My team is cooler than your team...

Not only was Interbike a fantastic experience for the Masi brand, but it was pretty darned cool for the A&F team as well.

Thursday night saw the finale of the USA Crits series, which the team was leading the Team Overall, Under 25 category (Brandon Gavic), Most Laps Lead (Mark Hekman) and had at least a spot on the final Individual Overall podium sewn up (Mark Hekman). Poor Mark had missed the last race/s due to his broken foot from his terrible crash at Elite Nationals. Still, his points going into the final all but secured him a spot on the final podium.

In an effort to protect their leads in the various categories, the boys came to the race with a strong squad; Brandon Gavic, Rich Harper, Marco Aledia, Bennet van der Genugten, Jaime Gandara and Timmy Swain. The six were primed and ready to throw down on the technical course that saw many, many crashes throughout the night- including the women's(*) and Industry Cup races earlier in the evening.

The race was action packed and I had a nice front row seat from within the confines of the VIP area... that's how I roll. Even though he was upset to not be racing, Mark made the most of the evening...The "famous" Umbrella Girls were on hand to escort the riders to the start line as they received their call-ups. I don't think I've ever seen Rich Harper with a bigger smile... ever.

The race course was lined with rabid fans and lots of curious onlookers from the Mandalay Bay hotel/ casino, since the race was held in the parking lot of the casino. To me, the course looked like a bloodbath in the making, though the guys later said that it was actually quite a fun course.

The race began at a blistering pace and then only got faster after prime after prime was offered up- including the infamous $5000 prime offered by Rock & Republic a couple laps from the finish. The primes were flying throughout the 60+ lap race, so the pace remained high. Plus, all of the teams wanted the win in Vegas. It may have been the end of the season and there was plenty of showboating going on, but it was clear that many of the riders were more than a little motivated for the win.

The night was a little hectic and first Tim Swain had a rider put his pedal in one of his wheels and ripped a few spokes out of the carbon rim... which is a really bad sound. Then Jaime Gandara went down in a larger pile up and the officials weren't so sure they were going to let him have his free lap to get back in. About 5-6 laps later, he was finally back in the race. On the final lap, BVDG was involved in a little spill and finished the race with less than a complete jersey.Still, the race was a great show for the fans. In the closing laps, Kelly Benefits put on a show and controlled the closing of the race. The team put at least 5 guys on the front and kept the pace ramped up to beyond ludicrous speed and straight to plaid (it's a Spaceballs joke... ). Nobody got away from them and really, nobody tried. They took control of the front of the field and had things wrapped up... or so they thought, until Ivan Dominguez pulled off one of his trademarked incredible sprints. You have to give it to him for making the most of the race because the rest of the Toyota-United team seemed to be asleep the whole race. Ivan rode the Kelly team to the line with a brilliant sprint.

In the end, Brandon Gavic took 15th, Harpoon was 21st, Timmy was 30th, Jaime was 32nd and MA was 43rd. BVDG was out of the top 75 thanks to that last lap spill... but he's got a national title this year, so he's gonna be ok.

With Brandon's efforts on the night, which were very impressive for such a little guy in a crit full of some very big dudes, he took the overall U25 title for the series.

Mark ended up still taking the most laps lead category, as well as still maintaining 3rd overall in the individual category.Thanks to some questionable points tallying, the team ended up second in the overall teams classification behind AEG. AEG rode very well through the series and would be a worthy winner of the title, were it not for some odd irregularities in the way the series dealt with the A&F team. That said, with no hard feelings, AEG did a great job and Frank Travieso was a great overall series winner.

All in all, not a bad night for the team and certainly a great series. You can bet that the team will show up for the series even more motivated next year and they will OWN the podiums all along the way.

To the team; you know I love ya already, but one more congratulations won't hurt... so CONGRATULATIONS!

Tim

* An additional congratulations has to go to Carrie Cash from Team Revolution. Team Revolution is a women's team I have had the pleasure to work with. They are based out of St. Louis and are an amazing group of hard riding women. Carrie, on a borrowed Masi demo bike managed to finish 11th in the women's pro race without a single teammate to work with her. Talk about toughing it out and making the most of the night! Way to go Carrie- I'm proud to have been able to provide you (and the team) with bikes this year!

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

I love these guys...

Tonight, I got this text message;

First and second on GC and leading the sprint comp at Tour Ohio. Met the local Masi dealer.

On the same day that I get my copy of ROAD, which has race coverage from Athens Twilight (which the tall redhead here won) and an interview (page 52) with Cap'n Badass himself- Mark Hekman. Standing next to Red is Marco Aledia, who's not too shabby a sprinter himself and is in the Sprinter's jersey at the Tour. It looks like the boys are already ripping it up!

Good job fellas!

Tim

My team is better than your team!

I love my guys...

Scroll down to the leader boards. That's what I'm talkin' about!

Tim

More awesome than anything... ever!

THIS might just be the single greatest example of journalistic excellence ever known to mankind.

I laughed, I cried... it was more moving than a Tolstoi novel.

Tim

Random is me...

Warning; Whine about to begin...

So, yes, I've been "hella" busy for as long as I can remember. I was trying to do more posting with substance and whatnot, but it's been damned hard. Things in the office are so busy that posting from work has become totally impossible. For about a year now, it seems, I've been saying "things are really busy"... well, I guess "busy" now has a new definition.

The good news to all of this, is that there are a lot of really cool things happening. The future of Masi and the product is really exciting. I won't give everything away right now, but there are cool products coming that I am more than a little confident you will dig... a lot... and some stuff that you wouldn't exactly expect from Masi (in a good way). Suffice it to say, I'm damned weary, but also damned excited.

Here are a couple things I can share with you right now... the Speciale Fixed;

Now there will be two colors of the bike that has been a runaway hit this year- Orange (like the current model, but with the decal colors reversed) and the all-new Shamrock green (a gorgeous green that has a gold metal flake base coat). Both bikes will now come with a new steel fork that uses a lugged flat crown and lugged dropouts. It's a really beautiful fork. Please keep in mind that images are just for color and decal approval, so this isn't the exact bike you'll see on the floor... but it's darned close. For example, the Shamrock Green has a beige/ creme colored fill in the large panels and the bar tape is a really cool marbled brown that looks like a cross between wood grain and cork... it's really nice looking. The actual bikes, like the current version, will not have a sloping top tube like these images. Other than that... man are they gonna be pretty...

Since I'm in a giving mood, I'll share one more with you, to keep you salivating...

Here's the next version of the Coltello track racing frameset. This sideview does NO justice to the actual paint- trust me, I got the tube sample today... this is going to be another truly beautiful frame (yes, Squirrel, I know you want one when they come in). On the framset front... the CXR cross bike will actually be available as a frameset and the 3VC carbon frame will be available in a super cool Team Issue version with special graphics... so sexy it'll make you cry. I promise.

Speaking of the team... I've been a terrible cheerleader. On May 25th, Rich Harper of the A&F team rode a stellar race at the Raleigh Downtown Crit.

Stolen from CyclingNews.com- photo by Robert Harvey (the team bought the rights to this... I hope...)

This was another NRC event packed with all-star US pro riders. Rich worked his ass off and got into the winning break that lapped the field and held on for third place (his first podium appearance in an NRC event) in front of his friends and family in his hometown. "Harpoon" is a certifiable nut... I mean, he's got papers to prove it, I'm sure. That said, he's one of my favorite riders on the team, even if he is a time trialist trying to pass himself off as a real sprinter (HA!).

Much to my disappointment, he got rid of the hair...

Not only did Rich rock the team kit, but at the podium interview, he even gave a big thanks to Masi. He also managed to lay down the law; the interviewer made a comment roughly to the effect that the team was the dominant amateur team of the year and he quickly corrected him with, "who you callin' amateur?" I love this wacko.

On top of that, Mark Hekman, winner of Athens Twilight and the Southeast Crit Series overall, has continued to ride strongly and still occupies the #1 bib number in the NRC series. Mark is riding strong with the excellent support of the team and they are truly proving their worth in the races along with all of the "pro" teams. These guys are riding with such amazing heart, it makes me proud to be associated with racing again. With all the dope in the peloton, it's great to see these guys racing clean and winning with heart, passion and straight up determination. Keep an eye on these guys as they keep racking up the wins and continue to be dominant.

Nice work guys!

Ok, now I have to get back to staring at spreadsheets and writing a new catalog. Joy of joys...

Tim

I'm a ramblin, ramblin, ramblin, ramblin, ramblin man...

It's been a while since I've cut loose with a full-on ramblin' post. So go grab a beer, or other bevvy of choice, and hang on...

Ivan Basso- You have got to be kidding me! No... really! "I know it's hard to believe, but trust me- all my previous wins were done clean... I was going to cheat with all that blood... but I got caught before I actually cheated. I know it was wrong, but..." (Not an actual quote, so please don't come suing my broke bike nerd ass.) Seriously? Really? On top of it, Bruyneel says that he's really disappointed that Basso lied to him. Umm... really? No sh@t Sherlock! I am trying to believe that he/ Discovery didn't know what the outcome would be if the investigation in the Puerto case continued... but I'm having a really hard time. No... really, I am.

Floyd Landis- Floyd's arbitration hearing has gone from pretty good, to ok, to not so good, to downright freakin bizarre. Now-former manager Will Geoghegan makes incredibly stupid phone call to Greg LeMond to try and intimidate him the night before he is to take the stand as a witness for the other side. Ok... that alone is one of the stupidest things I think I have ever heard. Really, this puts him in a league of nearly his own on the jackass/ idiot lists. What a dumbass! But... poor Floyd... I love you brother and want to believe the very best about you... but how do you not fire the asshole the second you know he did something so stupid? You find out what he did, just minutes/ few hours after the fact and then you don't do anything about it and try to hope it just goes away? Really? Man, that was a bad, bad move. Prior to this bombshell, I was totally in the "I am waiting for the evidence" camp. Now, I am terribly frightened for Floyd. Even if he is innocent of the doping charges, it is safe to say that his days of racing are likely over. With this ugly circus, which many believed would highlight a shitty anti- doping system, what team would want to sign him? This really does screw Floyd's chances pretty badly. Unless the anti-doping folks do something even dumber (dumberest), there's pretty much nothing to do but wish Floyd a great post-cycling career. Like I said, I love ya' buddy... but, man, that was a pretty stupid thing. That said, I'll still happily buy you a beer if I ever get the chance.

Thursday was the bike industry bike to work Industry Cup Challenge- sponsored by Specialized. Haro had it's best turn out yet, with 17-18 of 26 employees riding in to the office. Me, I rode in and back myself. First time since I've been with the company too... since I live 40 miles from work. So my commute was a whopping 80 miles. Heck, I used to ride 80 miles a day nearly every day when I was seriously racing, but those days are long since gone. I was riding super strong, for me, on the way in to work- making it in less than 2 hours (and that's with all the lights and stops). However, the ride home was a totally different story... taking me more like 2 hours and just shy of 45 minutes. I bonked, blew up, cramped, fell apart at the seams and generally stunk to high hell. It was almost laughable, except that I could find the energy to make any noise. There is one good climb on the way home (Torrey Pines, for you locals) and I was nearly swerving up the hill in the bike lane. I love the climb too- it's one of my favorites- but my legs were simply ca-flooey. I saw the Care Bears, Smokey the Bear and that duck from the Aflac commercials. One of them, I'm not sure which because I was totally hallucinating at the time, encouraged me to keep pushing on the pedals so I wouldn't fall over and have the little old lady on the old touring bike run over me. Thanks for the words of inspiration, who ever you were/ are. All that whining aside, I'd love to find a way to do that more often than every 2+ years. It's actually a really great ride and I have always had a soft spot for early morning rides. All those years of hard training early in the morning made a mark on me.

As much as it freaks me out to admit, it is time to create the next Masi catalog. I've already begun putting some ideas down. I'm sketching out what and how I want to say all the things that will hopefully entice all of you who have not already purchased a Masi to realize that you simply must have one. (You know you want one... or a new one.) If you've got great ideas, suggestions, requests, or whatnot... lemme know. Let me just say that you are going to like what you see... I promise. Really.

A&F Pro Development team- I love my team! These guys just keep rocking! Not only did Mark Hekman win Athens Twilight, but he held on to win the overall for the Southeast Crits race series. Sweet! I mean... super sweet! These guys then went on to roll strong at the Joe Martin stage race. Mark finished a very respectable 18th overall- not bad for a guy who is a crit specialist. The team rode strong in support of Mark, since he is clearly on a roll. It isn't a win, but it is another strong performance from a team that keeps on fighting it out with the biggest domestic teams in the US. Way to go guys!

Saturday afternoon I got out for a little ride. Just an hour to spin the legs loose after a hard Thursday. I didn't ride on Friday because I had a very super top secret meeting with Shimano. I could tell you, but... you know the drill. Special warm and fuzzy thanks to our man Daniel and his Shimano credit card... sushi is so yummy. I guess this makes me something of a whore, since our very good friend from SRAM, Brian Billington, visited just the week before and went for a ride with us and then went to lunch with us. Jeesh... I guess I am a slut. Anyway, to my point... on my ride, I stopped by Adams Avenue Bicycles to visit with my good friend Andrew Lee. Andrew and all the guys at Adams are just amazing guys. I love'em... in a totally normal, bike nerd way.


Andrew and his crew are some of the finest mechanics around this town, which is part of why I stopped by to see them. I had a technical issue to ask them about my drivetrain- for some reason, no matter what I do, the chain skips on the 11t cog. It never skips anywhere else. The shifting is totally perfect on every other gear. No skips, no nothing. The lockring for the cassette is the proper one for an 11t cassette, so the chain isn't hitting that. If you shift up the cogset slightly, you can see grease marks on the integrated spacer for the cog, indicating that the chain side plates are hitting the spacer. It is a general theory that this is why the chain is skipping- if I apply hard pedaling force, the chain slips over the 11t cog, as if the chain isn't grabbing the teeth. It's weird... excluding Daniel and Brian, anybody got any ideas? The cogset, though a few years old, has only seen a few rides and the 11t is nearly virgin since I haven't been able to ride in it. You guys at Campy got any ideas?

Ok... I think I'm done for now. Maybe...

Athens Twilight Pictures

Rumor has it that "a picture is worth a thousand words"... so here's a few thousand for your eyes.

(From the Athens Banner-Herald)

Just moments after realizing the impact of his night's work- look at the joy on his face and the faces of his teammates!


Kodak to the left and Jittery Joe's to the right- two great pro teams... but they couldn't defeat Mark Hekman and A&F!


Here is on the podium collecting his prize for the fastest lap of the night! Oh yeah, he's a bad ass!


Podium girls... not sure if he's happiest about the win or being surrounded by podium girls. Either way, it's pretty danged cool! THAT is a happy face, if ever I saw one.

And here's 5 of the 6 "giant killers"; Rich Harper, Jim Baldesare, Mark- winner- Hekman, Marco Aledia and Neil Coleman (not pictured, but holding the camera- Frankie Dierking).

Congratulations again fellas! (Look for more updates on the Masi website soon.)

Tim

"That's right! Who's your daddy?"

So just a few minutes ago, I received a phone call from my buddy, Chad Thompson- team director of the A&F Pro Development Team (the Masi-sponsored team... yeah, MY boys).

Turns out that our very own Mark Hekman just a short while ago pulled off one the biggest upsets of recent years by winning the Athens Twilight Criterium! Yes, you read that right- A&F just won Athens! On a Masi 3VC frame and fork! Mark-freakin-Hekman is now officially The Man! Of all the criteriums in the US to win, Athens is arguably THE crit of choice. Ask nearly any crit racer in the country what crit they'd like to win and nearly all of them will say Athens. Athens is one of the crown jewels in US racing. And Mark and the A&F guys pulled off the win with just 6 riders in a star-filled field. ALL of the top US pro teams want to win Athens, especially since it is now part of the US crit championship series and part of the US Pro Tour.

Needless to say, this is the biggest win on a Masi in a very long time. More importantly, it is an amazing win for Mark Hekman. Having ridden with Mark during the team training camp last year, I got to know the guy and can honestly say that he's one of the nicest guys I've ever met. He's a class act guy, riding for a class act team. Tonight's race is all about the great group of guys in the race: Mark Hekman, Neal Coleman, Marco Aledia, Jim Baldeseare, Frankie Dierking and Rich Harper. These six managed to pull off the win of a lifetime against some of the biggest and baddest in the US. Needless to say, this proves that they are one helluva team! These guys have such amazing heart, the win makes me happiest on a personal level. Professionally, I can't wait for the news to get out and to get photos to use in ads and in the catalog... but this is really all about the guys and Mark.

After Chad called me with the news, I called Mark on his cell phone, where the celebration was definitely happening! He answered the phone with, "That's right! Who's your daddy?" His joy, and the joy of the rest of the team screaming in the background, was very evident. I don't envy the hangover he'll have tomorrow... but I sure wish I could be there to have a few drinks with them.

As soon as photos are available, I'll post them.

Congratulations Mark and all of the A&F team!

Tim