Tulsa Tough criteriums in Tulsa Oaklahoma City.

I finished 4th on Friday nights criterium ( stage one) 2nd in stage two and 6th in stage three. Team mate Bernie Sulzberger finished 3rd in stage two and 3rd in stage three. We rounded out the podium for 2nd and 3rd overall. Good job boys :)

  

Another criterium series win for the trophy room. Tour of Atlanta was somewhat small compared to what lies ahead in racing, but it was great preperation for Tulsa Tough and Philadelphia.

The guys all rode really well and we won 5 out of 7 stages and in the 2 that we didn't win we placed 2nd and 3rd respectively. Fly V placed 1st, 3rd, 5th, 6th and 9th overall so you could say that we cleaned up.

Tomorrow we head to Tulsa, Oaklahoma City for 3 criteriums worth around $85,000 and then we head over to Philadelphia for Pro Tour 1 day race.

What a start back to racing after the team training camp by winning 3 stages in a row and I still have 3 more to go!

The first stage was a 2km prologue and I actually rode well considering I'm not renowned for this kind of event. I ended up placing 7th. That afternoon we had our first criterium and a group of around 12 formed at the very start of the race which fly V had 5 riders present. We tried to break this apart and get away from having so many guys up the road but the course was to fast. Bernie (again) lead me out perfectly and I won the stage.
The next day was a double stage of 1 hour criteriums, one in the morning and the second at night. The legs were feeling great so I decided to launch a few attacks during the race and with 15 minutes to go a chose my moment perfectly and managed to get away with only one other guy following me. We quickly got a 30 second gap and the race was in the bag. Stage 3 was on the same course but with a different finish line but unfortunately it rained down hard all race and I was not happy. Anyway again the boys did a great job to take me to the finish line and I did my job.

2 more crits today and then a road race on Monday. I'm in yellow now with a few points up my sleeve.

Upon my return to America I raced a 7 day criterium series called "USA speed week" and it took me a few days to find my legs after flying and putting up with the ever so dreaded jetlag. After that I spent a couple of days at Nathan O’Neill’s house before heading over to Arkansas for Joe Martin stage race, which was 4 days long. I was really feeling fast and strong after those 2 tour’s and a training camp was perfect for me to gain some base miles in the legs in preparation for Philadelphia Pro Tour race which is on the 7^{th of June.}

Half of the team was at camp ready to ride some of the toughest training routes in America and clock up some quality miles together. This was also another good way to get the team members in one place and spent some time relaxing and getting to know one another off the bike. The guys who could make it were Bernie Sulzberger, David Kemp, Scotty Davis, Hayden Brooks, Steve George, Ben Kersten and our team mate and part time DS Nathan O’Neill. With the reputation that Nathan has with training hard we all knew we were in for some long hard miles, but we were ready for it.

The placed were we stayed at was perfect for what we needed. It situated itself on a little mountain surrounded in tall tree’s with an outdoor fire pit in the middle of a timber deck and it was so peaceful that you could actually hear yourself think. Nathan had organized us to stay at the Hiker Hostel in a little town called Dahlonega which is up in the mountains North Georgia. Around that area was so many climbs or gaps as they call them over here that I can’t remember riding on a flat piece of road. We also climbed the famous ‘Brasstown Bald’ which a lot of cyclist are familiar with as the hardest climb in North America. It’s 5k long and averages around 15% and it pitches up to 22% in one section so you can imagine after riding 100km before hand and still 60km to get home at the end of a training camp it’s going to hurt.

Camp went for 6 days and the schedule was set for saddle time. Thursday we rode down in Braselton before we transported to the mountains and we clocked up 3 hrs easy. Friday was our first day in the mountains and we rode for 5 hrs with the climbs continues throughout the ride. 5 hrs on Saturday which was continuing rolling roads. Sunday was our recovery day 1 hour ride. Monday was crunch day with Brasstown Bald. We passed through several climbs that day and was a tough long day 6 hrs in the saddle. Tuesday 2 hrs recovery with a transfer back to Nathan’s house in Braselton. Total 21 hours 700km’s on the saddle.

Next is Tour of Atlanta on Friday the 22nd to Monday 25th, Tulsa Tough criterium series and Philadelphia Pro Tour on the 7th of June.

Jonathan

Stage 1 Prologue 4km uphill.
Why do the American race organisors persist on making all of the time trials up hill? I just don't get it. Anyway I was happy with my effort considering this part of cycling is not for me. I ended up 79th out of around 150 guys and only about 1 minute down on GC. We do however have a TT star on our team name Phil Zijacek and he placed 4th, so this makes for a interesting day tomorrow. I'm just glad we don't have to ride the front for 170km just like we had to in San Dimas and Redlands.

Stage 2 170km Road Race.
Felt good all day even with all the rolling hills. I have trimmed down the weight and its noticably better in the hills. The final 5k was frantic and fast. My team really took control and showed the peleton that we were not here to play. The last 1k was really lumpy and crazy. I had great position goinng through the last corner but died a little with 100m to go and got past by a couple of guys. It was an up hill drag race and the legs were burning and couldn't make up any ground. Tomorrow is another day.

Stage 3 150km road race.
Today was a day for our GC guy (Phil Ziajeck) to make his stand and get himself some time on the road or at the final. We tried to break up the race all day but a group of 10 riders went up the road early and we missed the move. Ouch and Fly V had to work hard on the front to bring back the 2 minute breakaway and we caught them with only 10km to go. This was good for me as I just sat 10
th wheel whilst all the others rode the front and I waited for the sprint. Coming into the final kilometers there were no signs indicating 5k or 1k to go and I was caught out a little because of it. They also didn't have a banner indicating the finish line so none of us knew where the actual finish line was. I totally left me sprint to the last minute and came from 10 back to finish 2nd just behind Haedo from Colivita. Still an ok result but knew I was capable of more if conditions were better..

Stage 4 90 minute criterium.
This criterium circuit was brutal. It had a 300m long uphill drag and then turned right into a climb which was at about 10%. At least 30 riders did not finish this race. 
I made some moves early on and established a 10 man break and we quickly gained 30 seconds on the chasing peleton. The move was perfect for me and we worked well together until a rider that was high on GC rode across and made the peleton chase even harder and we finally got caught with 4 laps to go and my legs were spent. Still it was good to make the break and show people that I'm not just a sit on sprinter ha. 

25/4/09	Athens Twilight crit	Athens GA
26/4	Roswell crit	Roswell GA
28/4	Beaufort Classic	Beaufort SC
29/4	Walterboro crit	Walterboro SC
1/5	Spartanburg Classic	Spartanburg SC
2/5	Dilworth crit	Dilworth NC
3/5	Sandy Springs Classic	Sandy Springs GA
5/5	Drive to Arkansas
7,10-5-09	Joe Martin stage race	AR	NRC
11/5/2009	Drive back to Georgia
	Training camp?
	2 weeks..
22,25/5/09	Tour of Atlanta	Atlanta
29,31/5	Tulsa Tough	Tulsa OK	NRC
7/6/2009	Philadelphia pro tour
28/6	Manhattan beach GP	CA	NRC
9,26/7/09	Superweek
28,2-07-09	Tour of Gippsland	Australia
31,2/07/09	Tour of Elk Grove	Elk grove IL	NRC
8/8	Presbyterian crit	Charlotte NC	NRC
9/8	Hanes Park crit	NC	NRC
30,6/08/09	Tour of Murry River	Australia
29,4/09/09	Tour of Tassie	Australia
11,17/10/09	Herald Sun Tour	Australia

The "speedweek" crits were action packed from day 1.
The series contained 7 races which were spread out over the states of Georgia and South Carolina, which also ment a lot of driving was going to be involved. Some of the stages were that far apart from each other that we had to drive 7 hours so we could get to the next destination for the next days race, so this was not fun times.

Stage 1 would have been one of the most exciting races that I have ever raced before. It was in Athen's Georgia and there was around 45,000 people that lined the side of the 1km crit circuit. It was a Saturday night and the race started at 10pm so the crowd was electric. The legs were certainly asleep by this tme and it took some firing to get the engine turned on. The race itself was crazy fast and the courses lighting was shocking. I remember coming into the first corner and all I could hear behind me was the sound of Aluminium and carbon crashing together and scraping along the ground. I came around the next lap and their would have been 30 riders or more in the pits! Crazy stuff. 
I ended up bridging across to the winning break with only 10 laps to go and that bunch split into 2 groups and I didnt have the legs after just flying back from Australia, so the intent was there but the legs weren't. The 2nd split ended up getting caught on the last lap and I just rolled in with the bunch. 

Stage 2, 3 and 4 were no better really. The legs didn;t want to go to work and my heart rate was through the roof. I was cramping severly and coming into the sprint I couldn't even hold my lead out mans wheel. 

Stage 5 I was starting to feel better and I had finally gotten a good nights sleep after the jet lag had taken its toll. This race was in a really cool town called Spartanburg whcih is South Carolina. The crowd came out again in forces and the vibe was awesome. All of these races have been starting really late in the night and most moring we have been going out for a 1-2 hour ride just to losing the legs up and waste some time. On this particular morning I remember saying to my team mates "I'm up tonight" which means I was feeling good. My team mates controlled the race perfectly and we had managed to clea up a lot of primes "mid race sprints" during the race and we wanted it to come down to a bunch sprint and give me a shot at the line. That they did and I took over going out of the last corner with 200m to go! Good job boys and here's a win for the team.

Stage 6 I finished 2nd. The lead out again from Bernard Sulzberger was perfect but I hit out just a little to early and it was up hill sprint. I just got rolled on the finish line by another rider, but still we were content with 2nd. This then placed me 6th overall and we were in the money. 

Stage 7 which was the last stage was a tough last day. It had a climb in it and we had to do it 50 times. I said to the guys the the ealry break will go on th is particular stage so be prepared to cover it. I think it was on lap 10 that the winning breakl slipped away and I found myself in it. The group was 8 man strong and all the major teams had a rider in it. The break worked har and we stayed away from the chasing pack. I played the sprint out in my head every lap so I was mentally ready for all scenario's but I should have been going through the last corner 2nd or 3rd, not 4th. So basically it was a drag race to the finish line and I didn't make up any positions, so 4th it was. Again it is a good result but a wasted opportunity. 

I ended up 6th overall and Bernie finished 12th overall. 

1 recovery day at Nathan Oniell's before we head to Joe Martin stage race which is Arkansas. It hurts me to write this but I will be getting up in 6 hours for the long 14 hour drive across the country. Normally we would fly but not this time :(