McKinney Velo Club

Setting the 2012 Results Bar High...

2012-01-17T14:43:00.003-06:00

Congratulations to MV's Julian Howitt who secured MV's first road race 1st place (the rhyme rolls off the tongue much like Julian rolled across the line) of 2012 in the first road race of 2012 - the 1/14/2012 TRP Winter Crits. Julian took the victory in the 3/4 crit and then for good measure, placed 4th in the 4/5 race that followed. Way to set the tone for what many prognosticators are predicting will be MV's most successful season ever... in the history of MV's ever.

T.V. Face Time for Matt Brady.

2011-12-16T17:31:00.002-06:00

Earlier this week, friend of McKinney Velo, Geoff Godsey, appeared on Good Morning Texas to discuss gifts for people with active lifestyles. Geoff brought gift ideas for show and tell, and used MV's Matt Brady to model use of a stationary trainer. Check out Matt and Geoff's television appearance here. [MANDATORY FBI DISCLAIMER: Matt was used for display purposes only and is not for sale.]

Texas High School Bike Racing League

2011-11-29T17:03:00.003-06:00

McKinney Velo members Justin Hicks (pictured here) and Austin McCown are among hundreds of Texas high school bike racers who are gearing up for the 2012 Texas high school racing season.

High School boys road racing has two categories: B races for Beginner/Intermediate racers, and A races for Advanced racers. The Texas H S League also has a separate category for girls. Texas H S races are scheduled on weekends so schools from all across Texas can compete at the same events. Most of the weekends include a road race, a crit, and a TT. Points are earned in each event. Small medals or trophies are earned at each event, and there is an overall award at the end of the season for overall team points and individual points.

Here is the league website: http://www.texashighschoolcycling.org. Andrew Armstrong, a teacher at Jesuit High School in Dallas (and a Cat 1 racer with MV's sister RBM sponsored Matrix team), heads up the league and does a great job.

Here are the 2012 tentative race dates. The HS races piggy-back on the college events – we use the same course, officials, etc. It’s fun for the HS kids to see the college racers, and sometimes they will run the HS A group with the college C group.

March 3/4 - Texas A&M (College Station, TX)
March10/11 - Denton Crit/Jesuit Roundup RR (Denton and Celina, TX)
March 24/25 - Univ of Texas at Austin (Austin, TX)
March 31/April 1 - SMU/TCU/UNT (Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX)
April 14/15 - Midwestern State (Wichita Falls, TX)
May 5/5 - Coldspring RR & Crit (Houston, TX)

If you're a Collin County area high school student and interested in bike racing, drop us a line at info@mckinneyvelo.org... we'd like to see if we can help you pin on a number.

Brownie’s Take: Pros & Cons of Off-Season Weight Training

2011-10-02T20:49:00.002-05:00

BROWNIE’S TAKE: PROS & CONS OF OFF-SEASON WEIGHT TRAINING.

Mike “Brownie” Brown (pictured here securing his annual victory in the Copperas Cove season opener to another Texas road racing season) just finished his 2011 season where it all started – on the top step of the podium in Copperas Cove. Brownie’s most recent Copperas Cove victory made him the 2011 Master’s Age 45-49 State Champion... which makes a nice bookend for the P/1/2 State Championship Brownie won at Chappell Hill in 2001. Brownie will be the first to tell you that he owes a great deal of his success each season to the foundation he builds during the off-season. In this “interview” with Bob He of Timewaster Media Enterprises, the first in a series of at least one, Brownie offers what some may consider a surprising view on a common element of most off-season training programs – weight training. But with 2011 victories in January (Copperas Cove), March (Jesuit Ranger Roundup), April (Matrix Challenge) and September (Age-Based State Road Race), along with podium finishes at the Age-Based State Crits in May and at Cotton Patch, Brownie’s opinion is certainly worthy of respect and consideration.

Bob He: I’m here with Mike “Brownie” Brown, newly crowned Texas Masters State Road Race Champion. “Brownie” – what an odd nickname... where did it come from?

Brownie: You add an “i” and an “e” to my last name... it’s a pretty common nickname for anyone named “Brown.”

Bob He: Oh yeah, duh... sorry, that was a panic first question. Forgive me, I’ve never fake interviewed a state champion before. Let’s talk about the race: So you won huh? Was that pretty awesome? [delete before publishing] Where the guys you beat any good? [ditto] Anyone you’d like to thank?

Brownie: Yes, my teammates at the race, Price, Weber, Fene, Burke, Moore, Looney, Feldman and Millwee, and of course all our McKinney Velo sponsors, but especially Jim and Rhonda Hoyt over at Richardson Bike Mart.

Bob He: A lot of Texas racers, including many from Oklahoma, are wondering what they can do this off-season to have a season like Mike “Brownie” Brown had in 2011. Some are asking if they should go to the gym for lower extremity weights... what do you think?

Brownie: The answer to that question is very simple. It depends on when your first "A" race is in 2012. If you answered that question with Lago Vista or Pace Bend, then the answer is "NO". If you answered a race in April or May then maybe.

Bob He: (Possible Pulitzer winning question alert.) Why is that?

Brownie: My answer is based on the TxBRA calendar. With the State Road Racing Championships being in late September and the real road season officially starting (at least in my mind) with Walburg 4 ½ months later, that time frame will not help you at all from a weight lifting perspective (if you're planning on riding hard starting in February and March.) Let me explain this in more detail.

Bob He: Can you explain your answer in more... oh, sorry.

Brownie: Joe Friel's Training Bible does an excellent job in laying out a good time line if you truly want to benefit from weight training. The first weight training phase is an anatomical adaptation (AA) phase. This phase is critical as one transitions from a whole season of pedaling in circles to squats, leg presses, etc. Most people lift way too heavy way too fast. They don't start lifting light weights first and let the muscles, tendons and ligaments adjust to the new motions and stresses and end up being sore as hell for the first month after starting in the gym. Being that you should only be working legs hard 2 times per week, this AA phase should last at least 4 weeks. This time frame should be adequate in helping in a smoother physiological weight room adaptation and prevent a too hard too fast injury.

Once the AA period is finished you may begin the max strength (MS) phase. This phase is the super heavy weights at about 3-6 reps. This phase also lasts about 4-6 weeks and is nothing more than pure strength building. Power Endurance (PE) follows MS and involves lifting loads slightly less heavy than the MS phase for 6-10 reps but with much more explosive movements during lifting. Once again, this phase should last 4-6 weeks. The last phase for the off season focuses on Muscular Endurance (ME). ME involves lifting much lighter loads than the MS and PE phases, but you lift those loads for 40-60 reps. As you might expect, it takes much longer to build muscular endurance than strength or power, so this phase is much longer at 6-8 weeks.

So, based on these time frames set forth by Friel, the off season weight training program will take you approximately 14 to 20 weeks. That's 3 ½ to 5 months. That would work great if our off-season started after the Hotter n Hell Hundred (ed. -a/k/a "HHH”). But the Texas race schedule reality is that there are only 4 ½ months between the State Road Racing Championships and Walburg. Also keep in mind that your mileage on the bike is minimal or constant during the AA, MS and PE phases. A very common mistake by amateur cyclists is that they try to lift heavy weights while also trying to race cross, increase their base mileage or even begin on the bike workouts for next season! Your mileage on the bike should not increase until you begin the ME phase. Otherwise you will not be able to get 100% out of each workout because you're trying to give 100% effort in the gym and then turn around and give even more by building base at the same time on the bike. And some people wonder why they don't get any better year after year.

So, in summary, if you're truly trying to build strength for 2012, you did the Championships at the end of September and you want to have a good result at Walburg or Lago Vista, weight training, in my opinion, should not be part of your workouts. Four months is NOT enough time to benefit significantly from a properly planned AA, MS, SE and ME phases weight training program.

... to be continued (maybe).

MV Congrats & Condolences

2011-07-03T16:36:00.003-05:00

Congratulations to MV members:

- Justin Hicks on a great junior profile in the July issue of the Racing Post: http://www.theracingpost.us/images/Issues/July%20%202011%20Web.pdf;

- Jake the Snake Wood for his win last Tuesday in the 'C' race; a much deserved victory after the Snake lost a chance to win about a month ago when he flatted out of a two man break that had a huge lead, and then came back a week later to lead out the Hammer for the Hammer's 1st W;

- Larry 'Blue' Price for beating all the 50+ old dudes (and almost everyone else) at Ginny King's Fair Park Crit Saturday 7/02;

- the MV 40+ team for the clinic it put on: (1) at the Fair Park Crits with Patrick 'Bling' Burke winning from a 2 man break; Rocket Richie Miller taking advantage of a huge effort from Blue and Johnny 'White Shoes" Moore to bridge him up to a chase with Brownie and Brad 'Seabass' Price by attacking through that group and taking 3rd in a solo effort, and to Brownie and 'Bass for knocking out 4th and 5th. That's right, MV took places 1, 3, 4, and 5; and (2) at the Mountain Creek Parkway Crits on 7/03 where strong work by Blue, Jeff Fene, Brad and Patrick led to another win for Bling and another 5th for the Seabass; and

- to the Chosen One, Clay Hobson, for his 4th in the 3/4 race at Fair Park and his WIN today in the 3/4 at Mountain Creek!

Finally, condolences to our road team leader, Steve 'Oz' Weber, on the untimely demise of his Specialized frame... she was strong and true and faithful, but some foes just can't be beaten; and concrete is one of those foes.

We Love The Tues Night Crit

2011-05-18T09:14:00.000-05:00

We love the weekly war that happens on Tuesday night... p/b Simply Fit Meals

Every Tuesday those of us on MVC get a chance for glory at the infamous Tuesday night crit. The Tues nighter, the crit that Armstrong has raced, the crit where many pros like McCarty and Dahlheim got their first racing fix. On any given Tuesday one can encounter a number of domestic pros on the course. But last night it was all about the C race for MVC.

The C race is where we all begin. In the C race category 4 and 5 racers duke it out for a chance to learn, climb the ranks, and hopefully take that skill to key performances in TX Cup races. Last night our resident strong man in the 4's, Tim Kolb, took the win! We are proud of Tim. Since he started riding with our club over a year ago, he has become a steady wheel to follow on weekend or Wednesday hammer fest and this win was overdue. Matt Brady took 2nd in the C race make it a 1,2 punch for MVC! Way to go fellas.

All this fitness should bode well for the juggernaut that is the Bike The Bricks course. Check out Bike the Bricks and get registered and check out one of our BTB sponsors Simply Fit Meals. Simply Fit is UHHHMAZING when it comes to integrating healthy eating into a busy lifestyle.

Matrix Challenge Race Report P/B Bikemart.com

2011-04-29T10:30:00.005-05:00

This is a race report from the Matrix Challenge Sunday win by none other than the great Michael "Brownie" Brown. Proudly presented by Richardson Bike Mart.

After the Price/Burke 1-2 finish on Saturday there was only one question that needed to be answered. Who was going to step up and be THAT rider for Sunday. Well, crits are not like road races...or are they?. In a RR it's easy to have a protected rider and everyone just works to keep that rider out of the wind and fresh to easily get into or across to breaks or win the field sprint. That same theory carries over to crits except there is no protecting a rider from the wind and on such a tight course like the Matrix Challenge, you can't just say "hey brownie, get on my wheel and I'll take you to the front. The race is too fast and by the time you got to the front things would surge and you haven't recovered and there you go back to the back again.

So my personal goal for that day was just to stay as close to the front as possible without having to do any work. But I wanted to stay close enough that if a break did get away without a MVC member I could easily go across by myself within 1/2 lap. But I never had to really worry about that because everyone else knew their roles during the race and executed them perfectly to keep things fast and together to let our sprinters do their thing. Brad Price, Larry Price and Clay Hobson went to the front multiple times and just drilled it to keep the pace high and basically just wear people out. That makes it easy for the sprinters to sit in and rest if you could do that on that technical course because it was just "power on" the entire time. As Brad, Larry and Clay did their part, Patrick was busy cleaning up two primes and I got the other two.

The race pretty much stayed together until the last three laps when Chris Hamilton from Dallas Racing attacked off the front to either try it solo or make us work chasing him while their sprinter Jorge Merle sat in. The problem was they didn't have a Brad Price. When Chris attacked, Brad immediately went to the front and just pegged it for 2 laps. When we rounded the corner leading into the long back stretch on the bell lap Hamilton had a 30 yard gap. I was sitting 4th wheel out of that corner and feeling extremely fresh (I had been laying on the beach in Nevis, British West Indies, Virgin Islands for the past 3 days). I told my self I would jump the second Brad hit the cross street halfway down the back stretch. The second he hit that little water patch on the course I ripped by him and headed towards Hamilton. I had jumped so hard that nobody got on my wheel and I flew by Chris like he was standing still. He had just made a solo 3 lap effort so I knew he would have no sprint if I could catch him. The only problem for them was that their sprinter lost my wheel when I jumped. I crossed the line and had plenty of time to celebrate with a two arm salute. The was a good day for me because it's been a long time since I won a crit. And if I had to chose one to win the entire year it would be that one just because it's so technical and hard. I had a lot of friends show up to watch the race and it was just a great team effort all the way around. Brad, Larry, Patrick and Clay did their part to perfection to get me into the right position. And the best part was that we never said one word to each other during the race. Everyone just knew what they were suppose to do. The team is really starting to gel.

Red River Riot Report P/B The Pub McKinney

2011-04-27T09:15:00.001-05:00

Brandish's Red River Riot report brought to you by the Pub Mckinney

Red River Riot II (2011)
========================

I had done this event last year so I knew how hard it was going to be. Only difference is, last year I was actually doing long solo gravel rides leading up to it so I was sure I could do it. This year I haven't done any rides over 4 hours on the road or gravel. So I have to admit to being a big nervous about how things would shake out for me. It was good to know that we had a short afternoon option if we needed to use it.

Marco headed up Friday night with the bus but Mike, Bill and I had to come up morning of since we had things to take care of at work or home on Friday. It was an early start but we arrived in plenty of time for this low-key event. I figured it would be a nice easy and relaxing start until I found out Brian Fawley had created a KOM competition for the first leg of the event. So after the rider meeting we were off and running and not really taking it easy. Another problem was, some riders had no intention of doing the full distance and were not afraid to push the pace early knowing that their day would be done by noon. I tried to stay toward the front of the group anyway.

The KOM competition consisted of 3 checkpoints. The 1st at roughly 20 miles, 2nd at 40 miles and the 3rd at roughly 60 miles in. By the time we made it to the 1st checkpoint there weren't really that many folks in the lead group. It was myself, Jordan Chaney, JP Williams, Bryan Fawley (though he told us he was not participating since he would simply blow everyone away) and another guy on a 26" Moots mountain bike (props to him for hanging with a bunch of Cross bikes). Marco would have been with us had it not been for his choice of tire pressure and subsequent pinch flats that morning. The second checkpoint was a real brute. This is the climb I remembered from the previous year. We had hit it at mile 95 last year it was wet and almost impossible. This year the conditions were much better and we were only 42 miles in. It was still tough. I rode on the front of the group as we neared the climb, geared down and rode straight up. You can't just stand up and hammer up this climb. If you try to do that you will lose traction in your rear tire, you have to either stay seated and grunt it out or if you have to stand and do it you have to be careful to keep most of your weight over the rear tire. I did a combination of these, standing for a couple and then sitting back down. When it began to flatten out I turned the cadence up and rode away from Jordan. I had taken the first 10 points of the competition and by the time we made it to the 3rd checkpoint there were only 3 of us and I had clinched the KOM. We finished up the first 72 miles of the event in roughly 4 hours. Nothing too speedy but considering the wind and terrain and lack of a good pack to share the work I figure an 18mph avg. was pretty good.

I went and signed in for the 2nd half and then headed back to the truck to refuel.

A while later Mike and Bill rolled in and told me that Marco had been so unfortunate as to have 5 flat tires along the way. It was a good thing he brought his trusty pump. Also a good thing folks were nice enough to lend him spare tubes after he had run out. Marco finally rolled in on a flat tire and came back to the truck to refuel and discuss the mornings events. We had to make a decision now weather to just call it a day or go back out for either 30 or 65 more miles. Mike and Bill called it. They were done. I still wanted to continue to hurt myself. Marco was inclined to as well. We agreed that we would go tackle 30 more miles and call it. So we got packed up, said bye to Mike and Bill and went back out for more punishment.

After the first 3 or 4 miles we started feeling better and better as we went. It was decided then that since Marco had the full 65 mile route mapped in his GPS that we would go ahead and give it a shot. We caught up to the head of the race and rode with a small group till one flatted. We decided as a group to go back and wait for the guy and continue on as a group. Good thing for him that we did. He had not packed a tube, pump or tire lever and his day would have been done. But that is one of the good things about this type of event. Most folks are very friendly and willing to lend a hand. I gave a tube and Marco saved the day with his trusty pump once again! This pump would come into play one more time for me around mile 110 when my Vittoria PitStop failed me. We continued on as a group once again but eventually it came down to just Marco and myself. Hats off to him as he rode away from me in the last mile or so. I was cooked.

We were blessed with perfect weather while on the route but that changed shortly after as a great storm cell rolled in. The event coordinator had to pull a few folks off the course for their own safety. This was a great event and I would highly recommend it to anyone looking for an enjoyable day on the bike.

Great course and great folks participating in and running the event.

Bike The Bricks Update for the ladies

2011-04-26T13:28:00.001-05:00

We've looked under car seats and pulled up the couch cushions and found some extra money for you. Women's 1/2/3 now racing for $1,000, plus BtB II is the 1st of 4 legs in a Memorial Day race weekend omnium just for you. The ominuim pays an additional $625 to the five 1/2/3 women who earn the most points at BtB II, the Gary Glickman Memorial Crit, the Skill-Based State Crits and the Age-Based State Crits. Details in our updated flyer:http://www.txbra.org/db/events/2011BiketheBricks2.pdf

My Mind Is Racing: Bike fits and weak hips

2011-04-21T08:24:00.003-05:00

My Mind Is Racing: Bike fits and weak hips:

This is a guest post from Chad Haga. Chad is one of McKinney's own sons and a friend of MVC. His little brother started racing in our club before he got called up to race for Super Squadra in Austin. Chad is currently racing at the elite level in Colorado. Follow his succes on his blog. This is a great write up about the excellence of bike fitting and the importance of core stability work.

"I was finally able to squeeze into the schedule of one of the most sought-after fit specialists in the industry, Sean Madsen. He's the head..."

Ouachita Challenge

2011-04-05T14:40:00.002-05:00

Decorated MV Correspondent Pedro "El Guapo" del Busto (pictured here on his road bike), files this report on the 2011 Ouachita Challenge:

Larry Price [ed. a/k/a "Blue" or "LP"] and myself headed out to Arkansas this past weekend to participate in the 10th anniversary of the OC. This is a very hard 60 mile MTB ride through the Ouachita and Womble trail systems just east of Mena.
Larry went out and did both the tour on Sat and the Race on Sunday! Not only did he ride both, he killed it! On Saturday, the route bypassed "Blow Out Mountain", but added a few more miles to the route.
Well, Larry decided he felt strong and was never going to let a couple of Plano guys show him up, so he went on to finish FIRST with an amazing time of 5:03 (Larry, correct me if I'm wrong because that seems awfully fast).
On Sunday I decided to join and do the race. I was able to beat my goal of sub-6 (by 3 minutes). Larry went on to finish very strong with a time of 5:45!

This is an amazing event. It is put together very well, the volunteers are noticeably excited to be there, everyone in town seems to know about it, and the trails are outstanding. We even had nice and sunny weather this year!

Hope more of you can join us for the 11th edition!

Bike the Bricks II - May 27, 2011

2011-04-05T10:44:00.003-05:00

Bike the Bricks 2011
When: Friday, May 27, 2011 from 5 p.m. – 11 p.m.
Where: Historic Downtown McKinney

McKinney Velo and McKinney Main Street are proud to announce the second annual “Bike the Bricks” closed course “crit” bike race in Historic Downtown McKinney on Friday, May 27, 2011. The focus will be to deliver a nail-biting and interactive event that will draw increased exposure not only to health and wellness but highlighting McKinney's one-of- a kind Historic downtown. The event will include six races along with a mayoral cup invitational, live entertainment, food and drink. The climax of the event will draw in racers from across the state and beyond as these cyclists square off and chase a purse in the amount of $20,000.

Event spectators of all ages will enjoy a Friday night free event in Downtown to enjoy cycling, live entertainment and an opportunity to purchase food and drink. We are estimating up to 500 cyclists participate in the event, and thousands of spectators to enjoy event amenities. A portion of the proceeds raised from this event will be donated to the McKinney Education Foundation and Spokes for Hope.

For more information on this event, please visit http://www.bikethebricks.com/

It's Time...

2011-02-17T21:18:00.003-06:00

Rocket Richie Miller and 18 other MV-ites are set to head down to Walburg for the Milan-San Remo of Texas cycling. While the international cycling calendar is full of events between the beginning of January and mid-March, Milan-San Remo (March 19, 2011 this year) is the accepted start of the real road racing season. M-SR is the first of the "Spring Classics," the monuments of pro cycling that define the sport and can serve to boost a nobody to star status, or cement an established pro as a racing legend. Walburg, with its narrow country roads, and traditionally wet and windy conditions, serves the same purpose in Texas. You really can't say that you're a Texas bike racer until you've done Walburg in 40 degree rain, and/or 30+ mph winds.

Tackling Walburg for MV in 2011 are:

Nokki Choeynim and Trevor Rigby in the Cat 3 race; Scott Millwee - 5A, and John Trotter and Jake Wood - 5B; Tim Kolb and Michael Winders in the 35+ 4/5; and Adams, Brownie, Bling Burke, Joules Corsi, Fene, the Chosen One - Clay Hobson, Walt 'Disney' Megura, Rocket Richie Miller, TBT [The Box Turtle] - Jamey Munroe, Doc, Seabass Brad Price and Larry 'Blue' Price, in the 40+. We wish them all well.

Super Bowl Sunday Ride Time

2011-02-03T11:14:00.003-06:00

ATTENTION MV SUNDAY RIDE RIDERS: In order to accommodate our MV Sunday Ride Riders Super Bowl tailgating needs, we will roll out at 11:00 a.m. this coming Sunday, February 6, 2011. GO FOOTBALL!!

MV Camp 2011

2011-01-23T16:07:00.003-06:00

MV held its annual road season opening training camp in Fredericksburg, TX between Jan 20-23. Why travel all the way to Fredericksburg... look at these pictures; that's why. Camp went great and expectations are for a 2011 season that will be of equal greatness. It's time....

Journey to the Top of the World

2010-10-05T21:39:00.007-05:00

If there were ever a climb that could be categorized as super beyond HC bonus plus, this would be it. As soon as I found I would be taking a work trip to Hawaii (yeah, I said work trip), I knew the task ahead. Ride up the Haleakala Volcano on Maui. The ride starts by renting a sweet 20+ lb bike from a little shop in Paia (http://www.gocyclingmaui.com/rentals.html). Guess all the "light" ones were taken. Tradition is to head over to the beach less than a mile away and dip your feet into the ocean to truly start at sea level.

From there, it's time to go up...36 miles in length...10,023 feet of elevation gain...all of 180 feet of descending. You start off in the sweltering humidity and wind and are a third of the way up before the temps begin to drop. Soon enough, you approach the cloud layer and you are greeted by the cattle and pastureland (confusing for me..it's Hawaii, right?). And then through the clouds...

Eventually, after getting rained on a few times, you get to pop out of the clouds and enter the pine forest (again, I am in Hawaii, right?). Finally, it's on to the moonscape as you approach the top of the volcano. Luckily for me, the McKinney Velo kit is quite easy to spot against that background so the lovely wife can pick me out. Can you?

Finally, it's McKinney Velo, on top of the world.

And, really, it was all just hill work for the more important event the following weekend in Tennessee.

Thanks to those that supported me for my 15th MS150.

Tuesday Night Crit

2010-09-01T09:12:00.002-05:00

A Race - Weber in the mix.

Bill hard at work.

2010-06-27T21:19:00.000-05:00

Bill Nagel secured the toilet during today's trash pickup.

Congrats to Friend of MV Pat McCarty

2010-06-06T09:40:00.002-05:00

Last Monday, Memorial Day, Patrick McCarty of MV's sister team Matrix/RBM, finished 3rd in the P 1 Texas State Crit Championships in Fort Worth. Pat did so even though crits are not really Pat's preferred terrain. Immediately after that race, Pat headed off to Oregon for a race that's more suited to his abilities, the 6 day Mt. Hood Cycling Classic stage race. And on the queen stage 4 to the top of Mt Hood Ski Resort yesterday, Pat made his trip a success with a solo win from a 3 man break (pictured here). Stage 4 was 93 miles long featuring almost 10,000 feet of elevation gain. The Mt Hood race organizers described the stage as "epic, brutal, amazing...." The key test was the final ascent, "a 35 mile grind up 4500 feet of elevation to the Mt. Hood Meadows Ski Resort" with an average gradient of 10% and 12% sections in the final 2 miles -- perfect conditions for Pat to display his climbing strength. And display he did.

Read the full story here: http://velonews.competitor.com/2010/06/news/mccarty-wins-stage-as-de-maar-solidifies-lead-at-mt-hood_119950.

MV salutes a great Texas racer and good guy on a brilliant result!! And we look forward to seeing Pat race in McKinney next Friday June 11 at the 1st annual Bike the Bricks Criterium.

Bike the Bricks Countdown: 6 days

2010-06-05T15:40:00.002-05:00

Next Friday, June 11, 2010 beginning at 5:00 - 1st race (6:30 for the 1st band - John Christopher Davis) the 1st Annual Bike the Bricks in Historic Downtown McKinney will be awn!! Lots of excitement from businesses on the square... a number have decorated Richardson Bike Mart provided cruiser bikes and put them on display in anticipation of BtB. Bands, beer and bikes... a beautiful trifecta; come see for yourself.

State Age Based Crits

2010-06-05T15:15:00.002-05:00

Mv had a big, strong contingent in the combined 40-44 and 45-49 State Championship Crits at the Driveway in ATX today. And our boyz came oh so close to another State Jersey with two on the 40-44 podium... CP 2nd and Bling 3rd; but no jersey this year. Congrats to Will Ross for the 40-44 V, and to friends of MV Chris Carlson (Matrix/RBM), winner of the 45-49 title (MV's Johnny 'White Shoes' Moore finished a solid 8th), and Kurt Bickel (Joe's Pro Bikes), winner of the 50-54 title.

Sat/Sun MV Ride Time Changes

2010-06-04T13:04:00.001-05:00

For those who aren't racing this weekend, we are bumping our ride time changes up a week. Beginning tomorrow June 5, 2010, (instead of the 2nd weekend in June as our calendar has been indicating), both Saturday and Sunday rides will roll at 7:30 a.m. Spread the word... enjoy the fun.

MV @ the Texas Chainring Massacre

2010-05-18T09:14:00.007-05:00

[The following account of the June 8, 2010 Texas Chainring Massacre comes courtesy of MV’s Marco ‘Joules’ Corsi.]

Texas Chainring Massacre starts and ends in Roanoke Texas near the Texas Motor Speedway. It is a winner takes all bike race covering 116 miles of mostly dirt roads. We had a lot of discussion in the MV team as to what we needed to do in order to compete in this event and in the end Chris Powers, Mike Brown and Marco Corsi signed up for it. On Friday the 7th May 2010, the night before TCM, Chris went out in his car to scout the course and after we saw the pictures he took during his reconnaissance trip, we all started to wonder what we had signed up for.

The first photo (top left) Chris posted back showed a snake in the course.

The next photo (top right) showed a water crossing.

Then the last showed a lot of nothing but dirt.

The plan was in motion: Chris would ride his new cross bike, Brownie his Battenkill setup and Marco his cross bike. We met at 7am on the 8th and prepared for battle. We each carried 4 water bottles and food plus enough spares for a few years worth of normal riding. The enemy was in the form of Brian Fawley and his 2-wheeled posse from Park Place and Dallas Bike Works.

We set out at a fast pace and for the first 20 minutes or so no sign of Brian. He finally caught us and then disaster. Chris flatted. Brownie and Marco stopped to help and Chris got going with a can of sealant. As we were chasing back on, Chris’s tire deflated again. This time Brownie and Marco kept chasing and left Chris. We caught back on just as we all stopped at a Stop sign across Highway 380. Luckily Chris put in a second can of sealant and caught back on at this point too.Very shortly after this Brownie had a catastrophic finch flat which ended his day.

At the 60 mile point we intercepted Carol Ann, Marco’s wife who was sent out in her Panzer Wagon to drive Sag. This was really good since without refueling, finishing this thing would not happen. At this point we were 8. Every hill and tailwind section Brian drove a fast pace and before long we were 5. At about mile 75 Brian flats. This is the first bit of good news for us. We lay it down at this point for the next 10 miles with no sign of Fawley. (Remember he did not wait for us when we flatted several times earlier in the race.) Now there are three of us Chris, Marco and a Hooters rider. After a while Chris rides off and comes in for the win with a finishing time of 5h57min. Marco and the Hooters rider come in at 6hours on the nose.

A long long day in the saddle and one of the hardest days I have ever done. Brownie ends up riding back to the car down I35W. He has a big tail wind and rides for 20 miles at 40MPH. A few folk finished with road bikes but most of the racers that finished rode cross-bikes with cross tires.

MV at Coldsprings

2010-05-01T18:33:00.002-05:00

JameyWatts (Munroe) (pictured at left) and Mr. Fitness (Steve Borski) travelled down I-45 today to tackle the Coldsprings Cat 3 race. It came down to bunch sprint on the finish hill. With ample support from Mr. Fitness, JameyWatts was in position to contest the sprint. And even though he sat up just before the line (which cost him a placing), he managed a fine 5th place result. (Domestique duties accomplished, Mr. Fitness sat out the sprint and finished well back in the field.) When asked why he chose to race about 20 meters less than everyone else, JameyWatts blamed oxygen deprivation while noting that it's always a challenge for him to contest an uphill sprint with "the lungs of a box turtle." Turtle lungs or not, a 5th place Cat 3 finish is a good day or racing. Congrats to JameyWatts and Mr. Fitness for a solid effort with a very short roster.

The Code is Broken...

2010-05-01T18:22:00.002-05:00

Well well, well, what do we have here? It's Oz in California (pictured with Bling - just back from the gun show), "buried with work" on the last day of his employer's fiscal half-year. So the next time Oz says he stuck at home with a bunch of conference calls lined up, know that he really means he's heading out for another stealth 100k. Thanks to Seabass for breaking "the Oz code."

MV at the Matrix Challenge

2010-04-29T20:55:00.002-05:00

Every year since McKinney Velo sprang to life at the outset of the ‘08 racing season, the “King of Crits,” the Matrix Challenge (2 full days of criterium racing near downtown Dallas), has been a race the team targets. The MC organization is impeccable; the support, race purse and primes supplied by our sister club Matrix and the sponsor we share, Richardson Bike Mart, is superb; and the venue, a super technical 8 turn track run under the shade tress of the Meadows Foundation’s campus, never fails to produce a worthy victor. Unfortunately, in the 40+ field at the ‘10 MC, that worthy victor wasn’t an MV racer either Saturday or Sunday. Instead, Kentucky resident and 23 time national champion Curtis Tolson of the Texas Roadhouse team took the W both days. But not without a fight from MV.

Saturday, 11 MV racers lined up for the start of the 40+ race determined to leave their mark. Sure enough, within the first 10-15 minutes of the 50 minute race, Oz (Steve Weber) and Bling (Patrick Burke) powered off the front with Tolson and Park Place racer Shaun Bonavita. Although their lead fluctuated as their cooperation periodically broke down, their break was never seriously threatened. After Oz nailed back a dangerous move by Tolson – a move Oz desperately wanted to counter, but his stomach didn’t cooperate – and Bling brought back an attack by Bonavita, it was obvious the victory would come down to a 4 man sprint. As Bling powered down the back stretch heading into turns 7 and 8 with Oz tight on his wheel, Tolson took a sharp inside line and slipped ahead of Bling and Oz. Oz responded, but the finish straight at the MC is so short, it’s almost impossible to pass anyone. As a result, Oz ended up 2nd and Bling held on for 3rd.

To some though, the most impressive effort of the day was put in by Seabass (pictured above practicing his standard pre-race ritual... in his dinosaur race socks, no less... the resemblance to his son Jack is uncanny, huh?) just behind the break. As Oz and Bling worked to keep their 4 man break up the road, Seabass, CP (Chris Powers), and Richie Rocket (Rich Miller) put in some monster efforts patrolling the front of the field. After CP neutralized a particularly dangerous effort to bridge to the break by fast finishers Jorge Merle (Park Place) and Richard Lamb (Sun & Ski), Seabass took off after a strong move by an Austin Nationals racer. But instead of just being satisfied with shutting that move down, Seabass launched his own effort to bridge to his 2 teammates. And on the bell lap coming down the back side stretch, Seabass made it across. Sadly, he wasn’t able to help Oz and Bling battle Tolson because Mirage’s John Eder, a lapped rider who had been catching a ride with the break for 20+ minutes, eased up just as Seabass latched on the back of the 5 man group. Fortunately, Seabass still held on for 5th, while CP managed 8th. No win, but 4 in the top 8 and 2nd to a 23 time national champ is a decent consolation prize.

MV’s contingent on Sunday was significantly smaller as only CP, Brownie (Mike Brown), Seabass, Bling and Walt ‘Disney’ Megura returned for a 2nd day of racing. The 40+ field was clearly determined not to let Tolson and any MV racers get away for a 2nd day. As a result, our boyz endured a super hard, super fast and super frustrating race that ended in a field sprint. Tolson took that win too, while CP secured a spot on the podium with a 3rd place finish. While MV is never really happy unless an MV racer wins, we still enjoy a hard fought battle at a high quality race. And the 2010 Matrix Challenge certainly provided that. Thanks to Matrix and to Jim Hoyt and the rest of the folks at RBM for another fabulous weekend of racing.

Eavesdropping on the Webers...

2010-04-29T20:06:00.002-05:00

An authentic transcript of a fake conversation between Julie and Steve (Oz) Weber and their daughter Olivia last Sunday [April 25] at the family farm:

Olivia: “So Mom (Julie), how did you and Mrs. Seabass [Olivia thinks the MV nicknames are ‘fun’] do at that Young Life Adventure Race in Lewisville yesterday?”

Julie: “We did very well Olivia... Ms. Lara (Price a/k/a Mrs. Seabass) and I won the Epic Adventure Female team race!”

Olivia: “Did you crush the competition like you usually do?”

Julie: “I don’t know if we crushed them. The 2nd place women only finished about 18 minutes behind us, and our time was only better than 12 of the 17 men’s teams that started.”

Olivia: “Wow Mom, and you had to run 3 or 4 miles, then paddle a canoe for about 30 minutes and then ride your mountain bike like 12 miles? You and Ms. Lara must be really fit. So Dad, how did you do in your old man’s bike race yesterday? You know, that race where all you had to do was pedal your bike around in circles on concrete.”

Steve (OZ): "It wasn't a circle, it was a technical 8 turn course."

Olivia: "Whatever... how did you do?"

OZ: “Pretty good, I was in a break almost the whole race and I finished 2nd!”

Olivia: “2nd [sigh]?!? You didn’t win this race either? Well if you didn’t win, then which teammate were you “helping” win this time?”

Oz: “No one; I was trying to win this race myself.”

Olivia: “ Daaaaaad, I thought we had this talk already. If you’re going to take the time to “chamois up” (whatever that means, although it sure sounds gross...), you may as well win!”

Taking the win every time she chamois up is becoming old hat for Julie Weber. Congratulations to her and semi-MV member Lara Price for their victory last weekend. And good luck to Julie as she goes for her 3rd straight weekend victory this Sunday at the McKinney Kiwanis Triathlon, and to all other MV triathletes who tackle the McKiwanis Tri.

Justin Hicks High School Racing Update

2010-04-29T20:02:00.002-05:00

Heading into last week’s State Championships in Austin, MISD (MHS)/MV Junior Justin Hicks had taken a commanding lead in the High School Men’s B overall standings. It didn’t hurt any that Justin swept all the men’s B races at the MSU race weekend April 18-19... swept as in he won the road race; he won the street sprint (at left, Justin is shown lining up for a wet sprint); and he won the crit! Congratulations on a great race weekend and a great high school race season.

2010-04-19T18:42:00.002-05:00

Because nothing says King Tut like an April Triathlon in McKinney Texas... Stonebridge, McKinney, Texas, Earth was once again host to Playtri's King Tut Sprint Triathlon yesterday, April 18. Although McKinney Velo had a much smaller race contingent at the Tut in '10 (only 3 -- Julie Weber, Eduardo Guerra and Jonathan Sparling) than at the '09 version (where 10 or 11 current or former MV triathletes competed), MV's 2010 participants left their mark! Congratulations to Julie who took top weekend race results honors in the Weber household (i.e., Julie placed higher than Steve) with a 1st in the Women's 40-44 division and to Eduardo who won the Men's Clydes 40-44 division with a strong 1:12:38 time! And in the very competitive Men's 25-29 division, Jonathan came in a solid 11th. Nicely done MV Tri-people... way to represent!

Mineral Wells Stage 3 - Final GC - Team GC

2010-04-19T18:14:00.003-05:00

Sunday Stage 3 road race finale was both good and bad for McKinney Velo. The bad started with another brutal day of wet rain and ended with Allen Abel of Joe's Pro Bikes besting CP for the 40+ GC title. The good - CP topped Abel in Stage 3, finishing 2nd while Abel took 3rd (with Bling in 4th for the stage, Oz 7th, Fene 10th, Seabass 13th and Big Patrick P T Cruiser Boxer Burke 14th). With those finishes, CP ended 2nd on GC, Bling was 4th, Fene 11th, Oz 12th, Seabass 14th and Boxer 15th. And that was enough to allow MV to handily take the 40+ team title.

Congratulations to Mirage's John Emerson who read the race dynamics beautifully and soloed to the Stage 3 win. Also congratulations to Abel on a hard fought GC win. Finally, congratulations and a big thanks to Mineral Wells race promoter Andy Hollinger and his fine promotional team for a splendidly organized and run race from start to finish... nothing makes old men feel more like the pro kids than racing a challenging stage race with hills, rain, wind and a ROLLING ENCLOSURE. Great race Andy! And thanks to the people of Mineral Wells for letting a bunch of silly looking cyclists play in your streets.

Mineral Wells Stage 2 & GC

2010-04-18T15:51:00.004-05:00

After two stages in Mineral Wells, the Fayetteville 40+ race revisit continues. One place separated Allen Abel (2nd) and CP (3rd) in the stage 2 TT and one place (and one point) separate them in the GC heading into today's road race finale. In the team competition, it also looks like it'll come down to Joe's Pro Bikes v. McKinney Velo. Recognizing that these photos, the GC picture (top of page) in particular, are not terribly 'crisp' - thankfully CP's rides better than he photos - the GC after 2 stages has Abel (Joe's) 1, CP 2, Bling 5, Richmond Frasier (Joe's) 8, Kevin Barton (Joe's) 10, Fene 11, Oz 14, Seabass 17, and Big Patrick PT Cruiser Boxer (f/k/a Tenzing) Burke 18. Look for MV to leave it all out there today as the team works for another narrow CP over Abel win, and a team win as an added bonus.

Meanwhile, over in the MW 3s race, The Chosen One, Clay 'Hobby' Hobson, took a great 4th in the RR yesterday. MV 3s captain Steve 'Fitness' Borski didn't fare as well on the hilly, windy and wet road course. Nevertheless, Fitness planned to be the faithful teammate and ride support for Hobby in the 75 mile cat 3 road race finale... too bad then that Hobby was to be a DNS today. Stay tuned as we investigate and determine whether Hobby maintains his status as The Chosen One.

Mineral Wells Stage One

2010-04-17T18:35:00.003-05:00

Fayetteville all over again... that was the feeling after stage one of the 40+ at Mineral Wells. Like Fayetteville, it was wet, it was windy and it was a little cold. And like Fayetteville, it was McKinney Velo's Chris Powers in a knock down drag out battle with Joe's pro Bikes Allen Abel for the GC lead. As this results sheet shows, Abel took the first stage 50 mile road race win, but thanks to some KOM points, CP sat 1st on GC. Stage two, a 6 mile TT was to follow about 5:00 this afternoon, and then it's another 50 miles Sunday. The biggest difference between Mineral Wells and Fayetteville? At MW, CP has more help. At Fayetteville, Team MV had only three: CP, Marco 'Joules' Corsi and Brownie. At MW, Team MV has the Bros' Burke x 3 (Patrick ('Bling'), Patrick Timothy and Timothy), Jeff Fene, Seabass (Brad Price), CP and Oz (Steve Weber). But then Joe's has a strong team too, as does OKC Velo. It's shaping up to be another battle royale (with cheese).

MV at Fort Davis - Race Roundup

2010-04-17T10:50:00.002-05:00

From the better late than never file.... My typo in the Fort Davis stage one report where our MV boyz (pictured here returning to their base camp) had such great successes – that “MV is not set to solidify its 40+ lead in the afternoon TT” rather than is ‘now’ set... unfortunately proved to be prophetic. Think Cash Racing’s Jack Stepczynski tapped out a blistering fast (37:15) TT to jump up to the top of the 40+ GC. Bling (Patrick Burke) also broke 38 minutes (37:54) to hold onto 2nd. CP (Chris Powers) came 6th with a 38:46 which dropped him to 4th on GC. Meanwhile, Oz turned a 39:44 that left him almost 4 minutes back of Stepczynski. (Meanwhile, over in the Cat 2 race, Deuce (Mitch Blackwell) passed 3 on his way to a time that rivaled Bling’s and that moved him up 9 places on GC. Unfortunately, Deuce overworked his back in the process and was a DNS on Sunday.)

While not pleased to give up the GC lead heading into Sunday’s 75 mile RR finale, that shift in the standings did allow our MV boyz to race the way they are most comfortable – triple aggressively! With Richie Rocket (Rich Miller) and Oz (Steve Weber) more than 4 minutes down on GC and the stage offering 4 major climbs, they were designated to blow the race up in hopes of setting up Bling and CP for a breakaway that would bring the GC lead back to MV. Richie Rocket did an amazing job keeping things in check and setting tempo, covering early moves. Then Oz snuck off the front with Kevin Barton of Joe’s Pro Bikes who was also right at 4 minutes down. Barton was the perfect companion for Oz because Barton did not have any teammates higher on GC and he’s strong.

Oz and Barton stayed off over first 2 of 4 climbs until mile 60, and had a 6:30 gap at one point which meant the field and in particular GC leader Stepczynski had to work while Bling and CP followed wheels. Over the 2nd climb, Oz stopped pulling because he knew he needed to be fresh to help Bling and CP if caught or ensure the stage win if he and Barton made it to the finish.

Back in the field, Bling and CP used the 2nd hill to launch an attack that only their stage one break partner, Mirage’s Joe Howard, could follow. Bling and CP were all too happy to have Joe come along – he’s super strong, a great guy and was lying 7th on GC, so no threat to Bling or CP’s placing. This threesome caught Barton and Oz on the flats after the 2nd climb at mile 60. Shortly thereafter on the 3rd climb, Barton who had been off with Oz for 50 miles, had to pull over and stretch to overcome severe cramping. The 3 MV and Howard pushed on over the top of the 3rd climb.

It was a super fast technical decent in the pouring rain and hail coming off the 3rd climb, but Oz gave it all to help seal the break for Bling and CP. These three and Howard continued to drill it through the next flat section to put time in chasers. Oz could not keep pace on the 4th and last climb, so he dropped off and waived Bling, CP and Howard to go up the road. At the top, Oz was caught by a group of 4 which had the race leader, 5th, 9th and 12th on GC. Oz followed wheels on the 4 mile decent and 4 mile flat section before the steep 500 meter finish. There, Oz snapped off an attack for 4th on the day.

Up ahead, Bling and CP reversed their stage one finish with Bling taking the stage win and CP 2nd while Howard again came 3rd. With stage finishes of 2nd, 2nd and 1st, Bling was your Fort Davis 40+ GC winner, while CP’s 1st, 6th and 2nd were good enough for 2nd on GC! Oz used 2 11th places and his 4th on stage three to move up to 7th on GC, the last paying place! Meanwhile, Richie Rocket, the ever faithful teammate finished 15th on stage three and 16th on GC. Congratulations boyz, you done MV proud!

MISD/McKinney Velo High School Team News

2010-04-17T10:45:00.004-05:00

Led by 2nd year team member Justin Hicks (pictured at left), the McKinney High School team sponsored by McKinney Velo has quietly put together a strong high school race season. Justin won the Men’s B road race and finished 2nd in the TT at the most recent high school event – the Baylor race weekend, on his way to 1st in the GC! Justin’s friend Austin McCown became his teammate at Baylor and with a strong 3rd in the TT, Austin finished 5th on GC. As a result, the McKinney Boy’s team is 3rd in the B season standings and 5th in the overall Boy’s standings. Other McKinney High/McKinney Velo boy’s team members are Brett Fene and Zachary Koeppe.

The McKinney/MV Girls (Christina Koeppe and Jennifer Garcia) are 3rd in the Girl’s season standings. Combined, McKinney High/MV sits 4th overall... quite an impressive showing for such a young and inexperienced team – the very unofficial and not widely publicized word is that a couple of the McKinney High team members would be eligible for a McKinney middle school team. Congratulations to all our high school/juniors team members for your successes and for representing your schools, your city and MV so well! Congratulations are also owed to the men who head up the MV/MISD program - Johnny White Shoes Moore, his assistant Big Patrick P T Cruiser Boxer Burke and our MISD team/club sponsor Mark ‘baby’ Bayer (hey, he volunteered his nickname... just sayin’).

Brownie at Battenkill

2010-04-13T12:47:00.004-05:00

MV’s Mike Brown, known by most as simply “Brownie” (pictured here winning the 40+ at Copperas Cove in January 2010), had targeted the Tour of Battenkill in New York all Winter and into the early season Texas races; going so far as to lose 10 el bees to drop down to his high school weight.

Brownie aptly chronicled the obstacles racers face at Battenkill in a series of TxBRA posts, but in short, the 40+ field tackled a 100km course that featured 8 dirt/gravel road sections with several hills (like the two pictured above, the top picture showing a climb being crested by the Pro 1 field), including some at 17-19%.

Brownie gave a brief race summary on TxBRA and will provide greater detail on his experience in The Racing Post. But you’re not on TxBRA and you’re not reading The Racing Post. Instead, you want to know now, how did he do? And I’ve got the answer – damn hell well! Out of 125 starters, Brownie finished 20th, which is a very nice result for such a challenging course, but that placing hardly describes the impact and impression Brownie left on his fellow competitors.

Battling legs that were threatening severe cramping and knowing that the final dirt road section included a nasty climb, Brownie attacked with 20 miles to go on the approach to dirt sector 8 of 8 in pursuit of a 5 man lead group. Although he didn’t catch the break, Brownie did manage to hold off the main field for 16 miles. Then, after sitting in to recover for 2 miles, Brownie launched again and stayed off until he was swallowed by the field with 50 yards to go. All in all, an excellent display of aggressive McKinney Velo racing!

McKinney Velo Boyz at Fort Davis

2010-04-10T15:56:00.002-05:00

LIFE IS GOOD

Not sure what (l-r) Bling, Oz, Deuce, Rocket Richie and CP ate and drank yesterday in Fort Davis as their pre-race meal, but it was the right choice. During this morning's 40+ stage one, Oz and Rocket Richie set tempo and kept the group together until CP and Bling could launch an attack on the finish climb that only Mirage's Joe Howard could follow. Then in the last K of the climb, Bling attacked first, but Howard brought him back. CP immediately countered and got the gap that would lead to the stage W! Bling was then able to drop Howard and follow CP in 2nd. Great job by the entire team. MV is not set to solidify its 40+ lead in the afternoon TT.

While his teammates were practicing team tactics in the 40+ race,Deuce was left to fend for himself in a brutal P 1,2 field -- the 2s were scored separately, but the race was combined. With Hotel San Jose setting a blistering pace leading Blackgrove to the stage win, it took all Deuce had just to survive and finish mid-pack. But even then, his climb time was as good as or even better than CP's winning climb in the 40+ giving an indication of just how hard the P 1,2s raced today.

TT reports to follow.

2010 Ouachita Challenge

2010-03-29T15:26:00.009-05:00

This past weekend, Pedro and I headed up to Oden, AR, for our first Ouachita Challenge. It's a 60 mile mountain bike race on the Ouachita and Womble trails with some gravel road connectors. We'd both heard about how great the trails are, and they didn't disappoint. This event had been the focus of my training since the fall XC season ended.

I did a local 6-hour race at Big Cedar a few weeks prior, and while my result wasn't bad, I wasn't happy with my performance. I struggled with cramping and just couldn't make much power. I figured it was due to some combination of three things: lack of dirt riding, lack of intensity in training, and race nutrition. I got one good dirt ride in, but the weather prevented more. I had just started adding intervals, so I kept that up and added the Wednesday MVC ride to the schedule. And, I revamped my nutrition plan, settling on a mixture of Heed and a bit of soy protein at around 280 cal/hr.

Keeping it low-budget, we stayed in the gym at the school that serves as race headquarters. It was nice waking up on site, and I slept fine. I'd stay there again, but once we got kitted up, I did hear a couple comments about MVC at a mountain bike race and how the road team doesn't sleep on the floor. ;-)

Race day morning was cool, windy, and damp with some spitting rain. The race started with a short neutral roll-out to a long, hilly gravel road before the first section of trail. I stayed towards the front but out of the wind. A small group of guys that ride for a living got away on one of the last hills, but I rolled into the singletrack around 30th without having to go too hard.

This ain't Texas anymore! Up, down, lots of rocks! Relative to others around me at this point, my technical skills suck (I'm still "new" after two years, right?). I must have dropped 15-20 positions on the first section of trail. The number of riders passing me dwindled as the trail headed up Blowout Mtn. There are some brutal rock gardens here that are sketchy even on foot, and I took a couple of low speed tumbles. Over Chalybeate, I started passing more people than passed me.

Whew! I made it through the rougher Ouachita Trail portion unscathed and felt pretty good. I tried to find someone to work with on the second road section, but it never worked out. I traded pulls with one guy for a couple miles, but he eventually dropped me. No one else I passed could hang on, let alone help. I rolled into the third aid station in 3:15 and mixed up my second half fuel.

The following section of the Womble trail was as I had expected. It was much more groomed than the OT, but the lake it was winding around was a long ways down. Rounding a corner onto a steep downhill section, I hit a hidden rock just wrong, and my rear tire popped.

I was now on a narrow, bench cut trail, covered in mud, trying to repair an inch-long gash in the sidewall of my tire. I was constantly interruped, trying to make room for passing riders that invariably let out an "Oh $#!*" when they first saw me. I installed a tube and boot and aired up the tire, but it didn't look all that great. There was a bulge around the gash, but at least I was rolling again.

The next couple sections of trail were fast, flowy, and fun. Unfortunately, my rear tire was getting noticeably softer. I stopped when I hit another gravel road and added some air, but it didn't last long. I put in my second tube and spent more time making sure the boot was positioned just right before airing it up. Success.

The rest of the Womble trail was great. I was passing people left and right with only occasional twinges in my hamstrings on the granny-gear climbs. When I came upon the last token station, they said I had 4.5 miles left and it was all road. That was a welcome report, so I put my head down and drove to the finish.

I finished 54th (263 registered) in 6:18 with 32 minutes stopped for the tire. Bryan Fawley won it in 4:51. So, I have some room to improve, but I felt strong and was very happy with the performance. I'm looking forward to next year!

El Guapo rolled in at around 7 hours. I never saw Patrick or Todd. Leave a comment and let us know how it went.

Cat 3 captain - Borski (aka Fitness) - Ronde Von Manda

2010-03-29T15:19:00.004-05:00

Ronde Von Manda Cat 3 Race Summary from the eyes of Borski:

Well I knew when Trevor picked me up at 6 am and the wind was blowing 20+ out of the northwest, we were in for a hard day! The race started hard and went from there. A field of 63 started this venture, needless to say, only the strong survived! LOL! The first lap attacks were many and rather gutsy, but each time solo efforts, so I just had to laugh a bit at that, we had 60 mi to go in a 25+ wind on a unprotected course. But oh well lets chase them down anyway seemed to be the motto. Trevor and I stayed near the front, just knowing it was the place to be all day, the teams seemed to want to work hard on the first lap to chase back what seemed futile in the wind. Well finally things settled down, that’s when we knew it was time to do something. Trevor took a flyer in the tailwind section, mostly so he would not get gapped once we hit the several crosswind sections. He just kind of kept it going for about 6 miles. I heard snickers in the peloton, about how that will never work, they let him sit just off the group for a while, Trevor happy to know what we had talked about earlier, would probably work if done at the right time. So just at the catch in the headwind section about 100m from a hard right into a ugly crosswind section, I gassed it, hit the corner and we were off, strung it out and gutter city, got a few guys to help taking turns and before we knew it we had a gap, hit a tailwind section and had a few stragglers tag on and the 8 of us were off. That was the race, we were gone, managed to work well as a group, we stayed away for 36 miles, soon it became evident that some were less enthused about what we were doing, so with about 5 miles from the finish, I went, and just like that we were 5, selection done! The rest was just tactics, I learned a lesson for sure, I felt good with 1 k to go, so made a false attack to see who wanted to play, the biggest wheel suck of the 5 jumped with 500m to go, we got on his wheel, me the last in line, then disaster, the two riders in front of me died, just blew at about 270m from the line, I followed the kid I was marking all day(raced with him in Fayetteville, knew he had good legs) but stupid move we passed on the left, just crossing the yellow line at about 250m, yep the ref let us play all over the yellow line all day, but the rules are rules, I got 3rd in the sprint, but after ref protest, relegated to 5th. Oh well, we came and raced our bikes, that made it fun, well worth all the effort. My thanks to Trevor for the work early, and yes I love it when a plan comes together!!!! Oh yeah Boss, it was EPIC! Afterwards the winner said he was marking MVC all day as it was apparent they came to race.

Click here for the Video link of the Cat 3 finish (3rd place for Borski):

Fayetteville 40+ stage 3 as told by Brownie

2010-03-22T09:02:00.002-05:00

[This is a great account of yesterday's stage 3 in the fayetteville 40+ race as told by Mike 'Brownie' Brown on TxBRA.]

"This was one of the most tactical races I've been in in a while. Since Allen [Abel of Joe's Pro Bikes] and [Chris 'CP'} Powers were tied on time, MVC's goal was to get the two second time bonus and then sit back and let the pack bring the race to us and do our best to hold it together for the sprint. Well, Allen beat Chris up the hill with a huge power surge that nobody could match [to earn the mid-race :02 bonus]. That put Joe's as the leaders on the road by 2 seconds. As it played out, that actually proved to be their downfall. Because when [Mark] Wiggins [Austinbikes/Revenant] went up the road with Duane [Neu - NTRT], that put Joe's in a must chase situation to maintain their overall GC.

Chris and I also knew Duane was about 1 minute behind him and Allen going into stage 3. When Joe's went to the front to chase, we sat in the back and just monitored their progress. I must have done 50 time checks during that race. Every time we crested a hill and saw Wiggins and Duane, I started timing their gap. If their gap would have started to blow out to the 1:30 or 2:00 minute mark, then I would have had to have gone to the front to help Joe's in order to bring the gap back down to around the 1:00 minute mark, thus negating Duane's overall GC chance, and putting the ball back in our court hoping Chris could outsprint Allen, take the time bonus and thus the overall CG.

But Patrick [McGrath], along with an occasional pull from Allen, kept the gap at exactly 1:00 minute. It was a huge, impressive effort by Patrick. In fact, it was such a huge effort that MVC never had to come to the front. If Allen had not beat Chris for the 2 sec bonus on lap 2, then it would have been MVC on the front instead of Joe's. It was a pure tactical game all day of knowing where everyone stood on CG, who was up the road, how much power they had, constantly maintaining time checks on their advantage and adjusting tactics if needed to always keep that gap right where we needed it in order for Joe's to do all the work and us do nothing. So, in a nutshell, that's exactly what the 40+ 1's and 2's were doing all day...having a tactical war!"

[As reported yesterday, CP took 3rd on stage 3 and with it the :04 bonus that moved him to the top of the GCand the 40+ win.]

Fayetteville: Day 2

2010-03-21T14:51:00.000-05:00

Day two of Fayetteville brought more great results from McKinney Velo’s 5-man race contingent! To the news:

Cat 2 – The Cat 2 field was shredded today as 11 took a DNF, leaving only 23 finishers. But despite his relative inexperience, Shane “Sammy” Haga hung with the guys he needed to stay with. As a result, he moved up a place to finish 5th on the overall GC!! Haga’s result is all the more impressive since he was a CAT 3 only two weeks ago – must be something in that Haga gene pool (congratulations to Shane’s older brother Chad on his very convincing win in the P, 1 field at Fayetteville). Great job Shane.

Cat 3 – It was also a difficult day in the Cat 3 field. With 13 DNFs today, only 1/3 of the field finished the race. Congratulations to Steve Borski for his 10th overall on GC!

40+ – As we noted yesterday, Chris Powers started the day tied atop the GC with Allen Abel of Joe’s Pro Bikes. Marco and Brownie did what they could to help CP gain that one second he needed for the win. But after Abel’s teammate led him out for a :02 mid-race time bonus, the onus was on CP to pull out something special if he was going to overtake Abel for the GC win. Duane Neu and stage 1 winner Mark Wiggans went up the road and took with them the :10 and :06 bonuses for 1st and 2nd place. All that was left was the :04 bonus for 3rd place and CP nabbed it from a four man group that included Abel. As a result, Chris Powers is your 2010 Fayetteville 40+ GC winner by :02! Congratulations to Chris and teammates Marco Corsi and Mike ‘Brownie’ Brown for a great result.

An Epic Saturday in Fayetteville!

2010-03-20T22:21:00.001-05:00

On a day that will go down as one of the most epic in Texas racing history – torrential rain, hail, lightning, a 15+ degree temp drop down into the 40s and brought 40 mile hour winds to match the temperature – 5 McKinney Velo racers took the challenge and performed remarkably well quite well.

Steve Borski, racing solo in the 3s, rode a smart race. He was positioned near the head of the cat 3 field when the storm front blew through and split the filed in a serious cross wind. Steve made the lead group and ultimately battled to a 12th place finish; a result made all the more remarkable when you consider that only 41 out of 86 registered racers completed the stage.

In the Cat 2 field, McV’s Christopher Shane ‘Sammy’ Haga was where he needed to be when the key split happened. ‘Sammy’ made the decisive 10-man lead group before finishing a solid 6th. Unfortunately, the poor weather took its toll on Haga in the TT. Between worn out brake pads and a slick road, Haga couldn’t keep his bike upright in the TT turn around... after remounting, ‘Sammy’ spent the rest of the TT trying to limit his losses. Nevertheless, a fine effort on a brutal day.

Brutal is the only way to describe Marco ‘Polo’ ‘Kilojoules’ Corsi’s day in the 40+ field. Marco flatted once... each race - rear in the road race and the front in the TT. But on a day when so many racers packed it in early, if they lined up at all, Marco stuck it out and finished both stages. And it’s good that he did because he’ll be needed Sunday. Why? Because Chris ‘CP’ Powers is dead even atop the 40+ GC with Joe’s Pro Bikes Allen Abel after he beat Abel by 4 seconds to win the 40+ TT! CP put himself in position to pull event with Abel and to take the overall title with a ridiculous late race chase in the road race. About 10K out, CP suffered what so many others did today, a flat. After taking a rear wheel from the follow that didn’t match his components, CP chased back on riding in his 53/12, the only gear he had available where he took 9th. Up ahead of CP, Brownie (who ruined 2 tires today – and he didn’t suffer a flat!) was bagging 4th on the stage! Although CP finished 9th, with the benefit of 2 bonus seconds earned during the stage, CP began the TT in 4th, 8 seconds behind Mark Wiggans (who was late for his T start, thereby taking himself out of the running for the overall) and 4 behind Abel. CP reversed that deficit by the same time gap. So together with Marco and Brownie, CP will head into Sunday looking to gain 1 more second on Abel and the overall victory to go with it.

Week's Worth of Race Results

2010-03-19T20:08:00.002-05:00

Overdue Congratulations:

MVC has been busy racing in the DFW area the last 7 days.

We begin with the HCTT last Saturday morning, where on the juniors side, Zachary Koeppe took 2nd in the Jr. Open, Christina Koeppe took 2nd in the high school girls and Jennifer Garcia finished 8th. Shane “Sammy” Haga placed 7th in the College A despite a very quick time. Steve Borski was 7th and Stephan ‘Country’ Davidson 12th in the 3/4, and Goran took 11th and Eduardo 19th (out of 46 starters) in the 4/5s.

Saturday also saw a number of McKinney Velo racers tackle the Denton Rhapsody Crit. Tim Kolb managed 4th (out of 46) in the 5s in what was only about his 5th start ever. Trevor Rigby managed 13th, Borski 17th and Walt ‘Disney’ Megura, Jamey ‘Watts’ Munroe and Marco ‘Polo’ ‘Kilojoules’ Corsi finished in the 20s (out of 71 starters). The big news though was McV’s WIN the 40+ courtesy of Steve ‘Oz’ Weber. In true McV fashion, Chris ‘CP’ Powers launched on lap one to initiate the break that would define the race, although truth be told, CP did wait until after the 2nd turn. When the break quickly grew to 6, Kurt Bickel attacked and Oz followed, soon to counter and beat Bickel to the lead group. Bickel would join within a coup0le more laps and 30 minutes in, that group of 8 had lapped the field. From there, the other six from McV in the race (Brad ‘Seabass’ Price, Doc, Jamey Watts, Polo, Disney, and PT ‘Cruiser’ Burke) began working the front trying to set up CP and Oz for the finish, while fast finishers from the 8 man break Richard Lamb, Les Akins and Jorge Merle (in that order) marked CP. On the last lap, CP moved into 2nd position behind Seabass with Lamb and Akins glued to his him while Doc escorted Oz through the wind and dropped him off on Akin’s wheel. Seabass first and then CP drilled the pace heading around the south side of the stadium and then OZ took it to the outside and won by a couple of bike lengths over Lamb!! CP held on for 3rd!

Sunday brought the Jesuit Ranger Roundup, and more strong racing by McV. On the scholastic side, Sammy Haga finished 4th in the College A while Brett Fene took 13th in the High School B. In the USCF races, David Garrett turned in a fine 5th in the 4/5 while Tim Kolb showed that Saturday’s result was no fluke with a 7th place finish. Jon and David Rhodes and Brian ‘Irish’ Fitzpatrick had nice races in support of Garrett and Kolb. Following monster efforts chasing breaks by Jeff Fene, Rocket Richie Miller, and particularly Johnny ‘White Shoes’ Moore, and some good help from Rigby, Polo Kilojoules Corsi and Country Davidson, Jamey Watts managed 4th in the field sprint and 6th overall. In the big boyz (P, 1, 2, 3) race, Oz made the 6 man break while CP and Mike ‘Brownie’ Brown patrolled the field. After repeated attacks from Metro teammates, Oz held on for 6th while CP followed in 7th. A splendid results against a strong field.

Tuesday brought the season’s first Tues Nite Crit. With cooler temps and a breeze from the NW, the pace was fast, fast, fast. Many attacks were launched, but none succeeded. The B and A cane down to field sprints. Garrett notched a nice 4th in the B while Sammy Haga matched that result in the A with lead out help from Oz (7th) and CP (9th).

Last night saw the start of Dallas’s first ever Thursday Night Race series in Sunnyvale. Rocket Richie spent the week encouraging race participation, and then showed why – because the course suits him! Racing in his 2nd race of the night, Rocket Richie took 5th in the inaugural A race!

All in all, an impressive week of racing from McKinney Velo, against some great competition, in some super well run races. Thanks to all the promoters and competitors.

Lago Day Two & Texas Tech HS Races

2010-03-05T20:43:00.002-06:00

First off, all apologies to internet eyes for the delay in reporting MVC’s Sunday [2/28] successes – a high school race overall victory by MVC junior Justin Hicks and a 40+ Lago win by Patrick “Bling” Burke. Now, to the news.

Texas Tech High School Races – With great success, MVC and McKinney HS racer Justin Hicks made the trip to Lubbock to race in the Texas High School League events held in conjunction with the Texas Tech Collegiate races. Although Justin, a McKinney High sophomore, is not quite a year into his bicycle racing career, he raced like a true veteran in men's HS B division races in Lubbock. On Saturday, Justin won the opening road race and then took 2nd in the afternoon time trial. Justin then came back on Sunday and finished 2nd in the crit. And that placing secured Justin a spot on the top of the omnium podium!!! Well done Justin!

Lago Day Two: Lago Vista 40+ road race – As reported earlier, with the support of only 2 teammates, CP (Chris Powers) secured a fine 2nd place finish in the Lago Day One 40+ race. While 2nd is nice, 1st is so much better. So for Sunday’s 40+ race, Brownie switched over from the P 1, 2 and reinforcements were brought in from Dallas (Richie ‘Rocket’ Miller) and McKinney (Steve ‘Oz’ Weber, Brad the ‘Seabass’ Price, Patrick ‘Bling’ Burke and Doc). It’s generally agreed among Lago veterans that Sunday’s shorter 4.4 mile course is more difficult than Saturday’s 5.5 miler... less flats; less opportunity to rest and recover. With that in mind, the plan for Sunday was to constantly apply pressure to make the race as difficult as possible. The goal was to get 2 MVC racers up the road (ideally CP and Bling, the 2 best suited for the Lago terrain) and be sure someone in orange, blue and white climbed to the top step of the podium.

Ignoring CP’s suggestion that we wait a lap before we went on the offensive, Bling attacked as soon as we made the first turn and started the backside climb. While the Proactive riders were particularly vigilant at the head of the field, no one tried to join Bling... so he rode out front on his own for the first 3 (of 9) laps. When Bling was finally brought back at the S/F to start lap 4, CP immediately attacked. The field responded before CP could get much of a gap, so Bling punched it again on the back side climb, a move that really strung the field out and saw the first real race casualties slide off the back.

Once Bling was brought back, others from MVC took their shots. At one point, Oz thought he’d gotten in a move that could stick, but it too was reeled in. Then inside 3 to go, Mirage’s Tom Lattig took a flyer. Whether he was going for the win or simply trying to set up his teammate, the always strong Joe Howard, was unclear. In any event, Lattig’s move worked to MVC’s advantage. Lattig, a well known fast finisher, sapped much of his energy with his move, but we still had enough matches to burn to chase him without sacrificing our chances for a late winning move. And that’s just how it played out.

Brownie, ‘Bass, Oz and especially Rocket Richie (who took a back side hill long pull at one point) worked hard to bring Lattig back and to set a pace that otherwise kept the field in check. Finally, while tackling the back side climb one last time, Bling and CP got off the front with Howard, OKC Velo’s Peter Erdoes, and Allen Abell of Joe’s Pro Bikes. While those five worked well together to establish and maintain their winning move, Oz and Seabass followed wheels... specifically, Kevin Schaefer’s wheels, as Kevin fought in vain (and much to his frustration, alone) to bring the break back.

With 1.5 km to go, CP launched a move. Abel, Erdoes and Howard were forced to chase, while Bling settled in for a ride to the line. Then as CP was caught, Bling made his move up the left side and bested Abell, Erdoes and Howard (in that order) for a hard fought win. CP hung on for 5th while behind, Oz took advantage of a strong lead out from the Seabass to secure the field sprint and 6th place. Brownie followed in 11th, Seabass in 16th and Miller was 24th. A plan well executed; a reward well earned.

Lago Vista Day 1

2010-02-27T15:34:00.002-06:00

Lago Vitsa is a monument of Texas cycling, and this year, it has weather to match its . McKinney Velo had a small contingent at Lago day one, but a nice result in the 40+ nonetheless. With just 2 teammates, CP (Chris Powers) battled a tough field stacked with heavy hitters from THSJ to take a strong 2nd behind Will Ross. First is always the target though and with MVC reinforcements on the road to Lago -- look for a 9 man team Sunday, that'll be the goal.

Another Wednesday...

2010-02-24T09:43:00.001-06:00

Webster's, MVC style...

2010-02-23T06:38:00.002-06:00

Recently, CP (MVC's Chris Powers) used the term "clean wheels" to describe a victory by MVC fast finisher, Shane 'Sammy' Haga -- what does that mean, you ask? http://emcguire.smugmug.com/Sports/Pace-Bend-2212010/11321509_6Gnvz#794935853_W8th8.

Dateline Pace Bend

2010-02-21T20:13:00.000-06:00

Newsflash: Shane ‘Sammy’ Haga adds to his W collection. Haga built on his strong effort yesterday at Walburg with a convincing sprint win in the 3s race at Pace Bend today. To say Shane was disappointed that he got popped from the long, winning break at Walburg on Saturday would be quite the understatement. But with Teammate Jamey Munroe riding a solid race and some super domestique help from MVC Cat 3 team captain Steve Borski, Haga turned Saturday’s disappointment into a Sunday celebration. Borski’s sacrifice almost set Munroe up for a placing too, but as so often happens in the final sprint at Pace Bend, a crash marred the rush to the line. Jamey was forced out of his pedals and off the road, but at least his body and his bike came away unscathed. Of course the best away to avoid the carnage is to get out in front of it, and that exactly what Shane. Congratulations Shane on your 2nd W in 2 weeks of racing and your 3rd as a 3.

Although MVC didn’t have near as many at Pace Bend as it did at Walburg, Nokki, Kolb and Michael Winders did take on the 35+ 4/5. Alas, their luck was bad, bad and worse. All three stayed active and did there best to remain near the front 10-20, but then Tim got hit with a flat... and with no wheel truck help around, he ended up walking half the PB course. Nokki and Winders made it to the finish and even put themselves in position to contest the sprint, but like the 3s race, the story at the end of 35+ 4/5 race was a big crash. Fortunately for our boyz, all they suffered was frustration (and not broken bones like others). That’s not much consolation though when you work hard to put yourself right “there” when it’s money time, only to have bad luck rob you of the chance to close the deal. Let’s hope these guys have better luck at Lago.

Dateline Walburg

2010-02-20T16:56:00.001-06:00

Here’s a recap of MVC @ the Walburg Classic. First, to no one’s surprise who’s ever raced at Walburg, the predicted nice weather was a bad report. It was wet, and a little windy, and for extra fun, muddy. In other words, it was another Walburg Classic. Before we get to Jamey’s Cat 3 race report, here’s what we know about the other 4 races with MVC personnel. Well, to be accurate, what we know about Hammer and the 4s and that we still don’t know anything... except that the race is over.

Team Hotel San Jose hammered the P 1 field to set Josh Carter up for the win. Brownie fought valiantly as the only MVC-ite in that field, but finished well back of Carter. Nevertheless, he deserves our praise for taking on that challenge.

Nokki and Kolb tell us that the old(er) 4/5s have learned to race as teams. Nokki made the lead group but got guttered and slipped back to Tim in the 2nd group. Tim paced him back to the lead, but the teams in the lead used the weather and roads and split things up again. At that point, Nokki and Tim decided to save themselves for Pace Bend. Best of luck tomorrow boyz!

Once again, MVC made it’s presence known in the 40+ field. Seven started – Adams, the Patrick Burkes, Davidson, Powers, Price and Weber and 4 finished in the top 7! Bling Burke and road team coordinator Oz Weber made a 5 man break that also included OKC Velo’s Peter Erdoes and Lance Armstrong’;s regular ATX training buddy, John Korioth. Sensing that Korioth was the strongest in the group, Oz launched a late race attack to force Korioth to chase... and it worked but Koroioth was still able to hold off Bling and take the win. Bling was 2nd and Weber took 5th while Powers and Adams lead in the field taking 6th and 7th.

Congrats to all the race podiums and thanks to Team Brain and Spine for another classic Walburg Classic.

Now, here’s Jamey’s inside Cat 3 report:

“Shane [Ed. Note - that would be Shane “Sammy”] Haga was in a Cat 3 Walburg break for 45 miles and looking strong with a 2 minute gap and, at least at the start of the break, 8 guys to work ... Guys popped until only 4 were left including Shane.

Epic rain, enough wind to make it hard, and mud ... Excellent!

Last lap, chase of 5 went with 8 miles to go and we [ed. - “we” is Jamey and Steve Borski; Trevor had been caught up in a crash by then] didn't think it would stick ... It did ... but unfortunately Shane fell out with 5 miles to go in a 72 mi race. He said he did too much work and then they used him later on. I gave Shane a Gu and told him to regroup but he was shot.

Borski and I had been at front disrupting the chase in a good way. The remaining 3 from original break stayed off the front and damned if a 4 man the chase break didn't stick too. Borski and I were up front and trying to help a chase but guys must have been tired as we could never get it going.

I attacked with 2 mi to go but could not hold it as they chased me down pretty quickly and it was clearly a suicide mission ... Borski countered which was awesome but they did the same to him

Sprinting for 8th as we hit the finish hill and I had great position ... But I unclipped for 5 seconds after taking evasive action from a guy's bars next to me .... Lost 15 or so places ... and ended up having to repass them to regain original position and could not make it all up. Missed 8th by about amount of unclip. Not that 8th is great but it does have upgrade points with it ...

Borski and Shane soft-pedaled in but both raced great.

Borski rode like a champ doing textbook blocking at the front for all 3 laps! Tucson did him good!

Only 40 out of 80 finished, I think... Our only tactical mistake was not getting into that late chase break ... But we didn't think it would stick and we were still blocking as Shane was still up the road so did not want to invite a chase.

Looked like we had finished Paris Roubaix with the mud and wet from the rain!

Trevor had bad luck as a guy wrecked him on lap 2 on a right turn in the rain which sux. [Ed. Note - Trevor wasn’t hurt and his bike was fine too; but several bikes became entangled and by the time everyone unraveled the mess, there was no chance of chasing back on.]

We will try again tomorrow.

Jamey Munroe”

MVC & Walburg

2010-02-19T09:27:00.001-06:00

The real Texas racing season starts tomorrow at the Walburg Classic, and “classic” is an apropos title. Walburg is usually a battle of attrition... 24 mile loops run on narrow farm country roads in a predominately east/west direction. There are a fair number of rollers on the loop (including ah uphill finish), but the attrition is almost always weather driven - cold, windy, wet – often all three. None of those conditions are on the forecast for tomorrow though, but the prediction here is that the forecast will be wrong... out on a limb, yes, but it’s a pretty sturdy limb.

MVC will have a presence in 5 of the fields:

Borski, Haga, Munroe and Rigby will take on a 75 rider strong Cat 3 field;

Michael “Hammer” Caney will fly solo in the a surprisingly small Cat 4 field, not that 59 racers is all that small, especially on the narrow roads of Walburg, but a 59 rider Cat 4 field, at Walburg?!?;

Nokki and Tim Kolb (making his MVC race debut) will tackle the 35+ 4/5 race;

Adams, 1 of our P. Burkes, “Country” Davidson, Powers, Price, and Weber will battle 36 others in the 40+ filed; and

Brownie will join an extremely strong 49 racer P, 1 field.

Best of luck to all our MVC racers for strong, safe racing! Stay tuned for reports.

MVC Alt Sat Ride fro 2/13/2010

2010-02-12T15:48:00.002-06:00

Hey Internet Readers -- Due to the anticipated sloppy conditions in the morning of February 13, an MVC spawned group will depart from the usual locale outside of Starbucks in the Tom Thumb parking lot at Hardin and Eldorado at 2:00 p.m. It's been suggested that we cut the top (i.e., northernmost) 8-9 miles off the route, but that decision has not yet been made. Spread the word and come join us.

'Jim Hoyt for President"...

2010-02-11T10:46:00.002-06:00

That is the lead post in a growing thread on the TxBRA general discussion forum praising Jim's efforts in support of Patrick McCarty. Jim, Max Miley and the RBM/Elite team have stepped in to give Pat a racing home as a bridge to a new pro team contract after Pat's deal with Rock Racing fell through. Pat's RR contract was voided when RR couldn't obtain UCI approval for a Pro Continental license in 2010. Rock was only a Continental team in '09, but 1/2 of the roster of Continental teams must be under age 28, and Pat hit 28 in 2010.

As a Texas racer, Max Miley needs no introduction, but some may not know that Max was Pat's original coach (dating back to when Pat was 14). Max helped steer Pat to great domestic race success as a junior including a couple of national time trial titles. That lead Pat to the US National U23 team where Pat ultimately achieved a top 5 World U23 ranking and several race successes before embarking on a pro career with US Postal/Discovery, Phonak, Garmin and OUCH. Pat is one of the "good guys" in Texas racing and the recent TxBRA thread speaks to his popularity, and the resulting appreciation for Jim Hoyt's help keeping Pat in the racing arena.

Jim's efforts are not a surprise to McKinney Velo though. Jim, Rhonda, Woody and the rest of the RBM family have been great friends of McKinney Velo and our club objectives and we are quite thankful for their support. Jim's support and commitment to Texas racing will be particularly evident when we Bike the Bricks in Historic Downtown McKinney on June 11, 2010. Details very soon... But until then, thank you Jim.

2/10/2010

2010-02-10T12:33:00.002-06:00

The forecast for today calls for temps approaching 40, no precipitation and light winds. So, MVC sprints in Craig Ranch are on. 6:00 p.m. on the roads outside the TPC and Cooper Clinic entrances. Come join in if you can.

MVC 3s at The Driveway

2010-02-07T11:44:00.002-06:00

Shane (Sammy) Haga followed up his Saturday victory with a strong 2nd today. Credit to Hobson and Munroe for a great lead out.

MVC 40+ Team @ The Driveway

2010-02-07T10:36:00.002-06:00

With an embarrassingly strong team of 9 racers -- Adams, Brownie, the Burke triplets (the Patricks and Tim), Miller, Powers, Price, and Weber -- the MVC 40+ team was constantly on the attack this morning in the 40+ races at The Driveway. And it paid off... CP took 1st, Oz took 5th, and MVC took every prime, including Bling winning the gambler's prime ahead of CP's win!

3s are racing now... hope to have another win to report from that group later.

MVC @ Belterra

2010-02-06T21:20:00.002-06:00

Cat 3s: With a perfect lead out from Clay Hobson, Shane (Sammy) Haga took a big W earlier this afternoon. And Clay held on for a well deserved 2nd. We don't anticipate many more days like this for Haga and Hobson, but only because their days as 3s are numbered!

40+: MVC fielded a super strong squad for the 40+ at Belterra today. And as expected, MVC was active at the front throughout the race until Bling slipped into what proved to be the winning 5 man break late in the festivities. Sadly, Bling was squeezed against the curb in the sprint and was forced to settle for 4th. But tomorrow is another day. Stay tuned and keep your eyeballs reading here for more news.

Belterra/Driveway Race Weekend

2010-02-05T09:28:00.002-06:00

For the first time in '10, McKinney Velo has a team traveling to a TX race... yes, Brownie and CP raced as a "team" at Copperas Cove and did fantastic -- fantastic as in 1st and 4th! But this weekend is different. This weekend, MVC has 10 racers pre-registered to race in Austin; 8 in the 40+ races and 2 in the 3s. So keep your eyeballs reading here for updates on the results turned in by Shane (Sammy) Haga and Jamey in the 3s and Adams, Brownie, the Patrick Burkes (Bling and PT), Rocket Richie, CP, Seabass and Oz in the 40+ races.

It's Wednesday in McKinney...

2010-02-03T13:31:00.002-06:00

and elsewhere, of course, but we're not the Elsewhere Velo Club. We're MVC and on Wednesdays in February and into March, we have sprint workouts under the lights of Craig ranch by the TPC and Cooper. Start time is 6:00 p.m. -- lights are not required, but they are recommended. As long as the weather cooperates, our 1st official Wed Nite workout of '10 is this evening; and if it goes anything like our 1st unofficial workout last week, expect good fellowship and some excellent speed and lead out training.

Flying solo at ToNB

2010-02-01T17:53:00.003-06:00

Congratulations to MVC's CP (Chris Powers for those without a program) for finishing 5th and 6th at the Tour of New Braunfels road race and crits this past weekend. CP accomplished these fine results racing solo against a filed stacked with talent from Joe's Pro Bikes' masters team and several other stout racers from SA and ATX. It's going to be a much more level playing field this weekend -- Hello Austin, MVC is coming to town!

MVC sat ride -- 1/30/10

2010-01-29T11:50:00.001-06:00

Due to possible icy roads in the a.m., our Saturday ride will start at 11:00 a.m. tomorrow morning, January 30, 2010. Sunday’s ride will roll at 1:00 as usual.

Wed Nite Round Up

2010-01-28T06:48:00.002-06:00

Small group, but great weather and a great workout! First, the McKinney Police had to thoroughly secure the perimeter for us while protecting our community from a Cooper Clinic member who went Britney in the ladies locker room. But then, we put in 5 solid sprint interval efforts while rolling around until 7:30. As the Great Oz noted, Wed Nites are a great opportunity for MVC team fellowship, work on team cohesion, and a damn hell hard leg speed/power work out.

Come join the fun next week.

Ride Notes and News

2010-01-26T19:32:00.002-06:00

Saturday and Sunday MVC Rides -- Be advised that: (1) (as always) we roll neutral until we turn off Lawn Meadow onto FM 2933; and (2) we now turn left onto FM 2933 and head toward Squeezepenney on both Saturday and Sunday -- updated maps will be provided soon, but just after the Squeezepenny sign, turn right onto CR 341, follow it to CR 409 where we turn right again and then rejoin the old route on FM 1827 just to the east of the church.

Wed Nite sprint workouts at Craig Ranch (by the Cooper Clinic) officially start next Wednesday February 3, 2010. The riding starts at 6:00 but we do a loop (counter clockwise) so come when you can and join in when you're warm and ready. Bring your legs and as many lights as you need to feel comfortable... part of the course is reasonable well lighted, but parts are dark. Official start date aside, the Seabass is going to get a jump on the fun and be out there tomorrow night, 2/27/10... and I plan to join him. Come too if you think you're ready for fun, 'Bass style...!

New Kits; First Win!

2010-01-24T11:08:00.002-06:00

MVC's new kits arrived Friday; MVC's first win of 2010 arrived Saturday.

Mike 'Brownie' Brown took the 40+ win at Copperas Cove Saturday 1/23 over 2009 Masters road champion Kurt Bickel. Brownie received much needed support in a 10 man break from Chris Powers who went on to nab 4th place in a photo finish from another Joe's Pro Bikes racer. The question is -- what looked better, the new kits or the W?

Nice job boys!!

Results here: http://www.teambicyclesinc.org/CC%20Race/TBi%20Classic%2010%20Final%20Results.pdf

Powers photo finish here: http://www.teambicyclesinc.org/CC%20Race/point0045%20powersMcGrath.jpg

MVC RIDES 1/17 & 1/18

2010-01-16T21:36:00.002-06:00

RIDE ADVISARY: On Sunday January 17, we will do our usual Sunday route at 8:30 am instead of our usual 1:00 pm start-- It is after all the NFL's best playoff weekend, and the Cowboys play at noon.

McKinney Velo will also have an MLK day ride beginning Monday at 8:30 am from the usual start location-- Starbucks at Hardin & Eldorado.

Please join us if you can; all riders are welcome.

END OF ADVISARY

MVC Win at the Mellow Johnny's Classic

2009-11-24T22:53:00.008-06:00

Four of us made it down to the inaugural Mellow Johnny's Classic at Juan Pelota Ranch. El Guapo put on a bike-handling clinic for the Cat 2 30-34 class and pulled off a win despite being a bit out of shape. Mr. Manganese (Brandon) and I raced in a large Cat 2 35-39 class along with Todd Murphy. Todd's brother talked him into racing some dirt, and he picked a good one for his first mountain bike race.

The trail was a blast. Four inches of rain on Friday made for lots of slick rocks and several mud bogs. There were some great downhill sections and plenty of long, sustained climbs.

After check-in Saturday, we considered skipping our planned pre-ride lap to avoid having to figure out how to clean the bikes. But, what fun would that be? Luckily, we were able to hose the bikes down right in front of the Radisson in downtown Austin.

The Cat 2 race was early Sunday morning before the sun had burned off the overnight fog, so the trail was still as wet as the day before. Call-ups were by registration order (I think), so I started near the back of a big field. I drilled it at the start and made my way up to around 15th by the time we hit the technical singletrack. I kept picking people off when I could, but as I was soon catching riders from earlier groups, I had no idea how many were left in front of me. All I could do was keep pushing. Climbing towards the finish, I caught and passed Pedro (sorry man, I couldn't leave that out) and knew I had to be near the front. Close but not quite. I finished second.

We hung around for the Pro race later in the day to watch and snap a few photos. I got one decent shot of Lance before he flatted out (click the photo for a larger version). Check Pedro's Smugmug site for more. Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski, the 2009 XC National Champ, dominated the Pro race. Wow! Fast! I can't wait 'til next year.

Results

--Brian

Thanksgiving Day MVC Ride

2009-11-23T10:51:00.002-06:00

McKinney Velo will help everyone enjoy their Holiday by kicking the day off with the usual Sunday route leaving Hardin/Eldorado at 7:30 a.m. -- ride early, end hungry.

Official MVC "Off-Season" Notice

2009-10-14T16:13:00.002-05:00

EDICT: MVC recognizes the period between October 15 and January 15 (Sunday January 17, 2010 this time) as the "off-season." As such, our regularly scheduled Saturday(8:00 a.m.) and Sunday (1:00 p.m.) rides will be ridden at we like to call a "social" pace. It's a pace that's perfect for base miles, for small ring, high cadence leg work, and for anyone and everyone to sneak a turn in a paceline and to get comfortable with that essential element of road racing. These off-season rides are a great opportunity for MVC members and friends at all fitness levels to come out for fellowship and to sharpen your pack riding skills. See you on the road.

Stepler Conquers Kona

2009-10-12T14:10:00.002-05:00

Joan Stepler flew the MVC Tri Team colors in Hawaii over the weekend as she competed in the Ford Ironman World Championships. Joan qualified for Kona by finishing 4th in her age group at the Ironman USA Lake Placid, and her effort in Kona was equally noteworthy. Here are her numbers:

ATHLETE RANK AGE/DIV 2.4 SWIM 112 BIKE 26.2 RUN TOTAL

Stepler, Joan 51/23/37 45/W45-49 01:36:28 06:09:50 05:30:13 13:27:41

Congratulations Joan on a race well swam/ridden/run. We can't wait to see you on the TV highlights in December!

Ride Green, Ride Clean, Ride... as Hannah Montana!

2009-09-15T14:24:00.003-05:00

Bike riding is environmentally friendly, so using a family bike rally to promote renewable energy makes perfect sense. Check out this event to be held at White Rock Lake on Halloween 2009... looks like a great opportunity to grab the kids, dial your pace below below 20+ mph and follow through on that promise to take the family out for a family ride:

Roll Beyond Coal Bike Rally/Saturday, October 31 - Come on out for a fun-filled event supporting renewable energy, green jobs, and clean air with a brighter energy future beyond coal! Bike the 9.4 mile route around White Rock Lake with your family and friends starting at The Bath House on 521 E. Lawther Drive in Dallas. Prizes to be given for the best Halloween and Clean Air costumes! Registration: 8:30 am. Bike ride: 10:30 am. Cost: Adults-$10.00. Students and children 12/over-$5.00. Children under12-Free. Sponsored by the Sierra Club. Pre-registration information and more details are available at www.dallassierraclub.org or call organizer Lori at 972-980-7176.

MVC's Wednesday ride schedule

2009-09-15T14:05:00.002-05:00

Hey Internet --

During the days of daylight (and for a few early year months,under the lights of Craig Ranch) MVC holds a weekly Wednesday night ride. The daylights savings season (April through October) rides leave from McKinney High across from Town Lake in, where else, McKinney... as the days get longer, so do the rides. Links to the three routes used on Wednesday night are set out below. The usual start time is 6:00 p.m., although in April/May and September/October, the time is pushed earlier to either 5:45 or 5:30. Check the MVC web site calendar, MVC's Twitter page or here for specifcis. For example, on September 16, 2009, we will start at 5:45 and ride the medium route... late starters can effectively ride backwards to meet the group by simply staying on FM 2933 all the way toward FM 545, and if you haven't run into the pack by 545, turn left toward SH 121.

After October fades away, we will take a 2-ish month break before early January when we re-start the Wednesday night Craig Ranch "Under the Lights" sprint workouts pioneered so successfully last year by Oz and the 'Bass. More details as the time nears.

Here are links to the three Wednesday night routes we use:

Short route: http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united-states/tx/mckinney/new-hope-/903124275743443836

Medium route: http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united-states/tx/-mckinney/new-hope/658124275802157602

Long route: http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united-states/tx/-mckinney/new-hope/382124275936067642

2009 Texas Tough Grand Prix

2009-09-13T11:55:00.002-05:00

People of the internet--

We invite you to join McKinney Velo as we enjoy the 2009 Texas Tough Grand Prix in Victory Park, Dallas TX -- a tremendous event that supports Children's Medical Center Hospital of Dallas. This non profit hospital that does not turn any child away writes off over $40 million per year to treat kids that are not insured or under-insured.

Spread the word, Professional Racing in Dallas Thursday Night, September 17, 2009. A FREE fun filled evening for all. Tell all your friends and family this event is going to be a big spectacle with plenty of fun activities on Victory Plaza for all ages.

check out the video.

http://www.txtough.org/crit/spectator.html

http://www.txtough.org/

MVC at Hotter n' Hell

2009-09-01T16:49:00.002-05:00

MVC has over 20 arcers take part in one or moer of the races offered in the Falls last weekend during the HHH weekend. While some of outr guys had nice races, our women were oustanding.

MVC @ HH:

W 1,2,3 Fri Crit:

1st Jennifer Purcell Team Hotel San Jose
2nd Lauren Robertson FCS Cycling Club
3rd Ginny King McKinney Velo Club
4th Kristen Andreasen Bikesport/ION
5th Rheannon Cunningham Team at&t-Brain and Spine Cycling

W 1,2,3 Sat RR:

1st Lauren Robertson FCS Cycling Club
2nd Ginny King McKinney Velo Club
3rd Mina Pizzini McKinney Velo Club
4th Rheannon Cunningham Team at&t-Brain and Spine Cycling
5th Christine Newth Colavita Racing Inc.

W 1,2,3 Sun Crit:

1st Jennifer Purcell Team Hotel San Jose
2nd Ginny King McKinney Velo Club
3rd Lauren Robertson FCS Cycling Club
4th Rachel Byus Team Hotel San Jose
5th Rheannon Cunningham Team at&t-Brain and Spine Cycling

W 4 RR:

1st Regina Hancock Tom's Bicycles
2nd Donnette Spencer Plano Athletic Cycling Club/PACC
3rd Barbara Rudolph Plano Athletic Cycling Club/PACC
4th Monica Hyslop
5th Kim CHANCE
6th Rebecca Perkins McKinney Velo Club

M 1,2,3 RR:

1st Joshua Carter ABD Cycle Club
2nd Heath Blackgrove Team Hotel San Jose
3rd Russ Walker TX TOUGH Cycling
4th Mitchell Comardo Bike Barn (Texas)
5th Ian Dille Super Squadra

****************************

30th Christopher Powers McKinney Velo

33rd Patrick Burke McKinney Velo Club

35th Michael Brown McKinney Velo

40th Stephen Weber McKinney Velo Club

M Cat 3 RR:

1st justin rempel Bicycles of Tulsa
2nd Royce Strange GS Tenzing
3rd Mark Jansen Team at&t-Brain and Spine Cycling
4th robert snedden Mirage
5th William Rader FCS Cycling Club
6th Matthew Fox RPM/Hayes Brake Cycling Team
7th Luke Germann McKinney Velo Club

M 40+ RR:

1st Richard Lamb Southern Elite
2nd Les Akins Oklahoma City Velo Club
3rd Jorge Merle Dallas Racing
4th Tom Lattig Mirage
5th Mario Velasco

11th Bryan Perkins McKinney Velo Club

15th Trevor Rigby McKinney Velo Club

24th Johnny Moore McKinney Velo Club
25th David Garrett McKinney Velo Club

M 35+ 4,5 RR:

1st Michael Braden Plano Athletic Cycling Club/PACC
2nd Don Campbell Rockwall Cycling
3rd Polo Lopez Chain Reaction - San Antonio
4th Jerry Lewis
5th Patrick Mahan McKinney Velo Club

12th Nokki Choeynim McKinney Velo Club

19th Michael Winders McKinney Velo Club

Jr 4,5 RR:

1st Danny Parks GS Tenzing
2nd Noah Williams GS Tenzing
3rd Gonzalo Ramirez Tuneros Racing
4th Joshua Thresher Team Power Train
5th Hunter Stewart GS Tenzing

11th Justin Hicks McKinney Velo

M Cat 4 Sun Crit:

1st Tyler Matthies B & B Bicycles
2nd Redding Shelby Team Bicycles Inc.
3rd Imari Miller GS Tenzing
4th John Sieczkowski
5th Rodolfo Arredondo SSPI Inc.

22nd Justin Hicks McKiney Velo

M 40+ Crit:

1st Les Akins Oklahoma City Velo Club
2nd Jorge Merle Dallas Racing
3rd David Carl Jones
4th Rod Dittrick Bike Barn (Texas)
5th Trevor Rigby McKinney Velo Club
6th Brian Handal M7 Racing
7th Bryan Perkins McKinney Velo Club

Jr. 4/5:

1st Noah Williams GS Tenzing
2nd Imari Miller GS Tenzing
3rd Gonzalo Ramirez Tuneros Racing
4th Joshua Thresher Team Power Train
5th Danny Parks GS Tenzing

8th Justin Hicks McKinney Velo

McKinney Velo's 1st Nat'l Champion!!!

2009-08-22T19:05:00.003-05:00

Congratulations are in order -- Earlier today, Mina Pizzini finished 6th overall among the women, and WON her age group at the USAT National Championships!! We're so proud [dabbing tear from eye...]

2009 USAT Age Group National Championship ResultsUSA Triathlon August 22, 2009

Top 10 Male Overall
Name Hometown State Age Group Age Gender Time
Joe Maloy Brighton MA M20-24 24 M 1:57:23
Sean Jefferson Palm Beach Gardens FL M25-29 27 M 1:57:35
Devon Palmer Saint Paul MN M20-24 22 M 1:58:43
Parker Roth Spartanburg SC M25-29 29 M 1:59:25
Mark Harms Madison WI M30-34 34 M 1:59:32
Rusty Pruden Kirkland WA M25-29 26 M 1:59:38
Samuel Morgan Atlanta GA M25-29 26 M 1:59:39
Nathan White Des Moines IA M25-29 26 M 2:00:00
Samuel Hauck Omaha NE M25-29 25 M 2:00:06
Doug Clark Morristown NJ M40-44 41 M 2:00:09

Top 10 Female Overall
Name Hometown State Age Group Age Gender Time
Kaitlin Shiver Satellite Beach FL F20-24 20 F 2:08:13
Lindsay Woodward Gainesville FL F20-24 24 F 2:10:19
Cathy Yndestad Apple Valley MN F30-34 31 F 2:13:39
Alicia Parr Durham NC F35-39 39 F 2:14:00
Bethany Handley Oklahoma City OK F25-29 28 F 2:14:14
Mina Pizzini Dallas TX F40-44 42 F 2:14:45
Linda Robb Juno Beach FL F45-49 45 F 2:15:00
Lindsey Whalen Chicago IL F25-29 28 F 2:15:09
Haley Chura Smyrna GA F20-24 24 F 2:15:09
Tami Ritchie Ankeny IA F25-29 26 F 2:15:26

Age Group Top Finishers

F40-44
1. Mina Pizzini (Dallas TX) 2:14:45
2. Peggy Yetman (Beaumont TX) 2:18:56
3. Barbara Sherwood (Salt Lake City UT) 2:23:24

Sad days in McKinney and Austin

2009-08-21T16:38:00.002-05:00

McKinney:

North Texas Multisport triathlete Jonathan Wells of McKinney passed away on Sunday August 9 from a heart attack. He was 52. NTM was kind enough to include some McV members in a memorial ride last Sunday. NTM is making a donation to the American Heart Association in honor of Jonathon. If you would like to make a donation in his name too, go here:

https://donate.americanheart.org/ecommerce/aha/aha_index.jsp

Austin:

The Texas racing community suffered a shocking and tragic loss when Kevin Underhill died from head injuries he sustained in a crash while racing in the Thursday night racing series held in Austin at the Driveway. Our condolences go out to Kevin's family and friends. As a small gesture in remembrance of Kevin, we wanted to share some words from his sister [originally posted on the TxBRA forum]:

"Sadly my brother Kevin did not survive his injuries. Kevin's organs have been donated and will bless 9 people with the gift of life something that will continue what he did best, helping others. Our family and Lisa have appreciated your thoughts and prayers and wonderful stories of how he has blessed your life. Thank you to those of you who came to the hospital to share your stories and memories and hugs. There is no fault in this accident it was just a tragedy. Kevin loved every minute he was biking or climbing and it was so excited to be trying something that would challenge him. He died doing what he loved and he would not want anyone to feel that they were at fault. He loved his friends and treasured them. Just hug and appreciate your family and friends a lot more.
God Bless you all,
Carla Underhill Norris"

For more about Kevin, I encourage you read this: http://www.austin360.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/fitcity/entries/2009/08/17/cyclist_dies_after_crash_at_th.html

Wed Nite Ride Recap

2009-08-13T10:43:00.002-05:00

Great Wed Nite ride... 24 riders total riders participated, and 18 of them were in the orange and blue. The group included some Wed Nite first timers both from outside McV (Tim Kolb and Stephan Terrill; glad you could make it and we hope you come back) and from within McV (high schooler Justin Hicks, Ginny King, Matt Pond and McV's newest member Chris Powers - welcome to McV Chris!) With Duece, Bling, Oz and Powers preparing for the P 1,2 100 miler at HHH, the pace was strong. After Raintree and I got popped on CR 500 right around the halfway mark, the lead group was down to 9... and I'm told that the efforts of CP and Bling ultimately shed 2 more. Ultimately, CP, Bling and Oz fought it out at the Wed Nite sprint line... and FYI, that would be the '09 Wed Nite line near Lawn Meadow and not the old school Wed Nite at the New Hope city limits sign where we finish things off on Sat and Sun.

McV representing at the 8/11 TNC A Race...

2009-08-12T12:38:00.002-05:00

Excellent A Race for McV at the TNC's last night. Timmy TB makes the 1st key break. Junior follows the wheels that bridge to that break to be sure McV is properly erpresented. Then Timmy TB makes the counter break that formed after the field came back together under the efforts of Matrix (which didn't have anybody in what at one time was about a 15 man lead group! Can you say asleep at the wheels?) That break stuck and Timmy TB took 4th overall. Oz then led out Junior who took the field sprint over CrOzzy(!) while Oz still held on for 7th...

A Race

Racer Place Team

Nick Kiernan 1 Texas Tough

Max Miley 2 Matrix

Gary Glanger 3 Park Place

Tim Burke 4 McKinney Velo

Luke Germann 5 McKinney Velo

CrOzzy 6 Texas Tough

Stephen Weber 7 McKinney Velo

Phillip Snodgrass 8 Metro VW

Chris Carlson 9 Matrix

Troy Owens 10 GS Tenzing

Hot Rocks/Rockwall

2009-08-11T14:19:00.002-05:00

Nice job Saturday at Hot Rocks by Ginny King -- 3rd in the women's race, and Patrick 'Bling' Burke who took a hard fought 4th in the Men's race with help from Brad 'Bass Price, Steve 'Oz' Weber and Tim 'Timmy' 'TB' 'Tonto' Burke.

Great result Sunday in the 3s race for Shane 'Shaggy' Haga who took a solo win after Luke 'Junior' Germann softened the field by getting in a 3 man break that lasted some 10 laps. From there, Jeff 'Radio' Steinman helped launch Shaggy's winning move. Marco 'Polo' Corsi, Walt 'Disney' Megura and Steve Borski also get assists:

Men 3.

1 Shane Haga McKinney Velo
2 Jeffrey Bauer Matrix/RBM
3 Richard Lamb
4 Luke Germann McKinney Velo
5 Steve Minnerly PACC
6 Kyle Sigl Broken Films Racing
7 David McGaffin Rockwall Cycling
8 Jeff Steinman McKinney Velo
9 Marco Corsi McKinney Velo
10 Jesus Chaparro
11 Mark Moeller GS Tenzing
12 Stephen Borski Mckinney Velo
13 Jeffery Scherer
14 Bert Cross Iii Team Hotel San Jose/ Redbudsports.com
15 Walter Megura McKinney Velo
16 C.alex Castaneda matrix cycling club
17 Jared Reynoso Matrix/RBM
18 Daniel Fontenot PACC
19 Jeffrey Townes Alliance Environmental
20 Bryan Perkins McKinney Velo
21 Ken Smith
22 Les Stark GS Tenzing
23 Matt Tynan GS Tenzing

In addition to their fine efforts in the Saturday RR, Bling and TB also managed top 10 finishes in windy, hot and humid conditions Sunday:

Mens P123.

1 Heath Blackgrove Team Hotel San Jose
2 Bret Crosby TX TOUGH Cycling
3 Cody Foster
4 Austin Stewart GS Tenzing
5 Richard Lamb
6 Timothy Burke Mckinney Velo
7 Chris Powers AT&T
8 Jonathan Sunolt
9 Patrick Burke Mckinney Velo
10 Edgar Ibarra SSP, inc
11 Nick Kiernan TX TOUGH Cycling
12 John Trujillo
13 Jed Rogers TOYOTA / Cycling Team p/b GCCA
14 Leo Frayre
15 Joseph Lafico TOYOTA / CYCLING TEAM p/b GCCA
16 David McGaffin Rockwall Cycling
17 Steen Rose Solar Eclipse
18 Gary Glanger
19 Jason Davis
20 James Lawrence Matrix/RBM
21 Joey Spragins Rockwall Cycling
22 Bill Short
23 Robb Bush Colavita/Cooking Light/Texas
24 Stephen Weber McKinney Velo
25 Estephen Sanchez
26 Steve Stewart Colonel's Army
27 John McAllister Velossimo Racing presented by Jack and Adam's Bicycles
28 Jack Marsh Rockwall Cycling
29 Michael Kincaid TX TOUGH Cycling
30 Bert Cross Iii Team Hotel San Jose/ Redbudsports.com

Finally, nice job by Michael 'Hammer' Caney (10th in the 4s) and Michael Winders for 6th in the 5s.

Another MVC State Champion!!

2009-08-11T14:16:00.002-05:00

Congratulations to McV's newest state champion, Mina Pizzini -- Women's Cat 1,2 State ITT Champ in a fantastic 0:58:07!!!

Cat 1/2
.
Place Time Finish Start TOD Bib# Last First Team Cat/Class USAC Lic Race Age
.
1 0:58:07 3:28:37 2:30:30 9:30:30 211 Pizzini Mina McKinney Velo Cat 1/2 Women 101676 42
.
2 1:00:01 3:32:01 2:32:00 9:32:00 214 Beaudet Annick Team at&t-Brain and Spine Cycling Cat 1/2 Women 222232 40
.
3 1:00:02 3:31:02 2:31:00 9:31:00 212 Wolfe Christina Team at&t-Brain and Spine Cycling Cat 1/2 Women 246079 34
.
4 1:01:47 3:34:17 2:32:30 9:32:30 215 Willhite Jenny Team Solar Eclipse Cat 1/2 Women 188342 30
.
5 1:02:20 3:32:20 2:30:00 9:30:00 210 Cunningham Rheannon Team at&t-Brain and Spine Cycling Cat 1/2 Women 252159 32
.
6 1:07:09 3:38:39 2:31:30 9:31:30 213 Rothe Sheri Austin Flyers Cat 1/2 Women 2

Safe Passing Bill Petition

2009-08-11T14:05:00.001-05:00

McKinney Velo:

Please sign this petition and show your support for the Safe Passing Bill!

http://www.biketexas.org/component/option,com_philaform/form_id,32/Itemid,1/

WWJVD?

2009-08-04T14:12:00.002-05:00

A must read about McV team hero Jens Voight: http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/tdf2009/columns/story?id=4344207

For those who are time pressed, here is the essential text:

"What Would Jens Do?"

Break the back of the peloton.

Dig deep in his suitcase of courage.

Put _____ in a spot of trouble.

All of the above.

More McKinney Tri News!!

2009-07-27T11:29:00.002-05:00

File under the heading "Joan Stepler is a stud!"

This comes courtesy of MVC's Super Dave Millwee, a Tri Stud in his own right: Congrats to Joan Stepler who finished 4th in her age group at Ironman Lake Placid and got a very hard-to-come-by slot to the Ironman World Championship in Kona Hawaii!! We'll see you on TV! IN FREAKING CREDIBLE!

MVC Tri Team Dominance

2009-07-27T10:55:00.002-05:00

Cooper Summer Sprint Triathlon

MVC's Tri Team played in our backyard Saturday. Did someone predict "carnage?" Someone was right!!

Tyler Baker 3rd overall 1st m30-34 age group
Dave Millwee 5th 1st m40-44
Todd Murphy 12th 2nd m35-39
Ray Eckenrode 14th 4th m30-34
Clay Christopher 16th 3rd m40-44
Mike Kesterson 17th 3rd m35-39
Dan Brooks 44th 6th m45-49
Jon Sparling 90th 8th m20-24

Mina's Tri Assault

Disco Tri- Mina Pizzini-Pond 1st overall women

Waco Tri- Mina Pizzini-Pond 1st overall women

Jens Voight for Honorary Team Captain

2009-07-23T15:17:00.003-05:00

On behalf of myself, I'd like to nominate Jens Voight for honorary MVC Team Captain. His credentials, as first reported by The Street Kings from the upper West side of Old Town Scottsdale, as as follows:

Jens Voigt doesn’t read books. He simply attacks until the books relent and tell him everything he wants to know.

Waldo can’t be found because Jens dropped him on a hill training ride… on K2.

Jens doesn’t spin or mash the pedals… he kicks them into submission.

Jens Voigt puts the “laughter” in “Manslaughter.”

Jens Voigt climbs so well for a big guy because he doesn’t actually climb hills; the hills slink into the earth in fear as they see him approach.

If you are a UCI ProTour rider and you Google “Jens Voigt,” the only result you get is “it’s not to late to take up Football, Fred.”

Jens was a math prodigy in elementary school, putting “Attack!” in every blank space on all his tests. It would be the wrong answer for everybody else, but Jens is able to solve any problem by attacking.

Jens’ testicles are bald because hair does not grow on a mixture of titanium, brass, steel, and cold, hard granite.

Eddy Merckx was actually a neo-pro at the same time as Jens, but Jens dropped him so hard that he shot backwards in time to the 1960’s, where he became a great champion.

Jens once had a heart attack on the Tourmalet. Jens counterattacked repeatedly until he kicked its ass.

Jack was nimble, Jack was quick… and Jens still drove him to quit racing bikes and become an ice dancing commentator on Lifetime.

If Jens Voigt was a country, his principle exports would be Pain, Suffering, and Agony.

If Jens Voigt was a planet, he’d be the World of Hurt.

Jens Voigt doesn’t know where you live, but he knows exactly where you will die.

Jens Voigt doesn’t have a shadow because he dropped it repeatedly until it retired, climbing into the CSC team car and claiming a stomach ailment.

Jens Voigt once challenged Lance Armstrong to a “who has more testicles” contest. Jens won… by five.

When you open a can of whoop-ass, Jens Voigt jumps out and attacks.

You are what you eat. Jens Voigt eats spring steel for breakfast, fire for lunch, and a mixture of titanium and carbon fiber for dinner. For between-meal snacks he eats men’s souls, and downs it with a tall cool glass of The Milk of Human Suffering.

Jens Voigt believes it’s not butter.

Jens Voigt can eat just one.

The first time man split the atom was when the atom tried to hold Jens Voigt’s wheel, but cracked.

Jens Voigt doesn’t complain about what suffering does to him… but suffering constantly complains about getting picked on by Jens Voigt.

Jens Voigt can start a fire by rubbing two mud puddles together.

Guns kill a couple dozen people every day. Jens Voigt kills 150.

Jens’s tears are so tough they could be the world heavyweight mixed-martial arts champion. Too bad Jens never cries.

Jens Voigt rides so fast during attacks, that he could circle the globe, hold his own wheel, and ride in his own draft. At least as long as he didn’t try to drop himself.

Jens Voigt nullified the periodic table because he doesn’t believe in any element, other than the element of surprise.

The grass is always greener on the other side. Unless Jens Voigt has been riding on the other side in which case it’s white with the salty, dried tears of all the riders whose souls he has crushed.

DO I HEAR A 2ND?

MVC @ the Cooper Crits July 11

2009-07-20T16:12:00.002-05:00

IC3 and one of MVC's key sponsors, RBM, in conjunction with a very gracious host, the Cooper Fitness center, put on a first time race in our backyard (an undeveloped subdivision in Craig Ranch) on a very hot Saturday, July 11. Two other MVC sponsors also had a big presence. Aruba Sport had its display there and contributed to the primes, while SmartWater and Vitamin Water saved many of us from heat exhaustion. The course's challenging blend of technical corners and elevation changes, when combined with the heat, made for some aggressive racing. And MVC was thick in the middle of it. By my count, 20 MVC-ites toed the line at least once, and a handful of hearty (or in my case, probably foolish) souls raced more than once. Highlights were the near textbook racing tactics employed by Weber, (Bling) Burke and Price in the 40+ and Jr. Germann and Haga in the 3s, and the fine showing by Nagel and King in the 50+ race.

Chris Powers initiated an early split in the 40+ that Price and Weber quickly joined. After a 2 lap chase, Burke also bridged to what was then a 9 man lead group (the 3 from MVC, Powers, OKC's Peter Erdoes, Kurt Bickel and his teammate, Phil Wilson, Matrix's Jeff Bauer and Jorge Merle.) Soon thereafter, Patrick attacked and went solo for 2-3 laps. After he was caught, Brad countered. All the while, Steve was marking Powers, so when Powers countered Brad's move, Steve was immediately on him. With Patrick and Brad following wheels, the other 5 gave a hard chase for several laps but Powers and Steve held their 20-40 second gap until the chase gave up. From their Powers and Steve lapped the main field before Powers took the win at the line. Patrick just nipped Brad for 4th behind Erdoes giving MVC 3 in the top 5.

In the 3s, after the field had been under pressure from several racers chasing primes, notably Jeff Bauer, Luke and 2 others got a gap, and with Shane riding perfectly behind -- soft peddling through corners when he was on the front and being perfectly positioned to disrupt any chasing the rest of the time -- he was rarely more then 2 or 3 riders from the front -- the break stuck. Luke then powered up the inside to take 1st in the 3 man sprint, while Shane easily bested the main field to take 4th overall.

50+

1 262 STEVE MINNERLY PACC
2 261 BILL NAGEL MCKINNEY VELO CLUB
3 259 MICHAEL WOERNER GS TENZING
4 253 DAVE PARKS MIRAGE
5 264 MARK STECK CORINTH CYCLING CLUB POWERED BY
6 256 BARRY KLUNDER TEAM BICYCLES, INC.
7 258 Ginny King McKinney Velo
8 255 CHARLES WOOLCOCK MATRIX / RBM
9 257 STEPHEN MARINO METRO VW/FCS
10 260 STEVE THOMPSON TEAM BICYCLES, INC

40+

1 615 CHRIS POWERS TEAM AT&T-BRAIN & SPINE CYCLING
2 607 STEPHEN WEBER MCKINNEY VELO
3 602 Peter Erdoes OKC Velo
4 606 PATRICK BURKE MCKINNEY VELO
5 604 BRAD PRICE MCKINNEY VELO
6 609 JEFFREY BAUER MATRIX/RBM
7 608 KURT BICKEL JOE'S PRO BIKES
8 605 PHILLIP WILSON JOES PRO BIKES
9 619 JORGE MERLE PARK PLACE DEALERSHIPS/DALLAS M
10 601 ROBB BUSH COLAVITA/COOKING LIGHT/TEXAS
11 600 MIKE READE MORITZ CHEVROLET CYCLING
12 618 JEFFERY SCHERER
13 613 JUDGE DOBRIENT UNATTACHED
14 603 JONATHAN GARRETT COLAVITA/COOKING LIGHT/TEXAS
15 612 MARCO CORSI MCKINNEY VELO
16 614 RICH MILLER MCKINNEY VELO
17 616 Kevin Shea Dallas Bike Works
18 617 CHRISTOPHER PEASLEE TEAM BEAVER
19 611 WALTER MEGURA McKinney Velo
20 621 Carl Hentschel GS TENZING

Cat 3

1 329 LUKE GERMANN MCKINNEY VELO
2 303 Bonds Paul OKC Velo
3 314 KYLE SIGL BROKEN FILMS RACING
4 320 SHANE HAGA MCKINNEY HIGH SCHOOL/VELO
5 313 JERRY ROUSH PLANO ATHLETIC CYCLING CLUB (PA
6 333 DARWIN DARR MIRAGE
7 312 SHAWN DAURELIO MIRAGE
8 331 MARC MONTEMAYOR COLAVITA/COOKING LIGHT/TEXAS
9 322 Jason McCombs Lonestar Racing Club
10 330 Todd Farrell Metro VW
11 325 CRAIG FULK COLAVITA/COOKING LIGHT/TEXAS
12 305 JEFFREY BAUER MATRIX/RBM
13 321 STEPHEN BORSKI MCKINNEY VELO
14 315 MARK RAWLINGS GS TENZING
15 332 JARED REYNOSO MATRIX/RBM
16 316 DANIEL FONTENOT PACC
17 319 TREVOR RIGBY MCKINNEY VELO
18 335 DAVID MCGAFFIN ROCKWALL CYCLING
19 311 KEN MACLEAN GS TENZING
20 317 MARK ASHTON MIRAGE

MVC @ the 'drome 7/10

2009-07-20T16:05:00.002-05:00

Check out these MVC results from track racing in Frisco on July 10... congratulations to those MVC trackies who performed so well!

Cat 3 103 Kelsey Oliver McKinney Velo 159
Cat 3 105 Craig Erickson Matrix / RBM 106
Cat 3 108 Rhyne Rundell McKinney Velo 92
Cat 3 104 Royce Strange GS Tenzing 74
Cat 3 106 Tyler Chausse B and B 68

35+/C4 204 Jamey Munroe McKinney Velo 160
35+/C4 203 Craig De Cleary Infinity Cycling Club 157
35+/C4 205 Joel Hawks Plano Athletic Cycling Club 153
35+/C4 224 Kent McQuade Frisco Cycling Club 143
35+/C4 215 Lauren Dunn unattached 94

M30-39 103 Kelsey Oliver McKinney Velo 146
M30-39 108 Rhyne Rundell McKinney Velo 90
M30-39 21 Christopher Kutach Matrix / RBM 43
M30-39 37 Leo Frayre Ten Speed Drive 23
M30-39 30 Tony Digivolano 0 23

Follow MVC on Twitter!!!!

2009-07-06T16:44:00.009-05:00

http://twitter.com/mckinneyvelo

Firecracker 50 - Breckenridge Colorado

2009-07-03T15:26:00.002-05:00

Millwees more than Escape...

2009-06-22T13:23:00.002-05:00

Tremendous results from the Millwee brothers at the grueling Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon. Dave placed 7th and Scott came in 40th (despite a major bike mechanical) out of close to 300 starters in the 40-44 age group. Check out the amazing pictures on the link next to their results.

Great job !

http://raceresults.eternaltiming.com/index.cfm/20090614_Escape_From_Alcatraz.htm?Fuseaction=Results&Class=Olympic%7EM40-44

MVC News & Notes

2009-06-19T11:44:00.002-05:00

Here's some stuff you should know:

MVC-ites stepping up. A number of MVC road racers have upgraded in the last few months. Off the top of my head (so if I miss someone, I'm sorry), Mitch "deuce" Blackwell, Patrick "bling" Burke, and Brad "seabass" Price upgraded from 3 to 2; Luke "junior" Germann (Cat 4 State Crit Champ!)and plain insane Shane Haga (3rd at the Cat 4 State Crit and 1st overall State High School Champ) from 4 to 3; and Justin Hicks (3rd overall High School B league) and Patrick Mahan from 5 to 4.

Broken Boy Soldiers back in action -- that's a Raconteurs reach, by the way. It's been a a really bad Spring for MVC shoulders, but our broken boy soldiers, Tim Burke, Deuce and Johnny "white shoes" are all back on the road... and from 1st reports, as strong as ever. Welcome back Boyz!! You were missed.

Summertime Race racing: Finally, let's all join in wishing some good luck to our MVC crew heading to Copperas Cove -- Mahan and Murphy in the 4/5 35+, Burke, Corsi, Munroe, Price and Weber in the 40+, Germann in the 3s and new MVC-ite Mina Pizzini in the Women's Open

Deuce in the DMN

2009-06-03T13:34:00.003-05:00

Check this out, MVC's fitness... well, let's be honest -- he's a GENIUS, Mitch "Deuce" Blackwell, was given the opportunity this week to share his wealth of knowledge with the entire DFW health conscious community. Well done Deuce!

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/fea/healthyliving2/stories/DN-nh_comeback_0602gd.ART.State.Edition1.5094d72.html

Valley Creek Bicycle Rodeo

2009-05-15T20:28:00.002-05:00

Valley Creek Bicycle Rodeo

Riding to Work

2009-04-09T17:03:00.004-05:00

I think all cyclists ponder commuting on their bikes at some point. Unfortunately for most, it's just not practical or realistic. Well this year things finally came together for me when a small workout area and shower were installed in my office building. My last excuse for not giving it a try was gone!

So for the past month or so, I've been riding to work at least once a week. In my case it's 15 miles on a combination of bike paths and residential streets. Just long enough to get some exercise, but not so long that it effects my schedule. Last night I met Bibi at the lake on my way home and added an extra hour. Normally I have to skip work or ride in the dark to get three hours on Wednesday!

The first couple times, as I was rolling down my driving at 7:15 on a weekday, I felt that same twinge of guilt that I feel when I leave the office early for "a meeting". But once I got rolling I thought, "Hey, I'm going to work just like everyone else. No need to feel like a slacker!". I felt even better when I saw the gridlock on LBJ as I rolled up to my office only 20 minutes later than if had taken my car.

So for all of you that have been thinking about commuting, do yourself a favor and try it.

rpm

Race News From Planet MV

2009-04-02T18:09:00.004-05:00

In the last 10 days of March, McKinney Velo racers began what we expect to be a steady, season long procession to the results podium. Tell us about it Doc... Ok, I will.

Fayetteville Stage Race – Mitch "Deuce" Blackwell set the bar high for everyone in 2009 with a sterling effort in the 84 rider strong cat 3 field at Fayetteville, taking a fine 3rd place in the final GC. Deuce put himself on the podium with a 2nd in the 1st stage road race – just missing MVC’s 1st W of ‘09 by... Deuce’s system of measurements is a little ‘unorthodox’ but if I’ve converted properly, he lost by the width of a hair of undetermined thickness – and a 6th in the 2nd stage TT (although he was only a handful of seconds off the TT podium.) After taking a mid-stage time bonus during the 3rd stage road race to secure his 3rd place position on GC, Deuce was content to safely finish with the pack. It wasn’t to be though as a group of 3s crossed the centerline too early in the final sprint, and then crossed back causing a massive pile up. Fortunately, considering all his hard work over the previous two days, Deuce crashed close enough to the finish that he was credited with the same finish time as the main pack even though he never actually crossed the finish line – well, not unless he did so in the back of an ambulance.

As a result, along with his 3rd place on GC, Mitch brought home a shoulder that before his surgery (see blog note below) looked like the shoulder of a anorexic supermodel wearing a wet sweater. Nonetheless, congratulations are in order as we wish Deuce a speedy recovery. And congratulations also go out to the MVC teammates who diligently supported Deuce in Fayetteville – Fireman Steve Borski, Jamey ‘Wheel Suck’ Munroe (11th in both road race stages), Richie the Rocket Miller and Brad Seabass Price (10th in the 1st stage road race.)

Ronde von Manda - One week later, Munroe took on the cat 3 field at Ronde von Manda, determined to build on his two 11th place Fayetteville finishes. And he did. Defying his nickname (and racing without teammates), Wheel Suck raced aggressively, jumped in key moves and then locked up a 3rd place podium spot in the final sprint to the line. Keep racing like that Wheel Suck and we’ll have to change your nickname... just kidding; you’ll always be "Wheel Suck" to us, but maybe someday like a fat guy is "slim."

TNC - B Race; week three - MVC had started the ‘09 Tues. Nite Crit season with some decent results... Johnny White Shoes Moore taking 3rd in the season opening B Race; and Steve Oz Weber getting in a race long break in the A Race that same night before finishing 4th while Timmy Burke took the field sprint for 5th. While those efforts were nice, it’s been reported (by me), and confirmed by the Seabass, that you don’t get 1st for finishing 3rd. So for the week 3 Plano TNC B race, MV-ites Corsi, Davidson, del Busto, Garrett, Haga, Megura, Miller, Moore, Munson and Perkins set out to get a W for someone, anyone, in the planet MV kit.

From the outset and throughout the race, we had a rotating group of racers patrolling the front, alternately attacking and jumping into efforts from other teams, all in an attempyt to make a break stick. White Shoes and Plane Shane Haga were particularly active. Johnny never let a group get a gap without him or another MV-ite being a part of the mix. And Haga took a couple of solo fliers during the race, but he couldn’t entice anyone from another team to join him, and conditions were not ripe for a long solo escape... or for a breakaway.

With 5 to go, it was obvious the race was coming down to a field sprint. We didn’t quite get organized like the Mario C. Saeco train of the 90's, but a mass of orange and blue did start moving toward the "sharp end" of the race. On the bell lap, as I approached the front on the inside of the backside sweeping curve, I found myself on White Shoes’ wheel, while White Shoes was on Pedro "El Guapo" del Busto’s wheel. Hmm... old slow guy, following old fast guy, following young really fast guy – not the way we drew it up. So I told Johnny I was coming by and then jumped past him on the inside, hoping that he, Pedro and the other MV-ites near the front would fall in line and get set for a proper lead out. And they did. I came through corner 2 and launched my sprint... to corner 3. I hit it 1st and then died, my race done. But not before I looked to my left in time to see the beauty that was El Guapo and Plane Shane Haga jumping perfectly off White Shoes’ wheel and taking it to the line in that order. No disrespect to the other B racers that night, but it really wasn’t even close. And Johnny White Shoes, who has still never uttered the words "that sprint was just too long for me," held on for a solid 6th.

Mitchell...Get Well Soon

2009-03-27T07:15:00.002-05:00

Our thoughts are with Mitch Blackwell as he recovers from shoulder surgery. Get will soon Mitch, we need you back out drilling it making us all faster !

McKinney Gym Equipment

2009-03-20T20:56:00.002-05:00

I found an excellent place to get gym/fitness/performance equipment. It's up on 380 (South side) a half mile west of Custer. The guy who runs it, Paul Johnson, is one of the best guys I've met in a long time. This is serious stuff for a very good price. I spent a long time looking for various implements for home use and this is the only guy who had them. How many places in the metroplex can you buy from 3 to 200 lb kettlebells?? If you've got kids in sports, he's got stuff that can benefit them too. It's set back off the road a bit but worth finding.
www.mckinneygymequipment.com

Ken

Trash Talking at our 1st Quarter Adopt-A-Highway cleanup .

2009-03-15T17:53:00.000-05:00

McKinney Velo / Jesuit Ranger Roundup

2009-03-02T15:16:00.003-06:00

In 2008, McKinney Velo dipped its collective club toe into the race promotion business when we helped Andrew Armstrong and his Jesuit High Cycling club put on the Jesuit Ranger Round Up just outside of Celina Texas in far northern Collin County. The course is a rolling 9 mile rectangle that produced some dynamic racing in '08. This year, McKinney Velo is jumping chest deep into race promotion beginning with the 2009 edition of the Ranger Round Up on Sunday March 8. AA has graciously renamed the event the McKinney Velo/Jesuit Ranger Round Up for 2009. Follow this link and sign up for what looks to be a splendid day of road racing following the Horse County TT and the Denton Rhapsody Crit being run on Saturday.

To people of MVC, we have a nice 20+ group of MVC club members who are volunteering to help make it a success. But we are a racing club... and this is our race. Let's make our mark on the results sheet too, so get yourselves registered.

To all non-MVC racers, bring it on. We love a challenge and we love competition, so we invite you to pre-register and come join us Sunday morning for a guided tour of the Round Up pain locker.

Lagovista 2009

2009-03-02T14:26:00.003-06:00

Just a quick recap of La Primavera II 2009. Cat3 Marco and Rich

Lago was fun. After 3 laps half the field was dropped. There was a headwind up the climb so it was difficult for anyone to get away. After the third lap all the remaining riders rode well. Richie and I finished with the lead group. We enjoyed the race even though the results were just OK. Neither of us were stressed by the race so it bodes well for the season. Oh we did not get beat by any of the girls eaither :-) There were about 6 Cat12 women riding bandit in our race who all got dropped. Apparently none of them had registered for the race either.

It is a shame more of you did not join in the fun..... Marco.

Waaaaaaaallllburg!!!!!!

2009-02-27T21:05:00.004-06:00

I'll start my blog out with a quote because I think it is fitting. "Bike racing is about two things: pain and revenge. If you go through so much pain that you want revenge, you've got it made." - Bobke
Ohhhh how we were not playing Tiddly-Winks on Saturday. The day started with a 40 minute delay. Because of the windy conditions we had to wait on the Cat 3’s to clear the course. We all know what that means for us ole guys…cold, tight muscles. The roll out started out nice and tame, but once we turned right into the wind, the race was awn! The race started with the usual players attacking and trying to split the field up and it worked. Weber fired off on a hard attack and 20 minutes into the race I found myself in the lead group of 8 or 9 with the usually players, fighting for a spot to hide. With nobody wanting to work together and 15 minutes in the gutter I found myself in a spot of bother and fell out of the group. I was able to regroup with 4 guys, including the dude with the white tube socks and hairy legs (kinda embarrassing), and the chase was awn. We chased for about 20 minutes or so and came to within 75 meters of the lead group, who were very disorganized and a classic bonehead move was made by my fellow combatants. We made another right hand turn into a vicious crosswind and rather than continue to work together, two of our small party decided to pull hard around us on a hill…ultimately dropping us. Lets just say they did not make it. My new friend and I regrouped with the next group, which was occupied by Lil Mike Adams, and the next chase was awn. Our group seemed to be working well, but time with this group was to be very limited. After crossing the start finish for the second lap, a gust of wind blew hard. One of the riders over corrected taking us both into the grass. That was the end of my time attending this party. Not only did he take me in the ditch, but he turned around and headed home! Leaving me out there all by myself. I thought about quitting, but did not want to start the year off with a DNF. Not to mention hearing the Wrath of sheeeeeet I would get from Weber….so I rode on. It was not long before I looked over my shoulder and found a small sea of ORANGE leading the chase lead by Weber, Richie and Johnny White Shoes. Once we regrouped and got organized the three of us worked really well together and started to make up some ground. We made a right hand turn on the only road where we had a little relief from the wind and picked up a nice tailwind. We drilled it for about 15 minutes and before our last right hand turn, our group had dropped from about 15 to about 8….must have Johnny White Shoes high pace he was pushing in Zone 3….or whatever you guyz with coaches call. We got the group ahead of us in sight and shut it down to let some of the other riders move up and do a little work, but you guessed it…nobody did. We rolled in to the finish line and JWS drilled it up the hill. With Weber on my wheel, we jumped about a 100 meters out, but with the stomach bug fully set in by now, he was not able to go. Took the sprint for a solid 12th or 14th….who really cares I guess. “It was definitely the hardest conditions I have raced in” was quoted by Weber and coming from him, that says a lot. Not a bad showing for the Teams first race. Mike Adams in 10th, me 14th with Weber and JWM right behind. Lots of fun boyz and I look forward to many more good times this year. Out!

Vitzy: 2007 State Crit Champ

2009-02-27T11:34:00.001-06:00

SAMS CLUB ms150

2009-02-24T11:13:00.001-06:00