Off Road Assault on Mt Mitchell is 7/27/08

BioWheels is proud to be support ( and rock! )  the 2008 ORAMM.

Registration is open here.

You may have luck with this website, as well, www.blueridgeadventures.net

Here is the flier- 2008 Off Road Assault on Mt Mitchell Flier

Some archives from ORAMM all over this site. Start here for 06 article, and here for a 2007 entry from Laurie Neubert.

See ya’ll there, we’re bringing the beer!

2008 Zipp OVCX Cyclo-Cross Tour

ZIPP OVCX TOUR ANNOUNCES 2008 SCHEDULE

Highlighted by Rare Three-Day International Weekend and USGP

Press Contact Information: SpectaSport LLC
Ken Getchell, kenmacpr@yahoo. com; 610-397-1950

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

May 5, 2008; Conshohocken, PA, USA: Highlighting the Ohio River Valley’s new-found reputation as one of America’s best cycling destinations, the Zipp OVCX Cyclocross Tour has announced its most ambitious schedule ever, highlighted by a USGP weekend and the only three-day UCI sanctioned cyclocross festival in the world apart from Belgium’s “Christmas Week”. The 13-race Tour, sponsored by Zipp Speed Weaponry wheels and components, will also feature some of the finest domestic races in America and no fewer than three open state championship events.

Four of this year’s Zipp OVCX Tour events will take place in Louisville Kentucky, home of the famed Kentucky Derby thoroughbred horse race and recently honored by Bicycling magazine as one of America’s Best New Cycling Cities. In the June 2008, which hit newsstands on May 1, the editors of Bicycling say that “The mayor embraced cycling” and the bike summit he called “created a visionary goal – the Louisville Loop – that has inspired the whole city”. The article concludes with a brief overview of last year’s USGP races, part of the Zipp OVCX, “The reception was so enthusiastic that locals are now talking about building a cyclocross park.” This year’s USGP races in Louisville take place October 25 and 26.

The complete 2008 schedule is below. For more information, see OVCX.com or e-mail OVCX director Mitch Graham at mitch_biowheels@ yahoo.com.

Continue reading 2008 Zipp OVCX Cyclo-Cross Tour…

A blast of speed from the past… the return of “the Badger!”

BioWheels racer Kevin Caldwell aka “the Badger”, returns to the heat of battle after 6 years of retirement, calls Louisville, KY home, and takes victory at Younger’s Creek, KYMBA race #2.

Kevin was one of the original “OG’s” on the BioWheels Racing team back in the day. It was circa 1994, when BioWheels Workshop was starting it’s ascent to becoming one of the nation’s finest bike shops. Nestled in the Ludlow Garage in the heart of Clifton, Cincinnati, OH, sporting a full half pipe for bike display and for after hour fun festivities, BioWheels was just getting its feet wet in the bicycle industry. Right from the get-go BioWheels understood the importance of community outreach and bicycle advocacy. I’ll never forget the pain we endure at our first big event, the 1995 24 Hours of Canaan. Look at the hoodlems in this shot. I am the clean-cut guy on the right in this picture.

What continues to draw me near BioWheels is the heart of BioWheels philosophy. It is not to not keep the secrets of bicycle maintenance and training away from their customers, but to interact with them and allow them to be involved at any level they so choose. The days of the wizard behind the curtain wrenching mysteriously on your bike were over with the creation of BioWheels.

Kevin returns to racing and to the BioWheels team after 6 yrs of hiatus. Kevin and his wife Nicole are proud parents of 4 children. Kaija age 8, Malaki age 6, Karyss age 4, and the newest addition at 18 months Azaryah. Kevin works at Humana Inc. as a Provider Relations Consultant and he also runs an online sports nutrition business with his wife Nicole.  Kevin and his family reside in the promise land of Louisville, Kentucky.

Kevin and his family call Louisville home and the “promise land” why one might ask? Continue reading A blast of speed from the past… the return of “the Badger!”…

Tour de Georgia: TT, Mountains, and Wrap-up

I wish I’d been able to do a write up after each of the final four stages, but the time (and wireless internet) just wasn’t there. Wrenching for Marco Polo is a 16 hour day - 6am to 10pm just about everyday. A lot sure did happen though - lots of stories, too many to tell in one sitting! I’m sitting here in the hotel lobby next to Slipstream mechanic Daimeon Shanks, who’s getting ready to fly over to Europe with the team. He won’t be back home in Boulder until after the Tour de France. I’m not cut out for that life, after 10 days away from my wife, dogs, shop, and Cincinnati… I’m ready for home.

We last left off with the STAGE FOUR team time trial. With it being by far the shortest stage in the Tour, it was the easiest day for the riders and staff. Marco Polo was first to go off, with HealthNet two minutes behind them. With no time trial specialists on the roster, great results were not expected. As the story goes, before they were to go off, each of their bikes had to be weighed by the officials to ensure they weren’t underneath the UCI minimum weight limit of 6.8kg. As they each were hefted up onto the scale by a race official, they were coming in at 6.1 and 6.2kg! The guys questioned the validity of this scale, which to them more resembled a scale used to measure chickens and fruit…

Continue reading Tour de Georgia: TT, Mountains, and Wrap-up…

Athens Twilight 4/26/08

As most of you know athens twilight was this past weekend and it was the first big event for the Industry Nine Team. Myself, Adam Ray, and Andrew Erskine participated.

We had to first go through the grid qualifier that was the day before. It was a bit confusing if you have never done it but basically you ride the computrainer for 3k(simulating the crit course) and your time will determine your start/pole position for the twilight the next night. This is pretty important since there is usually 150-200 participants.

The top 8 times for the computrainer then compete for cash and i guess glory @ 9:00 pm that same day of the qualifier. Well somehow i managed to make the final eight for the finals and finish 4th overall. It was a bit nerve racking riding on the stage in front of LOTS people watching and yelling at you for close to 8 painfull minutes. Finishing 4th also ment a call up to the front line for the Athens Twilight.

On to the crit now and i will try to keep it short. MADNESS…I got caught up in a crash within the first few laps. Got a wheel change and was put back in but placed in THE BACK. Worked hard to move up including having to swerve and sprint around more crashes. 4 laps to go feeling pretty good considering how fast it was then another crash in turn 1. Nowhere to swerve so got wedged in with the carnage and was gapped. Lots of pain in the legs at this point and was not able to catch up to the pack and ended up finishing just behind the field.

Adam and Andrew both were also mixed up in many crashes and were unable to finish. This im sure would be the toughest race we would due for the season so it can only get easier. Adam and Andrew also had a pretty good start position from the qualifier but happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time.  The town of athens was absolutely rocking with excitement and it was truly an experience that we will not forget.

 Chris Ernst

BioWheels-Deltec Homes Road Squad hits Burnsville Metric

Burnsville Metric Century Ride- Burnsville, NC 4/26/08

The weather for this somewhat local century turned out to be much better than predicted.  Also, with the Tour De Moore being several hours away the Burnsville Metric made a great fast training ride for local road racers.  Representing BioWheels-Deltec were Mike Small, Mike Jackson, Grant Gosch, and myself.   Once again we had the strongest group of guys in the event.  However, this time there were about 15 TCRC riders trying hard to use team tactics against us.

Continue reading BioWheels-Deltec Homes Road Squad hits Burnsville Metric…

Management of Energy (TDG Stages 2 & 3)

Watching a pack of 118 professional bike racers in a peloton from a few cars back is something else. It’s a mass of color washing back and forth across the road; at one moment stretching out length-wise, and the next width-wise. For the first two stages we had a Chinese reporter and cameraman from CCTV following the team around, and yesterday she made a rather acute remark in the team car that the team director’s responsibility was kind of like “management of energy.” Rather ironic that our sponsor for the race is GE.

Continue reading Management of Energy (TDG Stages 2 & 3)…

TdG Stage 1 Ends with Russian Rocket

For better or for worse, a quiet, boring day in the team cars for the mechanics is the best day you can ask for. No troubles with the new groupsets, no slipping handlebars over the 6 sets of choppy railroad tracks, and no flats.

Sometimes you may take a look at a rider roster and wonder ‘who the heck is this guy and what is he doing here?’ I was chatting with Rhys Pollack at dinner the first night and tried to figure out what kind of rider he was. “Are you a climber?” His answer, a very straight-forward Australian, “Nah.” “Are you a sprinter then?” “Nah, I can kinda go fast, but I can’t sprint. And I can’t climb real well neither.” Me again: “Are you a rouleur then?” “Nah, I just do whatever the team needs me to do.” Simple enough I guess.

Continue reading TdG Stage 1 Ends with Russian Rocket…

Calm before the storm (TDG Part 2)

Yesterday was a looooong day. Henk and I worked straight through the day (minus a 90 minute break to get a run in) stripping down the rest of the team bikes and building them up with the new Red groupsets. We don’t have a scale on site, but these bikes are for sure at about 15 lbs, and have very quick steering. The riders are out for about 2 hours right now checking out the new bikes, and will come back with comments. We’ll take notes on each rider’s bike, and spend today making corrections and getting them ready for tomorrow’s stage one.

The highlights of the day seem to happen as we’re wrapping things up. Not sure what the story was below, but apparently there were some cleat and pedal issues that required immediate hacksaw surgery on a set of Sidi Ergo 2’s. Hmmmmm…

Continue reading Calm before the storm (TDG Part 2)…

The Traveling Circus

We made the drive down from Atlanta this morning to the Tour de Georgia start on Tybee Island, just south of Savannah, GA. The guys got out for a short ride while Henk and I surveyed and organized the work before us.

Nine Trek Madones, all getting new Red groupos, new Aerolus wheelsets,…. and just two days to get it done. No problem - let’s start with the wheels?

Unpack wheels and their small parts from cardboard, lay out new Vredestein tires and tubes, Red cassettes, rim tape, rim tape?…. anyone see any rim tape?

Continue reading The Traveling Circus…