Team Globalbike Blog

Wow, we’re already into September. Where did the summer go? We were so busy with races, travel, and the rest of our lives, we barely had a chance to sit back and soak it all in. I personally competed in over 60 road events this season so far - that’s a lot! On quick reflection, I am super proud of the team this year. We accomplished all our goals and more.

We proved that a group of strong racers can dominate regionally if they operate like a true team - as a whole unit. I hope we helped to change the typical race dynamic in the Southeast by being one of the few teams to actually work effectively together and showing that it leads to good results. I can picture in my mind, all the textbook leadout trains we put together for the Sprinters Forkner and Renkema (like the wins at the Rock Hill Road Race or NC State Criterium Championships). I can also picture all the times when we put the entire team on the front to bring back a breakaway that we weren’t represented in (like stage 2 of the Joe Martin Stage Race where Sweeting won the stage after the team brought back a 6min break). Sure there was a learning process, but it mostly came naturally which is a testimony to the great group of guys on the team. We had a streak where we won at least something every weekend for about 2 months, Sometimes winning multiple events in different states with a split team.

We also achieved national recognition by having a strong presence in National level events. We are currently ranked 3rd amateur team in NRC points (ahead of teams like California Giant) and have the highest ranked amateur in the country on the team (Sweeting). With the team’s help, Sweeting racked up an overall win at Joe Martin Stage Race and 6th overall in the Nature Valley Grand Prix, two of the nations biggest stage races. Our efforts gained recognition by national media coverage like cyclingnews.com and Velonews.

We were able to make a profound impact for our mission - to be a marketing force for the Globalbike organization. Our efforts helped the organization with untold exposure and donations, allowing them to expand into yet another country. Our sponsors - like Catoma Adventure Shelters - also reaped the benefits of our marketing exposure, increasing sales.

For me, I am most proud of maintaining a team that just worked well. Everyone on the team had the same goals and were very easy to work with and be around. We just had to show up and execute. No big egos, no wild selfish actions in races, just well done teamwork on and off the bike.

What’s next? Well for many of us, cyclocross season is just getting going. I’ll race another 25-30 events this fall in the CX world. Others are still maintaining the Globalbike ways in the remaining road events of the season (wow is it a long season). In any case, we’re casting our sights on 2011. We’ve already attracted additional financial support from new sponsors and aren’t done yet. We hope to grow, make it to more big events, continue our winning ways and spread the word of Globalbike. Keep an eye out for us, this match has just been lit and the fury of the fire hasn’t peaked yet!

Globalbike’s Presented By Sponsor, Catoma Adventure Shelters is having a SALE! if you need a great tent, check this one out.

The 2-up would be a fantastic tent for camping at your favorite campground or bringing along on your next motorcycle or bicycle camping trip. The feature that the team likes the best is the easy set up. The poles are permanatly a part of the tent. You just take it out of the bag and hold it up, snap the fittings into place and viola - your tent is up. No more hasle of trying to figure out how tents work or what pole goes where.

Click here for more info.

Boyd Johnson aboard a bike he built himself...

Team Globalbike tackles the high mountains of NC…

The French Broad Classic started with a fast and nearly flat 20.5k TT along the river near Marshall, NC Friday night. Cameron Cogburn of CCB rocked the course, winning by almost 50sec. Globalbike’s Boyd Johnson clocked the 5th best time with sprinter David Forkner also having a breakout TT in 9th. Only 24 seconds separated 2nd to 15th places, meaning the competition was tight. Besides getting to play with the Boyd Bow & Aero TT bike, the night served to sort out who would be the ones to watch in the overall omnium.

Early Saturday morning, the P/1/2 field set out on a 65mile course with over 6500ft of climbing. Although nearly always going up or down, the course was marked by a longer tough climb at the 50mile mark and a steeper several mile climb to a summit finish. The team plan was to control any breakaway attempts before the first bigger climb and not let anything get more than a minute on the field.

Globalbike controls the field in the road race

The plan worked well as a breakaway got up the road. Josh Whitmore and Graham Foster stayed on the front for the majority of the next 40 miles riding a tempo hard enough to keep the break between 30sec and 1min. The pace was fast enough to discourage any other attacks. The team decided to intentionally not catch the break till the first big climb.

On the first climb, the main group caught one of the escapees leaving only Tyler Karnes of Hincapie Development off the front by a slim margin.  The climb forced a selection in the group with 8 riders including Globalbike’s Boyd Johnson going over the top together in pursuit of Karnes. In the terrain to the finish climb that group swelled to 15-16 as riders caught back on and Karnes was reeled in.

All the fireworks were lit on the final climb to the finish. With all the favorites in the lead group, it was mano-a-mano to the line. With 1km to go, Boyd Johnson, Andy Baker of Team Ion, and Jonathan Clark of United Healthcare were the only ones left duking it out at the front. Boyd and Andy each attacked several times with Clark setting a more steady tempo but catching back up between each attack. Boyd’s final attack proved good enough to propel him to the line ahead of the others, taking the stage win and moving into the lead in the omnium.

The finish of the criterium was met with a downpour

Going into the final day’s criterium, the team’s main objective was to protect Boyd’s omnium lead and secondary if possible go for the stage win as well. The fight for the overall was close with only one point separating Boyd from Any Baker and only a couple back to Jonathan Clark. The team would have to be on its toes to make the quick calculations to decide what to control and what to chase during the race. Each of the favorites rolled their dice with breakaway attempts but each time, a strong team Globalbike pulled them back into the fold.

40 mins into an otherwise dry and sunny race, the skies opened up and a thunderstorm opened its faucet on the race. With lightning striking nearby, the race officials decided to shorten the race. We saw 12 to go one lap, then the next time we came around, we had 5 laps to go.

A late race attack by Andy Baker looked to be the most serious challenge of the day. It took the whole Globalbike team to bring it back with only 1 lap remaining. The effort set Boyd up well for the bunch sprint, but Keck Baker of Harley Davidson took the stage win with Jonathan Clark coming in for 2nd. Boyd finished 4th, retaining enough points to clinch the omnium victory.

Overall this was another fantastic weekend for the team with team tactics going almost exactly as planned.

Check out the article about the race in the Asheville Citizen Times

Accepting the Beyond Sport Award from Doug Ulman, chair of Lance Armstrong Foundation

One of the landmark achievements of the partnership between the team and the Globalbike organization in 2009 was winning the Beyond Sport Award for the “best project by a professional sports team”. Kelly Lowry and Curt McPhail traveled to London, England to accept the prize at the Beyond Sports Summit. A prestigious international event, in attendance were Desmond Tutu and Tony Blair. Here, Kelly Lowry accepts the award from Doug Ulman, Chairman of the Lance Armstrong Foundation.

This year, as a result of the award, Globalbike stands ready to showcase the organization to an its biggest audience yet. For the entire month of September, Globalbike will be featured in a Beyond Sport video that will show on the in-flight video of all United Airlines fights.

So, if you are flying in September, make it United (and rent the ear phones)

Click to see what Beyond Sport is all about.

For Sale: Pinarello FP3 $2900 - proceeds to Globalbike

Here is your chance to purchase a great bike at a fantastic price AND help your favorite charity! This bike is owned by the Globalbike team and was used for a couple months last winter by one of its riders before the team issue Boyd Bikes came in. Globalbike supporter Bike Worx supplied the bike at their cost to the team. Now, the team needs to sell it and all the profit from the sale goes directly to the globalbike organization to purchase bicycle in developing countries in Africa and South America.

See more photos and details here

Pinarello FP3 For Sale - Raise Money for Globalbike

Elite Men's Time Trial Podium

Globalbike’s Bobby Sweeting rode an impressive time to secure 3rd place in Time Trial at the Elite National Championships in Bend Oregon. Sweeting’s time was 15secs faster than the fastest time last year. “I knew it was a good time when I came across the line,” said Sweeting. “It was much faster than I had gone in 2009. I just had to wait it out to see how other people did. USADA kept me in the holding pen after I crossed the line waiting to see if I was one of the mandatory top 2 to be tested. After Olheiser and Harm crossed the line, they released me to go.” Sweeting’s time aboard his Boyd Bow and Aero TT bike was 45:38, 23secs slower than second place Daniel Harm and 53sec slower than the winner Micheal Olheiser.

Sweeting lines up in the Criterium today and will also compete in the road race on Sunday. WAY TO GO BOBBY!

new pulley wheels from Hawk Racing

Globalbike sponsor, Hawk Racing has a few new products to add to their super low-friction bearing category. Now available: Derailleur pulley wheels for Shimano and SRAM, as well as, bearings for your BB30 crank.

%10 off coupon code: GLOBALBIKE2010

Click here and follow the link to the Hawk online store. Enter the code, and save %10.

Still available are the low-friction bottom brackets that the team have been riding all season. The team can attest that these BBs are amazing and you can FEEL the difference.

Quick test: Move your chain off of the chainrings on your bike and give the crank a good spin. How long does it take to come to a stop? If your answer is that it only makes a couple turns before stopping, you need a Hawk BB. The Hawk models spin and spin for  a long time. Now try this with the pulley wheels on your rear derailleur. Again, the Hawk version spins and spins.

Hawk Racing Low Friction BB30 bearings

Help the Globalbike Organization, buy Socks!

Now you can have your very own pair of Globalbike socks! These high top gems from DeFeet have been getting a lot of admiration on the feet of the team. DeFeet is now selling the socks on their DeFeet for a Cause webpage to help raise money for the Globalbike Organization. Join the Globalbike family by wearing Green on your next ride!

Only $10 pair, order yours at DeFeet

Team Globalbike continued its rise as one of the best amateur teams in the US last week at the Nature Valley Grand Prix in Minnesota. The race was comprised of 6 stages over 5 days, combining the disciplines of Time Trial, Criterium, and Road Race to make a challenging event for the the 22 teams entered in the men’s Pro/1 category. Globalbike brought 8 racers to the event, occupying one of the few spots reserved for amateur teams. The team’s performance earlier in the year made an impression on the race organizers who invited the team.

Bobby Sweeting takes 7th in the "Non-Aero" Time Trial

Globalbike’s General Classification hopeful Bobby Sweeting started the race well with an impressive 7th place finish in the Time Trial. This year, the race organizers opted to make the TT “Non-Aero”, prohibiting the use of TT bikes, disc wheels, or aero helmets.

Sweeting slipped back a couple notches in GC over the next few days as other riders gained intermediate time bonuses. Not perturbed, Sweeting waited for the final day to make his own bid to move up. In the final criterum that included the infamous Chilkoot hill in Stillwater MN, Sweeting took 13th on the stage and propelled himself up to 6th place in the final overall classification.

This was an impressive result for the team, placing Sweeting as the best amateur in the race (Sweeting was not awarded the best amateur jersey due to a new rule that excluded riders who had pro contracts in the previous 3 years from being eligible).

Only 4 professional teams had riders ahead of Bobby in the final GC. That means Globalbike finished better than any rider from Trek-Livestrong, Fly-V Australia, Bissell Pro Cycling, Team Type 1, and Kenda-Gear grinder.

Be sure to check out full reports with photos from each stage at Carolina Cycling News

Watch the video of the last stage.