Lindner Capital once again rode very well to finish with some great results on the day. Curtis and Jeff lined up to do the Masters 35+ just to gain more fitness for the upcoming events of the season. Both held their efforts to around 80%, like the day before, and were able to easily take 1st and 2nd in the field sprint finishing in 2nd and 3rd place overall. They then got ready for the Pro 1,2 race (Curtis' 4th of the weekend!).
Ryan "Strongman" Saylor sent in the following report:
"The Lake Mary Crit was blessed with better weather with mostly sunny skies. The fairer weather brought many more racers to the start of the pro/1/2 race with close to twice as many riders as the previous day. Among the extra riders were Jeff Kopp, Clint Bridier and Andy Mills who joined Curtis Long, Karel Sumbal and Ryan Saylor to represent Lindner Capital. The 3 corner course had wide turns and was laden with attack after attack, none of which could stay away for very long. Lindner Capital raced well throughout the race being present in almost every break away of the day. Moreover, the break away presence by Lindner Capital was spread amongst ALL of its riders, not just a select few. Unfortunately, some of Karel Sumbal's bad luck from last weekend resurfaced as a rider in front of him knocked over a cone and cause him to crash hard landing on his head. Fortunately, he was able to regain his composure enough to rejoin the group after taking a free lap. The most significant break happened with 20 minutes plus 5 laps to go in the race. Seven riders slipped off the front with representation by one Herbalife rider and TWO Lindner Capital riders (Long and Saylor), Shane Braley (Wheel N Sprocket), Todd Sanders (Toshiba/Santo), Bobby Sweeting (Aerospace Engineering Group) and another rider. The group worked together erratically and while they remained clear of the bunch, they never gained a substantial gap on the field. Reportedly, Florida strong man Joel Chavez (Preferred Alliance) chased for lap after lap in attempt to bring back the 7 man break. After 20 minutes off the front, the breakaway was struggling to keep cohesion. Sweeting attacked the break hard but could not shake Saylor, the Herbalife rider and Braley. The four worked furiously together in the closing laps but were swept up on the last lap by the hard chasing group. Going into the last turn, Jeff Kopp attacked for a long sprint from 400 meters out and was only passed by four riders with Eduardo Colon, Rudy Robaina (Herbalife) and Horace McFarlane respectively filling out the podium."
-Ryan Saylor
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Sanford Lakefront Criterium
Once again Lindner Capital had a successful day. Before the Pro 1,2 race, Curtis decided to do the Masters 35+ race for extra fitness. Racing at about 80% effort he was able to snag second place between two Herbalife book ends. About an hour later he lined up for the Pro 1,2.
Ryan "Strongman" Saylor, our race correspondent, has sent in this report of the action:
"The Sanford Criterium was a soggy race and was not well attended by many of the usual suspects. The most obvious absent racers were those from the south Florida area. Nonetheless, twenty-eight brave souls lined up for 70 minutes of slogging it out on a six turn course riddled with brick roads and painted corners. The two biggest teams in the race were Herbalife Racing Team and Texas Roadhouse. Herbalife had 6-8 riders while Texas Roadhouse had at least 4 or 5. Lindner Capital was represented by Karel Sumbal, Curtis Long and Ryan Saylor. Karel rode pretty well surfing the front of the group for most of the race while Long struggled to find a rhythm. Saylor's corning skills proved to be lacking on the wet course as he struggled to keep pace through the turns. Zach Morris, who took 2nd in the Gainesville crit, and Allison Anjos (both of Herbalife) riders slipped away without enough reaction from the field and that was the last the group saw of them. Karel, despite missing the break, continued to ride smartly near the front. With 5 minutes and 5 laps to go, Mike Niemi (Metro Volkswagon), current US Junior National Time Trial Champion, attacked the group in an attempt to go for 3rd place without the danger of the closing lap craziness of a bunch sprint. Grant Potter (Herbalife), a time trialist himself, would have no part of it and brought him back with 5 laps left in the race. Saylor, who somehow found his way to the front, immediately attacked in another attempt at the final podium spot. Three laps later, Saylor was joined by Bobby Sweeting (Aerospace Engineering Group). However, the duo was caught with one lap left in the contest. The bunch sprint was won by Chad Burdzilauskas (Texas Roadhouse) followed by Rudy Robaina (Herbalife) who were teammates in 2007 on the now defunct CycleScience Racing Team. Sprinter Frank Lopez got the best of Lindner Capital's Karel Sumbal who took a respectable 6th place."
-Ryan Saylor
Ryan "Strongman" Saylor, our race correspondent, has sent in this report of the action:
"The Sanford Criterium was a soggy race and was not well attended by many of the usual suspects. The most obvious absent racers were those from the south Florida area. Nonetheless, twenty-eight brave souls lined up for 70 minutes of slogging it out on a six turn course riddled with brick roads and painted corners. The two biggest teams in the race were Herbalife Racing Team and Texas Roadhouse. Herbalife had 6-8 riders while Texas Roadhouse had at least 4 or 5. Lindner Capital was represented by Karel Sumbal, Curtis Long and Ryan Saylor. Karel rode pretty well surfing the front of the group for most of the race while Long struggled to find a rhythm. Saylor's corning skills proved to be lacking on the wet course as he struggled to keep pace through the turns. Zach Morris, who took 2nd in the Gainesville crit, and Allison Anjos (both of Herbalife) riders slipped away without enough reaction from the field and that was the last the group saw of them. Karel, despite missing the break, continued to ride smartly near the front. With 5 minutes and 5 laps to go, Mike Niemi (Metro Volkswagon), current US Junior National Time Trial Champion, attacked the group in an attempt to go for 3rd place without the danger of the closing lap craziness of a bunch sprint. Grant Potter (Herbalife), a time trialist himself, would have no part of it and brought him back with 5 laps left in the race. Saylor, who somehow found his way to the front, immediately attacked in another attempt at the final podium spot. Three laps later, Saylor was joined by Bobby Sweeting (Aerospace Engineering Group). However, the duo was caught with one lap left in the contest. The bunch sprint was won by Chad Burdzilauskas (Texas Roadhouse) followed by Rudy Robaina (Herbalife) who were teammates in 2007 on the now defunct CycleScience Racing Team. Sprinter Frank Lopez got the best of Lindner Capital's Karel Sumbal who took a respectable 6th place."
-Ryan Saylor
Monday, February 18, 2008
Race for Humanity Criterium
Here's a wrap up of the Dade Race for Humanity Criterium last Sunday...thanks again to Ryan for the race report:
"Sunday's Humanity Crit saw only Victor Rodriguez, Karel Sumbal and Ryan Saylor for Lindner Capital. With another large field starting the crit and many racers looking for revenge for Saturday's battle of endurance, the race strung out to single file from the gun. Victor and Karel rode smart from the onset and stayed in the front half of the field seemingly out of trouble. Saylor started near the back and quickly found himself near the rear of a field that was breaking up in several places. Within 15 minutes of starting the race, Saylor was off the back in a small group of discouraged riders who watched the field disappear in the distance around the many turns of the tight course. The field saw many attacks and threatening breakaways, but it wasn't until Ivan Franco escaped with John Durango (both of Toshiba/Santo) that a break actually stuck. Franco and Durango were flying through the turns and increased their lead over the field every lap. Not long thereafter, the break awa y duo lapped the sad group of about eight dropped riders (containing Saylor) who refused to forfiet thier entry fees. Franco and Durango blasted past the dropped riders without concern while the struggling group could not miss the fast wheels that just passed them and latched onto the two blazing teammates. It soon became clear that their misfortune was turning around as the Toshiba/Santo riders were pulling the dropped riders back into contention. Seth Hansley (Locos) and Saylor were the only riders able to keep pace with the breakaway and were delighted to find themselves back in the peloton and in contention for 3rd place. Several more laps ticked off and Saylor was able to join Rodriguez near the front of the group. Unfortunately, a tough race took it's toll on tired riders and one of several crashes took down Lindner Capital's sprinter Karel Sumbal who suffered a broken fork in the collision. Suprisingly, Saylor managed to hold onto 13th place (one spot out of the prize m
oney) with Rodriguez close behind. After this weekend, Karel's luck can only get better and we'll look for him to place well in Orlando next weekend!"
Ryan Saylor
"Sunday's Humanity Crit saw only Victor Rodriguez, Karel Sumbal and Ryan Saylor for Lindner Capital. With another large field starting the crit and many racers looking for revenge for Saturday's battle of endurance, the race strung out to single file from the gun. Victor and Karel rode smart from the onset and stayed in the front half of the field seemingly out of trouble. Saylor started near the back and quickly found himself near the rear of a field that was breaking up in several places. Within 15 minutes of starting the race, Saylor was off the back in a small group of discouraged riders who watched the field disappear in the distance around the many turns of the tight course. The field saw many attacks and threatening breakaways, but it wasn't until Ivan Franco escaped with John Durango (both of Toshiba/Santo) that a break actually stuck. Franco and Durango were flying through the turns and increased their lead over the field every lap. Not long thereafter, the break awa y duo lapped the sad group of about eight dropped riders (containing Saylor) who refused to forfiet thier entry fees. Franco and Durango blasted past the dropped riders without concern while the struggling group could not miss the fast wheels that just passed them and latched onto the two blazing teammates. It soon became clear that their misfortune was turning around as the Toshiba/Santo riders were pulling the dropped riders back into contention. Seth Hansley (Locos) and Saylor were the only riders able to keep pace with the breakaway and were delighted to find themselves back in the peloton and in contention for 3rd place. Several more laps ticked off and Saylor was able to join Rodriguez near the front of the group. Unfortunately, a tough race took it's toll on tired riders and one of several crashes took down Lindner Capital's sprinter Karel Sumbal who suffered a broken fork in the collision. Suprisingly, Saylor managed to hold onto 13th place (one spot out of the prize m
oney) with Rodriguez close behind. After this weekend, Karel's luck can only get better and we'll look for him to place well in Orlando next weekend!"
Ryan Saylor
San Antonio Road Race
Ryan Saylor for the second weekend in a row made the winning break to finish 8th place in the hilly San Antonio Road Race. He sent in this report from Saturday:
"San Antonio proved again to be a brutal venue for the 2008 edition of the Race for Humanity. While eighty five miles isn't the longest road race around, add in some long central Florida hills and the miles take their toll. The weather couldn't be much nicer to the racers with blue skies and a high around 80 degrees. Lindner Capital was represented by Jeff Kopp, Curtis Long, Victor Rodriguez, Karel Sumbal, Clint Bridier and Ryan Saylor. With over one hundred racers starting the pro/1/2 race, the large field started relatively slow with the group pedaling with nervous trepidation. Soon however, the attacks starting flying and Phil Gaimon slipped away with a handful of riders which did not include any of the normal Florida big names. They did however gain about a minute and a half on the field who did not seem overly concerned with the move. Phil Gaimon unfortunately got a flat tire and was forced to wait for the wheel truck which trailed the field. This seemed doom for the break away, but rumor had it that Frank Trevieso, now with Toshiba/Santo, bridged across to the break and replaced Gaimon with a different set of worthy legs. Not too surprisingly, after changing his wheel Gaimon caught back up to the field. After some relentless work from Gaimon combined with sporadic attacks from the field the break was eventually brought back about 50 miles into the race. More attacks followed from Winston David (Aerospace Engineering) and Gaimon until the rubber band broke again--this time with Gaimon, David and Allison Anjos (Herbal Life). The trio quickly gained over a minute lead before Daniel Larson (CycleScience) attacked the field with a Preferred Alliance rider in tow. The two also gained a lead on the field and seemed to be on their way to bridge to the leading trio. Ryan Saylor ( Lindner Capital), jumped out of the field with yet another Preferred Alliance rider and after some leg breaking work tagged onto Larson and the Preferred Alliance rider. Larson, Saylor and the two Preferred Alliance riders worked together, but didn't seem to gain on the lead trio. After 10 miles of suffering, the four chasers were caught by yet another group of chasers containing many of the usual Florida big names (Joel Chavez, Ivan Franco, Ricardo Hernandez, John Durango, Rudy Robaina and more). The chase group then swelled to as many as a dozen riders or so. However, the group's unforgiving pace left five riders heading back towards the peleton while Saylor found himself unfittingly among what seemed to be a Spanish armada of strong men. Outgunned, Saylor sat on the back of a blistering fast group until the lead trio was run down with only a few miles left in the contest. Broken, Allison Anjos and Winston David could n ot withstand the final attacks from the anxious favorites and rolled in just behind the lead group. John Durango outsprinted defending state road race champion Joel Chavez for the win. Rafeal Meran rounded out the podium. Ricardo Hernandez took fourth. Phil Gaimon, not known for his sprinting, managed to come away with fifth followed by Ivan Franco in sixth. Ryan Saylor hung on for 8th place. After some unfortunate mishaps, Kopp, Long, Rodriguez, Sumbal and Bridier rolled in strong amongst a peloton which left over half the starters as casualties."
Ryan Saylor
"San Antonio proved again to be a brutal venue for the 2008 edition of the Race for Humanity. While eighty five miles isn't the longest road race around, add in some long central Florida hills and the miles take their toll. The weather couldn't be much nicer to the racers with blue skies and a high around 80 degrees. Lindner Capital was represented by Jeff Kopp, Curtis Long, Victor Rodriguez, Karel Sumbal, Clint Bridier and Ryan Saylor. With over one hundred racers starting the pro/1/2 race, the large field started relatively slow with the group pedaling with nervous trepidation. Soon however, the attacks starting flying and Phil Gaimon slipped away with a handful of riders which did not include any of the normal Florida big names. They did however gain about a minute and a half on the field who did not seem overly concerned with the move. Phil Gaimon unfortunately got a flat tire and was forced to wait for the wheel truck which trailed the field. This seemed doom for the break away, but rumor had it that Frank Trevieso, now with Toshiba/Santo, bridged across to the break and replaced Gaimon with a different set of worthy legs. Not too surprisingly, after changing his wheel Gaimon caught back up to the field. After some relentless work from Gaimon combined with sporadic attacks from the field the break was eventually brought back about 50 miles into the race. More attacks followed from Winston David (Aerospace Engineering) and Gaimon until the rubber band broke again--this time with Gaimon, David and Allison Anjos (Herbal Life). The trio quickly gained over a minute lead before Daniel Larson (CycleScience) attacked the field with a Preferred Alliance rider in tow. The two also gained a lead on the field and seemed to be on their way to bridge to the leading trio. Ryan Saylor ( Lindner Capital), jumped out of the field with yet another Preferred Alliance rider and after some leg breaking work tagged onto Larson and the Preferred Alliance rider. Larson, Saylor and the two Preferred Alliance riders worked together, but didn't seem to gain on the lead trio. After 10 miles of suffering, the four chasers were caught by yet another group of chasers containing many of the usual Florida big names (Joel Chavez, Ivan Franco, Ricardo Hernandez, John Durango, Rudy Robaina and more). The chase group then swelled to as many as a dozen riders or so. However, the group's unforgiving pace left five riders heading back towards the peleton while Saylor found himself unfittingly among what seemed to be a Spanish armada of strong men. Outgunned, Saylor sat on the back of a blistering fast group until the lead trio was run down with only a few miles left in the contest. Broken, Allison Anjos and Winston David could n ot withstand the final attacks from the anxious favorites and rolled in just behind the lead group. John Durango outsprinted defending state road race champion Joel Chavez for the win. Rafeal Meran rounded out the podium. Ricardo Hernandez took fourth. Phil Gaimon, not known for his sprinting, managed to come away with fifth followed by Ivan Franco in sixth. Ryan Saylor hung on for 8th place. After some unfortunate mishaps, Kopp, Long, Rodriguez, Sumbal and Bridier rolled in strong amongst a peloton which left over half the starters as casualties."
Ryan Saylor
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Pictures from the UF criterium
Thanks to Jim Wright from the Jacksonville Racing Club for these pictures!
Ryan covering Joel Chavez
Ryan making the jump to the winning break
Me in an early break with Phil Gaimon...some guy sitting on in pink, and then an Herbalife rider bridged up...but, it all came to nothing
Me looking back for some help as Joel attacks
Ryan covering Joel Chavez
Ryan making the jump to the winning break
Me in an early break with Phil Gaimon...some guy sitting on in pink, and then an Herbalife rider bridged up...but, it all came to nothing
Me looking back for some help as Joel attacks
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