Everyone finally brought out their TATI custom road bikes this weekend.
For once, we were both the best looking and best racing team of the day.
As soon as we landed, the M5 boys jumped into action: prepping bikes, pinning numbers, and generally assisting the other riders.
Elena's power food? Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
The women got the star treatment this morning, complete with tire pressure top offs.
Carly and Jesse with Spiuk all over their heads.
I wonder who Jesse bribed to get a pole position in the call ups.
Boy, were the other ladies jealous of our chic women's kits today! Many many comments...
Carly might have had to race against Jess Prinner, but fortunately the field was combined with the masters, so it was a pretty exciting four laps.
There was a big barn at the start/finish.
The John Deere combine was apparently racing the course as well. It kept sending riders off the side of the road.
We knew the W4 race was going to be a snooze fest, to our ladies went to the front and crushed it for the last two laps. And everyone else sat in and did absolutely nothing.
Both Sophia and Katie took 3/4 lap pulls. When they was pull off, the other teams refused to let them back in the paceline. I wanted to throw a water bottle at their competitors.
Kenda pipped Elena at the line. The truth is that we could have done a better job of leading her out, but at the same, the race was far more interesting after we pushed the pace.
Despite hardly riding together at all, our W4s are exhibiting legit team tactics.
Carly made another podium (3rd) by keeping pace with all the field's accelerations on the back stretch and maintaining great position all day.
Liam crashed during his warm up, cutting up his knickers and buttocks pretty badly. But he still won the M4 race.
Jesse took the most stylish and ridiculous suicide flier of the year.
So when does Liz get back again?
Miles borrowed my glasses, and pondered chicken fried chicken.
Kevin & Phil were philosophical about their first road race.
Andrew, on the other hand, was taking things *very* seriously.
The M5s rolling out.
Sure, he's off the back, but Phil's riding the hottest bike in his field!
What's this? Weren't there three guys on Brian's wheel just a few minutes ago?
That was until Brian decided to drop them all for the win.
All that practice has paid off in spades for Andrew, who surprised many (but not me) with a 7th place in his very first race.
Not long after Carly & Jesse's races were completed, beer mysteriously appeared.
Finally: the blue Power Ranger custom ti TATI sees some racing action!
And then, Miles assaulted Kevin.
The team is very happy that Bell backordered our helmets for two months. We switched to Spiuk, who shipped out a couple dozen orange Nexions and Zirions in two days. They fit great, look great, and have Euro-spec bug nets!
Try riding Dan's bike around a race parking lot, but watch out for the drool.
Sunday morning began innocently enough...
...with Jesse captaining the Cougar in the Spiuk aero helmet.
Adam came to the line in the wrong helmet, but thanks to Bernard's fleet feet, the crisis was averted.
The M5 field was bigger than planned, and included several better masters and M4 riders who would be racing later in the day.
And here, ladies and gentlemen, is the very first successful breakaway leadout in Team TATI history, courtesy of Adam and Brian.
Safely off the front, Brian settled into his "invisible aero bars" setup. It was about this time that I saw grown men cry in the peloton.
Adam recovered sufficiently to ride with the second pack. He ended up outsprinting them all!
The M5 race didn't have many spectators, but it was really exciting to watch.
Brian eased up with two laps to go, but still nearly lapped the field. He wasn't sweating on the finish line.
He he he he he... team tactics are cool.
Andrew had another standout day, placing 6th and remaining in the hunt for the M5 omnium.
The race was ridiculously short. The guys should have doubled into M4s.
Carly didn't want to be missed in her field, which was mixed with the 50+ masters.
We forgot the Clif Bars, so...
Indiana!
Turin is nice to us. And so the ladies have a nice chat on the line.
40+, 50+, 60+, and 70+ masters were mixed in with the W4s.
The announcer loves Team TATI. As usual, he peppered his racing commentary with asides about our wool kits, striped socks, and number of racing PhDs.
Elena marked Kenda from the get go. Pascale went off the front on the first lap, which unfortunately gapped Katie.
Sophia ponders bridging. I was frantically trying to instruct her not to even try it. For one thing, Pascale was racing masters, not W4s. And also, she is blazing fast.
Kenda didn't work at all today. Turin pulled for a bit.
Katie towed a couple of masters around for half an hour.
Katie's sprint continues to improve with each week.
Elena raced smart today, and easily blew away the other sprinters for the win.
So the question is, will team tactics lead to an omnium win?
Carly marks Jessi from lap one.
The M4 boys are expecting to induce seizures with their stripey new togs.
Jesse has been hoarding these orange Specialized road shoes.
Adam wears the linen jacket well.
It really didn't take too much coaxing to convince the women to don the striped socks.
Uh oh. M4 confusion before we even get to the line.
Seizure seizure seizure seizure seizure!
This is one of Jesse's amazing flyers. I wish I could have gotten a better shot.
When it was Dan's turn to go, he strung out the entire field.
Brian decided to go for a nice little 15km cool down run.
Here's Jesse again, working at the front, with Liam lined up. Although our tactics didn't result in a breakaway or win, I'm not too worried. We completely controlled this race off the line, and our boys learned that in fact, they CAN attack and recover several times in a race.
Here's Liam, yelling very loudly.
[I think this is Dan's fourth or fifth attack.] Whoops. Here is LIAM's suicide attack.
This time, a WDT rider bridged, but refused to work.
With three to go, Liam began to move to the front.
In the end however, it came down to a very chaotic sprint. The results weren't great, but the race was the best of the season.
Brean had some really nice things to say about the team this weekend. I like Brean.
Our den mother Nancy brought by miniature orange Naked Juices.
Elena fits right in with Team TATI, where our motto is We Study Harder Than We ride.
Someone tried to buy the orange Obama sweatshirt from me earlier in the day... but despite the fact that it's two sizes too big, it wasn't going to happen. But I'd gladly lend it to Bernard.
Jesse recounts his war stories: "And then on my EIGHTH attack..."
And then, after all the races were over, appeared Liz -- directly from the airport. And everything was good again.
It wasn't long before arriving that Jesse had stolen Brian's aero helmet.
Corgie mania was in full effect on this day.
As expected, every other bike was a $10K monster TT machine.
And aero helmets were de rigeur. I wonder whether the other teams realized that we were sharing two amongst fifteen riders.
Jesse had a little difficulty off the line, but posted a respectable time.
Tim is shown here balancing his front wheel on what appears to be a plastic butter tub. He's that smooth.
Andrew and Katie were part of our second wave.
Yup, that's a super rare, UCI-illegal Hotta frame.
Are those brake levers or some type of firearm?
Liam wears the Spiuk Kronos well. We need a work a bit on his tuck, but his basic form was good all things considered.
Two peas in a pod, perhaps?
Elena is still new to aero bars. We need to get her a little lower, and head down.
Tim is shown running downtube shifters, lycra-covered helmet, and Cinelli Spinaci.
Despite the morning chill, Brian opted for a sleeveless look.
Sophia, Katie, Jesse and I camped out under a tree for the final wave of racers.
Both Sophia and Katie kind of missed the one mile to go mark, and unfortunately had a lot in the tank at the finish. Oh, well.
Why can't we all look this good? Note the use of invisible aero bars, as Brian practices his form for the UCI triathlon season.
Elena did well, considering the distance is 10X what she's used to on the track.
Hey! Jeff gets into the aero helmet action.
Liz was feeling slow, so she would be our final racer to don the Spiuk.
Phil posted a great time in his first TT. Get ready for indoor winter time trials, everyone...
Liam announced that he'd be departing Tuesday for a solo tour of the west coast.
Don't Liz's bars look a little wide? Otherwise, the form isn't bad. The Kronos even rests between her shoulder blades.
And then Sunday arrived, and everyone realized just how much homework was due on Monday.
Some bozos were whining about Brian being a sandbagger in the M5 race, so we decided to go to plan B.
Francisco will be back before long...
As far as the field was concerned, Plan B sure looked a lot like Plan A: Brian goes off the front.
Kevin sure was looking and feeling good today...
Plan B worked. Since Brian was a marked man, the pack chased hard, and shed many riders. Andrew just sat on as Tower, WDT, and others bridged to Brian.
Adam's sprint is getting better every week!
Our man Tim Belton put the hurt on the Masters 50+ crowd.
On this day, we brought reinforcements to W4. It's Paige and Liz!
We were praying for a slow race, so all of our riders would be able to hang on. But the race included several strong masters riders, and we'd have to be patient and race very defensively.
Early on, Elena marked Morgan, who raced smart, despite lacking teammates.
Is that Andrew in fourth place?! Three solid races, and a very tactical fourth, got launched him onto the podium.
Soon, it would be Sophia's time to work. And work she did, covering all of the moves by Rebecca and Morgan.
Soon we needed to give Sophia a breather, and take control of the pace. Once the masters were shed, Katie moved to the front.
Liz also contributed with an excellent two lap solo. This forced Morgan and Rebecca to the front. I wonder if they mistook her for Sophia, which was not the intention. Still, it was a really great move.
I hope Tim comes to every race with us. In this hat.
The M4s line up. But wait a second: isn't that Brian. And Elena?! Sure enough, we had M5s Brian and Adamand W4s Elena and Sophia double into the M4 race.
It was a good, good day.
Liam lost a couple of omnium spots today, but the Project 5 guys raced very tactically and are very solid sprinters, so they should be commended.
Watch out for the W4 TATI ladies next spring, Chicagoland. In 2009, All your base belong to us.
