Laurier Summers TT

Great finish to the 2011 Youth Cup Series for the Jet Fuel La Bicicletta youth riders.
Laurier Summers finished first in the TT and Road race, winning the title of Provincial Champion in the Squirt(9-10yrs.)category.

Laurier commented on his third race,”I was drafting on the kid in front of me and made my move when they were drinking water, creating a gap of 22 seconds, allowing me to cross the finish line alone”.

crossing the finish line

Podium - Squirt category ON Championships

Laurier’s teammates Everett Summers and Joe Larkin had solid rides in the Minime(13-14yrs) category.

Minime rider Everett Summers TT

Minime rider Joe Larkin TT

Another great road season for the youth riders.

Great day in Queensville, ON and another successful Tour of Speed, hosted by the Newmarket Eagles Cycling Club

Squirt (9-10yrs) rider Laurier Summers had a good TT and decent Road Race, which he described as “fun” and was on the podium in second place.

The field of riders keeps growing every year and the youth riders really look forward to this Event in the Youth Series.

Kudos to the organizers for another successful event.

The team arrived in Milwaukee on Monday afternoon ahead of Tuesday’s road
race. Sprints in the team were high after Kevin Hazards O-Cup win in Windsor the previous Sunday. The long drive from Windsor didn’t seem so bad when we arrived to beautiful host housing in the centre of Milwaukee – which will be the team’s base for the duration of Superweek.

The road race was run over an undulating course in Willow Springs. The riders would tackle fourteen laps of a five kilometre circuit. The course had three distinct parts: an undulating climb, a fast downhill and a headwind straight.

Racing was fast and furious from the off with all the team involved in early attacks. The race followed a predictable template with the pace fast up the only climb on the course and a lull into the headwind section. Riders’ began to trickle off the front midway through the race in ones and twos. These riders’ eventually joined to form the front group. Unfortunately, we had no riders in the front group which was to contest for the race win.

A chase group was established and contained two of our guys, Pete Morse and
Kevin Hazard. The group was seemed too big to mount a coherent chase and failed to make contact with the leaders. In the uphill sprint, Pete was best placed of the team in 14th place with Kevin also in the prizes in 22nd place. Our guest rider from Ireland, Anthony Walsh was 36th, while team fast man – Ed Veal had the misfortune of puncturing out of the race.

The action continues tomorrow, 13th July, with a 100km criterium in Brown Deer park, Milwaukee where the team will be hoping to replicate the success of last Sunday.

July 13, 2011 (Windsor, ON) – After Saturday’s close call in the Criterium Detroit we headed back to Windsor for the 6th Ontario cup race of the year.  The Ciociaro club was the venue and Dylan Lanspeary was the race organizer.  Let’s just say…This place was meant for bike racing.  The course was a closed, wide open loop and flat except for one slight rise. Let’s just say it was built for….well…me!!    I was sad to see such a low turnout but man did I like what I saw and had a good idea what was in store for us.

With only 20 starters I thought we were in for a lot of attacks and a lot of me, Schiller (Garneau) and Ivey (Kallisto Wheels of Bloor) marking each other. I figured with five guys racing in Jet Fuel/La Bicicletta kits we would have the upper hand most of the day and it turned out to be true. Right from the start we attacked and did the old shake and bake. We had guys in everything and when we didn’t we had someone sprinting off the front. I rode right on the front for the opening laps making sure to be seen and jumping whenever my two rival team leaders decided they wanted in on something.

After about 15 mins of this cat and mouse attacking and counter attacking a group of four got off the front and rode away. Each team had a guy in the move. Our guy was Kevin Hazzard and he was away with Anton Vabrai (Cycle Solutions), Brandon Spencer (Kallisto Wheels of Bloor), and Chris Balistrini (Garneau).

After these guys got up the road it my was job to shut things down and I took the role pretty serious. I love nothing more than being second wheel and staring down a dude who wants you to pull through for no reason. When the next guy jumps I jump and do it all over again. Doing this frustrates the other riders and it especially frustrated Schiller and Ivey. They both had guys up the road but they both knew they had to get across to them.

The three of us attacked and chased each other for a full hour getting into multiple moves and stand offs, if doing nothing but coasting. As we were about to get lapped Schiller and Ivey launched and I got there in a hurry. The three of us started rotating and got a good gap on the guys who just got lapped. I thought this could be good as we could get up to the leaders and help out but the guys on the sidelines made the call for me to shut things down and sit on.

Out little break blew up a lap later when I stop rolling through. As we got lapped the groups integrated and we were now one big happy family with four guys one lap up. We communicated to each other that we are going to protect Kevin and take him right to the line and set him up to win the sprint.

With roughly 10-15mins to go Pete and Anthony get to the front and held a steady tempo and I sat 3rd wheel protecting Kevin. Then Schiller took off alone to chase 5th place but I yelled to the guys just let him go and keep our eye on the prize of delivering our teammate for the win.

In the final laps there were a few guys who jumped and tried to get off the front but we slowly reeled them back in making sure the four leaders got their chance for glory. We all knew how the sprint would go down. Danielle explained how fast the finish was and how you needed to attack it hard before the last two bends and then hold it to the line.

Anthony took his last pull and lined out the group, Pete pulled through with some good force and took us to the back stretch and down the hill and then I had the home stretch including the two final bends in the road. I ramped things up and peeked to make sure Kevin was there.

As we came through to the finish I tucked low and to the right side of the road as Kevin poured it on and went around me on the left. My heart stopped and I watched them go by me as Kevin cranked it up and held it to the line. It was a huge win for us and I couldn’t contain myself. I yelled like it was me crossing the line first. It was an incredible feeling and one I will remember for ever!

Our boys worked like a true team on Sunday and we soaked up the win and enjoyed the rest of the day hanging out and relaxing. Pizza, beer and a great group of guys! Sunday might have just be one of my best cycling experiences of my career.

By: Ed Veal

This was my first time to Detroit and after all the jokes about carrying a Glock and wearing a bullet proof vest I must say I felt safe and would go back and check this place out again for sure. First off the race course was amazing and wide open.

The race was held right downtown around Comerica park and the Ford stadium where the Detroit Lions play. Sean Kelly our team director has us all together before the start with some directions to go easy in the first 15 minutes and not initiate any attacks only cover. This was tough for me but I’m a team player and did what I was told.

I thought things might be a little different with a few new faces and a few Americans in the mix but right away we were racing the same Ontario boys from back home. Mazur had a few guys and so did Garneau. I don’t know how many locals made it down but it sure seemed like we were back home.

The pace was quick and the course was fast so it was hard to get off and stay off the front. Late in the race Derrek Ivey and his team mate Brandon Spencer from (Kallisto Wheels of Bloor) attacked right at the same time and Dave Byer my teammate on Jet Fuel jumped on them right away to cover the move. These guys got a good gap on the field right away and everyone seemed content to just roll on the front.

In our pre-race talk we had gone over the match ups we were looking for and the scenarios we didn’t want. Having one of our guys against two from another team up the road wasn’t ideal. The other guys in the race were keeping the pace high and then Chris Balistrini from Garneau got to the front and started driving things to keep his teammate Jeff Schiller close to the break.

We decided to do the same and organized ourselves at the front and had the boys keep the chase up to set me up for the sprint. We had all agreed that the first guy into the last corner would win the sprint and it was decided Pete Morse was the guy to do the job. With five to go we slowly made a bit of ground on the three leaders. Our guys took turns on the front keeping the pace at the perfect tempo.

With one to go it was pretty hairy. Riders were trying to jump into the train and there were a few guys who were in the mix that had no right being there. The leaders were now super close and I was very confident we were going to blow right by them. Coming down the back stretch into the wind Pete and I get separated. He went inside around a few slow riders and I went outside.

We now had a few people in between our lead out guys and Pete and myself. Into the second last corner I took a very inside line and got back to the front and see it’s Schiller who I need to cut going into the last corner to get into it first. I dive bomb it as he goes wide and then cuts in right to the curb and shuts the door.

We go through it close to each other but I get out of the corner late on the gas have to make up a ton of space on him. I come at him hard and close the gap and go to make a move around him and I don’t make up a single inch. We are now both at top speed and I sit beside him right to the line.

We knew the first guy into the corner would win and we just didn’t get ourselves into position like we’d planned. Jeff held me off and I went home with another close 2nd place.

Ed Veal

P Morse

The race was televised on Rogers Ottawa TV and there is a great collection of video footage on the Preston Street Website, including a chance to ride along with Derrick St John in a four man break.

Pictures are from the ottawabikes.com site by CAM CAM.

Pictures are from the ottawabikes.com site by CAM CAM.

Check out Peter Morse in a recent RogersTV interview at the Toronto Criterium. Pete has been a great spokesman for the team over the past few years – you can find it in the Community Bytes section of RogersTV.com or follow this link: Jet Fuel-La Bicicletta on Community Bytes

Laurier Summers, Jet Fuel La Bicicletta squirt rider

In his first youth road race, Laurier Summers wins for Jet Fuel La Bicicletta.

Congratulations to Steve for the podium finish – and nice to have it in Toronto!