HANOVER, NH – Signature Cycles sent a team up to the 2012 North East Rapha Gentlemen’s Race near Hanover, NH. For those not familiar with the RGR, it’s an unsanctioned and for the most part, unsupported ride, that is historically off the charts in terms of difficulty. The team that finishes with the fastest time wins the race, but it only counts if you finish with your full team. The ride, by nature, is a cooperative one – no one gets left behind. The winners go home with some nice Rapha gear and glory. There are teams of all men, all women, co-ed, tandems, and single speed. While we did not see any single speed teams at the start, we did see one guy involuntarily become his team’s token single speed rider due to his derailleur lying in pieces on the road.
Tag Archives: Rockstar Games
Race Report: Weekend of May 19th and NY Gran Fondo
NJBA Team Challenge and Tour of Syracuse
Saturday, 5/12 was the NJBA Team Challenge in Trenton which is a points race with sprint points on every 4th lap. The format is for five-man teams but Scott Hodder was the only entry for our team in the 35+ race and finished an impressive 4th place. Sunday was the Tour of Syracuse, and once again Scott Hodder brought home a solid placing at 5th in the combined 35/45+ masters race.
JerseyMan Duathlon
Mikael H did his first Du of the year (2m/20m/4m format) and was once again foiled by 2 very fast 20 something year old brothers from NJ (who have beat him for something like the 10th time over a 3yr span). He was 5th after the first run and moved up to 2nd on the bike (catching one of the brothers), but being nearly twice their age, he can’t quite seem to run those sub-6 minute miles on the 2nd run! Mikael finished 3rd overall.
NY Gran Fondo
Lucia D’s experience at the Gran Fondo: Continue reading
Race Report: Weekend of May 5th
Berkshire Classic – http://berkshirecyclingclassic.com/
Mikael H, Aaron M and Peter N made the trip to Lenox MA for this unbelievable ride. As a UCI worlds qualifier, this was not your Father’s Gran Fondo, but more of a no holds barred open category road race! It was also both most fun I have had on a bike in a long time and one of the most painful rides ever. An 81mi course with 6000ft of climbing that boasted about 350 at the start. The 1st natural selection came at a 4mi hill at mile 18, where I was dropped but caught back on thanks to some strong work by 4 guys from the Rapha team (lead group down to 100). Next selection came at 5mi climb at mile 31, where I lost contact over last 200yds and chased for 3mi with 7 others. Caught back on then puked (lead group now 30). Raced hard until some rollers at mile 70 and got spit out. Finished in 3:42 and 26th overall (4th in my division). Aaron finished in 3:54 (3rd in his division) and Peter in 4:14. Awesome ride and should be on everyone’s calendar for 2013!
Tour of Colts Neck Continue reading
Race Report: Weekend of April 28th
Race Reports from the Women’s Team, who was very busy this past weekend!
Quabbin Reservoir Road Race
We had 3 team members in the Women’s Open field at Quabbin this weekend, Emily, Lucia M and Susan. From all accounts, it sounded like a really intense and difficult race, both due to the terrain and the stacked field of very strong Cat 1/2 women. Lucia M’s quote: “Quabbin. It sounds like a place from Lord of The Rings…and it felt like that.” Our resident mountain goat, Susan came away with the best result at 22nd, being able to hang on to the front pack the longest. Emily and Lucia M both really dug deep, working their way back to the main field, forming chase groups and picking off dropped riders along the way. With Battenkill and now, Quabbin being Lucia M’s first and second road races ever, she is clearly well on her way to clenching the title for “The Most Difficult First Year Road Race Choices Possible.” A really long and hard fought race for all – good job ladies!
Race Report: Weekend of April 7th
Augusta Training Series – Masters Race
• Keith Hala 1st
• Joe Straub 3rd
After a rather uneventful start of the race Joe Straub dumped some serious wattage onto the pavement to close down a breakaway that had formed in the last few laps. This set up Keith Hala for some easy sprinting to grab the win. Joe, after all that effort, still managed to hang on to 3rd.
Augusta Training Series – 1,2,3 Race
• Keith Hala 4th
• Joe Straub 7th
• Glenn Babikain 8th Continue reading
Training Notes: Phase 1 – Base Training
by Mikael Hanson, Enhance Sports
With temperatures hitting the 50s and higher already in February, perhaps we are all thinking that winter has forgotten us this year as we begin to eye time in the saddle out on 9W. I have already been up to Piermont or beyond several times this year, and as much as I want to jump on that occasional train of riders flying past me at 28mph, I force myself to resist the urge, remembering that the calendar barely says February.
Sure, competing in the Sunday world championships a la the ‘Rocket Ride’ over in NJ seems like a great idea for these very non-winter like conditions, but there will be plenty of time to do that after you’ve spent some quality time in the saddle accumulating those all important BASE miles.
Gotham Girls Racing joins Team Rockstar Games / Signature Cycles
We are thrilled to welcome the Gotham Girls Racing Team to Team Rockstar Games / Signature Cycles for 2012. This will be the first time that Team Rockstar Games / Signature Cycles has fielded a full women’s squad. We are happy to see our team grow in 2012, but we are particularly pleased to be able to support such a strong women’s racing team. As a CRCA sub-team, the team will be a constant presence at races in and around New York City, as well as traveling to larger regional events. We will be sharing their racing exploits right here so stay tuned throughout the season!
Read on for the press release by the Gotham Girls, and check out their website.
January 9, 2012 – Gotham Girls Racing, an amateur all-women cycling team, has joined forces with Signature Cycles and Rockstar Games to form a new women’s racing team in 2012. The team, racing as Rockstar Games/Signature Cycles, as a sub-team of the Century Road Club Association (CRCA), will compete in local club races as well as some of the premier races in the Northeast, including the Harlem Skyscraper Criterium, Tour of the Battenkill, Killington Stage Race, Tour de Millersburg and the Green Mountain Stage Race.