Workin' It.

Newbie, Ryan Mele is out training in Colorado. Above is a photo of Ryan riding up Lookout Mountain in Golden, Colorado. He will be a force this year with this kind of dedication.

This is...

already getting old. I've been on the trainer all week due to pouring rain in the 40 degree temps. That kind of weather is where I draw the line. Back in my youth that wouldn't have stopped be, but I now paid for that philosophy as I now can't feel my fingers if the temps are below 65 degrees. This will do, but The Tour of Bahamas can't come soon enough.

J. Whit

THIS JUST IN FROM THE TOUR OF THE BAHAMAS

Men's P12 Cash Prize increased to $10,000 and premes for each stage - $3,500 to the overall winner alone!

Women's Cash Prize increased to $6,000 and premes for each stage - $1,000 to the overall winner alone!

Please train hard and get the word out – International Caliber indeed, and we are brining home all their umbrellas and more :-)

Teams and Individuals Confirmed:

Garmin-Cervelo U23

Ivan Dominguez New Pro Team

Hincapie Development

Stan's NoTubes/AXA Equitable

Jamis Sutter Home

Florida Velo

EliteFlorida Velo Masters

Texas Road House Masters

World Class Triathletes Participating:

Jarrod Shoemaker

Jenna Parker

Alicia Kaye

Race Website

Tour of Bahamas

As the 2012 racing season nears, the winter months ahead present a mental and physical hurdle for every cyclist that lives in a colder climate. Based out of New York City and the surrounding region, the Stan’s NoTubes/AXA Equitable Elite Cycling Team understands these challenges first hand. The majority of our competitors are afforded the professional luxury to venture to Tucson, Arizona or Southern California for the next few months to log miles in the warm sunshine. Our difficulties are compounded by the fact that nearly everyone on the Stan’s NoTubes/AXA team owes “The Man” at least 40 hours each week. The extended hours on the trainer and the seemingly relentless weather and darkness can make even the most dedicated rider lose focus.

Last January, we found the perfect remedy to the winter training blues. One Friday afternoon six of us took the afternoon away from our jobs and boarded a Jet Blue flight from Laguardia airport. Three hours later, we were living the island life at The Tour of the Bahamas welcome party. The weekend that followed was a wonderful whirlwind of racing, riding and relaxing on the beach.

The Tour of The Bahamas provides the perfect excuse to get out of the weather and head south for a short time trial and two moderate road races. There are races available for all categories, including Juniors and Women. The largest hill on the island is about as daunting as Harlem Hill in Central Park, and let’s face it, it’s January… so there’s no need to be in peak form. All three races start at the same location, a gentle 15 mile spin from the race hotel. While rental vehicles are available, we opted to ride to the start of each race to maximize our warm weather riding. We capped off our results (2nd prologue, 1st road race and 2nd GC) with an evening of local entertainment and fresh fish at the fish fry (just tell the taxi driver on Sunday evening – “take me to the fish fry”). With the addition of a short spin before boarding the flight back to the frigid north on Monday morning, we netted just shy of 300 miles of “winter” training… and we were back to work by noon.

If the boost in motivation and the added fitness are not reason enough to make the Tour of The Bahamas your first 2012 race, the sun, fun, beach and food should get you there. The flight is reasonably cheap, the logistics are easy and the weather is warm. The promoter has even negotiated a discounted rate at the beachside Wyndham Nassau Resort & Crystal Palace Casino for $109 a room. Hope we will see you there January 27-29, 2012.

Our team had a great time at this race and we wanted to share the experience with everyone freezing their butts off in the North East.

For more info please visit:
www.tourofthebahamas.com

New Stan's Wheelset.

Sorry, the photo is upside down, but you get the idea. The new Stan's wheels have carbon/stainless skewers. This should make my teammates in NYC very happy...the teammates who use a lot of product in their hair that is. I've spent a week on this wheelset that includes a redesigned hub-set and they are working very nice. New graphics on the rim are looking good as well. Hopefully these give us a podium spot in a month and a half at the Tour of Bahamas!

J. Whit

Staying in Shape & Riding in DC

Growing up in State College, PA I was blessed with some of the best riding that Pennsylvania has to offer (if you haven't ever been to Central PA... Go). I did not actually know how great the riding was because I didn't start competitively racing until this prior year after I exhausted my Collegiate eligibility (I swam competitively all my life and for the Penn State swim team). Since moving down to DC, the demands of public accounting and learning how to balance the work, riding, and social life has certainly proved to be a creative task. Can all three be done? Can you actually put in your 10 - 12 hour work days, stay in shape for race season (or just for staying in shape's sake), and have a social life? I say yes.

So what is the best method to doing so for the long winter months when the sun goes down at 5:30pm? Grab some winter riding gear, a good pair of tires, a nice bike light, and hop on that bike trail to work. I happen to live around 15 miles away form my work. After some experimenting and exploring different ways to get to work I discovered that it takes me approximately 50 minutes to get to work by riding the metro (door to door), or, if I take my bike, 50 minutes on my bike. Therefore, I can either choose to sit for 50 minutes, or exercise for 50 minutes, either way I get to work in the same amount of time. So the next time you tell yourself you don't have any time to work out due to your busy work/life schedule... think again.

DC has some of the best trails to navigate in and around the capitol area. Not to mention, riding your bike in the city can be much quicker than trying to drive in the rush hour nightmare capital of the USA. So needless to say riding your bike in DC can be one of the safest and most efficient ways to navigate to and from work.

For those of you in the DC area trying to get some miles in this winter during the work week and trying to balance your work schedule... Grab your bike, a pair of Stan's NoTubes wheels & tires (no flats), and i'll see you on the trail at 7:15am & pm.

Central PA...

has some of the best riding in the country. You can find semi-flat farm roads, 2-4 mile climbs and miles of fire roads through the state game lands. We can literally find a bicycle friendly route in any direction from town and once you're 2-3 miles away from town cars are almost non existent. Now it's everything else that Central PA is lacking!

Rothrock State Forest. 

Rolling stream next to the fire road. Shameless plug of sponsor who made the ride smoooth as butta.

Battenkill preparation. Equipment is good to go.

 The road ahead.

Next weekend is an unofficial, official first team gathering here in State College, PA. A small meet and greet, photo shoot for the sponsors and some riding of course. Highly looking forward to it!

Cheers,

Joe W.

Next year starts today

I am trying to hang onto some fitness from a very long season which started in January with The Tour of the Bahamas and ended in Paris on October 16th with the longest crit of the year (120k) Today I did a long ride, all endurance level effort except for one hill.

For those of you who did the Grand Fondo NY you would have see our team out crushing the KOM's. I was unable to ride it. Today i wanted to see how i would have stacked up against Clayton Barrows and the rest of the guys on Little Tor. It is about a 5 min climb. Check out the results below.

I hit this hill as hard as i could. I did it in 5:28 throwing about 380 watts for the effort. even Fat Joe took substantial time out of me. The strava site is super cool for looking at stuff like this. I do not think I will ever be as fast as Clayton and Mike but I think i could drop fat Joe with some hard work.

    1   289 Clayton Barrows        29 M    4:20.49      2   284 Michael Margarite      32 M    4:24.70      3    21 Maurizio Coccia        36 M    4:25.63      4   241 Brendan Sullivan       48 M    4:40.19      5   978 James Mattis           38 M    4:40.82      6   286 Daniel Zmolik          35 M    4:44.23      7   282 Christopher Johnson    28 M    4:44.60      8   224 Richard Feldman        42 M    4:45.43      9   752 Evanio Zimmermann      47 M    4:47.60     10   285 Joe Whitman            29 M    4:48.43 

2012 Press Release for the team

November 18, 2011

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Stan’s NoTubes/AXA Equitable Cycling Team announces 2012 season

BIG FLATS/NEW YORK, NY. – The Stan’s NoTubes/AXA Equitable Cycling Team, based out of New York City, is set to hit the road with another strong roster. The first exclusively tubeless road team finished the 2011 season with Clayton Barrows in second place in the USACrits series and as the top ranked amateur criterium rider in America. In 2012, the team aims to build on its five year history with success in the USACrits Championship Series along with The Great American Cycling Series and targeted NRC events.

The 2012 Stan’s NoTubes/AXA Equitable Cycling Team roster:

Clayton Barrows (USA)

James Stevens (AUS)

Christopher Hurst (USA)

Jonathan Cochrane (USA)

John Loehner (USA)

Brian Hill (USA)

Mike Margarite (USA)

Stephan Kincaid (USA)

Nick Freisen (CAN)

Micah Engle (USA)

Karl Rahn (USA)

Ryan Mele (USA)

Joe Whitman (USA)

Daniel Zmolik (USA)

Mark Prutton (NZL)

Kevin Molloy (USA)

While putting the final touches on the race program and roster, Director Mike Sherry said, “We have a very strong team and an even better tuned program this coming season. We made a lot of changes last year in how we ran the team and we ultimately exceeded our goals.” Sherry described some of their plans for the upcoming season. “In 2011 we focused on the USACrits series individual standings with Barrows, in 2012 we will rely on a returning core group of riders and some new recruits to target more NRC road and stage race events in addition to the USACrits series.”

The main difference between the last two seasons was the wheels provided by Stan’s NoTubes and Hutchinson tires. The team ran Stan’s sealant and conversion kits on team wheels in 2010 and many of the riders credited their successful racing to the lack of punctures in unforgiving race situations. The 2012 squad will be racing on NoTubes Alpha 340 Pro wheelsets; weighing in at a mere 1255 grams. The wheels will feature the latest NoTubes valve/sealant system and Hutchinson tires.

“We are incredibly excited to build on our continued support from AXA Equitable, a leading financial protection company and a premier provider of life insurance, annuity and investment products and services,” said Sherry. “AXA has been incredibly enthusiastic about American cycling and ultimately got us where we are today.”

Hincapie Sports will be supplying clothing and will help deliver a more stylishly outfitted team. In addition, they will continue riding Cannondale bikes, wearing Rudy Project helmets and glasses, and using Sportique Active Body and Skincare products. The fitness programming and testing will be conducted by Performance Labs HC, a leading New York-based training and bike fit company.

For more information on the team visit teamnotubes.com Follow them on Twitter @TeamNoTubes or find them on Facebook http://facebook.com/SSMNotubes. 

CAPTION CONTEST

Alright... lets get this thing started with some good old fashioned fun. Caption contest for the below photo.

If we can garner an ambitious 50 captions, we will hit up one of our sponsors for some swag to the winner.

Photo Credit to Lynne Lamoureux (podiuminsight.com)

My first Strava Post

This is my first blog post so i figured i would post a monday night ride I just did using Strava.

Moab!

I spent a fantastic weekend in Moab this weekend with a great group of friends from my college days... my University of Wyoming college days, to be more specific (since I am still in college). My friends Carl and Carrie Gose tied the knot this weekend in Moab. We did a ton of riding and hit several of the highlights that the Moab area has to offer including: Sovereign trail, Porcupine Rim Trail, and Top of The World. Definitely more riding in two days than I have done since... well, last Winter. Below is a pic of me relaxing after the climb to the top of the world.

Remember this guy?

Stephan Kincaid is the first new member that Team NoTubes has officially announced to its 2012 roster. Kincaid is a legend and is most notably recognized as being the mayor of mid-atlantic cycling in all forms. Better known as "Geronimo", Stephan raced under the Sherry Sports Management organization a few years back when the team was sponsored by Empire Hotels. Geronimo has many many wins to his name including a collegiate national championship years back when he races for Penn State University. You will not find a more talented bicycle racer around AND nicer guy. To top it off, he's a school guidance counselor and has received many public education awards for his outstanding work he does with high school students. Welcome back G!

G.

Wait, what???

Not cool.

Central PA Riding

Central PA has a lot of things-cows, guns, rolling hills, Ugg boots/yoga pants(see Penn State) and even a sizable amount of homes without running water. What sticks out the most though, especially for cyclists, are the amazing winding roads that run up and down the valleys. This past weekend I was able to join along with Richie Rich Oneil, from Stan's No Tubes and Dr. Matthew Ferrari; two great guys who are pretty good on the bicycle. We decided to head towards the Black Moshannon State Park area, which is about 20ish miles away from our homes located in State College. I must say I've been riding these roads for a solid 12 years and it always amazes me when I come along a road that I've never been on. It happened to me on this ride as we took the road bikes off on to some fire roads. 55 miles and 3.5 hours later I was whooped from being out in the woods. If you ever have the chance to ride in the Central PA area, get ahold of one us to show you around. The riding is second to none.

Here is a picture of me standing with a buffalo statue. This was as desolate as you could possibly get. Why anyone would spend the money to make this is beyond me. It does make a good story and a good photo. Note the blue skies-they haven't been happening too often.

Matt and I on the fire road. My guess is we spent a good 20 miles off the pavement. 

Nothing but zero tubes and beautiful valleys. What an awesome day for bikes.

The bottom of the climb that goes straight up. The sign says, No Winter Maintenance. Imagine that?!

Super Star Clayton Barrows

He's more than just one the nation's best criterium racers. Clayton is hanging out in New Mexico for the next few months working at Los Alamos National Lab. He is getting close to finishing his Ph.D in energy engineering at Penn State University. Our fearless leader is pictured above ready to crush some donuts like they are his competitors. Rumor has it Clayton has been putting in some decent miles on the mountain bike out west. Is there a chance that on his 10th year of collegiate racing he'll shoot for a short track national championship???

Would You Ride This?

I've been training on this tire Since January of this year. It has seen many, many miles and I have never flatted on it. Only now am I starting to carry a CO2 cartridge in case of a flat...not even a tube. For us the tube has joined the club of downtube shifters- "Products of the Past"

Hutchinson Intensive Road Tubeless Tire after thousands of miles.

Global!

Kevin and Karl racing in a criterium last week in France.

The Days Are Lonely.

The days are cold and lonely in the soon to be winter months. Pictured is my current work station. I'd rather be riding.

test blog

this is a test. only a test.