FreshBikes Group Ride

Since the LCBC team has taken a brief hiatus from racing for a couple of weeks, we wanted to highlight an awesome group ride one of the team members, Andrew Stroup, stumbled across while down in DC on a weekday. The Arlington FreshBikes Tuesday group ride is not your common group ride. Unlike the numerous group rides we've grown accustomed to in Baltimore, you aren't simply joined by 5-6 other cyclists looking for a good workout, but a posse that is almost overwhelming.

Feeling like a neutral roll out for a gran fondo, Andrew was joined by ~150 other cyclists for a solid training ride through Arlington, Falls Church, and McLean. Attempting some reconnaissance pre-ride, Andrew identified some cyclists who he raced with throughout this season, talking about the A riders, the B riders, and then everybody else. As the ride began, FreshBikes requested all the "slower" riders to start up front. The group was escorted by a train of police cars and bikes, blocking major intersections and roads for a continuous roll out to the "loop." As the ride progressed out of Arlington, Andrew found himself in the middle of the pack, passing and being passed by various cyclists over some moderate rollers at a casual pace. As the group turned onto an on ramp (yes an on ramp) and headed West, the groups quickly broke off and the ride was on.

By the time Andrew realized what was happening, the A group noodled off the front. Keeping in contact with some of the other cyclists he had raced with, he bridged up to them and stayed in contact with the lead B group. He quickly learned that the A and B groups were more of a race than a ride and found himself constantly drafting, pulling, or bridging up climbs, around corners, and down descents.

The B group headed home after one lap, while the A loop stayed around for a couple more for some extra suffering. Andrew was with 3 or 4 riders that broke off the front of the B group and was rejoined with the remaining group as they entered back into Arlington.

Overall, the group ride was a great change of pace, a chance to catch up with some fellow racers in a non-hostile environment, and some good conditioning as the summer racing season comes to a close. As far as upcoming races for LCBC, we have our eyes set on the Highway to Heaven in a couple of weeks and the Dawg Days of Summer as a closer for this year's season.

Hagerstown Challenge Criterium

Despite the blistering heat, LCBC showed up for another weekend of racing. Andrew Stroup and Joe Siegel packed their steads and headed out West to the Hagerstown Challenge Criterium on Saturday for the Cat 4/5 race.

The course looked promising, a 4 turn, fast and moderately technical course. Andrew and Joe performed their pre-race rituals and warmed up, mentally and physically, preparing themselves for the race ahead.

The Cat 4/5 field was small and the start of the race was fast. Halfway through the race, Andrew dropped out due to mechanical issues, leaving him to support Joe from the sidelines. In the closing laps, Joe had the best shot at a solid finish as he joined a 4 man breakaway in the last few laps of the race. In the final turn of the penultimate lap, Joe was riding the inside line, but had to take the turn tighter than planned. Before he knew it, his bike slid out from underneath him and ended his shot at the finish line.

Fortunately, Joe was able to walkaway from the crash with no broken bones, but was rewarded with some gnarly road rash down his right side. Sometimes the racing gods aren't in your favor and you're simply rewarded with the ability to walkaway from a race. Until next time, stay safe and cool.

Assault on Franklin Ave

On Monday, an unfortunate event occurred where one of the LCBC riders was assaulted on Franklin Ave during the Fed Hill Race Pace Recovery Ride. During the downhill descent on Franklin Ave, heading back into the city and towards Pratt, a group of kids jumped into the middle of the street, forcing Andrew Stroup to slow down. As he reached them, one kid grabbed his bike while the other hit him in the head and was then thrown into a parked car. Fortunately, Andrew wasn't badly injured and his bike only suffered a crooked shifter.

As Andrew composed himself from the incident, he went to confront the kids who quickly ran off. The neighbors came out and helped him clean up before he got back on his bike and headed into Baltimore and then home. It's sad to see this type of random act of violence in Baltimore and even worse when people accept these events as commonplace circumstance. Andrew was told these type of occurrences aren't uncommon when the kids aren't in school, noting "kids in July."

LCBC is glad Andrew was able to walkaway from the incident without serious injury and suffered only a bruised knee. Stay safe out there, since avoiding the heat isn't the only concern while riding in July.

Brownstown Road Race

As promised from the last post, another episode of LCBC race reporting from this weekend's events. Even though storms crushed the Mid-Atlantic and Tour of Page County was handicapped by the damage from the wind, Joe Siegel made his way up to Lancaster, PA for some road race action in the Cat 3/4 Brownstown RR.

Joe in the breakaway at the Brownstown RR (c/o Julie Elliott)

Being a fairly short road race and a packed field of 80 racers, Joe assumed the pace would be fast, but found the peloton maintaining a mellow pace throughout the majority of the race. Weighing his odds, he knew he'd prefer to be in a successful breakaway than fighting for a position in a bunch sprint. Halfway through the race, Joe moved to the front of the peloton and laid down some work out of a turn to bridge up to a solo breakaway. A couple of other racers followed Joe's lead and they started working together to maintain their distance. After a couple of minutes, two racers quickly fell off the pace line rotation, leaving only Joe and another racer to work together. Unfortunately, the other racer didn't have much left in the tank to give and signaled to Joe that he had burnt his last match. At that point, Joe realized a one man breakaway was likely not going to last and rejoined the peloton.


With 3 miles to go, Joe found another opportunity to break away from the peloton. Attempting to lay down some serious watts, Joe tried to maintain his gap from the peloton, but was caught and consumed with 100 meters to go, overtaken by the anticipated bunch sprint and finishing in the middle of the peloton.

You can't win them all, but Joe played the best hand possible to try and create some results for himself. LCBC has the Hagerstown Crit teed up for next weekend and we look forward to another round of exciting and positive results!

Greenbelt Training Race, B

With the Brownstown RR on the horizon, LCBC's two Cat 4s, Andrew Stroup and Joe Siegel, made their way down to the Greenbelt Training Series to get some hard riding in before the weekend and the series of races over the next couple of months. Joe had raced in the C group earlier in the season, but this was both racers first time in the B group, since their upgrades to Cat 4.

Joe and Andrew at the Greenbelt Training Series, B Race (c/o Julie Elliot)

The B group was relatively large, with ~35 racers, which rolled out a couple minutes after the A group. As the race started, Andrew quickly found his way towards the front of the group, leading the charge and setting a fast, steady pace. During lap 8, Joe decided to make his move and jumped out in front of the group, creating a 10 second gap up the climb, hoping to coax a couple of riders to move up and form a substantive breakaway. Simultaneously, Andrew, implementing some team tactics, eased up at the front to maintain Joe's gap, which also encouraged the riders Joe was looking for to bridge the gap.

Joe crossing the finish line for 1st at the Greenbelt Training Race, B Group (c/o Julie Elliot)

Working with the two riders who bridged up to Joe and the latecomer who joined the breakaway with one lap to go, they were ready and set for a sprint finish. One of the racers threw down a hard effort halfway up the climb and created a 20 meter gap. Joe maintained his position in 4th and waited until 50 meters out, dumped watts towards the line, and finished the race 1st by half a bike length.

It was a great showing for LCBC and we're glad to see Joe and Andrew implement some team tactics. We look forward to Joe's performance in the Brownstown RR  and the Hagerstown Crit as Andrew joins him in the Cat 4/5 field.

Reston Town Center Grand Prix

Another weekend, another race. This time Joe Siegel and Andrew Stroup made their way out to the Reston Town Center Grand Prix on Sunday for the Cat 3/4 race. This was the first time either of them had ridden in a combined Cat 3/4 field and Andrew's first race, since his broken left hand and the addition of three titanium screws (aka weight weenie cheater)!

To fully appreciate the events at the race, notice should be taken that both Joe and Andrew didn't sign up for this race until 11PM on Thursday, an hour before the closing of online registration. Being new neighbors and drinking away the heat, a gentlemen's agreement was made, which ended up with two registrations for a Sunday beating we like to call road racing.

Andrew in the RGP, Cat 3/4

The course was a 1.25km crit w/ 8 turns, half uphill and half downhill, making this a fast and technical course. Straight off the whistle, the field went off sprinting, stringing the group out and forcing everyone to dig  into the pain cave early to maintain the pace. Unfortunately, between the brutal pace and the inability to negotiate the turns effectively because of his hand, Andrew found himself off the back and ended up pulling himself.

Joe in the RGP, Cat 3/4

Joe was able to hang on to the back of the group until a few laps to go, where he slowly moved his way up the group as the pace slightly eased. Towards the last couple laps, several racers attempted to breakaway from the group. One racer created an 18 second gap, the largest throughout the race, with 3 laps to go, which was where Joe laid down the hammer and broke away from the group and bridged the gap. Joe was looking for racers to work with him to maintain a breakaway, but quickly found himself in the group and ended the race in a bunch sprint, finishing 20th overall.

LCBC is once again well represented by Joe and Andrew and we look forward to finishing up the race season strong this year w/ a couple more races in our cross hairs.

Tour of Washington County

After almost a month long break from racing, LCBC came out for the Tour of Washington County with Joe Siegel racing in Category 4. The Tour of Washington County was a two day, three stage race; consisting of a RR Saturday morning and a TT and crit on Sunday.

Joe in the Tour of Washington County Road Race, Cat 4

Joe had an impressive Saturday morning, finishing 3rd in the RR, keeping him in contingency for the GC. Even though the finish was close, there was still a lot of work to be done on Sunday, since time bonuses were being awarded. To make the fight for GC an even greater challenge, a lot of time bonuses were being awarded via prime laps during the crit, requiring careful strategy on how to manage Sunday's effort.

On Sunday, Joe finished third in the TT and was able to move up to 2nd in the GC. This still left him 38 seconds behind the TT winner and now leader in the GC, and 4 seconds ahead of third entering the crit in the afternoon.

Joe Siegel, 2nd place, Tour of Washington County Cat 4 General Classification

As expected, the crit was brutally fast and several racers were out to make up some time and win the primes. Fortunately, Joe was able to position himself well and snag the first and third prime bonuses, each one second. On the last tight turn leading into the finish, two racers went down right in front of Joe, forcing him into the grass and losing his position in the front as fifth wheel. Recovering quickly, he rejoined the group at around 30th and grabbed the wheel of the 3rd place GC racer. They were able to move up past several racers before the finish and crossed the line together, finishing 18th in the crit and maintaining 2nd place in the GC.

This weekend was a great showing by our newly minted Cat 4 racer Joe and a solid representation for LCBC. We look forward to more races as the we reach the backside of the racing season. There are several races the team has started teeing up within the next couple of months and with Dave Cohen at almost 100% from his surgery and Andrew Stroup finally back on the road from his broken hand, we're looking forward to some full-on team races near term.