Team Announcement

Sponsors may change, but our team's population remains the same in 2010. We expect to change title sponsorships, but until further notice, we are going by the moniker:
"M1 Racing Team - WeeBike.com"
Our network of sponsors may very well evolve some more in the coming weeks and months. Stay tuned.
Additionally, WeeBike.com is close to finalizing a deal to sponsor a very prominent Rhode Island racing team of elite masters. This is something which management is immensely excited about. We are also engaged in sponsorship discussions with other teams out in western New York. When the above situations are finalized, we will add the teams to our M1 Racing/WeeBike network here as well as on the WeeBike.com blog. We look forward to sharing the action of our affiliate teams with you in the coming seasons.

2009 Portsmouth Criterium

per J Alain Ferry's report:
"It came down to a field sprint and Jake Keough won. Jerome Townsend won a surprise $500 prime. Matt rode great but had a mechanical w/ 5 to go and wasn't allowed a free lap which SUCKED. So my strategy changed late...instead of leading him out, I sprinted (for lack of a better term; my legs were mush) and took 10th. Boston up next...BRING IT!!!"

2009 Concord Criterium: We win in Boyce Highlands backyard!

I was on the rivet for the whole entire time, and it took some coaxing and encouragement from a good team mate, but in the end, I found myself in the top ten going into the correct inside line of the corkscrew with 1/2 lap to go. There was a crash in the final corner- on the outside. This was both a curse and a blessing- it required me to shift my weight to the right at high speed and reach for the brakes, losing a touch of speed. On the other hand, it delayed a few guys enough for me to hold onto 9th place with lots of room to spare, or so it seemed. Hopefully the results this year will show a high speed shot of the top 15 as they showed in last year's results. Needless to say, it pleases me immensely that Matt Kressy won, that three of our team populate the top ten finishers, and that all five of our team raced honorably and finished.

Slideshow!

Masters TT Nationals in Turkey

I was 11th in the start list of 38 in the 10k Masters Nationals TT here in Bartin, Turkey.. After finishing my flat and very windy 10k in 14:43, I was in 1st place for a time. This false sense of achievement continued for another 1/2 hour as other riders continued to depart and return in 2 minute intervals. Then the last 10 guys on their tricked-out TT bikes took start. I didn't even have a skinsuit. My only aero advantage was arm warmers and booties. Anyhow.. After much nail biting and wishful thinking, I was beat.. First by a few seconds, then 10, then 20.. And I was eventually relegated to 7th.. Only 20 seconds separated the top 7 at this point- the only ones who beat me were the aero bars and deep dish carbon wheels and disks. Until the very last starter rolled up- he could not be more than 120 pounds soaking wet- but he demoralized everyone with a time of 13:34.. Full aero everything- So my cannibal time got me 8th out of 38. If I had a way to cheat 20 seconds using some aero gear, I would have populated the podium. I guess I'm pleased to be top 10 in a TT for the first time ever, but a set of clip on aero bars would have been nice! Redemption tomorrow in the road race!!! Thanks for reading.
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2009 Tour of Somerville Pro Race Report

As told by the recent winner of the Sunapee Road Race:
Folks,

Just a note to let you know what happened at Somerville.  In case you have not heard, the most notable result is that Alain got caught up in a crash with 2 laps to go and broke some ribs.  Prior to the crash he was looking strong!  It would be great if everybody could send him some love...

The race was super fast.  On the front straight we would be between 30-33mph every lap.  On the back stretch, we were doing 29-32.  The style of riding was very aggressive.  Guys would pass you and as soon as their hip passed your bars they would come across your wheel.  This would force you to hit the brakes to avoid touching wheels.  I must have hit the brakes 20 times a lap.  It got to the point where I wouldn't even stop pedaling while braking.  It was crazy, and stupid, and exciting.  One thing to note is that the smoothest classiest riders were New Englanders like Jonathan Page and Robbie King.

Eventually, I started getting wise and made it my mission to stay on the inside of the field and would move out into passing riders.  Alain and I had very good position throughout the race and I was really feeling great.  I was in an early break.  Alain got a prime.  We'll have to wait for his report on this as I did not see it.  With about 6 laps to go, Alain came by me so I could grab his wheel.  We then started moving up to the front.  We would get up there and then 20 guys would swarm up the outside and then we would have to start again.  Eventually we got separated and then the crash happened (this was the second or third one).  At this point I had no idea that Alain was in the crash, so I was looking around for him, but with 2 laps to go, I started looking for the United train.  Didn't matter, I had hit the wall and when I stood up to go I had nothing.  FYI, I was spinning 53x11 and really needed another gear!  Quite an experience...

Attached are 2 pics from Cycling News.  One with Alain, one with me (I'm on the far right against the barriers).
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Another WIN: 2009 Cyclonauts Criterium 35+

Forgive me for including only the results of my events. Millwork One Racing had a very good day in the 35+ race at Stafford Springs. I raced as aggressively as the legs would go, and considering my goal of being in the top ten, I'm pleased with my form and my result. The field sprint played out the way we wanted it to- Alain was up the road shutting down and passing the two breakaway riders with two to go (these two were originally accompanied by our Adam). Matt and Patrick R were on Alain's heels with one lap to go, fighting for 3rd and 4th, and the field followed by a few seconds in the sprint for 5th. I got the "D" spot, as this race paid only 6 places.. A decent result for me- one which gives my confidence a nice boost.
The Pro race was a blur- the laps went flying by so fast that I was often surprised when the card seemed to go from 30 to 20 in a matter of minutes. Again I raced aggressively, I mean, relative to staying near the front as much as possible. This race had an early break with Matt in there, a chase groups with Alain in there, and another chase group with Adam S in there. These three groups totaled 14 guys and they eventually got together and lapped the field. Just before they caught us from behind, a field prime was announced. Your hero was patient- he waited until the field was completely through the chicane and onto the fast back straight to attack. It was not a mind blowing acceleration- but enough that all but one was caught off guard. I buried myself into the curve, clocking some major speed and apparently dragging someone along for the ride. I cant turn around and check- I'm forced to assume that someone is there in stealth mode, waiting for me to sit up so they can steal my thunder. So I just pin it.. and get out of the saddle for the last 50 meters. This afforded me a chance to take a peek and sure enough there he is, all out sprinting a few bike lengths back. I take the prime and look back- the field is still rounding the bend. My passenger gives me kind words for sticking it and I'm happily $10 richer, with completely dead legs. The field went flying past me and it took some very deep digging to get back up to speed and tag myself back into the field, but I did it, no worries. One lap later, the break catches us. Final sprint was a bit chaotic, and technically, it would have been better if no one sprinted except for the leaders, but there's pride at stake I guess and most everyone tried to get their nose up there. I was so gassed by this time, but happy to have the legs to make my mark in both races. Sadly, my Ergomo was out of juice for some reason (it has been draining completely on me whenever I leave it on the bike overnight, I just discovered), so I have maybe 20 minutes of data from the 1st race.
I'm proud of my team for delivering the Win and the multiple top ten results today. In the 35+ race, we were the only team with more than one guy in the top 10.. in fact we had 3 of us in the top 7! I'm very happy with this little statistic.
I would also like to salute Alain and Matt for being the kind of guys who make the rest of the team perform at a higher level. Best of luck to them on Monday at the Tour of Somerville. With Matt Kressy's upgrade to Category One this week, we now have two Millwork One Racers in the Pro race. Thanks for reading.

Millwork One wins another one!

Matt Kressy won the 35+ Sunapee Road Race today!!!! Congratulations Matt- We are beaming with excitement at this news.
Alain and I lined up at Floyd Bennet Field in NYC and got 4th and 10th in the cold damp fog of the Pro race. This place is just like Ninigret except rectangular. Nice weekend for our team so far. Tomorrow is the Wantagh Crit.Who else raced today??
Matt we want details!
-Murat

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2009 Blue Hills Classic 35+

Many of you missed a good race Sunday! I lined up in the 35 race with Joe, Kyle, Adam, Matt, and Alain. This race was ours to lose! Unfortunately we lost our star sprinter when Matt's chain broke on the hill of lap 3. Kyle stayed back to offer help him to reconnect with the field, but we were screaming around the course at too high a speed for two guys to TT back.. After being lapped they jumped back in to try and help Alain score a win, but the some expressed disapproval of this tactic. Joe accompanied me in the shelter of the field for many laps, making me feel less isolated and more comfortable on the hill, where I was very nervous about getting gapped or worse. I didn't see Joe on lap 5 or 6- hope he's okay. This left Alain, myself and Adam for the uphill finish finale. The last kilometer was an all out drag race. I started my hill sprint too early, and would have had top 10 if the finish was 100 meters sooner. We each emptied our respective tanks and the chips fell where you see us on the results: teens, 20s and 30s. Excuses? Adam had a race in his legs from Sat. Alain had cramping issues on the final lap. Me, I had confidence issues relative to last weekend and the 2008 Blue Hills, where I was brutally shelled. It was a good day of racing in ideal weather. Nice work guys.
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Recap: 4 weeks of Racing

Well Ave Opening Race March 15:
Murat Altinbasak 5th place

Michael Schott Memorial Race April 5:
Matt Kressy 2nd place
Murat Altinbasak 19th place (down one lap due to mechanical/missed start)
Adam Sternfield: ??
Brendan Hanrahan 80th place in PRO race

Chris Hinds Memorial Criterium April 11
J Alain Ferry 7th place and three merch primes
Matt Kressy 13th place and two cash primes
Brendan Hanrahan: ??

Rick Newhouse Memorial Criterium April 18
45+ Race:
Adam Sternfield 8th place
Bill Doonan ??
35+ Race:
Matt Kressy 2nd Place plus two cash primes
Murat Altinbasak 12th place plus one merch prime
PRO Race:
Matt Kressy FIRST Place
This is a rough draft from my blackberry and from memory. We will fill in the blanks later! Thanks for reading.

Test

Season Openers

M1 Racing made the start line in CT and MA these past two weekends. We put Mike, Bill and Lynn into the men's masters crit at Plainville on Saturday March 7th. For a report of the day's action, please check out this blog entry.

On Sunday March 15th M1 Racing also populated the Wells Ave Criterium season opener. It was a beautiful day for racing and attendance reflected this. We had Mike, Bill, Brendan, Ralf, Kyle, Adam, Matt and Murat (me) in there. In what turned out to be a faster than usual first-crit-of-the-year (both at Wells and for most of the field) M1 had two riders hit the deck due to the poor bike handling of others. All of the team rotated at the front throughout the race and helped to contain and shut down a dangerous break. The halfway prime was neutralized due to traffic and in the final sprint, high anxiety from the prior crashes made people very tentative or very aggressive. Millwork One was able to get a rider into the top five, but not without taking some serious chances if kissing the asphalt. Here is a race report from one of the pros who was with us in the 'A' race.

The more recent Wells Ave No 2 was very nicely reported by a friend of M1 Racing and can be found here. It isn't apparent to me if we cracked the top 6 (I was not there) but it sounds like we did make a big team effort to be up there at the very end.

M1 Racing is growing

Our budget for fuel is the same in 2009 as it was in 2008. This means that with gas prices under $2 (instead of over $3) we can afford to support some more racers. Reach out to me if you are interested using reiscotools@yahoo.com. There are some requirements for those of you who want to be considered for the "A" team. If you are as fanatical about training and racing as I am, it's obviously a big plus.
M1 Racing are also in the process of developing a package of benefits for prospective members of our new "B" team. This program is going to be an attractive way for new racers to be in an environment which nurtures, develops and teaches the things which can't be found in any book about bike racing. It's also a smart way to shoe-horn yourself into a pretty darn good New England team, one that is attached to one of the finest racing clubs in the country, the Genesee Valley Cycling Club.
You can learn more about Millwork One Racing as well as the new "B" Team by writing me an e-mail or by attending the Providence Bicycle Introduction to Bicycle Racing Night on February 19th. I will be there along with Mark McCormack and Matt Bodzione of NBX Bikes to help people find their way into New England's strong local racing scene. This event requires you to RSVP to either joe@providencebicycle.com or to me at reiscotools@yahoo.comSee you there!

The Specialized has landed

Millwork One Racing supports a masters bike racer overseas- Murat Akyazi- a fellow I rode with last May and who won me over as a dedicated, competitive and talented force on the road. We support Murat by supplying him with all of his racing apparel, tires, and tubes. Most recently we sent him a "new-to-you" race bike. This was a sensitive project to undertake. Shipping a bike to Turkey is not a laughing matter- in fact it should be avoided due to the unpredictable way in which Customs Taxes are assessed and collected. Bottom line- mailing a race bike is costly enough (about $250 via UPS) and paying the taxes on it when it arrives make it even more cost prohibitive.

First things first- we needed to find a bike for Murat. Lucky for us, a fellow racer in New Hampshire had something available which he sold to us for a fair price- a properly maintained Specialized Tarmac full carbon bike that had normal wear and tear. Matt S graciously accepted my first offer for the bike and I paid him for it on Paypal and a couple of weeks later we met at a mutually convenient location up in Greater Boston for delivery. That was the easy part! By this time, Murat had already seen digital pictures of the bike and he wired me the exact amount of money that I paid for it.

Next we needed to find a person with plans for traveling to Turkey in the near future, who would be willing to take the bike and check it as their own baggage. A message to a couple of Yahoo groups netted us such a participant, but not without offering a small fee of $50 for the favor. Worth every penny- we were also ready to pay any surcharge which the airline might impose at check-in. Our courier was all set up after only one e-mail and one phone call. I offered to drive him to Logan airport on that day to make sure everything went smoothly. This was all set.

The next challenge was packing the bike! Providence Bike pitched in and supplied us with a nice heavy duty carton to package the bike, which is greatly appreciated. It took a couple of tries, but after about 2 hours of trial and error, we managed to squeeze the bike into the box, properly protected every way that we knew how.. We took photos in case of any loss or damage claims..

The following morning, I picked up our courier and we headed up to Logan to catch his flight. Good friend that he is, he refused the $50 that we advertised, but when I insisted, he promised to accept it from Murat in Istanbul, who would be meeting him at the arrivals gate to get his bike. He just wanted to be sure it wasn't coming out of my pocket. Luckily, our friend traveled light, and so the airline refrained from charging us any extra money for the bike box. This was a relief to me, but it was especially a relief to Murat in Turkey, who was ready to pay it if necessary.

Now the bad news.. our courier was back-tracking to Chicago to catch his flight to Istanbul, meaning that the bike box would need to be rushed from one plane and into another, probably in a limited time span. Needless to say, the savings of checking the bike box came with certain bad luck, and the bike never made it onto the Turkish Airlines flight. It was lost for about 5 days before I managed to dial the correct number in Chicago and speak with the correct person, who found the bike within 12 hours and promptly notified me. Our team mate Murat, who took a day trip by high speed ferry to Istanbul to get his bike, met with our courier (who missed his connection to Ankara) and ended up paying him the $50 even though the bike was lost. A deal's a deal.. Murat took a long trip home after that, empty handed.

In the end though, Turkish Airlines made everything right- they put the bike on the next flight to Istanbul and they shipped it direct to Murat's house in Bursa using a delivery service. No added cost, no customs fee, no damage to the bike, and a huge relief to everyone who added to the effort. This was primarily an investment of time for Millwork One Racing- one which made it possible for a masters racer in Turkey to afford a high quality bike that is otherwise very cost prohibitive and out of reach for most people over there.