Monday, June 23, 2008
The Tour de Nez wrapped up this past weekend with the Vitamin Cottage Cycling Team pb XP Companies turning some heads. Jon Baker stepped on the podium again (click here for photo and gallery) after another second place finish on the difficult final stage. Baker finished 2nd earlier in the week in the Truckee Criterium and ended up 12th overall. The team received great photographic and press coverage on both Cyclingnews.com and Velonews.Com.
Following is a race report from Dirk Friel for the final stage:
Tour de Nez Final Stage, Northstar Village, CA.
The final stage of the Tour de Nez was yet again an up and down affair. Even though the "Nez's" stages are relatively short they are far from easy. There was not one minute of recovery in the entire 4-day, 5-stage, event.
The final race on Saturday consisted of 22 laps of a hilly, 2-mile technical circuit. The field was down to about 56 starters and my goal was to hopefully move up a few spots in order to finish top 30 overall.
Bang! The starters pistol was shot and 56 riders went sprinting out of the start line as if we were starting a criterium. We quickly descended the downhill portion of the course and within a minute hit the first short hill and cobble section through the Northstar Village.
The cobbles added a European feel to the race and yet again took away any chance of recovery on what otherwise would have been the easiest section of the course. I must say I was suffering like a dog but rather enjoyed the atmosphere of racing through a ski village. Million dollar penthouse condos loomed four stories above and spectators lounged in comfy leather couches sipping coffee and beer. What could be better.
About five laps into the race I was able to help my Vitamin Cottage/XP Companies teammate Jon Baker leap off the front of the group and bridge to a small breakaway. Having helped Jon as best I could I quickly went back to survival mode and tried to stay hidden within the second group and conserve precious energy.
Half way through the race the break with Baker was about 30 seconds off the front and I found myself still in the 2nd group with the GC leaders. Our group was down to about 19 riders and I was pleased with my efforts. However, I knew it was going to be short lived. With 9 laps to go I popped off the back of the 2nd group and found myself chasing solo. Luckily I caught two riders and we put our heads down and worked well together to the finish.
Somehow the results got messed up as I finished with two riders yet the results show me as finishing alone. Oh well, in the end I rode a solid race and moved from 33rd overall to 28th place in the final general classification. This is certainly not a great result in the grand scheme of things, but for a guy who trains about 10hrs/week and hasn't raced an NRC stage race since 2002 I'm really happy with 28th. I'm even happier for my team though since Jon Baker finished 2nd on the final stage which was his second, 2nd place of the week. With just a tad more luck Jon could have won two NRC races last week.
Stage Details:
1:36
305 avg watts
359 NP
*This race also produced my second highest Normalized CP 20 of the year at 398w.
It is now time to recover and think about the next local Colorado race which is the Niwot Criterium in a few weeks. I may also do the local Wednesday time trial series this week.
Thanks for reading,
Dirk
Friday, June 20, 2008
The Vitamin Cottage Cycling Team pb XP Companies made a huge splash in the national calendar waters last night in the Tour De Nez, Truckee Criterium. To start things out, Dirk Friel was away for a long time in break with Alex Candelario (Kelly Benefits). Dirk took second to Candelario in an intermediate points sprint. Jon Baker countered the Friel/Candelario move. Roman Kilun (Health Net) and Justin England (Toyota United) bridged up to Baker and they stayed away to the finish. Baker was 2nd in front of a huge crowd. Kilun won with England 3rd.
The team received huge props throughout the race from rock star announcer Dave Towle. Tomorrow is the hardest stage with tons of climbing with Jon Baker sitting in 9th on GC. Baker will rely heavily on teammates Friel, Joe Pinkerton and Randy Riechardt, all of whom are having a great race so far.
See pictures and a race report on the cyclingnews tour de nez coverage - http://www.cyclingnews.com/photos.php?id=/photos/2008/jun08/tourdenez08/tourdenez083/2008TdNez3_18.
Monday, June 16, 2008
After a tough day in Saturday’s Glenwood Springs Rock the River Road Race, the VC men’s p-1-2 team redeemed itself with a 1-2 finish on a challenging Glenwood Criterium course. The weekend races saw two great new venues on the Colorado racing Calendar. The road race course provided scenic views along the Colorado River and served up a demanding route with lots of rolling climbs and a stiff wind. To make a long story short, the team missed the days winning breakaway of four and the chaotic field sprint didn’t provide any consolation.
Sunday’s Criterium course, however, provided the opportunity for redemption. On a technical course that included several tight turns and a fair bit of climbing, Jon Tarkington delivered a commanding solo performance eventually lapping almost the entire field for the win. Christian McCarthy provided the exclamation point by rolling across the line alone for second on a day that saw the field completely shattered.
Team highlights from the women's races this weekend included Carol Hutton's fourth-place finish in the road race and Renee Eastman's second place finish in the criterium.
Tarkington on his way to a solo victory
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Kirsten Williams displays her CO State TT silver medal
Riders Wayne Watson and Kirsten Williams of the Vitamin Cottage / pb XP Companies team brought home medals from the Colorado State Time Trial Championships. Wayne completed the 38km course in 51:42 beating out the 2nd place 55+ rider by over 3 minutes! Wayne defended his title by taking over 1 minute off his time from last year in arguably more difficult, windy conditions. Kirsten took home the silver medal in the Junior Womens 10-12 age group. Laurel Rathbun, team 5280, won this category and has been challenged by our new rider, Kirsten, all of this year as the two traded wins at the Cherry Creek TT. It is interesting that Wayne is the oldest team member and Kirsten the youngest. This highlights cycling as a lifelong sport and healthy activity. These attributes reflect the business plan of the title sponsor Vitamin Cottage.
Kirsten Williams gets ready for the CO state TT
Saturday, May 24, 2008
The racing season is easing into gear here in Colorado. With a break in the action on the Front Range this weekend, here's a look back at the last couple of weeks.
Dirk Friel leads Jon Tarkington at the Coal Miner's Classic
Photo © courtesy of Deirdre Moynihan - check out more great shots @ dmoynihan.smugmug.com
WHEELS OF THUNDER & COAL MINERS - Last weekend the Wheel's of Thunder (WOT) Classic took place on Saturday and Sunday was the Coal Miner's Classic, both on new courses. Renee Eastman pulled off a pair of 4th places in the women's Pro-1-2 races. In the men's WOT race, Dirk Friel and new teammate Randy Reichardt found themselves as the only team with two in a breakaway initiated by Henk Vogel's (Toyota-United). Before Dirk and Randy could turn the situation to their advantage, the break split and they found themselves on defense, which ultimately resulted in 7th and 8th place finishes, respectively. Zak Grabowski (THF Cycling) took the win ahead of some very experienced riders.
Friel turned it around in Sunday's Coal Miners classic, finishing on the podium in second place behind winner Henk Vogels. Friel's breakaway companion and teammate Jon Tarkington took 4th.
SUNSHINE HILLCLIMB - Jon Baker finished 2nd behind Phil Zaijeck (Healthnet Maxxis) and ahead of 3rd place and former VC rider Scott Tietzel, who now rides for the Jelly Belly Professional Cycling Team. The course takes place on a 9 mile climb starting at the Boulder Center for Sports Medicine and climbs over 3000 ft.
RABBIT MOUNTAIN TIME TRIAL - The VC men's and women's team took the Rabbit Mountain team time trial (full disclosure - VC was the only team to enter the men's event). In the individual Time Trial held on the same day, first-year VC rider Carol Hutton took the win with Renee Eastman taking second. Speaking of time trials, Jon Baker took the following Wednesday Boulder Time Trial Series win with teammate Dirk Friel taking second on a super windy night.
Here's a recap of the Tour of Arkansas...
Stage 0: The hardest part can be getting there, and Arkansas was no exception. A 2 hour delay in Dallas meant I arrived at my host house at 1AM. 6 hours later I was up and eating breakfast for stage 1.
Stage 1: A tricky stage to judge; over 10,000 ft of climbing over 110 miles, but no climb more than 2 miles long. This meant a constant up and down, with a battle for position at the front for the each punchy climb; a bit like an Ardennes Classic, this one. After a valiant battle, I made the front group of 30, but was unfortunately gapped off a bit on the final rise before the line, losing 12 seconds.
Stage 2: 97 miles, finishing with the infamous 3 mile climb up Mt. Nebo, with steady grades of 18%. Yes, this climb is steeper than Magnolia. I had a 27 tooth cassette for the occasion, and needed every gear inch of it. After a steady pace on the run in, where I had to battle again with the bigger teams for a spot a the front (I didn't make any friends this race, for sure), we hit the finishing climb hard. I rode up at my own pace, and wound up 15th for the day, @ 1min 40 from the race winner.
Stage 3: Another near 100-miler, this time finishing on a more steady 10 mile climb of around 2500 ft elevation gain. At this point I started to realize that the head cold I'd been trying to ignore had moved a bit into my lungs; I was determined to give it a go regardless, as my legs were feeling good. Abound halfway up the final climb, Frank Pipp put in a strong attack, drawing 10 guys out from the field; I was a bit indecisive at that moment and found myself in the 2nd group. I eventually attacked out of that group with Mark Walters, but we were not quite able to bridge to the front. I finished 12th on the day.
Stage 4: Downtown Criterium in Van Buren, Arkansas. Not necessarily my favorite event, but I was determined to make the most of it and ride at the front. By the time I got there at 3 laps in, the race-winning break had already gone, and the team of the GC leader (Team Type 1), was content to ride a steady (read; leg-busting) tempo to keep it in check. I tried an attack with 5 to go, trying to steal a few seconds and move up a spot on GC, but the pace on the field brought me back.
I finished a reasonable 15th on GC, not quite what I had hoped for, but a great training effect should be achieved nonetheless. Tour of Arkansas is a solid 4-stage race, and one I would like to come back in the future.