Josh learns Chinese road rules in Xinning

Hi All

Thought I’d give you a brief update, we have been in Xining now since 5th.
Xining is the starting town for the tour and is at 2200m altitude. So it’s been quite good as the team has had a good couple of days to acclimatize to the altitude, it’s been nice relaxing training all week, once we arrived here 3 of us went for a quick spin around the city to loosen the legs from all the flying. Well Ramblers cycling members I can tell you right now, the driver in Hawke’s bay are NOTHING compared to these guys. Really we are pretty dam safe and lucky because the drivers of Xining city and the pedestrians for that matter have got to be blind and are so crazy!!! I can honestly say to you I can’t believe how I haven’t seen a crash or someone killed yet, People just walk out across the road not even looking for traffic (and there’s a heck of a lot of it) and the drivers well, road rules just don’t exist here. Red lights who cares just run it, if there is a stream of traffic coming and you want to turn in to that side road then hey no worries just go for it and they’ll swerve or stop or brake or hit you or something but hey who cares. That’s a bit of a super under-exaggeration to be honest and you just have to see it to believe it.

Anyway I have got a few good days training in and seem to have recovered well from my beating in Korea. Generally when my resting heart rate is 34bpm it’s a pretty good sign I’m in good shape. So I’m looking forward to the tour starting now, Tomorrow we have a 3.8k prologue TT. It’ll be good to get racing finally but it’s a bit of a pain so much prep for such a short effort, but that’s cool at least well be racing.
It’s going to be quite an experience to be honest and I think probably the coolest thing for me is that earlier in the year I was watching some old tour de France and tour of Flanders videos and DVDs. And if you told me then that id be lining up against some of the winners of these races at the biggest tour in Asia I would have just laughed at you.
E.g. Tyler Hamilton, Oscar Sevelia, Fred Rodriguez (Rock Racing, Tour of France and Spain stage winners) Stefan Wiseman (Cyclecollstrop, and ex Tour of Flanders winner) that’s naming just a few there’s plenty more.


Well that’s all for now, will update you after a few stages

Josh

Ramblers Ashleigh Neave takes 2nd in Australias 2008 Junior and Womans Canberra Tour

Must have been Australia’s worst nightmare as the top two places in last weekend’s Canberra Tour Under 17 Junior Women were taken by Amy Cure from Tasmania and Ashleigh Neave from New Zealand.

Neave sponsored by Pedal Power Taradale competed as part of the New Zealand Junior team in one of Australia’s premiere cycle tours. With racing centred around the impressive Canberra Cycling Complex at Mt. Stromblo Recreation Park.
The Sacred Heart College student, one of New Zealand’s strongest Under 17 female juniors, finished fourth in Saturday’s first 38km stage. She made the split in a five rider break-away, taking more than a minute and a half out of the rest of the field. The multiple hill-reps in her punishing training schedule paid off handsomely as she gathered enough points to sit in second spot for Queen of the Mountain.

Saturday’s second stage took place on Mt. Stromblo’s criterium track, a fast and technical course that stretched the Kiwi junior team to their limits. With the bunch finishing together there were no changes to the general classification. Australia’s high level of commitment to the growing sport of cycling is evident. This purpose-built recreation park, covers road race, cross-country and down-hill mountain biking.

During the 41km long third stage held on Sunday morning, Neave again made the split, finishing third as three of them broke away almost two minutes ahead of the bunch. This moved her up to third spot overall and she maintained her second place in QOM.
The decider came on Sunday afternoon in the fourth and last stage, a 9.5km time trial on an undulating out-and-back course with an uphill finish. History repeated itself as Neave finished third again, but she gained enough time on her nearest rival to climb to second spot overall.

Competing against a full line-up of Australia’s top junior riders, Neave’s result gives a good indication of her current progress, and bodes well for her international cycling future.

Local rider Sean Joyce from Havelock North competed at the same tour in the Junior Under 19 Men grade. The Revolution Bikes cycle mechanic was a designated helper for the New Zealand team leader. A “no glory-just hard craft” job of controlling the bunch, fetching water and chasing down break-away riders.

After doing a ton of work for the New Zealand team in Saturday’s criterium Joyce finished strong in fifth place. Showing that given a change this dedicated youngster can compete at this higher level, and will be the one to watch.

Josh Finishes Final Stages

Hi all

Well I've made it to Seoul and the finish of the tour. I think when i last updated it was just before the rest day. Well the rest day was as relaxing as could be, went for a bit of a Cruise on the bike to keep the blood flowing and my legs felt sooo dead.
I think the lack of prep was catching up on me so I was pleased that today was the day I was going to feel crap.

Josh and Teammate collect team prize earlier in tour




Stage 7

Today was a biggy in fact the 2ND longest of the tour at 192k. It started with a small climb up out of town, and then a quick decent before pretty much being false flat up hill all day long till we got to over 900 meters above sea level. I pretty much sat at the front all day just keeping an eye on things and staying out of trouble. Wasn't feeling to bad but part way through the stage near the half way mark I started feeeling realy dead. Quickly smacked some water and food back and that helped a little, unfortunately just after the feed zone on the decent I ended up stuck in the middle of the road in a mine feild of cats eyes. Quite simply blew my tyres out front and rear. Dam!!
We changed them pretty quickly, dam I could not believe how fast our mechanic fixed it, I stopped whipped my wheel out and stuck it in the van and he had the other on and ready to go, all done in half a minute, unfortunatly we didnt realise at the time that both were out due to the rear one going down slower. But that was ok as once I had new wheels "Tyre"(our mechanich) just held my back and made it look like he was adjusting stuff on my bike while "Wizzard"(manager) drove rediculously fast to sling me back in to the convoy. I got back on easy enough but that wasn't really what I wanted with my legs feeling average and the last big climb coming. Well we hit the climb and it was false flat for a few km's and then kicked up for the last 2. I was going backwards on the false flats and completely cracked once it kicked up. I dragged myself to the top and got a bottle from the feed zone and got ready for the chase.
I dont think I have ever ridden down a hill like that before I think we had 30km of decending with the top couple being realy steep hair-pins which we flew through thankfully in the dry as in the past they were saying it has been really wet there and super dodgey. Once we had that part down it was huge long staights where you just tucked in and coasted wicked fast, I'm sure we must of been almost doing 100kph.
Anyways it was just lapping it out in the group to to the finish now. I was pleased to finish and hoping that I'd feel better tomorrow.

Stage 8

Today was NASTY, from pretty much sea level to just over 900m in not long.
First 30km's all uphill, false flats then the climb just ramped right up. It was on from go, and part way in to the start of the main climb I was not in a good way, feeling dizzy and like I was going to pass out or something. I was a bit worried as I didn't want to dnf or have to pull out. I just focused on riding a good tempo and making the top with a group as far up the bunch as I could. Well I made it over the climb and we had another dodgey as decent this time in the wet.
The rest of the stage was pretty straight foward.
lapping it out in the groupetto with about 10 or 15 other guys. We had more behind us which was good to know but as the day wore on and people got worn out eventully we were the last group on the road with 5 or 6 of us left, I cant really remember because with 20km to go I cracked so bad and was just struggling to stay with the group. Well I got there in the end finishing the stage in 80th place dead last but pretty dam glad I had made it. After the stage we had to transfer to Seoul for a half hour crit tomorow.

Crit Stage 9

Well the crit looked pretty nasty, 3k circuit through a park over pretty much cobbles, dam I hate these things as it is but with 3km loop of cobbles as well!?!?! oh well got to be done.
Well to cut it short by now my legs are completely screwed to the wall and weren't really to keen to go, so I dropped and lapped out of the race pretty quick.

So I've finaly made it and finished the tour, with jsut short of 1500km in 11 stages it was pretty dam hard to say the least and pretty tiring to. My legs are pretty worn out but I now have to recover up and get ready to start the Tour of Quinghai Lake in China in about a weeks time.

Well that's all for now

Josh

Josh Stages 4,5,6

Hi everyone

Time for another up date, sort of lost track of things so I think I'm up to stage 4

Stage 4
Today was the biggest stage of the tour at a mega 218km and certainly not at all flat and to make things more fun it was rain rain wind and more rain.
Well that wasn't so bad as it was pretty warm, as warm as wind and rain goes, thankfully not Southland wind and rain. Well the worse part about it all was I was feeling AVERAGE!! and that is putting it lightly. For the first hour I was struggling to get my heart rate up to 150 and my max is 182 so that wasn't making things easy for me. I was really scared I was going to get dropped and not make the time cut. I didn't want to go out like that so I just grit my teeth dug it in and suffered like a dog all day. Slowly through out the stage my legs gradually came right and by the time we got to the first decent climb of the whole tour at the 150k mark I was feeling better. I new I had to dig deep though as it was a long climb and yesterday I got popped out on 2k drag climb nothing steep or big and really normally I shouldn't get dropped on a hill like that. (Well i consider myself a climber so i don't really like getting dropped at all on the hills) But this is a level above anything I've ever done before and these guys go fast up hills. Any way I rode really well up the climb and surprised myself going over the top with a group, we all got moving and pulled another bunch back, and we were pretty much the main peleton. From the top of the climb it was still another 70k to the finish, thankfully I had grabbed a coke at the top from the feed zone and I rode the last 70k on coke and water. By the time we got to the finish i was hammered and looking forward to bed. It was about 6 hours we had been racing for in the wind and rain and I had made it. Plenty of people were behind as well including the yellow jersey who lost massive time


Stage 5
Today's stage wasn't looking much better weather wise and again we set off in the wet, from the gun my team mate David was in the break and away. Small groups tried to go across and I jumped into one of them, it looked like it was going to work but a few people were just there to mark it including myself so we weren't going anywhere.
The team of the new yellow jersey jumped on the front and rode tempo all day long and by the half way mark the rain had finished thankfully. I was feeling great and knew there was a hill with about 30k to go so I wanted to be near the front to see what I could do. Well once we arrived at the hill I was right at the front and with a km to go to the top my team mate Eric now 3rd overall put a huge effort in to try split it up, it worked and the field was broken up pretty good. I really had to dig the last few hundred meters in but made it over the top on the back of the front group. now it was all down hill and highway run in to town so it was pretty fast and attacks going constantly, it wasn't fast enough to hold the gap though and the rest of the peleton rejoined. The great news of the day though was that Dave had gone clear of the break away on the climb and was going to the finish solo a few minutes up the road in front of us. He took the win which was awesome and we also got the teams classification prize of the day. So the whole team was pretty stoked.

Stage6
So we have just finished stage 6 a few hours ago a big 180k affair, and not the easiest one either, Before the start of the stage Alex and myself were told we had to go to the presentation. Didn't know why but we soon found out that it was for the teams classification prize from the day before. So I got to stand on the top step of the podium which was pretty cool I'll try get hold of some of the photos to send out to everyone. But it was pretty mint to be up there.
Well I decided I was going to try and make the break today as tomorrow is a rest day so it doesn't matter if I waste my self today. From the gun I was mixing it up the front following moves and trying to get in the move of the day. Twice I made good looking groups and we had small gaps, but nothing ever stuck. By about 50k mark I was starting to feel the constant jumping around and thought I'd better have a rest as nothing was making it. So i just cruised in the bunch and attacks just kept going and coming back. It took till the 93rd km mark before something went.
By about the 100k mark I was feel really not good at all, and was feeling like I was stuck to the road. I wasn't sure why as I had just smacked back a fair bit of food but I think it was because I hadn't drunk enough so I downed as much water as I could and grabbed some more bottles from the team car and hoped I would come right. Thankfully I did, and by the 140k mark it was the business end of the race, the break was bought back pretty quickly and its was a hilly final 40k. I made sure I stayed near the front so if there was a split I'd be in it, and my bad patch had thankfully gone. With around 30k to go we smashed it up a steep climb and I was stuck behind some Skill Shimano rider who was going backwards pretty fast, as I went to go around him disaster struck me as some one smacked my rear wheel and buckled it. It wasn't making a healthy sound and I was pretty concerned that I had popped a spoke or broken the wheel.
Straight afterwards some one came down right in front of me and as I rode past I ended up 'accidentally' kicking him in the head as I was turning the pedals. There were some pretty fast descents with some tight corners and not being the worlds greatest descender at the best of times I was pretty cautious on a buckled wheel (not to keen on going back under the knife anytime soon). As a result I got tailed of the small chasing group I was with and ended up just cruising to the finish with a group of other riders. I felt pretty bad as I had been feeling good through those final Kim's and didn't want to finish like that. But oh well these things happen.

Tomorrows a rest day then we have two monster hilly stages before the final criterium

Until then catch you all later

Josh

Update from Josh in Korea

Hi everyone

Thought I'd better give you all an update on the last two days of racing.

We are now in Korea and have just finished stage 2 of the Korean part of the tour.

Stage1

It was a pretty fast day today averaging around 43-44kph for 146km's of racing.
We were pretty much on 3 lane highways the whole time so it was just smash it hard all day long and heaps of fun. I felt way better than Sundays road race, though coming in to the start of the last lap my legs were starting to feel a tad hammered after the distance and high speed. Well I just got tailed off going over the top of the feed zone climb. This was about 15k to go so no real worries, I got back on just after the decent and just as I got on my team captain wanted me on the front to assist in the chase bringing back the break-away.
Dam oh well better do as he says. Lucky for me just as I arrived at the front the break was almost captured, phew that saved me a lot of agony as my legs were pretty smacked by this stage, so I pretty much hung on to the back of the bunch as we smacked out the final few km's to the finish at speeds of pretty much not below 50kph.
Normally this is nothing but at the end of 3 and a half hours racing your legs are kind of hurting a tad.
Any way I finished in the bunch today and was glad that I finished with the bunch, and the legs are coming right.

Stage 2

I decided today that i was going to give it a bit of a go. So to help my team mate who is currently 2nd on the gc I had to cover any moves at the start basically follow any attempted break-aways and sit on them if they worked. Well I didnt make the break away, so I was able to cruise for awhile but then it was time to start working to minimise the time gaps so jumped on the front with the Skil-Shimano team who is the team of the yellow jersey and took turns at the front with them for two laps of the circuit. By the end of the race my legs were spanked and we still had a big climb before the run in two town. I was pretty dazed by now and got rolled so rather than killing myself for bunch time sat up and cruised home with one of the Skil-shimano boys who also was a bit waisted after pulling on the front all day. So I was pretty pleased with my self today as I was able to help the team out

Eric our team mate is still 2nd over all which is great

Well that's all for now

Josh

Josh's Expoits in Asia

As some of you may know Josh Page has gone to race for the Giant Asian racing Team based in Korea - Below is extracted (and slightly edited version of his email back to Revolution Cycles) Will keep the blog up to date with his travels.

Thought I'd update you all on the racing so far, we have had a 1.8k tt and a 178k road race in Japan

TT

Was a short sprinters style course so not really suited to me, no worries though I just wanted to get through it, do a good time and not come last lol.
Well I managed 74th place which was all good and did the same time as my team captain so I was pleased with that. You can see a pic to if you click on the link

>> Josh looking nervous here

Road Race

Today we had a 178k road race. I was pretty nervous as it was my first proper race with these guys and I havn't ridden my bike a lot lately for various reasons and I can't even remember when I last rode that far?? I just wanted to make it to the finish and get some hard racing in the legs as I no I'll get better as the race goes on.
Well to cut a long story short things didn't go to well and after about 3 laps I was gone out the back door riding by my self wondering what I am doing here.
But I remembered that Jeremy Yates told me before I left not to panic when things go bad and dont let it get to ya, so i just cruised along and after a while rode with and Aussie guy We got caught by the bunch (lapped) a few laps later and we were allowed to tag on and finish with them (we get a calculated time so I'll be way down but that's cool) Well my legs were starting to wake up and come right so I finished with the bunch no worries.
I know I'll get stronger as the tour goes on so I'll try for a good result later on when it gets hilly. But the good news of the day was that my team mate Eric came second and is now high on gc, he could even win the tour because he's really strong so thats mint as. So I'll be helping him as much as I can.

Anyway we are off to Korea tomorrow and have a rest day on Tuesday. Racing resumes Wednesday so until then catch you all later

Dinner time now

2008 Powerco Tour of Taranaki

The promise of three days of good hard racing lured a dozen local Ramblers riders to the Powerco Queens Birthday Tour in Taranaki. With the mystical Mount Taranaki as a backdrop, this Tour catered for six different grades, with local representation in the A, B and Under 17 Boys and Girls.

Four of our Hawkes Bay juniors took part in Cycling New Zealand’s development camp that ran in conjunction with the Tour. Ashleigh Neave and Sean Joyce used this Tour as lead up to Canberra Kowalski Tour in July, with Fraser Gough and Danielle Harford out to impress for future selection.

For the first time in her young career Ashleigh Neave had the back-up of a competent team of riders to help her achieve the astonishing feat of winning Under 17 Girls overall, Queen of the Mountain, second in Sprint Ace and two stages. Neave, a Pedal Power Taradale sponsored athlete, displayed a maturity beyond her age during and after the racing not often seen at this level.

Fraser Gough and Sean Joyce were designated domestiques, riders that support their leader. Both boys performed above the expectation of the national selectors with their hard work, putting their team’s success above their own. No glory for these Havelock North riders, but plenty of guts and derermination.

During any road race there are many attempts to establish a break away, but knowing which one will stick and succeed comes with experience and Jeremy Yates has plenty of this. On stage two and five Yates made it in the winning breaks, finishing second in both stages and ending up fourth overall in A grade.

Smooth team work between Darryl Strachan and Dylan Stewart in B grade helped Strachan secure a fourth place overall and win stage 4 as he out-sprinted his four companions on the line. In stage 5 the favour was returned as Stewart benefited from Strachan’s work, taking crucial points to secure the Sprint Ace Jersey.

Ramblers at Taranaki Tour

As of Sunday Morning
Ashleigh Neave 2nd on gc at 14 Seconds
Jermey Yates 3rd stage 2 A-grade
Dylan Stewart 7th gc B-grade all others mid field

Westley in Belgium

Hi everyone,

I'm in Belgium now, well settled in and into my third week of racing and training. The town we are based in is called Teilt-Winge, which is a small town in a mostly flat part of Belgium, there are ten of us living in the apartment, mostly athletes and a few support staff also. Time is going by fast already with only another 6 weeks before we go into track camp in Bordeaux.

After arriving in Belgium we had three days of training before starting our first tour, the Tryptique des Ardennes, which is a three day tour raced in and around liege. During the 3 days, we experienced hot weather, heavy rain, steep descents and some of the most famous climbs in Belgium. I didn't finished the tour, after loosing contact with the main group on the last day, but gained some good benefits throughout the tour, which was a hard tour to begin, with 6 Professional continental teams racing.

Our next race was a one day race called GP Criquelion which was on Sunday, a completely different type of race compared with the first tour. The race was 6 laps of a 22km circuit and then 4 laps of a 10km circuit, much like a massive criterium. I missed making the race winning break, but I rode well to finish this race in good bunch positioning.

Training has been progressing well, i'm progressing into some hard specific track efforts to bring my form up. My next race is the GP de Wilde which is a tough one, that's coming up on sunday.

Westley Gough

Chadwick Delivers Tour of Arkansas Title For Team Type 1

Van Buren, Ark. - Glen Chadwick will go into the history books as Team Type 1's first overall winner of a professional stage race.

The New Zealander wrapped up the Tour of Arkansas on Sunday by finishing eighth in the 75-minute Celebrity Classic Criterium in Historic Downtown Van Buren. Chadwick enjoyed a 25-second margin of victory in the final standings ahead of runner-up Predrag Prokic (Toshiba-Santo Professional Cycling Team presented by Herbalife) and third-place finisher Michael Lange (Jelly Belly Pro Cycling).

Team Type 1 also placed two riders in the top 10 with Moises Aldape (fifth) and Chris Jones (ninth) while Valeriy Kobzarenko was 31st, Fabio Calabria was 35th and Ian MacGregor was 48th. Timothy Hargrave, who made his stage race debut for Team Type 1, also finished the race but his final position was not immediately made available.

Chadwick - who had not won a stage race since the Tour of Korea in 2003 - dedicated the victory to his wife, Isabelle, and their two-year-old daughter, Jade.

"It has been a strange season with a pretty bad six months off because my family and I were very sick," Chadwick told Cyclingnews' Kirsten Robbins.
"To actually pull off a result like this is amazing for myself."

A bout with Epstein-Barr Virus sidelined Chadwick in February following the Tour of Langkawi in Malaysia. The life-threatening spinal virus even infected his daughter, forcing her to be hospitalized as well.

"It was very tough for us to see our daughter hooked up to an I.V. all the time and her veins collapsing," he said. "It's hard to explain to a two-year-old why the doctors were always sticking her with needles."

Chadwick, 31, won his first stage race in the United States by soloing to victory in the first two stages of the 350-mile race that featured a pair of mountain top finishes and more than 23,000 feet of climbing. Team Type 1 Sport Director Ed Beamon said teamwork solidified the victory from there.

"The guys were awesome," Beamon said. "It was pretty much textbook on the last two stages. Today, the guys took the lead on the first lap and held it to the finish, pretty much destroying the field in the process."

Brad Huff (Jelly Belly) won Sunday's six-corner criterium ahead of Karl Menzies (Health Net presented by Maxxis) and Mark Walters (Team R.A.C.E.
Pro), while Aldape took the small field sprint for fifth.

Chadwick's accomplishment follows a 20th place finish at the Tour de Georgia presented by AT&T and improves his chances of becoming one of New Zealand's three representatives for the Olympic road race in Beijing in August.

Team Type 1 was created to inspire people living with diabetes to take a proactive approach to managing their health and overcoming obstacles often associated with the condition. This is the first year Team Type 1 has fielded a professional squad, after winning the corporate team division of the Race Across America the past two years. Calabria and Hargrave are two of four athletes on the pro team who have Type 1 diabetes.

Attached Photo Courtesy: Team Type 1

Team Type 1's Glen Chadwick stands atop the final podium Sunday at the Tour of Arkansas.

Bike X Results

Bike X Results 18-05-2008

Youth 1 (-10 years) Girls: Nicola Hodson 1; Tiara Phipps 2; Hannah Gray 3; Samantha Freemantle 4.
Youth 1 (-/10 years) Boys: Corey Hodson 1; Harry Young 2; Dylan Joe 3; Matthew Durrant 4; Sam Heaven 5; Finn Durrant 6; Thomas Moore 7; Cameron Joe 8; Brendan Joe 9; Luka Freemantle 10.

Youth 2 (11/13 years) Girls: Natasha Grundy 1.
Youth 2 (11/13 years) Boys: Caleb Grey 1; Kyle Power 2; Dominic Dixon 3; Reed Stewart 4; Matt Macleod 5; Blake Caudwell 6.

Youth 3 (14-15 years) Boys: Lars Hopman 1; Matt Grundy 2; Josh Chiverell 3; Tim Lutter 4; Shaun Ferris 5.

Junior Men (16-19 years): Sam Haslett 1; Simon Ellison 2; Andrew Neverman 3.

Open Female: Marie Davis 1.
Open Men: Andrew Bott 1; Vaughn Phillipson 2; Carl MacParland 3; Brendon Trower 4; Martyn Wallace 5; Carl Larsen 6; Logan Marriott 7; Allister Beets 8; Tony Harding 9.

Fun Female: Faith Barber 1; Anna Bland 2; Gillian Slater 3; Lorraine Power 4.
Fun Men: Luke McCarthy 1; Paul Davis 2; Brent Jeffares 3; Simon Godden 4; Fraser Kitt 5; Henry Heather 6; Gavin Smith 7; Craig Weston 8; Bruce Strachan 9; Brent&Laura Carrad 10; Richard Gray 11; Peter Young 12.

See Article below for full comentary

Mountain Bike Club take coveted Handlebar Trophy

Even with convincing wins in the Youth 2 Girls, Youth 3 Boys and Open Men, the Ramblers Cycling Club could not stop the Hawkes Bay Mountain Bike Club juggernaut from claiming the coveted Handlebar Trophy.

This year the two cycling clubs who organised the weekend’s Bike X, put up the trophy as a challenge, with a point for every rider plus a bonus for each win. The sheer quantity of their bikers alone stacked the odds in favour of the HBMTB club before the race even started.

The off-road circuit race ran on the riverbank adjacent to Pettigrew Green Arena and pulled together riders from a great mix of ages and abilities. Despite a frosty start the ground crew set up a challenging technical course that sapped the energy from the hardiest contestants.

Supporters and fans admired the youngsters who not only provided many a priceless moment, but also showed they had stamina and gusto. At the end of the day it was the Hodson family taking home both the Youth 1 Boys and Girls top prizes.

Instead of pimping his ride Vaughn Phillipson opted to pimp himself, but his decoy action lasted only till half way the 45min Open Men’s race. Last year’s winner, Andrew Bott, saw through the act and distanced himself from the Bike Xdresser, taking a deserved win.

Spare a thought for Brent and Laura Carrad who combined forces to tackle the windy course on a tandem. This colourful father and daughter team set the tone in the Fun Class race. Luke McCarthy and Paul Davis were dressed to amuse but their competitive streak provided a close battle that lasted till the dying moment of the race, with McCarthy taking the Fun Class win by the smallest of margins from the late charging Davis.

Ramblers member and Team Type 1’s Chadwick Wins Again

Chadwick conquered the mountain top finish at Mount Nebo State Park by out-sprinting Predrag Prokic (Toshiba-Santo Professional Cycling Team presented by Herbalife) to finish the 98-mile (157.7 km) race in three hours, 59 minutes and 47 seconds.



Chadwick and Prokic left Team Type 1 teammate Moises Aldape and Michael Lange (Jelly Belly Pro Cycling) on the decisive climb, with the New Zealander winning the race by five seconds. Lange was third and Aldape fourth.



“Our guys put in a really good effort today and I didn’t want to let them down,” Chadwick said.



Chadwick’s back-to-back stage wins – a feat he also achieved in the Canadian Tour de Beauce stage race last year – puts him 25 seconds ahead of Prokic with two stages remaining. Team Type 1 also has two others in the top 10 overall: Aldape is fourth, 58 seconds behind, and Chris Jones is eighth, 1:28 behind.



“For sure I’m thinking about winning the race overall now,” Chadwick said. “We still have Moises and Chris a handful of seconds behind so they can always tag a good move and the lead could change. But I’m pretty keen to go all the way to the finish.”



Saturday’s 97-mile (156 km) race starts and finishes atop Arkansas’ tallest peak, Mount Magazine (2,753 feet) and features 6,600 feet of climbing. The 10-mile ascent of Mount Magazine features a continuous grade of six to eight percent.


Team Type 1 Sport Director Ed Beamon said the squad will be a little more protective of Chadwick’s lead than it was during Friday’s stage.



“There’s only a handful of guys we have to be worried about, but at some point, we’ll have to take responsibility for the stage,” Beamon said. “Hopefully, we can get another good effort out of Timothy (Hargrave) and Fabio (Calabria) again and take control of the race.”



Hargrave and Calabria, Team Type 1’s competitors with Type 1 diabetes in the race, played integral roles in both of Chadwick’s victories. On Friday, the pair combined with teammates Valeriy Kobzarenko and Ian MacGregor to successfully chase down Aaron Tuckerman (Jelly Belly), who gained a nearly three-minute advantage after attacking on the descent of the second climb.



Sunday’s final stage is the Celebrity Classic Criterium in historic Downtown Van Buren, Ark. The event begins at 8:30 a.m.

– TT1 –
Team Type 1's Glen Chadwick celebrates his victory atop Mount Nebo with runner-up Predrag Prokic (left) and Michael Lange (right).


Photo Courtesy: Team Type 1

Team Type 1's Chadwick Wins Tour of Arkansas Opener

Russellville, Ark. — Team Type 1’s Glen Chadwick soloed to victory on the opening stage of the inaugural Tour of Arkansas Thursday while his teammate, Moises Aldape, finished third.

Chadwick won the “Epic Road Race,” a 110-mile (177 km) race that featured 10,592 feet of climbing. In doing so, he scored his first victory of the season and the seventh win of the year for Team Type 1.

“Chaddy really wanted this one,” Team Type 1 Sport Director Ed Beamon said of the sixth-year pro from New Zealand. “We rode the climb for him so he was really the only guy who wasn’t on the front today.”

Chadwick capped an extraordinary display of teamwork by Team Type 1 by attacking just as a three-rider breakaway that included teammate Valeriy Kobzarenko was being caught in the final mile. At that point, fewer than 30 riders remained in the pack, including six from Team Type 1.

“With a kilometer to go, everyone was focused on the three guys in the lead who were only about four or five seconds ahead of us,” Chadwick said. “The field was riding on the right, so I punched it as hard as I could on the left.”

Chadwick’s successful attack led to a one-armed salute as he crossed the finish line five seconds ahead of Karl Menzies (Health Net presented by Maxxis). Aldape finished another five seconds later for his first top three placing of the year and Team Type 1's 23rd podium finish of 2008.

Team Type 1, which was created to inspire people living with diabetes to take a proactive approach to managing their health and overcoming the obstacles often associated with the condition, now has six riders in the top 25: Fabio Calabria is eighth, Ian MacGregor is 14th, Chris Jones is 16th and Kobzarenko is 23rd.

Calabria and Timothy Hargrave, two of four professional on the squad who have Type 1 diabetes, each played pivotal roles. Hargrave set a blistering pace as the race reached the first decisive climb, while Calabria launched the first attack to spring a breakaway that further decimated the field.

“It was a great ride for our two Type 1 riders,” Beamon said.

With three stages to go – including Friday’s 98-mile (157.7 km) Mount Nebo Road Race, Chadwick is leading a stage race for the first time since 2003, when he won the Tour of Beijing.

“I’ve always been racing for the GC (general classification) but never really been the guy in the first spot,” he said. “Hopefully we can pull another maneuver like we did at the Tour de Georgia (when Team Type 1 put four riders in the top 20 on the stage at Brasstown Bald) and have plenty of options. I’m always happy to hand the lead over to a teammate.”
– TT1 –

Photos courtesy of Team Type 1


Team Type 1's Valeriy Kobzarenko (left) was joined by Eric Boily (Team Volkswagon) in a three-man breakaway that nearly made it to the finish in the opening stage of the Tour of Arkansas.



TourofArkSt1Podium.jpg:
Glen Chadwick (center) is joined on the Tour of Arkansas Stage 1 podium by Team Type 1 teammate Moises Aldape (left) and Karl Menzies of Health Net presented by Maxxis.

ECNI Results

Results from the ECNI events held over the weekend.
Circuit races around School Road, Crystal Road circuit in reasonable conditions.

Time trial on Elite Nationals course in perfect conditions.

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