Hot Tubes Cycling

Hello everyone and welcome back for another season.

We love doing the TOB. Firstly, it’s in the Bahamas. Secondly, for me at least, I get to visit my friends, the Holowesko’s there and Liam, their oldest son is our youngest team member.

This year we brought five riders, all were on the team last season. The TOB is a pro 1/2 race which is good for us. It’s high level, very fast racing which is good training but it’s a flat race and we have junior gears so we are at a distinct disadvantage. Add to that that this race attracts the southern speedsters from Florida who are on mid season form and we are, for the most part northerners and you get an idea of why it’s a hard race for us.

The race is three stages, a three mile Eddy Merckx style time trial, that means no aero anything. Stage two is a circuit race around the western most tip of the island and on Sunday a long, hard road race basically on the same course as the previous day but with an added loop making it longer and a bit more exposed to the wind.

Everyone got to the Bahamas, for the most part, without any problems. The courses were as I remembered but the roads around the airport, which would be included in Sunday’s road race, were “under construction”. That looked like it was going to be a problem. Just before you pave a road, it looks like hell and that was the case here. The road was eaten by these massive grinders that cut two inch deep channels in the surface. I drove the course with Stephen Holowesko when we arrived and it looked bad. The race promoter, Jeff Major said that it would be paved before the race in two days but I had my doubts.

The main competition, on paper looked to be the BMC development team. They had a lot of guys registered, their primary sponsor lives in the Bahamas and they looked to be on good form. Last years race had the same team and they raced like a development team a bit over their heads. We would see if that was still the case. There were a couple of other good teams and several very good professional riders with one or two man teams. Nobody was going to be paying attention to us in this race.

First off was Liam Holowesko. The older guys had had a chance to ride with Liam for two days before and came out to watch Liam race his TT. In all three stages Liam was solid. Liam not only rides his bike, he plays soccer, is a top student and is in the running for the Bahamas Primary School Student of the year award so he has a full plate. Liam finished fourth overall as a solo rider against others who raced with team mates.

The record time for the time trial was set by Floyd Landis at 5:38. Some of the times coming on during the masters races and the younger racers we in the mid to upper six minutes. First in for us was Cameron McCormack who’s training consisted of trainer rides and an hour or two, at best outside; 6:16. Brendan McCormack, Cameron’s twin, was next in for us at 6:11. Not a bad start. The BMC buys were making a show of it getting in the upper five minute range. Jake king, Ben King’s younger brother and still sixteen came in at 6:02. Things were looking better for us. I had my two, on paper, fastest guys due up last. Sometimes I wish we raced on paper but in the real world, unexpected things happen.

Colin Joyce was next up for us and as his start time approached, no Colin. I sent some of the guys to look for him and nobody found him. In the distance I saw the Hot Tubes blue riding my way; it was Jake. Still no Colin. I’m sure I looked like some crazy guy you sometimes see in cities walking around having intense, animated conversations with themselves pushing shopping carts; That was me. The starter kept calling, “Joyce! Colin Joyce, next up!” With ten, maybe fifteen seconds to spare he rolls up, straight up on the starting ramp and he’s off. We would talk later.

Thomas was off shortly after and that was it, we were all out there and we would see how it went. The Florida guys were fast but the fastest of the day came from BMC Holowesko Partners with a new course record 5:35. Colin came in at 5:55. Last in was Thomas. His time was 5:52. I forgot to mention that Thomas told me the night before the start that his right shift lever had broken off in transit so he couldn’t shift. We, fortunately for us, had two OFBITS supporters down to watch the race and had brought their bikes. Alston had brought his Cervelo, as it happens, the perfect size for Thomas. All we had to do was change pedals but the problems were not done yet.

The afternoon circuit race was, for the most part uneventful. BMC did a professional job keeping the race together and it came down to a field sprint won by a Cuban sprinter from a very strong Florida crit team. All the guys got out of the race with their skin in tact and Colin even got up there in the sprint. Alston went for an afternoon ride with John Crumpler and somehow managed to rip off his rear derailleur so Thomas was S*** our of luck for the next day. He would be able to race but he would have one gear and that’s it and he was our tip guy in GC in ninth place. He’s still racing so it could have been worse.

The last stage was a bit windy and full on sun so it was going to be a long stage. We had nothing to lose and the race was ripe for something out of the norm to happen. BMC was leading but not by much and there was a lot of speed and fitness in the field. The big teams were watching each other and we were going to take some chances. Colin, Thomas and Jake were our break guys. Cameron, our fastest sprinter was instructed to sit his butt in and wait for the finish. He didn’t have the l miles to get in a break and last.

Stephen had given me his scooter for the day so Liam and I had the best seat in the house to watch the race. We moved from the field to the breaks, getting gaps and, in general, having a great time. We watched as the first serious move went up the road. We watched Thomas bridge across to it and ten miles later it was all back together. A second move went away and the gap started to grow quickly. Liam and I got to watch Colin bridge solo across a one minute gap and that was it. It was the move of the day. Eight guys, two BMC, three from one other team, two from the team that won the day before and Colin. All the credit in the world goes to Jeff Major and the Bahamas DPW or whoever is in charge of the roads. They were all done on time and great roads to race on.

I bounced between the break and the field watching for a reaction and was confused by BMC’s tactics. They had two guys in the bread riding and four guys in the field chasing. on the last lap two riders, both from Florida, attacked the break and that was it. The break was done except for the two away. The two BMC guys went back to the field and started working with the rest of their team to bring it all back together. If it finished in a bunch, they win.

With three or four miles to go it was all back together due to the very professional chase by BMC. I give them credit, they looked to nobody else to help or do the work, they just went about doing their job as race leaders. With two kilometers to go BMC surprised me and probably everyone else. Everyone was sure that the Coco’s team that had won the day before was going to win again so BMC sent off the GC leader in a break. He was joined by a professional rider from the Jamis team and they looked like they would stay away. Jake King made a move to go across to them with one kilometer to go and brought the entire field back together and that was it. It came down to a massive field sprint won by Coco’s.

I’m very happy with how the team looks this year and think we will have one of our best seasons ever. I have this friend in New York who told me once that I say the same thing every spring and say it as if it’s the first time I’ve said it and I guess it’s true. The thing is I think I’m better now than I have ever been and there is a lot of talent in the junior fields so why can’t this be one of our best years to date?

As always, thanks for reading,

Toby

Hello everyone,

I need to be brief because internet is hard to find in Vermont.

The first stage was a five mile time trial with a fair amount of climbing. The long and short of it is we won. Yannick was fast, slightly faster that Gavin and Nate Brown’s winning times from the recent past. Thomas finished sixth, Austin tenth and Paul eleventh.

We are lucky to be here after the intense flooding Vermont had during last weekends bad weather.

Next up is a good circuit race that we, in the past, have won on several occasions.

On a quick note, it was just announced that Ben King will be representing the US at the World Championships later this month in Denmark. Also racing for the US in the U23′s is former Hot Tubes riders Nate Brown, Lawson Craddock, Ian Boswell and Gavin Mannion. in the juniors we have Paul Lynch so we are well represented. I am very proud of all our guys. This is a big country with a lot of talent now and for us to have so many at the top tells me we are doing something right.

Thanks for reading,

Toby

Hello everyone,

The fifth stage, starting in Castlebar and ending in Castlebar did a triangular loop over and around some of the climbs we did on the second stage only the other way around. I was not too worried about this stage. Last year it ended in a field sprint that our guy Robin Eckmann won and I remembered that it was not that hard a loop so we should have little trouble keeping it together. Yannick wanted to try to win the stage since his brother had won last year, I wanted it to end with the same time gaps we had before the stage.

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Hello everyone,

Today’s stage was going to be decisive for several reasons mostly because we needed it to be. Achill Island is the hardest stage because it’s the longest and has the most climbing. It also usually has the most wind and rain.

We were leading the stage race and had won the last stage but we only had a six second lead on the South African and that posed a problem. If we were required to do all the work leading the race, it left us vulnerable to attack on the last stage that finished with the climb up Windy Gap. On Windy Gap, if you have had the freedom to sit on all week, you could easily have enough in the tank to take six seconds on the final climb.

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Hello everyone,

This stage from Castlebar to Ballycastle was one we liked and won last year with Robin. We won it last year with Robin in a break of four all day and the team in field with  the yellow jersey sitting in setting tempo. It’s not the easiest way to race since you have to sit on the front all day and make pace but it prevents the need to surge which uses more energy.

Today our plan was to let a group go early with no GC contenders and get some time. If they get a small amount of time, guys will think they can jump across to it and that’s a problem for us so we needed them to get at least a minute and probably more to keep things cool.

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Hello everyone,

I will try to keep this brief as we are getting ready for stage three this morning.

The first road stage of the Tour started in Westport and did one big loop counter clockwise ending back in Westport about 110km later. There were three climbs starting with a category three then a two finishing with a category one about 40km from the finish.

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Hello everyone,

The Junior Tour of Ireland has become a staple race for us over the last several years. It’s a great place to race, it’s a long race at six days and the people here in Western Ireland are fantastic and the race organization, one of the best.

The entire team flew the short overnight flight from Boston to Dublin on Monday evening for a race that started Tuesday evening in Castlebar. Three of the team, Paul, Colin and Thomas, had just flown in from Texas where they had competed in the track national championships the day before. Paul earned his first and Thomas his second national championship over the weekend so spirits were high on the team.

I knew that the boys would be feeling some jet lag after the six hour flight and three hour transfer from east to west Ireland but the opening stage up the climb of Windy Gap was only four kilometers and could be ridden on nerves alone. If you had a bad day, you could not lose enough time to take you out of the running for the race.

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