Chicago Bulldogs Need Your Help!

Dear Friends of the Bouledogues,

Please help one of our charities, Chicago English Bulldog Rescue, win a grant to support their mission of helping neglected and abused animals. They currently sit in fourth place among all Illinois animal rescue shelters in an online voting competition, and we would like to see all of our friends push the Bulldogs to the top step.

Please place an online vote for Chicago English Bulldog Rescue at the Animal Rescue Site (found here). You may do it once daily.

Many Thanks,

Bouledogue tout noir

Bully Bash--Contribute to One of Our Charitable Partners

The Chicago English Bulldog Rescue (CEBR) is holding its annual fundraiser this Sunday in Oswego, which is only a short drive from Chicago. We would love it if members of the cycling community would attend Bully Bash or contribute to this charity.

CEBR has made multiple efforts to purchase and remove large numbers of female bulldogs from puppy mills this year. It has been an expensive campaign because almost all of the dogs needed considerable care once they were free. Some of the girls had never seen grass, stairs, or been outside.

Bully Bash is appropriate for families, first dates, or even a romantic afternoon with your long-time partner. Nothing is more endearing than two hundred English Bullies competing in tests of agility and fashion. They may not be speedy or quiet, but bulldogs are very skilled at wearing costumes and making people smile.

Click on the advertisement at the top of the page for additional information.

Ryan Impresses at National Championships

Josh Ryan earned a top-ten finish at the U.S. National Track Championships in Los Angeles yesterday. Ryan rode the one kilometer time trial--arguably the most painful of all velodrome events--at a speed quick enough to gain a ninth place finish against america's track elite, including multiple world champion Taylor Phinney.

Update.
Josh continued his success at Nationals with a second top-ten finish (9th) in the men's Keirin final and finished an impressive fifth in the team sprint.

En traînant mon cul épais partout dans le Midwest

Photo courtesy of Mark Keller

It is with some regret that I am posting this message on our board, since it reports no impressive cycling endeavors, unlike the preceding messages which did celebrate yet another championship win by a member of the Bouledogue team.

This story is largely one of athletic failure. For me, 2009 was the year that I showed up to race the Blue Mounds road race with a 12-23 cassette and 35 pounds overweight (try smashing that gear over...you get passed by everyone), suffered and failed in nearly every race--although there were rare instances where I outlasted my rivals--and raced the second half of July and parts of August with a broken collarbone and separated shoulder. I was the worst category three rider in the Midwest.I can handle being an awful rider because almost one year ago I was crippled. I had spent over a week in the hospital after doctors ripped the lining of my spinal cord open in an unfortunate surgical accident. It left me essentially disabled (hence the weight gain) and the resulting muscular spasms left my spine twisted and maladjusted to this day.



Regardless, 2009 was the most successful year in this team's three-year history. We became leaner and meaner. It marked the point when we took control of who we were as athletes and members of the cycling community. We chose to made a stand, and were better off for it. We promoted causes that mattered to us and helped other people rather than promoting ourselves, and the rewards were greater.

It was also the year that I got back on my bike. I made sure to finish every race even after it had become an embarrassment to continue. I had dearly missed cycle racing, and was overjoyed to have it back in my life.

As we gear up for the future there are many reasons to look ahead. Our team is growing in quality because of who we are, not because of what we give to people. We now have riders in multiple states, including Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Arizona, and Louisiana, and are riding the best bicycles (Storck**) manufactured today. Most importantly, we are friends.




**Do you think carbon fiber bikes are brittle? My Storck went 20 feet in the air when someone decided to ride no handed in front of me during a race. My shoulder did not survive, but the Storck was not even scratched. Try that with your Cannondale.

Ryan wins Illinois State Sprint Championship

Josh at the Alpenrose Six Day, by Jim Long

Josh Ryan, our resident track sprinter, was crowned Illinois State Sprint Champion on Thursday night. Josh has been absent from the local track racing scene most of the summer, deciding to focus most of his energy on training for Elite Track Nationals which will take place at the end of this month at the ADT Event Center in Los Angeles.

He won't be alone in LA this year. A number of other Chicago racers will also be making the trek West, including:

Val Brostrom (Bouledogue Tout Noir)
Al Urbanski (Chicago Cuttin Crew)
Dave Moyer (XXX Racing)
Chris Mosora (Scarletfire Racing)
Franco Panveno (Alberto's)

AVC - July 2009

Back in July, Josh and I ventured out to Portland for the Alpenrose Velodrome Challenge. Here is my report from my blog:

I love Portland. The scenery is so beautiful, the food is so good, the track is so ... unique and the track community is so awesome. Candi and Mike "Two Beers" Murray really know how to run a track. It's such a pleasure to race there. Too bad I can't stand rain otherwise I would make a case to move.

Josh "Mad Cow" (not to be confused with Jame "Mad Cow" Carney) and I returned to Portland for the Alpenrose Velodrome Challenge after our Six Day Coup (or something like that) and apparently brought the hot weather back with us. Sorry! Josh and I separated at the airport so he could get the car and I could get the bags. I got the bags and dragged them to the curb, got a call from Josh that he was on his way in our vehicle. Turns out they were out of whatever smallish SUV we had reserved (traveling with bikes is awful for the environment) so they upgraded him ... I see him about 20m down the road and, holy crap, I felt a wave of air as the "vehicle" was pushing the atmosphere towards me. Cars parted, pedestrians ran in fear ... Josh had arrived in our monster truck. As Josh said "it was as big as all outdoors". Indeed. Let the weekend begin!
Elena and Daryl (and Ollie and Daisy) were our awesome hosts (and dogs) for the weekend. And they were totally stoked to see our monster truck pull up. We decided to do it justice and go to a redneck bar, complete with 80's cover band, on Saturday night. We fit right in!

Anyway, I digress. I went to Portland to race my bike at the AVC which draws some of the best Men's and Women's fields outside of Nationals. Racing started on Friday but my first race wasn't until Saturday night which meant for a lot of sitting around both days. On Friday, Josh did his first Kilo in years and did pretty well, considering he hadn't practiced with his new aero bars. We cheered Elena as she Eddy Merckx'd (no aero bars) her 500m. Then we went to eat somewhere.

Saturday was my first race, the 5 mile Scratch. That's 40 laps on Alpenrose. We had 20ish racers in our field. It was a great field, many really strong racers were there. The officials informed us that they were going to give out $3, $2, and $1 to the 1st-3rd person across the line each lap. Meh. Women usually don't jump on those lap primes the way men do. So we started out and basically pacelined for 20 laps, maybe more. It was pretty funny. I did my share and never let myself drift back further than 8th or so place. At some point, maybe with 10? to go Jen Triplett jumped off the front. No one really did anything at first but then we started to chase. I can't remember when we caught her but a few more people launched when we did. My memory is kind of rusty but I think we caught one of the attacks and then Hanan Alves-Hyde attacked and that stuck. With 2 to go I was in the first 5 in the chase, primed to move up and then with one to go I found myself behind someone I couldn't get around since she was shifting up and down the track and slowing down. Oops. Well I ended up launching out of turn 4 and passed a few people to finish 5th, just nipped at the line by Kendi. (Should have thrown my bike!) I also did the Madison with Elena, who had done the Six Day with Megan Dean, and we had a blast.

Hanan winning the Scratch
all photos by Amara Boursaw, Wheels in Focus

Sunday was the busy day. I was scheduled to do the Keirin, Miss and Out, and Points Race. A lot, right? First up were the Keirin heats. I love Keirins. I love them so much that if I could do one race forever it would be the Keirin. For that reason, Josh thinks I'm truly a sprinter at heart. Hmm, I don't know about that. Anyway, I knew there were certain people I had to watch, but a lot of the others I had never raced with before so I wasn't sure what to expect. In order to keep this report relatively short, I'm going to sum the Keirin events up really fast with minimal text and photos (all by Amara Boursaw). I'm also not going to give away what I did wrong, since I learned it the hard way and that's what everyone else should do to. :)

Keirin heats. Top 2 advance, everyone else to repercharge. I finished 3rd in my heat = off to the rep.

Getting 3rd in the heat. Already gave up at this point.

Repercharge. Top 2 advance to Semis. Won my rep heat. Sat 3rd wheel behind the motor. Heather in front of me passed Camille who was on the motor when it pulled off. I came around Heather for the win.

Winning rep

Semi Finals. Top 3 advance to Finals. I managed to win this bad boy. It felt good, hence all the pictures.

Finals. Erica Allar, Jen Featheringill, Annette Williams, Shelby Reynolds, Tela Crane and me. Fun times. I really wanted to get Jen's wheel right off but apparently so did everyone else and I ended up 4th wheel. The motor pulled off and the race was fast. We were single file for like a lap which is pretty nuts and just means we were really chugging. I ended up 5th. Not great but not awful.

5th in the Keirin Final

I should say that the Miss and Out was after the Keirin heats but before the reps. Since I wanted to do well in the Keirin I scratched the Miss and Out. It was a tough decision but seems to have turned out for the best.

Up later in the day was the Points race. We started and I knew within 2 laps that my goal of a top 3 that weekend was out the window. My legs felt really heavy and I just didn't have my normal snap. Slowly a few of the other Keirin finalists, Shelby and Annette, pulled out. There were a few attacks which stuck for a few laps and would get caught and then a group of 3 or 4 got off and I tried so hard to chase them back with 2 others but I was cooked. We were so close and I felt so bad for sucking but what can you do? Eventually the rest of the field caught our chase and I was promptly in the back of the pack. Oh man, I wanted to quit so bad but I rode through the pain. At one point Jen Triplett was on my wheel and I felt so bad because at that point I was a really slow wheel to be on. She sensed it and got around me and I settled into the yo-yo that is being on the back of the field when you're cooked. Off the back, back on, back off, back on. The break was eventually caught, when I don't remember. I found energy somewhere and I tried to contest a 4th place at some point and failed. I also managed to overcome the lead brick legs and finished 5th or 6th in the field sprint at the end. I ended up 8th, a real bummer. To make myself feel better I like to say that I finished 2nd out of the Keirin finalists.

So that was the weekend. I had a blast and got to catch up with some people I haven't seen in a while. I learned that Zak likes to do a booty dance at the line in Keirins. Elena and I danced to LL Cool J in the backseat of Daryl's car, because ladies love cool J. I got to see some track records broken, congrats to Per (Kilo), Amelia and Andrea (Team Sprint) and Kelyn, Adam and Travis (Team Sprint) and Travis in my mind you're the real record holder for the flying lap. The AVC is really a well run and fun event. I encourage anyone serious about track racing to attend. And that means you Chicago! I'll be back next year for sure.

BTN Sweeps Major Taylor Velodrome Championships

Just a brief result update. The Bouledogues went down to the Major Taylor Velodrome in Indianapolis the first weekend of August to compete in their Velodrome Championship/State Championship/Elite Qualifier and took 1st in every event entered!

Josh Ryan
Men's Elite Keirin - 1st

Val Brostrom
Women's Elite Keirin - 1st
Women's Elite Scratch Race - 1st
Women's Elite Points Race - 1st

Brostrom Crowned National Six-Day Champion

After nearly a week of daily competition at the Alpenrose Velodrome in Oregon, Val Brostrom and her partner, Dena Eaton, claimed victory in the National Six-Day Championships.

More information to follow.

Twenty Seconds of Bouledogue tout noir in Your Face

Bouledogue Team Leading at the Alpenrose Six-Day Race; Ryan Competes in Highest Tier

Valerie Brostrom and Josh Ryan, with their respective team mates, are competing in the Alpenrose Six-Day track event in Oregon. Six-Day racing is one of the oldest genres of cycle racing, still popular in Europe, but a rarity in the U.S. It is a grueling series of races that tests the strength and endurance of each two-person team. Val reports in on the first two days of competition:

"My partner and I, Dena Eaton from L.A., are currently in first place, up one lap on the field and ahead by 30 some points. In Madison racing, laps count more than points so as long as we can keep our lap (hopefully gain more) we'll be fine. We would actually be up 2 laps going into tonight if we hadn't botched an exchange. Because of that, we were actually down a lap last night and had to lap the field to finish the night even.

Josh and his partner, Jack Lindquist from LA, made it into the Men's A field thanks to Josh's awesome standing start in the qualifier. They're holding strong in 6th place and looking to move up to 5th. The top 3 teams are pretty much untouchable so the best they could do would be 4th.

Each night we do 2 mass start events and a Madison. I'm not too tired, although getting there, since our field isn't that tough. Josh on the other hand is really getting drained. Tough racing for the men."

There are videos here, you can see Josh and Jack in Bouledogue regalia.

Track Omnium Win - June 4th - Northbrook

Seriously, what's going on with the weather? I have this "rule" that I try to stick by and it goes something like this: When it's under 60 and/or raining I will not race. Why? Because I've had too many interesting moments in the rain and my body just doesn't respond well to chilly air. Thankfully I never have to worry about the second part with track racing and usually not the first part either. But racing on Thursday night broke the first part of my rule, it was easily in the low 50s all night. Brrr.

Here's Lara and I huddled under two blankets. By Ed White.

It's easy to not be enthusiastic to race when you're nose feels like an ice cube and that's exactly how I felt for our first race, a Danish Win and Out. Plus there were only 3 of us, which is less than inspiring. I thought I would come around Kristen Meshberg (Team BH USA) with about 200 to go to take the win but I failed and ended up leading Francine Haas (Alberto's) out and got 3rd. Blegh. An uninspiring start.

Next up were the Points Races, the various mens' fields did 50 lap, 30 lap and 25 lap races which meant A LOT of sitting around for me. I was so cozy under my blanket I didn't even warmup for our race, which was a 24 lapper with sprints every 3. Since this was the marquee event of the night we were combined with the Women's 4s for a total field size of 8 to 10, not really sure. Our race was pretty active with a few primes thrown in. Tamara Fraser (xXx) and Christina Peck took a flyer for a prime and stayed off to go 1 and 2 on a points lap. It was great to see Tamara being aggressive! I remember Kristen jumping around turn 3, a lap and a half before points, which caused me to mutter (yell) something special. I put my head down and knew I had to catch her. With about 3/4 of a lap to go I closed in on her and thought about just sitting on her wheel, but I had a lot of speed so I passed her, hoping I wasn't leading Francine out again. I put my head down and went all out and won the lap. In the end, I think I got 5 of the 8 sprints and got points in the other 3 sprints, which was enough for the win. I felt really good accelerating and jumping on the points laps, a few times I even got a sizeable gap. This is good for me since this is what I'm training for this year.

During the Points Race. Note I no longer sprint with locked elbows! By Ed White.

Our final race was an Unknown Distance, just the 3 of us again in the 1/2/3 field. It was getting late, everyone was freezing so we urged Carl to make it short. We didn't have a neutral lap, he blew the whistle from the rail and I think he would have rung the bell as well except someone decided we should have a prime. We got going, Kristen had a decent gap, I caught her wheel and didn't contest the prime. Carl rung the bell when we passed. I sat on Kristen's wheel until about 200 to go, accelerated out of the saddle and won the race. It was short and fast, a perfect ending to a cold night at the track. As always it was great to race with Francine and Kristen and I was happy to see a strong Women's 4 field. There's a lot of talent out there!

Bouledogue tout noir Rules the Spring for Third Straight Year

Since 2007, Bouledogue tout noir has consistently unleashed an unknown talent on the female peleton, and this year's beast bears the name of Jannette Rho.

With five wins and an equal number of podium placings to her credit, Jannette has continued Bulldog's Spring tradition of winning, winning, and winning.
Notable Spring results from 2007-present (female riders):

2009

• 1st-Wonder Lake Criterium
• 1st-La Rue-Denzer-La Rue Road Race
• 1st-Leland Kermesse
• 1st-Kevin's Crit Series #1
• 1st-Kevin's Crit Series #4
• 3rd-Vernon Hills Grand Prix

2008

• 1st-NCCA National Road Race Champion
• 1st-NCCA National Championships Omnium
• 1st-Snake Alley Criterium
• 1st-Quad Cities Criterium
• 1st-Mellon City Criterium

2007

• 1st-UW-Madison Criterium
• 1st-UW-Sheboygan Road Race
• 1st-Mizzou Road Race

Vernon Hills - May 3rd - Women's 1/2/3

I decided to break up the monotony of LFP training and headed out to Vernon Hills on Sunday to race my inaugural race of 2009 - the Vernon Hills Gran Prix. I have never done this race before but was given a primer by Mark Zionts at the track on Saturday. Basically he said the biggest factor in previous years was the wind. Big surprise, right?

Josh and I left pretty early, which was a good thing because the directions provided were wrong and we had to backtrack through suburbia to find the race. Luckily we had left early enough that I didn't get too stressed out about all of that. I usually can be quite a basket case when lost before a race.

We pulled into the Vernon Hills HS parking lot, wondering if we would see anyone we knew and just as I was parking I spotted our wonderful teammates Jon and Emily. Excellent. I went and registered. I offered Emily one of my UofC jerseys (our team kits are still MIA), she declined in favor of racing incognito in a stealthy black T-shirt. Emily is one of the strongest women I know and I figured if no one knows we're on the same team, perhaps we have a chance for some big things. I mean, who expects a woman wearing a T-shirt to win? If any one could do it, it would be Emily. She would probably lap us in the process too, she's that strong.

The next 30-45 minutes in a nutshell - Emily and I started warming up next to our cars, across from each other, not really saying much lest the other 3 women take note. Josh went off to cheer on Jon in the 3s. A few HS kids were leaving the parking lot, I got some "looks" from a car of pre-pubescent boys which I chuckled about.

(Man, I'm running out of steam with the race report and I have yet to get to the race!)

We come to the line. There are 8 or 9 of us racing, better than the 5 I had expected. Jessi Prinner was there, along with Francine Haas and a new lady from Team MS racing who I had result stalked the night before (she was the only one pre-registered), Jessica Hill. I figured the 3 of them along with Emily could make for an interesting race. The usual pre-race formalities ensued and then we were off for a windy 40 minutes around an O'hare air traffic control structure that looks like a flattened mushroom. We had about 15 minutes of extremely boring, slow and negative racing. Yawn. Jessica and Jessi both laid down some strong attacks but they didn't last. Then coming around the final straight, Emily looked back at me, smiled and just laid it down. We got a decent gap but were caught going into the first turn. Then Jessi and Jessica jumped with Francine in pursuit and I knew that was it and I needed to be on that break. I caught on and we proceeded to hammer it, each taking short pulls. We worked wonderfully well for the next 25 minutes together (after I remembered to pull through with a little goading from Jessica -- I admit I was a bit rusty from the off-season).

With 2 to go I knew the cat and mouse games would start soon and I knew I didn't want to be the one dangling out in front. When we came out of the final turn with one to go, I let Francine take her pull and then I settled in behind Jessica. Francine was sensing the game had started and managed to get off the front leaving Jessica there to pull us all through the final lap. She tried her hardest to give up that front spot, but none of us budged -- not wanting to needlessly tire ourselves out in the headwind. With 2 turns to go, I looked back and saw a rider approaching, knowing that someone had been gaining ground on us for the past 10 minutes -- turns out that was Emily time-trialling up to us, told you she was strong! It turns out the person I saw was a lapped rider catching up to us. I admit it was kind of nuts how slow we were going ... 8-10 mph. Haha, it would have been funny had Emily caught us and then won while we dicked around.

We came out of the final turn, all itchy to get the sprint started. I looked up and thought we were approximately 150-200m out, so threw down a hard acceleration. It felt really good and I think I had a decent gap ... BUT ... I had jumped way too soon and got passed by Jessi and Francine. It's so much easier to tell distances on a track! Jessica was coming up as well but I was able to throw the bike and finished in 3rd. Emily finished amazingly close to us, given her time trial effort, in 5th place. Go Bouledogues!

Overall it was a great early season race. I had a lot of fun, I love racing with Francine and Jessi (my break partner from the Nekritz race last season at the track). Jessi is going to bring on the hurt for us this year, she is developing into a strong rider who I'm sure we'll see in the Pro ranks in a few years. And Jessica, newly transplanted from out East, will definitely spice it up this year as well.

My coach (Colby Pearce) wants me doing more road races and crits, so I'll be trading in my track bike for my road bike in the months to come. Exciting!

But next up: Dick Lane Velodrome for some weekend racing. Josh "Mad Cow" Ryan will be racing The Keirin and is officially slated as the "dark horse". He's #10 and will be wearing brown. Go Mad Cow! We'd also like to thank Team Pegasus for lending us both a skinsuit for the weekend. While racing in The Keirin, Josh will be wearing pink, like a real man. :)

Waite Moves into Fifth Place in Wisconsin Cycling Association Series

After competing in three out of four races of the season-long Wisconsin Cycling Series, first-year All-Black Matt Waite is now ranked in fifth place in the standings.

Waite opened the season with 10th and 7th place finishes at the Great Dane Velo Club racing weekend in Madison, Wisconsin. He was one of the few riders to remain in contention during the first day of racing, and a major animator in an aggressive contest dominated by large squads from the host and Gear Grinder teams. On Sunday, Waite survived rain and extreme wind and finished the race solo in 7th place.

In the Fond du Lac Cyclery Criterium in Sheboygan Wisconsin, Waite again faced a stiff wind, rain, Wisconsin cold, and some elevation change that "was just steep enough to hurt." The conditions and competition diminished the starting field considerably and Matt was able to secure a good 6th place finish against top competition.

Additional congratulations is extended to Dallas Fowler, another recent category 2 addition to Bouledogue tout noir. This past weekend Dallas put regional and national fields on notice when he led the Midwest Collegiate Cycling Conference Regional Road Race for 72 miles with one other rider. He still managed a top-ten finish after being caught by the field very late in the race.

L'Equipe Bouledogue Tout Noir Rider Janette Rho Wins First Contest of 2009

How long into the Bouledogue tout noir's 2009 racing season would it take before we marked up our first win? Thirty minutes or the duration of the first women's race of Kevin's Crit Series, a week-long escapade into south side bike racing.

It was only appropriate that the women's race came down to a duel between riders on sister teams: Janette of the All Blacks and Sophia of team Tati (supported by the tactical genius of Tati's J ). Although Janette did the early work, it was Sophia who ultimately split the field with a well-timed attack. As Janette dragged the lead group of three around the course, concern grew that she might be burning the candle wax at every end. But those thoughts were incorrect. During the last lap Rho managed to attack, get caught, and (with perfect advice from team mates Val and Josh) won the sprint by several bike lengths.

Rho recapped the final lap: "The bell rang. I kept pushing through the wind, rounded the corner...and powered. I knew it'd be me or Sophia at that point... saw Val screaming by the final turn. I took it sharp, put my head down into the wind, and hammered. Looked like I won."

Half Acre Cycling deserves much credit for putting the Kevin's Crit Series together. It was a smart, fun, and well-timed idea; and we can't thank you enough for taking the time to put it all together.

Storck Vision Light at First Blush

While inspecting the latest shipment of team bikes for team all black, my attention was immediately drawn to what is probably the best aluminum bike on the market and the best-kept secret in bicycle manufacturing today. I love carbon-fiber bikes, but the Storck Vision Light is the most drool-worthy frame drawn from the element with a standard atomic weight of 26.9815386(8).

The tubes are brawny and do not feel as if they are made out of soda-cans like many other aluminum bikes. It has an anodized black finish that is very durable and white graphics that make for a stunning and timeless look. Storck also uses a type of double-pass welds that no other bike company can do. As a result, the welds do not need filing, which results in a much stronger joint.

With all these points aside, I believe that quality of manufacturing can often be measured in the care put into small features, and I usually look at the construction of a bike's dropouts for some sense of the engineering invested. Most bike manufacturers will use dropouts made by stamping out a flat piece of metal. They take a thick bit of aluminum and then cut some holes out of it: easy and cheap. However, take a look at the dropouts of the Storck Vision Light:They definitely do not look cheap, nor will those internal ribs allow your rear wheel to twist the rest of the bike like a flat dropout might.

The Vision Light also has the cleanest and most appealing cable-stops that I have ever seen, and they use the same stops on their more expensive carbon frames.Photographs do not do this bike any justice, and you will just have to see it for yourself. With a pair of deep-dish carbon wheels, the Vision Light would probably be the best criterium bike on the market (and relatively cheap). It is built to race, and you can only find it at Tati.

l'equipe Bouledogue tout noir to ride the Lightest, Stiffest, Most Durable Frames on the Planet

Bouledogue tout noir doesn't compromise. We ride bikes that are precise, beyond stiff, and always with molosser-like tubing. For the past two year's we rode a bike that met those requirements very well, but with recent changes the team was hunting for new ride and found one that literally pushes the previous rig off the page (of bike rankings).

In 2009, Bouledogue tout noir riders will be stretching their legs aboard bikes built by Storck of Germany. Independent testing on stiffness, weight, and ride quality by a major European magazine elevated Storck bikes into four of the top five places--including the top step as "World Champion"--proving that these sleds just crush the competition. After looking at the quantitative data and this video, people will be rethinking about that Scott or Cervelo as the best carbon ride around. To put things in perspective, Storck's entry level carbon fiber frame (the CD 1.2) is known as the "Madone Killer" by industry experts.

Our partner Tati is the only platinum Storck dealer in the Midwest and the only place to find these rigs. What is even wilder is that most of the Storck bikes slated for US distribution are going to sell out before they even arrive on our continent. For more on Tati and to investigate landing your own Storck, go to the Tati website or just peruse Tati's own take (shamelessly lifted by me) on Storck :

"Storck is a German brand led by an engineer's engineer with an obsession with simultaneously building the stiffest and lightest road frames in the world. And for the most part, Markus Storck has achieved this for the past decade. German Tour Magazin's annual wrapup of strength-to-weight ratio, head tube deflection, and bottom bracket stiffness has had three or four Storck models in the top five in every category in recent years. Storck doesn't just purchase modified molds. The firm models dozens of patents, ranging from the very first carbon fiber crankarm design to the latest vacuum void control process for carbon tube fabrication. Storck is the only company for which Zipp produces private labeled wheels (the Storck/Zipp 69mm rim is faster than a 404 and much lighter than an 808).

But then worry set in. Sure, Storck can produce a durable 740g frame -- but does it make sense to market such a thing in this economy?

Pro shops around Chicago are scaling back, hedging bets, and even folding. 2009 prices for components, frames, and bikes are set over the summer -- before the dollar began to really fall, so we will see another year of 10-20% increases, which could really hurt the high end. But Storck is odd that way. Storck neither has model years nor did they raise prices for 2009; in fact, several models fell in price.

And so while a Fascenario 0.7IS frameset is still listed at $9,500, the not-so-humble CD 1.2 has been lowered to only $1,700. And those in the know understand that even Storck's entry level frames are stiffer and faster than most companies' top of the line, gimmicky offerings...having closely examined all of the boutique road brands -- I feel confident that Storck is heads and shoulders above all of them in terms of construction quality, engineering, and surprisingly, value."

Bouledogue Tout Noir Appears in Chicago Sports Magazine Ad

For the third time, a rider from l'equipe Bouledogue tour noir has appeared in the leading Chicago endurance sports magazine, Windy City Sports. In the February 2009 issue, Steven Vandeven is pictured in a full-page ad for the 2009 Chicago Criterium held in Grant Park.

The photo was taken in the heat of the action in the previous year's race, and Vandeven is shown racing in last year's team uniform (when the stripes were green) alongside some of the nation's top-level professional athletes like Fred Rodriguez (Tour of Italy stage winner), Jonathan Page (thrice a US national champion), and Ivan Dominguez (Tour of California stage winner).

Just a few months after this photo was taken, Vandeven suffered severe head trauma when a Chicago cab collided with him and his bicycle. Although Vandeven will most likely be unable to race his bike in 2009, everyone in Chicago expects to see him racing alongside the nation's elite in 2010.

Bouledogue tout noir wishes Steve a quick recovery and a safe reunion with the peloton.

Review: On Your Mark Training + Coaching and BSC Coaching

As Midwestern bike racers in the depths of winter, each one of us is considering how to have a successful cycling season in 2009. We are all aware that winter training includes a combination of motivation, chamois-time (riding your bike), and some sort of strength training. There are myriad ways to blend each of these three components, and anyone looking for the type of focused work that leads to the ability to enforce your will on the peleton might consider the following resources.


On Your Mark Training

I reviewed one-half of the duo behind OYM, Annette Fiscelli, over a year ago when she tested the lactate threshold of the entire team. However, most of my experience has been with Emily Hutchins, a rider who also is a member of l'equipe Bouledogue (You can find many pages on our site extolling Emily's racing prowess).

Almost a year ago, I found out that I had been training and racing for perhaps as many as three years with hemorrhaged disks in my back. Over the course of those three years, my body had adjusted and compensated for all of the muscular and nervous crosstalk in such a way that I actually sat crooked on my bike. After much rehab, I started to work with Em to find ways to increase my core strength to make me a stronger bike racer, to straighten out my hips, and to prevent further harm to my spine. The solution was functional strength training, and you can find a long description of it on the OYM website. Although my problem ended up being much bigger than any sort of therapy could solve on its own, I can say that Emily fixed my crooked hips; and, during the small racing window that I did have last year, I sprinted very, very well. I would have to say that as far as cycling goes, the kind of functional strength training that I did at OYM is head and shoulders above any weightlifting workout. It will give you the strength and resiliency for those really difficult races.

Although both Emily and Annette like to work one-on-one, they also offer functional strength training courses at a group rate, so even the most cash-strapped of us can join in. Moreover, they are both licensed coaches for USA Cycling and USA triathlon, and have four computrainers that can be rented at a very affordable price. Are you a budding Ironmanwho wants to know what it is like to race Ironman Florida? Go to OYM, pay a small fee, and ride the course indoors.



BSC Coaching
Brian Conant, the one-man show behind BSC Coaching, is the person that every successful cycle racer needs in his/her corner. Brian's enthusiasm for racing and training comes through from the first e-mail through the last. I quickly found out that Brian has a knack for motivating clients through the most difficult portions of a training plan; something that has great value in the depths of winter training.

But Conant's training plans are not easy; especially if you like to laze around with a bunch of base miles in the winter time. He will make you work like no other coach and, at least once a week, have you wishing you were riding something other than your bike. The benefit is that Brian will make you fast. Moreover, he will get you up to speed quicker than you ever expected and with less time commitment than you though necessary. He once told me that with proper training, almost anyone can be a category 2 racer. If you don't believe me when I say Brian gets results, just ask Devon Haskell and Mike Scherer. Both of these locals have seen significant results as clients of BSC. If you want to be a rider possessing the "Annhilation Now" button, then drop Brian a note (bconant@msn.com) and get ready to kill the opposition.