Stage 5 was held in Springfield, OH. (Saturday 6/23). Today's stage was a 40 mile crit. The course was a flat 1k 4 corner loop.
This stage was again controlled by A&F. They were interested in keeping it together for a sprint finish to protect the leaders jersey of Hekman and the sprinters jersey of Aledia. With this obvious plan the other racers weren't about to roll over and allow A&F to carry this out uncontested. Attacks were launched thoughout the race by various teams. Initially A&F brought every move back but then switched strategies and had riders individually cover every attempted move and just sit on. This strategy worked because no attempt gained more than 15 seconds. In the end the yellow jersey of Hekman was the final leadout for Aledia to take stage 6.
A&F swept the 3 main jerseys of this years Tour of Ohio. Tim Swain (A&F) took the KOM jersey, Hekman (A&F) the leaders yellow jersey and Aledia (A&F) the green spinters jersey.
Stage 6 Results
1 Marco Aledia (A&F) 1:11:52 (20 sec time bonus)
2 Steven Scholzen (IS Corp) st (10 sec time bonus)
3 Jamie Gandara (Colavita) st (5 sec time bonus)
FINAL GC standings
1 Mark Hekman (A&F) 10:09:37
2 Dewey Dickey (Mercy Specialized) +20"
3 Josh England (A&F) +1:10
Cyclingnews.com - Aledia scores bookend victories, Hekman finishes in yellow
Stage 6 Rider Comments
Merk Hekman's Blog (A&F)
Steve Cummings' Blog (GPOA Meredith)
Seth Meyer's Blog (Get a Grip)
Stage 5 was held in Yellow Springs, OH. (Friday 6/22). Today's stage was 4 laps of an 11 mile circuit. The course included a short steep climb each lap.
The race was fast, averaging just over 26 mph. A&F set a high tempo protecting the leaders jersey and discouraging attacks. A&F was able to bring back all attacks and keep the field together for a field sprint. But it didn't go totally to plan for them. There leadout lost control in the final long straight line to the finish. At this point no team was able to control the run in, so it became a free for all. Jamie Gandara (Colavita) was able to take advantage of the confusion and take his first stage win of the tour. Tim Swain (A&F) maintains the KOM jersey, Hekman (A&F) holds the leaders yellow jersey and Aledia (A&F) the green spinters jersey.
Stage 5 Results
1 Jamie Gandara (Colavita) 1:34:51 (20 sec time bonus)
2 Molly Cameron (Organic Athletes) st (10 sec time bonus)
3 Michael Chauner (PA Lightning) st (5 sec time bonus)
GC following Stage 5
1 Mark Hekman (A&F) 8:57:45
2 Dewey Dickey (Mercy Specialized) +20"
3 Josh England (A&F) +1:10
Cyclingnews.com - Gandara takes stage sprint, Hekman retains yellow
Springfield News-Sun - Abercrombie tough to beat
Stage 5 Rider Comments
Steve Cummings' Blog (GPOA Meredith)
Molly Cameron's Blog (Organic Athletes)
Noah Singer's Blog (Mercy Cycling Team)
Stage 4 was held in Worthington, OH. (Thursday 6/21). Today's stage was 40 miles on a 1.2 mile circuit on the city streets of Worthington. The course included a small big ring climb each lap.
The race was controlled by A&F. They were keeping everything in check with the intent of Hekman taking the stage and the yellow leaders jersey. And that they did. Dickey (Mercy) was marking Hekman for the entire race but wasn't able to follow in the final sprint. Tim Swain (A&F) maintains the KOM jersey and Hekman holds the sprinters green jersey.
Stage 4 Results
1 Mark Hekman (A&F) 1:25:00 (20 sec time bonus)
2 Erik Tomlison (Team Turin) st (10 sec time bonus)
3 David Richter (Italia Pasta) st (5 sec time bonus)
GC following Stage 4
1 Mark Hekman (A&F) 7:22:54
2 Dewey Dickey (Mercy Specialized) +20"
3 Josh England (A&F) +1:10
Cyclingnews.com - Hekman Sprints into Yellow
Stage 4 Rider Comments
Mark Hekman's Blog (A&F)
Marco Aledia's Blog (A&F)
Steve Cummings' Blog (GPOA Meredith)
Molly Cameron's Blog (Organic Athletes)
Well I've now done a total of 3 'C' races and a 'B' race at the Oval. My form is improving as well as my results. C Results - 15th, 12th, & 11th. B Results - 13th.
Here are the stats from my last 2 C races and the B race.
Stats: C - 5/1 (12th)
15 miles (30 laps)
36min 50sec
24.4mph avg
296w NP
161 avg HR
Stats: C - 5/15 (11th)
15 miles (30 laps)
36min 30sec
24.7mph avg
293w NP
162 avg HR
Stats: B - 5/16 (13th)
15 miles (30 laps)
34min 50sec
25.8mph avg
286w NP
158 avg HR
Officials have announced a statewide world class espoir (under age 25) bike race in conjunction with Pittsburgh's 250th anniversary.
The Tour of PA will be sponsored by American Eagle Outfitters Inc. and Highmark Inc. The event will take place June 24-29, 2008, starting out in Philly with stage finishes in Valley Forge, Harrisburg, Bedford and the Laurel Highlands, and the final stage in Pittsburgh.
Pittsburgh Business Times
Lancaster Online
PR News Wire
My cyclingling has been in havoc for the past 4 months. My office relocated from WV to PA (4 hrs away) and my family is still in the transition process. So my training and racing has taken a major hit.
In the last month I've finally had a chance to get in some miles and damn have I lost some fitness. So.... the weekly series here in Pittsburgh at the Washington Blvd Oval by ACA started a couple of weeks ago. I made a trip downtown on opening night (raining and cold) to watch the A's and B's. It looked pretty cool. It is a 1/2 mile oval. There is a slight hump at the start finish line otherwise it is a very slight down grade on the back stretch and very slight up grade on the front stretch. It is an old driving training course. They run weekly racing April till September, the C's & Women on Tuesday's and A's & B's on Wednesday's.
I'm nowhere close to race fitness but I figured what better way to train than to suffer. So I decide to give the C race a shot and just hope not to get dropped. The weather was great, it was finally sunny and somewhat warm. They run though a clinic prior to the Tuesday races. They cover pacelining and misc race information for newbies. They ran the women/junior race then we were up. My plan was to hang toward the back and gauge my fitness. We were doing 30 laps. Well long story short I didn't get dropped. On the last lap I moved up into decent position on the back stretch. In the last corner some dude in front of me just sat up and I had to hit my brakes. I got back into my sprint and passed a handful of guys to come in 15th out of 33.
With my leve of fitness I was satisfied with the result. We'll give it a whirl again this week. I may even be dumb enough to give the B's a shot on Wednesday.
Stats:
15 miles (30 laps)
35min 50sec
25.1mph avg
Aaahhhh signs of some dedication in the past 2 days of rides. Yesterday I did hill repeats with threatening skies, it actually started raining for about the last 15 minutes of the ride. And today I did a 20 mile loop in the cold and flurries. I'm just going to have to take weather out of the equation if I'm going to get into any kind of shape. I would say "on form" but I'm so far from that it would be embarrassing for me to utter those words.
Here are my stats from the past 2 days.
Hill Repeats (8 climbs)
18.5 miles (1hr 27min), Avg 12.7 mph, avg HR 141, avg normalized power 273 watts, 2130 ft of total climb. Most of my hill repeats were in the 5 minute range around 325 watts.
Tempo Ride
19.7 miles (1hr 9min), Avg 17 mph, Avg HR 141, Avg normalized power 254 watts, 630 ft of total climb.
Well that's a good start to the week. Let's see if I can keep it going.
Well, looks like I'm going to relocating to the Pittsburgh PA area in the next few months. Specifically North Strabane, Cecil or Peters Townships in Washington County (South of Pittsburgh). My company is relocating my office and there just aren't any options in my field to stay local.
I would be interested to hear from anyone about the local racing/cycling scene in the Pittsburgh area. I would even be interested to hear from anyone that knows the area in general.
I just realized exactly how long it had been since I last posted. I suck! Sorry guys.
Thanks to those that commented about reading the blog. I hope that you keep coming back and I'll try to get back into the posting groove.
My riding has been pretty inconsistent since my last training post on Dec 19. But I have put in some decent rides. 4 rides over 30 miles and 1 over 50 miles. I came down with the stomach bug just before Christmas, that was nice. And last week I wasn't feeling very well. I hope that I can stay health enough to get back into some consistent training.
Compared to last year, I am way behind on my base miles. And I can really tell a difference on the climbs. At this point I should be stepping up the intensity of my training with some interval work. But with my lack of miles I think that I'm going to hold off for a few more weeks. The weather is supposed to be decent the rest of this week so hopefully I can get in some quality miles.
