2008
TEAM TIME TRIAL
"The Race of Truth" as it is called
by many, the team time trial test the strength of everyone on the squad.
Have a
good Squad and you can do great, have a bad Squad and your tour could be over.
hosted by
Mike = Commentator = Mike
Welcome back readers, that is assuming that there are some still out there that bother to come here. This week is the team time trial, the test of truth, the race against time and so on. This week is feature a very boring stage 7.4 miles long with the first 5.5 miles flat and the last 1.9 miles at a 1% downhill. Oh yawn! But before we get into anymore details of that, let us look at last week some.
Last week was the Stairway, during which we saw some surprising things. Ryan Hulce of the Flying Squirrels Team was the big surprise as he took off and left everyone wondering where he was going. Where he was going was to his first (I believe) stage victory by about 2 minutes over 2nd placed Walt Kosiak (TL). This was the ride of Ryan's life it would seem, way beyond what was expected from him. In light of how badly he had done the week prior in the Wall stage, this win was nothing less then spectacular and suspicious in the minds of some. Yes folks we have our first "drug scandal" of the 2008 TdS. This has finally launched our little event to the status of all great "Classics". Just like the Giro, Vuelta and the Tour de France we now have controversy over the performance of a rider. Not that this is the first time we have had such in the TdS but since this has now become a yearly thing we can consider ourselves to have made the big show. Yeah us!! So what is to be done about this possible scandal? How will our Tour Officials deal with this issue? Very simple, things have been checked out with the Machine that was used during the ride of "Mr. Hulce" and found to be within the norm. As for the rider himself, well frankly it is not truly suspected by any of the Race Officials that there was any "performance enhancing drugs" used by this rider. No, we did not raid his home and search his underwear drawers, nor did we make him pee in a little cup or stick a needle in his arm and extract blood. Why? Well for one we don't have the authority to do so. Nor do we have the funds to do such test. What we did do was to ask him if he had taken anything that he should not have and we got an answer we can live with. Other then that the issue is closed for now. At least until the lawyers get involved. So on with the show ( we can always strip him of any title or awards later on as is the tradition of all great tours.)
What did the results from last week do to things? Go look for yourself, what do you want, to be spoon fed here? Wait sorry about that. Just a bit cranky here today, any how last week saw Francis Manfred (BRW) turn over the Yellow Jersey to Ron Moore(AmF). Ron is now in 1st place but only has a 6 second advantage over Francis, not what you might call a comfy margin. Roxane Burrous also on the BRW team moved into 3rd just behind Francis. Ryan Hulce(FS) jumped up to 4th from 24th his team mate Mark Bettinger stayed in 5th. 6th and 7th are held by Time Lords : Charlie Skoog and Walt Kosiak and just to keep the trend of pairings going 8th and 9th are held by 2 members of the KCF Team (Adam Cloud and Larry Barnhart). Nice grouping guys. And in the TEAM Event the stage was taken by The Flying Squirrels thanks to Ryan's ride and the Overall team is now also the Flying Squirrels just 2 seconds ahead of the Big Ring Wraiths. All in all a very exciting stage with some very unusual results. That's the TdS for you. Now back to this week....
The Team Time Trial: this being a team
event the strength of ones team can really help or hinder a riders chance in the
GC. So everyone is hoping for good riders this week and hoping that their team
doesn't suck. Teams will ride in reverse order of the Team GC. Meaning the
last place team will ride first with the 1st place team riding last. That
puts the Majestic Moose who are in 6th(last 1:01 down) first up this week. This
team is made up of Markus Naegeli in his 5th tour : Shawn Leonard also in his
5th tour: Mitch "SuperMoose" Reeves also in his 5th tour and Stan Shuey a tour
rookie and the oldest tour rider this year. This team has not performed at the
top level yet this year but are showing improvement, I would expect them to have
a decent ride together. However do not expect them to win the stage. I just
don't believe they have the speed. Would expect to see more from them making
moves later in the tour. As the team gets ready to take the start it looks like
they are in a good mood, smiles all around for the Moose. There they go on their
7.4 ride, Markus leads them out with Mitch in second then its Stan with Shawn
playing the role of tail gunner. I would expect that they would do about
30 to 45 second pulls today. It is a bit windy out there so the riders will not
like it when they are out in front. It could also effect the bike handling some
so I hope everyone stays alert and that there are not problems. The course is
dry at the moment but there is a chance of rain so some of the corners might get
wet a little later in the day. The first time check will be at the 1.5 mile mark
but before the Moose get there we should have our next team started.
The next team to start today will be the Kokomo Cycling and Fitness team,
Captained by Larry Barnhart who is our defending champion from last year's TDS.
With Larry we have Rick Weaver, Adam Cloud and our MissTRider (MTR for short).
Larry is sitting in 9th at the moment so if he is looking to repeat his win he
will have to make his move soon. Last year if you recall the time trial help set
Larry up for his win by the fact his team did all the work on this ride allowing
Larry to rest up for the next stage and not loose time on the Time Trial. Will
they try that again? And would it work again ,not likely if you ask me for he
will be a marked man next stage I am sure. Looks like as they get the start that
Rick Weaver will be in front with Larry in second followed by MTR leaving
Adam Cloud at the back for the moment. I would look for Rick and Adam to do the
lion's share today as they have shown themselves to be the strongest time trials
on the team. With the teams going out 2 minutes apart we should get the first
time check just about the time our next team starts.
Our
third team on the day is our 4th placed team, the Time Lords. Back this year for
the squad is Charlie Skoog who missed last year's tour due to an out of season
training crash. Not that he was training to crash but it was a crash during a
training ride. Seems he was not real focused that day and simply ran off the
road into a ditch causing himself injury, couple broken ribs if I recall
correctly. Any how he is back and seems to be in top form this year. Riding with
Charlie are Jeff Bell and a former TdS winner Andrew Maibaum(2004 winner).
Rounding out the team is Rookie Walt Kosiak who had a very good ride last week
taking second on the stage. And they are off Charlie is out front with Jeff on
his wheel just ahead of Walt, that means Andrew is at the back for the moment. I
would think that Andrew would be the one to draft for Charlie during the mid
part of this race, where the course is very straight. Andrew is known for his
power but is not a climber so the flat course should do well for him and the
rest of the team as well.
Our first time check has just
come in for the Majestic Moose have reached the 1.5 mile mark, being the first
out they will be setting the bar for the other teams to beat. And that bar would
be a time of 3:35. Looks good but then what do I know. So while we
wait for more times lets run down the rest of the teams. We'll not "run down" the
teams but give you the information on them, I would not run anyone down, well as
slow as I am I couldn't anyways. So 4th out today will be the American Flyers
team. Featuring our current Tour leader Ron " the Instructor" Moore, who by the
way will be our Instructor once again this year for the BreakAway Bicycle Club's
Spin classes. Check the club message board for more details on that. I believe
the classes will be Feb-March on Mon. and Wed. nights. With Ron we have
Capt. Clark Griffin , Tom "Capt. IronLegs" Linn and Cory "The Mule" Jackson.
Seems Cory was acting as a pack Mule this last summer on several club rides,
carrying extra supplies and needed items that others never seemed to remember.
Good job Cory. Cory is also the 2008 BABC President, congrats there too Cory.
And as this team gets the start it looks like "The Mule" will be the lead out
man. Ron is next with Clark then Tom behind. Go Flyers!!! You have your
work cut out for you if you wish to keep Ron in yellow, remember he only has a 6
second lead right now.
Next on the blocks will be The Big
Ring Wraiths, this is one tough team here boys and girls. Heading up the
team is none other then "Wonder Woman" Roxane Burrous, she as I am sure you are
aware is the only woman to do every tour. Not sure how she has put up with all
these guys all these tours but she has. She has also done well in the tours
finishing in the top 5 a couple of times. With her we find Todd Brandenburg who
has won the tour (2006) and Kevin Wisher who is a very good rider. Finishing out
the team is Francis "The Professor" Manfred, named Howard County Athlete of the
Year for 2007 (and 2006). Francis lost the overall GC to Ron Moore last week but
is only 6 seconds back, and I forgot to mention that Roxane is in 3rd on the GC.
So this team is a big danger to the Amercian Flyers' Ron Moore. Kevin looks to
be on the front for the start with Todd next followed by Roxane which means they
are saving Francis until they get up to speed. Am sure he will do more then his
share today. Going to hold the times until after the last team gets
to the 1.5 mark so let me introduce our leading GC team.... It is our new team
this year the Flying Squirrels, a team made up of 3 rookies and a second year
man. Heading this Squad is Mark "The Badger" Bettinger. Mark is assisted
by Stephen Sehr (our youngest rider this year), Tom " Squirrel" McMahan and the
only non-rookie on the squad is Ryan Hulce. Yes Ryan had a great race last
week but can he have a good one here today and help his team keep their narrow
margin over the rest of the field. No clue. So lets jump ahead to the 1.5 mile
mark and see how all 6 teams stack up at that point...
1.5 mile times.
FS @ 3:26
AmF @ 3:29
BW @ 3:35
MM @ 3:35
TL @ 3:37
KCF @ 3:39
So with the first time check down it looks like the Flying Squirrels are in ahead of the rest. But there is a lot of racing yet to do. We already have time checks in for the first few teams off at the 2.5 mile mark but nothing real interesting there so we are just going to wait until the 3rd time check or 3.5 mile mark. First to get there is naturally the Majestic Moose team since they were first off. As they go through Shawn is out in front with Mitch pulling up next to him for his turn at the front, and as the third rider (Stan) crosses the line the team time is 8:29. Looks good so far but then it always does until someone else goes faster. So who will be faster?
While looking over the race I have noticed
that the KCF team seem to be having some problems that will cost them some time,
it looks like they have broken up a bit. Rick Weaver and MTR seem to have fallen
off a bit while Adam has gone off the front. Larry is now chasing Adam, I would
guess to slow him up so they can regroup. Larry and Adam are now sitting up
while the other two rejoin. Rick passes them with MTR on his wheel and they
seem to have it back together. Don't know if there was a flat, a
mechanical or just bad organization. Whatever the cause it will not do them any
good having problems like that. Only can hope they have not lost much time on
this. Ah and here they come to the 3.5 mile mark. Their time will be 8:24 which
puts them ahead of the Moose. But since they are the second team to get here its a bit early to
tell anything, so I will just not.
The Time Lords will be
the next to get to this point, Charlie Skoog is on front with Jeff Bell on
his wheel as they cross the line. And its a 8:31 for this team. Which puts them
behind the KFC team, so they have lost some time over the last 2 miles. We
will wait for about 2 minutes while our next team gets here and that would be
the team of the American Flyers headed by Clark Griffin. The Flyers are however
working today for Ron Moore who is in first on the GC. The Flyers are Flying
high as they come across the line with an 8:07. That puts them in front for the
moment. Still two teams to go and one is the Flying Squirrels who were ahead of
the AmF at the first time check.
Next however are the
dreaded Ring Wraiths, The Big Ring Wraiths that is, they do not look as well
oiled as I would have expected and their time is a bit off the pace at 8:33.
That is not going to help Francis regain the GC lead. In fact that, if it stands
by the end, will extend Ron's gap over Francis. Ok last to get to this point
will be the FS team but they are not going to be last in time for they receive
an 8:15 which puts them in second. So for now the AmF is best, next the FS team,
KCF, MM, TL and BRW in that order. Alright looking good for the Amercian Flyers
and Ron Moore at this point. So we will go 2 more miles up the road and see how
it is up there.
The 2008 Majestic Moose Team.
Team Captain Markus Naegeli takes great pride in his squad.
The Majestic Moose are
approaching the 5.5 mile time check, this is also where the road starts to head
downward, for the next 1.9 miles of the course has a 1% down grade. This
should speed thing up a bit. The Moose start their decent with a time of 13:29.
And on their heels but in front of them time wise are the guys and gal of the
KCF team. This team gets a 13:16, the KCF team was last at the first time check
so they at least have made up sometime on someone. Looking at them however I am
not expecting them to be overly fast on this downhill, I know Larry, the team
Captain, is not great a going down hill.
The Time Lords
are 3rd to get here, since they were 3rd to start today that is what we
expected. And their time puts them in 2nd so far with a 13:28, looks like
the Moose are not going as well as hoped for with each team they are loosing a
spot. And to continue that trend here come the AmF blazing by with a 12:29
to put them in the lead or I should say keep them there since they took the lead
at the 3.5 mile mark. They don't seem to have let up either. Most be something
about having the Yellow Jersey on the back of one of your riders that makes you
try that much harder. Alright 5th to cross this point will be the BRW and they
have slowed down it looks like for they are at 13:42. Wow must have been a
problem we missed somewhere out on the course. I wonder what it was. But not too
much. That just leaves the Flying Squirrels and they are about 9 seconds off the
time of the AmF with a 13:08. That means that Ron continues to grow his lead on
the rest of the riders in the GC. On to the finish!!!
At the finish the Moose have already finished and gone to their tents for a well deserved rest , 17:04 was the time they are given. The rest of the times... well frankly people go look for yourselves on the results page. It's Sunday and I hear a beer calling my name. later