Let me add to the Fulton Flyers alumni list...sorry, but left off young Matt Lipscomb!  Matt is racing age 18, and has spent a bit of time in Europe racing with the U.S. National Team over the past three years.  The first time I met Matt was about 5 years ago - he standing on the line at the Twilight Greenway Junior race - in an AXA Masters Team jersey...I stepped over to speak with him briefly, and soon met his dad as well.  Matt went to Nats that year (1st year of racing and placed 7th!)

Also, Proud Papa Ken Rosskopf (a Fulton Flyers Masters, and dad of young Joey Rosskopf) just emailed to let me know that in winning last nights Twilight Computrainer race, Joey averaged 479 watts for the 8 minute event...if you use a Power Meter, then you have a pretty good idea of how much power that is (big hint: a LOT!).  Just to make myself feel depressed, I looked at my best 8 minute efforts from my power data since 2009.....uh, I will keep that number to myself, but it ain't 479 for sure.

Tonight we should hear some very familiar words - "Go Joey!"...I am sure Alex Wechsler (pictured above from 2005 - a Fulton Flyers Devo Women alumni now attending UGA, along with Joey and Rose) will be shouting them.

Later with more!

Joey Rosskopf just won the Athens Twilight Criterium Computrainer race, with Oscar Clark in 5th.  Only the Top 8 qualifiers made it to the final...2 former Fulton Flyers Development Team riders in the big time!

 Tomorrow night look for Joey & Oscar, as well as their fellow former FFCC Devo riders Jafer Beizer, Ty Magner and Thomas Brown.  Thomas is a real threat to win, as he is a great crit rider with a lot of power in his final sprint.  See Thomas below in his Fulton Flyers Juniors Team photo from 2006.

In the Womens Pro race look for current Fulton Flyers - Peachtree Bikes Womens Team riders Amanda Komestat and Elizabeth Lee.  As noted earlier, Lauren De Crescenzo was injured this week, and will miss the big event.

Look for results here!

First, for those that are aware that Lauren De Crescenzo was hit by a car last night - she is OK!  We wish her a quick recovery and return to her winning ways.  Photo below of her at her favorite place - top box!

A simple "by the way, did you hear that...." - Tracey Honeycutt is now a Cat 3 (does this result in an automatic increase of threshold power of 15%?).  Good luck this weekend Tracey!

So, this weekend offers many racing opportunities:

Twilight Criterium

Roswell Criterium

Ft Yargo MTB SERC race

Fulton Flyers will represent at all three races!  Masters, Women and Juniors!  Look for results here Monday!

see the action from the saddle (or helmet cam...) of Jonathon Wood at the Georgia - West Point race on 4-10-11. Race is XC Category 2 for men 30-39 (fast....)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ztml_k3GgW4&NR=1

Yet another successful GA Cup Omnium for FFCC Masters!  Shannon Wrege (see podium shot below) continues to show why he loves TT's, winning the Men 4 event at the Brooks Omnium; George Darden is showing he can TT as well as climb, 2nd in Men 3, with Erik Olson close behind in 5th (along with his still-healing dog bite...).  Erik followed this with 9th in the afternoon Circuit Race.

 The queen stage, the almost famous Brooks Road Race - in Men 3, a breakaway of 4 rolled off to take the podium; Tony Robinson received extended leadout from David Marbut and George Darden and crossed the line in 7th.

More pics on the Masters page!  Click HERE

http://www.active.com/nutrition/Articles/Weight_loss_for_athletes__Eat_less_or_exercise_more_.htm

As Congress continued to consider the pro & con aspects of shutting down the U.S. Government, Diana Ramos was secretly plotting, whilst riding in the group of junior women at the Sunny King Criterium, on how to do a number of things, not the least of which was crossing the finish line ahead of her most numerous rivals, that being the young ladies known as Frazier Cycling. 

As the girls sped up the finishing stretch, young Diana pushed hard and "viola!" - she wins the right to stand on the podium box labeled with a "1", as well as enter the second competition, whilst holding hands aloft with the full weight of a Mix 1 Protein drink (and sponsor), of which of these young cycling phenoms can best model their hats...nonetheless, above is Diana Ramos, winner of the 2011 Sunny King Criterium for Junior Women, and a Fulton Flyer Devo rider extraordinaire!

While heavier men withered at the foot of the final climb of the extremely difficult course known as the Foothills Classic Road Race, George Darden found himself under full steam after Tony Robinson's best impression of Jens Voight...thinking, "man, so this is how Andy Schlek feels when he gets to the final climb...", and no doubt wanting only to perform to his best in a show of true admiration for the gift so selflessly bestowed upon him, George busied himself at doing what anyone in this situation would do...without hesitation, procrastination or even provocation, he turned his full abilities to propelling both body and cycle at the very limit of his physical powers, regardless of how limited they be compared to that of most of the Fulton Flyers Offroad Team.  

After what seemed like a much longer time had actually passed (as any amount of time is less than forever), George looked ahead to see only one soul remaining in front of him...digging deeper, and thinking of all inspirational thoughts one could think relative to "getting the job done", "when the going gets tough, the tough have a beer", etc, he threw himself into one last throb of muscle spasm inducing full-body efforts to take the victory, all the while wondering how this would compare to a great and glorious victory in an mountain bike or cyclocross race, yet somehow that solitary figure that almost jeeringly managed to maintain a pace equal to his...and he took second place...however (and this is an important "however", however...) he was the FIRST CATEGORY 3 rider to make it to the finish line. 

Surely, this warrants both this well-written, though somewhat less than completely accurate, re-cap of George's adventure, and a well-taken photograph to document his accomplishment... nonetheless, below IS George Darden (the one on the left wearing the Fulton Flyers Masters Team jersey and the special podium shorts he borrowed from Dave Marbut):

A big weekend for the Fulton Flyers at the Sunny King Criterium (Anniston, AL), Kings College Collegiate, Foothills Classic RR and West Point (GA) Mountain Bike Race!

Junior Women put up the first results at Sunny King, with Annalise Oestreich 2nd (10-12) and Diana Ramos taking the win in Women 13-14; Diana later rode to a fine 32nd with the big girls in Cat3/4.  Junior Boys followed suit with Christian Corsello (taking after Dad Kirk!) showed sprinting prowess for a fine 3rd in 10-12, with David Worsop close behind in 7th.  Next up were Jr 13-14, and Brody Hartley came close with a 2nd, with strong rides by Nick Oestrich (5th) and Mikey Waine (9th).  Clay Burke went to the line 8th with Jr 15-16. Lauren De Crescenzo of the "big girls" team sprinted in for 11th.

Now properly schooled by our Juniors, Fulton Flyers Masters showed they are quick learners, with Tracy Honeycutt just smoking the Cat 4 field, winning both primes and the race (photo below)!

Next day in AL was the Foothills RR - George Darden and Tony Robinson showed the "pro" method in the Cat 2/3 race, with Tony pulling George full gas (ala Jens Voight!) to the final climb, where George made good use of the assist to take 2nd!  In Cat 4, Steven Tarry (5th), Tracy (12th) and Woody Wheeler (15th) all turned in strong rides.

The road results wrap-up with a fine weekend of racing by Amanda Komestat at King College (VA), taking 4th in both road races, and a very nice 3rd in the Criterium - should now have garnered enough points for Collegiate Road Nats this May in Madison, WI!

The new Fulton Flyers Offroad Team scored a big win, with Masters Team spiritual (and financial) leader Dave Marbut scoring a big WIN, along with Wendy Wood and her male counterpart taking 5th (see podium photos below).

This coming weekend marks the return of the almost famous, and quite beloved by many, Brooks Road Race (as part of the GA Cup Senoia Omnium).  Look for more results here!

A busy weekend for Fulton Flyers!  Devo Women Amanda Komestat and Lauren De Crescenzo rolled into Rock Hill, and left with Lauren on the top step after the Pro-1-2-3 Road Race, with Amanda at 21st.  In the Criterium, Amanda 23rd & Lauren 7th.  Looking forward to seeing these two at Twilight!

Masters Brett Stewart, Tony Robinson, and Shannon Wrege made big impressions at the Rome Georgia Cup Omnium April 2-3.  Shannon absolutely smoked the Time Trial - though riding in Cat 4, his time was the 4th fastest of the day!  Holy schmokes!  Brett jumped onto the CAt 4 Road Race podium with an outstanding 3rd (see photo below).  Tony again was Mr. Consistent Cat 3 with 7th TT, 4th Crit and 10th RR - which should have resulted in 2nd overall, but promoters somehow allowed a DNF rider to go unnoticed, pushing Tony to 3rd in the weekend Omnium (this deed will not go unpunished...just have to wait for the right revenge!).

Meanwhile in California...Oscar and the Realcyclist.com team successfully defended Francisco Mancebo's leader jersey in the final criterium.  Another day of hard work and riding on the front of an NRC event choked full of talent.  See more at: 

http://www.realcyclist.com/roadbike/dc/1115/Realcyclist-Pro-Team.html?INT_ID=DM_PROTEAM

A parting shot of Oscar at Redlands, sitting 2nd wheel behind teammate Neil Coleman:

Oscar experienced today what it takes to defend you team leader's yellow jersey at The Redlands Classic queen stage.  With Realcyclist.com teammate Francisco Mancebo (winner of the Best Young Rider Jersey in Tour de France 2000) sitting in the leader's jersey, young Oscar and the team were tasked with keeping Mancebo in contention until the final big climb.  With this being accomplished, Oscar was able to sit up and ride it in with the groupetto. 

True professional racing - no debate about what must be done, and sacrificing ones self for a team mate.  Cheers Oscar!

For you Georgia cyclocross folks, you all know Oscar well, and are used to seeing him ride up front and WINNING most of the time.  He cut his teeth in racing at age 14 with the Fulton Flyers, with 'cross being his first racing - he later branched out to road and is an outstanding trackie as well.

Below is what it looks like when you are towing an NRC field along - Oscar on the front!

Fulton Flyers Development Team Alumni Oscar Clark, now riding pro with Realcyclist.com, is racing Redlands Bicycle Classic in California - Round 1 of the U.S. NRC (National Racing Calendar).  Team captain is Francisco Mancebo, who has finished Top 10 in five Grand Tours! 

 Day 1 was the the 5km uphill TT - Oscar (in photo below) finished within 1:04 of Mancebo's winning time of 11:12, placing 66th out of 204 starters (yes, that is a big field).  Today (4-1-11) is the queen stage, a 120km road race with ample opportunities for the climbers to make their mark.  Oscar has his occupation before him in protecting Mancebo's less-than-one second lead.