Dr. Loehner

This guy rode for Saturn back when Saturn was fresh to the scene. It was back when "pro" meant pro and a contract meant you could pay for your own dinner and actually sleep in your own bed. Jlo gave up the sport a few years ago to purse his career as a doctor in internal medicine. Today he runs one of the biggest emergency rooms in the country and trains in Central Park at night. There are guys in the US pro peloton who could be his child yet he continues to rip the legs off of these guys. Kudos to the old Doc!!

Meanwhile...

While some of us were enjoying the comforts of home, we sent a solo new recruit (Ryan Mele) to do our bidding in round 1 of our favorite crit series, USACrits. Here is what he had to say about his solo trip to the sunshine state:

"Delray Beach put on a great race. A huge crowd came out to see what was looking to be a wet 80 lap race. Thankfully, the rain held off and we got to racing with things whipping up early on. With a fast, but fairly non selective course, things seemed to shuffle quite a bit, making it easy to gain or lose 20+ spots at a time. The few breaks that were established never put much time on the field, until a late race break of three got away to eventually lap the field, with the remaining laps winding down to a field sprint. The Caad 10 felt great and I couldn't be happier with the Stan's tubeless system. Having the flexibility to run a lower pressure when necessary is incredible. Being a slightly heavier rider, I've often dealt with the risk of pinch flats when trying to run a pressure that's best for traction. Not any more."

Thanks Ryan... next time we will send some reinforcements.

And... We're off!

The start of a long season has arrived!
We chose to begin our 2012 campaign on a relaxed note at home... in NYC. Columbia University provides the perfect opportunity to kick the season off right with the Grant's Tomb Crit in Harlem. Each year, we use this weekend to start our season by bringing the non-New Yorker teammates into the city for a little racing, a little riding and a lot of fun.

Racing started in the frigid 37 degree shadows of the NY skyline on Saturday morning. We kept it active with a flurry of early attacks and after about 10 minutes, sent Brian Hill out for the long haul. Brian and his breakaway companion were joined mid-race by Clayton Barrows and two other riders. Unfortunately, the cold weather and extended time off the front had taken it's toll on Brian while the bridge effort left Clayton with little energy for the finale and we cruised in for a respectable 4th and 5th. Meanwhile, returning veteran Stephan Kincaid held a session of crit racing 101 for some of our new racers. Teaching them the art and science of peloton control, break-away management, and honing the lead out skills.

We spent the afternoon showing off our good looks and awesome new equipment to the camera of our resident photographer, Maria Quiroga. As always, special thanks to Stan's NoTubes, Hutchinson, Cannondale, Sram and Zipp for setting us up on great equipment. And thanks to Endo Customs for making us look great!

Meanwhile, Clayton Barrows spent the afternoon suffering behind the next generation in the collegiate race:



And finally we capped off a great day with a fantastic team dinner (with adult beverages) at Cotta on the Upper West Side. Here DZ, Whitman, and Geronimo demonstrate the surgical procedure that removed a 4" screw from Dan's femur 3 days earlier:







A team weekend is never complete without a Sunday training ride. But first, a stop at the Hungarian Bakery: