Race reports

I have been moving so I've only now gotten back some internet access so here is a bit of the latest:

Tour of Lawrence: Awesome, awesome race but the officiating left something to be desired. I know that officiating is kind of a thankless job and I always appreciate that there even are officials but we had a couple of weird things go on here that was a little bit disappointing. Still, we could had done a better job explaining ourselves to them.

Stage 1 - street sprints: Without going too much into this, they had heats of 5 riders doing 200 m sprints, from a T start. They would then take the top 8 riders from each category (Pro/1, 2, ,3, and 4/5) and they would race until the champ from each category raced against the other respective category champions. I won my heat, which had two other pro/1 riders but I had a bad start and had to come from 2 bike lengths back. I later found out that my bad start was because my holder got his hand caught between the bottom of the saddle and the saddle rail. I think that I was only 10th in P/1 and 0.2 seconds out of the brackets. They refused me a restart. Luttrell is a cat 2 on the road and he was 4th among the 2's and even though he was announced as having won his bracket, he was not sent into the next round of brackets. We were never told if he was disqualified or what. Weird.

Stage 2 - crit: this was an awesome, awesome course in downtown Lawrence. The most fun crit I have done all year. The plan here was for me to get into the winning break and if there was no one off at the end, to put Luttrell in position. It not very hard and not hard enough to make a split so I really tried to force it, unsuccessfully. I was in 3 breaks, including one which I was sure was the winner. After a long bridge and a long time driving it, we got caught. I then was in a couple of other moves that didn't pan out. So with 10 laps to go, I got Luttrell and with him on my wheel, I took him to the front and started closing down all of the attacks that went off. With a lap and a half to go, Heath Blackgrove of San Jose and Stephan Rothe of Mercy made a move and went up to them and put Luttrell on those two. I moved aside and then someone practically tried to put him in the curb. He stayed up but lost some positions. He still got around 10th at the end but the finish line camera did not pick up anyone's numbers. Apparently, it doesn't read anything faster than 12 mph or something. So while we were riding around, people were at the finish pointing out who was who (allegedly) and he got left out. We found out way too late and were mad about it but it seemed like par for the course. Even though the teammate of the 10th place guy said that he saw Ryan get ahead of his teammate, they didn't change the results or give us our prize money.

Stage 3 - circuit race: Awesome circuit. 4 mile laps with 500 feet of climbing per lap. 12 laps. I just rode tempo and tried to avoid the surges. Ended up around 40th in the results but there is more to the story that I won't go into. Luttrell was with the leaders for 5 laps but then came out. Solid day of training for a couple of track guys.

Ultimately, this was a great race but terrible officiating. Still, we will come back next year.

Thursday Night Thunder - 7-11 Velodrome: We won the madison feature by lapping the field and winning 4 of the 6 sprints. Strong field, as usual, with some great guys. Luttrell also won the Danish, and we would have gone 1-2 in that if I had not pulled out after a surprise prime lap, thinking that I won the entire race (full retard on my part).

Longmont Crit - From what I understand, Taylor Phinney got on Twitter and told his 15,000 followers to come out to the Longmont Criterium (a former NRC race) to watch he and his entire team "tear it up." Garmin, in response, showed up with 8 guys andMichelob came out with Schmatz, Moninger, Hanlin, etc. and their full squad. To top it all off, Teejay Van Garderen from Rabobank came out to support Taylor. Anyways, the long and short of it was that it was an all out brawl and a super fun race. In 95 degree heat, we averaged in the 30's and were strung out for most of it. I decided to wait until 5 to go to start moving up so that I wouldn't have to fight the surges until the last two laps. It was sort of going to plan but Michelob had it so strung out for the last 5 that I couldn't gain much. I was somewhat near the front with two laps to but there was a big crash that I barely missed that forced me to close a huge gap with 1 to go. That basically took my sprint and I finished at 40th as we were spread across the whole road. 102 starters and 55 finishers in the field. Phinney got 3rd as Dan Schmatz and Brent Hanlin got the better of him in the sprint.

Luttrell is sick but hopefully he recovers enough for us to do something big in Portland this weekend at the next round of the AVC. If you're around, come out and support us. We'll have t shirts for the first 3 people that ask for them.

American Velodrome Challenge

We just got back from the American Velodrome Challenge in San Jose, CA.  It was tons of fun with a great field and great people.  We were pretty strong but didn't pull off any

stellar results, although with our track in Colorado Springs only having opened a few weeks ago, we knew we wouldn't quite have our track legs yet.

Madison: 

1 Subway Godfrey/Allen 22
2 Garmin/Bissel Holloway/Jacques-Maynes 21
3 Rock Racing Stangeland/Silva 8
4 Athletes Watkins/Schiller 1
5 Webcore Paleaz/Peterson 0
6 Black Dog Sabga/Luttrell 0
-1 Lap
7 Gentle Lovers Blackwelder/Beardsley 5
8 Montano Evans/ Hernandez 4
9 Village Pedaler McCook 4
10 SJBC Farinah/Shaffer 1

We should have been no worse than 3rd in this but we had a bunch of issues.

First, the track was dark.  Some teams put lights on their bikes

so they could see each other.  We could not find each other on the

track until we were right on top of each other and a couple of times,

I tried to exchange with Hayden Godfrey or Jason Allen, who had some

green in their kits, similar to ours.  On top of that, 6 of the 14

teams were wearing black kits and another team was not wearing any

sort of matching jerseys or kits.  We almost had some major pileups.

At any rate, we backed off a few times because we weren't sure if guys

were going to exchange in front of us or behind us (near identical

kits) and it got us out of position for all of the sprints.  I

attacked with 18 laps to go to try to get a lap but never got more than 1/3 to 1/2 of a lap lead.  At any rate, we were disappointed with the finish.  We will have to make up for it at Portland.

Scratch Race: 

1 Dan Holloway
2 Hayden Godfrey
3 Grant Boursaw
4 Steven Beardsley
5 Steve Pelaez
6 Iggy Silva
7 Ryan Luttrell
8 David McCook
9 Maurice Monge
10 Giovanni Rey
11 Brian Peterson
12 Derek Dixon

38 starters.  We had the right idea but couldn't quite get

it done.  Daniel Holloway attacked early with another rider and I

bridged the gap to them, we were joined by Dave McCook, who was US

Champion in this event a couple of years ago, and some other good guys.  I

figured this would be the right move to get a lap.  We got about half

a lap when Holloway started shouting at me to hit it so we could close

the 1/2 lap quickly.  I lifted the pace a little and dropped everyone but him.

I did a full lap pull and when I pulled off for him to take his pull,

he attacked me.  We were close to the field but I couldn't quite get

on him.  He connected with the field while I was still about 1/8 lap

behind.  Then Godfrey and Jason Allen really hit it.  I couldn't quite close 

the gap and stayed out there for another several laps or so about 10 bike lengths from getting the lap.

Eventually, I gave up and was caught and went for plan B: leading

Luttrell out.  While I was off the front, he went from blocking for me to go heading to the back for when I got the lap.  When he saw that I wasn't going to get the lap, he had to close all kinds of gaps to get back to the front, which took a lot of energy.  When we came back together, I took him to the front and with 3 laps to go, led it out.  He came around me but had a bunch of good guys on his wheel and after doing all of that work, he didn't have his usual sprint but still had something solid.

Points Race: 

1 James Stangeland
2 Dan Holloway
3 Jame Carney
4 Grant Boursaw
5 Steve Pelaez
6 Benjamin Jacques-Maynes
7 Iggy Silva
8 Giddeon Massie
9 Jason Allen
10 Karl Erickson
11 Ryan Luttrell

37 starters.  After the Scratch, I was kind of dead.  Luttrell was trying to work for me but

my legs didn't have much so I told him to try for some points and I

would wait until the end to try something.  He actually had great legs for this 

but we didn't get on the same page until late in the game.  I wasn't hurting at all, I

just had empty legs and couldn't do any attacking.  There was a break off in the last two sprints but I led out the sprint with 3 laps to go, got a good gap on the pack but didn't

quite catch the break.  I ended up being the highest place with no points, so I got 12th.  Luttrell's one point got him 11th.

Overall, it was a good experience as we got to see where we are at

this point of the year.  We just couldn't quite get the results we wanted for our first big

race of the year.  Still, it was a great show and great fun.  This was

one of the best fields I've seen in a US race.  We will definitely be back for

next year.

Best...RS

Exciting news from Black Dog...

Hello everyone, and happy Father's Day. First off, I'd like to mention how thrilled we are to be involved in some prototype testing for a new product that promises to be very exciting. We'll keep it under wraps for now, but expect to hear from us soon about what we're doing and who we're working with.

Some of you might have noticed on our Fanpage and Blog, that we've posted our schedule for what will surely be an exciting 2009 season!  Check it out and come out to watch us race.

Last Thursday at the 7-Eleven Velodrome in the US Olympic Training Center, Colorado Springs, CO, a crowd gathered to watch members of Black Dog Professional Cycling take on some of the Rocky Mountain's fastest track cyclists at Thursday Night Thunder in the Park. In the first race of the night, a 1K Scratch, Ryan Luttrell took 2nd, only to find himself one podium step below 2006 US Olympic Sprint National Champion, Kevin Selker. However, Ryan's time to shine came next when he won the hotly contested Miss-n-Out. Then in the feature race, Black Dog Pro Cycling really flexed it's muscles taking first in the opening Madison for the 2009 season. During which, Ryan Luttrell and Ryan Sabga executed their exchanges to perfection to win 5 out of 6 sprints in an exciting, crowd-pleasing finale.

Be sure to look out for a special article on EDGE Composites in the future. We'll tell you what products we like, and what you can expect to see from EDGE next season! Also, we'll hear from Kacey Manderfield on her epic European campaign over the spring.

Also, visit our blog at http://www.blackdogprocycling.blogspot.com/ to stay up to date with Black Dog.

Black Dog- Its COMING!

2009 Race Schedule - PArt 2
L=Luttrell, S=Sabga, M=Manderfield

All races are Colorado unless otherwise stated.

June 10-14: Nautre Valley GP, MN (M)
June 9: CVA Tuesday Night Racing (L), CSP Criterium (S)
June 11: CVA Thursday Night Racing (L)
June16: CVA Tuesday Night Racing (L), CSP Criterium (S)
June 18: CVA Thursday Night Racing (L,S)
June 23: CVA Tuesday Night Racing (L),
June 26-27: San Jose American Velodrome Challenge, CA(L,S)
June 29: CVA Tuesday Night Racing (L),

July 3-5: Lawrence Stage Race, KS (L,S)
July 2-5: Fitchburg-Longsjo, MA (M)
July 7: CVA Tuesday Night Racing (L),
July 9: CVA Thursday Night Racing (L,S)
July 11-12: UIV NAS Track, MI (M)
July 12: Longmont Criterium (L,S)
July 14: CVA Tuesday Night Racing, CSP Criterium (S)
July 16: World Series of Bicycling, PA (M)
July 17-19: Portland American Velodrome Challenge (L,S)
July 21: CVA Tuesday Night Racing (L)
July 23: CVA Thursday Night Racing (L,S)
July 25: Fed Center Circuit Race (S)
July 26: Bannock Street Criterium (L,S)
July 28: CVA Tuesday Night Racing (L)
July 30: CVA Thursday Night Racing (L,S), World Series of Bicycling, PA (M)

August 4: CVA Tuesday Night Racing (L), CSP Criterium (S)
August 6: CVA Thursday Night Racing (L,S)
August 8: Vics Espresso Criterium (L), Presbyterian Hospital Invitational, NC (M)
August 9: RMSS Criterium (L,S), Hanes Park Classic, NC (M)
August 11: CVA Tuesday Night Racing (L), CSP Criterium (S)
August 13: CVA Thursday Night Racing (L,S)
August 15: Raisin Hope Classic (L)
August 16: State Criterium Championships (L,S), Downers Grove, IL (M)
August 18: CVA Tuesday Night Racing (L), CSP Criterium (S)
August 20: CVA Thursday Night Racing (L,S)
August 22: Boulder 6 (L,S)
August 25: CVA Tuesday Night Racing (L)
August 28: T-Town Madison Cup PA (L,S,M))


September 4-7, Gateway Cup, MO (L,S,M)
September 30 - October 4: Track Nationals, CA (L,S,M)

November 19-21: UCI World Cup Classic, Melbourne AUS (L,S,M)

December 10-12: UCI World Cup Classic, Cali COL (L,S,M)

Panache Cyclewear on cyclingnews.com...

Don Powell's Panache Cyclewear, sponsor of Black Dog Professional Cycling found its way onto cyclingews.com today. Check out the great review of Don's phenomenal line of apparel from the experts; it'll be sure to keep you cool as the mercury rises this summer.

http://cyclingnews.com/tech.php?id=tech/2009/reviews/panache_summer_clothing09

You can find more information about Panache Cyclewear from their website at http://www.panachecyclewear.com/

Also, be sure to look for an update from Black Dog later this week. It will include results and information from Black Dog racers Ryan Sabga and Kacey Manderfield about their seasons' thus far. Also, the latest product and prototypes from Edge Composites including their new full carbon stems and seatposts.

Panache Cyclewear's Winter Riding Tips

Check out these winter riding tips  from our clothing supplier, Panache Cyclewear.  Don Powell, the president, is an ex professional both here and in Europe. He is a super guy with incredibly well done clothing.

A little update on the latest goings on at BDP.

Kacey is heading to Europe in a couple of days for a 6 week stint of road racing for the US National Team.  When she gets back, she will start adding in some track racing, mostly in Trexlertown.  Everyone is excited for her to have a great time and beat up some of the ladies over there.

Ryan S is recovering from a nasty bout with the flu and pneumonia.  He did race last weekend at the track and won all of his events, despite racing in borrowed shoes/pedals and clothes.  And his warm up gear.  Our boy misplaced his race bag with all the goodies, including his gear set.  But it turned out well enough in the end: the bag was located, the races were won, and despite being a little worn out from doing a 70 laps points race and scratch at 150 rpm in unfamiliar shoes and cleats, Ryan was no worse for the wear.  If the Colorado weather holds for the weekend, he should do a hilly criterium on Saturday and the epic Koppenburg road race which is half dirt, half paved.  A Colorado favorite, although not necessarily a Ryan favorite.

Ryan L is gearing up to start racing shortly.  He is pretty fit after a season of cross country skiing and ski patrol duties, along with his base training.  Racing is right around the corner.

It's shaping up to be a great season.  Stay tuned for updates and come out to support our team whenever possible.