In terms of riders for this year, we’ve added some new faces with Dave Richardson, Josh Tatro and Gavin Hess. Dave is already off to a great start with 2 Wins, a 2nd place and a solid 6th. He’s also been through the school of hard knocks early this year, but he’s battled through and still going. Josh has also had some nice showings, as he took a field sprint yesterday for a solid 3rd. Both guys are close to having enough races under their belts for their upgrades to Cat 4 and continue their development.

Our man Phil also has had a strong showing early this year and has a 2nd place finish to add to the early season podiums. Phil is also moving closer to his Cat 3 upgrade, as the work he’s put in this offseason is showing. The rest of the team will be getting things going as well soon, so we’re looking forward to the warmer weather and more success this season.

With Jason’s awesome showing at GMSR, this was more then enough to get him his points for an upgrade to Cat 2. In addition to Jason, Dylan also has earned his points for his upgrade to Cat 2. Both Jason and Dylan brought their A games in some big races this year and their upgrades are well deserved and earned!

For next year we’ll have some updates and news to share in the coming months, as we’re excited for what’s to come!

Here are some pics from GMSR, so enjoy:

SOLE www.yoursole.com

This year SOLE has provided us once again with a great assortment of products. One of the new products we were happy to get this year are their performance socks. They sent us their Lightweight Sport and Dual Layer socks which are offered in no-show, ankle, and crew lengths in either black or white. We opted for the Black, Crew Length as we were determined to appease the cycling fashion police the best we could. Their socks are made with a blend of Tactel, Coolmax and Lycra fabrics which provide a soft, comfortable feel. The durable Lightweight Sport socks feature instep vents for breathability, a hand-linked “seamless” toe and a TensorFit arch band that keeps the sock in place. The Dual-Layer socks feature an inner layer that hugs the foot and slides against the outer layer, reducing friction. The outer layer features large vent panels for breathability and a TensorFit arch band. The Dual-Layer also provided a heavier sock for colder temperatures, so that was a bonus too. 

Dylan said that he was surprised by their socks and in fact are the best socks he’s ever had. Marty has used the socks not only for racing, but have become his go to travel sock as well. Even if we’re not riding, we use the socks just because they are so comfortable! SOLE has done a great job across their footbeds, flips and slides, so we wanted to mention how great such a simple thing as sock is, when SOLE makes it!

Sportique - www.sportique.net

SPORTIQUE products are created for and by physically active people. Formulated especially for the demands of any sport, your sport, our products are as pure as competition itself. Bodies in motion want to stay in motion and SPORTIQUE echoes that demand.

For the past month a few of us have been trying out some of the products Sportique has for pre, during and post activity. Granted we use these products for cycling, but they have great crossover to other sports for getting the muscles ready for competition and then relaxing them afterwards to begin the road to recovery. Those of us that ski in the in the Winter months will putting their stuff to the test then as well. Their Century Cycling Cream is one of the products that’s geared more towards our time in the saddle. What we like about their chamois cream is that is does last for a while, where other creams seem to break down after a few hours. The name itself really is indicative of the product, as it’s made for those long rides! What’s also great is if you forget to take your used bib-shorts out of the car after a race, it doesn’t smell like a gym locker the next day - the cream itself has fragrance that does a great job of covering up what could be a not so pleasant smell.

The other products we’ve tried are the Get Going and Cooling Cream’s. Now the Get Going Cream is used to wake the muscles up by getting the blood flowing prior to your activity. If you’re looking for a warming sensation, then you should get their Warming Cream instead. The Get Going is more subtle in that there is no warmth/burning feeling like an embro product would. The Cooling is great for post-activity and within a few moments of massaging this stuff on, you’ll get a nice cool, tingling sensation going. This took Jason by surprise last weekend, as he slapped the stuff on and went to take a nap and immediately felt it kicking in and working.

We have a few other Sportique products to try out still, but so far these 3 have been great and really have helped with muscle maintenance for our training rides and races. Looking forward to trying more of their products in the near future!

ToC this year seemed to be a harder race then last year. Friday’s TT was a legit 12 mile out and back TT. Saturday’s Stage 2 had the Devil’s Kitchen climb and 65+ miles of racing. Sunday’s stage though proved to be the hardest as the total elevation was greater and sun, heat and humidity made it a rough day for quite a few people. Also, the elevation que’s the race provides are way off. Stage 2 was about 5,000+ feet and Stage 3 was more then that.

All in all a great weekend with the following highlights:

• Friday TT - Rick podiumed with 3rd place in his race and Dylan was 7th in the Cat 3 field.
• Saturday - Dylan and Jason went 4th and 7th in the Road Race
• Sunday - Dylan and Jason finished 8th and 9th and ended up 6th and 11th overall on GC for the weekend.

Here are some pics from the weekend that we took and some we found - not in any order.

Kate Turner, Marketing Manager
Genesee Regional Bank
www.grbbank.com

What do you love about your job?

I love that it’s something different every day as we continue to build the GRB brand and I’m able to get creative in how we use our somewhat limited marketing resources. I also love that I get to meet so many great businesses and organizations that are clients, or with whom we partner for sponsorships.

What differentiates your organization from others?

GRB stands out from other community banks because of our business model. On the commercial side, we only lend to businesses in the Rochester area, so money that is deposited here in Rochester stays here to help grow the economy. And on the retail side, we offer truly personalized service on a level not easily matched.

Are you active in the community outside of work: nonprofits, etc…?

I am currently the President of Eastman Young Professionals at the George Eastman House and on the Executive Committee of the RIT Saunders College of Business Alumni Advisory Board.

Do you ride a bike?

I have a rather vintage collection of bikes at this point. My mountain bike is a Specialized Stumpjumper circa 1997. My road bike is a steel frame Centurion from the 80s that I got for $100 at VeloSwap when I lived in Colorado. All the components are upgraded though! It’s a workhorse. My only cycling claim to fame is that I was on the CU Cycling team when I was in grad school in Boulder. We had some epic training rides, and I did a season of ‘cross races. Now I’m just content to get in a good loop around Mendon once in a while.

What else should we know?

It’s cool to watch the growth of cycling around Rochester and Western NY. After having lived in cycling’s Mecca, Boulder, I know what’s possible for a truly bike friendly and racing-oriented community. Keep up the good work, SBR!

Jon Dechau Memorial TT Cat 4 Podium

Race winner, Rick marking him on lap 1

Sunday was the annual Strawberry Festival Road Race in Owego, NY. Really scenic drive on the Southern Tier Expressway headed to the race and just another day of awesome weather. The race was held by Tioga Velo Club and featured about 1,500 feet of climbing per lap of 17 miles - although the race guide said 2,000. Either way, it wasn’t flat. Group of about 26-30 riders was reduced to 9 or so for the second and final lap that saw a rider from Cornell roll off the front with another rider and slowly had a gap. They stuck the break, as the main field seemed reluctant to spend anymore energy to bring them back, so the race was then for 3rd place. Nice little uphill finish and Rick took 5th on the day. Good hard race as no one said a word in the pack, because you were focused on breathing! Afterwards there were fresh strawberries for everyone, so definitely tasty after the race! Great to see a few faces there such as Brendan and John from MTBO and Bruce and Dave from Rogue Racing. Dave was in the Cat 4 race with Rick and rode strong that day to stay with the main pack and had a top ten finish himself.

Saturday Road Race - had Rick & Phil in the 4’s race and Jason taking on the 1/2/3 field. The 4’s race after a solid paced first lap which dropped a few people saw laps 2 and 3 turn into a love fest with guys talking about where they grew up, sharing recipes, and other nonsense. After realizing that any attacks that tried to create a break were not going to work the pack of 14 riders were left to wait for the sprint finish. As was the case from FMV the weekend before, the crashes continued as coming into the finish there were some bad lines by a few riders and down they went. Luckily Rick and Phil were in front of this and ended up 3rd and 4th for the day. This was the first USAC race that Phil has ever made the podium, so smart riding and great form from Phil proved true on the day!

Jason in the 1/2/3 race was able to initiate a break that saw Dan Staffo from Handlebars jump in along with two guys from Holyloft Race Team. Jason and Dan made a pact to work together as they Holyloft guys had numbers and so when Jason would atack, Staffo would ride the other guys wheels and then when Staffo went, Jason got a free ride too.  Eventually they realized this was not going to break up and so it ended up in a sprint finish with Jason taking 4th on the day. Staffo and Jason agreed that one of them needed to win and not these other two guys. Great racing by Jason and nice win by Staffo from Handlebars, as he’s definitely one of the nicer guys out there racing on weekends and a super storng rider!

Sunday Crit - Only Rick and Phil made it out to the Crit in the Village of Hamburg. This is one of the nicer crits we’ve raced and there was a great turnout by those that live there and was awesome to see a party atmosphere with people enjoying the races.

The 4/5 crit was the first race of the day and saw 37 guys in the field. Race was going well as Rick and Phil stayed near the front along with TBS Racing doing a good job of controlling things. Just when things were getting ready to gear up on the final few laps a crash happened at the end of lap 3. As the pack came around on lap 2 with the riders that crashed still laying in the road the officials shouted neutral lap and so the pack was yelling neutral. Unfortunately a few guys were at the front and didn’t hear this, so as most of the pack was easing up with a neutral lap as this was not the finishing lap, the guys that didn’t hear this were winding up for the sprint. TBS Racing had a great leadout train going, so as they went across the line the officials rang the bell for the final lap. A lot of people stopped racing during the neutral lap and after the sprint, but with the pace car still going during that neutral lap at full speed and the bell signaling this was now the the final lap, Rick and Phil along with a few others kept racing and so Rick finished 3rd and Phil 4th.

Here’s where things get messy. The officials were so confused and screwed up they admitted that the lap was neutral, the bell means final lap…but the one woman official started saying, well those guys started sprinting. After a confusing Masters crit at FMV the week before which saw the lap card say 2 laps to go, but they rang the bell, Rick had not heard the bell at that race and thought there was another lap according the lap card. The officials stated at FMVGP that you always race until the bell is rung, as that signals the final lap. No bell, keep racing…especially with a crash and neutral lap. The officials decided that since there was a sprint on the neutralized lap and some thought that was the end of the race and also others kept racing when the rang the bell that signaled final lap - there would be 2 first places, 2 second places and 2 third places. In one race, there were 2 finishes. Crazy.

Suggestions for the officials in the future A) get a $30 walkie-talkie set from Walmart to communicate to the pace car to slow down if a lap is neutralized and have them shout back to the riders in case not everyone heard. This was an issue as they realized they had no way to communicate with the pace car B) Be CLEAR as what to signals the end of the race. After this debacle, in the 3/4 race Rick mentioned that when they ring the bell that means final lap for that race and they said yes, that’s correct. However, in the 3/4 race they announced final lap and did not ring the bell. Be consistent! I think we as racers should also take it upon ourselves when they ask if there are any questions before the race to get clarification. We know it’s hard for everyone when unpredictable situations come up.

So, crazy way to finish a race as we have two groups of people saying they won, came in second and third. The crash happened at the worst time, so had that not happened then we would have a real finish with everyone racing hard.

At least we can say we all came out of this weekend in good health and grabbed a few podiums, top tens and cash. Buffalo knows how to payout for their races, so props for that! Also kudos to TBS Racing as they race hard in an attacking style that compliments the way we like to race. Great communication by them in the crit which isn’t often seen by other people as they understand how to hold their line, not chop people off in the corners, etc… We’re all competitive, but sometimes we need to look out for each other too. I can’t say the same for some of the other riders and teams from Buffalo that were there, as they were spoken to a few times.

The short and skinny on his weekends racing was like this:

Crit - P/1/2/3 field - Jason, Dylan and Adam were out to play. Adam finished 2nd and Dylan 3rd out of the Cat 3’s in the field and 10th/13th overall out of 26 starters - solid race for them. Rick was in the Master’s field and for age class 35+ was 4th and 14th overall out of 26 riders. Marty and Chad in the 4/5’s race kept the rubberside down this year and that was a small victory…nothing better then this tweet by Marty early in the day about his “love” for crits:

Saturday’s road race saw Dylan take 7th overall as he got into a 8 man break in the P/1/2/3 field and was right there with all Cat 1’s and a 2. Awesome ride! Jason was in the main pack to finish as the 4th best Cat 3 in the race. After IT band issues the night before, it was good to see him coming around. Adam who would rather sprint then climb rode strong and we gave him words of encouragement…basically keep riding your bike. Earlier in the 4/5’s race Owen took 7th, as he jumped a little early coming into the finish and so lost some ground. He rode really strong the whole race. Marty unfortunately crashed in the slippery downhill as another rider went down in front of him and then it was a chain reaction. So, remember how I said Marty crashed last year in the Crit and survived this year….well that date last year was June 4th for the crit and road race this year was June 4th. Apparently this is not a lucky day for him anymore. He’s ok, except for a ton of road rash and a swollen knee.

Sunday’s circuit race was the finale of the 3 day omnium. In the Cat 4/5 race looking for a little redemption for his mis-timed finish in the road race, Owen timed it perfectly for the sprint finish and grabbed the win! Chad in this same race somehow ripped his rear derailleur off. In the P/1/2/3 Race Jason finished 10th overall on the day and was the top Cat 3. Dylan had an untimely flat and cost him from a strong finish on the day.

Overall for the weekend Dylan was the top Cat 3 for the omnium, Rick was in the top 3 for the Master’s 35+ omnium (small field over the full 3 days, so nothing to brag about) and Owen grabbed a win and top 10 finish along with Dylan, Adam and Jason’s top 10’s in the mixed P/1/2/3 field.

We posted some pics from the weekend on our Facebook page here: www.facebook.com/solobreakracing

Jason headed to the mountains to take on the 3 day Killington Stage Race which featured a Sat. circuit race, Sun. TT and Mon. road race. If you know Jason, then you know for him the more climbing the better and so VT had plenty to offer. In the first stage, there was a good amount of pack welding and speed for the circuit race, but late in the race Jason was able to get off in a break with 7 other riders and stick the break to the finish. Jason came in 7th on stage 1, so with a field of 100+ riders registered this was a great result and also gave that break a 15 seconds advantage on the field. The Sun. TT presented the first time Jason had ever been on a TT bike, so he was lucky that a friend of the team (Frenchy) let him borrow his tri-bike. Jason’s goal was to of course put in a decent TT effort, but more importantly not lose time. He ran a decent TT and so knew he needed to get to work on the final stage. The road race was mostly a sad sight of riders not wanting to work and just happy to be one big pack. There was a decisive break with 30 miles to go that Jason knew was the break of the race, but he was sitting about 20 riders back in the pack and couldn’t move up quickly enough to get with them. Once he did get back up front, he had a few guys trying to chase the break down, but not hard enough efforts to really make anything happen. The peleoton just didn’t care, as even the GC leader was still in the pack and did not care that the break up the road was going to take his GC hopes away. Jason did what he could and on the day day finished 19th in the road race, which saw him finish 22nd overall on GC after the 3 day stage race.

Few VT weekend notes…. Jason’s front wheel on Mon. hit a wicked pothole that caused the rim to pinch and blowout to the side, but someone his tubeless tire stayed on! The wheel is cooked, but he was able to finish out the race, although it was probably nerve wracking on every decent! Other revalation from Jason.. he liked TT’ing and after he get s a CX bike might get a TT.

Next up is Owen, as he headed to PA for a crit and road race over the weekend. Now he most likely camped out for the weekend, which as a college kid is the most cost effective way to travel and race your bike. Sat. presented Owen with the Mohegan Sun Scorcher Crit which saw a break from the field and our man was in it! The break ended up lapping the field and before all was said and done, Owen took 3rd in the crit! A great start to the weekend, but we’re not done yet. Sun. was the Lake Carey road race and Owen put in some work to establish a break, which saw a select pack of 8 riders chasing for 10 miles. This helped to break things up in the field, so once the catch was made Owen was able to sit in and recover a bit with the final group. Owen admits that coming into the finish he jumped to early and should have maybe waited until someone else made the move, but he still took 3rd in the race and got on the podium. So, 2 podiums in two days for Owen was a great Memorial Day weekend for sure. Owen this year has made some great progress on the bike, as he always had the ability and now he’s showing everyone when he’s feeling good, you better watch out. New bike for him, new team (SBR) and a new year = one fierce camel!

Up next for the team is the 3 day, stage race here in Rochester - the Full Moon Vista Cycling Grand Prix. If you race, you should already have signed up…. if you’re lookign for something to do with family then you should head out to one or all of the days of racing and see some of the great bike racing right here in Western, NY!

Saturday was the Crit race which saw the team taking part in three fields. Adam and Dylan set to do battle in the Cat 3 race, Owen and Phil in the 4’s and Rick (directeur sportif) in the Masters field. The Cat 3 race was a fast field that started with the 1,2’s race and saw Dylan battle for a prime in the race and ended with Adam placing 6th - this was the same place from last year for Adam, which annoyed him for a few moments :) The 4’s race was a big field which saw Phil and Owen both keep the rubber side down and ready for the events to follow on Sunday. In the Masters Crit, Rick was able to break off from the field chasing after this fast Canadian with 2 laps to go and stick the break to finish 2nd. Masters races are a mix of everything from Cat 1 - to Cat 4 and Canadians.

Sunday saw an early morning TT starting at 8:45am followed by the 55+ mile road race a few hours later. For those of us that got up early and drove in, it made for a long day before the road race began. Owen and Phil in the spirit of embracing the weekend decided to camp out in the parking lot at Song Mt. in Tully, NY where the TT and RR were being held. They were our resident squatters for the weekend. The TT went relly well for the team, as Dylan threw down a smoking TT time to take 1st in the Cat 3 TT, Owen took 2nd in the Cat 4 TT and Rick tied for 2nd in the Masters TT - but recieved 3rd place points towards the omnium. Coming out of the TT Owen had moved himself up in the Ominum standings to be in the top 10 and Rick was now 1st overall in the Masters race.

After a few hours of waiting, eating, talking, debating whether one should take a nap or not… it was time for the road race. The Road Race has a few key sections of uphill that can make or break your race. Sunday also saw some some strong winds on the backside of the course and if you were by yourself, it would make for a long day. In the Cat 3 race Dylan was on the attack and ended up in a break with 3 other guys for the race, after he chased down 2 guys off the front and once the 4th bridged to him. Dylan was a victim of that wind, so it took more out of him then expected and so when it came down to the finish on a 3/4 mile climb he took 4th in his breakaway group of 4. Great result considering he had a 102 degree temperature 6 days before! Adam rode super strong and finished 12th on the day with the pack and this saw him move into 9th on GC for the weekend and with Dylan’s finish he moved into 4th on GC. Even though Adam is a sprinter, he can climb - so don’t let him tell you he can’t. Well done boys!

In the 4’s race Owen was well placed in the GC standings, so Phil realized that he needed to do some work and make sure we could move Owen up in GC and not lose any ground. Chad also came out for the road race, so as he had no omnium points for only doing the one day race he was there to help as well. Phil did a god job of chasing down a few attacks and making sure that Owen was in a position to finish well. Owen and Chad both were able to finish in the top 20 and this allowed Owen to move up on GC and finish 6th overall for the weekend.

The Masters race saw a tough task at hand for Rick, as he knew the road race would be about limiting his loses. With guys like Craig Mattern (Nalgene) and Dan Staffo (Handlebars) who are Cat 1 clmbing machines, as well as Canadians, we were hoping to stay in the top 3 on GC at the end. As expected, the first KOM the elite guys in the group buried everyone and were gone with a 2 minute advantage up the road. Rick was in the main pack at this point with the break up the road and it was about marking the other guys now to finish ahead of them. Coming into the finishing climb Rick put in a solid finish and thought he had dropped all the guys in his field from the pack, but Dave Hansen (Rogue) came around right at the line to grab 7th and points with Rick finishing 8th. At the end of the day Rick fell to 4th on GC for the weekend, but it was to be expected and still was a great finish.

We’re hoping we can find some pictures from the weekend, so if anyone has any links to some please comment below!

Great weekend for the team with more podiums and top 10’s! Memorial Day weekend means training ride by most of us, but Jason H. is taking on the Killington Stage Race to represent this weekend. Next up for the team as a whole is Full Moon Vista’s Grand Prix over 3 days.