2008 Zimmerman MS Bike Ride

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.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

ZMotion FPS Team Results

Wow, Jeff pointed out that the Team Classification Results are now posted for the 2009 Florida Points Series and ZMotion is winning left and right. It is hard to believe that this is the first year for the team. It takes many teams years to gel together like we have and produce these kinds of results.


  • Pro 1,2 - Leading the Series

  • Masters 35+ - Leading the Series

  • Masters 45+ - Leading the Series

  • Women's Cat 4 - Leading the Series

  • Men's Cat 4 - Third overall

  • Men's Cat 5 - Leading the Series

Monday, June 8, 2009

Race Report - Stuart Racing Weekend

Another great weekend of racing for ZMotion happened just North of us in Stuart. Saturday's venue was a 3.2 mile circuit race in a never completed housing development while Sundays race was the annual Downtown Stuart Criterium course (0.9 miles) that we have every year. For some the weather was perfect, but later racers got drenched when the heavens opened and rained cats and dogs.

What is interesting about the sport of Bicycle Racing is that every race is unpredictable. If you are doing a race like running, you can typically identify the five fastest runners and pick the winner from that select group. Not so in a Florida Points Criterium. So it follows that some weeks one of the ZMotion categories will do great and some not so great and it was finally time for the Master's 45+ team to shine.

The Master's 45+ team still hasn't had the elusive "V", but with a 2nd, 4th and 8th on Saturday's race, they came pretty darn close. Here's how it played out.. The 3.2 mile circuit tempted the racer's to try numerous break attempts, but with a strong headwind on the back side, plus great visibility it initially looked like all attempts would fail. Then out of nowhere, our "sleeper" racer Ron Ray sneaked away with 3 other guys and they were GONE. When it came down to the final sprint there was a crash that both prevented the "V" but also took out the 4th place spot. Then our 45+ sprinter Shaun launched it to win the field sprint for 4th with Raife close on his heels for 8th.

On Sunday's race, the 45+ field was HUGE with 57 riders and it was fast from the go. Super strongman Steve Griffith tried numerous break away attempts, and he and Ron Ray even had a late race breakaway that looked like it had potential but was fated to be caught. So it came down to the final lap and the field was all together, sprinter Shaun was feeling good and in position until with just 3 turns to go he had a flat (yes, he was robbed). Mark managed to get into position to pull off a 5th place for the team.



In the 35+ category, the Saturday race was a case of breaks and chases with ZMotion doing a lot of the bringing back of breaks. Grant Potter put pedal to the medal and managed to ride away for the V, but hey, it's Grant Potter. The Sunday Race for 35+ yielded some nail-biting excitement as breakaway specialist Julio was in a very good 4 man break. Chris Hoch and Jody were constantly seen at the front taking up blocking duties. Julio was finally caught by the field on the final stretch of the final lap (ugh) but still managed to come in 9th with Jeff in 12th. Vinny launched himself right onto the podium with an excellent 3rd place.

The Juniors continue to distinguish themselves with Ruben winning the Crit on Sunday and 2nd on Saturday. Jay got 2nd both days. These guys are our future and the future looks bright (but guys fix your team info to show ZMotion!!!!).

We didn't get any Intel on how the P12 faired on Saturday, but on-site race reporter Jeff shared this about Sunday's P12 race...

On Sunday there were several failed breaks with Victor in one that looked good, and then he rolled a tire. Another break of 7 went away gaining over 30 seconds and included Winston & Hector. The Santos boys put there heads down and slowly reeled ‘em in with a few laps to go. Grant lit it up out of the final corner and no one could come around him so he took the “V” impressively. zMotion packed it in tightly soon after with Hector in 3rd, Juan in 4th, and Calixto in 6th.