We would like to officially welcome Leverage Lending Group as a sponsor of the Cartel. Below is a brief description of their services.

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Welcome to the team

Ethan

While the older guys were learning some life lessons at the T of A, one of the guppies (Jake Arnold) was holding his own at the NC State Crit Championships.

Today was the NC State Crit Championships in Fayetteville. It started with the junior race at 7:30 in the AM. 15/16 & 17/18 were run together, but were scored separately. Jake had decided to pool resources with a 17 year old rider and open up a gap on the field. Long story short, don’t trust other riders.

The Cat 4 race was another story. With 2 laps to go, Jake was sitting very comfortably in 4th. The guys picked up the pace and were starting to open a gap. The bell lap started, but what they didn’t realize was that the moto ref had crashed on the back side of the course. When they approached the accident site, they were neutralized. For the next 20 minutes, they did slow laps in neutral position. Anyone who was off the back now rejoined the field. Finally, the pace car brought them back up to speed and they were told to go. They were given 2 laps to finish. The race ended in a field sprint with Jake sprinting for 3rd place. Unfortunately Jakes hard work and well planned race tactics went to the birds as soon as the field was brought back together. C’est La Vie…

At the end of the day, Jake brought home a VERY respectable 2nd place in the 15/16 junior race and a 3rd place in the Cat4 race. Way to go Jake

E

This memorial weekend Black Sheep Cartel is down in Atlanta, GA for the 2008 Tour of Atlanta. The “tour”, consisting of seven races over five days is the first stage race that the guys have attended. Some of the local teams have fielded large squads, Toshiba-Santo has sent a full squad of eight riders, Health-Net has sent John Murphey and the DLP guys are making an appearence as well.

Day 1: Thursday - Individual TT and Sprints.

The time trial course was a surprisingly tough seven miles with rolling hills making it difficult to get into any kind of a rhythm. Will Hoffarth was our highest placing rider (nothing worth discussing) and even though he big ring’ed every hill, his big ring just wasn’t quite as fast as John Murpheys(Health-Net) who took the win.

Spencer was the highest placing Black Sheep finisher in the street sprints. He surprised everyone with his lightning quick start but soon faded with about 300m to go. He ended up taking 4th in his heat (impressive for a little guy) but not high enough to advance. That was the end of the evening for our guys….

Time to focus on the crits and the road race…. there is always next year.

Day 2: Friday - Criterium.

More info to come but our very own Will Hoffarth had a very impressive showing and maintained position at the front of the race for the entire evening. In the end he would settle for top 10, well 10th to be exact…..

Day 3: Saturday - Team Time Trial and Road Race

Details to follow for the TTT but we didnt crash and we didn’t come in last…… each a victory in its own right….. Will H had a slight mechanical and was not able to make the start ( he received a lashing for this)… Must admit that we really missed little Willy since he’s our strongest time trialist.

The road race played out a little more to our liking. Will initiated the big break of the day that gained over two minutes on the field. Justin Beard rode a false tempo on the front to discourage a full-on chase and shut down attacks. The break would have stuck if it weren’t for the fact that ENTIRE Toshiba team led the chase for 30 plus miles. We got organized and lined ourselves up perfectly beside the Toshiba lead out train with Justin sitting in the hot seat. Unfortunately the finish snuck up on us and we were not able to get up to full speed to deliver Justin to the line. Despite a less than stellar finish, we were able to help Justin to a respectable 9th place finish…..You get by with a little help from your friends……. 

Day 4: Sunday - Gainesville Downtown Criterium 

The Gainesville Crit was super dicey with guys throwing elbows and pushing guys out towards the curb throughout the entire race.  Again Will Hoffarth made it into the big break of the day but it soon crumbled when they refused to work together. The finish was nothing short of a knife fight trying to get onto the Toshiba lead out train. Boykin and Justin finished just outside of the top 20.

Day 5: Monday - Buford Circuit race.

The Buford Circuit race was super aggressive. An early break rolled away with all the right teams represented.  Justin Beard, Will Hoffarth and Boykin Lucas were in multiple small breaks trying to get across….Spencer Gaddy was able to make it into a four man chase group that gained ten seconds on the field. They managed to get halfway across to the break, but soon fell apart for a number of reasons. In the end Justin Beard helped race leader John Murphey lead the chase but the break had too much horse power to bring it back.

Soon to come…..Pictures of the teams closet size hotel room stuffed with bikes

For those of you who are too lazy to click on the link in the previous post…..Here is an excerpt from the blog that has been following Ryan’s progress

Ryan’s Surgery
5/16/2008

From all accounts from the doctors, Ryan surgery went better than the doctors had aniticpated. They say they saw no damage to his spinal cord, which is GREAT news. They inserted a titanium plate in his back, running from T1 to T6. They hope to have him starting his rehab sessions as early as tomorrow! stay tuned……..