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.