There were so many results this weekend I’m going to dispense with the race reports and just give the results:

1) Greg Olsen won the CRCA club race by getting in a late break and winning the sprint.

2) The next day Olsen made the break at the Tour de Parc on Long Island and finished 2nd.  Igor V. followed him with 5th place.

3) Kevin Rooney got 6th place at the crit in Wilmington, DE and was also able to win the KOM at the road race the next day.

4) Greg O. was also on the podium at the Thurday night training race in Rockleigh, NJ.

whew!

Igor Volshteyn took 5th place in the pro/1/2 category at one of the harder races in the spring, the Turkey Hill Country Classic in Lancaster, Pennsylvnia.   The race includes a very steep “wall” section every lap at more than a 10% grade that usually destroys the field.  Igor was able to make the 1st chase group (the race was won by professional Bobby Lea) with a few laps to go.  He was able to get 2nd from that group for 5th place overall.  Congrats to Igor for a great finish.

Kevin Rooney was competing in the Cat 2 race at the Tour of Gila in New Mexico this weekend.  He was holding his own, and 9th on the GC coming into the last stage.  Unfortunately, he crashed heavily on a mountain descent and lost a fair amount of skin and time.  He gutted out the stage to finish 30 minutes behind the stage winner and drop to 29th overall on the GC.  Kevin had to get some stitches and is very sore, so we wish him a speedy recovery.

In Vermont, Chappy, Olsen, and Igor battled it out in the P/1/2 field at the Tour of the Dragons.  Igor was the best finisher at 15th on the GC in a very stacked field.  Wei Chen finished 3rd in the road race in the Cat 3 race and was 12th overall in the GC.  Nice job Wei!

Greg Prolsen and Jeff Ingraham got 4th and 5th in the wet and cold club race on Saturday.  On a day with temps in the mid 40s and an icy rain Greg and Jeff show their true hardman status by gutting out a tough race.  Here is what Greg had to say:

After my two man break got caught after a lap, we finally got away again with 3 to go. Jeff was a stud by bridging solo.
Important to note is that with Colin in the break, both Jeff and I attacked and attacked the break with 2 to go. We tried flyers on the last lap instead of trying to set up a sprint. The CRCA dude with the 808′s took the last flyer on HS and I went with, but it fizzled.   We held serve today and thank you Jeff for gutting it out on an awful day.”

Wei Chen also suffered through the cold and wet in Massachusetts to finish 12th at the Tour of the Quabbin cat 3 race.  Nice job for all the guys who suffered through some terrible weather conditions.

A hard fought power points club race on Saturday sees Tony Hall get 3rd and Ken Harris mixes it up at Floyd Bennett Field.

Saturday brought cold and windy conditions for the CRCA club race.  The race was run as a power points race with sprints every lap at Cat’s Paw and 85th St.  Adler was aggressive from the gun leading people out and attacking he field in a race that doesn’t really suit the team’s strengths.  With lap times hovering around 14 minutes the race was hard from start to finish.  Tony Hall racked up enough points to finish 3rd overall.  At the moment the team is second in the Team Cup, but has some ground to make up on Foundtion and their team of sprinters.

Also Saturday was a race at Floyd Bennett Field.  Here is what Wei Chen had to say:

Another weekend, more great results from JAR.  On Saturday, Igor Volshteyn did the double and raced both the CRCA club race and the Floyd Bennett Field race.  In the CRCA race, Igor got away in the chase group and was able to win the sprint out of it for fourth place.  Later that day, Igor was again in the break alongside teammate Tony Hall.  Tony finished a credible 4th while Igor rolled across the line in 7th.

This weekend we had guys racing all over the country, Kevin Rooney in the San Dimas Stage Race in California and Mitch Jacaruso at the Alabama state road race championships.  As I get results from those guys I will post them.

Saturday:  Greg Olsen, Chris Chaput, and Tony Hall traveled up north to the Johnny Cakes Race in upstate New York.  There were over a hundred starters (apparently people are ready to start racing)!  Tony made the break and finished a credible 7th.  In the city, Kevin Rooney was able to make the break in the Spring Series, taking place in Central Park, and finished 1oth.

Sunday:  Kevin Rooney again was in the action in the Spring Series (this time in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park) and was again in the break.  Unfrotunately, the field swallowed them up just as they hit the line, but Kevin was able to hold on to 8th place.  At Bethel, Chaput, Hall, Olsen, and Mitch Jacaruso lined up for the start.  Greg was able to make with one other rider, and then eventually ride away for the win.  Congrats to Greg:  See the organizer’s race report at:  http://bethelspringseries.com/2011-tour-de-kirche-report  Also see Chaput’s pictures at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/redbianchi/5545934529/in/set-72157626189989799/

Another weekend – another Greg Olsen podium finish.  On Saturday, the annual Grant’s Tomb criterium took place on the upper westside next to Riverside Cathedral. A field of about 50 riders started the P/1/2 race with Adler well represented.  About ten laps in a break of  5 riders went that included Greg.  Even with a furious chase by GS Mengoni (who missed the break) the break was never caught and Olsen rolled in with a very credible 4th place.  Not to be outdone, Mitch Jacaruso won the field sprint in the Cat 3 doing his best Cipo impression.  Results can be seen at: http://www.bikereg.com/Results/2011/03/12-Grants-Tomb-Criterium.asp

On Sunday, Greg made the winning break again in the Spring Series Race at Central Park.  Here is what he had to say: “First lap was very aggressive.  Tony and Igor looked to be in a promising move on first lap. Ben Woodbury and Jared Bunde of GS Mengoni then countered after Cat’s Paw with a BH rider and I caught up after they got a gap and the four of us soon had about 10 seconds on the field.  Mengoni having 2 guys in the break were working super hard and the BH rider was pulling like we had 1/2 lap to go, not 3 1/2.  Still it looked harmless, but then Gavi bridged up hammering on Harlem Hill.   After that, we had a huge gap on the field.  I was really tired, so I was just happy to roll through until one lap to go when we knew it would stick.  It was down to 4 of us as BH rider dropped off.  Bunde looked a little gassed and I had no idea what to expect from Ben, so I told Gavi to be heads up and I jumped by the reservoir gapping both Jared and Ben.  Ben was able to claw back, but Bunde was dropped. Just the 3 of us sprinted it out with Gavi going early and winning and me just trying to hold off Woodbury and finishing 2nd (with a much less pained expression across the line than yesterday).”

Awesome job to the team this weekend, and a special props to Greg.

And so the season begins…

Saturday, March 5th, was the first CRCA race of the season.  With cold temperatures and rain off and on I was surprised so many people showed up!  In the mens A race a break of seven went with two laps to go which had two Adler riders in it, Tony Hall and Greg Olsen.  Unfortunately, neither one had a chance to contest the sprint as a bad crash in the women’s race neutralized the men’s field and there was no result given to anyone.  Hopefully everyone who went down is okay.   I got one of my marshalling duties out of the way, and was able to enjoy the chance to do some people watching (interesting people living in this city), and blow a whistle as vigorously as my 6th grade gym teacher.

Sunday, was the Spring Series in Central Park.  Kevin Rooney finished 2nd.  Here is his race report:

“A break had developed with what looked like about 7-10 riders, and shortly after, Igor, who was riding along side me in the main group, put in a huge effort and bridged up to it. I was happy controlling the front of the bunch (not to mention enjoying a nice little breather) until another rider jumped to chase down the break and Greg Olsen gave me the orders to go after him. As I drew nearer I could see that he was starting to fade as we went up the final roller so I put the hammer down and bridged alone to the lead group. The break consisted of some strong riders including Jeff, Igor, Dan Chabanov and Brian Breach from GS Mengoni, one of the Burrowes and Gavi Epstein; and so with two and a bit laps to go I knew we had a good chance of staying away. With nearly everyone doing their share of the work we still had a gap with about 3 km to go. Suddenly, Brian jumped off the front, opening up a considerable gap, and before I’d even realized what I was doing I found myself chasing him down. I caught him and, as we both had team mates in the group behind us, we instinctively worked together to see if we could keep the gap. Unfortunately, my timing was slightly off and I found myself taking a big pull down to the boathouse and up Cat’s Paw. As we approached the top of the hill and with the finish in sight Brian clicked up a couple of gears and went around me. I desperately tried to hold his wheel, and after a token sprint (more for the cameras really), my legs told me no way, and I knew that I’d have to settle for 2nd.”

Porsche 911 with Gulf Racing Colors

The Gulf Racing colors may look better on a German sports car than us, but just by a little bit.