Cycle Loft Velo @ Atlantic Masters Regionals

On July 25 & 26th, the annual Atlantic Masters Regional Track Championships were held at the Valley Preffered Cycling Center in Trexlertown, PA. Kurt Begemann and myself were there for the previous night's racing--which as has been the case down there this summer--was rained out. Under the tent all day long to ride in 4 events was a long day, but one well worth the experience. It was my first big event, so I didn't know what to expect, but with Kurt's coaching expertise, the day went off really well. Holding only a Cat 4 Track license meant I could only do the timed events, whereas with a Cat 3 and higher, one can race in the bunch events, such as the Scratch race which was the last event of the day.


Proudly wearing our new Cycle Loft Velo team strip, by Capo Forma, and riding the new Tiemeyer custom Signature bike fitted w/ the TT bar set up [pic to come] I entered the Masters 40-44 Kilo (1km TT,), 40-44 3km Pursuit, 40+ Team Sprint, and 40+ Team Pursuit. I was a bit rushed to the line for the Kilo, but ended up doing well with a time of 1.18.14, good enough for a 3rd place Bronze Medal. I then rode the Individual 3km Pursuit, another TT on aero bars, and missed another 3rd place by just .79 seconds, with a final time of 4.05.72. The 3rd event was a team event, that myself, Kurt, Steve Gauthier, and Mike Bergstrom, both guys from MA and the NEBC all participated in. This was a 4km TT, which is 12 laps of the T-Town track--Kurt did the first lap to get us up to speed, then I followed, then Steve, and Mike, with each of us taking 1/2 lap pulls. At the beginning of the race, we (all) frankly thought I would get popped off the group by the end, and considering you only need 3 riders to finish, that would have been ok--but once it got going, I knew I wasn't going to let go of the wheel in front of me, and in the end, it was Steve that popped off. Irregardless, we finished with a team time of 5.16.44, good enough for 2nd place Silver medal. That's 2 out of 3, this was fun stuff!



My last event was the Team Sprint, which I rode with Steve and Mike. Our plan was for me to ride the first lap, then Steve the second, then Mike to anchor the third. If I may say, I had a great start off the line, kicking out of the saddle through turn 2, it was so strong that afterwards, Mike had to admit that he was caught a bit unaware and had a bit of time getting onto the wheel. We rode well as a team, even though we hadn't practiced, and with a time of 1.1.15 we rode to a 2nd place Silver medal. Kurt rode quite well with multiple medals, one from each of his races. You can see all of the results here on bikereg.


All in all, a fantastic day of racing and an enormous learing experience. We've got a bit of video of our two Kilo races and will endeavor to figure out how to upload that. Up next is the New England Regional Track Championships to be held in Londonderry, NH at the New England Velodrome & Cycling Park. Hope to see you there.

Check out these short video clips to see a bit of the Kilo TT efforts.

Tandemonium 2009: Cycle Loft Team Results

We had high hopes and high expectations of defending National Sprint Champion, Kurt "Chopper" Begemann, riding the 2009 National Sprint Championships with stoker, Thom Norton going into Friday August 31, 2009 at the Valley Preferred Cycling Center in Trexlertown, PA. Unfortunately, as has been somewhat of a trend this summer in TTown, Mother Nature had something to say about the racing schedule, with Friday night's event being postponed until Saturday due to the threat of severe thunderstorms.

That being said, Saturday was a beautiful, albeit quite humid day in the Lehigh Valley, and the race's Flying Lap (333m) TT, to seed the sprint brackets, was set for 5.30pm. Riding the ominous looking Tiemeyer Tandem, aptly dubbed, the "Widowmaker," Kurt and Thom set the 7th fatest time going into the Championship. They ran up against a formidable looking team from California, and almost pulled off the win, but simply ran out of track in the home straight. In the next round, Team Cycle Loft rode to a convincing win over Team Gorman, which brought them to a match up with Team Espinoza who just had too much gas and would be the eventual National Champs. The 2nd repacharge would be a 4-up round for 3rd place with the team from California, another American team and the Australian team. Kurt and Thom rode a great tactical race, having gone to a 103.8 inch gear, only to be narrowly caught at at the line by the Califonians by a 1/4 of a wheel--leaving them as the 4th best placed American team and 6th overall. Click here for results.

After the podium cermony, Kurt and Thom were determined to make a good showing in the 15 lap Tandemonium Scratch Race--during which they literally did make the race by riding away from the group on the opening lap and staying away for nearly 13 laps--including the race's only 2 preems--only to be caught by the 3 international teams from New Zealand, Australia, and Argentina (defending champs.) Kurt and Thom had the entire velodrome pulling for them, willing them to stay clear for the race, but that wasn't to be, as they finished as the 1st American team, and 4th overall in the Scratch race. I'll tell you, it was quite a site to see 10, yes TEN tandems, on the track at once racing, quite an exciting night of racing. Bottom line, great efforts, very close racing, and the seeds of motivation have been sown for a return to Tandemonium and Tandem Sprint Nationals for 2010!