Think Racing, Inc.

Floyd Bennett Field. Tuesday night. Ken Harris. Win for VisitBritain.

You all know the story by now………

Saturday 26th June was all about the A Team Cup - but it was B Rider Ricky Lowe who picked up the win, his first of the season, for VisitBritain. Success breeds success with this group of riders, and having seen bankers like Alex and Ken upgraded to the A’s it was time to rally the troops and prove that the B’s were alot more than just 2 strong riders. A string of very close second places over the past few weeks were enough to convince the other B riders to put their faith in Ricky’s legs come the final sprint. Proof thats it the sprinter not the lead out train that wins the race Ricky was dropped off by a train of Jeff Kanter, Ted Neu and Roger Freidman alittle short of the ideal spot but Ricky’s powered it out for a close but decisive win over the rest of the field. Once this train gets alittle more practice its hoped Ricky can win a few more before the season’s out.

In the A Cup Race VisitBritain were confident before the race that a 1-2-3-4 counter punch of Smilie, Ken, Alex and Mike Henson would be potent enough to score some serious points. However these high hopes were dashed very early on with Alex’s non-appearance and Mike crashing on the first lap. A pack finish to utilise Leon’s power punch was out of the question too as it was clear Sakonet had their game faces on and were packing any breakaways with numbers. Ken worked hard, really hard (too hard?) to keep the flag flying up front for VB but it was the cool head of Smilie that played his cards like a Mississippi Riverboat shark - and joined the leading pack in the last 3rd of the race - ready to do the business. Nonetheless - no man is an island - and Mike and Alex’s presences were sorely missed in containing all the dangerous riders , and 2 slipped away and stayed away on the last lap. A terrific sprint from Smilie nailed down 3rd place ahead of some “more established” sprinters including team mechanic and official FBE (Friend of the British Empire) Zoltan Tsika.

A solid 3rd place but a widening gap between VB and Sakonnet in the Team Cup Standings - bring out VB’s joker card - the Team Time Trials……

Saturday’s ITT in Central Park saw the King back on his throne as VisitBritain’s Smilie Upton got back to winning ways in the 2 lap solo test against the clock. Getting to within a few seconds of his own course record Smilie again showed that “cometh the hour, cometh the man”. All eyes will now be on the TT Championships in August for a showdown with Sakonet’s Lee Sossen (missing on Saturday)- who broke Smilie’s long chain of TT victories earlier this year.

Behind Smilie it was PR’s all around for the VB boys. Mike Henson showed his RAS legs with a near minute improvement - 26.23 locking down 3rd place overall. Alex Gulla (for he, no such refinements as aero bars or disk wheels) debuted with a 27.02 for 9th spot overall. Ted Neu clocked a 1/2 min PR for 28.00 and4th overall in the Cat 4’s. (Worth noting in years gone by this time would have nearly always have been good enough for the win in this category). Leon Moser and Ken Harris overperfromed and underperformed respectively (no disrepect to Ken whatsoever) and tied for 23rd in 28.16, whilst Roger Freidman and John Kuhn both broke the 30 min barrier. Andrew Cohen with his solid 31 min timing - PR’ed but showed that perhaps his strengths lie in races where others do the thinking and all Andrew has to do is chase and ride hard. All in all with 3 in the top 10 VisitBritain were left feeling satisfied but are now in the process of contacting Fox Mulder to determine if there is some sort of conspiracy as to why ITT’s don’t count towards Team Cup points this year.

That was the good now for the bad. Housatonic Hills was listed by the team as a definite A Race on the calendar. Therefore it can only be viewed with disappointment that all we got to show for it were 3 decent performances, 2 true hard luck stories, a couple of sub-par ones and 2 truly shoddy efforts (join me in raising your hand Mr Henson ). Alex rode solidly in the 3’s placing 25th after sticking with the pack till the final climb. Ted and Andrew rode tough and hung with the Cat 4 pack over hill and dale till the explosion up the final climb - for solid 13th and 20th places overall. Jeff Kanter had the bad luck of dropping his chain twice when looking strong but battled on sweeping up 1/2 the Cat 4 field on his way to the finish.

The real tradegy of the day was in the Pro 1/2 race where Smilie was looking and feeling good after a lap and a half - getting ready to put his legs to work, when disaster struck - a puncture. To compound the frustration the Wheel Support Car was nowhere to be found - so instead of bridging back up to the leaders, Criag was left at the side of the road to rue his bad luck on what is by his own admission one of his favorite courses.

Action returns to Central Park this week for the next round of the A Team Cup

If its Tuesday it must be Floyd Bennett Field, and if its Floyd Bennett Field there’s a better than even chance it’ll be a win for Ken Harris in the Cat 3/4’s. Gamblers tip always back the house - in this case Ken….he usually pays out.

Double points for Ken and a solid 4th for Roger Freidman. Way to go lads.

Meanwhile up in Connecticut John Kuhn duked it out in the crash-a-thon known as the Bethel Cat 4 Crit. 27 laps for those that count that far whilst in oxygen debt, with points awarded for the last 25 laps, double depth points with 10 to go, and double points and double depth on the last lap !?!- something about a partridge in a pear tree in the rules too but no-one was too clear about it. Regardless of the complexity of the scoring John got stuck in and picked up a few points here and there, dodged a crash or two and finally nailed 2nd spot in the final lap for a rough placing of 5th overall.

Been a fairly quiet couple of weeks for the team…..well for some of us anyway. Those that are familiar with Ken Harris’ approach to racing and training know that for him an easy week is maybe only 500 miles and perhaps 3 races!

Last weekend Ken followed up an arduous week on the bike - ploughing out to the Orchards and back on a near daily basis as well as pitching in with team lead out practice - to score another couple of wins and a second place in his speciality - Crits.

First up were back-to back podium spots at the Watermelon crit out in New Brunswick. A solo break in the 35 + field brought win #1 - and 15 mins or so later Ken doubled up with a very close 2nd place in the Cat 4 race. In his own words “Being tired is less of a problem than being marked. Furthermore, being tired, marked, and a control freak sorta sucks –even when you’re willing to suffer.” Thats the price of fame my friend - the alternative is to remain unmarked and unnoticed at the back (like me) - we all prefer you performing the former role thanks very much!

The next day at the Highbridge Race - Ken managed to avoid a seemingly endless stream of crashes and for a change sought to follow wheels into the final sprint rather than lead out - guess what? The man can sprint too! Win # 2 for the weekend and goodness knows how many for the year ? Can anyone keep count ?

Futher afield at the Balloon Race - so named because you need “you-know-whats” the size of balloons to tackle this monster of a course - Ted Neu and Roger Friedman were VB’s representatives in the 70 mile Cat 3/4 field. A case of so near, yet not quite for Ted as he just couldn’t quite get onto the wheels of the leading break on the last lap - which would have undoubtedly led to a top 10 finish but still put in a fine 21st place. Roger - who is shaping up as this years dark horse on the Cat 3/4 team couldn’t quite hang on up the final few climbs but people are starting to wonder what sort of ITT he can put up next week - Experts in the know think a sub 29 might not be out of the question.

Finally Floyd Bennet Field has again proved a most happy hunting ground for the team. 2 weeks ago saw perhaps the most solid team performance of the season. A combined 1-2-3-4 field held no fear for the guys in red, white and blue, as almost immediately Ken, Alex Gulla and Roger attacked the field - categories be damned and just rode away in the rain (representing VisitBritain - they kind of had to dominate in these conditions). Mengoni rider and winner of countless local and regional races Eugene Borronow bridged up to the trio and even he was totally impressed at the workrate shown by the 3 VB riders. 1-2 (Ken and Roger) and 5th place in the pack finish for Ricky Lowe sealed the domination for the 3/4’s and Alex rode hard all the way to make Eugene work for his win in the 1-2’s. Stirring stuff. This past week Ken and Roger showed teamwork is also an essential part of their repertoire as they lead out Ricky for a very close 2nd place behind former Olympic sprinter James Joseph. All 1st rate performances.

This coming weekend sees the action point to CP and Housatonic. An individual TT in CP (time to reclaim the throne Smilie ?) followed by the tougher than tough Housatonic Hills race. VB will be represented in all mens categories and look sure to be in the shake-up for placings in all races.

On loan to Stelvio Teamwear’s composite team (Visit Britain’s clothing sponsor) I once again arrived at this fantastic course hoping for a good day. But no luck, Navigators arrived in force and numbers and as with most US racing were dominate. The race started as usual very fast with much time being spent in the 11-13 cogs … On the main hill about 1/2 through the course the first major split happened. Good luck was shining on me, as I happened to be talking with Jeff Louder (Nav’s) prior to this hill, and we both realized at the crucial moment, that this was the crucial moment. Jeff is riding great at the moment (hoping for good things from him at Philly this weekend) so I latched myself to his wheel and made the climb with the front group, of more Nav’s, oFoto’s than anything else. The rest of the race was attack after attack trying to get someone clear, finally Dave McKenzie (Nav) broke clear only to be joined by Jeff, who seemed to get bored of us and decided to check out how Dave was feeling. The final few kilometers broke our group to pieces, two’s and three arriving to the finish. Dave & Jeff rode in together for the first 2 slots, then another two …. and then myself sprinting with Mark Walters and an oFoto (they looked to have enjoyed my leadout), which left me as 7th. Overall I gotta say I’m pretty happy with another Top 10.