Trying for 2 in 1

Last weekend the team took to the roads of Pellham to race the 04 Ontario Championships. For the readers who may not know, this area is the backyard and everyday training roads of Jetfuel riders Tim "the tactition" Lefebvre, and myself. So with alot of local support from all our friends, some from work, bike shop's and family, we had to impress.

The day's plan was to win both races (within the same race), the U-23 Espoir race, for Ryan Roth and I, but most importantly, the Mens Elite title, which is a race Jetfuel has won four times in the past six years.

We had 11 laps of a 15k course with 2 short steep climbs per lap for 165k. Racing started pretty mellow, and stayed that way for a few laps. Around 4 laps in, a big split happend, and Jetfuel was looking good, Andrew and Josh made the move, both being very strong, all we had to do was get an Espoir in there right? So I launched across the gap, with no one in tow, to see Ryan did make the split, giving us 4 jetfuel riders in a 10-12 man break. Immediatly the break stopped working, and looked to us to ride the break away. With over 100k of racing that wasn't an option, So we got caught. A few kilmometers later, I coverd a move and managed to get clear with Jeff Hansen, and 3 other riders all but one of us was willing to work, so we drove it. Over the top of the Kilman climb, the first of the 2 climbs per lap, a big break of 13 guys caught us, and that was the move that would stay away to the finish. Again, Jetfuel had the numbers, with Josh, tim and myself in there. With four laps to go Darko Fiko and Josh Hall were on the attack. By that time, Ryan Roth bridged up to the break with 2 Gears riders. With Josh up the road, it was now a matter of winning the Espoir race.

Initally there were 2 Espoirs in the break, Park Pozniak (Gears) and myself. Then Mark crashed and flatted, so that was the end for him. Ryan had bridged up with Jeff Schiller (Gears), so we had to beat 1 guy. 1 lap to go, at the bottom of the Tice road climb, I flatted. I rode to the top, changed the wheel, and just rode steady, slowly bridging the 1 min + gap. Every time someone would attack, I would loose a little ground, but I kept it the same speed and managed to catch after 11k of chasing. Once I re-joined the break I found that Nat Faulkner had made it up to Josh and Darko, but there was nothing we could do about that now. So with about 2.5k to the finish, Mark Pozniak (who I thought had DNF'd) came from behind and launched a hard attack on the Tice road climb, dropping some riders from the break. Ryan was quick to respond, staying on Mark, and counter attacked beautifuly to stay away solo for the Espoir win, and 4th in the race. After a coupple elbows, I was able to get my frontmans wheel, and Tim deliverd me to the line perfectly to take the group sprint.

In the end it was Nat with the win, Darko 2nd, Josh 3rd, Ryan 4th, Myself 5th, Tim 6th. Having to race for 2 dffrent wins made it tactically hard. But that's racing.

Next weekend, Josh, Ryan, Tim, Jeff and Thorben are off to Windsor to one better my result there last year --I was 2nd :( Meanwhile, O'l Matty, Stig, Andrew and myself are off to the Green Mountains of Vermont for more climbing than one man ever told another about... to "fine tune" for the San Fransisco GP.

Till then.....

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Upcoming

Desperate not to let there be to long a lull between posts, I thought I'd let site readers in on the team's upcoming schedule. This weekend the team races the Ontario provincial championships. The weekend after that is the Green Mountain Stage Race in Vermont. Then the San Francisco Grand Prix. Finally the guys will wrap up the season at the Univest Grand Prix in Souderton PA.

Concurrently we'll have riders racing the long running classic Canadian labour day criterium --in Windsor, and the Multi Laser Stage Race in Gananoque--the same weekend as San Francisco.

We are still waiting word back about potentialy racing the Bermuda Grand Prix. But, if that doesn't work out, we're happy with our end of season program. Andrew, Buck and Matt will be posting racing stories.

For anyone interested in some non-cycling banter, check out Matt Hansen's BLOG it's really entertaining.

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Montreal-Quebec

Ah, at 260km this is the epic race of the year. For a race that I thought would be a little light on the number of experienced riders participating this year’s event was a superb. With a slight tail-wind the peloton ran off the course at a good speed, always a good thing on such a long day; before I knew it we had already been through Trois-Rivieres at the half-way point.

Overall I think that the team did a good race, even if things went a little haywire in the closing kilometres. One of the exciting things about this race is that you never know what the legs are going to do; this is the only race of this length around.

From the beginning there were four guys from the team: Thorben, Matt, Stig and Ryan, designated to cover attacks and control the race. They did a superb job, with Ryan infiltrating the only attack that got any time on the peloton, other than the moves in the finale. In last year’s edition the winning move went on the run in to Trois-Rivieres but this year, with the pace staying high all the way along, the peloton stayed largely together. There was lots of attacking, but other than the move Ryan was in, none ever gained any serious time. This attacking and counter attacking, a seeming never say die attitude on the part of the peloton, was what made this year’s race so great.

At Trois-Rivieres I experienced some problems with my bike that had me worried for a while. In trying to fix them I slipped almost completely to the back of the race caravan just as the pace was heating up for the intermediate $500 prime. Needless to say David Butler, our manager, was a little agitated on the race radios on seeing Matt, who had stayed to give me a hand getting back to the pack, and I so far back in the race. The problem fixed Matt and I used the caravan to our advantage and had soon made our way back to the safety of the peloton.

From Trois-Rivieres the race was full on with attacks coming in waves with several moments where it looked like a serious break was about to stick. Eventually thirteen riders got away, and we had two guys in there Thorben and Jeff. Dominique Perras was the only real danger man in the move so it seemed like a good situation for us, that was until the break started to come apart under the pressure to stay away.

As the break split apart Perras went up the road with Steve Rover, one of Canada’s few riders to have ridden pro in Europe in the 90s. Jeff ended up coming back to the peloton with some riders, leaving Jet Fuel with just one rider ahead. Stig then bridged the gap with Darko Ficko, making it two for us again in the attack. The only problem was that Perras and Rover were taking time out of everyone.

I decided that it was time for the team to chase and bring everything back together. We could not afford to leave Perras and Rover in front gaining more time. Ryan, Matt and Buck put themselves to work setting tempo and slowly we brought back the chase that had Thorben and Stig in it. On catching them Thorben and Stig got into the rotation as well and we were soon bringing the gap down to Perras.

The neat thing about the race being run from Montreal to Quebec, instead of from Quebec to Montreal as it was in the past, is that the finish is much tougher. In the last forty kilometres there are several highway type rollers on the course, and in the last five kilometres there is a short, steep 15% climb followed by a long false flat. These may not me huge obstacles in a normal race but with 200km already in the legs they become significant.

It was on one of these first highway rollers, as we were chasing, that the race truly came to life. Darko launched an attack, in his little rung he says if you can believe it, which tore the field apart. Cresting the small climb the pack was stretched into one long line and attack after attack was being launched; the race was full on and super exciting to be a part of.

Unfortunately, this was where my day came to an end. I had been wondering, as this flurry of attacks was taking place, why it had been so hard on my legs. My back tire had become spongy, I had a slow leak. The team car with our wheels was nowhere to be seen, as they were caught behind the shattered remains of the peloton. I would have to get a wheel from neutral support. The neutral vehicle came up behind us but kept stopping twenty meters or so behind me, I wanted them right next to me. Finally, we got our stopping co-ordinated and the mechanic hopped out of the neutral support van. But he had no wheels in his hands. Running around to the back of the van he struggled to pull a wheel off one of the spare bikes that they had on a trunk rack. Watching this I knew that my day was done; there would be no getting back to the front after a wheel change this long. I chased for a while with Thorben and Ryan but with no success and I soon gave up and just rolled in.

Buck managed 8th place in what sounded like a hard fought finish. Perras was the eventual winner, crossing the line solo. The team will be back next year for sure, as this race is always exciting and full of surprises, and can hopefully pull off a resounding win!

1. Dom Perras (Ofoto)
2. Christophe Chesaux (Espoirs de Laval)
3. Mathieu Toulouse (Gears)
4. Jean Sebastien Maheu (Opus)
5. Robbie King (LG)
6. Maxime Vives (Espoirs de Laval)
7. Darko Ficko (La Bicicletta)
8. Buck Miller (Jet Fuel)
9. Joe Giuliano (Italpasta)
10. Claude Samson
11. Stig Somme (Jet Fuel)
12. Jean Sebastien Beland (Opus)
13. Jean Sebastien Zarha (Equipe Perigny)
14. Mathias Letendre (St. Foy)
15. Chris Isaac (Italpasta

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NYC Invititational

Racing in downtown Manhattan has been one of the highlights of the last two seasons. This race is held at the southern end of the island; the start-finish is at Wall St, the icon of American business. Nearby sits the New York City Stock Exchange in all its old carven stone majesty; in this forest of concrete you feel pretty insignificant.

Offsetting this feeling of awe though are the cheering crowds lining the dumbbell shaped crit course. Although the weather was crummy this year, it was raining all morning and for the start of the race before clearing up, the course was packed with spectators. Some of these had come down as part of the Jet Fuel entourage and it is always encouraging to hear them cheering as you are suffering during the race; we had a nice little gang going.

Because of the wet course the start of the race was a little more cautious than usual, but still there were several crashes. In almost all the corners there are painted pedestrian crossings, not good in wet conditions. Soon though, the sun was coming out and the course slowly dried up. There was one large puddle that didn’t dry out and actually ended up having a nice cooling effect during the race, as each lap you would get sprayed riding through it. Out on the course the roads are rough, throwing the riders about over sunken manhole covers and a short cobbled section. By the finish of the race all the guys on the team had sore backs and wrists that were feeling overly swollen (they are actually still bothering me this morning as I type this out). Mid-race I hit a ridge in the road which jarred my handlebars downward, making for a bit of an uncomfortable day.


photo: Mark Zalewski

What to say about the race? As always it was fast and tough sprinting up to speed out of each of the corners onto the long straight away that makes the handle in the dumbbell shape. I decided early on that I would try and be aggressive with two goals in mind, one to make it into a race winning attack and two to showcase the Jetfuel jersey. Several times I made an attempt to instigate attacks but without any success. Coming into the final few laps I found myself in the perfect position to cover an attack with three to go. Accelerating out of the last corner I gapped the field and bridged across to first a Cola Vita/ Bolla rider and then a bit further along a Jelly Belly guy. We worked together and hung it out in the corners trying to press home our small advantage. Looking back though the Navigator team were on the front chasing and we were caught with a lap to go. My theory is that I want to race for the win and as such like to try my hand at a breakaway, rather than wait for a bunch finish I know I can never win. Buck and Jeff rode a great finish and ended up 17th and 18th. Buck said that in the long drag race out of the last corner everyone had it pegged, no one passing each other as they all rushed across the line holding the same order that they had come out of the last corner in.

While the racing was great our trip home was a complete disaster; flights were delayed, airports closed and ensuing bus transfers needed. In the end we got home at 6am as the sun was rising having been up almost a full 24hours. Ouch.

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