Man vs. Lizard: Corey Farrell's Gila Report Stage #1

Our youngest team member, Corey Farrell, isn't afraid to cause himself immense amounts of pain and suffering in the name of athletic accomplishments. It should surprise no one that Corey was once a professional triathlete! Corey headed over to Tour of the Gila, one of the gnarliest US stage races. Below is his race report from stage 1:

So heres my experience on stage 1. It was a 95 mile race, and there was a break of 3 guys that got away early and got a gap of 9 minutes on the pack. I attacked with 50 miles to go and got 3 guys to follow and one bridged up. We worked alright, but a few guys were missing their pulls so I filled in for them. I definitely felt like I was the strongest. We got a gap of about 2:30 on the pack, and closed the gap to the 3 leaders to about 4 minutes. We held the 2:30 to the pack, but we eventually caught the 3 leaders. 

So there was a lead group of 6 with 2:30 on the pack and it was about 10 miles to go. 7 of those were STRAIGHT uphill and finished at 7,000 ft. We started the climb and I felt awesome. We were able to drop 2 of the guys with 5 miles to go, leaving a group of 4 of us. The other guys definitely looked pretty beat, and I was still feeling REALLY good. We rode together and our gap was only down to 2:20 with 3 miles to go, so we were definitely going to stay away. To be honest I was thinking of an awesome victory salute to make up for Zack's at Dana Point. I was 99% positive I was going to win. We rode together all while still holing on to our 2:20 lead with 2 miles to the finish. Then...I hit a wall harder than I have ever hit a wall before about 1.5 miles from the finish. It felt like a gorilla/rhino/semi truck slammed into me full force. I went from planning a victory salute to about to tip over on my bike. The other guys rode away from me like I was standing still, I wanted to die. I was seriously riding at MAYBE 3 mph. My legs just wouldn't work no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't believe it. I was looking over my shoulder praying I would be able to hold on for a good placing. 

Then it happened. A group of 3 guys passed me, then a group of 2, next a group of 5. Then thats all I remember. I wanted to die right there on the mountain. I guess at the finish I sat my bike down and laid down. Paramedics started an IV on me, and filled me up with 3 bags of whatever it is they use. I was lights out, and mummified with wet towels and ice packs for what they say was over an hour. When I came to everyone was gone except a team of medics and the race director. I got a ride back into town in an ambulance, and now I feel a lot better. I think I might have placed right inside the top 20. When things went bad, they went REALLY bad. I'm still going to try to salvage a good result in GC.

Roll the tape!

Zack's win on video

http://www.flickr.com/photos/schueyjr/3482276806/in/set-72157613006454551/

Thanks Mark!

A number of people have asked "Who takes all these awesome photos of the Swamis?"

Many of our photos have been provided by Mark Johnson of Ironstring.com.

Since Mark won't toot his own horn, I will. Mark takes some of the best cycling photos I've seen (besides my Dad's!) and he's an excellent writer. Actually, it's Dr. Mark Johnson - he's the owner of a PhD in English Literature from Boston U (kinda blows away my little BA in English Lit from Illinois State U).

Check him out at http://ironstring.com/wp/index.shtml

Chris

Race Report: Dana Point Grand Prix NRC Criterium; Sun Apr 26th

The Swami's DET rolled into Dana Point down a few of our regular riders (Alex and Rob were off at Collegiate Conference Championships in Davis), but with the added reinforcements of Joel, Pascal, and secret weapon Orion Berryman. In addition to our added firepower we had Corey, Jason, and myself representing as well. Daggs 'wired us up' before the race, pro style (race radios). Every time we came around the squad received status updates of breakaways forming, and relative position of all our riders in the field.

We had a field of 60-70 racers, Cat 2 only, on the fast and technical course in Dana Point. Very similar to the course of last year, with a slightly wider "back stretch" for added "safety". Still technical, still plenty of opportunites for sketchy guys to make dangerous moves.

Our race was shortened from 60mins to 55, and after brief race instructions from the announcer and head offical, we were off. The Cat 2 Swamis did a good job of starting near the front and all our guys were active from the start. Category 2's racing is known for very irratic pacing. Attacks, lulls, more attacks, more lulls, a crash, an attack...etc. Minus a few scary guys, this race was surprisingly safe. Nearly every move had a Swami covering it, and we all maintained great position throughout the race. Pascal covered no less than 15 moves on his own. That guy is a machine!

Towards the end, Corey attacked and got off the front, only to be reeled in. Immediatly Orion counter attacked, and spent a few laps off the front. He was brought back with about 5 laps to go, setting up for a sprint finish. I made a point to find Joel in the scrum, as we were supposed to link up for the leadout in the finale. By Magic/Miracle/Sheer Luck we linked up, and I followed Joel's wheel throughout the final laps. When I got antsy and started trying to get in front of Joel he would caution me to hang back and stay on his wheel.

Finally, with 1 lap to go, Joel surged with me still on his wheel from about 10th position. We came up the little rise and Joel dropped me off on the outside of 3 turns to go in 3rd wheel. I punched it from there, and 2 guys attacked on the inside as I came over the top. I got on them and then moved inside to come out of 2 turns to go in 2nd position. From there the guy leading accelerated down the back straight and about halfway down the back straight I made my move around the last guy in front of me. I did the whole sprint/acceleration in the saddle, as I was worried standing up to sprint would cause me to lose a tiny bit of momentum. I came into the last turn super hot, leaned the bike and pedaled through the final turn, barely scraping my pedal. From there it was just about holding onto the lead. Somebody told me I crossed the line with about 5 bike lengths on 2nd place.

Great race! Awesome teamwork by the entire expanded squad. Huge thanks to Pascal, Orion, Jason and Corey for the hard work/awesome attacks. Props to Joel for dropping me off in perfect position. Well done team!

Zack Simkover

Zack Wins Dana Point GP Cat 2 race.

Photo credit: Mark Johnson/Ironstring Communications

If it's an NRC Crit in April and they have a Cat 2 race; Zack is our guy!!!

Blog Revived from near death by enterprising college students!

Yes thats right Swamis Dev team fans; we were down, but not out!

Cmdr Daggs is a bit busy so he has recruited the resourceful and currently unemployed Dev team rider, Jason King, to take over Blogger duties. As well as training mega miles up and down the mountains of San Diego (thus allowing JK to climb with the pros at Sea Otter!), JK also is pretty handy with websites and Blogger having been Blogguy for his previous team!

So without much more delay. Here's some new updates! And we'll do some old race reports just for kicks!

Cmdr Daggs out!