LITESPEED-BMW » Team News

Spin for Kids 2011

LITESPEED-BMW — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 19:26:50 +0000

This past Sunday, October 23, the LITESPEED-BMW Cycling Team participated in the 6th annual Spin for Kids. This is an annual fundraiser, benefitting Camp Twin Lakes, that our team proudly participates in every year. It’s an exceptional organization in that the main goal is to provide children with certain illnesses or disabilities the right and ability to enjoy some of the classic childhood activities that we all take for granted. Without organizations like this, thousands of children would never have to the opportunity to simply cast a fishing line from a canoe, or go for a hike in the woods, or ride a bike without inhibition. It’s an amazing organization that has entirely humbled our entire team as it has opened our eyes to some of the amazing realities that some are forced to live with.

Camp Twin Lakes is a special place for special kids. Working in partnership with over 40 different organizations, Camp Twin Lakes provides life-changing experiences to children with serious illnesses and life challenges at various locations throughout the state of Georgia. This year 950 participants raised over $340,000 (and counting), and the LITESPEED-BMW team raised nearly $10,000, eclipsing the $25,000 mark over the last three years!!! This was in part due to a very generous donation on the part of BMW…(2) Two-Day M School certificates for the BMW Performance Driving School! Having participated in the One-Day M School ourselves, we are certain that the winner of the auction, a lucky man from PA, will have gotten his money’s worth…on top of contributing to an amazing charitiy.

Fourteen members of our team arrived to chilly Camp Twin Lakes in Rutledge, GA for the 100 mile ride. We were greeted by the cheery volunteers and one of our great sponsors, and the man who founded Spin for Kids, Dave Shoulberg of United Distributors. We set out at the head of a group of around 50 cyclists and wound our way through the scenic countryside of Walton, Morgan, and Newton counties. Rest stops in historic towns like Rutledge and Madison, Georgia provided us with ample fuel for our long day in the saddle. By mile 60, temps had reached close to 70 degrees, so the day was pretty much perfect at that point. After 5.5 hours in the saddle, we pulled into Camp Twin Lakes to the cheers of the volunteers, campers, and the several hundred riders who had already completed the shorter distances on offer that day. Once again, the ride was finished by food and drink provided by generous Spin for Kids sponsors Taco Mac and Sweetwater Brewing Company.

2011 was the best year yet and all of us can’t wait for Spin for Kids 2012!

Grant Park P/1/2 Criterium

LITESPEED-BMW — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 12:26:25 +0000

After the success earlier in the day in the Masters crit at Grant Park the full LITESPEED-BMW squad was amped to get to going in the Pro1/2 race. The field was stacked with talent from Realcyclist.com, Team Type 1, Team Mountain Kakis, Team Kenda/5 Hour energy and others.

Knowing the race would be fast from the gun Wes and Hank stayed at the front early to get in the early moves, and right away attacks were flying and the pace was very fast. Our Jamaican National Champion teammate O Neil Samuels was also going with early moves. About 15 minutes into the race a breakaway was being brought back by the field and Chris Brown saw an opportunity to attack and flew past the lead riders and was away solo. The goal was not to have Chris out solo but to be in a small breakaway group with two LITESPEED-BMW riders in the move. So on Chris went…and went…getting his lead up to over 35 seconds at one point! This allowed Wes, Hank, O’Neil, Doug and Colby to jump in with secondary moves but any move that tried to go across to Chris would quickly not get anywhere and the move would get brought back in by the field. With a little over 20 minutes left in the race (Chris had been off the front solo for twenty minutes) and Chris’s lead was still over 30 seconds, Cesar Grajales of Realcyclist.com got on the front of the field and ripped the race apart. Cesar was chasing for one of his sprinters so they could win the race. Only 16 riders were able to stay on Cesar’s wheel while he chased, bringing Chris back in two laps. So the lead group was established and O’Neil Samuels had also made the key move so now Chris was to work for O’Neil so that O Neal could win the sprint but O Neal got a flat rear tire shortly thereafter! Bummer as O’Neil has been flying and recently won the Road Atlanta stage of the GA Cycling Grand Prix. Next time O’Neil! So Chris did all he could with the energy he had left to go with secondary moves but ultimately he just did not have enough left in the tank and sprinted in for 11th. Still a solid ride and great race for the team as Doug Ollerenshaw, Colby Millen and O’Neil (after getting a new wheel) finished the race strong.

Next up, the 10th anniversary of the River Gorge Omnium in Chattanooga TN. Epic race featuring a time trial, night time super-fast downtown criterium and a grueling road race with tons of climbing and a mountain top finish, look for full report soon

Grant Park Masters Criterium

LITESPEED-BMW — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 14:21:53 +0000

The LITESPEED-BMW team had been looking forward to their “home” criterium race for some time as lots of friends and family and several team sponsors would be at the event (thank you to Wayne Schulte with BMW and Aimee Henderson with Georgia Natural Gas for coming out and watching us race, we hope you enjoyed the action). So the day was finally here to race the Grant Park Criterium in Atlanta, the team was ready!

First up, the Masters criterium featuring LITESPEED-BMW riders Benjy Coil, Clay Parks and Chris Brown. The plan was to have Benjy and Clay go with early moves with Chris coming across or attacking if nothing works in the first fifteen minutes or so and then have two in the move. Benjy and Clay a great job manning the front and going with early moves. After about 15 minutes Chris saw an opportunity to attack and went for it, only problem was two Peachtree Bicycles riders got with him and this was not a good situation for Chris especially considering he wanted to save some energy for the Pro/1/2 race later that evening.. So backing it down a bit Chris regrouped with about seven other riders including riders from Tria and Irondata. Chris was heavily marked by others and eventually Brendan Sullivan from Iron Data attacked and no other teams wanted to chase. Chris waited and waited finally having to attack solo to try to catch Brendan with six laps left in the race. Chris chased hard and was able to get back 22 seconds of Brendan’s 30 second gap by the finish. Chris finished second overall, but won his age group (so much for saving energy as Chris had not wanted to be solo for over five laps of the race. Oh well, that is racing).

Next up the Pro/1/2 race featuring a full squad of Litespeed-BMW riders…

Georgia Cycling Gran Prix Race #5 – The Jamaican Sensation

LITESPEED-BMW — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 17:52:37 +0000

Saturday evening the team headed East on I-20 for the 5th race of the series, a criterium in downtown Covington, GA. The race would be 90 minutes on a new course that none of us had raced before. About 50 riders were on the start line including 6 from LITESPEED/BMW – Oneil Samuels, Benjy Coil, Wes Parrish, Hank Beaver, Chris “KOM” Chotas, and Quenton “Colby” Millen. The rest of the field was made up of most of the same we’d raced against for the previous races in the series plus a few new faces.

Another fast start saw constant attacks throughout the 6-turn course. Benjy, who’d be mistaken for Don Draper if you didn’t know better, took charge from the start and was present in every move for the first 15 minutes of the race. Just as we were wondering if the rest of us would get a chance to help out, Oneil managed to slip into a break including Joey Rosskopf and Alexey Schmidt (both Team Type 1), Thomas Brown (Team Mountain Khaki’s), and Serghei Tvetcov (Aerocat). This move had some serious horsepower. Since the two largest teams in the race, LITESPEED/BMW and TT1, each had riders in the break, chances were slim that this one would come back. For the next hour, Wes, Hank, and Colby took turns patrolling the front of the field marking any rider that would try to get away from the group.

Oneil rockin' the aviators

With about 20 minutes left in the race, the break up front had split into two groups. The first 3 riders caught the field with 6 laps to go while Oneil and his companion caught on with 4 to go. Benjy and Wes helped get Oneil up through the field and up to Hank up front. Hank positioned Oneil as best he could for the sprint amongst all the chaos of the last 2 laps. When a break laps the field and you have them sprinting for the win while in the main group of riders, things can get pretty hairy! Oneil was near the front of the field crossing the finish line, but wasn’t sure how he’d placed amongst the leaders. When the dust settled and the officials posted the results, Oneil came home with a fine 5th place finish on the evening after spending nearly an hour off the front of the race and lapping the field! Benjy led the rest of the team home in 14th place. Another fun night of racing for the team with Oneil again flying the colors of LITESPEED/BMW off the front of the race!

Oak Ridge Velo Classic Omnium – We Might As Well Win

LITESPEED-BMW — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 16:18:55 +0000

Our Chattanooga teammate and Litespeed/QR sales rep. Chris Brown headed up to the Oak Ridge Velo Omnium Classic the other weekend, he was our lone LITESPEED/BMW rider racing the event and he was up against several strong teams. Of note the Hincapie/Green Creation, Friends Great Smokies (FSG), Team Sonic-Treehouse and Krystal Racing teams along with others.

Up first was the 75 mile road race. From the gun attacks started and an early move of three got away with Hincapie/Green Creation and FSG represented the group seemed content to let them get time as teammates of these riders just jumped on any counter moves that tried to get away. Chris was not super worried knowing that the difficult course and distance would likely wear down the small group of leaders and that they could be caught later in the race as they fatigue. But as the break continued to get time on the field, getting up to four minutes at one point as other teams seemed to not be motivated to chase, Chris started in the chase and this slowly motivated others to start working to get the break back a bit. Going into the last 10 miles the break had 2 minutes and Chris really thought the break was going to stay away. So he put himself in good position over the 1 mile climb 5 miles from the finish and got away with John DeLong of Hincapie/Green Creation. A small group formed with a couple of other riders getting with Chris and John, next thing he knows the break is right in front of them and they caught the leaders with a mile and a half to go! The finish comes 200 meters after a pretty steep hill, so Chris set himself up to be 2nd in the small group and made sure to be in the right gear combination to jump for the finish right at the top of the hill. Bam! He drills it at the top of the climb and comes in for the win! Nice work CB!

The 8 mile Time Trial was up next that afternoon on a rolling course. Chris had his Quintana Roo Cd0.1 decked out with Zipp Sub 9 disc and 808 front! He pulled down second place averaging nearly 29mph! This set Chris up with a good size points lead in the chase for the overall omnium win for the weekend with one race left, the criterium the next day.

Heading into the crit Chris knew which riders were closest to him for the overall and his plan was to get in break with FSG and Hincapie/Green Creation teams represented and get away from the others who had a mathematical shot at the overall. He was super aggressive throughout the race and finally got away like he planned but he had to fend off constant attacks out of the break from Hincapie/Green Creation and FSG riders. Chris had used a lot of energy in the race but wanted to get away from a good sprinter in the break so he was launched by a Sonic rider on the last lap for a solo move. Chris gave it 100% only to have John Delong catch onto him in the last corner, with Chris gassed from his solo effort he didn’t have much left for the sprint and rolled in a strong 2nd. This gave Chris the overall win for the weekend, his second overall win for the year as he won the Rocket City Omnium in Huntsville earlier this year.

It should be noted that before the Pro,1,2 criterium on Sunday afternoon that Chris raced the masters crit and promptly won it! Unbelievable.

Next up Grant Park Criterium and River Gorge Omnium!

Georgia Cycling Gran Prix Race #1 – Grapes of Wrath

LITESPEED-BMW — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 13:21:18 +0000

The first race of the Georgia Cycling Gran Prix took place at Road Atlanta in Braselton, GA. Its a rolling 2.5 mile loop that is recognized as one of the world’s best road courses. This year the organiser decided to race the course counter-clockwise as well as combine the P/1/2 field with the category 3 field, so we had about 50 riders at the start for this 50 mile race. LITESPEED/BMW had Colby Millen, Chris Chotas, Hank Beaver, Wes Parrish, and Oneil Samuels on the line and ready to rock. The Team Type 1 Devo team also had about 8 riders there, so we knew they were the team to watch. Nothing would get away without one (or more) of their riders being present.

As usual, the racing was aggressive from the gun. It was obvious Team Type 1 wasn’t going to let anything get away without either local stud Joey Rosskopf or Florida legend Dan Holt present. All of the LITESPEED/BMW riders took turns getting into every break that tried to get away. We won’t bore you with the blow-by-blow, but this went on for a good 20 miles. Finally, Oneil was able to get into a solid break of 8 riders. The break included Oneil, the evergreen Brian Toone of Alabama’s Tria Market team, and a trio of Team Type 1 riders Joey, Dan, and Alexei Schmidt (of their Pro team). This was the move. As they began to pull away, the rest of us stayed at the front of the field to make sure no other teams could chase them down or try to get anybody across the gap and into the move. Oneil held his own in the break and went pull-for-pull with the trio from TT1.

As the laps counted down, the racing up front heated up. Riders in the break took turns attacking each other on the short, steep hill at the beginning of every lap. Oneil was feeling good and was confident he could take this group in the sprint if it came down to one. Finally on the last lap TT1 began their leadout for Alexei who is a former Russian national champion on the track. As they came around the last turn Oneil was sitting in the catbird’s seat ready to pounce. At 300 meters, Oneil unleashed his sprint that has won him multiple Jamaican national titles and came around Alexei and Joey to WIN by 2 bike lengths!!! It was a great win by Oneil over some very quality riders and a great way to start the week of racing!

Georgia Games – Knocking On The Door

LITESPEED-BMW — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 16:39:47 +0000

The Georgia Games is a staple on the Georgia racing calendar. Held in July of every year, it is not only on a challenging course, but it is also never under 95 degrees! First up was the road race, which also doubled as the state championship. On tap for the day was 90 miles on a rolling course with temps in the upper 90′s. Litespeed/BMW had a strong team for this one – Chris Brown, Benjy Coil, Matt McCarthy, Wes Parrish, Colby Millen, Chris Chotas, and Artur Sagat. We knew this would be a race of attrition, so the plan was to be in every break and come home with a state champion jersey. About 40 riders rolled off the line at the 11am start time. Three miles into the race, Wes ended up off the front with another rider. A few miles later, another rider bridged the gap to make it 3. This move forced the other teams to use valuable energy in chasing. Wes and his companions worked well together up front, but the gap never got above 45 seconds. Once we neared the end of the first lap and hit the hilly section, the gap dropped dramatically and the group was caught after about 18 miles off the front. We figured there would be some more attacks coming, so Matt and Colby rode a solid pace on the front to keep the goup intact for awhile. On the third lap a group of 4 managed to escape the field, but Chris, Benjy, and Artur decided this one wasn’t getting away without a Litespeed/BMW rider in it and quickly closed down the 1 minute gap! With about 35 miles to go Chris Brown decided it was time to do his thing and launched a blistering attack which only Serghei Tvetcoc (Aerocat Cycling Team) could follow. Upon seeing this attack, one rider turned to Chris Chotas and told him he’d never seen a move so powerful. Ever. These two went pull for pull over the next 34 miles while Benjy and Artur kept things in the field in check. The final mile is all uphill and Serghei managed to get a small gap on Chris and held on for the win with Chris taking 2nd place. Not too bad for spending the last 35 miles off the front with only one other guy to help! A small group managed to get away in the last couple of miles, but Benjy was able to place second in the field sprint for 8th place on the day. No jersey, but 2 in the top 10 after some great teamwork was not a bad way to start the weekend.

On Sunday, the Georgia Games criterium was held at the West Oak Office Park. This is the same course that many Atlanta area cyclists train on during the famous “Tuesday Night Crit”. A smaller field of about 25 lined up for this one and Litespeed/BMW had Wes Parrish, Matt McCarthy, Artur Sagat, and Oneil Samuels racing. The race started out fast from the start with attacks going left and right. We all took turns getting in every move. After about 20 minutes of this, Oneil was able to get away with John Atkins and Andy Lougher (two Tuesday night regulars). These three all took their turns doing the work off the front while Matt, Artur, and Wes patrolled the front of the field and made sure nobody was going to get away or pull this group back. With 5 laps to go the gap was 1 minute. Now the field knew they were racing for 4th place. With 2 laps to go, Matt put in a searing attack that only a junior racer from TN was able to follow. Being relatively new to racing in the P/1/2 field, he didn’t realize that you had to work to stay away with two laps to go and so only sat on Matt’s wheel. Matt did his best, but the field caught them as they came through with 1 lap to go. Wes immediately attacked as soon as they were caught. Up front the cat-and-mouse had started and as Wes came around to the backside of the course he could see the 3 leaders just up the road. Knowing Oneil was the best sprinter in the group, the other two forced him to lead out the sprint and were able to come around him at the line and force him into 3rd place on the day. Meanwhile, the group behind was flying and caught Wes coming out of the final turn. Another hot, aggressive race, but we got another podium finish for the team.

Next up, the Georgia Cycling Gran Prix!

Masters State Championship Criterium, 2011 Vintage

Christian Leask — Tue, 17 May 2011 20:09:59 +0000

Fine Wine gets another scalp

Report by Benjy:

Colby and I decided to race the masters race and then later in the day race the category 2 race for the state championship jerseys. Most of the fellas, being on the younger side, opted to race the cat 2 race and then the pro-1-2 race in the evening. Both Colby and I thought we had a shot. In the masters race I was in the 40-44 age group and Colby was in the 35-39 group.

The course in Macon is great. It is a big perfect fast square with slight hills on two opposite sides. The race started out fast and stayed that way for the duration. Last year the field was lapped by a small breakaway in both the masters and the pro-1-2, so the field was very attentive to groups trying to escape and get up the road. There were steady sharp attacks, many led by the Peachtree Bikes duo of Tony and Igor, the big Russian. I simply could not go with every move so I chased the ones that looked the strongest. Ultimately, the race ended in a field sprint. On the last lap we rounded turn three and I was trying to figure the best time to launch. It was best to sprint right out of turn four and up the hill to the finish. On the approach to turn four Tony got the first jump and hit the outside line through the final turn at full speed. Damn, too late! I was stuck on the inside behind two guys. We made the turn and I squeezed between the two riders and gained some ground for 3rd place. Some monster from Florida out muscled Tony for the win. I ended up getting the second place podium spot for the Georgia riders.

Great work Benjy, way to keep getting on the box!

Fine Wine, Historic Roswell Critierum 2/3 Criterium

Christian Leask — Wed, 04 May 2011 17:12:55 +0000

Benjy "Fine Wine" Coil takes 3rd amongst boys half his age.

125 riders stood on the start line of a fasts, tight cornered course, and this being one of the largest races in the southeast, as well as one of the USA Crits Speedweek races, it all seemed to add up to some palpable pre-race jitters.

Since the race is on the national calendar, there were many guys up from Florida, who are always notoriously strong in the Spring, yet not as accustomed to the rolling hills as we are, as well as everyone and anyone from all over the Southeast. Point being, the field was packed and ready.

From our team, Nick, Calvin and Benjy started the race. Most of the other guys opted to enter the Pro/1 race later in the evening. The 2/3 event, as always, was fast right from the start. Throughout the race there were small groups of 2 or 3 that kept shooting up the road only to be quickly caught. The most active were clearly the 3 Hincapie Development riders who constantly attacked and were always in the each of the good moves. Benjy was able to ride steady near the front of the pack, but really was not feeling very strong, kind of an off day. Also, there were numerous crashes and sketchy moments. With around 8 laps to go, three riders were looking smooth together and getting further up the road. No one in the front really wanted to give a big effort to chase. Benjy felt as if he only had one all out effort in the tank, thus he chose to wait for the field sprint. Maybe the group of 3 would be caught by then?

As the gap slowly came to a close, on the final lap, we caught a rider who had just been dropped from the break. Benjy came into the final turn, a bit too forward in second position, and could see the two riders ahead. Inexplicably, the guy ahead of in first position started to soft pedal and swivel his head around (that’s called “blowing up”)! At this point, Benjy’s hand had been dealt. He had to go around then and was able to hold a long sprint to take the field sprint for 3rd place. One on the Hincapie kids won finishing 5 seconds ahead of the field.

On the podium and takes the field sprint. Great work Benjy and great support from the guys!

Perry/Union Cty/Brooks – Benjy Gets Ornery

Christian Leask — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 16:46:57 +0000

The calm before the storm.

Whoa, has Benjy been going after it out there. The guy has obviously been too busy racing to get any updates out, so let’s knock all of these out at once. We’ve got a whole bunch of races in here, with a whole bunch of our guys…and a whole bunch of great results! Read on!

Perry Circuit race

The line up at the Pro 1,2 race was Benjy, Hank, Wes, Matt and Artur. Artur had done well earlier in the morning time trial and had committed himself to race for a strong overa ll finish in the omnium overall classification. There was representation in the field from Team Type 1, Locos Deli Iron Data and a large group of the region’s strong teams. The race played out with steady attacks off the front, all of which were quickly caught. Artur, Wes and Matt were busy at the front attacking and chasing moves while Hank and Benjy cruised in the field. With about 5 laps to go Matt flies off the front and was out on his own for about 3 laps. About the time Matt is caught by the group, everyone was trying to get position at the front. Benjy was being led toward the front by a hard effort from Hank. With Hank’s help, Benjy hit the final corner in good position and sprinted to a third place podium finish with Artur just back in 10th place.

Perry “Roubaix” Road Race

Benjy and Artur against about the same crew from the previous day’s circuit race. The Perry Robaix is really fun due to the good roads and a long section of dirt road at the latter part of the race loop. The race began with a group of six rolling slyly away before anybody was really paying attention. Turns out that the escape group contained guys from many of the strongest teams in the race…oops. Before long the group was almost five minutes ahead of the peleton. Since Artur was trying to place well in the omnium and he was racing for better than a seventh place finish, we decided the best thing to do was to work together with the other guys who wanted to chase down and catch the break. At this point I was racing for Artur and slowly cooked myself in the chase effort for a couple of loops while Artur was able to conserve energy for later in the race. Hard attacks eventually took a toll and and riders were shed off the back…including me. Artur was able to respond and remained in the group that eventually caught the six man break and then attacked each other for the rest of the race. Artur, alone now amongst the likes of Team Type 1, Locos, Iron Data, and several other strong teams, had to respond to many strong attacks. Artur escaped up the road for a while and was eventually caught. Artur battled to the end with the strong men of the race and ended up with 5th overall for the omniuim. Well done!

Union City Circuit Race

Another good day of racing with most everyone on the team lining up. We were all happy to see Oneil Samuels racing with us, fresh in from Jamaica. Tim Henry quickly established himself as one of the more aggressive riders in the race. Everyone else joined the game eventually. Attacking was constant during the race but nothing ever really stuck and it was looking like a field sprint for the line. Hank put forth a huge effort to try and get away with a small group with five laps to go, but was ultimately reeled in. With two laps to go we fought for position up front with Tim keeping us all together. Just before the last turn of the final lap Benjy sneaks into a good forward position and was able to sprint for a 7th place finish.

Brooks Road Race

Chris Chotas and Benjy Coil raced the 4 lap, 68 mile road race on a fantastic cool sunny spring morning. The Brooks course is a scenic loop through long flats and gentle hills. There were lots of strong riders in the race, most of whom had several team mates. The first lap was a typical display of constant attacking. I was able to get into a 4 man break for most of the second lap. If the three of us were as strong as the young BMC development rider in our escape group we would have been gone for the day, but we were caught. After catching us the counterattacks began and led to another break of four riders. This time Chris Chotas was up the road and I sat back to recover a bit. Chris and most of his escapees worked together like stallions for about 35 miles. The peleton caught Chris’ group with about 10 miles to go in the race. Attacks began again and I gambled and rode away from the front with one other rider. Somewhat predictably, we were caught and I had spent most of the little energy I had left. I ended up 9th place in the field sprint and Chris cruised in with the group after a strong display of strength. Better luck next time!