Mark Russell competed in his first triathlon of the season, in Smithfield, VA. He placed 3rd in his division. You can read his report here: report

New IF racer, Chris Wurster, is racing the Cape Epic in South Africa on a Single Speed. The promoters think he is nuts. We think he's awesome. Check out his progress here: http://www.cape-epic.com/content.php?page_id=96&blogid=76&title=/Survivor_of_the_Plague/

Harvey Minton raced to 2nd in 30+ Expert at the Southeast Regional Championship Series opener and AMBC race at Reddick FL. Read my full report on my blog.

Dave, Brian and I (Jon) headed out for the first race of the Fast/IF powered by Lionette's season. The race was at Charge Pond in Plymouth, MA. It is only early March, and we knew that miles are more important than racing at this time of the year. Plymouth is only 40ish miles from were I live in Roslindale, which is in southwest Boston. It is not a suburb of Boston, but a neighborhood of this unfair city (sorry about that geography lesson.) Brian arrived at my house at 10 am and we got dressed and ready to roll while we waited for Dave who lives in west Somerville. Somerville is not part of Boston. It is its own city. A nice, safe, very white city next to the Republic of Cambridge. The best thing about Somerville is that two of our sponsors are located there. Our title sponsor, Independent Fabrication and the best Barbecue this side of the Pacos, Redbones. If you haven't eaten and drank there, you haven't lived. Rob the owner and Jeff the manager are longtime IF riders and big, big, not fat, fans of bikes. They rule.

So, anyhoo...Dave showed up a little after 10:30 and we made minor adjustments to the saddle on his temporary IF. He was bikeless after an accident and we were able to get him a steed to use until his new Reynolds 953 IF is ready. Soon Dave will have the most coveted bike in the peloton. So we headed out on our jaunt to the race. Forty fabulous, humor filled miles later we arrived at a Dunkin Donuts near the race. We refueled on crappy coffee (I am a coffee snob) and rode another 20 minutes to the race located in a state park that used to be an Air Force base/bombing range. (Side note: Can you have a "state" park in a commonwealth. Massachusetts isn't a state but a commonwealth, like Virginia. OK teach, shut-up) We were presently surprised to find that a whopping 40 plus riders were registered. This is a good turnout for early March in New England.

Diane Fortini, the greatest official ever, started us off with her usual calm, straight forwardness laced with sarcasm, New England way. Holy crap, it's 2007 and we are racing. WORD! The race was on. Attacks started from the line. Nothing panned out really, barring two guys slipping off the front on lap three, barely noticed. Dave, who had ridden so much in the last 4 months that he wore his components to stumps, had gear troubles and was unable to finish. I forgot to mention that at the D&D stop, his bike had a bit of trouble staying upright as we joked around. Too bad he couldn't hammer in the race, but we laughed hard enough to not have to do any sit-ups today. Brian and I made numerous attempts to get something going. When Mark McCormick took a group of 5 up the road, Brian tried to bridge with two others, but his mates suddenly gave up. I spent most of the race at the front, pulling the peloton along while getting in some good hard tempo, while Brian tried to get into breaks. We almost caught the break before the line and Brian and I finished around 10th. We had a good time and got some quality training in. The three of us then headed back to Boston.

By the time we got back to my house I was spent. We chowed on some tortillas and guacamole and I fished Dave some less used chainrings out of the basement. Brian drove him back to Somerville and the day was done. Race one in the books and fun was had by all. Dave could have had more fun, but there is always tomorrow.

Thanks to all our sponsors, Independent Fabrication, Fast, Lionette's, Shimano, Hutchinson, All-Star, Clif Bar, Giro, FSA, Champion System, WTB, Cycle-Smart, Redbones, Adidas, Cat-Eye, for making this happen. We will continue these race reports throughout the year and the results wil soon pile up.

Thanks again.

Jon

Independent Fabrication is pleased to announce that its Elite Men's Road Team is expanding and becoming its own entity geared toward racing hard and charitable giving. New sponsors and riders have signed with the team for 2007. The team will donate proceeds from winnings to the Joseph P. Howard Scholarship Fund for Boston Public High School students. They will also donate bicycle parts and their time as volunteers to another local charity, Bikes Not Bombs ( www.bikesnotbombs.org). Additionally, riders from the team will be skipping one weekend of racing this summer to participate in the Pan-Mass Challenge ( http://pmc.org) to raise monies for cancer research.

The title sponsors for 2007 are Independent Fabrication ( www.ifbikes.com), FAST (www.fastsearch.com ), and Lionette's Market (www.geoboston.com/lionettesmarket)

The team has expanded to eleven riders for 2007 with an eye on being the dominant power in the New England Road Racing Circuit ( www.ne-bra.org) and beyond. The addition of a Pro rider, a Pro MTB rider, and emerging talents from New England will help propel FAST/IF powered by Lionette's to their goals. New riders include Adam Branfman (U23), Brian Hayes (U23), Harlan Price (Pro MTB), John Hanson (U25, PRO 2005/6 NERAC.com/Outdoorlights), and Stephen Weller (U25). Returning riders are Jon Bruno (Director/Rider), David Berryman, Tom Gosselin (U23), Stan Jurga, Luke Krisch (U25), and Greg Montello.

FAST/ IF powered by Lionette's will be riding custom Independent Fabrication bicycles made from new Reynolds 953 tubing. The staineless steel bikes will be outfitted with Shimano (drivetrains, wheels, and pedals), Full Speed Ahead (stems, bars, posts and headsets), Hutchinson tires, CatEye computers, WTB saddles. The riders will wear Champion System clothing and Giro helmets, with sports nutrition from Clif Bar, and coaching from Cycle-Smart.

Lionette's Market's James Lionette had this to say about the team, "Like our products, the riders roam freely, eat what they want, when they want and have the freedom to live naturally. There are no growth hormones, anti-biotic injections or trough feedings. They are truly natural athletes reaching for sustainable bicycle riding, racing… and charity to boot."

Title Sponsors:

Independent Fabrication (www.ifbikes.com)

FAST ( www.fastsearch.com)

Lionette's Market ( www.geoboston.com/lionettesmarket/)



Sponsors:

All-Star Sports (http://www.all-starsports.com )

Shimano (http://bike.shimano.com )

Full Speed Ahead (www.fullspeedahead.com)

Reynolds ( http://www.reynoldscycles.co.uk/steel953.html)

Hutchinson ( http://tires.hutchinson.fr)

Giro ( www.giro.com)

Champion System (www.champ-sys.com)

Clifbar ( www.clifbar.com)

International Bicycle Centers (http://internationalbike.com)

Redbones ( www.redbones.com)

CatEye ( www.cateye.com)

WTB (www.wtb.com)

Cycle-Smart ( www.cycle-smart.com)

Labels: Cycling, fast, IF, racing

Harvey Minton went to South Florida for a benefit race for HospiceCare of Southeast Florida and finished 3rd in the solo division. A full report and photos are on my blog.