The boys on the East Coast rode impressively over the weekend in the Uptown Greenville Crits - Mike Stoop won both days and David Duncan took a hard earned 3rd place on Sunday after working a CycleSafe bike rodeo on Saturday.
At San Dimas, there were no wins, but the racing was good. The team was active at the front in the road race and present throughout. The crit was close to a big result for the team, but it unraveled quickly with a late race crash. The squad is looking forward to some great racing at Redlands starting Thursday.
The California contingent is in action at the San Dimas Stage Race, while the East Coast crew is going at it in the Uptown Greenville races in Greenville, North Carolina. Check out the BLOG for lots more!
Tom Soladay got the California trip off to a fantastic start with a strong 2nd Place in Del Mar on Saturday - the team was strong all day and we netted 2nd, 5th, 7th, and 13th up against a formidable field. More in the BLOG!
Daniel Ramsey set the mark for his young proteges in winning the Food Lion City Park Criterium in Salisbury North Carolina. With one to go he laid down the power to distance his break away companion Richard England (Bissell).
The day started badly with a lack of cohesion and poor execution... the young riders had some rust to scrape off of themselves in the new season, and a group of 6 riders separated themselves (without us) in the course's main obstacle- a big hill that rose up for 500 meters.
Ted King (Bissell), Robbie King (Rite Aid), Richard England (Bissell), Boyd Johnson (DLP Racing), Mark Heckman (Toshiba) and Brian Sheedy (Lees McRae) all made no hesitation in establishing the decisive move 15 minutes into the one hour race.
A lap later, Daniel demonstrated what to do when things go wrong with a quick reaction to bridge across on the hill before the gap got too big. Adam Myerson found himself in a 6 man chase group with two team mates (Andy Baker and Jered Gruber) and things looked good to have 4 riders in the front. Even though they had closed to 8 seconds the pressure of the effort became too much, prompting Adam to pop across on his own before the window of opportunity closed.
In the last 20 minutes the break became contentious and the attacks began. In the field, Jon Hamblen organized a chase to relieve the pressure on Daniel and Adam. They knocked the gap down from one minute, to 40 seconds, then 30 seconds with the idea that if the break didn't continue to ride hard they would loose their advantage and we would already be in position to deliver Eric Barlevav in the sprint. We weren't chasing hard enough to bring the break back if they kept their pace up, but we were chasing hard enough that if they allowed themselves to fall into disarray they would loose their advantage. All the while Adam and Daniel could relax a bit if they needed to.
After some attack and counter games in the break away, Daniel followed Richard England with 8 laps to go and that was the race. Richard stayed away for 2nd with Adam closing fast to take third. Eric Barlevav fought off the week's fatigue to take the field sprint for 9th.
As a director, i am happy to have won, but we did it in spite of our performance as a team. It was really messy and dirty from a team standpoint and the team captains (Jon, Adam, and Daniel) have a lot to do to get us firing on all cylinders. In the first half of the race we did everything wrong, but because of the experience of our captains we were able to turn things around.
The decision to have brought in some experience has absolutely been shown to be correct. The old guys got out there and showed the young pros in our team what it looks like when your back is against the wall and you have to pull out the stops to get the job done. Everyone learned something today and we are looking forward to a great spring.
The TIME Pro Cycling training camp is still rolling along in Brevard, North Carolina. The team split up today with half the squad racing in Salisbury, NC at the Out Like A Lion Road Race. Tomorrow, the other half will race in Salisbury at the City Park Crit.
Yesterday the team enjoyed a little change of pace with a photo shoot in Greenville, South Carolina. It was a long day, but it was good fun and quite the experience for all of us first year professionals.
Camp continues until Wednesday.
Keep checking up with the BLOG for more updates and tons of pictures!
Team camp is going well at the moment. We just finished up a great three-day block out of Brevard, and we're all really looking forward to an easy day tomorrow to go along with team pictures down in Greenville.
The TIME Pro Cycling Team is still spread out across most of America at the moment, with various contingents racing in the Southeast, Northeast, and California. The team will converge for the first time this racing season at the training camp, which will begin on Friday, March 7 in beautiful Brevard, North Carolina in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The camp will last 13 days, will include a hefty dose of training in the mountains, racing on the weekends, forming a cohesive group, and getting ready for the big racing that will drive the team for the next 7 months. Keep checking up for updates, especially on the team blog!
Our team exists to give young riders a shot at becoming professional bike racers. We pair youth with expereinced captains who can teach them the TRADE of professional cycling. The goal is to transform regional standouts and diamonds in the rough into real pro bike racers who can go on to bigger teams and realize their dreams.
