of the day so my wife and I did some visiting with my parents who live just 15 minutes from the race site and squeezed in lunch with my best friend who also lives in the Orlando area.

Before running to lunch I did catch a few of the guys who were racing the cat. 5 race earlier in the morning. Scott, Rodrigo and James Penrod (Santos bike shop) all gutted out the cold race and finished strong.

An interesting note: In these pictures, Scott isn't wearing arm-warmers...why you ask. Well Scott's son, Justin, had just finished his juniors race and was wearing Scott's arm-warmers on his legs as leg-warmers. There wasn't enough time to make the switch before the cat. 5's were called to the line for the start.


Here is Scott Pfaff (GCC jersey, no arm-warmers). Rodrigo is just off of Scott's left shoulder with the silver helmet and pink cycling cap underneath it.


I've highlighted Scott in this picture, otherwise you'd never see him way in the back! click on image for larger view

As mentioned before, Justin Pfaff raced in the juniors race early in the day. Justin is only 9 years old (he races in the 10-12 age group because he's going to be turning 10 this calendar year) and he was out there tearin it up. How many 9 year olds do you know who are riding their bikes as fast as they can on a freezing morning at some Office park in Orlando? Stick with it Justin, you'll be smokin' your dad in no time.


Here's Justin with one of his competitors from Treasure Coast cycling club. (Justin dropped this kid with 3 laps to go)

My race finally started and I was admittedly nervous for the first 10-15 minutes. It was a large field and the attacks came right from the word "go".

I got settled in and felt comfortable with the speed, but I had trouble at times with positioning. Everyone seemed hyper-aggressive and finding the best line through corners wasn't always the easiest thing. The wind on the back side of the course was pushing everyone all over the place and made for some tight racing at times.

I was able to react to the attacks and counter-attacks (most of which came from Brett Miller (UF)) and was able move around in the group, although it wasn't always easy.

With 5 laps to go, the pace pick up and the field was strung out in a long line. I was able to get up into the front 15-20 which kept me from having to sprint out of each corner. We slowed again with just a couple to go and it seemed that the guys at the front were all just waiting to see who would jump first.

There was a crash at the start/finish line with one to go, but it was behind me so I was thankfully unaffected. Brett Miller made his move off the front on that last lap and pretty much rode away from the field. He held the gap all the way to the line and won the race. I would find out on the cool down lap from Brett that he had actually flatted before the last corner. How he kept the bike upright is beyond me, let alone how the flat didn't impede his eventual victory. I'd like to think I had a hand in his win, maybe by some blocking or a great lead-out, but the truth is that Brett is riding super strong and won that thing all on his own.

During that last lap I jumped on the wheel of what looked like a cat. 4 Pettachi, hoping that he would get me close enough for me to launch my own sprint and get me into the top-10. Unfortunately, Pettachi was a dud. A line of about ten guys went inside of us through the last corner and I was only able to muster 18th place.

I've got another race under my belt and some things to work on for future races.