Evelyn Stevens (Specialized-lululemon), the former U.S. national champion, took first in the 31-kilometer TT with 55:49, followed 56 seconds later by Alison Powers (NOW-Novartis for MS). Kristin McGrath (Exergy TWENTY16) would claim third with 1:24 behind the leader.

In addition to bringing attention to Kristin’s outstanding effort, Pactimo is also thrilled to announce the recent partnership with Exergy TWENTY16. It will be our pleasure to provide custom cycling apparel to the team throughout the 2013-2014 season. The photos below show the personalized Summit Speed skinsuits we made for the Amgen Women’s TT riders.

Kristin was never one to be left out…

Growing up in Durango, Colorado with her 4 brothers, Kristin was never one to be left out. She followed them in every activity they did; from soccer, to swimming, skiing and kayaking and within this environment she became a natural competitor. 

A full-ride soccer scholarship landed her at University of Tennessee but a knee injury her senior year ended Kristinʼs run as a soccer player. While doctors advised cycling as rehab, Kristin figured her competitive career was over and after graduating from UT, with a degree in Exercise Physiology, she  started making strides to enroll in medical school.

But, it was her early successes in a few collegiate cycling races that would land Kristin a pro contract to race with Colavita in 2008. Medical school was put on hold while Kristin hit the rode, honing her skills and racking up some impressive career highlights. Today she is in her fourth year with the Exergy TWENTY16 squad.

Congratulations, Kristin, on a great TOC ride! 

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LEARN MORE

www.teamtwenty16.com

Kristin McGrath Bio – Exergy Site

Kristin McGrath – USA Cycling

www.amgentourofcalifornia.com

CONNECT

Kristin McGrath on Twitter

The Jelly Belly Cycling Team presented by Kenda announced today that they have signed three-time U.S. National Champion and seven-time Tour de France rider Fred Rodriguez.

“We’re more than excited to obtain Fred Rodriguez and have him part of the team for the remainder of the season,” said team General Manager and Director Danny Van Haute. “Fred’s experience and leadership will be a huge asset for Team Jelly Belly p/b Kenda, not to mention he’s a great bike rider who will no doubt garner great results.”

Rodriguez raced for the now defunct Exergy team last season and showed well at major U.S. races like the Amgen Tour of California and USA Pro Challenge in Colorado, notching several top 10-stage placings.

“After dialogue with several teams, I decided Jelly Belly was a good fit,” said Rodriguez. “There are a lot of things this team does both on and off the bike that makes sense for me at this stage of my career.  The team has been a staple of American racing for more than a decade and I admire that stability. Plus, Jelly Belly Candy Company is a great company with great values to support.”

Van Haute added that Rodriguez had impressed him in recent races, and, coupled with his character and business approach, were an intriguing mix for both Jelly Belly and his team. He noted that along with current sprinter Brad Huff, the squad has a strong one-two punch in fast finishes.

The 39-year-old Rodriguez, who resides in Berkeley, said he’s been rejuvenated in recent years after racing his early career primarily in Europe.  He said he hopes to show well in major North American races Jelly Belly competes, beginning with the U.S.A. Cycling National Championships for road race later this month in Chattanooga, Tenn.

Nicknamed “Fast Freddie”, Rodriguez’s professional career spans more than 15 years. His career highlights include three U.S. professional road race wins in 2000, 2001, and 2004; stage wins in big European stageraces: Tour of Luxembourg, Tour of Switzerland and Tour of Italy.  He has won sprint points jerseys in the Tour of Switzerland and twice in the Tour de Georgia, at one time the largest American stage race. He was the long-time lead-out man for Aussie sprinter Robbie McEwen who amassed 12 Tour de France stage wins, many thanks to Rodriguez’s work.

Pactimo is proud to be the cycling apparel partner for the Jelly Belly p/b Kenda Cycling Team.

Learn more about Pactimo and Jelly Belly »

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READ MORE:

Rodriguez signs with Jelly Belly for remainder of 2013 
VeloNews May 2013

You can still call me Fast Freddie 
CyclingNews May 2012

Fred Rodriguez Rider Results 
USA Cycling

CONNECT:

Freddie Rodriguez on Twitter

Freddie Rodriguez on Facebook

www.jellybellycycling.com

Jelly Belly Cycling on Twitter

Recently there has been much debate in the press regarding riders, and in particular Team Sky racing with powermeters.  Some riders like Vincenzo Nibali (who races with a powermeter) says this nullifies the race and makes it boring as Team Sky riders are using their powermeters to pace what effort they need to ride at to catch the breakaway.

Whichever side of the fence you sit on with this there is no denying powermeters do benefit when racing…so until we are told otherwise why not use them to our benefit?

I decided to race with my powermeter for all my races this year whilst riding for the Forme Coaching – Pactimo MTB Elite team.  At first I thought this would be so that I could analyse the data post race and write post race analysis.  I didn’t however think I would be looking at it during the race and even thought about covering over the numbers.

In the end I’m glad I didn’t as I have found the power to be a great tool in the 2 races I have ridden this season.

In my last race, the first round of the Midlands Series, it was a big step up in rider quality.  Considering the quality of the field I still decided to stick to my game plan of starting fast which I did completely on feel.  In fact, I didn’t look at the power once on the opening lap I just started off fast and didn’t look down until I was passing the start/finish after lap 1.  When I looked down I was quite surprised to see I was only averaging 370w NP which works out as 92% of my threshold power.  As I said before I know from years of training and racing with power that I can hold 95% of my threshold for the duration of a XC race.  At one point just after the first lap someone shouted to me from the crowd it was a 6 lap race and not to go too hard too soon, my response of “at this pace I can go all day” might have sounded arrogant but it was based on science not theory.

The next 3 laps were all in and around 330-340 NP or around 82-85%, even at this sustainable pace I was able to open up a gap of around 30-40 seconds a lap on the second place rider. Once I got to lap 5 I was told that my lead was now 2 minutes 30 so I was able to back right off to 320W or 78% making sure I didn’t make any mistakes or risk mechanical problems.

The total NP for the race was 335w or 84% so while it was by no means an easy pace I still had roughly 10% left in the tank had I needed it.

Another interesting fact was that I spent a total of 15 minutes or a total of 1 whole lap not pedalling at all but with the nature of a MTB race that is hardly a big surprise.

Like I said at the start whichever side of the fence you sit regarding the use of powermeters there can be no denying when used correctly in the knowledge of your training zones and overall FTP…your confidence and ability to race could decide if you are on the podium or not.

View the full race data.

All photographs are courtesy of Simon Maskell Photography.

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Dan Fleeman’s passion for cycling started at the age of 10. His first major result was winning the British National Road Race Championships in 2004. While living in France, he he took wins in the Prix de la St Amour and the Tour de Beaujolais and later rode with DFL-Cyclingnews in Belgium.  During the season of 2007 Dan achieved top 10 places in the Tour of Britain and the mountainous Tour of Qinghai Lake. His 2008 racing season was spent with An Post/M.Donnelly/Sean Kelly Racing Team whereby his most notable win during this time was coming first overall in the Tour of the Pyrenees.  Also during this time Dan obtained good results by overall coming 13th in the Tour of Ireland and 7th in the Tour of Britain. Dan retired from professional road racing in 2011 to focus on running Forme Coaching, but he still rides and races mountain bikes.

Visit formecoaching.com for more information.

Pactimo is proud to partner with Forme Coaching in Belfast to bring premium cycling apparel to the UK and Ireland.

Six riders consisting of Dale Appleby, Kit Gilham, Rob Orr, Gruff Lewis, Matt Pilkington and Chris Bartlett headed to Northern Africa to compete in the Tour de Algerie UCI 2.2.  A tough race due to weather conditions and terrain made the results and fantastic success of Dale Appleby finishing 6^th overall and Kit Gilham taking the Stage 4 win, even more impressive for the non-UCI UK domestic team.  Dale then went on to get third the following day in the Circuit de Algier.

“Stage 4 was one where I felt I had good legs and I was determined to try to get into the break of the day,” said Kit. “I went with several moves until one stuck with me and three others.  We gained a minute before being brought back by the Turkish team.  I sat in the bunch for a few minutes then decided to have one last attack.  Luckily I was allowed to ride away.  I was joined later by an Algerian rider and we worked well together through the snow, rain and near-freezing, ‘British’ conditions.  About 25km from the finish the Algerian began to weaken so I attacked him and rode off alone.  Another Algerian had left the bunch in pursuit and he caught me with 3km to go. We both took half-hearted turns until the final 500m, I kicked on the final corner with 300m to go and held him off on the uphill sprint to the line to win my first (and hopefully not last!) UCI race.
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Kit went on to say of his win, “I am extremely pleased to have won for Metaltek-Knights of Old and to have helped justify both my place in the team and the decision to race in Algeria. I couldn’t have won without the support of teammates and staff.  Together with Dale’s excellent riding in exalted company (Schumacher, Zaballa etc) I hope this will set us all up for a very successful 2013 racing season.”

Follow Metaltek-Knights of Old on Facebook.

Follow Metaltek-Knights of Old on Twitter

Pactimo is proud to be the apparel partner for the Metaltek-Knights of Old Racing team.

The UK based rider spent 2012 building up his coaching business, Forme Coaching, after retiring from the professional road scene after a final stint at Raleigh.

However after dipping his toes in the UK mountain bike circuit last year he has ventured into team management with the Forme Coaching – Pactimo – Cannondale team.

“I was approached by a couple of MTB teams but was planning to ride as a one man team with Forme Coaching on my jersey – then a few guys started to approach me about joining the squad…”

Read the rest of the article on CyclingNews.com

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Forme coaching and Pactimo have partnered to bring superior cycling apparel to the United Kingdom and Ireland.

Learn more about Dan Fleeman and Forme Coaching at www.formecoachimg.com

The crankbrothers prodeal sponsorship program is your opportunity to join the crankbrothers team as an ambassador for the brand. crankbrothers is looking for racers who are active in their community and who can help spread the word about our products. As a prodeal sponsored rider, you’ll have exclusive access to prodeal pricing. 

“We’ve been very happy with the our two riders,” said Team Director / crankbrothers Art Director, Tim VanGilder. “They both represent our brand perfectly and work together very well. They’re extremely dedicated to racing, yet are wonderful people to chat with on the trail – if you’re able to catch up with them. All of us at crankbrothers are very proud of our little team, and we couldn’t ask for two better individuals to represent us.”

While the riders remain the same, there are plenty of changes in the team’s supporting line-up. Scott USA joins as the official bike sponsor, providing a range of bikes to cover them for a variety of different course conditions.

“I’m very excited to partner with the Crankbrothers Race Club,” said Adrian Montgomery, Marketing/PR Director for SCOTT Sports Bike Division USA. “My philosophy in sponsorship is to support well rounded athletes who can perform year-round and in multiple cycling disciplines. These two can race XC at the top level as well as Cyclocross, which is a focus for SCOTT currently. This partnership fills a niche in our national marketing initiatives that will unfold throughout the season, so stay tuned.”

Also new to the program for this year is Magura, who will be the team’s official brake and suspension sponsor. Kenda will provide tires, and Clif Bar joins as the team’s official nutrition sponsor. Lazer Sport has created a custom light blue Nirvana XC helmet specifically for the Race Club, which is even available at crankbrothers online store. Fi’zi:k returns as the official saddle supplier. WD-40 Bike also joins as the team’s bike care provider, while athlete skincare is provided by Soigneur Embrocation – a new brand out of Grand Rapids, MI. 

“We’ve also selected a few interesting new sponsors, too. To address the increasingly difficult handling skills that riders need at World Cup events, Chloe and Judy will be working with Lee McCormack of LeeLikesBikes.com to improve their technical skills,” added VanGilder of the program’s expanded list of sponsors. 

The team will be outfitted by Pactimo. “Pactimo has fantastic technical gear and their ability to do custom pieces is above the rest. They compliment the vision the crankbrothers brand. It’s a great match,” added Tim.

The two riders have an aggressive season ahead and will be racing at Pro XCT events before heading off to Germany for the first of the World Cups.

For more information on this story contact Tim VanGilder, at tim@crankbrothers.com, Adrian Montgomery at zamontgomery@scottusa.com, or crankbrothers marketing manager Amanda Schaper at amanda@crankbrothers.com.

Learn more about the crankbrothers/Pactimo partnership