Tour of Tucker

The Memorial Day weekend ended up being another great weekend for LCBC cycling. Joe Siegel made his way to West Virginia for the Tour of Tucker County as a fresh Cat 4, racing in the Cat 4/5 field. Unfortunately, both Luke and Dave weren't able to make it to the Sommerville, but there's always next year!

The Tour of Tucker County Cat 4/5 race was a mountainous 34 mile road race with two category 2 climbs at the 5mi and 29mi markers. The race started downhill, 4 miles down the same road as the final climb and finish. It became very clear the final climb to the finish was where the race was going to be won or lost, a 5 mile category 2 climb with over 1,800 vertical feet of climbing. Joe was able to team up with a couple guys from Kelly, Andrew Dunlap and Pete Bolster, and BRCC, Tom Blanks.

Being able to stay towards the front of the race from the get go served Joe well, as the front 15 broke away from the rest of the group at the start of the first category 2 climb. The climb followed several fast and technical downhill sections, where he stayed at the front to avoid any crashes from squirrelly wheels or flat tires. The group of 15 quickly identified last year's winner and decided to keep him in sight as the group began the final climb towards the finish. As expected, last year's winner made his move on the climb, where Joe was able to respond and hold his wheel or maintain a reasonable distance as they created separation from the remaining racers. Joe caught up to him at the mid-climb flat section, did some recovery "chatting", and both went back to work as the grade issued out another round of beating for the last mile. Separation was created between the two and before Joe realized it, the 200m sign appeared. Throwing down a monstrous effort, Joe was able to close the gap towards the finish, but wasn't able to overcome last year's winner, finishing at a very solid 2nd place.

Joe on the final climb of the Tour of Tucker County

Congratulations to Joe for representing LCBC well and attacking the climbs with some Euro pro-ness style (see above, c/o Julie Elliott).

Norristown and BikeJam

This past weekend held great results for LCBC as they continue to establish themselves among the MABRA and Baltimore velo community. Joe Siegel and our el presidente, Luke Mysko, made strong impressions with solid performances at the Norristown Crit and Kelly BikeJam, respectively.

At Norristown, Joe faced 30 racers in the Cat 5 field. The race started off with a neutral lap, and after losing 20 spots, he quickly learned "neutral" doesn't mean much among the Cat 5s and moved towards the front as the race progressed. As the prime lap bell rang, he sat fourth from the front and decided to make his bid for the prize after the 180 degree turn, where he and another racer ended up sprinting for the line, ending with him second across the line. After the prime lap, he moved back into the pack and rested for a few laps, assessing the field for the final sprint. As the final laps approached, a racer made his break and Joe quickly responded and grabbed his back wheel, creating a decent gap between them and the group. Planning the rotation of pulls just right, Joe found himself in perfect position on the final stretch to the line for a two man 500m sprint, where he won almost completely uncontested and crossed the line for a solid first place finish. Joe rode away with the $50 first place prize plus a bonus second place prime that consisted of Gu and a bottle of Freddie's Choice Body and Muscle Cream (exp date 5/15/99), which he promptly shared with all his teammates.

Luke at BikeJam, Cat 3

On Sunday, our el presidente, Luke Mysko, made an appearance in the Cat 3 field at Kelly BikeJam. Having played a gig the night before, leaving him only 3 hours of sleep and a chest cold, Luke faced some stiff competition with a field of 40 strong riders. The pace was brisk and Luke was able to lead some early laps, establishing himself among the group. About mid-race, a group of three noodled off the front and maintained a consistent 15 second gap until the second to last lap, where everyone was brought together. On the last lap, Luke sat towards the front of the group and as they made their way through the "s" turn on the backside, the sound of metal and carbon fiber hitting tarmac went off in the background behind him. Clearing the turn without collision, Luke found himself at the front pulling up to the line. The sprint line passed him during the last couple hundred meters, but he was still able to bring in a solid 9th place finish. Although having an excellent finish, Luke remains constant the highlight of the day was watching his 3 year old son participate in the kids race.

Congratulations to Joe and Luke on their great performances this past weekend. This week(end) Joe plans to hit up another Greenbelt Training Race and the Tour of Tucker County in West Virginia, already submitting his Cat 4 upgrade. Luke will be entering the Tour of Somerville in New Jersey with the potential of fellow teammate Dave Cohen joining him, pending his recovery status. LCBC looks forward to another weekend filled with racing and exciting results! Best of luck to all of our racers!

Earth, Wood & Fire

One LCBC's team sponsors just opened up their Baltimore location on Thursday. We are very thankful for all of our sponsors and look forward to checking out the new space and trying some great dishes!

Earth, Wood & Fire
1407 Clarkview Rd
Baltimore, MD 21209

Greenbelt Training Race and Team Update

Since the team took a weekend off of racing, they've had a chance to catch up on the Giro and Amgen while prepping for BikeJam. Meanwhile, Joe Siegel decided to enter a mid-week training race over at Greenbelt to test his new training regime and log another race for upgrading.

Still working on his last couple of Cat 5 races before upgrading, Joe entered the Group C Greenbelt Training Race. The field was about 30 deep, with some familiar faces as well as various unattached racers. In typical clydesdale fashion, Joe spent the majority of his time at the front of the pack, cranking away the watts and pushing the pace the entire race. Unfortunately once again, he was unable to inspire the other racers sucking on his back wheel to hop up there and form a legitimate breakaway. Already running on tired legs from a hard week of training, the power wasn't quite there to manage a solo breakaway.

Joe at Greenbelt Training Race, Group C

On the last lap, after the neutral turn, Joe, Nathan Ong, and another racer sat at the front of the group with little room for any racers behind them to pass. As predicted, a couple of meters out, Nathan shifted into his drops and started to lay the hammer down for his sprint finish. Joe quickly picked up on his back wheel and rode in for 2nd place.

Another solid performance by Joe in the Cat 5 field as he prepares himself for upgrading and joining the rest of the team. His upgrade will serve as a turning point, allowing the team to enter into 3/4 fields and race as a cohesive group with purpose.

As for our other racers, Dave Cohen is on the quick road to recovery from his double hernia surgery a couple of weeks ago. He's been easing into riding and recently joined up with the Wednesday night Twenty20 ride, winning the sprint section (and that's taking it easy, hah). On Monday, Andrew Stroup was out on a rainy training ride with Mike Retzlaff and crashed out over a bridge, breaking his left hand. This puts him out of racing for 6 weeks and a forced mini-winter break on the trainer. We wish him a speedy recovery. This leaves Luke Mysko to fend for himself at BikeJam this Sunday, but the entire team will be out at Patterson Park supporting our el presidente. Mid-term, the team is eyeing a couple of tour races (Tour of Page County) in June/July where we'll have the whole team riding together.

Turkey Hill and The Bunny Hop

Another weekend, another series of races on the books for LCBC. Once again, Joe Siegel and Andrew Stroup hit the road, with Joe heading North to race in the Turkey Hill Cat 4/5 and Andrew heading South to race The Bunny Hop Cat 5.

The rain held out on Saturday and made for a great day of racing up in Lancaster, PA. At around lap 3, Joe found himself once again at the front of the group, leading a breakaway. Unfortunately, no one was willing to work with him and the race ended up in a sprint finish. Getting boxed in at the last 50 meters, Joe came in at a solid 12th place out of 55 racers (7th among the Cat 5s).

More importantly, due to Julie Elliot's fantastic photography skills, she was able to capture Joe's true emotions while racing at the front of the field, right behind Andrew Dunlap. Perhaps it's because he had free hot dogs and ice cream on his mind, but whatever he was thinking about, you can't fake this type of happiness.

Joe at Turkey Hill

Although confused on which day his race was; on Sunday, Andrew made his way down to Suitland, MD to race on a misty, chilly morning. Andrew found himself towards the front of the group the entire race and held a strong position up until the end. On the last lap, he got caught up and slowed down in a turn and found himself sprinting to catch the group before the last turn on the final lap, finishing 20th-ish out of 50 racers.

Andrew at The Bunny Hop

We'd like to give a more precise placing, but the judges experienced some "technical difficulties" with the finish line camera, asking racers who thought they finished top 10 to step forward ... which was EVERYBODY. This race is also Andrew's last Cat 5 as he has put in his time and will be upgrading to Cat 4 this week, congratulations!

With Bike Jams only a couple of weeks away, we look forward to LCBC making a strong presence on their home turf. Keep spinning.

Keeping it Aero, Head Injuries, the Pebble, and Elite Women

A few articles have popped up across the series of tubes pertaining to velo culture, news, and updates that the LCBC team has found interesting.

Keeping it Aero

Aerodynamics is here to stay. Although the attention to and incorporation of aerodynamic designs and considerations in cycling have been slow to progress compared to other sports, the topic is now a hot issue and will likely drive cycling technology over the next few years.

VeloNews posted an article about the topic and the slow acceptance of aerodynamic qualities in gear by the pro peloton. There is a plethora of additional information, both on technical and laymen levels, of why aerodynamics plays a huge factor in road cycling, and since some of our racers tote formal technical training on the subject, LCBC looks forward to the further development of aerodynamic qualities as more companies invest in this area of research.

Head Injuries

Another interesting article by VeloNews was posted about USA Cycling discussing head injury protocol during races and the appropriate actions cyclists, teams, and on-hand physicians should be performing post-crash. This has always been a touchy subject, since often times we'll see racers crash and then immediately scramble to get back on their bike without any consideration of potential short or long-term damages that just occurred. No official rules have been implemented, but we won't be surprised when some additional rigor is applied to address this issue at races.


The Pebble


Not directly related to cycling, but really interesting, TechCrunch posted up an article about the Pebble smart watch, which destroyed their KickStarter fundraising goal (raising $1M in 28 hours, with only a $100k goal) and is quite an interesting product with an application towards cycling. The Pebble is a good looking e-paper watch for the iPhone or Android that syncs via bluetooth. Phone information is displayed on the watch based on customized applications, including phone calls, text messages, emails, and music, also including controls and action buttons customized for the applications. The creator is an avid cyclist and found it tedious always stopping to check his phone for various reasons. There is an array of applications from cycling to golf, with endless opportunities as more apps are created. Since we have several tech geeks out there, this is another fun little toy to check out!



Elite Women

And finally, thank you CyclingNews for giving all of us a little cycling eye candy and hope for women's cycling with an article about Ferrand Prevot, an elite French woman cyclist who not only crushes the field at the age of 20, but also has become our new cycling crush (although we're sure she would also crush us on the road too). She has her sights set for the Olympics and we look forward to watching her performance.