The fastest way down coit, is easy. Avery trail to eastside, couch, up to big rock, across ledge, foliage then finish down upper loop and forest. With that new bike, you should be able to make it in a half hour.


I am sure we will have the fastest route all scouted out prior to the stage. After all every other Wednesday we will probably be riding Mountain bikes.

Coit Downhill rule: Woods riding is fine, cutting new downhill trail is not.

pj

someone needs to take him down Backlash to Salem Lot to Grenville East Side to Couch to Snake then out the Ryan break neck trail to ski jump. Then he'll be hooked on The Pinnacle.


south boundary is a good ride now, too with the berm and bridges.

[quote:610092900a="Ryderjag"]The fastest way down coit, is easy. Avery trail to eastside, couch, up to big rock, across ledge, foliage then finish down upper loop and forest. With that new bike, you should be able to make it in a half hour.


I am sure we will have the fastest route all scouted out prior to the stage. After all every other Wednesday we will probably be riding Mountain bikes.

Coit Downhill rule: Woods riding is fine, cutting new downhill trail is not.

pj[/quote:610092900a]

I just got back from Arrowhead doing some trail work / cutting new lines for the race. Things are really dry up there!

By "scouting" I meant looking at the existing trail network... I've got my hands full w/ Arrowhead, Whaleback and Moody park.

Time for a road ride... see ya!
 
www.masonracing.com
www.gtbicycles.com

Someone has already had toooo much time to think about this.

Fastest Way Down overrides all other rules!!!

Ball is already in motion!

The Chinese downhill will probably be the most exciting stage, given all of the strategic planning going on behind the scenes for those who actually thinking about it.

The shortest way down from the top is not necessaryily the fastest. An analogy would be like driving down a dirt bumping road as apposed to taking a super highway. The highway may be longer but speeds could possibly more than double getting one there faster.

So, thoughts of taking steep rough shortcuts may take you longer than taking Summer down to Upper Loop then Forrest Trail. Just a suggestion... not that anyone will be testing it out before the stage.

As far as predictions, I have a sense that everyone is hyped and ready to go this year. Going along with PJ's thought process, I have ideas about who we will have to chase, but none that I will state publicly. I still have recurring injury issues that I will have to overcome.

Dana

To add some fuel to the fire:::::
Prologue - 3.9 rolling hill time trial on Jobs Creek
Stage 1- Lake Sunapee Loop with KOM points cardiac hill top 6 bonus
Stage 2- Pinnacle race course 1 lap.
Stage 3- The Springfield Loop
Stage 4- Coit Climb
Stage 5 Coit Downhill 'Chinese style' top 6 bonus
Stage 6- Oak Street circuit race top 6 bonus first lap
Stage 7- Loverin Hill Climb
Stage 8- route 10 sprint top 6 bonus
Stage 9- Newport 50 miler endurance finale.

Favorites:

Brian Currier
strengths- climbing, fitness, mtn biking, all around skills
weakness- probably can only get away from him on the flat, unless he has already attacked you on the climb. might lose some time on the flat time trial

Stages to watch: Group rides, Pinnacle MTB lap, Loverin, Oak street circuit

Dan Oneill
strengths- time trial, cervelo, climbing (tough to drop), flat road speed
weakness- mt bike stage is only a weakness if he faulters,

stages to watch- opening prologue, time trial, group rides

Mark Gurney-
strengths- all around, consistent, watch out for tops of hills, never gives up
weakness- chicken on the downhill, but smart

Stages to watch- oak street circuit, group rides, Coit climb,


Nathan Richer
strengths- climbing, mountain bike, all around skills
weakness- flats on road

stages to watch- coit climb, pinnacle downhill, pinnacle race lap


Others( in no particular order)

Tim Trotter- Lots of unknown, decent mountain biker, road race skills are excellent. I expect a few surprises on the road stages, watch out for attacks. Good Map maker, may know a bump in the road we don't.

Ken Wiley- Strong sprinter, should pick up bonus points, can he hang on the climbs? we shall see. Watch for strong time trial.

Adam (Streak)- another superb athlete who is as fleet a foot more than anyone in the challenge. Can he translate his foot speed into bike speed, my guess is yes.

Ryan Obrien- knows the woods, the one to watch on the downhill, steady road presence

Dana Waterman- watch out, strong training lately and has the record on prologue, mountain bike has seen tremendous improvement.

Jason/Claremont- Unknown.....trained by Bob...could be good, probably has the right seat adjustment, and can hammer on the downhills.

Lovely- I expect a sluggish start with a come from behind victory. I will sneak any bonus points I can, and attack at weird opportunities by myself. I will played hockey style chinese downhill.

Burbridge- Another Darkhorse thrown in. Strong Mtn biker, can only guess he is just as strong on the road. keep your eyes peeled.


If the second tier guys can work together to limit time losses on the road stages, this could be a close contest. So when I am in the second tier, don't drop me.

PJ

I hope this goes in the correct spot. This race sounds like a great time, I am in.
Greg Burbidge

I guess I just got pushed down one more spot.

Ryan

Not me, I was already last.

-- Ken
 
"If you brake, you don't win." Racer Mario Cipollini

I think PJ posted a great synopsis of the competition, in knowing our locals as well as anyone. As mentioned, there a few dark horses jumping in here this year, which I think is great.

I missed the fact that we didn't have the event last year, considering I stepped my training and lowered most of my times while competing against the TP time scoreboard.

I won't concede to last place as I ended up two years ago as the newbie. Even then, chasing everyone else and trying to stay on my bike in the woods, I had a great time with the whole event.

For those of us considered as non-favorites, as the saying goes "second best tries harder." Although I don't think it will take as much effort for some as it will for others.

If I had mountain bike skills they seem to be evading me lately.

Don't know about PJ's list I think there is room for a bunch of upsets this year. I recall the first TT a couple years ago from Grantham to Newport Ken was very fast and I think he is lighter and stronger now then he was then. Also Dana commented about bringing up the rear that season. Well Dana has morphed into this running/cycling machine and he knows it too so don't be lulled into a warm fuzzy feeling if he is near you during these races. I predict the final times will be very close. Clearly there are some areas that individuals have greater potential but the length of most of these events does not lend itself to huge time differentials. IMO. And what about the mastermind of this extravaganza. Mr. PJ the ultimate gamester. Both Mark and I have seen him explode up the Rt. 11 hill in Sunapee on the second lap leading out Brian in a breakaway to victory during the 2007 LSRR. He did this carrying over 200 pounds of cookies and chicken wings. This is going to be fun and we all have a shot. In fact PJ said he even has ribbons and certificates of participation for everyone. Great, We're all winners.

I've tried to lay low and stay out of the banter, but these ridiculous predictions need to be set straight:

Dan - Best gear, strong overall..... yada yada yawn. Just make a hissing sound while following him and he will pull over thinking he has a flat.

Nathan - Will be too tired from working in the garden.

Gurney - Too much travel to take serious. Easily frustrated by our paceline techniques and will lose focus.

Dana - You absolutely can't be fast on a road bike with that much leg hair.

Ryan - Will still be struggling with converting his snowshoe legs into cycling legs.

Ken - Expect flashes, but a year out of the pelaton will prove too much to overcome.

PJ - If we limit post-stage beer and wings to the top three finishers only he could be scary fast. I predict he will break something on the mountain bike though and lose too much time to overcome.

Tim - I plan on taking off while he is still changing. In his panic he will attempt to race in the kilt and get arrested by the Croydon cop for indecent exposure.

Greg, Jason and Adam - The pelaton's lack of experience with these riders will translate into very little help for these guys. Maybe a secret aliance will form here?

Currier - Not comfortable making predictions about myself, so I will wait to see how many minutes I win by before getting cocky.
 
[img:7c60f52a7e]http://www.team-pinnacle.org/albums/bc_personal/120x90.png[/img:7c60f52a7e]

I knew we could flush him out.

Man, you discover so many laughable characteristics about the rest of the competition from these posts.

From my prospective, I can?t afford to be cocky, so I had to search back into some of Dan?s archives to come up with compensation for the drag that I have deal with on the road bike. So, here is my choice for the TT http://www.adventuresofgreg.com/HPVMain.html Slow to start, but once I get going, I figure I?ll make up time on the back end.

I?ll have to modify this one a bit for the downhill http://www.canosoarus.com/08LSRbicycle/LSR%20Bike02.htm

Not much problem on the hills (KOM) because there is not much resistance at those slow speeds.

As for the Enduros, either tight knit spandex or drafting the whole course with maybe 10 seconds of pulling to make it look like I did something.


I?ve noticed some talk of alliance both on and off the forum, but just who can you trust? ?et tu Brute?

It's been awful quiet lately, is everyone holding their cards close to their chest, now that its getting closer?

Looks like Ken is the favorite for the prologue,

I think Dana bought property on Job's creek, Dan has sent town crews to smooth out secret locations, Ryan put in a beer dispenser at the top of the first hill, Gurney set up a BBQ to go off at the same time to distract me.

On another note, man the trails are great, finally got the singlespeed out there tonight.

PJ

Funny

Looking at the pre-prologue times, Ken has set the standard for this year, separating the posted times by about a minute.

After several test rides, I think the best time will definitely be under 10:30, it will take a strong ride to get under 10:00 and the bulk of the field will probably be between 10:30 and 11:00. Of course, there are a few dark horses to contend with this year within the 13 competitiors.

For those of you who may not have seen it yet, the course is smooth, short and can be deceiving if you don't know where to put your efforts on those rolling hills. Its easy to blast the first couple of hills in Georges Mills and have nothing left for the last couple just before Dewey Beach.

I think the Prologue will be the most fun stage and it will give us all a preview of who has speed and climbing power for the rest of the stages. I expect some real stiff competition through out the ranks.

I met a guy named Billy there yesterday that has been following our post. He is thinking about joining and is new to the area. He said he was in the high 9's for a time. He looked very fast to me so maybe Ken does have some competition. I encouraged him to sign up.

I met Billy on a ride the other day. He seems like a great guy. If he is as fast as you indicated Dan, he will be untouchable on the road. Real question is how is he on a Mountain Bike?

Ryan

I met Billy today. Nice guy, and fast.

-- Ken
 
"If you brake, you don't win." Racer Mario Cipollini

8 days..........

Wiley has only raced the course 5 times, while Waterman fiinally took his tent down on the first hill. Tim and Lauren ran out of gas money practicing the course. Burbridge may be the dark horse, as his free spirit van has been videoed passing the georges mills elderly housing project many times. Sharp still can run it faster than we can bike it. Oneill has put on downhill weight at his town managers conference. currier sucks.


10:15 will win it.

I am taking bets and bribes.


You won't lose too much time in this course anyway, the question is when will the attack come on the Lake Sunapee loop? Dewey hill? Cardiac Hill?
On the flat to make Currier and Oneill chase?

PJ

Where are we starting the Sunapee loop as a group? I have to set up camp soon there as well and strategize.

p.s. I'm very sure that the winning JCTT will be at least under 10:30.

I agree with Dana.

-- Ken
 
"If you brake, you don't win." Racer Mario Cipollini

This sounds like fun, can I join?

Sandy Ippedico

Abosulutely Sandy, Lauren needs some competition. Perhaps you can coerce Janet into joining too.

We had our Prolog last night. Mike was at the finish line. If only he had a camera, I bet he could have got some classic shots.

There was a sea of Yellow & Green on Jobs Creek last night. Check out the prolog race reports here: [url]http://www.team-pinnacle.org/forum/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1274[/url]

and the stage results as people post them here: [url]http://www.team-pinnacle.org/local-loops/stage-race-info.php?RaceID=9[/url]

The more the merrier!

Ryan

We are still looking for those cycle depot guys that were supposed to show up. :lol:

Ryan

Yes......yes.........and yes. Come on Sandy!


We would love to have you, and some of the nights we will have margaritas after......

PJ

yeah, and just because I like the punishment, I will probably do the time trial over again, so you can join me and whomever else wants to do/redo it.

Saturday, May 23 is my redo date. Nice warmup for the 122 miler either the 24th or 25th.

-- Ken
 
"If you brake, you don't win." Racer Mario Cipollini

Christina says she'll meet for Margaritas, but she'll skip the riding part.

Ryan

redo schmedoo........

Mulligan Man

So I took my average lap time from the RR and posted it for the Sunapee loop stage in our stage race - PJ I hope that is OK?

I'm sorry I'm going to miss the loop with drops - I know you guys will have a blast out there!

Job's Creek last week was a lot of fun (?I can't believe I'm writing that about a TT). It was nice to meet more of the group, and the course was just GREAT.

Loren

no problem, I think you shorted yourself anyway by a few minutes, as our loop will not include the start and finish which may be 3 minutes....


Hopefully we will have some ladies joining the stage race to keep you all working. Great time on Job's Creek!

PJ

So, what do people think about bringing this back for 2010. I think if we shorten it up a bit, maybe by a couple stages, it would work nicely. I definitely enjoyed the competition within the team. It gave me a chance to get some more "race" miles without having to actually pay for and go to a race.

So, I'm voting we start in May and finish at the end of July. Last year, going all the way till the end of August was a bit much.

-- Ken
 
"If you brake, you don't win." Racer Mario Cipollini