Tour of the Gila, Stage 1

Quick update:

First of all, best result award goes to David Van Orsdel in the Cat II race with his 9th place finish in a 70-man field. Chris Johnson, also in the cat II race, reported a shock to the system coming into a 94-mile road race at an elevation of 6,000 feet after all his 30-mile philly crits, but he finished out the day in good standing.

The Pro/1 race was smooth and fast for the first 85 miles. We trucked along at 30+ mph and with 175 guys in the field it was easy to sit in and conserve for the steep climb at the end. The last seven miles went straight up, and the race splintered as riders succumbed to the relentless ascent which at times reached 19%. Results for today's stage saw Tuttle in 45th, Lunning in 48th, and Turner in 80th. Full results are here. Race photos are here. Four more good hard stages await!

La Vuelta de Bisbee

Chris Turner and Ian Tuttle raced the Vuelta de Bisbee this weekend in southern Arizona. About 80 racers started the 31st edition of the 4-stage race which began on Friday with a 2.8 mile hillclimb time trial. The altitude punished Tuttle and Turner’s sea-level lungs, and they finished mid-field. Saturday’s 82-mile road race went better. A relatively flat stage with lots of wind, the Sulphur Springs road race stayed together until the last five miles when the road pitched uphill into the finish in Bisbee. Attacks went one after another and strung the field out. Tuttle and Turner finished side by side in 30th and 31st place, improving their GC standings.

Saturday afternoon after the road race was a 7.2 mile flat time trial. The wind really picked up, blowing a steady 35 mph with intermittent hard gusts, coming directly from the side. Time-trial bikes and disc wheels make great sails, and the crosswind turned an ordinarily simple affair into a nerve-wracking hellride. Turner delivered a phenomenal performance, punching through the blustery conditions in 14 minutes and 53 seconds for a 15th place finish, 1’00” off the lead set by Fly V’s Phil Zajicek. Tuttle clocked a 15’17” for 29th place. Again, Turner and Tuttle both advanced in GC. At the end of the second day, Turner had moved from 65th to 37th place, and Tuttle went from 45th to 32nd.

Sunday was the final stage: the Tombstone Road Race—another 85-mile affair up and out of Bisbee Canyon and out onto the southwestern plains. This stage featured significantly more climbing and the pace was a lot hotter than Saturday’s stage. The increased tempo and cumulative effect of the 3 prior stages worked to Turner’s and Tuttle’s advantage, and they conserved for the final 1,200 foot, 7 mile climb. Midway through the race two Tecos riders attacked through the feedzone (a move of questionable class) and strung the race out single-file through the town of Tombstone. The shake-up dislodged a few riders, and served as a launchpad for Team Type1’s Darren Lill, in 2nd place overall, to bridge up to a 6-man break formed early in the day. With Lill up the road and headed for an eventual overall victory the pace settled down until the last climb, and then exploded as small groups of riders throttled it over Mule Pass back into Bisbee. Tuttle stayed with the first group, which came in together after 9 other solo riders, and he finished 27th place. Turner was slightly back in 37th place. Overall results for the duo were Tuttle in 27th, with a total time of 7 hours 10 minutes and 50 seconds (5 minutes 26 seconds off the winner), and Turner at 37th, 1 minute 37 seconds behind Tuttle.

The race was a terrific warmup for the Tour of the Gila, which starts on Wednesday in Silver City, New Mexico. Stay tuned for updates!

Tour of Battenkill

This past Saturday ACR's Chris Johnson and Milan Sopic competed in the infamous Tour of Battenkill in upstate New York. Battenkill is regarded as one of America's few "classic" races and is often compared to the classics of northern Europe because of its numerous pave sections.

Racing the Cat 4's, Sopic had more than 250 riders in this field. Hundreds of Cat 4s + dirt roads + rain = lots of crashes. Milan went down hard about halfway through the race and was not able to finish. Never the less, he had a great time and was already talking about next year's race.
Competing in the Cat 2s for the first time, Johnson also had a large field to deal with and the 82 mile course made sure that this was going to be an epic race. Johnson made the numerous selections throughout the race and despite an untimely crash about 8 miles from the finish still finished in a solid 11th place.
The town of Cambridge, NY played a wonderful host to the Tour of Battenkill. If you have never been to the Battenkill Valley (about an hour north of Albany, NY) it is worth the trip! Beautiful roads, friendly people, good food and much much more. Can't wait till next year....

(submitted by C. Johnson)

Sea Otter Classic Road Race

The Road Race on Friday was a 70-mile affair through the Fort Ord Army Base. The course was beautiful (though I kid you not there were some stretches lined with barbed wire and active land-mines! Thankfully nobody went off the road here) and the weather was perfect. About 90 riders lined up to start with representation from Garmin, Colavita-Sutter Home, Fly V Australia, Land Rover Orbea, Cal Giant, Astana (Levi Leipheimer), Team Type 1, and a full roster from Bissell. The route featured 8 laps on rolling roads with one significant climb each lap. Early on a small breakaway went up the road, and after a few laps Leipheimer bridged up with a few Bissells and a Colavita guy. Lunning held Leipheimer’s wheel for a little while and said it was the hardest climbing he’s ever done.

Turner takes a corner mid-race.

Half way through the race there were about 12 guys up the road with a 2 minute gap and Cal Giant, with nobody in the breakaway, led the chase. A few laps later and with the gap growing, ACR’s Turner and Lunning took over the pace-setting and as the pack crested a rise Tuttle shot off the front. He worked hard through a head-wind stretch, counting on Turner and Lunning to guard against a chase, and he was able to build up a forty-second lead on the group by the finish line, crossing alone behind the breakaway but well ahead of the main field. Heads-up racing and strong teamwork made the race a huge success.

Photos from the weekend are available here, and a VeloNews write-up is here.

Harless interviewed in Marin IJ

"Hoosier takes on Sea Otter: Mill Valley's Harless rides in criterium race at four-day Monterey bike event..." Check out the full story on the Marin IJ website!

Copperopolis Road Race, 2009

It was a rough day in the saddle out there for ACR’s Lunning, Turner, Van Orsdel, and Tuttle. The 105-mile race consists of five long laps, each with a big climb, a wide open and windy flat stretch, and a ripping descent. Early in the race four riders broke off the front. The well-known favorites (in the form of Levi Leipheimer (Astana), Scott Nydam (BMC), the Jacques-Maynes brothers (Bissell), and Daniel Holloway (VMG-Felt)) were still in the main pack however, so the breakaway was let out.

Levi Leipheimer (Astana) flanks Chris Turner (ACR) as the pack approaches the climb.

Then, on the third time up the climb the race exploded. Climbing savant Nate English pinned it on the narrow and cratered one-lane road and the shake-out began. Ten riders from the front, Tuttle stayed on Andy Jacques-Maynes’ wheel, with Turner right next to him. Tickling the red zone, concentration and a smooth rhythm became critical, and just then Andy dropped his chain! The mishap forced Tuttle off the road, Turner to stop dead in his tracks, and fractured an already stressed field. With the smallest of gaps open, the front of the pack slipped over the top. Tuttle and Turner crested the summit a few seconds back and chased like mad-men but couldn’t get any help from the three others in their small group as they each had a teammate up ahead. Resigned to recuperate a bit, the two ACR riders rotated through as bits and pieces of the race in front and behind came back together into a solid second group. The race was only half way over at that point.

The bunch approaches the feedzone.

Up ahead, Scott Nydam and Ben Jacques-Maynes cut up the leaders and broke off to 2-man the rest of the race after closing down the early breakaway. Meanwhile, Lunning rejoined the second group after the supremely rough roads had rattled his bottle-cage right off his bike. Van Orsdel trailed in a third chase group, working with about six others, determined to finish this grueling epic. By the last lap, Tuttle, Turner, and Lunning were setting a good tempo with a little help from Chris Phipps (Morgan-Stanley), Vince Owens (Lombardi) and a few Cal-Giant riders. With about fifteen others in tow, a massive effort would only have served to better position the other teams, and the three ACR riders finished all together at the head of the second group, with Lunning in 16th, Tuttle in 18th, Turner in 21st, and Van Orsdel a little back in 36th.

A bit earlier, Ben Jacques-Maynes won with Nydam hot on his heels in 2nd, and Andy Jacques-Maynes rounded out the podium in third. Almost 100 people started the race, and only 39 finished. Official results are available here, and photos are available here.

Santa Cruz Classic Criterium

ACR's Turner, Harless, and Tuttle lined up for the 36th edition of the notorious Santa Cruz Classic Crit on Sunday, April 5th. The field was huge, the course was tough, and the racing was fierce. The course's famed downhill hairpin claimed the collarbone of one overeager Lombardi racer right from the gun:And with that first smash-up, 200 meters into the race, things really went wild. Attack after attack went off the front, and Turner positioned himself aggressively to get involved.The seven-turn, hilly course played hard-to-get and shed competitors with every lap.The right-hander leading into the climb.Here the field grinds up the sharp incline to cross the start/finish line before another lap.
The entrance to the hairpin collapsed the field every lap, only to string it back out on the backside.Turner's superhuman efforts kept him up front but unfortunately after so many foiled attempts, the break that stuck didn't have him in it. Half way through the race about half of the 150 starters were gone--having either dropped out or been pulled before getting lapped. Meanwhile a small group put time into the field and stayed away, with eventual race winner Dan Holloway.
The pace was blistering; we finished the 45-mile, 50-lap race in 1 hour 38 minutes. Final results aren't out yet, but by the end only about 50 guys crossed the finish line, with Turner and Tuttle thick in the mix.

Photo credits:
Flickr's "renroublard," "Ken Conley," and "bohebe1"

Philly 2-Day Cycling Classic

This past weekend, Chris Johnson and Milan Sopic competed in the Philadelphia 2 Day Cycling Classic. Saturday's race was along a wide open 2 mile circuit course in Fairmont Park. 40 mph+ winds proved interesting as numerous breaks tried to get away but nothing would stick. The race ended in a bunch sprint with Johnson cruising in for 16th.

Sunday's race was on part of the famous Lemon Hill course used in the USPRO race. Although the outcome was not what they wanted, Sopic and Johnson both raced hard, learned a lot, and had a good time. Johnson was able to get in a number of early breaks and with about 6 laps to go he soloed away from his 3 break away mates; however, it was not to be and the group caught him about 20 ft from the line. Tough finish but he learned a lot tactically for the future and still ended up in 7th.

Johnson also competed in Sunday afternoon's Pro 1/2/3 field. With riders from OUCH, Kelly Benefits and a number of other domestic pro teams Johnson was proud to be riding with the "pros" for the first time. He rode towards the front of the group for most of the race and even tried bridging up to a couple of breaks. Overall it was a great confidence builder and learning experience. The race ended in a group sprint with Johnson coming in 23rd.
An early break that didnt last long
And Johnson gets another break going...

Johnson driving the break trying to make it stick
Johnson solo off the front...but it was not to be...

Ronde Van Brisbeen Photo Highlights

(click any photo to enlarge)

Tuttle stays cool 4 back.
Van Orsdel checks his line.
Turner drives the front over the top.
Lunning carves through the downhill, bridging up to a 3-man break.
Turner leading Avis (Specialized), into the descent.
Turner and Charlie Avis (Specialized) wonder what's taking so long.
Tuttle pacelines up the climb.
Lunning being Lunning, off the front.
Harless threads through a fast corner.
Turner.
Tuttle accelerates out of a corner, leading Mike Sayers (Amgen/Giant) and Tim Farnham (Bissell)
Johnson points to the stars after winning the Philly Phlyer.
Left-Right: Kris Lunning (5th), Keith Miller (3rd), Andrew Goessling (1st), Patrick Briggs (2nd), Hendrik Pohl (4th)

Thanks to Jay Martinez and Yi Hsueh for the photography.