Take Responsibility, own it.

Well, it is that time of year again. No, not April Fools, just a coincidence. Now, many will feel this is an unwarranted post, but I operate by a different set of standards. I have always been taught that if you are in the wrong.....take responsibility, own it.


Flash back to NWA 2010. I made very poor judgement call and instigated an attack during a pee break. This was due to the lack of my communication with others. As you would imagine, I made many people angry, rightfully so. Fortunately, my compatriots accepted my apology and ignorance, and we moved forward. Learning that lesson wasn't pleasant but needed.

Now, we come to NWA 2011. Again, my lack of communication causes more problems, which were completely my fault. If you are in a break, your position within the race needs to be communicated to other competitors; obviously you don't give out your team's game plan. You just let people know your job within the race very early in the break, so no one wastes unneeded energy. I failed here and am truly sorry. Another mistake I made is a misinterpretation of racing tactics. The problem here is I shared my misinterpretation with my teammates, which being the great guys they are, defended me. That was my fault and I take the ownership of it.

I know many will disagree with this, but I have always been one to go against the flow. Just look at the upper body mass I carry as compared to other cyclists as an example.

Ride safe and feel free to email me with any comments at uberjock@yahoo.com.

Sincerely,
Erin

DNA Racing goes north for the NWA Classic

Time to go North
for a Classic,
the NWA Classic RR

Ahh the Ides of March. I have treated it like a long training camp focused on top end power. I went into Salty and Tall with 2 days of interval work and built from there. This weekends race, the Northwest Arkansas Classic, has been a place where I have gotten above average results. In 2009 I got 2nd place in a breakaway of 3...and we were off the front for the vast majority of the race. That sounds familiar seeing as I was in a breakaway of 3 that went on the first lap, this year. Oh and I got 2nd once again.

The day was cold and humid, not fun. But the thing that got to me the most was the overcast skies. I hate cloudy weather for race days. It does something to my motivation. I was not a happy camper when we sat at the start line. I tried to stay positive and look on the brighter side of things, like that everyone is having to race in the same conditions. Needless to say that didn't help. I was still cold and I was still unmotivated.

When we started I thought, 'man...this is cold'. Then everyone was sprinting and my thoughts went from 'cold', to, 'wait, aren't we supposed to have a neutral start?', to, 'who cares!!'. It was a chaotic start but I warmed up and was fine for the rest of the race.



Evan Baby waiting to pounce!



 After the silliness stopped, the group became content on staying together for awhile. We got to the 'back' end of the course and you could feel that some guys had ants in their pants. Small non-threatening attacks soon followed and I followed wheels for a bit until we came to the base of the big daddy climb. As we approached the climb, the impetus of the group was gone and it seemed we were going to have ourselves a potty break. To me this was awesome seeing as my wheel wasn't in the rear dropout all the way. It wasn't coming out and luckily it wasn't rubbing but it did affect shifting a great deal. So as we slowed and slow down is all we did, one rider lurked off the front. No potty break for the kids, cross chaining and grinding gears for me. We rode up the hill in pursuit of the solo rider and I made my way up the group until I was sitting at about 10th wheel. I knew attacks would follow directly after the hill and it didn't help that we now had a rider with a growing gap off the front. So I followed attacks from Mercy and Wal-Mart/BMC until the opportune moment for me to attack came. It came in a moment of respite for the riders who had just attacked and I had some momentum as they slowed I used that to launch of the front to chase the lone wolf who was galloping off into the sunset. I attacked and was joined by one rider from the Tulsa Tough team. Together we caught the rider from Soundpony within a minute or so and quickly established a rotation. This is key. If you do not get organized with in a couple seconds, your chances of survival are minimal. Together we worked over the next couple laps, our gap reaching up to 3 minutes at one point. So, it wasn't a for sure thing that we were going to pull it off.

Coming around on the 2nd lap, we three amigos came through the start/finish/feed zone area and I needed a feed, so I tossed my bottle and reached up to get the bottle out of Zach's hand and he threw it at me. I know. I couldn't believe it. Sabotage from within. Not really, I pretty much hit the bottle with my open hand like I was trying to high five it or something. It was super cold out! 

Positive thoughts.

That's all I could try to tell my self. I rode the last lap of the race with a couple swigs of water left in my bottle. Keep in mind, we could get caught if the field decided it wanted to get organized. With little water and a smile on my face I plugged along. As we made our way into the headwind, the Tulsa Tough rider started skipping pulls. To counter this and to cover all my bases (staying away, conserving energy), I started to take shorter harder pulls. This gave me more time to recover as opposed to resting less and pulling longer. This plan worked and we approached the hill, I skipped a couple pulls and forced the Tulsa Tough rider to pull a few times before we approached the monster. We began the climb and I was in 3rd so I could watch everyone and not get caught off guard....as we climbed and my gears skipped, the Soundpony rider kept his pace and opened a small 5 meter gap on us. I didnt want to really torque my stuff so I sat thinking we got this, don't panic. As we crested the hill the Soundpony rider pulled away and I immediately gave chase. The Tulsa rider pulled a couple times but soon realized he didn't have it and he let me know. So I chased and chased with the gap staying the same. He was gone and I was out-classed. I didn't give up until we made the final turn and I realized, 'okay, he's gone and we aren't getting caught'. So with 1k to go I shook the Tulsa Tough riders hand and we rode in.

Jacob winning the field sprint on his Velocite Magnus

After the race I fixed my wheel and rode to the car to change. When I got changed I heard that Chad got 2nd and Jacob got 3rd in the 3's. I couldn't believe it. They set a plan in place and it worked. Before too long, I'll have some super strong teammates and we will be lining up at the races lookin pro and talkin smack with our legs.

I love this team and everything it stands for.

Til the next time I get an above average result,

Evan Bybee aka 'Ethan McBee' aka 'Evan Baby' aka 'niner' aka '109er' aka 'SirLoin'

Fayetteville Stage Race from Eazy's Pt of View

Well, It was an interesting weekend in south Texas. Man, is that a trip or what. I love I-35. We are definitely blessed not to have that kind of traffic.

Anyways, to the racing bit. Saturday started with a cloudy day, some wind but not a huge factor. It is a rolling hill course that we did 3 laps on, for a total of 60 miles. The race unfolded very weird. If I had to call it something, it would be probably, "negative." Meaning, of course, not a lot of strong breaks. Everything got brought back over and over. The avg. speed was about 2 mph slower than in previous years. I guess people were holding back for the TT, which was latter in the day. So, it basically came down to the finish with a time bonus being given to the first 3 riders. The plan was for me to give Jacob a lead out around 1k to go and then pull off around 300m to urge other people to sprint early while Jacob rode their wheel to the line. Well, I guess some people think they can sprint from 500m out because a lot tried and none succeeded. So, there ended up being a gob of people going backwards the last 200m while many were trying to accelerate through the idiots. Jacob held his own and finished in a top 10 spot. Normally, there would have been a wreck, but not this time. It was basically an agility drill on the bike with so many people trying to sprint from such a great distance out while others waited until the 200m mark. Oh yeah....the finish is on a hill, so you have to throw that into the mix. I finished somewhere at the very back of the group, like 40th or so.

Next up, the TT. We won't even talk about my TT because I didn't have the right equipment, so I just tried to perfect peeing off the bike. Just kidding.  On the flip side, Jacob did a great job. He beat his time last year by quite a bit and even felt he might have been able to up it a little more. That is a great feeling. He even beat one of the Garmin guys that normally drills him into the ground. More great feelings.

Okay, now for the last stage. Our plan was to force a break so we could gain some time on the other contenders. First of all, the day was super windy which made for some nasty guttering. The Saturday RR(road race) wasn't reffed very well, meaning a lot of people were crossing the yellow line and not being relegated to the back or disqualified. Sunday's RR was very controlled by the refs, which made the cross wind so much more difficult because you can't get as much of a draft when you are out of the best position (Guttering: purposely riding the yellow line on either side so as to negate the effects of drafting, just in case you didn't know). So, back to the race. We had to do 4 laps which used the course from the day before but a little shorter version. Well, the crosswind eliminated all the weaklings, so the riders that were left were not allowing anything to go up the road. As a matter of fact, a small break formed and we drilled it so hard we caught the CAT 2's that had started 10min ahead of us. Now for the crap.....on the last part of the 3rd lap (we did 4 total laps). Two guys got away, so we watched them go thinking they would be pulled back just like every other break of the day and of the weekend had been. One other guy made the bridge, but that was it. Well, they were sold out (meaning they were giving it everything to stay off...if we would have caught them they probably would have had to quit because they gave it everything) We didn't catch them. Towards the half way point of the last lap a single rider tried to bridge to the 3 off the front, I decided that someone had to cover his bridge and no one wanted to, so I did. We worked for a while together, but that action made the remaining riders speed up and attempt to catch us.  As a matter of fact, Jacob attacked the pursuing riders (the ones chasing myself and the other guy) and rejoined myself and about 6 others. We were all very tired and ended up getting caught by the remaining chasing field with about 1K to go.

So, now it gets really interesting. Pay attention. This race was for Jacob, but it didn't go like it was supposed to. The RR on Saturday was slow and very negative, meaning no one wanted to ride hard, which led to some very fast TT(time trial) times that afternoon. Now, back to the end of Sunday. When it was apparent that we couldn't get the time we needed to get Jacob on the podium because we couldn't catch the 3 guys off the front (by-the-way..they only ended up getting 30 total sec on us, which is a lot but we needed a little more than that.); I have kept you on the hook I know....after bridging to the group Jacob was exhausted and he did something I will never forget. He said "look I am shot, so I will lead you out for the sprint." In other words, I will sacrifice my own desires to finish well to help you. So, that is what we did. Jacob led it out to 200m and I sprinted from that and won the field sprint, 4th to be exact.

That is what makes DNA Racing different, sacrificing one's own ambitions to meet anothers goal. So, if you want to congratulate anyone for a weekend well done, do so for Jacob White. He is almost half my age but more man than I am and someone we can all learn from whether you ride bikes or not.

sincerely in Christ and safe riding,

Erin Elliott

DNA Racing kicks off the OK Road Racing Season!

This past weekend was the Salty and Tall Race for the March of Dimes up near Tulsa.  Saturday was set to be a 60 minute criterium on a 2.5 mile looped course, and Sunday was set to be a 20.5 mile loop that we would race 3 laps for a 61.5 mile road race.  Both proved to be very tough races in the end.

On Saturday we showed up 4 deep with Andy, Erin, Chad and Jacob starting the criterium.  The course had a few rolling hills and quite a bit of rough surface and messy areas.  Flat tires were abundant in the prior races, fortunately we had no such bad luck.  The race was fast from the start, with many riders trying to attack off the front.  A few small breaks were established early, but nothing could quite stick.  We had a plan, and stuck to that plan as a team.  From attacking, to chasing down attacks, to marking certain racers, we raced well together and covered all areas of the race as a whole.  In the finishing laps it was evident that the race was going to come down to a field sprint.  As we neared the last 1 mile of the loop, the DNA pain train started winding up.  Andy was first in line and we wound up the pace to string out the pack and keep anyone from attacking around.  Erin came next and he led Jacob to the bottom of the finishing hill.  Jacob sprinted strong and was just barely nabbed at the line by Brandon Melott, by less than a wheel.  Chad's line had been cut by another rider in the leadout train and he eventually had to fend for himself, which panned out nicely for him since he recovered and sowed up 4th place in the sprint.  A stellar team finish with 2nd, 4th and 10th places taken by DNA riders!!!!

Sunday started cold and windy, and driving to the start/finish proved that the course would be a bit tougher than originally imagined.  Each of lap would consist of 3 significant climbs, which eventually played a part in the break up of the race.  The cold weather had racers energetic as attacks piled on top of each other during the first lap.  Andy got in an early break with a BMC rider and they made a wrong turn at an unmanned corner.  Jacob also got in a break and the minute his group was caught he flatted.  The day would be filled with unlucky breaks.  However, the team raced strong covering attacks, pulling riders back, blocking, and racing together as a core group.  The beginning of the 3rd lap would prove crucial.  Brady Schmiedeberg from OKC Velo attacked on the initial climb, and Erin was on his wheel immediately.  Both ended up getting away.  Our plan for the day did not include "working" in a break, so Erin sat on Brady's wheel for half of that last lap as Andy and Jacob kept the field in check.  We had Chad set up for the finishing sprint so his goal was to reserve energy and sit in nicely in the pack.  When the race came to a point where Brady and Erin could see that they might stay away, Erin began to work.  Jacob, Andy and another rider from OKC  Velo continued to keep the field in check, blocking and chasing down any attacks going off the front.  By the 1 mile to go mark, it was evident that Erin and Brady were away for good, and Erin outsprinted him for the overall win!!!!  

Erin going for the sprint on his Velocite Magnus!

Back in the pack, the pace was picking up as teams jockeyed to get their riders in position for the sprint. Coming out into the last turn a rider attacked, which opened up the lanes for Andy, Jacob and Chad to line up in perfect order.  Out of the last turn with 1/4 mile to the finish line, the leadout train began with a quick acceleration and the sound of shifters moving the chain down the rear cogs.  As Andy moved off the line, Jacob took over and pulled Chad to the 200 meter mark where he laid down the power and held off Tommy Willis, the OKC Velo sprinter, for the field sprint win and 3rd place overall!!!  Andy crossed the line in 5th and Jacob's work for Chad brought him in at 12th. 

What a weekend for our DNA team.  Great race control and placing in the cat 3 field!!!  In addition, we added another rider to our 3 roster.  Aaron Highfill found great success in the cat 4 field races and earned his upgrade to the 3's!!!  Evan Bybee held his own in the massively stacked P12 races and brought in some great results!!!!  

Heading South for La Primavera at Lago Vista

Saturday: As expected the pace was fast in the 2/3 field. After four laps I (Jacob) was averaging 250 watts but I felt as though I was still able to move through the pack fairly easily and was maintaining my position in the top twenty....until the importance of a millimeter here and a millimeter there struck without warning.  My hips got super tight from my bike fit being changed this past week and in less than a mile I went from the front to off the back. When you spend as much time on the bike as we do it's amazing how even the slightest changes can make such a great impact.  So we changed up the fit up a little that evening and they were slightly better for Sundays race, but I'll still have to fine tune them.  Unfortunately for Erin, his luck wasn't much better and he flatted five miles in and with the pace as fast as it was he wasn't able to chase back on.  It wasn't the start to the weekend we had hoped for but we still had Sunday to look forward to.

Sunday: We opted to race the 3/4 race on Sunday. With nearly 100 registered it was a stacked field. It started fast and stayed that way the whole 9 laps. Erin and I were both at the front making an impact for the whole race, going with breaks, attacking, chasing down breaks, and just having a constant presence at the front. The field got shredded everytime up the climb. And the last time up it was probably the hardest. Two were guys were able to get away on that last time up. They stayed away through the finish. The plan was for me to lead Erin out, so as we started the long decent I pulled him up to the front and sat about 6-10th wheel. Several attacks came fast and furious but we held on to our position and nobody got away and Erin held my wheel. With 500 meters to go he got cut off and lost my wheel and then the chaos of the sprint started and ended up with Erin in the ditch and me in 7th in the field sprint. With the two off the front I ended up in 9th and Erin in 18th.

Overall, this weekend didn't post the results we were hoping for but it was still a great weekend of racing.  Lago promoters are top notch and this year with running the Sunday course reversed it made the weekend even more exciting.  We learned some very valuable lessons over the weekend that we hope to build on over the course of the next few weeks and on into the season.  Each race builds confidence and teaches new lessons, so we'll chalk it up as a win in that department and get ready for the next one.

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Thanks to KGS Bikes for the great work behind the lense!

The Green Machine

The DNA Racing steed of choice for the 2011 season is the Velocite Magnus.  Custom painted to ensure a full and healthy serving of greens with each ride.

The Velocite Magnus features:
•High modulus carbon (HMC) fiber for maximum stiffness at minimum weight
•High compaction technology (HCT) for optimal carbon to resin ratio and perfect tube shapes
•Carbon fiber bottom bracket shell and headset races for unmatched stiffness at minimum weight
•BB30 and asymmetric 1 1/8" - 1.5" head tube
•High performance chain stays (HPC) for maximum rear triangle stability and power transfer

We'll keep you posted with ride/race reports throughout the season as we get to spend some quality time on our steeds.

Kicking off 2011!

Mineral Wells Stage Race

Mineral Wells, TX

February 26 & 27, 2011

A Great Start: This past weekend several members of the Green Machine headed south to Mineral Wells, Texas to take part in the Mineral Wells Stage Race and, more importantly, get our season started.  The Mineral Wells Stage Race is a points based stage race, meaning that each rider must finish each stage in order to participate in the next one and must complete all the stages to be eligible to contend for the Overall.  Being our first race of the season, we were all a tad bit nervous to see what our fitness looked like stacked against some of Texas' finest.  Not completing a stage or getting to move on wasn't a topic any of us wanted to talk about on the ride home.

The weekend kicked off with a 7:30 a.m. crit in which we would race for 45 minutes.  The course was fairly clean and smooth with the exception of some rough patches on the backside but otherwise made for a great crit course.  There was also a short but steep hill as you rounded the second turn that would become a key spot for maintaining or improving your position.  The race began just as everyone anticipated it would, fast.  With this being the first crit of the season for many it was a nice wake up call to your legs and lungs.  Time started to fly by, lap after lap and before we knew it the bell was rung and the final lap was underway.  As we made the first right hand turn a burst of green went down the side as Andy surged to get a gap on the field before hitting the hill.  It worked and he was at the front with only two men ahead of him who had somehow managed to sneak off somewhere just prior to the bell lap.  Andy was able to hold strong up front with only one other racer passing him at the line and pull off a great 4th place finish, Chad held onto 10th & Jacob crossed the line in 20th bringing DNA Racing three top 20's in it's first race of the season.  But wait, the fun doesn't stop there...there's still a 7.5 mile Time Trial to do in a few hours.

Trials of Life: Long steep uphills & screaming descents summarize this 7.5 mile time trial.  Speeds as low as 12 mph and as high as almost 50 mph seemed to be the norm.  To drive the course or to not drive the course?  That was the question.  After tossing the idea around a little we decided to take a little drive.  Andy had a little concern because of the hills but also knew that he would make up some time on the down hills and hoped it would balance out.  Not only did it balance out but Andy also turned the fastest time in our category winning the stage and also putting is in first place for the GC and the Team Competition.

One More Day, One More Race: Going into the road race we had a plan.  A very simple plan, do not let any of the other top four GC contenders get up the road.  The points were only within a few separating 1st place & 4th place and we were going to do everything we could to hold onto our points.  Within the first few miles of the race a break was up the road but with none of the GC's in it we sat, watching and waiting.  After about five miles or so the attacks started, 4th in GC didn't have a team but is a member of the Czech National Team and also a great kid.  He took it on himself to try to go off the front and each time he did Chad went with him.  It seemed like every mile or so he would fire off the front trying to get some sort of a gap.  We would grab his wheel, he'd go for a little bit and look back and then sit up and we'd go back to the peloton.  About midway through the first lap Jacob flatted and had to drop back and wait for the wheel truck.  This left us with two, Chad & Andy and with three other GC contenders in the field.  Fortunately for us, two of those contesting the GC were content with sitting in and shadowing Andy.  Denis, from the Czech team, wasn't ready to just sit and threw down his strongest attack as we started up the climb.  Chad countered and was able to stay on his wheel and the attack ended as they crested the top and rejoined the peloton.  The second lap was a little less attack filled and seemed more like positioning in the peloton and out of the wind became more of a factor.  Everything changed with 1K to go though and soon the guys you hadn't seen all day started to shuffle around.  As we approached the line we could see another field of racers near the finish line and also a police car that seemed to be stopped in the middle of the road.  The paced picked up and soon we were at the 200m point, Chad had Andy on his wheel and was hoping for the craziest looking leadout ever but at 150m's that changed as everyone had to swerve out from behind the police car.  Chad crossed the line in 7th & Andy in 11th.  It was a great result from our team, second in the field sprint, a top ten, a top 15 and each member pulling their weight to contribute to the cause.

We left Mineral Wells 2nd & 10th in the Overall GC, won the Team Competition and won a Stage.  Not a bad weekend of racing to kick off the 2011 season.  Even more importantly than the results, we had a great time and as always enjoyed the comradery amongst our team and with some of the others in the region.