Racing is so much more than numbers. It’s long miles in the winter. It’s spontaneous city limit sprints. It’s the loan of an inner tube when you flat, for the second time, 50 miles from home. It’s hanging out on the couch after one hundred miles in the brilliant February sunshine, watching whatever video we could find under the cushions. Racing is the experience we share every time we saddle up to cruise around Lake Washington or, as we did so many sweet times this summer, work together to put the rest of the field on the defensive and in the pain cave.

A big thanks to our sponsors for their faith in the Recycled Cycles Racing vision. A big thanks to our friends and families for letting us walk through the door, an hour late, dripping wet and covered in grit. And a big thanks to our teammates, who keep us encouraged, humble, and motivated to put up a season like this.  

Recycled Cycles Racing 2009 Results (Abridged)

Track (Go fast, elbows out, don’t crash)

Mountain

  Triathlon (Let the record show that someone on RCR knows how to swim.  Pretty well too.)

Check back at the end of December for 2009 cyclocross results!

On October 6, a contingent of Recycled Cycles members traveled down to Kent to visit the Raleigh mothership.  RCR and Raleigh go way, way back.  Ever since anyone can remember, the team has been winning races on Raleigh bikes and it looks like a relationship that isn’t going to end anytime soon.  Diamond Back, our other hosts, have signed on to sponsor the MTB section of the team.  It’s a good deal all the way around.  They get a team that will race the hell out of their bikes on the road and in cross season.  We like riding something that is designed in our backyard.  They listen to our complaints and praise, and they even come on rides with us sometimes.  I wonder if the company president will join the Meet the Team Ride again this year.  And they gave us cool t-shirts.

Our host, taking a handup.

The purpose for the meeting? The 2010 Raleigh lineup. There are some exciting additions to the Raleigh line.  I won’t comment on everything; there are a lot of bikes.

The tunnel of tubes.

The new team frame tubes are HUGE.  The down tube is nearly the size of Jeff’s calves.  The chain stays are thicker than most downtubes.  The UCI commisaire will have to inspect it for the proper aspect ratio.  And somehow, it’s lighter than the old one.  They’ve included every 21^st century specification available: BB30 bottom brackets, tapered steer tubes with 1.5 inch crown races. The fully-built Team bike wouldn’t look out of place on the ProTour: Sram Red group, FSA cockpit parts, and Mavic Ksyrium SLs.  

Always store your cyclocross bike with a light, protective layer of mud.

The RX1.0 is so popular it’s sold out.  The team contributed to this.  They should have more by November.  They made some very tasteful component choices this year:  The Easton EC90 fork is replaced by the much stiffer EC70, eliminating the dreaded fork chatter and resultant control loss. Also gone are the Shimano Tiagra parts, replaced by SRAM Rival, the go-to gruppo for the budget-minded racer. That is to say, it’s perfect for cyclocross. And the paint job looks fabulous when bathed in mud. 

Cobblestones are calling baby! Just add 27mm sew ups.

Steel’s resurgence as the material of choice is complete, much to Nick Brown’s approval.  Raleigh is producing a bunch of steel bikes this year, including the Clubman, a very sharp-looking and nattily attired general purpose road bike, and the re-birth of the Record Ace, a sleek, lugged steel road racer invoking images of Moser or Museeuw, tearing hell-bent across Europe’s windswept farm roads. But unlike Francesco and Johan, you’ll have 10-speed Ultegra channeling the power and a Brooks saddle caressing your hide.  I’m excited to ride both of these bikes.

No chain fuss, no chain muss, no messy chain cleaning brush...

I played with a belt-drive bike – the Alleyway. I predict belt drive adoption will go through the roof when people realize that it’s light, clean, and reliable.

With those Di2 levers, I bet this thing shifts perfectly every time.

When they weren’t looking, we fondled the Shimano Di2 levers.  Paradoxically, they were installed on Raleigh’s Interbike single speed cyclocross showbike.  The ergonomics feel good to me.  It’s like shifting with a calculator, but not in a geeky kind of way. They wouldn’t show us the SSCXWC prize bikes.  I know Sally was holding out. 

My MTB knowledge is really thin, so for what it’s worth:

I appreciate that Diamond Back ignored the trend to build everything in carbon and instead focus on making their aluminum dual suspension frame lighter and stronger.  And in real life, 29er wheels are huge! I hear these are the new rage.  RT raced one all summer and says he’s sticking with the big wheel.  I think I might give one of these a try this summer. 

Raleigh’s XXIX PRO is fully equipped with SRAM XX and many other choice bits. The frame is 853 for dent resistance and wears discs fore and aft to ensure you can check your manic speed before tossing it into the next bend.

For anyone into retro, and who isn’t sometimes, there was a Raleigh SS 29er with a neon green paint job.  I’ll bet you could find some Vuarnet sunglasses on eBay to match it’s disco inspired paint job and go bomb down Mt. Tam.

Stay tuned for a report from FSA in a few weeks.  I will ask the question on everyone’s mind: “Where’s the road group the press was all a-twitter with last year?”

Hey, there’s a package at my front door.

I wonder who it’s from?

I wonder what the Rookie is sending me? Let’s open it up and see.

Let’s take a peak.

What?!?! It couldn’t be…

It is!

It’s back!

Starcrossed Cyclocross has grown from a novelty event under the floodlights of the Marymoor Velodrome to the first high profile event on the national cyclocross calendar. It is a priority for professionals and amateurs alike – within one hour of online registration opening, over one third of the available spaces in the category 3 men’s field were snatched up. However, the on-the-ball crew at Recycled Cycles Racing managed to get their fair share of riders enrolled in several categories. This is their story.

So i preregistered 2 months early. Stood in line for 1/2 hr. having an anxiety attack. Got a parking ticket while I was standing there. – Jason Cameron

Photo: Nick Brown

Photo: Nick Brown

“Went out a little to fast… must figure out how to get into the first two rows” - Josh Simpson

Photo: Nick Brown

There are an awfully large number of people willing to run into me in this race. – Luke St. Claire

Photo: Carry Porter

I did an awesome remount where I jumped clear over the top of my bike and landed on my back on the other side! – Kevin Speltz

Photo: Nick Brown

Please oh please let me hang on through these last turns….oh thank god, i need a beer.  - Randy Salamon

Photo: Carry Porter

Why the hell am i starting in the second to last row? – Randy Salamon

Photo: Nick Brown

I mean, this is just the Cat 4 World Championships, after all. – Chris Tremonte

Photo: Carry Porter

Josh just passed me in the corner. I sure do suck at corners. Why does this tight hairpin have to be right after the logs? – Chris Tremonte

Photo: Nick Brown

Photo: Carry Porter

Wow there’s a lot of people here! Getting out of the parking lot is gonna suck. – Todd Schneider

Photo: Nick Brown

He has been on a tear this season, and Adam “Turtle” Jablonski did not disappoint when the RCR crew packed the van and crossed state lines. By now you know that the Turtle put up a characteristically dominant win in front of the rowdy crowds at the Boise Twilight Criterium. But the open question is, how did it all come together? How did dedicated teammates and smart riding put Adam on the top step of the podium at one of the region’s big money events?

 Recycled Cycles Racing News (RCRN) checked in with Adam to find out how it all went down.

Road trip! There's a race out here somewhere...

 RCRN: First all AJ, nice work on the win. Set the stage for us.

AJ: Thanks. We were definitely looking forward to this one. The Recycled Cycles crew loaded up the team van with five cat 3s and a couple local pros and steeled ourselves for the 8 hour drive  to the summer sauna that is Boise, Idaho. The Boise Twilight Criterium is known for high speed, big crowds and big money, so the team was motivated for a proper throw down.

AJ: Steamy is right! The cat 3 race took place at the hottest time of the day and warm-up consisted entirely of trying to stay cool. Most racers brought one bottle to drink and one to dump on their heads. Road temp at race time was 112 degrees, quickly turning that cool splash of water on the head into a hot shower.

The pace was high from the gun and Rookie (“Rookie” is Brian Wachlarz – Ed) was the first to try his hand off the front. Next to go was Randy, out for big money primes to help defray the costs of later aluminum can structural engineering, while the rest of the team took up position at the front to protect our man’s lead. By mid-race, things calmed down and the pack was content to let a small break dangle a few seconds up the road.

RCRN: The Recycled gang isn’t one to approach a race passively, so how did you guys change the situation?

AJ: With three laps to go, I was concentrating on moving to the front for the sprint, but wasn’t having much luck due to the pace (averaging about 27-28 mph) and the withering heat. I was feeling a little guilty about not spending much time on or off the front up to that point so talked myself into a hard burst up the inside on the back side of the course on the final lap. I couldn’t justify finishing with any energy in the tank after seeing the effort my teammates had put in.
 

RCRN: Rightly so. Then what?

This is how Adam Jablonski guns it.

AJ: I made it to the front and took a quick look for a wheel to follow; no such luck as everyone else had the same idea. So instead I used my momentum to go right past the group and get a small gap over the field through the 3rd corner. At that point it was do or die, so I put my head down and went for it. I looked up once to navigate between the curb and a cooked rider sitting up, and then again with about 200 ft. to go, just in time to steer around another fading rider. I couldn’t believe I’d held off the pack from so far out. The severe oxygen debt kept me from celebrating for an extra second, but we’d taken the win in front of the big crowd!

RCRN: Good work. So you followed it up with a massage and mineral water, right?

AJ: Absolutely! We celebrated that evening in fine old-school Recycled Cycles style, sipping celebratory beers in the shade and cheering on the Gato in the pro race. It’s always a great feeling when the team’s hard work pays off with another win, and it sure makes the long drive home a little easier!

RCRN: Congratulations to you and the team.

Look out for more stories from the boys in blue and gold soon!

Here is a report of Day Two of this weekend’s racing at the Boston Harbor Road Race by our very own “Rookie”

   After the start whistle blew on Sunday at 11:05 for the CAT 3 men’s state championship circuit race in lovely Boston Harbor there wasn’t a moment I didn’t hurt. Not during the race, not after in the fetal position trying to rest and soak up some heat from the parking lot that felt like a feather bed. Most definitely not on the ride home, or even after lying in bed trying to decide if moving was a good idea after a most excellent nap (it was not a good idea).

   We had worked are butts off Saturday and came away with an awesome, well deserved, dominating win. Coming into Sunday we were highly motivated, and had 3 fresh riders. Randy and I started on the front and my heart rate was redlined 2 miles in.

   After that it got ugly.

   The easiest way to put it was we attacked, we counterattacked, we set tempo and then attacked. We were either blocking, chasing, attacking or there was a blue and gold RCR jersey up the road. When we could talk in the field, people kept asking “How many riders did you bring?”, It didn’t seem like 7 riders could be doing so much damage unfortunately we had lost Jeff “the Calf” Nettles and New Carl in the first few laps, but we finished with Randy, Pauh, AJ, Mike Brown, Nick Brown, Smoothy and I.

   The winning break didn’t stick until the last lap. AJ attacked up the climb, hung a right drilling it up a false flat and across the start/ finish line with one to go and a solid 7 guys in tow (me being one of them). Not many people were willing to work and about 3 miles later we had another 6 riders bridge up. AJ, ever the good team mate, said he’d work for me. I was almost completely cracked (too much energy spent chasing, pulling and attacking), and I declined his lead-out. 33 miles down, 3 to go and it felt like I’d road 80.

We came into the final right hand corner with 1K to go. AJ attacked and opened a huge gap. Hagens and Wines wound it up after the false flat and with 250 to go, it looked like yesterday’s effort was getting to AJ. I took one pedal stroke into my sprint and got pinched to the right between a junior in front and to my left and the ditch. I tapped my brakes, and with that, my race was over. AJ, one heart beat/ minute away from puking was swarmed 50 meters from the line.

   All in all it was a blast. Racing super aggressive, having teammates support each other and earning the respect of the other teams was a Sunday well spent. I’m looking forward to dishing out more of the same in future races and pulling off a win for the team(which I’ve just barely missed these past 2 Sundays, and of which I’m sure will mitigate the pain of leaving it all out on the race course).

-Rook

In Joe Parkin’s book  A DOG IN A HAT, there is an old European racer who says that there is only one great way to win: Off the front.

This weekend’s Capitol Crit was the backdrop for our very own Adam Jablonski’s take on being the “Only one in the picture” (except for that pesky kid on the right) as he won the CAT 3 race in convincing fashion!

Thanks to Amara at WHEELSINFOCUS.COM for the picture!

A report of the action is on the way!

Man, when the season gets rolling, it is HARD to keep up!!!!

Whoa…

That’s a lot. I assure you, there are stories to go along with each picture, and we will be putting those out there PDQ.

We will also be wrapping up a little business (a couple ROTM have to be awarded), so check back!!!!

LUKE ST. CLAIR!!!!

Great Job Luke! He is the 2009 Washing state Cat 3 Road Race Champ!

Not only that, but he managed a 6th place finish the next day to secure 1st in the West Side Omnium!!!

Congrats!!!

There are a few exceptionally hard races in the NW, and the TOUR OF WALLA WALLA is one of them. In a tough race, you either rely on your teammates, or you get shot out the back.

Here are a couple accounts and tid-bits from racers who made their marks on this year’s Tour of Walla Walla…

ADAM JABLONSKI

So the Friday road race was pretty brutal, rivet from the gun, 100 guys struuuuung out. Randy and I made the first group for most of the race, but he was the only one to stay with it to the finish. Props to him as he busted his butt to keep me there twice and then was still able to hang when I popped.

TT this morning, good course that went up the first half and down the second. Randygot his same place on GC from Friday (38th, which was the size of the front group) to stay within shouting distance.

BRIAN “ROOKIE” WACHLARZ

RANDY SALAMON

I had a good ride because of the awesome
teammates I had with me. Smoothy was in the right break at the
perfect time.

Dirty Brown and Turtle did the greatest job on the
front of the group on Sunday. Anything that moved or tried to get
away after the break went was met with the blue and gold on it s
wheel. 

Best quote by Browner: “Sorry, I can’t pull through, I got a
teammate up front in the break and my GC guy is just behind us”.

That’s a team-mate.

The racing was HARD. Period and that is a non debatable point. I was
worked over on Friday and did the best I could in the TT. The crit
was dark, fast and crazy. The main goal was to finish in the head
group to stay on the same time as everyone else.

And Sunday, well like I said, awesome teammates all around. I kept
myself up front trying to expel as little energy as I needed
throughout the entire day. Going over climbs at 24-25mph is not fun.
Unfortunately Turtle got taken down at the base of the final climb but
i was able to stay up with lead group and finished 16th on the day
taking 19th in GC.

Teamwork is the only way I got it, and I thank all eight of you guys.

JOSH SIMPSON

The Cat4 Perspective:

Adam Kaufmanfinished 5th in GC, he had an excellent TT & Road Race. 

TT:
Awesome TT course, I hope they keep this part of the event unchanged!

Adam 6th (I think)
Josh 21st

Crit:
The Crit was fast and  scary even in the daylight, 96 people on the start line and I managed to miss my pedal twice quickly finding myself on the back of that race.  I spent the next 15 minutes trying to get my butt to the front, this is not an easy task when it is strung out for 2+ blocks.  Bumper bikes in the corners as people are diving on the inside of the turn,  people smashing pedals coming out of turns.  One guy road up next to me and congratulated me for keeping my bike upright….    MAN I LOVE CRIT RACING!!

Adam32nd
Josh22nd

Road Race:
Adam and I did notride like a team, he needed somone who could actually set the pace on the climbs which is frankly not something I am able to do.  My whole goal was to make it to the base of the last climb with the main pack, which I did.  Adam was setting the pace at the bottom of both the hard climbs, shredding  the field.  I had to chase after the first climb (thanks Adam), and I believe at least 15 people DNF-ed and the main pack was about 50, so we lost close to half the field by the time we made it to the base of the last climb.  It is a hard race.

Adam 6th
Josh 46th (I think)