photo courtesy of Ken McGuinness

Randy Hadzor 5th over all – 3rd/cat3’s (first race as cat3)
Wes Hadzor results tba – cat 4/5 results to be posted soon
Bob Hadzor results tba – misdirected for final turn, did an extra loop of downtown owego.

Lessons continue for the 60 year old rookie.

The giro of Otisco Lake was a great experience, although a painful one. The hill climbs were accurately advertised – 3 x 10% with a crushing finisher on Stanton Rd. You know you are in a world of hurt when Coon Hill Rd is the easiest of the 3!

The final climb was a true test of one’s heart and soul. I was absolutely blessed by having a Mello Velo contingent of Wes and Randy Hadzor and stalwart Sarah Krisch to cheer me through a very difficult finish.

It was a great race and a painful delight to compete in. All the best to the organizers who came up large!

Sunday all the Hadzor boys traveled to lovely Owego, NY for the Strawberry Festival race. It was a very different scene here, bare bones, and disinterested could describe the crew in Owego. I realize the races are staffed by volunteers, but really bike racers are coming from all over the state and spending a lot of time, effort and $. The folks on the road should have some idea about the finish (which way it is) and be ready with their directional flag before the racer is 20yds away.

Anyway, no festival! Moldy post race strawberries were available for snacking. The race director seemed disinterested, the flag person asleep at the switch, no getting around it – a bad time!

Sorry for sounding so negative – at least I got in a decent workout.

– Bob Hadzor

This weekend was the Tour de Syracuse bicycle stage race (aka omnium / gc) The criterium was on Saturday at Upper Onondaga Park in scenic Strathmore, and the time trial and road race down by Song Mountain in the land of Tully/Otisco on Sunday.

All in all it was a fun weekend, Wes Hadzor bustin’ out some speed to get some sprint points and finishing well, Bob learning more and more about this wacky road racing stuff, Randy earning a 2nd place over all for the weekend, Neil Hueber getting pretty comfortable with the TT bikes, Jamie Young stretching the legs out for some road racing while longing for the familiar mud of ‘cross. Good stuff all around!

BTB / Mello Velo Results

Randy Hadzor – Mello Velo / Middle Ages / BTB
cat4 – 13th criterium (&pump preem), 3rd time trial (6:42), 2nd road race (& 3rdKOM#1 1stKOM#2), 2nd over all omnium

Wes Hadzor – Mello Velo / Middle Ages / BTB
cat5 <35 - 13th criterium (&points preem), 18rd time trial (7:43), 22nd road race, 18th over all omnium

Bob Hadzor – Mello Velo / Middle Ages / BTB
masters 60+ – 6th road race

Neil Hueber – Mello Velo / Middle Ages
cat5 <35 - 25th criterium, 15th time trial (7:30), 16th road race, 22nd over all omnium

Brian Nilsson – Mello Velo / Middle Ages
masters 35+ – 12th criterium, 13th time trial (timing issue), 14th road race, 13th over all omnium

Jamie Young – Mello Velo / Middle Ages
cat5 35+ – 33rd road race

Nick Pacchioli – Mello Velo / Syracuse University
cat 4 – 56th criterium *ill

Stephen Poirier – Mello Velo / Syracuse University
cat 4 – 57th criterium, 49th time trial (8:28), dnf road race, 66th over all omnium

Matthew Worstell – Mello Velo / Syracuse University
cat5 <35 - 6th criterium, 11th time trial (7:21), 8th road race, 7th over all omnium

• Final Omnium Standings !
• Omnium Sprint Results
• Criterium Results
• Time Trial Results
• Road Race Results

*photos stolen from brian nilsson and jamie young courtesy of the facebook

Sunday was the American Zofingen in the Mohonk region of the Catskills. The Zofingen name is taken from Zofingen, Switzerland. Supposedly there is a series in which the distances are a common competition length and yearly they hold world duathlon competitions over there.

Saturday before Bob/Dad and I/Randy headed down to pick up the packet info, and scope out the course. We drove the loop which would make up the 84 mile bike leg of the long course when ridden 3 laps. It was amazing. Picturesque views, tour de france style hairpin turns, adventuresome down hills, and some serious long climbs. Upon getting a good look at the surfaces, turns and terrain, we took to the hotel to prep the bicycles and hunt down some dinner.

The ol’ Anvil TT bike was selected as the weapon of choice, cleaned up tweaked and readied. After a brief spin we asked the front desk the whereabouts of recommendable Italian food may be and were directed to either Rocco’s which reported had excellent spaghetti and meatballs or Rino’s which was reasonably priced and had nice full meals with homemade sauce etc. We opted for Rino’s, it was very good, quite healthy tasting.

To bed early and up and out at about 6am. The beautiful vistas and views were gone and replaced by heavy fog and drizzle “at least it won’t be too hot”. Which turned out to be a good thing because in the 7 hours and 19 minutes I had to consume a lot of heed, water, gels, powerbars, some of an apple, I can’t imagine how much more liquid would have been necessary if it were hotter.

It was only super rainy for one lap of the bike. The first 5 mile trail run went by pretty quickly, it had some tough hills, 2 main ones and then you loop down deceptively near the transition area and then the trail whisks you away for one more hill. I came out of the run 2nd into transition, and apparently Josh Beck is infamous for hanging out in the transition zone as I was the first out on the bike, though he rode past shortly after I got out on the road. The bike course was wet and hilly with some wild descents, I took the first loop easy not wanting to go sliding out of control on any of those descents and got a decent feel for it. I came through the first loop in third, Josh Beck was up 9minutes, the man in the pink kit was up 4min. The next loop I decided to have some fun with it, hammering the downhills and flats a bit more and getting better approaches for the hills and overall better maintenance of momentum.

The ride concluded with a gravel/mud trail from the road back into the park which was gloriously muddy. It felt like cyclocross but had the added awesomeness of the disc wheel woosh! I got back into the transition in second overall, grabbed my pile of powerbar snacks, half a bagel and quickly headed out for the run. The race director announced that I was second over all and in it for the money ($300 for second). So for the next 15miles I had to hold off the man in the pink kit whom I felt was closing in on me. The run was pretty brutal, although I tried to convince myself otherwise. I soon found didn’t quite have the saliva to swallow anything larger than basically crumbs of the bagel but I tried anyhow just to get something a little more solid to soak up all the gels and liquids in the stomach and got a decent bite with some help from a cup at the water stop. I walked a couple steps here and there on some of the monster inclines but mostly kept trying to keep momentum going in my favor.

I widened the gap on third and was having a lot of fun on the down hills, it had become my strategy to just make it up the hills and run as straight as possible and then use the downhills. The final bit was a welcome end and I finished strong, could faintly pick out the sound of music in the fog and as I neared the outline of the finish pavilion became visible and that was that! Phew!

There was a solid spread of burgers, turkey burgers (best turkey burgers I’ve ever had) toppings, cookies, brownies, beet beer and other from the Rhinebeck Brewing Company, water, heed, and an excellent massage therapist.

So all and all it was a very fun challenging day. Finishing up 2nd in the long course.

Next up: Tour de Syracuse!

– also – Sunday after the Road Race Mello Velo / Middle Ages / BTB post race party!

Randy cat 4 1st overall, NY State Champion
Bob masters 55+ 15th overall

Complete Results

This past weekend Bob and Randy went down to Virgil NY to the Hollenbeck Spring Classic Road Race. Many familiar faces were down at the race, including but not limited to a solid representation of ommegangsters, cny-tri cronies, and mello velo dudes from SU.

Randy entered the cat3/4 contest which consisted of 2 laps of a roughly 22 mile loop with a hill finish. The course was nice, the weather equally so. A bit of wind, a quick peloton, and a couple decent climbs which made for a fun race. There was a nice rotation of riders doing work in the front, and a handful of decent off the front attacks by a range of riders.

The finish was a tight pack of probably 10-12? and was interesting as the pack gradually gained and met with the last solo off the front attack which had been exerted by a strong rider from Kingston. Then the hill sorted out the finish with a swift swoop, a little head wind, and then the grind to the line.

J&J Cycling’s Scott Lundy finished 1st, Handlebars James Thomson came in 2nd, Ommegang’s Long Haired Eric secured 3rd, and BTB / Mello Velo’s Randy came in 4th over all, finishing as the first of the cat4 participants. See complete results here.

Coming up this weekend, there are two potential races on the radar for Saturday, the Du the Lakes duathlon, run bike run at Greenlakes State Park and also Saturday out by Canandaigua the Bristol Mountain Race which is also the NYS Championship Road Race – site – reg.

Should be interesting to see how this weekend shakes out!

The crew headed out on the road again yesterday, loading up the machinery (the ol’ trek 2.1 with its proven worn tires and all) into the Curtin & Hadzor big blue battle wagon and took to route 20, heading towards Canandaigua for the Bloomfield Spring Classic. Randy was set to compete in the cat4, ~45mile road race, consisting of four 11 mile loops of quick little hills.

A dismal gray morning vanished as they traveled west towards the race, beautiful blue skies abound in Seneca Falls, only to be consumed once again by a constant gray cloud cover that spat a couple bouts of hail intermittently with its persisting gusty winds. The gear was assembled, and the Mello Velo uni was donned, as well as supplemental tights, shoe covers, and a couple pairs of gloves.

The race cued up in the drop off circle in front of the Bloomfield school and had its controlled start out to the course. During the first bit it was a relaxed pack, getting acclimated to the gusts of the strong cross wind and over all just settling in. One rider in red put in a couple surges on the first lap, perhaps feeling antsy with the excitement of the new cycling season, perhaps trying to make things interesting. On his second surge a mid-pack conversationalist noted that it was always on a downhill the Red guy would make his move off the front and sarcastically remarked ‘maybe this one will stick’. Around that same time Skinny Phil had moved up to the front to shake things up and get people racing. There was a solid Ommegang representation in several fields in Bloomfield that day, and in this race in particular there were a handful of ‘gangsters. Upon seeing Phils move to the front and listening to the pack chatter Randy decided it was as good a time as ever to see what was going on up front.

A space opened up and he joined Phil where they made a pretty clean break from the peleton. Off the front Phil and Randy worked for a bit to get a little separation from the pack to see what would happen, on the hill nearing the start/finish line, almost at the close of the first of the four laps, Phil says “Randy, Go!”. Not thinking about it much Randy hammers off into the wind. Only for a split second did it pass through his mind that this was a move off the front for 36miles remaining, and that that was quite early. The rest of thought process were filled with admiring the terrain and scenery, surging the hills, and thinking of how in other races when people just walk off the front and are never seen again. Perhaps that could be him today, and if worst comes to worst and the pack nears, he could always rejoin and try again later.

The laps ticked by and Randy held the lead open, encouraged by the locals of Bloomfield out for their weekend long runs and zipping through the finish zone and each time the lap counter was less. A simple yet reassuring constant. The 2.1 with it’s silly chain ring size differential were an interesting character to be dealt with as in the second lap the chain decided to drop to the inside, where 2.1 had to be dismounted and with clumsy adrenaline filled fingertips a couple attempts were made to eventually successfully replace the chain, remount and complete the hill. Later it was learned that the strongest rear cog also liked to throw chains, this time to the outside which was slightly more convenient as it was semi-easily set back on while coasting a downhill.

As the final lap wound out, every push and hill mattered, as Randy interpreted every noise and mailbox out of the corner of his eye as the inevitable attacking peleton. Luckily though, the lead was held and victory was claimed for Mello Velo /  BTB / Middle Ages!

Also luckily the weather held off entirely for the cat4 race and until almost the end of the pro/1/2/3 race when the clouds then unleashed the pent up rain, sleet and hail. Only affecting those dudes riding the last bit their race and then worsening and most likely cutting cool downs short, as the riders were last seen shielding their faces with their free hand from the fierce ice shooting winds.

Congrats to all!

– BTB

Randy Hadzor, 1st Overall Cat4

results: [ http://www.yellowjacketracing.com/files/user/cat_4_men_overall.pdf ]

Bicycle Racin’ season is back!

[insert image of ridiculous lobster arm tan line]

Bob and Randy Hadzor headed out east, packed up the bicycles and hopped on the ol’ Erie Canal and, well ok, we took the thruway.. crossed the Mohawk River and entered the hills just as we entered the area that the race would be held coming in through Greenwich and down to Cambridge.

We got all situated at the registration tent where Randy checked in for the Cat4 gray race and with 11 spots open Bob was tempted to have a go in the 60+ category but we kept to our plan. We headed out to drive the course and scope out this 25% dirt road race and check out the hill scenario. Shortly into the course preview drive we had to stop to get a gift for Pete whom we were staying with..

We stopped at a little shed where the signage announced that they had home made maple syrup. Pete who is a connoisseur of sweets we thought we’d pop in and grab some quick and continue on the course. However, upon entering the little shack, there was no counter, no display of syrup bottles and goofy hand made junk for souvenirs. Instead there was a giant hulking shiny steel apparatus, with gauges and dials abound, puttering and steaming and an old woodchuck lookin’ guy with a long white beard, camouflage vest and two different colored eyes. “I’d like to buy some syrup?” Bob declared to the man, feeling slightly rushed to get on with the course preview, though slightly overwhelmed with fascination at the suprisedly high tech contents of the little cabin-shed. “Yea, that’s it? You don’t wanna look around or anything do ya.” The man stated, knowing for sure that we did indeed want to know more about the operation. Randy chipped in “Yea we’ll check it out!”

In .3 degrees they were about to take the final draw of the season from the magical syrup machine which he designed each bit, and where he can calculate the barometric pressure humidity and determine the precise point at which it would boil and at which to draw the syrup from its process (218.1). As soon as the temperature was reached they began the process and flipped the switch to dispense an amazingly consistent flow of hot delicious dark amber liquid.

We continued to scope out the ups and downs, the pot holes, and the gravelly surfaces of the course. It looked a bit daunting with some serious downhills on incredibly rough terrain.

Before long the race had begun, as you got into it the ride goes on and the rough and scary roads seemed to become normal. Though racers flatted as they hit sharp gravel, the crunching sound of carbon wheels on potholes was frequent followed by spontaneous expletives and riders slowly moving off to the right and the peloton swarming on. There was only one substantial wreck that I was aware of and luckily it wasn’t in our field, some one had apparently crashed on one of the sharp corners on the back country dirt corner near a pretty sketchy good ol’ homestead strewn with various vehicles, farm equipment and other lawn ornaments.

The race went on and with each minor bicycle explosion and each quick climb the pack thinned. Until it was a line of about 16 and apparently one squeeked off the front on one of the dirt roads when I was allowing ample room in case evasive maneuvering was necessary. Upon realizing that I moved to close the gap, and on the dirt gravel rapid decent, the familiar speed/eye tearing turn unnerving as dust and sweat got all up my eye! Had to hold back for a second to clear it out and the pack grouped back up. Then the pace line thinned out and began to cycle through. The finish was a ways off and then all of a sudden we were upon it 500m to go out of the saddle get moving, had a sharp hammerhead type turn and then a super short sprint to the finish, unfortunately I hadn’t previewed this part of the course (what was I thinking!) but picked up a couple places just enough to squeek in to the top ten, finishing ninth, just inside the top 10 pay out.

And that was that, ride over. It was definitely the most adventurous road race I’ve ever done, Bob was at the finish with some ridiculously delicious chocolate milk in a glass bottle, with the company logo stating best in New York and on the other side the Battenkill 2011 logo… awesome design and super great delicious chocolaty recovery.