On Friday night Boyd Johnson of DLP Racing took the win in the Flow MINI Twilight Criterium. Racing kicked off late at 10:00pm in downtown Lexington, NC. The twilight crit is a new race in only its second year but the race drew a huge crowd and a large field. DLP Racing had four riders in the race with Alder, Shawn, Jon Hamblen, and Boyd. The guys were very active all night. Jon Hamblen and Alder were each in about a dozen moves as the whole team rode at the front of the race to make sure we were represented in any break away attempts.  But as good as the move looked on paper nothing seemed to gain any ground. The entire night nothing got more than 8-10 seconds up the road.  As the lap board passed inside 10 laps remaining Jon Hamblen found himself in a small group of 5 riders that seemed to be working really well. As they came through for the bell lap with one to go  they still had a 7 second gap on the hard chasing field.  It looked like they were going to hold onto the win for sure. But back at this same time Shawn, and Alder were on the front of the field setting up Boyd for the finishing sprint. Little did they know but they were riding so fast that they pulled back those  7 second and caught the break in the last corner. Alder kicked it into high gear up the hill with boyd on his wheel. Boyd came flying by in the last 100 meters to take a convincing win. Jon Hamblen who was in the break that got caught in the last corner was able to hold onto 5th place for the night.

You can check out a video here:

DLP Racing is at the Tour of the Gila in Silver City, New Mexico. Shawn, Tim, David, Scott, and Tiago are the lucky riders to contest this National Racing Calender event.  We are fortunate enough to also have some great help from Dr. Andy Pruitt who came down from Boulder, CO to drove the team car all week. Gila is a very hard race for two reasons. 1) The race is at altitude with many of the climbs passing 7000 feet. 2) There is lots and lots of climbing… some days have over 9000 feet of climbing. The 2009 event was made even harder by the last minute inclusion of three riders from the Astana team. This roster just happened to include one Lance Armstrong, Levi Leipheimer, and Chris Horner. The guys woke up to some beautiful weather for Stage one which was a 96 mile road race from Silver City to Mogollon. The course featured 5600′ of climbing including a grueling 3 mile climb to the finish. The team rode really well with Tim Henry starting the decisive break for the day that got a lead of over 3 minutes at one point. The break was well represented and in turn left the team free to conserve energy for the final climb. The break got caught on the finishing slopes and Scott Tietzel put in an awesome ride. He finished 19th on the day and was placed with many of the GC favorites. Tomorrow holds the Inner loop road race at 77.9 miles with 5800′ of climbing. Stay tuned….

This was one of the most fun races I’ve done in a long time. The course was made for me as it was selective, yet didnt reallyhave any extended climbing. Oh yea  - its also really looooong at over 125 miles. From the beginning, I knew I was finally back to normal after my crash at Redlands. No leg pain, no chronic fatigue, just the ability to make myself hurt and the motivation to enjoy it. The first of two 62 mile laps went very smoothly. I had no flats or mechanicals and positioned well for all of the hard parts. DLP rode well as a team; for the long/rolling gravel section there were 4 of us sitting comfortably in the top twenty, conserving energy. I felt very safe sitting right on BMC rider Tony Cruz’s wheel. Lap 2, and I still felt very strong. The hard parts hurt more, but I had no trouble getting over the climbs with the now smaller field. After the big climb on the course came a really tricky decent. It was a mile of fast pavement leading into two more miles of dirt full of pot holes. Already going fast and with Bissel and OUCH driving the pace on the front, I was not being very careful and hammered several big holes with my rear wheel. Seconds later I was on the side of the road getting a wheel change from the team car, but it was to late. The last big group blew by me at 40 mph and by the time I got back on the bike there was no one in sight but a few isolated stragglers. The team car was needed up the road so I had no way to motor pace back to the group and had to finish the last 20 miles in a small group for 54th place. The good part is that I feel back to normal and I am feeling more confident in my abilities. The bad part is that I really think I missed a great opportunity for a good result, but that’s just the way it goes. Boyd ended up having a great ride and finished with the front group which had less than 20 riders I would guess. Next up for me is Athens Twilight and the NRC race in Roswell, GA.

The Redlands Bicycle Classic is one of the long-running races on the NRC calendar.  It is also a race I had never done so it was difficult to know what to expect.  Everyone I talked to repeated the same word; HARD.  The race was down to four days this year and provided a variety of challenges.  Thursday was a 5k uphill time trial.  Friday was a 100 mile WINDY road race.  Saturday was a 90 minute downtown crit and Sunday was the infamous Sunset road race.  The time trial was a nice wake up for the legs.  Uphill TT’s always suck and this was no exception.  I averaged a massive 400 watts, too bad that was good for only 83rd.  Friday’s Beaumont road race was in a valley that had terrible cross winds.  The 200 man field took off in a hurry and it was choas for the first of four laps.  Between the wind and the gravel being thrown at riders from the road, everyone was nervous.  The second lap had a strong crosswind section after the KOM where the field was put into the gutter at 30+ mph.  That was the hardest part of the race for me.  Position was key, and we were all way out of position.  In the end we were lucky because it all came back together.  On the third lap I made sure to be in the top twenty for the crosswind section after the climb but the pace was much easier as a break gained a small gap on the field.  On the final lap, it was a race from the KOM climb to the finish.  Here position was also key and I was out of position.  I was getting fatigued and tried to move up through the pack safe from the wind.  Too bad I was not nearly far up enough and I just barely missed out on the front group.  In the end I finished in the second group, just under a minute down on the winner.  Steven, Scott, and Boyd all finished in the next group back on the road.  We were all a little shell shocked from the speed and insanity of riding in an NRC pack.  As painful as it was, it felt good to be racing at this level again.  This is real racing with constant full-speed attacks, field-shattering hills and crosswinds.  Not to mention the constant fear of danger from parked cars or potholes.  It all adds up to an adrenaline rush I can get nowhere else!

Saturday’s crit seemed like a rest day compared to the RR the day before.  The 150 man field took a long time to negotiate the 9 turn course.  DLP Racing stayed quiet through this race, just trying to conserve for the Sunset RR.  During the race Steven crashed hard but managed to get back in and finish the stage.  Towards the end I began moving up but could not get far enough up to get a result.  But with all the crashes, I was glad to finish with the skin I started with.  Steven had some nice road rash but somehow managed to avoid tearing clothing or damaging his bike beyond bar tape and one pedal.  The pedal damage was pretty impressive though.  It looked as though he had taken a band saw and cut off about 1/4 of the pedal.  He must have slid for a long way on that pedal to make it look that bad.

Sunday’s Sunset road race is really an epic circuit race.  We were to complete 12 laps of a 6 mile loop basically up then down a hill through an affluent neighborhood.  The name of the game was to get to the front for the first two laps.  The plan was to use up Steven early on to get myself and Scott to the front.  That worked for the first couple of miles until we got separated.  The first lap I was in decent position up the climb but had to talk myself through every pedal stroke because we were going fast.  Down the hill I tried to move up but was too tired to make much progress.  The second lap I was too far back and got separated from the front group early on.  I was demoralized because I thought there was 60-80 riders up the road.  At the feed zone I was told that there was only about 25 riders ahead of us and I felt better about my effort.  Scott and I settled into our group, the second group on the road and rode out the rest of the race at a moderate tempo.  I ended up moving up quite a bit that day all the way to 41st overall.  Too bad they paid the top 40 overall!

Tommy Nankervis capped off an exciting weekend of racing at the BMW River Gorge Omnium in Chattanooga, TN with a well earned win. DLP Racing sent a strong squad to the race including Thad Dulin, Joey Coddington, Andrew Olson, Chris Judy, Boyd Johnson, and Tommy Nankervis. Racing started out fast with a strong field of riders. DLP rode agressive from the start with the team being represented in all the major moves. Shortly after the half way point in the race Tommy Nankervis covers a dangerous move and soon found himself in a move of three with Matt Windtead from Team Inferno. The trio worked well together and DLP was happy with the move knowing that Tommy was probably the fastest finisher in the group of three. In the closing laps Matt Winstead put in a great attack and found himself with a small gap. Tommy dug deep and found himself chasing Matt with less than half a lap left in the race. Tommy caught Matt in the last 300 meters of the race just as he opned his sprint for the line. Matt was unable to respond and Tommy came across the line 1st for the win.

On Sunday DLP Racing continued it’s winning ways by taking home the victory at the 37^th annual Carolnia Cup . The Carolina Cup is the longest running bicycle race in the south and occurs in Country Park in Grensboro, NC. The course features a winding road with a number of climbs that snakes its way around a lake. DLP Racing brought a strong team to the race with the goal of winning North Carolina’s most prestigous race. From the 1^st lap Chrs Judy took of and imediately found himself with a 20 second gap on the field. However the rest of the field soon reacted bringing chris back. After a quick series of couter attacks Chris again found himself in a move of 5 only 2 laps later. This time he was accompanied by teamate Charlie Pendry along with Chris Montleone (US National Team), Steve Gordon, and Matt Lee. The group of five quickly built up a large gap on the field with Chalie Pendry doing a big turn of work to keep the move rolling. The group of five stayed away gaining a maximum advantage of almost 2 minutes. As the laps started counting down it seemed like the winner was going to come from this group of five riders. With 3 laps remaining the group still held onto a 1:05 advantage on the chasing field. Read more

DLP had a good two days of racing in Illinois this past weekend. . A crack team of three riders, Scott Jackson, Owen Nielson, and Tommy Nankervis decided to make the trip to the Downers Grove to contend the US Professional Criterium Championships. The weekend started with a combined Professional and Amateur race on Saturday as a warm up for the national championships on Sunday. Saturday night the three DLP professionals descended on the race course looking to open up the legs, and with two riders who had never done the race before on the team, learn the course. The team rode a good race the first night with DLP represented strongly at the front by Owen Nielson who seemed to have unstoppable form after his return from a swing of races in Belgium. Scott and Tommy rode the race with the larger goal of Sunday in mind, sitting comfortably in the field, until with two laps remaining; the trio got stuck behind an unfortunate crash, taking them out of contention for the win. However, Sunday was a new day and once again Owen was showing some great form by riding strongly throughout the day. Tommy and Scott both rode conservatively, but managed to represent DLP in the two significant moves of the day, albeit both moves were doomed to fail. In the end the race would be decided by a chaotic field sprint. DLP looked to its’ two strong sprinter, Owen and Tommy with Scott doing what he could to help them in the closing laps. Despite the chaos and high speeds that typically define Downers Grove, Owen and Tommy managed to both place themselves in the top 20, finishing 14th and 16th respectively. This is a great finish for Owen in his first time racing the Downers Grove race. The race was won by Rahsaan Bahati of Rock Racing.

The final race of The Giordona Crossroads Cycling Classic always draws a top notch field as many of the teams have arrived in town for the following day’s $100,000 crtierium in uptown Charlotte. This year was no exception! DLP hit the race in force looking to make things happen. The race started out fast and within only 10 laps of the course in downtown Statesville a small group of five had escaped the field containing both Boyd Johnson and Chris Judy from DLP racing. Almost immediately the rest of the field hit the panic button as riders from both Team Type 1 and Rite Aid attempted to bridge the gap. However it was not to be as the group of five rolled away on the technical course. With two riders in the group, Boyd Johnson took the initiative to drive the break. Within only a few laps the breakaway had a 1/2 lap lead on the field. As the race went on, Chris and Boyd made a couple of attempts to try and shake Rahsaan Bahati (as he was clearly Read more

Tommy Nankervis took 2nd place for DLP racing in the Evanston Northwestern Healthcare Grand Prix of Cycling. The race was the 11th stage of the International Cycling Classic known as Superweek. Following Spencer’s win the night before the momentum was high within the DLP Team. The race started out with lots of crashes as the group navigated the technical criterium circuit. All day long attacks went but nothing was sticking. Then with only 9 laps left the Columbian Rider Jairo Perez Suarez put down a big attack and found himself riding clear of the field. Tommy immediately recognized the opportunity and set off in pursuit of Suarez. Tommy quickly bridged across the gap with Peter Dawson from Rock Racing along for the ride. Peter mostly sat on as his team had the lead in both the points competition and the overall GC. As the laps counted down the trio built up a 35 second lead. Tommy felt good about his chances but Dawson threw down a somewhat surprising attack with 400m to go to the line. The early move caught Tommy off guard and he quickly found himself digging deep to grab Dawson’s wheel. Dawson was able to hold on for the win just barely edging out Tommy at the line by a wheel. The second place finish is another great result for the DLP Racing team.

Spencer Beamer seized one of the biggest wins of his career last night when he won the 10^th race of the Superweek series with an unbelievable “hail marry” maneuver. With only 3 laps left in the race the bell rang for a $1000.00 prime lap. Many of the larger teams hesitated following the prime lap as they looked at each other waiting for the next move. Spencer Beamer decided he wasn’t going to wait, and attacked out of the large break away group. The other team’s hesitations turned into a small gap over the rest of the chasing field. Spencer put his head down and and hammed out the last two laps to come in 100 feet ahead of the hard charging field. After the race Spencer told Cycling News: “Everyone was going for that $1,000 prime so with two laps to go I said to myself - I might as well try it. I’m a good time trialer and they sat up on the back side so I drilled it as hard as I could. I was surprised when I heard one to go because I thought it was still two to go, so that gave me extra motivation. I didn’t want to slow up because you see all those sprints were the guy gets caught at 50 meters, so I didn’t look around until then.” Alex Candelario from Kelly Benefits led the rest of the break across the line for 2^nd place.

Over the weekend while some of the team was racing in Superweek, the other 6 riders headed to the French Broad Cycling Classic in beautiful Asheville, NC. The French Broad Cycling Classic is one of the longest running omniums in the southeast. Past race winners include many notable names in the cycling world. Present at the race were Thad Dulin, Andrew Olson, Matthew Howe, Torsten Wambold, Joey Coddington, and Boyd Johnson. The race started out with a Time Trial along the river on Friday Night. Thad Dulin placed 2^nd with the the others all occupying various places amongst the top 20 spots. Following a successful TT the team headed out for some Burritos. On Saturday the race circuit featured a small hill followed by a couple of tight technical turns. The field blew apart in just a matter of laps. Thad was able to finish 3^rd solidifying his chances for the overall win. On Sunday the DLP Racing troops rallied to defend Thad Dulin’s overall race lead from a host of riders looking to lay claim to the top spot. DLP rode well in Sunday’s Criterium as they covered all dangerous moves throughout the Read more

On Sunday Joey Coddington won the Blue Ridge Properties Criterium in Kingsport, Tenessee. The Criterium was in downtown Kingsport and the weather was anything but ideal. The racers were greeted with a strong summer thunderstorm that drenched the whole course. From the gun, former professional cyclist Brian Sheedy decided to toss down a solo attack. He probably assumed it would be the safest and fastest route around the rain slicked circuit(and it was). Almost immediately he had a gap on the chasing field and found himself building a substantial lead rather quickly. Soon a chase group got organized off the front containing Joey Coddington along with Jacob McGahey(Industry Nine) and Bradley Spears (Krystal Burger). The group worked well together to cut down Brian Sheedy’s lead. In the closing laps the catch was made and now Joey found himself looking for the race win. In the final corner Joey drilled it knowing he had to be the first one through. Brad lost traction coming through the same corner and Joey sailed across the line for an impressive solo win.

The DLP Racing team brought a field of six guys up the Germain.com Tour of Grandview on June 28-29th. The weekend featured great race venues, large crowds, and a street festival to go along with the races. Saturday was a dead flat .9 mile course with 4 left turns. The start of the men’s race was delayed due to a very strong thunderstorm hitting right on the course. The officials decided to wait out the storm although the first half of the race was on wet roads. After a very aggressive start to the race a six man break soon found itself about 20 seconds up the road. DLP racing had missed the move and soon all six guys were seen at the front bringing the move back. When the move was within striking distance, Boyd Johnson launched an attack to get across to the move. The rest of the team instantly switched from chase mode to cover mode and shut down all attempts to bring back the break. With 9 laps to go, the break of seven lapped the field and the whole team got to the front to keep the pace high. With a very dicey last couple of laps the group came down to a sprint with Boyd placing 3rd after Owen brought him to the front on the last lap. Read more

The DLP Racing team raced the Cookeville Criterium on Sunday in Tennessee. The team went into the race highly motivated because the winner of the Cookesville race also earns the right to be crowned 2008 Tennessee Criterium Champion. The racing started out with a series of attacks. Soon a small group of 6 riders separated themselves from the field. The group contained Spencer Beamer, Thad Dulin, and Boyd Johnson from DLP racing. Also in the group were Brent Bookwalter (BMC), Eric Murphy, and Dirk Pohlmann. With three riders in the move, DLP Racing quickly took the initiative to drive the pace and build the gap. In the closing laps Thad Dulin took control of the race and kept the pace high to discourage any attacks. Shortly before the finish Brent Bookwalter attacked but Spencer was right on his wheel and easily came around for the win. Since Spencer is a Tennessee native he earned the title of Tenesseee Criterium Champion. This is the second state championship for DLP Racing as Boyd Johnson also won the South Carolina criterium championship in April.

Charlie Pendry took an impressive win at the 1^st ever NC Blueberry Fesitval Criterium. The race took place in downtown Burgaw, NC on Friday Night. The race drew a strong regional field of racers including some local NC standout riders. DLP had three riders in the race Chris Judy, Matthew Howe, and Charlie Pendry The racers were greeted with pouring rain that somehow cleared out right as the riders took to the starting line. From the gun a series of attacks were launched that were all immediately covered, yet somehow on only the third lap, Charlie Pendry covered a move from Jeremy Conn and the two riders immediately had a gap. Riders in the field just looked at each other as the pair rode off. Within a matter of moments the two had a 15 second gap on the field and quickly began working together. Many riders tried to bridge across from the field but Matt and Chris covered every single move. As the race went through the half way point the duo of Pendry and Conn had a 40 second lead on the field. The two worked well along the wet 7/10 of a mile circuit. As the lap board started counting down a few of the stronger riders including Inferno’s Rich Harper and Mercy Cycling’s David Leduc upped the pace to try to bring the pair of riders back. In the end the two stayed away and Charlie found himself taking the final corner in the perfect spot at second wheel. Charlie was able to maintain his speed through the final corner and came around Jeremy Conn for the win.