Morgan Stanley/Specialized/Team Spine Racing

Chasing Lance and Levi at the Nevada City Classic

Lyman Sets Best Time, Takes State TT Champ Title

Phenom Chris Lyman, racing in the Masters 40-44 division, set the best time of the day at the 2009 Northern California/Nevada Time Trial Championships, held  on 14 June in Sattley, NV. The course and altitude favored the locals but Chris dominated the race, finishing over half a minute ahead of Pro rider Paul Mach, and minutes ahead of competitors in his class. He finished the 40km course in a time of 49 minutes and 35.2 seconds.

Teammates Thomas Coulter and John Ford hit with a 1-2 punch in the Masters 45-44 class, and  Brian Fessenden and Paul Chuck rode to victory in the  Tandem Elite class.

Here's Chris's race report:

"The Northern Cal / Northern Nevada District championship was my first 40k TT, and the distance, combined with Sattley’s elevation of 5,000 ft, left a few question marks on pacing. Luckily Hutch straightened that out and put it all to rest with advice to “just smash it.”

With Jeff Angermann and Craig Roemer in my age group, I needed to be on it. The elite open field had its share of heavy hitters too: Paul Mach/Bissell; Phil Mooney from the reigning UC Davis national champion TTT squad; James Mattis, the national elite road race champion; Jesse Moore (my coach) and former teammate Josh Rennie among others.  It was stacking up to be a fast day. 

The weather was about perfect for the distance: sunny, low-60s at the start, light cross winds. The scenery around Sattley is also spectacular, with the course traveling through a beautiful wide-open alpine valley.

I started out a little too hot and paid the price within 10k but stayed on the gas to the turn and held up as best I could for the 20k return trip. After finishing, Buckley and I went for a spin and when we returned, results were posted. Needless to say I was shocked to have not only won the men 40-44 field but also post the fastest overall time of the day.

Upon arriving home I found my dogs were generally unimpressed with that morning’s effort. Taking solace in the fact that not much impresses them beyond food and chew bones, I did enjoy a nice bottle of bubbly with the wife as a brief celebration prior to setting sights on masters nationals. "

Joe Martin Stage Race

This race was on the way to the east coast and was in Velo News' edition of "Races You Have To Do." It was in Fayetteville Arkansas and the profiles looked very hilly. Luckily fro Trish and I, there were 50+ mens and 40+ women's categories. This was an NRC event and was four days for the Pro,1 men; 1,2 men; and 1,2 women. The other categories were three stages over two days. We both started with the same goal: make all of the time cuts to get into the criterium (final stage) and win it!

Stage 1; 2.5 mile 6.8 % hill climb TT:

Trish was off first and was shooting for something around 14 minutes. With 30 second start intervals, she caught and passed her minute woman (rider who started two places in front of her) and thought she was closing on her 30 second woman. Turns out that Trish's 30 second woman won the hill climb. Trish ended up surprising herself by finishing third.

I started behind an OKC Velo rider, who I had been told was going to win the whole thing. I had a great course report from Trish and was able to big ring the first third of the course. I knew I would blow up if I tried to make it all the way so I dropped it into the small ring and tried to settle into a rhythm. I still had my 30 second guy in sight as he passed his 30 second man. I went by my minute man and could see I was closing on the OKC rider with one kilometer to go. I went back into the big ring at 200 meters and gave it everything. I was pretty happy with the ride as I was sure I could not have gone any faster. I was pretty shocked later when I saw the results; tie for fourth, 34 seconds down on the leader!

Both Trish and I would not have made the time cut in the Pro fields by around 30 seconds.

Joe Martin Stage Race

Stage 2 Road Race:

This was a hilly course around Devil's Den State Park south of Fayetteville. Lucky for us, the start/ finish was across the street from our hotel! Trish was off first and was 46 seconds back on GC. The master women's field was combined with the women 3/4, picked separately. This increased he field size to around 35 women. It started to rain immediately after the start but just rained enough to make it miserable, then stopped. Trish made it over the toughest climbs with the lead group of 16 riders. This lead pack contained the top three master women. Then Trish flatted. She was able to get a wheel from the support vehicle, and chased back on to the second group. Trish did most of the work and pulled the group to within a few hundred meters of the leaders. She wasn't getting much help and they were never able to reconnect; they lost 2:20 by the finish. I took a little time for Trish to make the others realize they were all going to get the same time and that they were riding for GC. This made things a bit better but the 4th place master woman, Deborah Dunn (Tyson), who didn't contribute to the chase,  sprinted Trish at the line to take the final 5 second time bonus (she was 20 seconds behind Trish after the TT).  So Trish was fourth on the stage but lost GC due to a mishap. Bummer.

The 50+ started about an hour after the women's finish and we headed out with 19 riders. We hit the first climb and I was really suffering. The bunch seemed to stay all together but I wasn't looking back; I just was trying to hang on. I made it over the top (barely) as the attacks started flying on the downhill. We seemed to be all together when we hit the steepest climb of the day. It was hard, but no one really drilled it and I was able to hang on to the false flat at the top. We hit the next climb and a group of four went clear. This looked to be the move of the day so I put it in the big ring and went across. We were caught soon after the top. We had reduced the lead group to 10 guys. There were no real climbs left other than some small rollers that I could easily big ring. I covered everything and was in a couple of good moves, but nothing was sticking. These guys were going HARD! Finally I got frustrated and didn't follow when George Hagerty (Geri Atrix) attacked with Gary Ziegler (OKC Velo). Ziegler was the guy I was told to peg for the win before the TT. I had an opportunity to jump across, but didn't take it. The top six GC guys were in the bunch and I thought they would chase. I sat at the back and didn't help. We got real close, but no one would finish it off. The Geri Atrix & OKC Velo guys would attack every time the pace dropped a bit and this scared the four GC leaders. I went back up and started to pull like mad, but could only get help from Gary Calton (VeloTek). The others would not pull through; it was like they were blocking. Probably my fault for sitting on for about 5 miles. Heagerty took the win over Ziegler for the stage, and I took the bunch sprint for third (and a time bonus) over Tom Bain (Geri Atrix). Ziegler now had the overall lead, 13 seconds ahead of Heagerty. I was still in fifth, 32 seconds back. There was some change in the top five as there were several riders penalized 10 or 20 seconds for centerline violations. One interesting note: I was 4 seconds back of fourth place, Phil Sladek (Geri Atrix). Phil grew up in Santa Maria and his brother is the homeless guy we see riding around SLO on the black Cannondale MTB with the "Lefty" fork!

Joe Martin Stage Race

Stage 3 Criterium:

This was a tough Crit course! Lots of turns, 40+ mph downhill into a tight corner, long false flat uphill leading into a steep climb to the finish. 

Trish was up first and, due to yesterday's flat, was over two minutes back on GC; her only chance of winning GC would be to get away and put that much time into the two leaders. Time cuts had reduced the field to 7 riders. Pam Hinton (Mercy) took off from the gun and forced Trish to chase. Trish was vigilant and stayed in the lead group the entire race. The primes were for Jazz Apples so Trish didn't contest any of the sprints. With 4 laps to go Trish covered another attack by the GC leader. This resulted in the two of them riding away from the other two left in the lead group. Trish took the win and remained in third on GC behind Shari Woiwood (Bike Shack).

The weather had held so far, but the sky opened up just before the start of the 50+ race. Time cuts and the weather reduced the field to 13. Tom Bain (Geri Atrix) said he was just going to cruise and finish as he didn't want to go down. I rode the first lap on the front in order to set  the pace through the turns. I was immediately attacked on the start/finish hill by one of the OKC Velo riders. I closed the gap and settled in to the lead group of 8 riders. After a couple of laps I heard a crazy loud noise behind me. It turned out to be George Hagerty's (Geri Atrix) Mavic freehub. The added drag caused him to drop his chain repeatedly. He refused to stay at the back and gapped me a couple of times while he tried to get his chain back on. The bell rang for a two place prime (1st was cash) just past the halfway point.  Gary Ziegler (OKC Velo) went for it. I tried to time my jump on the hill. I was a couple of pedal strokes late and was second by inches. I stayed on the gas and we were away. I thought this was the race but was surprised when we were caught in the false flat. I hung out and waited for the field sprint. On the last lap, I moved forward on the false flat and hit the turn leading into the finish hill in fifth. I punched it around the outside and grabbed another gear. I blew past everyone, except Ziegler, who was almost able to match my speed. I took the win by a wheel and a half and the two of us had opened up a three second gap to Phil Sladek (Geri Atrix) who took third. The 10 second time bonus moved me up to third on GC, behind Ziegler & Hagerty.

A big thanks to the guys at Truvativ (SRAM) for setting me up with a prototype BB30 crank. The crank is incredibly stiff and, no doubt about it, really helped me use some big gears in this uphill sprint!

Joe Martin Stage Race

This race was on the way to the east coast and was in Velo News' edition of "Races You Have To Do." It was in Fayetteville Arkansas and the profiles looked very hilly. Luckily fro Trish and I, there were 50+ mens and 40+ women's categories. This was an NRC event and was four days for the Pro,1 men; 1,2 men; and 1,2 women. The other categories were three stages over two days. We both started with the same goal: make all of the time cuts to get into the criterium (final stage) and win it!

Stage 1; 2.5 mile 6.8 % hill climb TT:

Trish was off first and was shooting for something around 14 minutes. With 30 second start intervals, she caught and passed her minute woman (rider who started two places in front of her) and thought she was closing on her 30 second woman. Turns out that Trish's 30 second woman won the hill climb. Trish ended up surprising herself by finishing third.

I started behind an OKC Velo rider, who I had been told was going to win the whole thing. I had a great course report from Trish and was able to big ring the first third of the course. I knew I would blow up if I tried to make it all the way so I dropped it into the small ring and tried to settle into a rhythm. I still had my 30 second guy in sight as he passed his 30 second man. I went by my minute man and could see I was closing on the OKC rider with one kilometer to go. I went back into the big ring at 200 meters and gave it everything. I was pretty happy with the ride as I was sure I could not have gone any faster. I was pretty shocked later when I saw the results; tie for fourth, 34 seconds down on the leader!

Both Trish and I would not have made the time cut in the Pro fields by around 30 seconds.

Joe Martin Stage Race

Stage 2 Road Race:

This was a hilly course around Devil's Den State Park south of Fayetteville. Lucky for us, the start/ finish was across the street from our hotel! Trish was off first and was 46 seconds back on GC. The master women's field was combined with the women 3/4, picked separately. This increased he field size to around 35 women. It started to rain immediately after the start but just rained enough to make it miserable, then stopped. Trish made it over the toughest climbs with the lead group of 16 riders. This lead pack contained the top three master women. Then Trish flatted. She was able to get a wheel from the support vehicle, and chased back on to the second group. Trish did most of the work and pulled the group to within a few hundred meters of the leaders. She wasn't getting much help and they were never able to reconnect; they lost 2:20 by the finish. I took a little time for Trish to make the others realize they were all going to get the same time and that they were riding for GC. This made things a bit better but the 4th place master woman, Deborah Dunn (Tyson), who didn't contribute to the chase,  sprinted Trish at the line to take the final 5 second time bonus (she was 20 seconds behind Trish after the TT).  So Trish was fourth on the stage but lost GC due to a mishap. Bummer.

The 50+ started about an hour after the women's finish and we headed out with 19 riders. We hit the first climb and I was really suffering. The bunch seemed to stay all together but I wasn't looking back; I just was trying to hang on. I made it over the top (barely) as the attacks started flying on the downhill. We seemed to be all together when we hit the steepest climb of the day. It was hard, but no one really drilled it and I was able to hang on to the false flat at the top. We hit the next climb and a group of four went clear. This looked to be the move of the day so I put it in the big ring and went across. We were caught soon after the top. We had reduced the lead group to 10 guys. There were no real climbs left other than some small rollers that I could easily big ring. I covered everything and was in a couple of good moves, but nothing was sticking. These guys were going HARD! Finally I got frustrated and didn't follow when George Hagerty (Geri Atrix) attacked with Gary Ziegler (OKC Velo). Ziegler was the guy I was told to peg for the win before the TT. I had an opportunity to jump across, but didn't take it. The top six GC guys were in the bunch and I thought they would chase. I sat at the back and didn't help. We got real close, but no one would finish it off. The Geri Atrix & OKC Velo guys would attack every time the pace dropped a bit and this scared the four GC leaders. I went back up and started to pull like mad, but could only get help from Gary Calton (VeloTek). The others would not pull through; it was like they were blocking. Probably my fault for sitting on for about 5 miles. Heagerty took the win over Ziegler for the stage, and I took the bunch sprint for third (and a time bonus) over Tom Bain (Geri Atrix). Ziegler now had the overall lead, 13 seconds ahead of Heagerty. I was still in fifth, 32 seconds back. There was some change in the top five as there were several riders penalized 10 or 20 seconds for centerline violations. One interesting note: I was 4 seconds back of fourth place, Phil Sladek (Geri Atrix). Phil grew up in Santa Maria and his brother is the homeless guy we see riding around SLO on the black Cannondale MTB with the "Lefty" fork!

Joe Martin Stage Race

Stage 3 Criterium:

This was a tough Crit course! Lots of turns, 40+ mph downhill into a tight corner, long false flat uphill leading into a steep climb to the finish. 

Trish was up first and, due to yesterday's flat, was over two minutes back on GC; her only chance of winning GC would be to get away and put that much time into the two leaders. Time cuts had reduced the field to 7 riders. Pam Hinton (Mercy) took off from the gun and forced Trish to chase. Trish was vigilant and stayed in the lead group the entire race. The primes were for Jazz Apples so Trish didn't contest any of the sprints. With 4 laps to go Trish covered another attack by the GC leader. This resulted in the two of them riding away from the other two left in the lead group. Trish took the win and remained in third on GC behind Shari Woiwood (Bike Shack).

The weather had held so far, but the sky opened up just before the start of the 50+ race. Time cuts and the weather reduced the field to 13. Tom Bain (Geri Atrix) said he was just going to cruise and finish as he didn't want to go down. I rode the first lap on the front in order to set  the pace through the turns. I was immediately attacked on the start/finish hill by one of the OKC Velo riders. I closed the gap and settled in to the lead group of 8 riders. After a couple of laps I heard a crazy loud noise behind me. It turned out to be George Hagerty's (Geri Atrix) Mavic freehub. The added drag caused him to drop his chain repeatedly. He refused to stay at the back and gapped me a couple of times while he tried to get his chain back on. The bell rang for a two place prime (1st was cash) just past the halfway point.  Gary Ziegler (OKC Velo) went for it. I tried to time my jump on the hill. I was a couple of pedal strokes late and was second by inches. I stayed on the gas and we were away. I thought this was the race but was surprised when we were caught in the false flat. I hung out and waited for the field sprint. On the last lap, I moved forward on the false flat and hit the turn leading into the finish hill in fifth. I punched it around the outside and grabbed another gear. I blew past everyone, except Ziegler, who was almost able to match my speed. I took the win by a wheel and a half and the two of us had opened up a three second gap to Phil Sladek (Geri Atrix) who took third. The 10 second time bonus moved me up to third on GC, behind Ziegler & Hagerty.

A big thanks to the guys at Truvativ (SRAM) for setting me up with a prototype BB30 crank. The crank is incredibly stiff and, no doubt about it, really helped me use some big gears in this uphill sprint!

WINNER Phipps' Wente 35+ Race Report

35+ report. 
We had 7 out of the 65 in the race, Greg Anderson, Cole, Daly, Coats, Lyman, Charles PW & myself.  Unfortunately there was a crash in the first lap & we lost Lyman. Luckily it was just some road rash, but the poor guy has been having some bad luck lately & could use another Zipp 808 and a new kit. 

There were lots of attacks over the first 2 laps, but nothing that ever got too far ahead as our guys and Specialized were keeping good tempo at the front.  We still had most of the race together as we approached the climbs for the 3rd time with all our guys near the front with Coats, Charles & Cole setting the tempo.  I attacked and got a gap on the Papa Bear climb and was descending solo until Conrad Snover (Cyclepaths) bridged up to me with Dylan Casey. 

Conrad and I took turns pulling with Casey refusing to pull through.  We did this for about 4 miles until I told Conrad we shouldn't drag Casey along and we sat up and waited for what was left of the pack.  I think there were about 15 guys left.  We had Anderson, Cole, Daly & me, and Specialized had Casey, Innes, Anderson & Roemer.  After the descent, Casey & Innes started attacking.  Brenon was amazing towing me up to one of Casey's attacks.  Then, after I chased Casey on a later attack and he sat up, Innes countered and Brenon chased hard, but couldn't quite close the gap.  Greg saw this and started setting a fierce tempo at the front of the group.  After we reeled in Brenon, he and Greg took a couple more hard digs, keeping Innes within site.

Then, about 500M from the base of the Mama Bear climb, Casey attacked again.  I have no idea why he did this with Innes up the road, but I jumped on and went by him just as he caught Innes at the base of the climb.  I hammered for about 15 seconds, then looked back and saw that Innes had been dropped and Casey was struggling a few bike lengths back.  I put my head down and went up the hill as hard as I could and was told that I had 30 seconds by the top and was able to hold it over the top and up the final climb to the finish.
Scott Cole hung on for 6th. 
Awesome work team! 
(By the way, I'm keeping track of all the prize money I owe you guys & can pay you next time I see you guys)

Phipps Takes Berkeley Hills

Bridesmaid becomes bride? Student becomes the teacher?

In an awesome display of power and savvy, Chris "This why I do 40 hill repeats in SF" Phipps took the win in the 35+ 1/2/3/ field at the 2009 Berkeley Hills Road race. This killer course shells the weak and uncommitted. Teammate Scott Cole also finished top 10, with Brenon Daly serving up a big world of assistance. Great job, all!

Wente 45+ 1/2/3 RR Report

Race: Wente Road Race
Conditions: Cold early, warmed up, got windy
Morgans: Steve Archer, John Ford, Dan Smith, Tom Colter, Eric Salzman, Dave (cheffie), Norm, Don Langley, Max

Max 3rd, Steve 8th?  John?  Tom? Cheffie? Dan?

There was a strong field here, VOS with 3 decent climbers, John Ornary(still), Martin, Jan Elsbach, Rob Anderson, Dirk (Sportsbaseonlineowner).  Since Eric won this last year we thought to work for him.  There was the dumb Lactate test KOM over the 1st climb so when we hit that hill about 10 got clear with Ford in that move, they tried to organize but we sat in and the others brought it back. 

Shortly after Dirk (sprotsbaseonline) went and I got his wheel, we got a gap and rolled it down the hill before the flats.  Soon we had Rick Martin, Hunter Zeising, myself and Dirk.  I sat in with these guys as I thought the peleton might catch.  After  lap 1 we had 1 min gap, 2+ laps the gap came down to 25sec, Hunter dropped back to help Larry Nolan up to us and it turned out to be a good thing with his turbo flats pulls.  We built back up the gap on lap 4 and halfway through John (Reno wheelman) came out of nowhere, we all looked at one another in minor disbelief and then confirmed he was in our group.  The gap was up above 1.5 min again.  Hunter jumped on  a downhill and rode away never to be seen again.  Martin was sitting in now and Dirk I wasn't sure about.  Dirk said he hadn't ridden more than 30miles all winter (turned out to be true), but I was suspicious because he was putting some efforts in that were strong. 

Coming under the RR bridge Nolan was just hanging on (cramping), Dirk was looking good, so was John (Reno wheelman).  We got up to the final right hander before the last hill to the finish and John jumped up and just rode away up the final hill.  I couldn't match that effort, settled into a hard effort, trying to save a bit for the last little pop-up hill to the finish.  Got up the steeper first section had a good gap on Dirk, Martin, (100m), rode all the way to the line alone.  Turns out that the Reno guy got close to Hunter near the line and Hunter was waving for Reno guy to slow down and go left as there was another group sprinting to the line and Hunter already had the win, Reno guy tried to take Hunter at the line, hit Hunter's bike, Reno went down and broke his collar bone (OUCH).  Hunter had slowed way down to warn Reno guy but to no avail! 

Thanks all of you who helped to keep it together and for all your work. Also Thanks again to Andy for the feeds, that was excellent!!!  I have a bottle of Vino for someone and a tee-shirt we can cut up into 10 pieces!  (From Max Thompson)

Wente 35+ 1/2/3 RR Report

Team:  Greg Anderson, Scott Cole, Kellin Cooper, Brenon Daly, Michael Hutchinson, Chris Phipps

With the new KOM award on the first climb, Steve Paleaz (Lombardi) attacked right from the gun.  Greg followed, then Ron Castia (Infovista) went too.  With 3 up the road, the pack chilled for a while, but still reeled in Palez by the top of the climb.  After the first climb and descent Craig Nunes (Bishop's Peak) attacked and Brenon followed.  So, now we were sitting pretty with 2 out of 4 up the road.  Several other attacks went, with Kellin, Michael and Scott chasing them all down.  By the 3rd lap, Specialized had to do something and Innes and Metcalfe went to front to try and bring back the break.  Innes really buried himself to set it up for Metcalfe.  On the 4th climb, Metcalfe set the tempo, then I surged over the overpass and looked back to find only 5 others still left.  Metcalfe and I traded pulls, but when no one else came through I attacked with Nunes following.  We got away pretty easily, but Metcalfe was chasing solo.  We traded pulls into the headwind and on the descent to really make Metcalfe work to catch back up to us, which he finally did just after the left turn at the bottom.

From there the 3 of us worked pretty evenly together.  I was feeling real good and liked my chances since Nunes had been in a long break and Metcalfe had done a lot of work to bring it back.   When we made the final right hand turn on the climb, I went to the front and started my 1K sprint.  Nunes didn't last too long, but Metcalfe was staying on my wheel.  I slowed down for a couple seconds and let Metcalfe pull up even with me, then I went again and was able to get a gap this time and hold it to the line for the win.

Thanks a lot guys for doing all the early work and making it a lot easier for me! (From Chris Phipps)

Sea Otter = MS/S/TS Slaughers

Chris did an outstanding job riding away from the field at Sea Otter Circuit race in the 35+1-2-3 field.  Chris lapped the 45+ 1-2-3 at least once, so I was able to witness Chris torturing one rider who made the break with Chris, and was eventually dropped.  Very impressive, I need to get on Chris's four hour a week training plan it seems to work! (From Tom Coulter)

Also, Max had a strong ride in a talented field in the 45+ 1-2-3 road race under hot conditions.

Thanks and congratulations to Mark Caldwell who won the 55+ circuit race.  Before his race he was cheering for me, actually screaming at me each lap to go harder and not look back.  I thought 2nd place was right behind me until I finished and saw my gap was over 1:30. 

Also, Eric Saltzman was 4th in the 45+ circuit race, right behind Nolan in the sprint. Good job! (From Chris Phipps)

Smith on the Mend

Hello SportVelo athletes, Morgan teammates, family and friends,

I'm having a couple uncomfortable days as the stiffness and soreness has
set.  Plus, Andi and I have been busy calling, visiting and consulting with
several Dr.s  these past few days as well.

We have decided surgery is best option.  So early tomorrow, Friday, I'll
have a plate and several screws "installed" to repair and set my radius bone
in left forearm.  It's outpatient surgery so I should be home by the
afternoon.

Thanks again for all the advice re: Dr and offers to help Andi and I.  We
are very grateful for our wonderful circle of friends.

Good luck to all racing at Cat's Hill.  It's one of my favorite races. If I
can muster the effort I hope to be there at some point to cheer everyone on.

Stay safe out there, and stick to your training!

All the best,
Coach Dan