Avondale Criterium
Elliot, Rick, Neil (where’s my bike?), Leo and Vic (Aggressor with a ghetto kit) all traveled to Avondale for the season opening crit. The results were as they should be this time of year. There was a lot of work done, but it was mostly about awakening the beast within.
Pro 1-2 Vic 12th after chasing down a three man break. They were swept up by the peloton in the waning laps of the race.
Cat 2/3 Neil 12th and Elliot toeing the line
Cat 3/4 Neil and Elliot work another round
Masters 40+ Leo takes a dig; Check out Vic’s video of the event:
Masters 50+ Rick finishes 19th; he is the oldest by six years to the other finishers!
Rick Ellwanger in the 50+
El Paso Puzzler
Done with that!
Mike P, aka iMike, Beto and Paula (become an Aggressor?)ventured to El Paso for some mountain bike sufferfest on single speeds.
From Mountainflyer Magazine: Singlespeeders Cameron Brenneman (Sante Fe, NM) andBeto Villegas (Sierra Vista, AZ) blitzed the 1600′ Mundy’s Gap climb along with 40-49 winner Kenny Wehn (Colavita – Durango, CO) and 19-29 winner Sem Gallegos (Crazy Cat Cyclery – Austin, TX) close behind the lead threesome of Plews, Brown, and Chavez. On the west side of the Franklin range, Brown plowed through the infamous granite rock slide to regain the lead. At about mile 30, Plews regained contact and later took control up the final major climb of the day, a 350′ foot grind up a newly finished set of 12 switchbacks.
Plews, coming off double pneumonia just before the holidays, went on to take the win in 4:38 with Brown about four minutes back. Moving into 3rd position was Brenneman who pushed a 32×19 on his 29er. Villegas and Gallegos rounded out the top five. In the women’s race local Susanne Rasmussen took the win in 6:24 with single speeder Paula Bohte (Sierra Vista, AZ) coming through in second. Alex Castro (Bicycle Co.- El Paso, TX) was the top finisher in the shorter 35 mile men’s event and Diana Almeida (El Paso, TX) took the women’s 35 miler.
iMike would battle mechanicals but get it done nonetheless. Next up for iM: 24 hour, solo…
El Tour 2009
All washed up
El Tour ended a long season for many of us. Vic, Elliot, Leo, Doogie, Christine and Kurt all raced. Vic has graduated from Aggress, but he is still an honorary member of the team. He finished the tour 27th, Elliot 45th (surviving a ass-ripping crash), Kurt in 64th (broken cleat prior to the 2nd wash losing contact with the front group…), Leo 117th, Doogie 228th and Christine in 2411th. Not too bad a day for Aggress. There is definitely a love – hate relationship with El Tour. You can race with real pros in Tucson’s biggest cycling event, and you can get seriously hurt.
Elijet gives Vic’s new teammates a taste of egg.
Team Aggress and the Arizona Calendar
The 2009 ABRA road season is now officially over, with the Wupatki Road Race on October 11th having been the final event on the calendar. Here’s a look at our notable results in Arizona calendar races this past year.
January 31st – Swiss Criterium
Victor Riquelme 5/35, cat.5
February 7th – Flapjack Flats TT
Victor Riquelme 2/22, cat.5
February 28th, March 1st – North End Classic
Rick Ellwanger 1/5 (crit), 65+
Kurt Garbe 5/18 (rr), cat.4
Kurt Garbe digging deep in the North End Criterium
March 6th, 7th, 8th – Tucson Bicycle Classic
Brent Barber 2/48 (itt), cat.3
Kurt Garbe 6/56 (itt), 4/55 (rr), cat.4
Victor Riquelme 1/52 (itt), 3/51 (rr), 1/46 (cr), 1/46 (gc), Cat.5
March 15th – Hungry Dog Criterium
Victor Riquelme 1/21, cat.5
March 28th, 29th – Colossal Cave Stage Race
Bryan Schlegel 5/19 (itt), cat.3
Kurt Garbe 2/28 (itt), 2/24 (rr), 2/24 (gc), cat.4
April 4th, 5th – Tumacacori Omnium
Victor Riquelme 1/24 (crit), 1/20 (rr), 1/20 (omnium), cat.4
Victor Riquelme winning the UofA crit
April 11th – Copper Valley Road Race
Victor Riquelme 3/21, cat.4
April 24th, 25th, 26th – La Vuelta de Bisbee
Bryan Schlegel 15th/73 (gc), 35+
May 3rd – Scottsdale Grand Prix
Rick Ellwanger 1/3, 60+
May 9th – South Mountain TT
Victor Riquelme 2/13, Cat.4
Jim Averill 2/31, Cat.5
May 17th – Sonoita Patagonia TT
Bryan Schlegel 1/9, Cat.3
May 31st – Thunder Road TT
Victor Riquelme 1/8, Cat.4
June 7th – Arizona State Championship Road Race
Bryan Schlegel 5/32, cat.3
Victor Riquelme 4/51, cat.4
Kurt Garbe 5/51, cat.4
State Road Race
June 16th – Tortilla Flats Road Race (series*)
Elliot Anderson 2/34, cat.4/5
June 28th – Mt.Lemmon TT
Jim Averill 5/34, cat.5
August 11th – Tortilla Flats Road Race (series*)
Elliot Anderson 4/17, cat.4/5
August 16th – Picacho Peak TT #2
Victor Riquelme 1/6, Cat.3 (20k)
August 18th – Tortilla Flats Road Race (series*)
Elliot Anderson 2/14, cat.4/5
*Elliot finished the Tortilla Flats series 5th/91 racers in 4/5. There were a total of 11 road races in the series, all scored on a points system.
August 23rd – Skull Valley Road Race
Victor Riquelme 1/24, cat.3
Khris Dodge 1/34, cat.4
September 13th – Arizona Individual Time Trial Championships
Brent Barber – 3/11, cat.3
September 20th – Kitt Peak Time Trial
Elliot Anderson – 3/10, cat.4
September 27th – Mt.Graham Hill Climb
Victor Riquelme 5/16, Cat.3
Jim Averill 6/25, Cat.5
October 10th, 11th – Single Track Omnium
Victor Riquelme 2/8 (rr), Cat.3
Elliot Anderson 1/6 (hc), 1/8 (rr), 1/6 (omnium), Cat.4
Thanks to everyone who supported us through the year. See you on the road!
2009 Cochise County Classic
157 mile race report:
Jame Carney (former Olympic cyclist and National Collegiate champion), who has won just about everything, shows up unexpectedly….Damn!
Will and Beto’s friend Mark did amazing support! You guys rock! I could never have done it without all of you! Tough day in the saddle.
South Mountain TT
Victor Riquelme and top prospect turned new recruit Jim Averill honed their climbing skills this Saturday at the South Mountain Time Trial in Phoenix.
Jim made his Cat.5 debut, landing on the podium and finishing 2nd/31 finishers with a time of 21:23, +:09 to the leader. Riquelme showed that he is making a strong comeback after being injured in a crash at the State Championship Criterium, finishing 2nd/15 Cat.4’s with a time of 20:22, +:19 to the leader.
Please join us in welcoming Jim to the roster. He is a strong addition to the team and we are all proud to have him on board.
La Vuelta de Bisbee
Brent Barber, Rick Ellwanger, Bryan Schlegel and Kurt Garbe represented the team this year at the Vuelta’s “B” race (Masters 35+).
Mule Pass TT- Aggress had the first 4 starts for this year’s edition. The gusting headwinds during the prologue were certainly a considerable factor in the speed we could maintain. By the time the last of the “B” field was being sent off, the wind was calm.
GC After the Prologue:
Bryan Schlegel – 26th +1:54
Brent Barber – 33rd +1:59
Kurt Garbe – 51st +2:49
Rick Ellwanger – 76th +4:16
Sulphur Springs RR- Stage 1 started in Bisbee with a neutral rollout up Mule Pass (the fastest neutral start you’ve ever seen, by the way!). GST and Bicycle Haus, who are locked in a statewide masters competition, must have brought out their entire teams this weekend. They each clogged up the front on the descent and launched a rider into a two-man breakaway to eat up all the sprint and KOM points on the road. After the KOM there was a split in the peloton, with 20 riders off the front working hard to stay away. Kurt violated the center line rule to get past the GST/BH clog, and helped get things organized on the front. Within 3 minutes the break was back.
Schlegel and Brent both made multiple attempts to escape, but were shut down by the strong Bicycle Haus presence. Schlegel and Kurt had the strongest results, finishing 15th and 17th in the stage.
GC After the RR:
Bryan Schlegel – 23rd +2:09
Brent Barber – 34th +2:26
Kurt Garbe – 53rd +3:24
Rick Ellwanger – 78th +53:33
Warren TT-
This afternoon time trial followed the road race. We had a right hand crosswind on the way out with, no joke, 40mph gusts. In Schlegel’s words – “I got hit so hard by the wind gusts on multiple occasions that I had to quit pedaling. At one point I was moved 6′ to the left over the yellow line into the oncoming lane. I spent the second half on the way out on the bull horns as I couldn’t control the bike from the aero bars.”
Despite this, Bryan was able to pass both his :30 and 1:00 riders before the turn around, and put 1:04 into the guy chasing him. Brent rode the fastest TT, finishing 13th on the stage with Schlegel 2 seconds back in 14th.
GC After the TT:
Bryan Schlegel – 16th +3:03
Brent Barber – 18th +3:18
Kurt Garbe – 39th +4:31
Rick Ellwanger – 77th +59:56
Tombstone RR-
This one started with another neutral climb up Mule Pass (this time, due to numerous complaints, it was truly neutral!). At the top, Bryan attacked and got away solo, but after 14.5 miles alone the Bicycle Haus train on the front of the peloton pulled him back.
Kurt flatted near the feed zone, got a quick wheel change but could not reconnect with the peloton and was forced to ride solo.
Brent and Schlegel were positioned well at the front leading into the decisive climb back up Mule Pass. Four super strong climbers attacked and easily got away early as we chased in the peloton. The attrition didn’t take long to set in and people were being shed left & right as the peloton fragmented. Brent and Bryan found themselves in the peloton #2, chasing peleton #1 and the leaders. Bryan found the highest placing out of the team again, finishing the stage in 23rd. Kurt lost 15 minutes due to his flat.
Final GC Results:
15th – Bryan Schlegel +4:37
24th – Brent Barber +5:58
61st – Kurt Garbe +20:57
73rd – Rick Ellwanger +1:30:00
New bottle design!
Drink This!
AZ State Championship Criterium
This years state championship course was quite technical, with a sharp 180 degree (“hot dog”) corner directly following the Start/Finish, eight 90 degree corners in the challenging back section, and a long finishing straight. The location was rather entertaining as well, right in the heart of downtown Phoenix. Most certainly an interesting and difficult course.
Rick Ellwanger raced in the 65+’s, and handled the course well. He brought home a silver medal, finishing 2nd right behind Southwest Hand’s Ralph Duckett.
Victor Riquelme and Kurt Garbe came out with high hopes for the day after recent high placings for our Cat.4 team. Kurt worked to control the pace on the front while Riquelme sat in the draft. Late in the race Vic crashed when his rear tire exploded inside of turn 7. He ran his bike back to the Start/Finish, got a new wheel, and was given a free lap and allowed back into the race. Unfortunately, he sustained multiple injuries in the wreck, was dropped by the peloton, and finished almost a lap back. Kurt was forced to change strategies and try to win for himself. He finished with the peloton.
Riquelme will spend some time on the disabled list, rehabilitating a wrist injury.
Copper Valley Road Race
Only the toughest men from the AZ peloton came out on Saturday to compete in this grueling edition of the Copper Valley Road Race. With temperatures in the low 40’s and an 80% chance of rain, everyone knew what they were getting into. The course was a 60 mile out and back, with a 7 mile sustained climb at around 6% grade 20 miles from the finish on the way back.
Bryan Schlegel was the lone Cat.3 from the team, and got himself off on a solo break on the way out. He had about a minute and a half gap when another racer bridged up to him from the main field. They started working together, but sadly Schlegel flatted. The wheel truck was behind the peloton, and his break was over. He made his way back into the group, they caught the soloist that had bridged to Schlegel earlier, and a break of 4 got away on the climb. On the cold and wet descent towards the finish Schlegel made use of some superb aerodynamics, riding away from the peloton to a solo 5th place finish.
The Cat.4 Aggressor strongmen were Kurt Garbe, Elliot Anderson, and Victor Riquelme.The peloton was shattered on the first climb, only 15 miles from the start. Riquelme made the selection, and sat in while the Bicycle Haus team kept the pace very high. At the base of the climb on the way back the chase groups all reconnected with peloton, and Kurt and Elliot were back in the stir. The group did not stay together for long, as the attacks began to pour on while the climb progressed. 8 men made the split.
The group stayed together on the descent, and it came down to a drag race to the line. Riquelme finished 3rd, in what was a very closely contested sprint.
Kurt and Elliot finished 10th and 14th, respectively. It was a long, cold, wet day for all of us. The effort put Aggress on the Cat.4 podium for the 3rd weekend in a row.
