Inferno Pro Cycling at Tour of Ohio

For the second year running, Inferno Pro Cycling has dominated the Tour of Ohio. Matt Winstead was 2nd the first and second stages, won the third stage and took the lead and then maintained the lead in stage 4 as his teammate and newly crowned Track Omnium World Champion, Hayden Godfrey, took the stage win. Winstead rode safely to finish 3rd in the fifth and final stage, netting the overall. On top of that, the week's efforts by the team netted them the Sprint jersey for Marco Aledia (4th consecutive, 6th total), the KOM jersey for Joe Cooper and Best young Rider jersey for "The Dutch Boy"- Bennet Van Der Genugten. All in all, not a bad showing for the Ohio-based team... it's always good to win in your backyard.

Hayden Godfrey- Stage 4
Photo- Greg Sailor

From all of us at Masi (that's basically me and Insane Wayne Doran), we say congratulations on a well earned victory. You gotta wonder what they'll do for an encore...

Tim

Tour of Ohio, more and etcetera...

To borrow from my father, I've been "busier than a one-legged man in an ass-kicking contest" as of late. SO much has been going on lately that it has been impossible for me to keep up with it all. I've been in it deep... really deep.

I spent nearly the entire week last week locked away in an empty office, sitting in the near dark with my iPod earphones jammed deep into my head, away from my desk and phone so that I could finish writing all of the catalog copy for the next edition of the Masi catalog. It is my hope that we will end up with an even better product than we had last year (this year), which was universally received as our best yet. God/ Budha/ Alah/ Wood Fairy Princess willing... this one will be better. I know I feel damned good about the new products coming (seriously people, you have NO idea how good this stuff is going to be), so I hope that the energy and passion and all around Masi love comes through in the catalog.

On top of the catalog, we also wrapped up a killer new ad that will be coming out in VeloNews soon, so keep your eyes open for that. Hint; it is supposed to be located on the inside back cover... It is a great ad and I am super happy with how it came out, especially considering the short amount of time it got done in. Like, a couple days... thanks Rick!

Speaking of Rick... he's the poor schmoe who has been stuck with doing all of my ads as well as the Masi graphics and catalog. I'm sure he's rethinking his employment with us right now. Anyway, he and I have been wrapping up the last lingering bits of this and that on the Masi graphics for the new bikes as well. Needless to say, after lots of hard work, things are looking mighty, mighty good. I'm pretty darned stoked...

And speaking of stoked... the Tour of Ohio wrapped up over the weekend and the boys came up with the goods again- big time. Marco Aledia won the final stage, bookending his ToO with stage wins. He also took the green sprinter's jersey for the second year in a row. Mark Hekman maintained his control over the race and came out with the overall win and one stage win. Josh "Chunder" Englund got away with 3rd overall and a stage win as well. Timmy Swain held on to his KOM jersey also. This means that the team took 4 of the 6 stages, three of the classification jerseys and the overall win. Not too freakin' shabby. Way to go guys- the Masiguy is super proud of you all!

*Special accolades to Jimmy MacDonald- "Jimmy Mac"- who was involved in a nasty looking crash during the final stage of the race. Things looked pretty bad when he went down, but he says he's feeling fine and that, "girls are lovin all the facial road rash"... AWESOME! Here's the kicker... the poor boy just graduated high school and is only 18 years old and was racing the entire week in a major regional stage race. I mean... damn!

Blair Fraley took a bunch more great photos (many of which will likely be seen in the new catalog, on the corporate website and who knows where else) and a few of'em are here for you viewing pleasure....

Marco Aledia and Jimmy Mac.

Jimmy Mac railing a turn.

This is SUCH a catalog shot; Hekman leading the pack, Marco on his wheel and Ryan Rish sitting on.

All three jerseys in the pack! Nice!

There's more, but I gotta save something for later...

Last but not least (ok, kinda least), the Tour DAY France is starting in just a few weeks. That means that the yearly ritual of me trying to cover each stage with my own spin on things is ready to start again. This also means that I'll be flailing about trying to make it happen and stay on top of things. It won't be easy, but I'm gonna give it a go. This year, I'm trying to cover all three Grand Tours, so I've got the TdF and then Vuelta a Espana to go. Last year, I had the help of my lovely assistant Jessi- Bitch Kittie- Pacetti. The Cub Reporter was in France during the race and provided daily insights from behind the wall of media hacks and rabid tifosi. This year... I'm not sure what I'm doing. I haven't even talked to the Kittie yet to see if she wants to play again this year. Maybe she will, maybe she won't... but, something will be happening. Actually, if you're gonna already be in France for the race and want to be a guest commentator with me, drop me a line and let me know- tjackson(at)masibikes(dot)com. There's a pair of socks in it for you... especially if you can send good photos.

So that's it for tonight my friends. I need to let the grey matter cool down to a simmer, rather than slow boil. Tomorrow is a new day... and I still have a boatload of work ahead of me. C'est la vie!

Tim

A&F at Tour of Ohio

The Tour of Ohio is going on right now and MY team is beating the buh-jeebus out of the other teams- including teams like Priority Health, Colavita, Time Development, Kelly Benefits, so the competition is pretty good. And still my guys are killing them!

Jerseys held by team;
Overall
Sprinter
KOM

Yes, they're doing great! For a team whose admitted focus is on crit racing and the US crit series, they are showing they can control a race when the roads are open too. I think I'm gonna cry a little...

Team roster for the race;
Mark Hekman (race leader and current leader of US NRC crit series and winner of Athens Twilight)
Marco Aledia (Sprint competition leader)
Tim Swain (KOM leader)
Ryan Gamm
Jimmy McDonald (who raced on the junior development team last year)
Bennet van der Genugten
Andy Applegate (current US Masters National Champion in the time trial)
Brandon Gavic
Josh Englund (killer from New Zealand and winner of stage 2)
Ryan Rish (team DS and relatively new father and working on Phd... )

The photos below are all courtesy of Blair Fraley (you rock, dude!)...

Marco Aledia

Tim Swain in KOM jersey.

Marco and Jimmy Mac

Jimmy Mac

Hekman in the Sprinter's jersey.

Josh Englund

Bennet van der Genugten ("bonus" picture/s has been promised!)

The train lining up for...

... this

... and this!

Awesome!

Tim