One of which is a name change. Our website will stay the same, but our new name is Quality Care Pharmacies Cycling Team.

We would also like to thank  our new sponsors for making this team a reality:

• Quality Care Pharmacies
• Rochester Drug Cooperative, Inc
• EFP Rotenberg LLC
• Western New York Wellness
• RVE Bike & Skate
• Specialized Bikes

We’re also very excited to team up with the Western New York Wellness Group providing chaperon services for their Monday night group rides to help cancer survivors.

Please click on our SPONSORS page to learn more about the companies that have made our team possible.

Our current team:

• Shannon Case
• Tyler Sweeting
• Dwight Roth
• Kevin Hill

We’re in the process of having our new kits designed by Mike Minerva of Minerva Design.

We would like to invite anyone and everyone to come out and join us on one of our favorite lakes to bike around.

The total mileage is around 41 miles.

Our goal is to meet at the public parking by 8:30am and be on the road by 9:00am.

Last time we rode this lake was July 2007. Here are some photos from that ride:

We usually stop at the Blue Water Grill after the ride for a bite to eat and a beverage.

I’ve made a Google Map on where to park and the route we plan to take:

View Skaneateles Lake in a larger map

The ride is challenging and the scenery is great. It would be nice to meet some new cyclists and GVCC‘ers.

I was fortunate enough to have my friend Dwight from the Minerva Design Cycling team come out and offer advice as I was riding.

I got at the front during the warmup lap which was my first mistake. I should have fallen back a little bit and hid in the middle of the pack. Once we neared the horse farm Mike let the gun off and the pack took off. I was slowly getting chewed up and spit out the back. I fell off and then I get tapped on the back and Dwight yells get in a bigger gear and get up there! I managed to get back on the group, but got dropped again at the first pop of a hill before the right hand turn.

So Dwight rode with me and pushed me. I thought I had been riding as hard as I possibly could the last few weeks. I was wrong. Just when I thought I would puke or the thought of passing out would cross my mind we hit a downhill. Dwight would say get in a harder gear, keep pedaling, you are recovering now. We hit the base of a hill, Dwight would yell adjust your gearing stand up, ride!

I won’t lie .. I was hurting so bad that I actually was not liking Dwight at those moments, but I am glad he came out and did that for me. Those were the hardest 2 laps I have ridden this year.

I also heard that Tyler attacked the group 3 times that night. Nothing came of the attacks, but 7 weeks ago the thought of attacking would have never occurred to him. Hopefully I will continue to improve so he is not out there by himself. My goal for this season is just to finish a race with the pack.

I had decided to try something different on Thursday. I allowed myself to have my morning coffee, but drank nothing but water the rest of the day. A typical day at work could see me drinking 3-4 cans/bottles of Mountain Dew! I felt a little sluggish by Noon, but by time I got out of work @ 4pm I was feeling really good.

Tyler had not raced on this course yet so after getting all our gear ready we headed out and took a warm up lap with one of the G2 riders (John). We came back from our warm up lap and Mike had us do bumping and wheel touching drills. It is very difficult to bump/touch wheels with someone on a bike when you are trying to do it intentionally. Neither of us fell off our bikes so that is a good thing.

We rolled up neutral to the start/finish at the top of Blazey Road and I was still feeling pretty good. Now usually I just hang in the back and try to stay out of everyone’s way. Which usually results in me getting dropped shortly after turn #1 on the first full lap. So here I am sitting in the back riding my brakes and I thought why I am riding my brakes? So I decided to try and move up near the front. It was downhill so I wasn’t exerting much energy to move up. Tyler was up in the middle of the group. I caught up to him and he just did a double-take like “What are you doing up here?”.

Once we hit the flat part of Dailey Road I stayed about midpack until about the middle of Wilkinson Road. As we started up towards Pannel Road I just got slower, and slower, and slower … By time I turned on to Pannel Road I had fallen off the back of the peloton. Now I know I burned myself out, but at least I got a little experience of riding in the group with riders on either side of me at speed. I got all, but one lap in due to the fact that I was lapped by the B5′s just before the finish line.

I have a lot of work to do. I should have gotten some base miles in over the winter. I have wanted to race ever since I started riding again in 2004.  I get one day a week to ride and I would choose to ride with the GVCC group and get dropped every week then to just ride by myself. It can only make me better. I want to thank everyone that yells words of encouragement during the race. It does help.

Looking forward to the Wheatland course next week.

The weather was much nicer than last, but very, very hot.

We ended up parking next to our friend Barry Cherney. We met Barry through the Western New York Wellness Group when I was riding with the group the last couple of years on a regular basis.

Tyler finished in 59:22:73 which beat his time from 2 years ago. I was able to finish in 1:08:34. Two minutes slower than last year, but I think I may have overheated.

All in all it was a great day spent with great friends. What more can anyone ask for?

Overall Results Category Results

It is a great event and helps support the Jon Dechau Foundation.

From the GVCC website:

Come experience Rushville, Jon’s hometown that he loved and trained in for many years. Time Trial on a rolling ~35 Km out and back course on Route 245 through the Middlesex Valley from Rushville to Italy. Tune up for the NYS TT Championships on the roads that created a TT legend. Chip timing will be provided.

There are currently 30+ riders signed up as of this afternoon. I’ve done this event twice so far. Once in 2007 and again last year in 2009. If you race and you have nothing to do on Saturday please come out and show your support. Nothing beats riding as hard as you can with snot and slobber covering your face for 35Km!

Registration:

http://www.bikereg.com/events/register.asp?eventid=11044

Confirmed Rider List:

http://www.bikereg.com/events/ConfList.asp?EventID=11044

This week was extremely difficult for me. We did reverse pace lines during the warmup lap and my first sprint to the front of the pace line pretty much killed me. I was at 101% of my heart rate by the time I got to the front of the line. My second sprint during the warmup was up the hill on Ballantyne Road and I just bonked halfway through the pack. After that I couldn’t even hang on to the peloton. I finally caught up with the peloton as Mike had everyone stop at the start/finish line before the start of the first lap, but everyone had taken off as soon as I stopped.

So I did the best I could and just kept pedaling. I thought I was going to get reattached to the peloton on turn #2 on lap two, but when I rounded the corner they were just gone!

I had had a rough afternoon earlier in the day. That mood carried over to the race and ultimately got the best of me. I don’t know how many laps I did. I am thinking not many as my Garmin only read 10.14 miles. I can’t remember if I turned it on before the warmup lap or not.

The good news out of the whole race was that my good friend Tyler finally came out to try racing. He loved it and will getting his USA Cycling license and joining the GVCC this weeked.

I think I did much better this time. I was able to stay with peloton during the warm up lap running pace lines. On the 1st lap I was on the back end of the peloton and then fell off about 3/4 of the way down Cline Rd. I could see another guy up ahead of me though. I think it was his first night as well. I got on his wheel to recover a little and then saw that he was hurting too so I went by him to let him draft me. When I made it to the start of the hill on Blazey Rd and I just kicked it right into my 34 tooth gear up front. I looked back and the guy isn’t there anymore. I felt bad for leaving him, but was thinking there was still a chance I could catch up to everyone on the downhill.

I caught a glimpse of everyone @ turn #1, but just couldn’t get back on with the peloton. Started to pour halfway through lap 3. When I got to turn #1 the marshal said the B5s went by a long time ago and I should just stop for the night.

I was in HR Zone 6 most of the time. It was tough, but fun.

This week’s course was set near Mendon Ponds Park.

It was a really nice course. The Cat 5′s started shortly after the Cat 4′s with a warmup lap practicing pacelines. Unfortunately, my fitness level is low and I was dropped at turn two (W. Bloomfield Rd & Pond Rd). I do want to say thanks to the guy that was trying to let me draft off him to get back to the peloton. I am sorry I cannot remember your name, but it was much appreciated. I could not hang on to his wheel either so he sprinted ahead so that he would not lose the group. I’ll be honest, once I turned onto to Pittsford Mendon Center Rd and saw that the Cat 5′s were no where to be seen I just wanted to pack up and go home. Then I thought to myself the hard part was actually showing up tonight. All I have to do now if finish my laps and not quit. So that is what I did. I just kept going. I got lost on lap 2 because I turned down Smith Rd instead of Pond Rd, but I am sure everyone has gotten lost.

In all my nervousness I forgot to reset my Garmin Edge so the whole ride got added to the ride with my twins on Wednesday. I also forgot to press start at the start of the warm up lap so I did not start recording until lap 2. I also think I still owed a lap, but the people at the finish line said the Cat 5′s were down. That was @ 7:20pm. I am pretty sure had I tried to do another lap that it would have been very dark out when I got back to the finish line.

Here is a link to my Garmin Data:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/30957154

Even though I could not keep up I am so glad I finally joined and showed up for the race. I can’t make it out on the 29th, but will be there the following week.

Only 14 weeks to the first Giro?!? I better get training.