Johnson Takes Off at the Philly Phlyer!

This past weekend ACR's Chris Johnson competed in the Philly Phlyer circuit race. Held in the beautiful Fairmont Park in Philadelphia, the rain held off as Saturday turned out to be a great day of racing under ominously dark skies.

Determined to ride towards the front of the pack for the majority of the race, Chris Johnson took a more determined approach to this weekends race. After sitting in the pack a lot during the San Dimas stage race last weekend in Los Angeles, Chris was looking to take his frustration out on the unfortunate racers at the Philly Phyler.

"I attacked on the 2nd lap and again on the 3rd, not so much to get away, but really to test who had the legs to go with me, " said Johnson. After not having much luck getting a break going, Johnson regrouped and switched his focus towards disrupting the seemingly inevitable bunch sprint finish.

With 3-4 minutes left in the race, Johnson made his move going up the final riser before the finishing loop. Once Johnson jumped he opened up a gap that was simply too big for the pack to close by the finish. Just like that Johnson had his 2nd win of the season and his first on his new AC team edition Pegoretti!
AC east legal counsel Brian Isen cleans the AC team edition Pegoretti bike before the race.

(Race report submitted by C Johnson, header photo courtesy Dean Bentley, all rights reserved).

AC Team Pegoretti

Madera Stage Race

Above Category Racing headed down to Madera County, CA, for the Madera Stage Race last weekend. Friday was an uphill time trial; a crit and flat time trial followed on Saturday, and the race wrapped up with an 85 mile road race on Sunday.

Not much can be said about the uphill time trial, except that it hurt. Ben Jacques Maynes of Bissell won it and set a new course record. Top AC placings were set by Kris Lunning in 19th and Chris Turner in 23rd.
Tuttle
Harless
Turner

The following morning we geared up for the flat time trial. Another 20 minutes of pain with an afternoon criterium following.
Tuttle approaches the finish line of Saturday's flat time trial with Turner right behind him.

The Crit was fast with a strong 6-man break forming early. With no AC riders in it, we worked to limit the gap, planning setting Turner up for the final sprint. Within the last five laps, the gap came down to almost nothing, 2 riders bridged up, and Turner got a flat tire!! Bad luck had thwarted our efforts.

Sunday's road race kicked off with perfect weather and a field ready to ride fast. Lunning dug deep to get himself in an early break, but each attempt was brought back, and on the very next one a gap did form, and Turner got himself into it. The mix was right with good team representation and the field let it get up to a three minute lead. Here's the breakaway working together:
Turner in the breakaway rotation.The break wasn't meant to last, however, as one member flatted out and then the webcor rider suffered a mechanical that literally launched him over his handlebars and out of the race. When the main field passed him his team mates saw that he was out of the breakaway and they rallied up front to bring it back together. With 3 17-mile circuits down and 2 to go, the race was all back together.

Things got fast just before 1 lap to go on a rough back stretch with a cross-wind, and the pack strung itself out long and sinewy. With a half-lap left the speed slackened to a crawl as everyone thought of saving up for the sprint and the race was decided on the line when Bissell got their guy Sheldon Deeny in for the win. AC's Turner and Lunning came in around top-20.

We'll have more pictures up when they're available. For now, enjoy the shots from Veronika Lenzi (click here for her site).

Grant's Tomb Criterium

Here's another recap from Chris Johnson, our East Coast affiliates:

This past weekend AC east team members Chris Johnson and Milan Sopic competed in the Grants Tomb Crit in New York City. Early start times and cold conditions did little to hold back the more than 125 racers who were eager to strut their stuff on the streets of New York.

The race - turned bicycle derby was pretty sketchy from the start as 3 riders went over literally 10 ft into the race. The opening laps were fast but very inconsistent leading to a number of pile ups. Milan got taken out on lap 5 when 3 riders went down in front of him thanks to a friendly NYC pothole.
Johnson was looking good and in a nice position leading into the finale but flatted with 4 laps to go. He took his lap, fixed his tire and was able to catch back up to the group as they started the final lap. However, with at least 60 riders still in the pack there was little chance to safely get to the front to contest the sprint and he cruised in with the group in 41st place. Oh well, next week.

Johnson Wins The Princeton Stadium Classic

This weekend the AC east team made its debut in New Jersey at the Princeton Stadium Classic crit. ACR's Chris Johnson and Milan Sopic proudly donned their AC jersey's in what turned out to be a great race in wonderful 70 degree weather!
Milan works hard to bring back the break. Are those Tom Ford sunglasses?!

As one of the first races on the east coast in the 2009 season, riders were eager to test their legs and in the opening laps a group of 3 went clear. Milan took control of things at the front and made sure that the speed stayed high. Of the 30+ who started the race, the pack started to dwindle down as the early breakaway was brought back.

5 Laps into the race, Johnson went clear with 2 others riders but while they were eager to make a jump, no one was willing to commit so far from the finish and they quickly rejoined the group. A couple more laps go by at this high pace and now things are shaping up; yet with the race officials still not announcing the number of laps to go to the finish riders were content just to look around at each other.
Johnson off the front

Sensing the lull, Johnson jumped on the backside riser and got a gap on the field. For the next few laps he worked hard to take the gap up to around 1 minute. Behind him things fired up. 3 guys go clear here, they 2 more there, finally the pack is thinned down and together again... chasing Johnson.

...Johnson attacks "the wall" heading into the feed zone...

The announcer beams 8 laps to go! Focused on the road and the task at hand, Johnson grinds it out. The bell rings, Johnson accelerates, into the first corner, hard around the bend and up the riser. On the backside, the smile finally starts to come back as the jersey gets zipped up in preparation for victory. Hard down the back side and fast into the last corner Johnson cruises down the straightaway, hands in the air.

(Race report by Chris "Johnson" Johnson, ACR east)

Go, no go

"When you get the flu or another miserable illness, forget riding. The first thing you must do is take care of yourself. It is a big mistake to resume training too soon because you will only make yourself sick all over again. You might even become sicker than before because your body is weaker but the bacteria or virus is just as strong.

If you try to speed your recovery you will only make it longer. And stay away from racing until your training says you're ready for it."

-Eddy B., pages 259-260.

Pulled the plug on Berkeley TTT. So bummed. Kris and I were ready for some smashing. But more important than a short-term rush is long-term health.

Couple more Merco pix...

Chris Turner cuts through a corner trailing Bissell's Joao Correia, who wears the Portuguese National Champion stripes.
The breakaway cruises through the orchards ahead of the pack during the Foothills Road Race.


These are from http://lynelamoureux.smugmug.com/, check out the whole series!

Merco Crit and Foothills Road Race

Last weekend team ACR headed down to Merced County for the Merco Grand Prix and the Foothills Road Race. Well, half of team ACR went, while the other half wallowed at home with fevers.

The crit was fast, as always, with many attempted breaks, many wrecks, and a final bunch sprint. Turner and Harless ripped it up and stayed upright. Sprinter Rahsaan Bahati from Rock Racing took the win.

The road race had a major breakaway, and Turner got into a bridge group with about 6 other guys. While the move was promising, cooperation broke down and ultimately the whole race came back together for a massive bunch sprint. Turner and Harless finished top-half, 27th and 47th respectively, dearly missing the AC leadout.


Photos are from here and here.

The sickness unto death

Since I haven't been riding with this freaking miserable chest cold I can't really give any riding updates!! Hopefully it passes soon because we're heading to Berkeley on Saturday for a Team Time Trial. Two weekends in a row of thwarted racing would be just too much...

Shredded

Nothing is sadder for a racer than getting sick. I was all fired up for the Foothills Road Race but I got laid out with a stomach bug. Lunner got the same thing. We spent yesterday afternoon texting each other with status updates.

Me: I think i'm past the liquid sh** phase. Now just weak and feverish.
Lunner: I've moved on to fragmented particles and an awesome fever and super weak. we should go puke on everyone tomorrow.
Me: yeah. Just blow in front of peoples wheels and have them slide out in the sick.
Lunner: and turner gets the W.