Raleigh native Charlie Pendry updates us on his experience at the 3rd annual Raleigh NRC Crit held on May 25, 2007.

My third year at the Raleigh Downtown Criterium was definitely the best and most exciting race I’ve had in front of my hometown crowd.  The new course using the newly reopened Fayetteville Street was much better than the old course that had the start/finish at Moore Square.  This new course had more turns, a quicker lap time, and produced more excitement for the largest crowd the race has seen.  The back side of the course also featured a bumpy straight section and a turn that could be taken without touching the brakes–it was a great situation for someone with off road experience and kept the roadies on their toes!

The race started fast and stayed relatively strung out for the duration because of the turns.  It still remained easy enough to move towards the front of the race when needed, but there was no real dangerous bunching up and clogging up the turns. Read more

Spring 2004: My first season racing the collegiate scene with Virginia Tech. The NC State criterium was my first and only collegiate win that year. It came as quite a surprise to me. Mark Hardman, then teammate on the VT team, nearly won the race with a solo move in the last ten laps. He was brought back with only two laps to go. Racing was slow in the last lap. I exited the last corner quite slowly because I was bunched up. To my freshman surprise, and to the surprise of the rest of the VT team, I sprinted past Christoph Herby and a UNC rider to take the win.

Spring 2005: The course at NC State obviously suited me. But this year UVA had a very strong team. They had a very fast rider in Christoph Herby and several other very strong riders. The story of the race was trying to contain Christoph and Hatcher Rosebrock of NC State. I did this successfully and forced another field sprint. UVA used five riders in their lead-out train. Three riders pulled Christoph for the last two laps, and a crazy Mark Hardman (now of UVA) was the sweeper. After Mark made a crazy move to take Christoph’s wheel from me I shouted to them both, “Fine, I will pass both of you.” And I did. I started to dream about a three-peat, and a four-peat, that very night. Read more

Four Kane Bikes/NC Cycling Team members skipped out on Mother’s Day festivities to venture to the Oyster Point Criterium in the VA Beach area.

Andrew, Jon, Colin and Jacob suited up for the 90 minute crit in hopes of making it 4 wins in 4 weekends for the team. There would be no such luck.

The team rode an aggressive and determined race with the goal of not letting the contest finish in a field sprint. However, due to the flat wide open course no breakaway attempts gained much ground. With 10 laps to go it became clear the field was finishing together.

So the streak came to an end as victory was not claimed by the team this weekend.

Jonathan Page made a states side appearance at the Friday night (May 4th) stop of the USA Southeast Crit Series in Spartanburg, SC racing for the KANE Bikes/NC Cycling Team. The next day Jonathan rode with the team at the Dilworth Criterium in Charlotte, NC where the team claimed several spots in the top 10.

Look for Jonathan to be riding with the team for the next couple of months at Bike Jam, Tour of Sommerville, Nature Valley and Fitchburg before he heads back to Belgium to begin his build up for cyclo cross season.

On Saturday afternoon racers at the 33rd annual Dilworth Criterium were greeted by dark overcast skies and unseasonably cool temperatures in the upper 50’s. The Dilworth course is a highly technical circuit around Charlotte’s Historic Latta Park. The KANE Bikes/ nccycling.com team brought a powerhouse squad to the event. Following on the previous week’s success at Medaowmont, the team decided to use a similar tactic by starting the race out super fast with attacks going from the gun. The entire team was involved with a strong series of attacks and counter attacks. There was not a single point in the first 12 laps of the race where the team did not have a rider off the front of the group. Around 25 minutes into the 70 minute race a small group was finally able to break free. The group contained 7 riders. Present from KANE Bikes/nccycling.com was Jonathan Hamblen, Jonathan Page, and Hugh Moran.  With three strong riders away in the lead group, the rest of the team rode aggressively to squash the many attacks from the field.  The lead group of 7 worked well together on the highly technical circuit and eventually Read more

Following a solid race at the Tour de Moore, where the team scored two riders in the top 10, the KANE Bikes/nccycling.com cycling team was eager to come out swinging and claim the top step of the podium.

Prior to the race, the team huddled together to discuss the team tactics for the event: ride hard, attack hard and speak with your legs.

From the drop of the green flag the KANE Bikes/nccycling.com team had one or more riders launched off the front.  Meadowmont is a unique course in that it has a “stair step” climb, fast turns and usually produces a headwind downhill section.  Using these elements each team member put in their part to bust up the race until a desired group/breakaway was safely off the front.

Nearing the 25-30 minute mark of the 60 minute race KANE Bikes/nccycling.com had Nathan in a 2 man breakaway that had a sizeable gap.  Coming up to Nathan’s group was a 3 man chase group that contained Jon.  Within the blink of an eye the two groups came together and with Nathan driving the break the group was safely away. Read more