VBW Website

I have updated my team's website with race results and team line up. Check it out.
www.vbwheelmen.blogspot.com

VBW Smackdown Pictures are finally up

Leah Nisbet was out at the VBW Smackdown taking pictures. She arrived near the end of the Cat 4 race and stayed through the Cat 1/2/3 race. So most of these pictures are from the Cat 3 and the Cat 1/2/3. I have posted them on my .mac account. Please feel free to visit and have a look. If you were in either one of these races there is bound to be a lot of pictures of you. There is a total of 572. Thanks Leah...very nice pictures.

Trail running, Beer, Friends and GH3

As regular readers know most of the Virginia Beach Wheelmen joined some Tripower guys and gals as well as some All About Bikes racers at Velocity during this winter. It was 20 weeks of pain, endurance, power and speed. It was very good training, but the thing that was built up more than our muscles was our friendships. So now that it is over, a few of us got together at Kevin's house on Monday.

Kevin Horvath, Mike McMahon and I went for a run to start of the night. Mike Hosang rode through the same trails. Kevin took off strong, but I was able to stay with him and help push the pace. It was supposed to be an easy run...that didn't happen.

After the run Brenna arrived as did Jon Nisbet (who brought Guitar Hero). My wife and kids came with me and I think they all made new friends with Sally and Judy. Jon's wife Leah also came along.

The talk focused around racing, illnesses and cross racing. But then we plugged in Guitar Hero. This was our goal of the night.



But this more what it looked like.
It was a good time. Thanks Kevin for having us over. Thanks to everyone who joined us this year at Velocity. I know I plan on doing it again next year. I'm thinking not on a Monday though. We'll try for a Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday. Everyone is welcome to join us.

I think its time to train again

In February I got the flu and that really put a hamper on my training. Then the fire recruits all started and I have been putting in long hours at work...exhausting long hours. So my bike riding has really suffered. Last week was the busiest week at work so far. My team then promoted the Smackdown race in Suffolk, I raced twice that day then did the Dismal Dash the following day. Monday morning I woke up with this stomach virus that seems to be going around. I went into work for a couple of hours but then came home. At 10:20am I decided to take a nap. The phone rang and woke me up at 5:00pm. I guess it was sleep much needed.

Well the stomach thing turned into a head cold and now it has moved to my chest. But the good thing is that I can train with a cold. Today I went out to the county on my TT bike. I realized after the Dismal Dash that I need to get on it a little more. I felt pretty good but my snot production was in excess of my snot removal.

Here's a picture taken by Tim Shockley at the Dismal Dash. I think I definitely look more aero on this bike than I did when all I did was put aero bars on my road bike. I borrowed a helmet from someone, but I think I will buy one before the next time trial. My motivation to train hard is higher right now than it has been. I think the thought of nice weather ahead and good racing this season is what's doing it.

Sounds like egos are expecting more than the legs can deliver

I read a lot of blogs today concerning this weekends racing in Tidewater. Specifically I want to discuss the Cat 3 race at the VBW Smackdown. A breakaway got away early that started with three racers and ended up with nine riders who lapped the field. Some people may be a little confused about how that breakaway succeeded. Twin Turbos claims that the VBW racers in the field did not do their fair share. I don't personally know what happened in the break, but I'll tell you right now that the reason the break was able to lap the field was due to the work by VBW to shut down the chases in the field. That's what teamwork and team tactics are. I think some teams out there should probably take a lesson from this and get it out of there heads that this sport is for individual glory. Joker says that himself, Bender and Karnes were the only men of the race. Once again, if that were true, maybe the only men in the race should have worked harder to cross the line first. Tyler thinks that the only reason the break succeeded was due to the only legit workers in the break (himself, Ian, and Bender).

The point I am trying to make is that there were more than three people in this race. I don't want to take anything from those three, but you don't win races just because you think you worked hard. Although races are won on hard individual efforts, they are also won by hard team efforts. VBW racers were the only ones who were shutting down the chase and allowed the break to succeed.

Better luck next time.

Views from the finish line

Check out this video from the VBW Smackdown. It is the view from the finish line camera. Sorry ladies, the women's races file wasn't loading properly and had to be omitted. Other than that it is a cool and unique perspective.

Thank you to everyone who came out. It was a great day, with great weather and great racing.

Fire Department Recruitment Videos

These videos should be part of a fire department recruitment. Or at least convince people to study harder so they could be a firefighter instead of a police officer. Check them out.

Snowball Suffering

The Virginia Beach Wheelmen showed up on Sunday to the Sportsplex sporting their new uniforms. It was also going to be the first time this many of them raced together. With addition of Kyle O'brien after last Snowball they showed up 6 strong. James Goyet, Jon Nisbet, John Gray, Tim Shockley, Kyle O'brien and me (Joshua Goyet). During our warm up we decided who would lead who out, and I had mentioned I would try to get in a break, but I didn't feel my legs were back to where they should be. So they knew to watch me and counter attack if I got dropped from the break.
So the B race started off good. There were a couple of jumps and a couple of people away. But they weren't too far and it didn't look like it would stick.

I was riding near the front when I saw a couple more look like they were going to attack. I jumped on D-bo's wheel and before we knew it we were in the break. A couple of the riders thought the entire pack had caught them and just sat up. That left 4 of us.
Three of the four were working. And it seemed like every time I pulled was the headwind part. My pulls became shorter and shorter and I was burning out quick. It was still very early in the race also. So I dropped off to head back into the pack. At this time Nisbet was covering a break. He saw that I had dropped off and so countered and made it to the break. I got to the front and blocked immediately when the pack caught me. Tim spent a lot of time at the front after that and did an excellent job of covering any attacks. James also made is way up a lot and worked to bring the race back together after primes. John and Kyle needed upgrade points so they sat in to try and get a high placing in the field sprint. I did what I could, but I was pretty tired. Jon won the race and the other John got 4th (I think) in the field sprint.
The B race was harder than the one two weeks ago. The Virginia Beach Wheelmen had a good showing. I want to thank the guys from All About Bikes Racing also for helping us block near the end. That gave the break an even bigger lead.

After the B race Jon Nisbet, Tim Shockley and myself changed numbers and raced the A race. I was going to use this race as a motor pacing race.
And that's pretty much what I did. It was harder than two weeks ago. A break didn't get away until later in the race. So there was a lot of attacking and the wind was impossible to get away from. For the most part we all sat in the back and watched and just tried to survive.
A break of some very strong riders got away and immediately go a half a lap lead. I pulled off with three to go to watch the sprint (that and my legs were cramping pretty badly). It was a long sprint but Keith took it at the end.
Nisbet ended up getting second in the field sprint. Overall it was a great day of racing.

See everyone next week at the VBW Smackdown.

Time Travel

I love daylight savings time. Especially spring forward. Mainly because it marks the real beginning of spring, summer and the racing season. The one thing I don't like about it, is that there already doesn't seem like there are enough hours in the day to do everything. I have been really busy lately. The fire academy is taking up a lot of my time. I seem to always be there. I am usually there a couple hours before the recruits and a couple hours after they have left. Also, the VBW Smackdown is next weekend. Now would be a good time to register if you haven't yet. But even the last minute race planning is taking some time from me. I am trying to get my training in where I can. Which is usually at a gym, or in my garage on the trainer at 5 am. But I'm not complaining. I am having a great time. My family is probably complaining because I haven't seen them much lately. But at least we got an extra day this year (leap year), that should help.

Don't forget the smoke detector batteries.

Check them out while they're standing still

The new Virginia Beach Wheelmen clothing arrived yesterday. As most everyone knows our title sponsor for the past 2 years (Bike Zone) closed shop this last September. We all really liked the design of our clothing and so we chose to stay with the general pattern. But now people will know us a Virginia Beach Wheelmen instead of Bike Zone. As you can see we have some really good sponsors. Velocity Sports Performance is one. And if you are a regular reader you will know that a group of us has trained there all winter long. Watch out for the sprints and power output from everyone in that group. Stihl also has been a sponsor of ours for the last 2 years.
Gold's Gym has really hooked us up with memberships for the last two years as well. There is nothing like an off season training plan that includes weight training. If your not doing you probably should be. Also thanks to Gam Jams for being our media sponsor. I know Gam Jams has increased the volume of visitors to this site. Look there later on in the season when the Virginia Beach Wheelmen really start to race. We are excited about our new additions to the team this year, including a junior who has some real potential.
We are probably the only team jersey out there with a picture of a doll. That is actually my mom's company. She does custom crafts like dolls, scrapbooks and even quilts made from race t-shirts. Most of her stuff is ebay, but the custom stuff can be called in. I'll give anyone contact info if they are at all interested. She is working on a website soon. Also thanks to Premier Fitness in Sufflolk. He is new to sponsoring us this year. Premier is very active in all aspects of fitness, and this shows that the Virginia Beach Wheelmen are serious about our strength training.
Ken Rapp from Rose and Womble is a supporter of the sport. Call him with any real estate needs. He is located in Virginia Beach but will work anywhere in Tidewater (362-7395). Ramone Photography is an awesome photographer. He is located at Willis Wayside. Anyone ever see the picture of the baby sleeping with her head in a man's hand and her body laying on his arm. The picture is on display at Pembroke Mall. That is Ramone's work and it is my 5 year old daughter when she was a week old. Very artistic work. Also Outdoor Impressions has been around since the beginning, thanks to them.
Our new bike shop sponsor is All About Bikes which can be found in Suffolk and Chesapeake. This is turning out to be a very good partnership. All About Bikes really is active in the cycling community and wants to see the sport grow, not just the shop.
So we are thrilled with our new threads and really appreciate all sponsors who give us money and/or services to race our bikes. It doesn't get any better than that.

I thought I would post this so everyone could see all the sponsors. I know sometimes it is hard to see, especially at the speeds these jerseys will be going. See you out there.

February Recap

February 2008 was not a good cycling month for me but a lot of stuff happened. Here's the month in review.

• I got the flu.

• TRFA #118 started on February 18th. 28 fire recruits arrived at the VB Fire Training center and it is my job to help mold them into firefighters. (Yes you should be nervous about that.)

• I turned 32 on February 23rd.

• We lined for the first race of the season.

• The tooth fairy visited the house for the first time.

All in all it was a very busy and exciting month. The flu and the start of TRFA has hindered my training. But I am better now, older and getting use to the extra work load. It won't take me long to bring my fitness back to where it should be.

I am officially ready for March.