As in life, after every high there is the letdown afterwards. The same is true with bike racing. Team Legacy Energy Ciclismo has had great success this spring with Phil Mann winning a National Championship and the team achieving best amateur status at the Tour of the Gila. The team is coming off some needed down time. This was supposed to be a time of recovery, but more times than not it becomes a time of stress. Bike racers are happiest when they are a little tired but still going fast. Now we are starting the summer racing season and it is time to get the wheels rolling.
Trying to start my lawnmower after arriving home last week made me think about how hard it is to get momentum going. The Team has had some changes to our racing program this summer. We didn’t get into the Nature Valley Grand Prix or the Tour of Utah. Our big goals for the summer are now Tulsa Tough (this weekend!), Cascade Cycling Classic (July 9-13), and the amateur Road Race, Time Trial and Criterium Championships in August.
The Team left for Tulsa Tough on Wednesday in the “Team Car,” my 1998 Saturn sedan, with four guys, four bikes, and racing stuff for the weekend. The car looked like it had a brick strapped on top of it with all the bikes and wheels as the boys rolled off to Oklahoma. One hour and forty minutes into the drive the team passed through Deer Trail, Colorado. The tree-lined highway ended and a crosswind hit the car blowing the car into the left lane and ripping the bike rack off the car!! The rack bounced once and landed in the median sitting like it was still on the car, everything still in place.
Two bikes were damaged but the other two were not. Fortunately, Patrick was able to pick me up with his bike in the car and we picked up my bike and drove out to Brad’s car at Back On Track PT (it turns out he is most likely racing on broken fingers this weekend). I drove out to Deer Trail in Brad’s car. We swapped cars and got everything loaded up and the team was off! Damn, it is hard to get momentum going again.
Tulsa Tough is made up of three criteriums: Friday night at 9:25pm, Saturday at 6:35pm, and Sunday at 3:25pm. The race is on the National Racing Calendar and has $175,000 in prize money. Guaranteed, this race will be superfast! With all but one of our riders weighing less than 144 pounds, the team is not designed for this kind of racing. That said it doesn’t change much for us. As always, Team Legacy Energy Ciclismo is showing up prepared and counting on success! Phil is the team’s champion sprinter and the team leader this weekend – he has great form! Jarred is only getting faster as this year goes by and will be racing aggressively with Brad and Rolf. This is Rolf’s first race with the team and we are excited to have his power, experience, and class. This weekend will be a big test of how we are developing as a team and to see if we can get the damn lawnmower going again. This lawnmower we will transform into a Ferrari.
Andy Clark
Director Sportif
Team Legacy Energy Ciclismo
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