(copied from the Bicycle Chain blog)
A lot of customers have questioned my absence from the store this summer and, as a matter of fact, the previous summer’s as well. In a nutshell I’ve been gone.
I have this sideline cycling/coaching/mentoring/adventure/slash/development program going with USA Cycling and the group of young athletes with whom I come in contact through that program.
Each summer in June I assemble a Development Camp for junior Cyclists at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. The camp is a week long event with drills, tests of skill, endurance and speed with evening lectures on training. We draw cyclists mainly from the Midwest but this past summer had riders from Washington D.C. and Washington State as well as Colorado and Utah. We have a limit of 36 riders and often fill our quota.
Beginning the prior year I reserve the campus for our week’s stay, then in November meet with the other Camp Director’s in Colorado Springs to discuss the format for the next season’s camps. In December I meet with a few members of my coaching staff to research courses and curriculum for our camp the following June. In January I begin hiring my staff for the summer session, then throughout the spring we recruit riders based on race results and interest in racing at a higher level. During this time we also work on our lecture program to insure that we are offering the riders the best training and ideas to further enhance their own training programs.
One of the underlying pieces of the program is to select racers age 17-18 for the Tour de l’Abitibi and to attend the National Development Camp. The National Camp is held in Colorado Springs and the top riders from each of the 10 Regional Camps are invited to attend with the top riders from that camp being selected to compete with the National Team either in Europe or at home.
The Tour de l’Abitibi, Val-d’Or, Quebec is the largest stage race in the World for junior cyclist age 17-18. It is part of the UCI World Cup and draws teams from Europe, Asia, North and South America and Africa. In the seven years that I have been taking teams we have seen teams from all over Eastern and Western Europe, Africa, Mexico, Columbia and most of the Canadian Provinces. The only Team in my memory that has been there consistently each year has been the Japanese team. This year they had the National Team and Japan High School Select.
The racing begins with a prologue on Monday Evening, followed by a double stage on Tuesday, a long Road Race on Wednesday, another double on Thursday, Circuit race on Friday, Road Race on Saturday and the finale Circuit on Sunday. The results are time based similar to the Tour de France for comparison. We follow in caravan for all races except the shorter circuit races and Criteriums.
My team is called BORAH Development. We are sponsored in part by Borah clothing out of Coon Valley, WI. Borah supplies us with our team clothing. Other Sponsors are Fahrenheit 32 (WEB site and cash), Continental (Tires), Giant (Tubes, Chains), Mavic/Adidas, (Gloves, Socks), Serfas (eyewear), Shimano (Cables and housing), Power Bar (Bottles and nutritional supplies) and Banjo Brothers (Bags).
Borah Development was established as a 501-3c non profit in 2003. My club AUC has donated several thousand dollars to help support the team. Some of the contributions received have come through the membership and a large portion comes through a charity race that we host every spring. Without these product and financial contributions the trip would be financially unrealistic. So I thank then one and all for their support.
In 2007 we had our best results with the team. Larry Warbasse, Traverse City, MI, finished 17th overall out of 164 starters. Larry was 6th in the Individual Time Trial, 10th in the Circuit race and had two other top 20 finishes. Kevin Young, Chevy Chase, MD, finished 90th in only his second year of racing. The other four, Mac Brennan, Portage, MI, Tony Olson, Kasota, MN, Logan Von Bokel, Bellville, IL and Lloyd Sutton, Littleton, CO did not break the top 100 but they all finished. There were 30 riders or more that did not complete the entire 9 stages.
After l’Abitibi I drove 450 miles east to La Baie, Quebec for Le Tour de l’Avenir. This is a stage race for 15-16 year olds and is only the second year that it has been contested. I had a team of four riders competing for Borah Development at this race. Taylor Birmann, Canton, MI was my top rider finishing 4th in the Individual Time Trial and top 20 in all of the other races. James Bird, Kenilworth, IL also had a good showing finishing in the top 20 overall, Eric Dobberfuhl, Mequon, WI and John Schimek, Onalaska, WI rounded out the team finishing in the top 50.
This race was 6 stages over four days and was much more challenging than Abitibi. The climbs were 3-4 miles long and the descents were 50-60 mph. Surprising enough there were very few crashes with most of them happening in the rain during one of the Criteriums.
I left La Baie on Sunday evening with the intention of making my way through Quebec City, Montreal and Ottawa before the morning rush hour. I drove as far as Pembroke, Ontario and slept in a bed for the first time in five days and only the second time in two weeks. It didn’t last long as I was back on the road early Monday morning making my way to the border. My goal is always to make Sault Ste Marie before the rush hour. I arrived at about 2:30 P.M. with one car in line at customs ahead of me. I made it through customs in record time and had fairly smooth sailing the remainder of the trip arriving home at 11:00 P.M. – 17 hours of straight driving and 8 hours the night before.
Now I’m back at work until the next round, a wedding here, a meeting there and suddenly it’s next summer again.
