Hi Team. My name is Randy Kerr. I am very excited about racing this season on winning Team Momentum. To give you a little background about myself, I am 55 years old and married.
TurboDiesel
My wife, Jeanne and I have three children – Kelly, Kaci and Brad. We also have a new grandson, Liam. I attended the United States Military Academy at West Point and I am a graduate of the University of Alabama. I’ve owned my own business, Southern Landscaping, since 1993. I’d also like for you to meet my shadow, Tucker. This is what he looks like!
Tucker tops in at about 220 pounds and runs like a freight train. Tucker’s got Team Momentum’s back!
So, this my first attempt at a Team Momentum blog post! That’s funny because our first ‘cross season is way past over. Anyway, I’m excited to race the Cohutta100 this Saturday. I’m hoping for good legs and I should have them since I’ve been able to put together a 15 and a couple of 17hr weeks lately. This photo is what I have to do sometimes to get that done. I’m pretty sure this hotel room was in Miami and I sat on the trainer for 1.5hrs that night and 2hrs the next day. Gotta get it in…
Here’s a shot from two weeks ago. This is what can happen if you attempt to follow Joe Dabbs down Jekyll & Hyde! Beware!!!
I’m all healed up now so no worries. Notice I still have all my teeth…
Anyway, back to Cohutta. My strategy is the same as always for endurance races. Start hard but not too hard and take what my legs will give me. I’m going to make sure I stay fueled up and put some Cokes in my drop bags. That stuff is rocket fuel! Other than that, if I get in a bad patch, just keep rolling forward. Hopefully I’ll post a positive race report next week.
Lennie
wow, march went by fast! work, train, work, vacation, train, work…what’s wrong that list…no racing…I need racing in there to make me happy! For the first time in years, my racing schedule didn’t start in March. Partly because of work and vacation but also because of cross season not ending until Jan 28th. I really wanted a few months of staying home on the weekends and just training around town. I love my bikes and love to ride and sometimes racing can take that love away because it’s all about specifics. i took this extra time to really pile on some volume and just enjoy the rides. i logged in some of my heaviest weeks of training ever and hope that it pays off in the later part of the season. Plus I got a new bike, thanks to Orbea, and wanted to make sure i had plenty of time to get it dialed in and become familiar with and comfy on it. Considering both the hardtail and big wheels are new to me I thought it would be smart to have some solid training on it before racing it.
Now…I’m back from vacation and it’s all about the mtb! this weekend will mark my first stab at the xc front in 2012 at the Knobscorcher which is part of the US East Cup/SERC series. i love these races and this venue because it’s truly what real xc racing is all about. the fitness is still up in the air but that’s why this weekend will be a great test, to see where I’m at and what i need to do to get back at the level i want to be at for this year.
I kicked off my mtb race season yesterday with the
Cheaha Mountain Express. All expert classes went off at the same time and Andrew Boyd punched it hard off the start to take an early overall lead. I was sitting in 3rd position as we entered the woods, but Andrew and the rider behind him took a wrong turn and I stayed on course to take the lead. Jerry Dufour stayed behind me within earshot during the first half of the 1st of three laps, but once the initial surge settled down, I rode solo to take the fastest lap prem and race win. Cheaha was a fun early season race for me, but the big standout had to be Jerry. At 14, he turned the second fastest lap and race time of the day. Considering that most racers have thousands more miles in their legs and years of experience, Jerry has a bright future of racing in front of him! Igor Nikolic and Randy Kerr rounded out the great Team Momentum performances with race wins in both of their classes. Overall, it was a strong showing by Team Momentum with all 5 team participants making the podium!
Omar
funny how easy it is to let a few weeks slip by without really even noticing.
to wrap up Bamacross…one word…awesome!
the set up was like this…i was sitting in 2nd place overall. i had to beat my teammate, Omar and hold off Lackey to maintain my place. i had amanda’s bday party the night before and was up late drinking brews…not my normal race prep.
the last race of the year was in Gadsden, AL at a new venue. it had been rumored that the course was short, fast, and dry…it was short…but the course was slow because there were several areas of thick muddy grassy sections. I’m not complaining though, i had a blast. i stayed conservative off the start but immediately found myself in the lead group and then shortly after that, solo in 2nd place. nothing would change after that until the end of the race. my best finish in a 1/2 race and a proper way to finish strong.
Now it’s time for mountain bike build up time!
first weekend of February was the training camp Coach Drew and i had been working on for about a month. i had been looking for a way to get some one on one time with Drew and also a way to just to meet him. we decided to put together a simple 3 to 4 day training camp with 3-6 mtb guys looking for some volume and technical advice for rocky trails and host it at Oak Mtn. the weekend was perfect. just a lil wet but mild temps and great trail conditions. a strong group of 4 like minded riders joined forces and hammered out some great miles. all and all the week netted me almost 18hrs of riding.
with southern cross coming up and the mtb still in the shop(for 5 weeks now, waiting on one part)i needed some off road miles with climbing, so i headed out to Oak Mtn. plan was to meet up with some BiCi fellas but as usually i was running late and missed the start. the plan was lots of climbs. solid workout overall. flats…two…downhills with rox…no fun on cx bike…cold weather…dress appropriately…fuel correctly…equals workout done.
another solid week of training with about 11hrs of riding. considering i battled a cold all week and took two days off and two others were only an hour, im happy!
I would like to thank Igor and Omar for putting together a great team experience and in my case, a great family experience. I’ve really enjoyed getting to know the racers on the team. I want to thank Ken for the tips and advice he shared with this first timer. I want to thank Kira for supporting us. I imagine it won’t be long before Sydney is lapping me just like her father. Many thanks to Kim and Sophia for their sponsorship. I’m just glad I made it through the season without an incident requiring their services. And thanks most of all to Igor and Alan for making it all possible. Momentum’s generous sponsorship was a great gift to us all. I hope we did a good job of getting the word out on our excellent sponsors.
Thanks,
Michael
Wow, what a season. And what a final race.
I came out to Gadsden feeling very prepared…and a little sad that this would be the last race of the Bamacross season.
My goal last weekend was to ride hard, and ride smart. Those of you who have ridden with me on the road know that I like to race very aggressively…often to my detriment when things don’t work out. So the name of the game this weekend was ride smart and measure my efforts.
Well, right off the bat I was feeling frisky and I moved from 6th to 5th to 4th in no time. Going into the start of the second lap of the race Jonathan Robbins and Mike Lackey were both about 10 seconds up the road from me. I put in an intense effort on the long gravel road at
the start of the second lap and managed to catch them when we hit the dirt.
Both JR and Mike seemed to be tiring a bit on the frontside of the course and I took off on the first pavement section (the section where they were passing out bacon).
I was able to get a nice gap going and I realized that, well, third place was mine for the taking if I could just hold the effort. And I did hold it…until two laps to go. And with two laps remaining and a nice lead, I decided not to red line my heart rate on the long gravel road. Big mistake. Mike caught me just like I had a few done to him and JR a few laps earlier. That gravel road was just too fast and too long not to take full advantage of.
Mike got a good gap on me in the last lap but I was bound and determined to catch him. I went harder on that last lap than I ever have in a race in my entire life…really. I did catch Mike before the last turn, but when we turned the corner he took about 5 pedal strokes to get a 10 foot gap on me and it was over. I just can’t sprint with a guy like that.
All in all, I’m so excited that I ‘almost’ got a podium in the 1/2s. But damn…its hard to swallow being so close and not finishing in 3rd.
I think I finally got my training down in the last 3 weeks of the season and plan on coming back next year to compete for the podium in every race.
Big congrats to Joe and Omar. I appreciate the encouragement of the whole team and you two in particular as I try to get faster at MTB and CX. Big congrats also to the rest of the team. I don’t feel like I got to know everyone as well as I should have and I hope to remedy that in 2012!
And finally…a huge, gigantic, monstrous THANK YOU to our sponsors! You made us look good in our kits…I hope we made you look good with our racing.
Well, our first year has come to an end for Team Momentum. And what a year! In the Team Competition, Team Momentum placed 2nd out of 41 teams that participated. Ultimately we were outgunned by the BBC team, but we made it a close race. In the Men’s Cat 1/2 competition Joe Dabbs came on strong at the end of the year to place 2nd and Omar Fraser was able to place 3rd on the series podium. This was Joe and Omar’s first year racing in the 1/2 elite category, so we are expecting big things from them next year. Andrew Boyd also finished strong on the season finishing a strong 4th in the final race. My calculations show he will end up 6th for the series when the final numbers are posted. This was also Andrews first year racing the Cat 1/2s. The future for Team Momentum looks really bright.
Karen Balliet finished a very strong 2nd in the Women’s Cat 1/2 competition in her first full year of cyclocross even though she raced all year on a Mountain Bike. Melissa Driskell finished 4th in the Women’s Cat 1/2 in her first full year of racing. Karen and Mellisa contributed heavily to the team competition by racking up points race after race.
Lennie Moon demolished the competition to win the final race in the Men’s 35+ Category in Gadsden which moved him up into 2nd for the series title. Scott Staubach, who dominated the 35+ Category early in the season, finished 4th in the Series even though he was unable to compete in the last four races.
Michael Balliet was able to pull out a 3rd place in the Men’s 45+ Series Competition in his first year racing cyclocross. Ken Burst finished 5th in the Men’s 45+ Series. Chad Hungerford dominated the 45+ class when he raced in that Class, but he got a late start on the season and chose to race in the Men’Cat 1/2 at some of the races where he had several top 10 finishes.
Hill Balliet, son of Karen and Michael Balliet, fought off health issues in the middle of the season to dominate the last race in Gadsden and win the Junior Series Championship. Way to tough it out Hill!!!
I think the best way to wrap up the season are the following quotes from some of our Team Momentum members:
“thanks guys for putting this team together and inviting me to be on it. Proud to be associated with everyone!” Lennie Moon.
“wow…what a year! thanks to everyone on the team! Bamacross 2011 ended up being so much more than i bargained for. a special thanks to Omar Faser and Igor Nikolic for creating Team Momentum and inviting me to join them…and all of you! the venues, the courses, racers, the atmosphere, the team, the bike, the total atmosphere…it was so much fun to me!” Joe Dabbs.
“I can’t explain what a joy it has been to ride for a team with such talent this fall/winter. And I love the fact that I think Momentum is entirely unpretentious. That is very important to me as an advocate for the sport.” Andrew Boyd.
And of Course, a very special thanks to our fabulous Sponsors:
Momentum Telecom: http://www.gomomentum.com/
Fagan Sports Medicine: https://fagansportsmedicine.com/
The Fonteneau Firm: http://thefonteneaufirm.com/
The cold wet weather kept my training indoors today. I still had a couple more hours to meet my self imposed 11 hour training minimum for the week, so I decided to use my rollers for a long ride. While cruising the forums in procrastination, I stumbled across the Sufferfest series of training videos. I usually ride indoors with Pandora, but since I had a 2 hour ride planned, I decided to try out a Sufferfest video to stay motivated. I scanned through the videos on the site, and decided on “Hell Hath No Fury”. I chose this video over the others for two reasons: 1. It had 20 min intervals – perfect for strong aerobic work 2. It featured female road racing footage, which seemed like a better way to spend $11.99 than staring at men in lycra for an hour.
It’s too bad female racing doesn’t get more coverage, because the racing footage was just as exciting as any male road race that I’ve watched. Several minutes of the 1st 20 minute effort focused on a woman in a solo break. I tried to match her cadence and was spinning at 110rpm! The training video definitely stepped up the indoor riding excitement and I look forward to adding more videos to my routine.
The last Bamacross race of 2011 was my first race that I would consider to be a ‘complete’ effort.
After a little delay to wait on some riders, the Cat. 3 race got underway. Going into the race, I wanted to get a win, and I wanted to win convincingly. A lot of time on the trainer and running at the track had me feeling good and I was ready to go.
The race started with me following the wheel of Ed Merritt. He pushed a fast enough pace for the hole shot and pushed pretty hard through the first set of turns.
Going into the first sandpit, I knew that things would stack up and I dismounted early to get a running start up the hill. I pushed a moderate pace through the pit and attacked as soon as I got back on my bike. I got a nice gap and was being chased hard by Jimmy Prentice when I crashed on the steep gravel downhill on the back of the course. Following the crash I got up and went hard again.
Coming into the long mud pit in the first lap I knew I wanted to run as fast as I could through it. I’ve been practicing 40 yard dashes for this sort of situation and it came in handy as I was able to quickly get through the deep mud and continue on the other side.
At this point I had a pretty good lead and I knew that the race was mine for the taking so long as I didn’t panic and kept up a consistent pace. In my head I thought about how guys like Will Fyfe and Omar look so cool and composed when they are leading a race. Even though they are putting in a big effort, their breathing is very regulated and you can see a calmness on their faces. I tried to emulate this to the best of my ability and it paid off. I kept a hard pace, but nothing extraordinary and I put in efforts where I knew others would be recovering. For instance, on the steep paved climb on the backside of the course, I rode in my easiest gear. Then, when I crested I went hard where I thought others might be suffering.
The race went really well overall and I was able to ride in for the win. It was good to know that a lot of hard work had paid off.
At this point, I’m due for an upgrade, but I’m going to continue training hard and I can’t wait to race in the 1/2s. My goal is to make a podium in that category by the end of the year. That goal might not happen, but its what I’m setting my sights on.
Can’t wait to see everyone in Trussville!
