ADD ANOTHER "W" TO OUR COLECTION

This week’s write up is brought to you by the letter W. Why W? It just happens to be one of our favorite letters here in the Myogenesis camp.

This past weekend would see the Myogenesis guys going split squad, yet again, to cover all bases in the immediate vicinity. Representing the boys in blue at the Grant Park, Atlanta criterium on Saturday were Brady, Casey and the Blue Ryno himself. Heading over to Birmingham, Alabama were The Beaver, Big Jon, Travis Sherman (www.alabamacyclingnews.com), and our very own http://www.ronswilliams.com/, fresh off his 4th at WORLDS.

I’ll first cover Grant Park briefly for you.

Coming into this race we knew it would be very active from the gun. Thad Dulin (Jittery Joes) and Oscar Heneo (Union Ciclista Latino) were locked in a dead heat battle for the overall win in the Georgia Cup. Our very own Clever Beaver was sitting comfortably in 3rd. Just as we expected, from the gun, the attacks started. We just pretty much sat in and let the race take its course, trying on several occasions to go with moves, but nothing succeeded. That changed when a move I was in came back, and was countered by Tony Scott (Memorial One), fresh off his new stars and stripes jersey. Tony and another guy whose name escapes me, managed to put in a brilliant ride, and stayed away for the remainder. We got Casey into position in the final laps, and managed a 7th. Not bad I suppose, since 6 were off the front. Another top 10 for Myogenesis, and more to look forward to on Sunday in Buckhead for the Georgia Cup Finale. Before I get started on that, let me slide 2 hours west of the “A”, and give you a recap of B’ham as well.

The first year Pepper Place Criterium was being held in downtown Birmingham, Alabama, around the old Dr. Pepper building. So up for this Saturday night fight were a list of who’s who in the Southeast…..With The Trinidad Torpedo, Emile Abraham (with the US100K check in his back pocket, ink still wet). Also in attendance was The Cuban Missile Crisis, Frank Travieso and his complement of Aerospace Engineers, including Eric Murphy. Since I wasn’t in attendance, I will give you the report short and sweet as it was told to me. Fast from the start, a strong break went, with all the players represented. Big Jon was carrying the flag for Myogenesis.com. Fast forward to the final laps. Jon decided instead of taking this thing to sprint (since his company included the aforementioned) he would try a move on the last lap. Jon attacked on the backside straight of the last lap, got a gap and…………….held it for the W. That is why this report is brought to you by the letter W. Yep, Myogenesis.com logs another success. With Jon’s win, that brings us to 5 different team members bringin’ it home this year.

On to Buckhead. For those of you who are not familiar with Buckhead, it is the area in Atlanta where all the bars USED to be concentrated. I say USED to because a developer has bought just about every parcel in the bar district now, and is apparently going to turn it into the A’s version of Rodeo Dr.. Anyway, back to why you are here…..

Coming into Sunday, the Myogenesis team would be skating at full strength, with Daryl, Big Jon, Casey, Cleve, Brady and Ryan. We decided we would let the race for the overall (with Oscar and Thad now separated by single digit points) play out with much interference from us. We just needed to make sure we were vigilant of anything dangerous going up the road. On hand for this hour long painfest would, once again, be a who’s who of hitters from the southeast, and even a guest appearance from a former Atlantan, Curtis Gunn, who races for SuccessfulLiving.com. Also on hand were once again, Trinidad National Champion and Pan-Am gold medalist, Emile Abraham (Priority Health), Frank Travieso (AEG-Toshiba-Jetnetwork), Jeff Mullet Hopkins (Jittery Joes) and his fellow Bean, Thad Dulin. Jason Snow (stars and stripes jersey wearer) was also present. The race was from the gun, as expected, with a MAR prime worth points, on the first lap. That pretty much set the tempo. Attack after attack, prime after prime, and a group finally got up the road. The group contained several of the aforementioned, Curtis, Frank and Jason. Very dangerous indeed. We tried in earnest to get across, but no one was willing to help. With two laps to go, a small group made an escape attempt. The Myo guys wouldn’t have any of that, and quickly went to the front, and with a half lap to go, made the catch on the backside coming into the sprint. Myogenesis was able to put Casey in at 7th and Big Jon in at 8th. A very solid race that was just about close to NRC level, with $10,000 on the line.

After this weekend, there isn’t much racing left on the road, but stay tuned as several of the guys take to the cross course, in pursuit of more PODIUMs (http://www.myogenesis.com/), and more of our favorite letter….W!

Thanks for all the continued support, and continue to check back often, as I will be starting a new feature on here….a little video interview with a different racer from the Myogenesis squad each week. If any of you have any questions you would like to have asked to your favorite, or least favorite at that, team member, shoot them my way by comment here, and we will get your answer for you.!!

Until then…………..

US 100K NRC-Atlanta, Georgia

US 100K NRC RACE

This race would be like any other race for us, except for the small fact it was an NRC race. Not only an NRC race, but Health-Net needed a good finish to win there 4th NRC title. Some of the talent that was present for the days festivities would be eventual winner, Emile Abraham (Priority Health), Karl Menzies and newly crowned US PRO Crit champ, Kirk O’bee of Health-Net fame, B World Road Race Champ, Ivan Stevic and his band of Toyota brothers, as well as the Jittery boys with Neil Shirley, fresh off his podium appearance at US PRO RR the day before. The list goes on, with too numerous to name, but you get the gist.
The call to the line was at 7:15 AM for the 100K affair. Myogenesis showed up with the full squad since this was a “home race” for us. The race started fairly serene with folks taking flyers from the start, but nothing threatening. It was just folks stretching their early morning legs. It didn’t take too long before the guns started firing though. Several attempted breaks went with in the first few laps, but nothing of significance stuck, until the 4th lap. A move would scamper off the front containing a couple of the Jittery Joes guys (Jeff Hopkins, Trent Wilson), 2 Health-Net guys (Doug Ollerenshaw and Karl Menzies) Bobby Lea and Ivan Stevic were there as well. Kelly Benefits had representation as well. When I bridged to the guys, I must admit, looking up and seeing the company I was in, it was a little intimidating…..but hey, I was there. The break worked well together, and I surely thought we were away and clear for the remainder, with 2 minutes plus to the field, but it wasn’t to be. We we’re pulled back into the fold, just in time for Big Jon to take second in the mid-race prime, to Keith Norris (AEG) who incidentally is the former U-23 National Criterium Champ. It was apparent that the race was coming to a field sprint, so we sat in and rested until the end. We successfully moved our way to the front on the final lap and ended up with 4 in the top 35. Not bad for biting one off with the big hitters on the domestic scene…Looks like next on the schedule is the Grant Park/Buckhead Georgia Cup. Look for the boys in blue at those locales for some big new NEWS……until then……
check this link out...you wanna see if Blue's carbon can handle torque?
http://www.cyclingnews.com/photos.php?id=/photos/2007/sep07/atlanta07/CYC-USK008

That's Myogenesis powerman Jon Atkins taking care of business at the mid-race prime sprint