Saving the best for last

It's been a pretty low-key race for Jamis Sutter Home down here in Argentina, we've been trying to lay the foundation for a great season and not over-extend ourselves so early.  However, the last day we had a mission: animate the race and mix things up from KM 0.

And mix it up we did!!!  Wow, I felt really good today.  We were supposed to make the break, Seba said we *have to*, and I was in the break when it formed but it split and fell apart on this insane hard uphill drag and I was caught in No-Man's-Land between the break (just within spitting distance) and the entire Liquigas squad chasing me.  SO close, I was pissed, it was the move and I just barely missed it, so I was determined to really rip at the end.

With Annibal on my wheel, we fought for the last 15km in an *INSANE* downhill finishing section completely spun out in the 53x11 (probably 80-100kph) and my front wheel hit a guy's skewer when he swerved and broke on of my front spokes with about 6km to go.  I thought it was game over, but I opened my front brake and let the wheel just wobble at warp speed.  I made sure it was OK and just decided to keep mixing it up.  We went through numerous roundabouts at full throttle, heading into town, and the adrenaline was coming out of my ears.

I had to sprint around in the wind a few times to keep Anni up in the front, Liquigas and Katusha had the right to stay up there with Napolitano and Cicchi, two of the top sprinters in the bunch.  I had no idea where the line was, too busy trying to stay alive.  With about 3km to go, things were getting hairier and a touch of brakes sent a ripple through the front and kicked Anni off the road into the gravel.  Somehow he stayed upright AND found my wheel within 30 seconds!  I was coming up on the left, and Anni said "go Nicolas, GO!" so I just drilled it up the left and hijacked the entire sprint train of Katusha/Liquigas with Anni right on board!

We went up the left about 3kph faster and I was on the front for about 30 seconds before the legs were just gone and I could tell I was fading.  I just barely past the 1km to go sign before Alexander Kalobnev (Katusha, bronze in the last two World Championships) rolled by and Anni jumped into fourth wheel and I was coasting and hoping no one ran into the back of me.

Sorry to be anti-climatic, but I have no idea how it ended up!  I know a Sparkasse German guy hit a spectator with 300m to go and it was apparently terrible, but I stayed upright even with a broken front spoke.  It's a little frustrating to have the legs all day and miss the break, then do the leadout just a little too early, but I was very close on both counts.  The team has stayed relatively safe and done some great work this week, so now it's time for a couple beers and the long journey home starting tomorrow.

Almost done with TdSL

Hanging out with the team on top of Merlo after TdSL Stage 6 - thanks for the pic, Andy!

Tour de San Luis, Stage 5 description:

Thankfully the time cut is HUGE!  So I had flatted twice before the final climb ever came, but no biggie, just fronts and grabbed bottles and no sweat.  Then the climb started and it was freaking insane, like a barely-there amalgamation of weather-beaten concrete slabs strewn on a hillside that made it *possible* to ride/drive to the top.  No joke, it averaged 10.8% for km long sections but in-between there were points that you could almost not get up in a 26.

Then I realized one of the issues: my rear tire had about 30psi in it.  The team cars all had to pass immediately at the base of the climb, so I basically just had to keep riding and hope for the best.  Finally, about 2/3 up the 20km climb (did I mention it was 104 degrees and no even a bush in sight?) the team car was stopped.  I got a new rear wheel and some Coke and was FLYING, like night and day.  Frank had caught me by then, and we were just going to cruise in.

Then the new rear went flat, too!  And there were absolutely no team/support vehicles.  And 20km from the top to the finish.  And on a very sinuous, up/down road with stream crossings.  And a cop/ambulance right on my butt the whole way, somehow not understanding my issue and almost killing me in every white-knuckle turn!!

It was one for the record books :)  My favorite was when the sprinter's grupetto passed us with about 10km to go, after I had flatted twice and could barely hold the bike upright--those guys go seriously slow!

Anyway, I was a wreck, pretty demoralized and all, but Ivan Dominguez came to me that night when I was on the massage table and said, "What happened man, you get the middle flat?"  I didn't understand and explained that it was my rear, and he said, "Yeah I know, but did you have a middle flat?"  After explaining and me understanding at the same time, I laughed and said for sure, then he said it has happened to him and everyone else in the past.  Coming from that guy, it meant a lot, and I just put it behind me immediately and was feeling great the next morning!


Stage 6:

The finishing climb yesterday was significantly *steeper* as well as an insane *headwind* the whole way up, but I could push the pedals hard and decided to stay with the front group the first few kms.  The heat is something I'm still not prepared for, even after going through about 8-10 bottles in a 4hr race, but the legs were good and even going 90% I was catching some guys and not having a bad go of it.  Got to the top and was fine, just cruised in, then we had some recovery drink and RIPPED back down to the busses, just insane descent at 15% with a tailwind!!

Busses left at 5:45PM.  We arrived at the hotel at 9:45PM.  NO JOKE.  And we had a 2hr transfer to the start.  It's been some terrible transfers and extremely boring highway stages with a big climb at the end, really only one cool/interesting stage (Stage 2) in all.  However, great weather, awesome competition, and excellent team building so early in the year.  The week has flown by, unlike any stage race I've done.

Today is the final stage, 160km or so with three big hot-dog loops, pretty boring until the final downhill sprint at 100kph!  Tonight we might have some beers and relax, then the bus leaves for Mendoza airport tomorrow at 8:30AM (!!!) and arrives after about 4hrs on the same dead-straight highway.  You can't say they aren't efficient with their roadways in Argentina :)  Hard to believe I'll be back in Denver in two days, it's been an awesome trip and we'll see if we can do something good today.

Thanks for reading!

Tour de San Luis pre-race photos!

Check more out here.

Early Christmas on Jamis Sutter Home!

Figured I'd start the new year with a new bike!

Leaving for Argentina in 6 days, she'll be getting ridden a lot!

An excellent podium for BooCX in Utah!

Tyler came in second in a sprint for the win at the Utah State Championship 'cross race last weekend after leading from the start.  He said the Boo handled the icy, slush-on-hardpack conditions with aplomb.  And yes, only a fellow Princetonian would say "aplomb."

 

New interview with GamJams

CHECK IT OUT.  Thanks go to David and Mike for the excellent Q's!  Make sure to check out the rest of the excellent GamJams site, a nice grouping of high-quality blogs from cyclists around the country.

ISPO Brandnew awards voting

Vote for Boo Bicycles to win the ISPO Brandnew award, a major European start-up and design competition.  Click here and then click the "RATE IT!" button just below our photo--a 10 would be greatly appreciated!

Vuelta Miami press release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Boo Bicycles Wins $7,000 Vuelta Miami

Boo Bicycles owner Nick Frey piloted his Boo R (SRAM Red, Edge Composites 1.68 carbon fiber wheels, and Edge Composites bar, stem, fork, and seatpost) to a convincing victory at the Vuelta Miami out of a final break of six, outlasting a trio of Team Coco's riders as well as Yosvony Falcon, a new rider for the Bahati Foundation Cycling Team.

Out of a field of over 150 riders, Frey was able to cruise his bamboo and carbon-framed Boo R to the front and create a decisive break of 13 in a cross-wind section, then whittle the break down to six in the return trip. After a hard headwind section, Frey was able to make the jump from the final two-rider selection to solo in for the win.

"It tugs at my heartstrings to have Boo Bicycles seeing the big time," said Frey. "We've spent two years refining bamboo bicycle framesets, transforming them from a curiosity into a bicycle capable of winning big races. It is every bit as comfortable as a titanium frame, yet just as stiff as a top carbon bike. Bamboo has a one-of-a-kind road feel that works for everyone serious about riding. It is snappy yet smooth and inspires confidence through corners."

Frey is in Miami for training as well as visiting local bicycle shops through November 17th and will be riding in the upcoming Horrible Hundred Century on Sunday, November 15 in Clermont, Florida.

For the complete story, check out Nick's blog at http://nfrey.blogspot.com/2009/11/win-for-boo-at-vuelta-miami.html.


CONTACT

Nick Frey
503B South Howes St
Fort Collins, CO 80521

515.494.2468
nickfrey@boobicycles.com
www.boobicycles.com
@nfreyBoo

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WIN FOR BOO AT VUELTA MIAMI!

Here's the Facebook link.  Thanks Carolina!

It was an incredibly windy Sunday morning in western Miami, a tepid 75 degrees and sun, and I was ready to race my Boo R (with Edge 1.68 wheels, bar/stem/fork/post, and Sram Red!) after a couple months without a number pinned.

The race instructions were entirely in rapid-fire Spanish, so I went just decided to follow a bit, see what the rules were like, and enjoy the event.  That said, I set out to WIN--this was a huge deal for me because it's the first and last race I can do with my Boo R after I must ride Jamis starting January 1st, 2010.  Oh, I forgot to mention the SEVEN THOUSAND DOLLARS CASH on the line :-)

The neutral was an actual NEUTRAL, unlike most crashfests before kilometer zero, and it was great because we started at 8AM and I had just rolled out of bed and suited up about 90 minutes before.  Unfortunately I was without coffee, but I had a couple Espresso Love Gu's and I was awake.

The wind was SERIOUS--30-40mph sustained--and blowing east to west.  And the race had a net elevation change of 7.3 feet.  DEAD flat.  So when the neutral was cruising along at 30+ going west, and I saw the race start and the lead vehicles turn right up ahead, I made SURE to sprint up the left and get in the front.

After a couple attacks in the crosswind, I was carrying momentum from about 30 back and decided to roll it at 95% in the gutter.  Sure enough, that was all she wrote, and our selection of 13 was off and rotating.  It was never easy, but never super hard, just LONG and BORING because there was absolutely no resting.  I was breathing through my nose the entire time, and the legs felt pretty good, thank you very much Colorado!

It was a windy course through a grid the had a turn-around 35 miles in, so it was good because I knew what was coming after the turn-around.  Sure enough, a couple of the 13 rolled off about 40 miles in and got 50m.  I decided to drive it in the gutter and bridge up, and that was probably the hardest part of the race, but it was fun just taking three guys with me and getting the group down to just six.

The six of us rolled quite well, and the only guy I knew in the group was Yosvony Falcon, an excellent rider who was with Toshiba in 2008 and will be on Bahati's new team in 2010.  VERY smart and quick rider, so I was a bit worried about him.  Three guys were on the same team, Coco's, and another guy in a Pro Bike Kit jersey and black shorts.  It was a good group that worked very well together from mile 40 until just before the finish at mile 72.

Coming back in, I knew I had great legs and started to get my internal smile going--I knew it was my race to lose, I just needed to be smart and not play my hand until everyone had gone all-in.  A Coco's guy attacked with a couple miles of INSANE headwind left, and I bridged up to him and rolled it as hard as I could to get a larger gap.  He sat on, having two teammates behind, but he also said in broken English, "No spreent, no spreent!".  I've definitely heard that before, and although I believed him, I made sure he rolled through in the headwind a couple times.

With the finish in site, but a LONG last kilometer, I had him get in the front for 20 seconds and then I jumped and sprinted and came in solo.

The win meant a lot to me because I could tell it was a huge event for the local fans and riders, and because I really showed that Boo is a great race bike that can WIN.  It's very stiff and efficient, and being able to jump hard into a crosswind to latch onto another rider is so important in a race like the Vuelta Miami.  Mostly, I am just happy to be able to come to dealers now and say that yes, it's not just a pretty face--this thing can be ridden FAST.

Having Tyler Wren up at the Cycle Smart Invitational, battling Adam Craig for 10th until the unfortunate final-lap flat, is great as well!!  It tugs at my heartstrings to have Boo seeing the big time :-)