So photographers out there...don't forget about us. It's effin' racing droppage season and YGD is ready to post.
This year YGD is going to try his best at getting you pumped for the big races of the year but laying it out there for you. We'll do our best to prognosticate. Then, maybe Monday or Tuesday of the following week..we'll get back to the business of posting up funny pics of droppage. Give the people what they want, we always say.
Anywhooo..the big ol' jefferson cup is this weekend. This is the 25th or so annual running of this race of MABRA's historical spring classic. The weather has ranged from snow, rain, sunshine. Wins have been from sprints, big breaks, two man breaks...everything. The course isn't super hard but it has it's spots. Perhaps the biggest area of concern is a short hill about 3 miles from the start/finish area. At the top of this hill, a winery owned by Dave Matthews is on the left. If you get dropped, it's a great place to unwind and watch the rest of the race while sipping on Virginia Cabernet. I'm not saying that I've ever done that..just a tip.
Let's look at the contenders:
The obvious front runner are the bullies of the MABRA peloton; XO Communications p/b Cisco: These guys lost three of their top riders. Chuck Hutch is doing the same thing in NorCal that he did here and the Tims have moved on as well. But WAIT, The Mexicutioner is back and on a brand new unicorn bike! If you are in this race and you see the name Russ Langely on the start list, you probably cringed..just a little. Then you have DeWald and of course Weiler got his ass upgraded, Escobar..and NINE others who are all capable of making the race hard. Lots of bullets to fire for these guys. Hard to believe that training on a unicorn is so effective.
Fuentes on his new bike.
Some in MABRA might not know about the VeloShine team led by John Delong. But wait, did somebody see Scottie Weiss on the start list? We will be checking out their bikes just to see how clean these wipes can get them after the race.
NCVC this year has a small but efficient crew of guys that have been riding together for a few years now. It looks like they are putting together a nice little elite group of guys compared to the 1,000 Cat 4/5s you see in the other fields.
Kelly Benefits is bringing a full squad to Jeff Cup with Berbert, R, Jeff 'I must break you' Brandon leading the charge.. Oh, and former Navigator pro Tricky Ricky Norton might have something to say before the day is through.
The course is home turf for the boys at Cutaway-3 Sports. The roster is filled with talented riders who I bet are pre-riding the course right now and warning the locals to stop with the bottle braking business that seems to happen the night before every year. Someone should make like Emilio and have a stakeout the night before.
New to the elite ranks in MABRA is Bike Doctor. Will all the Sobe sandbagging talk from last year be legitimized when he flies away solo from the gun? If so, strip him of that jersey! They showed legs last week at Black Hills but are they going to be ready to handle the tactics of an 80 mile road race with the big boys?
Lastly, we have Joe Dombrowski from Bontragor-Livestrong aka One Man Gang. We all remember his Haymarket days of riding away from the field at Vint Hills as a Cat 3, then winning Jeff Cup a week or two later...then unable to drink the champagne he won. right? The kid is the real deal. Can he slip into the winning move again or is he too much of a marked man?
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| Joe rocks this mohawk and wrassles in the off-season to prep for UCI races around the world. |
Well, that's all for now. Jeff Cup is where YGD got it's start so we're very excited to get this season going. Buy a shirt and support this shit. My brake pads are