2008 Zimmerman MS Bike Ride

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

zMotion rides with Tom Danielson's Holiday Cruise



Sunday was the scene of around 50 riders that braved the cold to hang with Tom Danielson over in Naples at his first annual Holiday Cruise. It was an 80 mile ride and a great chance to both ride and learn from a ProTour Rider. Tom will be riding is first Tour de France this year with his breakout Garmin-Transitions team.

It was a great event and we got to experience TRYING (and failing) to hang with Tom when the pace picked up before the halfway point. The only brave souls that could stick with him were two naples guys and our very own Alex and Victor.



We even got to see Pablo Santa Cruz wearing a zMotion jersey (just don't tell his team).

Monday, December 7, 2009

Kids in Distress Ride 2009

As Title sponsor, zMotion was proud to be part of the 2009 KIDS annual Inlet Challenge and as always it proved to be a fun and challenging ride for all 700 plus riders that participated and we look forward to next years as well. Congrats to Jennifer Homan and the entire staff at KIDS for all their efforts, as well as Gina, Emily and our staff at zMotion for providing all of us with such a great venue . I was particularly glad to see the weather cooperate, especially for me, those long windy rides can make it very difficult for a guy like me. BTW, the food was incredible this year too, a little mix of Tai, Sushi and some good ole pasta and salad, let’s not forget the extra cold beers too !!

Most important, is the satisfaction we derive from participating in such a great event for such a great cause that benefits children of many ages and their families , of all walks of life that are/have been abused and/or abandoned. I encourage all our readers to visit their facility, if you have children, bring them, it puts everything into perspective on what’s important in life. Like all organizations that suffer the economic times, KIDS is no exception and they need all of our helps even more than ever. So regardless if you rode this year or not, if your reading this article and have a heart give a buck or two, it goes a long way.

Happy Holidays to all
Your Captain
Pat Patregnani

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Tom Danielson races with zMotion



This is Tom Danielson racing with the zMotion Mountain Bike Team.

Friday, October 16, 2009

Race Report - Florida State Mountain Bike Race #3

From our onsite reporter Joe Vietro





Ok, round 3 of the FSC series was held in Alafia River State Park near Lakeland and it was by far the hardest, longest (30 miles for xc-1), and most technical race to date with lots of large roots, big drops and steep climbs. Steve LaRue took 1st place in the 40+ xc-1 class with a super strong showing for his 2nd win in three races putting him in 1st place overall! Nice job Steve keep it up!

Jimbo also took 1st place making it three in a row for him putting in 1st over all in his class also. Joe Vietro took 5th place in 30+ xc-1 class (Joe hit the dirt a few times, I think four, but who's counting). Joe is slowly move up the ranks in his class and now is in 2nd place overall. Stay tooned for next week race round 4 In Tallahassee.


Wednesday, October 14, 2009

ZMotion FPS Celbration


After a hard day of racing it was time for the celebration of the season’s efforts. Sponsored by ZMotion at The Appleton Museum of Art, it was a classy affair. There were security guards a plenty, but that still didn’t stop us for viewing some really neat art including some tricked out Chopper-style motorcycles. Dinner was provided between 7 and 8pm where there was a video playing with scenes from the years races and then awards were passed out from 8pm to around 9:30pm.



With over 400 trophies to pass out, Tim did a great job keeping the pace going. We even had two lovely podium girls to help pass out trophies. The venue itself was beautiful, set in the middle of an Art Museum, with a fountain in the middle. It was cool seeing all of these racers’s that you normally see in spandex all dressed up. The women especially clean up nicely.




Course even the women couldn't compete with Jeff's pimped out hat.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Race Report - State Road Race Age Day



The State Championship Road Race weekend is the last state-wide race of the 2009 season. You find that some racers love Criteriums and some don’t but EVERYBODY loves a road race and we had the numbers to prove it. With over 120 riders in the Master’s 30-44 and over 100 in the Master’s 45+ races the racing was fast and furious.

The weekend is broken up into two days with the first day being Age Day and the second day being Category day. On a typical weekend, you can race either or both but not this weekend. The other interesting thing is that the age brackets are only 5 years apart, so 30-34 is scored separated that 35-39, etc..

The course itself was the same course as last year’s Category race day with a 5 mile loop that offered up a difficult power climb just after the start/finish line. The rest of the course was rollers with a crazy fast downhill finish. We had more record temperatures on Saturday with the highs in the low 90’s. The feed zone on the uphill offered welcome water from helpful teammates and it was needed.

Both Master’s races were 8 laps with the 30-44 starting first. With lap times of less than 15 minutes, the late start of the Master’s 45+, due to the difficulty in finding a driver for the wheel truck, had both groups on the course just a couple of minutes apart and their fates were inter-twined today. As the 30-44 group came down to the field sprint all together, a horrific crash happened that took out major sections of the peleton. It was one of the worse crashes I have seen as close to 10ambulances showed up on scene. But our man Vinny weaved his way through the carnage and snagged the State Championship Win. Congrats.

In an interview with Vinnny he was quoted as saying " The race was very hard and fast. I haven’t been on the bike in awhile but I still ended up pulling if off somehow, because I am a “Bad Ass”. Yup, I just want to prove everyone wrong about me because they are always talking crap about me by calling me “Fat Ass” and “Slow Ass”. I have still got it. But it was very hard and I ended up pulling it off. Was I lucky? Very! It was actually a fun, fun race and I enjoyed it.".

The Masters 45+ group ended up being stopped for around 30 minutes just sitting out on the course. Just prior to this a small group of five, including our own Steve Griffith, were off the front and they got a head start when the road was cleared of accident victims and managed to stay away for the rest of the race with Steve coming in 4th.

Monday, September 28, 2009

Race Report - Florida State Mountain Bike Race #2


Just got this in from Joe Vietro...



Round two of the Florida State Mountain Bike series was held in Fenandina Ft Clinch State Park . Trail was in great shape and the weather was around 80 degrees with a nice ocean breeze . The race consisted of 4 laps with 6 miles of sweet single track and 1 mile of paved road. ZMotion was well represented with another solid performance from Steve Larue with a 2nd place finish, Jimbo Mcguare with a 1st place finish (that's two in a row), Joe Vietro with a 2nd place finish which ended in a very exciting sprint finish with 4 racers with Allison taking the win and Joe getting 2nd. Adam Goldfarb took 6th place and Oscar Camacho finishing up in 10th in the 40+ expert class. Overall it was a great weekend of racing!



Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Race Report - Sugarloaf Mt. Weekend

I think it is safe to say that besides the absolutely ridiculous Webster-Roubaix race, this Road Race was the hardest race of the year. We had 90+ degree weather and clear skies (where is the rain when you actually need it?). The course itself was a 10 mile loop with a 3 mile rollout to the start/finish line. They kept saying we were going up the “easy” side of sugarloaf, but there was nothing easy about it for me. I heard several people complaining at the beginning of the race about that, but the funny part was that after the race those same people were glad to just sit down and have survived.

The Masters 35+ and 45+ fields were combined to have a nearly 80 man field. The initial 3 miles started slowly but by the time they hit Sugarloaf, people were already starting to get dropped. Rumors were flying around at the start line that Brian Lancaster (Orlando Road Club) had been training in these hills for the last month. Before the first lap was even finished, you could see Brian followed by Blain Reeves (Bike America Racing Team) off the front of the field. In between, was Ron Ray (ZMotion) doing a valiant solo chase in no-mans land. These guys were scheduled for 43 miles (4 laps+) and by the time the second lap came around, the field was already splitting with a select group of riders having caught Brian. By the third lap the field had split into three distinct groups that stayed that way pretty much to the finish. Karl Fele was the best placed rider for ZMotion and made the select group of 11 in the front group. He came in 6th overall in the 35+. Ron Ray was the best placed 45+ ZMotion racer at 11th.

The Criterium course on Sunday continued the theme of pain and presented a 1.5 mile loop shaped roughly like a figure 8 that was either up or down. There was no flat anywhere and with the off camber turns made for a highly technical race. The finish line was at the top of one of those uphill sections.

The fields were noticeably smaller today and the Master’s 45+ had around 25 riders on the starting line. The warm and dry weather trend continued with no shade in sight for those watching these guys in their suffering. Alan Badia (Florida Velo #1) launched the first serious attack just begging for the field to come chasing. By the time the field had re-grouped, there were some noticeably tired legs. As the race neared the end there ended up being a select group of five racers with a gap on the rest. Ken Schofield (Orlando Velo) led a lot of the last lap trying to setup Alan Badia for the win, but the ever dominant Peter Aldridge (Team Performance Fitness) showed again that he is the fastest 45+ racer in Florida by grabbing the win followed by Dallas Rose (Gearlink Racing) with Wills Powell (Bike America Racing Team) in third. Ron Ray was again the best placed 45+ ZMotion racer at 10th.

The Master’s 35+ starting field was even smaller but definitely not slower than the 45+ field with two guys off the front in a breakaway attempt on the very first lap. Soon after the field was back together and we saw Curtis Juteram (Bike America Racing Team) attacking the field. Jeff Fleming (ZMotion) also tried his hand several times but was shadowed by Carlos Soler (Team 19 Cycling) who sits just behind him in the overall FPS series. Carlos, if you are reading this, please work with Jeff, not just chase him down.

Early on Alex Yarnell did some work up front to control the breakaways with Karl Fele taking up that same role for the rest of the race. In a similar pattern to the 45+ field, the final laps saw a select group of six riders off the front of the main field. Chad Spicer (Orlando Velo) launched early and managed to hold off the hard charging field for the win followed by Jeff Fleming in second and Didier Fresne (Florida Velo #1) in third.

Saturday, September 19, 2009

Race Report - Mountain Biking in Oleta Park

Just heard from Joe Vietro.. He raced down at Oleta Park in Miami on Sunday in an Open Class race and got the V(ictory). There were around 70 racers on the starting line and the course had them going a couple of times around the open field with various little obstacles thrown in and then an open road section followed by a loop around the entire course. The distance ended up being around 16 miles.

Right from the go, Joe was in the front and when he hit a paved section those road racing legs kicked in. What few people were still around were dropped immediately as he hit 26mph on knobbies. By the time he hit the trail he was all by himself and stayed that way the rest of the race. The course itself was wet but that didn't slow him down. Congrats on your win!!

Monday, September 14, 2009

Race Report - Gainsville Mtn Bike



ZMotion is all pervasive, first it was Charity Rides, then it was a Road racing team, and now they have branched out to include a 6 person mountain bike racing team headed by Joe Vietro. They had their first Florida State race this weekend up North in Gainsville and Joe provided me with his first ever race report with pictures from Joel. BTW, Joe and Joel are best buddies but you can never tell by listening to them since they sound like an old married couple when they get together..



From Joe:

The Forida State Mountain Bike Series got under way this weekend in Gainsiville. There was a 4 mile MTB Time Trial on Saturday with a Cross Country race on Sunday with ZMotion fielding 6 racers (really 5 and then there was Joel, just kidding).



In Saturdays TT race Jimbo McGuire took first place in his class, Stephen Larue took third, and Joe Vietro also took third in his class . On Sunday, with conditions wet and muddy, Jimbo again took first place, Steve also got first in a very competative 40+ expert class, Oscar Camcacho took 7th in 40+,and Joe got 7th in 30+ expert. Oh yah and then there was Joel who finished up around 10th in the beginner class.


Sunday, September 13, 2009

Race Report - St. Augustine


This weekend we headed way north for some criterium racing in St. Augustine while keeping one eye on the weather report. We locate the venue fairly easily courtesy of google maps to find a surprisingly technical course. On the map you see a fat sausage shaped course but in person you see at 1k loop laid out in a parking lot with a couple of twisty turns.

Both of the 45+ and 35+ fields were around 35 racers with some women in each. Zmotion had five in 35+ and four in 45+.

The 45+ field started with cloudy but dry skies but that didn't last too long. There were several attacks each with a Zmotion racer, but nothing was sticking and then the heavens opened and it poured. The field slowed some but soon the deep puddles became a factor as taking a wrong line could put you through 3 to 4 inches of water and slow you down a couple of mph. It came down to a field sprint and the wet roads made it tricky but Peter and Aiton were duking it out for the win which Peter snagged with Raife being the top finisher for Zmotion with seventh.

In the Master's 35+, an attack from the first lap by Jody from Zmotion followed by a rider from ORC established an immediate gap. The ORC rider got shelled, but Pedro Medina launched a flyer from the field to eventually bridge up and join Jody. Zmotion took up constant blocking duty headed by Amir and Chris which to allowed Jody a maximum of 24 seconds on the field. Ryan Saylor attempted a solo bridge and was away for several laps but couldn't get out of no man's land in the middle. Early attacks rarely succeed in these type of races, but the with Jody dragging his breakaway companion through the turns so smoothly along with the blocking saw them staying away. They even picked up a lapped rider for the last few laps. After Jody did more than 80% of the work in the break, Pedro sprinted for the gold with Jody in the bronze. Back in the field, Dennis Sutherland attacked the field in the last lap to stay away for third. Zmotion still packed it in with 7th through 9th by Chris, Jeff and Amir respectively.

So this weekends format is an Omnium with a Criterium, Time Trial and Road Race. Thus the results of all three races are totalled and there is also an overall top 3 for the Omnium with trophies in this case. There are typically two ways to get results, time or points and each has it's advantages / disadvantages. In a points each place gets a certain amount of points regardless of time so it tends to limit the damage due to a breakaway. In a total time scenario, a field sprint in a criterium basically puts all of the focus on the time trial.

St. Augustine used the points format and scheduled the time trial early Sunday which was a variation from the typical Saturday PM TT.


So we awoke early Sunday to more rain and darkness and with a 7:45am rollout there were a lot of people who didn't get a stellar warm-up. The course was a flat out and back and was originally billed as a 6 mile course, but it ended up being only 4.4 miles.

The Master's 45+ started before the 35+ and each racer was started at 30 second intervals. Raife rode an awesome TT and came in second by just one second to a Triathlete that came just for this one race. This then put Raife into contention for the overall with a second after the tied pair Ken Schofield and John Faulk with Pablo Santa Cruz in third.


In the 35+ TT, our man Chris Hoch in only his third ever TT won the race launching him into overall contention. We also had the always amazing Jeff in third just after Ryan Saylor with Jody coming in sixth. So entering the Road Race we had Jody in 2nd, Chris 3rd and Jeff in 6th in overall contention.

The road race combined both Master's 35+ and 45+ into a 58 man field. The course itself was a 13 mile flat loop which we did 3 times. The attacks started early with Zmotion always represented. None of the attacks stayed away for more than a few minutes due to very attentive field. The finish which was on a very long straight away, came down to a field sprint with both categories totally mixed together with Carlos Soler taking the overall in his first win of the year. Hats off to him as a 48 year old racing 35+ with gusto and coming in 2nd in the overall.

Pablo Santa Cruz crossed the line second to win the 45+ category and 2nd in overall. Chris Hoch came in third to take second in 35+ and win the overall Omnium! Jeff came came in fourth in 35+ to take third in the overall. Raife came in 4th in the 45+ to take the Omnium overall. Basically there were so many Zmotion guys on the podiums that i was getting confused which was which award. Yes we ROCK!

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Race Report - Tour of Bartow




This in from Claudio on Pro,1,2 race at Bartow...



Saturday night Twilight Crit was a four corner race in the downtown of Bartow. In typical night racing fashion the race started it what seemed like amazing speeds. The field was strung out from the start with our Zmotion Pro1-2 Riders, Hector Pastorino,Chris Deluise,Calixto Bello and Juan Gaspari representing every move. Several moves had the right riders in them but were quickly brought back until Hector was able to get in a move with two other riders that was maintaining a 20 second lead on the peloton. The laps went by in this 60 minute plus 2 lap crit and we were going to see the 3 battle it out in a sprint. On the last lap the leader started playing games in the back stretch and as they came into the final straight away the field was touching their heals. Hector was able to hold on to second place as they came accross the line. Juan finished in 6th, Calixto 9th, and Chris 26th, all in the points due to the fact that this was a Florida Cup event and provided points for the Florida Points series 35 deep.

On Sunday the race would be in the same place except that the course would be an eight corner crit with the same finish line. Riders took off and again attempts to get away were covered by Zmotion Pro1-2 until Juan was able to get a gap with another rider. They started to work together and with Calixto and Chris covering moves in the peloton were able to extend their lead. As the laps went on the Juan and Yip were able to lap the field. with about 5 laps to go Calixto attacked the peloton to create a gap of 10 seconds. With one lap to go it was holding at 8 seconds and the field would have to sprint for 4th place, as they rounded the last turn Calixto was stillholding the gap and came accross the line in 3rd place with Juan taking the Win in the field. Hector finished 17th an Chris 20th after closing some huge gaps and chasing breaks all race long.

Race Report - Labor Day Criterium

Where there is racing, ZMotion shall triumph!! While some members of the team went up to Bartow to race, others decided to head South to Brian Piccolo Park to put some hurting on. Monday's 35+ race was a great example of that.

In a field of around 45 guys we only had four guys with Chris, Jody, Alex Y and Tim on deck, but that was enough. The race started fast and strong and within 15 minutes there was a break of 5 guys off the front powered by our own Chris Hoch with almost a half lap on the field. The field desperately chased until they brought them back, but Chris must have had his wheaties because he immediately counter-attacked with another guy. Seeing that this was THE move, Jody and 3 others bridged up. Alex did a great job of blocking in the main field and they were GONE. In the break of 6, Jody did monster pulls to keep the break away. With less then three laps to go, the ever wily Ransford snuck off the front of the group and managed to stay away. With just 1.5 laps to go, Jody got up front to drag the remaining guys around and when he pulled off with just a half lap to go, Chris launched an attack that no one could respond to for a podium finish of 2nd place!!

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Race Report - Kendall

While the 45+ and the P12 team went North to Jacksonville, the 35+ team went south to Kendall for circuit race. The course was a 3 mile L shaped course with 2 180 degree turns at either end. We had a great representation of 9 guys and came prepared to put some hurt on. At the starting line we saw the amazing Ivan Franco roll-up and knew this would be interesting.

There were numerous attacks and ZMotion covered everything and launched a bunch of them. Towards the end there was a decisive break with Julio and another race that looked like the winning move. ZMotion used their tried and true blocking techniques but with 2 laps to go on the fourth (can you say painful) consective attack, Ivan slipped away with another guy in tow and bridged up to Julio to win the race. Julio came in 3rd with ZMotion also taking 5th and 7th.

Race Report - Nocatee







The Masters 35+ team went up to Jacksonville this weekend and continued to ride solid. In the Stage race, the group stayed together and ZMotion remained in striking distance. In the Time Trial, we had Raife in 3rd and Steve in 6th making for a very exciting result in the Crit. Finally in the Criterium, Steve snuck into a break that stayed away giving him 4th for the Stage and 3rd overall in GC. Nice job guys.


Claudio gave this write up for the P12 team who kicked BUTT this weekend.

Zmotion Pro1-2 Team attended the Nocatee stage race on August 22nd and 23rd 2009. The first stage was a road race of 6.6 miles in length for a total distance of 66 miles. Zmotion Pro1-2 team consisted of Juan Gaspari,Winston David, Hector Pastorino, Alex Defreitas,Tiago Depaula,Calixto Bello and Victor Lavinsky. Juan launched an attack right of the start and the team continued attacking the field during the entire road race. The first stage was finilized with Juan coming in solo for the WIN, Calixto(5th), Hector(6th),Winston (8th) to place 4 riders in the top 10.

The afternoon time trial was cancelled till Sunday morning @ 7:00 AM. Winston was able to get on the podium in 3rd place on the TT with Juan(6th), Hector(8th),Victor(10th) Calixto (12th).Placing Juan in first and Winston in 2nd on the General Classification.

On the last stage which was a criterium of .9 mile with a nice breeze to make it a wide open hard race. Again attacks right from the start and the Zmotion riders initiating and taking part of every attempt to break up the field. Juan,Winston and Tiago were able to get in a break of six with hector jumping accross to join them with another rider and then calixto doing the same to make it 5 Zmotion riders in a break of ten.As the race was coming to an end Tiago was able to gap the break to finish solo again for the win with Hector(2nd),Winston (3rd) and Juan (4th) and Calixto(7th) and Victor and Alex were able to take the field sprint for 11th and 12th.

To finilize an exciting weekend of racing Zmotion Pro1-2 Team also took the Overall and 2nd place on the General Classification of the Nocatee stage race.

Monday, August 3, 2009

Race Report - Pal Omnium Cycle Race





Jeff, team captain and racer extraordinere contributes this weeks race report as ZMotion continued to shine...

Howey-in-the-Hills located in central Florida just north of Clermont was the site of this past weekend’s racing. The festivities began with the Juniors racing in a slightly technical criterium course with Cirilo Benscombe taking 1st place in the 15-16 race and his brother Arturo Benscombe taking 2nd in the 17-18 race! Nice job!!

Next up were the Master’s races starting with the 55+ races - Billy Tittle and Mike Rowe representing. Billy was in the hunt all day and in the final sprint Billy took 4th. After the Crit, the time trial was up beginning at 5pm on a very hilly course. The course was much harder than all of us expected. Billy took 2nd in the TT! Sunday morning brought us a very hilly road race. Billy took 3rd in the road race and earned 2nd place overall in the Omnium!!

The 45+ zMotion race team was represented by Steve Griffith, Raife Snover and Ronnie Ray. They worked well all weekend and all 3 placed in the top 10 in the Omnium. Steve was in a break of 6 during crit finishing 4th. Raife was 2nd in the field sprint for 8th in the crit. Both Steve and Raife had some difficulties interpreting a u-turn sign and the meaning of an orange cone in the middle of the road during the TT. Thus, they both missed the turnaround adding time to their TT results…

In the 35+ race we had a solid team of six representing zMotion. All worked well together all weekend. In the crit, it was a field sprint after several attempts were made to break up the field with zMotion always representing. In the sprint, Pedro took 2nd and Jeff took 5th. In the TT, Jeff again took 5th, Jody was 8th and Pedro was 9th. This put Jeff in 3rd in the Omnium and Pedro in 4th going into the road race on Sunday. Early in the race two guys slipped of the front and after about 4 to 5 laps of the 8 lap race they looked like they were not giving up the gap. So, Jeff, Jody, Pedro and Joe went to the front and Team TT’d to close down the gap. Julio was launched on a hill and bridged across looking like the move for zMotion. Unfortunately, with two laps to go several riders bridged across making the break now 8 with 3 teams of more than one rider in the break. The break fell apart and riders were all riding solo across the finish other than the two leaders. Jeff and Julio ending up 6th and 7th. This put Jeff on the podium with a 3rd place finish overall in the Omnium.

Lisa Frink represented the women for zMotion and took 2nd, 3rd and 3rd in the crit, TT and RR, respectively. With these results she finished on the podium with a 3rd overall in the Omnium!!

The Pro 1,2 crit ended with Juan Gaspari and Winston David taking 1st and 2nd from a break of 6 that lapped the field. Hector Pastorino and Calixto Bello took the top two spots in the field sprint for 7th and 8th. In the TT, Winston finished 5th, Calixto 7th and Victor 9th. In Sunday’s RR, Hector took the “V” with Winston in 3rd, Calixto in 5th, and Juan in 9th. This resulted in Winston taking 1st place in the Omnium by one point!!

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Race Report - 2009 Gwinnet Bike Fest Georgi

This from Claudio about some fast bike racing in Georgia by ZMotion...


Tiago Depaula Took part of the 2009 Gwinnett Bike Fest Race in Georgia.

Stage 1 - July 22 Road Atlanta Circuit Rolling/Hilly 2.5 miles laps(50 miles)

This first race was to settle in and see who is who in the peloton. Tiago found himself racing against top Pro teams such as Type 1 Team, Rock Racing, Kenda Pro Team, FLY V Australia,etc...At the start he followed a lot of breaks trying to participate in as many as posible. Halfway into the race he was in a break with the major pro team represented and he began to work really hard to make it stick. The peloton was able to bring them back. As that happened there was a break of 11 and without any teamates Tiago was forced to sit and wait to see if the would bring them back. With one lap to go he attacked and was able to hold off the field to finish 12th between the break and the chasing peloton..

Stage 2 - July 23 Gwinnett Center Criterium Flat 1 mile(CRIT race,90min)

This was a 1 mile flat criterium that was fast from the start. Tiago was forced to race aggressively and continuesly attacking the peloton. A break of 7 formed with Tiago, A Kenda Pro rider and 2 others chasing the original break.Tiago was not able to follow all the moves and the fact that the local riders know him made it dificult to make the final break finishing in 9th place for the day.

Stage 3 - Road July 24 New Hope Road Road Race Rolling 8.5 miles per lap race (85miles)

This race proved to be a very hot and dificult race to participate in. There was a very steep hill and the riders were continuesly attacking.A break of 6 managed to get away from the peloton which did not have much organization to chase them down. The field was racing for 7th place with 2k to go Cesar Grajales(Rock Racing, (winner of tour the Georgia stage and beat Lance on the climb to Brasstown Bald),Benjamin Day Fly V australia(former national champion from Australia) ,Matt Winstead Pro team Kenda lead the charge up the hill.As soon as he felt them slow down he attecked and only one rider from the field was able to come around him at the line to finish second in the field sprint and 8th in the race.

Stage 4 - July 25 Satelitte Rd. Time Trial Time Trial Rolling 6 miles

The Time Trial was going to be a good way for Tiago to get some points back for the General Classification.
With his legs still feeling tired from the day before he knew he had to dig deep to compete against the riders from Rock Racing, Jelly belly, Fly V Australia, Kenda Pro, Team,Team Type 1,all UCI Pro Teams . With all the pro teams represented the time trial was of national level and Tiago was able to finish a strong 7th place.

Stage 5 - July 25 Norcross Criterium Flat 1 mile

Todays course was a flat 1 mile very technical Criterium. Riders with great ability and power off the corners were the ones that would exel in todays event.Tiago tried to position himself in the top front of the field because right from the start it would be Fly V australia trying to control the field and other teams trying to attack. The first 10 laps was single file racing and Tiago was waiting for the split to happen and it did. A group of ten riders was able to break away and Tiago was able to make the break and lap the field. Towards the end 2 pro riders were able to get a gap with Tiago sprinting in the field to get 5th in the field sprint and 8 in the day maintaining a top 10 in the gc.

Stage 6 - July 26 Progress Center Circuit Rolling 2.7 miles

With all the riders tired from the days before it was Fly V trying to control the race again. Tiago was trying to break away but since he was in the top 10th in the GC and a had chance to step on the podium he was chased every time. He followed all the dangerous moves but none stuck. At the end he managed to get in the lead out train from Fly V Australia and finish 9th in the day and 7th overall in the Gwinett Bike Fest 2009.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Race Report - VIVACE Criterium

This in from Claudio.. Congrats Winston!!!






Winston David Represented Zmotion Racing in Riverviw, FL Saturday July 18th, 2009. He attended the VIVACE Criterium Pro1-2 Race which was held in a technical .5 mile criterium course in a mall parking lot. The race was 60 minutes long and Winston attacked right from the start of the event and was able to lap the field solo. A few other riders later were able to do the same but Winston was able to stay near the front to avoid the numerous crashes of the event. With 2 laps to go Winston attacked going into the first corner and was able to maintain the gap to sprint solo to the line and not only win the event but also a New Colnago CX-1 frame.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Race Results - Superweek #2

Claudio is doing a great job of keeping us in the loop and the ZMotion guys are doing a great job REPRESENTING!!!



Arlington Heights, IL -- July 14, 2009
Pro & Cat 1/2 Men

Zmotion Racing Pro1-2 team attended the Arlington Heights Criterium, Tuesday July 14th 2009. After a rest day yesterday Hector Pastorino, Juan Gaspari, and Calixto Bello were joined by our newest member Tiago Depaula. The Criterium was held in an 8 corner .7 mile course that was so easy that it made for an extremely hard race. Juan and Hector were able to get in a 10 man break with all the major pro teams being represented with Calixto and Tiago blocking and chasing breaks in the peloton. When they thought the break would stick the peloton brought it back allowing 4 riders to break away and stay away till the finish. Hector was able to finish 14th, Calixto 21th and Juan 39th in another race that was single file from the start to the finish.

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Race Results - Superweek

Claudio gave me an update how the ZMotion Pro 1,2 guys are doing in Superweek in Illinois....




On Friday (July 10th), the Pro 1-2 team which consisted of Juan Gaspari, Hector Pastorino, and Calixto Bello, raced the first race of the superweek series in Beverly Hills Cycling Classic presented by Vee Pak/Beverly Bike & Ski. The race started at 5:45 PM, with top teams such as GARMIN SLIPSTREAM PRO-TOUR, Fly V Australia Pro Cycling, and Kenda Pro Cycling. The course was a 1 mile six corner crit course that started with attacks. Hector managed to get into a break that lapped the field, after lapping the field a few riders managed to get of the front and Hector remained in the peloton as the race finalized, He managed to outsprint the peloton for an 11th palce finish with Juan finishing 23rd.

Saturday (July 11th)
Pro 1-2 Juan Gaspari, Hector Pastorino, and Calixto Bello raced in Blue Island, Illinois. This race was on a 1 mile 4 corner criterium course, Juan and Hector managed to take several Primes throughout the race including the Gamblers prime of the event. On the last lap Jaun and Hector were perfectly placed for the sprint when on the second to last corner were cut off and forced them to scramble back towards the front of the peloton, Juan got boxed in on the last corner not allowing him to pass riders and Hector not willing to give up managed to finish 6th with Juan in 10th and Calixto finishing in the peloton.

Junior (north Carolina Update)
We also have a new Junior, Cirilo Bencosme(16 years old) current Florida Point leader junior 15-16, that joined Zmotion recently and on his first race representing the Zmotion Racing raced in North Carolina, The Piedmont Triad Omnium , After falling due to 2 riders crashing in front of him, he chased many breakaways, until 2 riders managed to get a gap. The 2 riders were about 100 meters in front of the peloton and Cirilo was waiting for the riders to get caught. The riders managed to stay away with Cirilo outsprinting the field and taking the final podium spot to put Zmotion in the 3rd place step in North Carolina.

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Race Report - Clermont Circuit Race



Todays race course was a curvey 2+ mile circuit race that was the site for a showdown between Zmotion and Florida Velo in the 45+. FV had three guys in GC potential but we had Steve G who was leading the GC.

The race was marked by a series of attacks but the entire team worked flawlessly together to cover them. Raife and Mark were on dedicated chase duty and the entire team was constantly up front so that Steve could ride as a protected rider. The 55+ raced with us also so Billy was also able to lend a hand.



The race came down to the desired field sprint with Chuck Lisa launching himself onto the podium with second place. Steve came in soon after surounded by z-guys to win the overall GC.


Billy also rode a perfect race to get sixth on the stage and 3rd overall in GC.



Julio had help today in 35+ with Chris and Joe helping out. Julio covered Vance several times but missed the decisive break. Chris covered the break and did everything he could to shut it down. With three laps to go, Julio launched a solo chase and was able to recover some of the time lost but his 6th place still put him in second overall in the GC. Up in the break Chris launched a great sprint and was second by just 1/10 of a second.



Lisa Frink really outdid herself this weekend by getting 3rd in her race and 2nd overall in GC. Way to go.



In the Pro 1,2's instead of doing the circuit race that everyone else did, they did a BRUTAL 80 mile loop. Normally most road races go multiple times around a 10-15 mile loop, but this was a FPS first having a single loop. They did it at the hottest part of the day and everyone was suffering but even with the constant rolling hills they finished in under 3 and 1/2 hours. The race itself was really exciting. Calixto attacked right after the first KOM and had two riders chase him down. After Calixto was caught, they joined forces and managed to get a respectable gap on the field. Calixto was able to drop the two riders and was able to get a gap of 6 minutes on the field riding solo. He was on his own for over 60 miles. In the meantime Hector,Juan, Victor, and Flaco covered the attacks while Mariano and Winston kept coming back to the Team car to get food and drinks for the team. They did numerous trips back making sure that everyone was well hydrated. After a heroic effort, Calixto was caught with only 10 miles to go. After several attacks from the remaining riders the peloton was reduced to about 12 riders with Zmotion having 3 riders in the group. At that point two riders attacked and were able to get a gap on the reduced peleton when Juan went after them and started closing the gap. A solo rider was able to reach Juan and they tried working together to catch the two leaders. Both riders in the lead finished solo with Juan outsprinting the rider that had bridged up for 3rd place, Hector fininshed in 6th outsprinting the field. With Victor finishing in 12th and Flaco in 19th.

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Race Report - Clermont Crit and TT



It was hot but not as hot as Zmotion was in racing. The crit course was a little over a mile in an unfinished development that had an uphill finish to the line.

The time trial course was a brutal 7 mile pain fest that tackled sugarloaf mountain at the halfway point. The weekend also had the stage race format with Sundays circuit race being the final piece.

The smoking started early with Billy in the 55+ getting a podium spot with a solid third place finish. He topped it off with a good TT to keep near the top of GC.

The 45+ team rode really well as a team and was involved in every breakaway attempt but as usual the 45+ ended in a field sprint with Chuck in 6th, Tim in 7th and Raife in 9th. But in the TT Steve G put the 45+ team on the V map with our first team victory of the season. Steve enters tomorrow's race with a sixteen second lead and other teams beware Zmotion will shut you down tomorrow for our man Steve.



The 35+ had only Julio representing Zmotion, but hey, that was all we needed. The Ball Watch guys launched attack after attack but Julio was alert. Since there were time sprint bonuses available, Julio jumped for 2nd place seconds and ended up off the front until Vance James and one other bridged up. With the Ball Watch guys blocking and the three of them working together smoothly they were gone. The final sprint was all Julio as he takes yet another Victory. What is worth mentioning is that the caught the main pack on the final sprint. In the TT, riding his road bike he widens the GC gap by winning a second time. Unbelievable!

In the Pro 1,2 field the cat 3's swelled their ranks for a very large field. There was a break of two guys that stuck but the ever Hector consistent was second in the field sprint for fourth overall. Victor continues to impress with a seventh place overall. Joe finished with the main field to take 5th place in the Cat 3's. In the the TT Victor continues to shine with the top Zmotion placing.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Race Report - Tradewinds - June 16th

I can tell you that Tradewinds wasn't this fast or strategic last year. The bar has definitely been raised and tonight was no exception. The evening started with lots of rain and we were not even sure if we would start due to the lightning, but 6:15 and we were off.

Tonight was a special race since this was the last race in the first "series" for Tradewinds and Grant sat in 1st, Vinny was 2nd and Joe Vietro was in 3rd. An early break stayed away and a few people managed to bridge up to swell the group to 10 people. Joe slipped into this break while Grant was focusing on Vinny. Despite several super hard pulls by Grant, the break-away stuck with Raife, Karl, Chuck and Joe representing. Coming into the final laps, two riders were off the front and Chuck drilled it to pull them back. In the final sprint Chuck came in 2nd with Joe close on his wheel for 3rd which was enough to launch him into 2nd overall in the series with Vinny still on the podium with 3rd. Captain Jeff rode his typical amazing race to sneak away with less than two laps to go to come in next and Vinny ended up winning the field sprint.

Once again, ZMotion rocked!!!

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Race Report - Ocala Stage Race



This weekend was an interesting format with two road races and a time trial. Not only were there individual races places available, the time from all three races were added up and the top three from each category got trophys.

Zmotion was out in force and made their presence felt as always. The Masters race combined the 35 and 45 fields which made for some challenging racing. What also added to the efforts were temperatures nearing 100 degrees.

In the combined Masters race on Saturday there were lots of attacks on the rolling terrain, but it was a decisive move by Captain Jeff that finally stuck. Jeff was joined by Julio and Karl and three others. Chris did his typical great job of blocking to help establish the break and they were gone finishing almost 4 minutes up on the field! We could have used Raife's presence in the 45+ but he missed the start but Shaun still managed to come in 6th.



In the time trial, Chris looked impressive on a full TT bike and rode into an impressive second place. Jeff strapped some bars onto his road bike and amazed everyone with third overall. One of the most memorable parts was that Vinny got beaten by everyone including some of the girls.



Sunday's road race in the Master's became a much more strategic race since we had three riders all with GC (general category) potential. The race itself consisted of attack after attack that never stuck. Anytime one of the GC favorites made a move it was covered like bees on honey. There was also some fresh legs that didn't race yesterday to keep it interesting. As it came down to the last mile, Julio tried a last minute attack. After Julio was swallowed up the the final turn was sketchy but Vinny launched his attack to win the 35+ with Shaun coming in 3rd in 45+. Jeff hung on for 8th in 35+ to place 3rd overall in the stage race and snag a trophy. Mark would have helped in the finish but with one lap to go he managed an impressive crash on an easy turn.



On the women's front, both Shannon and Lisa rocked the stage. In the road race Lisa took a podium spot with 3rd with Shannon coming 6th after getting boxed in. In only her second ever time trial, Shannon really shone as she took a strong second place to move into GC potential.



The stage came down to Sunday's road race where Shannon came in 4th with Lisa right on her heels for 5th. Shannon's overall time put her in second but her main rival took sprint and KOM bonus seconds to give her the third place trophy.



In the Pro 1,2 field Zmotion continues to shine. Saturday's brutal 60 mile race saw a successful breakaway with not one but two Zmotion riders in the form of Calixto and Mariano. Calixto cramped as the finish line approached with the result of Mariano and Calixto coming in 4th and 5th respectively. In the time trial Calixto strapped on Jeff's bars and powered to 6th (somebody get that guy a TT bike) to launch him into GC potential. Sunday's road race ended in a field sprint with rocket man Hector coming in 3rd. Calixto finished in the field to get a 3rd place GC trophy. Also deserving of congrats is Victor with an 8th place in GC. We are also hoping that Winston is ok as he was taken to the hospital with a possible broken collar bone.