Mon, 15 Sep 2008

NJ STATE CRITERIUM CHAMPIONSHIPS '08
Brian Reports:

The highlight of the day was saved for the last event of the day, the Cat 5 final. The new 2008 NJ State Cat 5 crit champion is Skylands' own John Jackson!! After the combined efforts of teammates Mike DeGeorge and Mark Salazar to keep the field together, John took the leadout pull of Mike to leave the rest in the dust. Just as amazing as John's victory, Mike clicked down to his biggest gear after pulling John and powered into 2nd place...right on John's heels. John 1st, Mike 2nd, and Mark 6th! Job well done.

In the Cat 4 race it also came down to a field sprint. Skylands racers Andy Buchanan and Gene Victori streaked home taking 6th an 7th respectively. Both racers had been balked and pinched in the final turns which surley cost them podium finishes as they both were closing fast in the final meters.

The super fast of NJ came out to play in the Cat 3 race. Being a NJ Cup race combined with the State Championship on the line, made for the entry of some heavy hitters. With Milo Bastanelli in the Cat 3 Cup race, Kevin Keane and I were there to help any way we could. Kevin rallied the peleton early in the race to pull back an early break and I later went to the front to pull back a mid-race break. With less than 2 laps to go I saw that Milo was near the front and on the wheels of his marked riders. I went to the front and just kept the pace fast enough to discourage any late flier attempts. Milo said he was in great position but just didn't have the legs on this day. He managed a 16th place with Kevin in 29th.

The masters 55 + ended with Gerry Ryerson just missing a medal with his 4th place finish after his 2nd place podium in 2007. Joe Skorupa kept his steady season going with a 9th place sprint and valuable points in the 55+ state Cup.

The largest field of the day was the 45+ race with almost 80 entries. Skylands members Brian Gristick, Gerry Ryerson, Andy Buchanan and John Boub included. The race had no slow-downs for the entire 20 miles with a smooth and steady 26.2 mph average. When we received the bell with one lap to go everything went into fast forward. In the first corner a Liberty Cycling racer clipped the curb with his pedal and went down taking several riders with him. This balked the unlucky riders behind including Andy and John. Gerry and I escaped being just in front of the accident and went on to finish 11th(me) and 22nd(Gerry). Andy finished 35th and John was 53rd

Congratulations to all Skylands racers for their well earned results and the unselfish teamwork to provide those results.

posted at: 09:45 | path: | permanent link to this entry

2008 LiveStrong Challenge
Blake Reports:

This year, August 24 was the date of our annual LiveStrong Challenge benefiting the efforts of the Lance Armstrong Foundation. This year our team consisted of 4 Skylands Club members, Catherine Babin, Heather Radcliffe, Gary Worth and myself. One of our team mates from last year, Gerry Remsen was once again willing to organize long and grueling training rides through Sussex and Warren Counties, in the hopes of making us stronger riders. As always, these rides were extremely helpful, and although we were sad he was not able to join us in Philly, we were so appreciative of his part in getting us in shape for the big day. Unfortunately Gary was unable to attend Philly as well, so we were down to the 3 women when all was said and done.

Catherine and I carpooled to Philly and met up with Heather and her fiancé, John, at the venue for packet pick-up the night before. There they sat, under a tree with all these bags of stuff. They handed me my registration bag and asked why I got all this good gear. Hehe! I received another fantastic bag and dri-fit hat. YEAH!! I digress. Anyway, we headed over to the hotel next door to check in and get ready for dinner. Catherine and I unpacked our gear and then we were ready to go. Heather, John, Catherine and I headed out with the hopes of meeting Michael Adsit and his wife as well. The restaurant was tucked away in this strip mall which made it a little difficult to find, but we made it. Our meals were excellent! Our service was entertaining and the company was exceptional. We could not stop laughing. From the moment we opened up the menus to the second we paid the bill, we were cracking up. Unfortunately Michael and his wife were unable to find the restaurant so they were not able to witness our highschool behavior. This may have been a blessing in disguise for them. Anyway, after dinner we headed across the parking lot to grab some breakfast items since our hotel wasn't going to have any options and we weren't certain what the LAF would be providing. Now if you have ever gone into the grocery store looking for peanut butter, you would probably say, it wasn't that hard to find. This was NOT the case for us. Three able adults were having a very difficult time with what would normally be a simple task. So we split up hoping that this would increase our odds of finding the baffling jar of sticky goodness. At this point, I had my bananas in hand and was good to go, so I bailed on the peanut butter search and checked out, which once again was more complicated than it should have been. This town was just messing with us! You'll be glad to hear Heather and John finally found the mysterious PB sans the J.

Back at the hotel we all grabbed our gear and our schwag and began the traditional process of getting ready for the next morning. Again the laughter was hard to contain. I continued to gloat about my fancy new bag and my fabulous hat…but then I found it….my name in the 'LAF book'. This had been an ongoing joke with the girls for the past few years and it was alive and well once again. It was time for Catherine to call it a night so Heather and John headed back to their room while I attempted to check email while she passed out. Seriously I have never seen anyone fall asleep so quickly. It's impressive!

The wakeup call and alarm went off at 5:30 at which point I jumped in the shower. Catherine could not figure out why I took a shower but when I explained to her that I am twice as peppy in the morning after a shower, I think I saw fear in her eyes. Anyway, Heather showed up and we got ready in record time and headed out but not before preparing our banana and peanut butter breakfast. There was one problem with this, we had nothing to apply the PB with. So in my own MacGyver way I found the best tool for the job…a bottle opener. Hey, it worked! After a quick stop at the car for Heed and an abnormal amount of sunscreen (Heather may need an intervention but that is a topic for another time) we had John take some pictures and we headed over to the Venue. This day could not have been better by the way. It was barely chilly (don't ask Catherine her opinion here) and the day promised to be warm but not hot like last year. As we have done in the past we headed over to the staging area where we usually find bagels and what they have claimed to be coffee. So you can imagine my excitement when we turned the corner to see a huge tent with the words "STARBUCKS COFFEE COMPANY" on it. Unfortunately I proved Catherine wrong when she thought I could not get any peppier at 6am, for I most certainly did the second I saw that tent.

Once we headed over to the 70mile staging pen, we situated ourselves up at the front, which served two purposes; we would be upfront at the starting line which seems to be the safe place to be and I was a bit further from the coffee which deterred me from returning for more. A few second later I heard my name and turned around to see an old Tour of Hope friend, Jeff Tredup. He rode in the ToH back in 2004(?) and Heather and I met him in 2005. We had lost touch this past year so it was really nice to see him again and catch up. Then a minute later Michael Adsit found us. So our little group had grown. After all the announcements and the arrival of Lance we were ready to head out. Jeff and Michael and their friends rode like bats out of hell, so our group was back down to 3. We had decided that we would take our time this year and have a proper warm up period before hammering. But by the end of our first hour we had an average of 18mph, which was impressive for us. We felt good and we were having fun. We made sure we stopped at the rest stops to refuel but quickly returned to the road. We didn't want to miss the post-event party this year. Then the hills started. Catherine, Heather and I decided that we were going to take the hills nice and casually but on the flats we would pace line…so off we went. As we passed people, some of the more serious riders asked if they could jump on as well. But then we hit a hill with a lot of riders around us. Catherine decided to jump on the yellow line and pass everyone up the hill, Heather jumped on and went but I got boxed in and was stuck behind someone until I saw a break. So off I went with this other guy up the hill. We both had been separated from our friends so we worked together to catch up. But neither he nor I could see our groups. So we powered on together trying to make up what we thought was not a lot of time. We turned this corner and head down this slight decent, where the guy next to me hits some gravel and ends up crashing hard on his left shoulder. My nw buddy and I jump off our bikes to help him with the assistance of another rider who was behind me. His helmet was broken and his shoulder and arm were messed up. The medic finally showed and took over for us. So off we went. I finally caught up to Heather and Catherine at the next rest stop. I had apparently passed them on the hill and didn't realize it. My bad!

The rest of the ride from this point on was very hilly. Mile 30 was the warning sign for us. The 2mile climb was in front of us and then the 70 mile turn off. We were so happy to turn off knowing that the 100milers were going to have to survive the additional 2mile climb which almost killed us last year. We had 4 miles of new terrain to ride, for this was a cut thru we did not take last year. Heather's calf began to cramp around mile 52 so we brought our pace down a bit to let her rest which I think helped. At mile 60 Catherine's foot started acting up, so we all sort of did our own pace up the final hills and regrouped before the entrance to the finish line. We completed the 70 miles in 4 hours and 30 minutes. Although I am glad I did not register for the 100mile ride for a variety of reasons, I felt really good at the end of the 70 mile ride which surprised me. After regrouping, Heather, Catherine and I rode down the LAF drive shoulder to shoulder with smiles on our faces and were then greeted with big bottles of Fuji water and ice water soaked towels that were draped around our necks. It was a really nice touch. But better yet was the fact that we were pulling in at the beginning of the ceremonies with Doug Ullman and Lance Armstrong on stage. We located a prime position and squeezed in to watch the formal TdF champion and the CEO of LAF, present various awards to cancer survivors and participants. As Catherine took a variety of fantastic photos, Heather and I sat and giggled over Lance like school girls. Lame I know, but it just happens, you have no control. Seriously! Then it was time to eat and relax for a few minutes before heading over to the hotel to check out. There was lots of food this year to choose from which we enjoyed and I grabbed my post ride beer. It was not the Shiner beer (Lance's favorite) we were used to but it was cold and refreshing none the less. It was time to head out so we said our good bye's and Catherine and I headed home.

As a team we raised over $2200 to support the Lance Armstrong Foundation! Until next year!

posted at: 09:23 | path: | permanent link to this entry