I’ve been of strong opinion NOT to call ourselves a “development” team in the past mainly because racing cyclists of all ages and years of experiences need to evolve and develop, not just juniors.  Juniors may win a boatload of medals and honors when they are young, yet once “promoted” to the elite levels of racing wins and podiums will elude them unless they take their development path seriously.  Development also comes off the bike.  The leaders on Team Specialized have always believed in a foundation based on “student-athlete” and doing what’s best to prepare these young men for the business world, just in case these riders don’t become professional bicycle racers.
 
What would you do? – would you fire, or take strong action against an employee that missed a company monthly conference call?   - Well, I’m about to share some really great stories of bicycle racing with you, but I wanted to start off this update with a lesson that was recently learned by two of our juniors.  Neither could attend last week’s team conference call, nor did either communicate that they would not make it.  Whoa!  Conference calls are not the best way to communicate as a team, but we all live miles and hours away from each other.  It’s also very likely that these twelve juniors will not work in the same building as their manager in the future so they need to practice other forms of communication and become EXCELLENT communicators.  Lessons learned on this one.  No one was fired.  In this way, we are still developing our teammates.  It’s a continual process.
 
I wanted to share some of the highlights of our conference call because it was a solid session, we learned from each other and these are notes that should be reviewed in the coming weeks leading up to USA Cycling Road Nationals in Augusta, GA (the focus of our season).
-        Quiz on the teammates remembering the “seven principles of training” originally discussed at our winter camp.  We left regularity, progression and reversibility out of the discussion as we are only five weeks from nationals.  Instead we focused on stress, recovery, overload, and specificity.  We then had each teammate give us an update on the stress in their lives (racing, training, finishing up strong in school/ some are graduating, social life, house chores, and coaches/ directors ;-).  We then shared ideas on recovery techniques (proper nutrition, sleep, compression, oils/ massage, hydration, off your feet, mind off cycling), overloading (a fine balance of a larger volume of stress and less recovery until you are on the verge of sickness, and then you recover), and specificity which is the key principle in preparing our riders for Nationals.  Specificity for our team simply means preparing for their best events at Nationals and flexing your strengths.  Whether the teammate has the best shot at the time trial (rolling 10km, 19km or 30km courses), criterium (flat and fast and destined for a late break or field sprint), and road race (power climb in the last 2km with a fast finish).  Specificity for Augusta also means preparing for the heat and humidity.  We talked about training in the heat of the day, with extra clothes on to emulate the comfortableness that the teammates will experience (Bikram yoga anyone?).  Finally, specificity also means that small races leading up to Nationals can be used as specific training.  For instance, raise the tempo with 2km to go and then try to outsprint the field, because you will be gassed and sprinting in the Augusta road race if you plan to win.  You can see the profile of the race in the Strava file below.
-        We also talked about our upcoming Memorial Day Training Camp; Augusta travel plans; and Bakersfield SCNCA “state” championships road race.
-        A solid conf call!
 
Onto the racing with quick recaptures
-        So Cal May 5-6 weekend – So Cal Juniors were competing in Bario Logan at their SCNCA “state” championships.  Kyle Torres (18) is not yet a field sprinter, so he tried again and again to get away in his race.  Nick Castellano (15) and Diego Binatena (16) tried but could not get their teamwork right, so Diego finished 4th.  And, in the 13-14 criterium Sean McElroy (13) lost the sprint to Matthew Ly but was later awarded the win because of Matthew’s abrupt move into Sean.  Sean had a great attitude and after watching the video it was decided that Matthew had won the race fair and square.  There was a lapped rider on the course which is why Matthew moved into Sean.  As many have said, Sean has much bigger races to win in his future.  Dana Point was the next day with Diego taking an impressive 4th place in the elite 3’s race.
-        Nor Cal May 5-6 weekend – seven Nor Cal teammates competed at the 39th annual Cat’s Hill Classic, a true “classic” downtown course with a 23 percent climb.  In the 15-16 race all five teammates raced together perfectly to help Matt Valencia (16) cross the finish line first, Jack Maddux (15) was 2nd, Jason Saltzman (15) was 4th, Oliver Barajas (15) was 6th and Jon Christensen (15) was 8th.  Lots of individual sacrifices and excellent teamwork.  The 17-18s race was like one of those soccer matches where a team dominates, but loses.  Marcus and Chris rode well the whole race but right when they went on the attack, a strong competitor (Tobin Obtenblad – 2011 Jr World Cross Team) sprung a counter-attack that left both Marcus Smith (18) and Chris LaBerge (18) chasing.  Marcus, Matt and Jack raced with the Pro/1/2 field later in the day with Marcus coming 10th on junior gearing.
-        Colorado May 5-6 weekend – Dean Haas (18) wins the Palmer Lake Time Trial!
-        So Cal May 12-13 weekend – Sean, Kyle, Diego and Nick hit the roads again with the SCNCA “state” time trial championships on Saturday and Long Beach Crit on Sunday.  Nick and Kyle had a rough day in the saddle but Kyle still held on for 3rd in the 17-18s, Diego romped to an impressive 2nd place in the 15-16’s and Sean won the state championship that had eluded him the week prior by smoking the 10km time trial course at 27.0 miles per hour.  Try that on your next training ride!  The time trialing must have been stuck in Diego’s head as he headed into Sunday’s Long Beach Crit and attacked solo with 2 laps to go to impressively win the elite 3 race.  One of Diego’s goals for the year is to get booted up to the elite 2’s.  He’s almost there!
-        Nor Cal May 12-13 weekend – Matt, Jack, Jason, Oliver and Jon put on the second act of their teamwork play with a picture perfect lead-out for the team win.  Matt was the recipient of the team efforts and is the new 15-16 NCNCA state  criterium champion.  Jack was 3rd after his lead-out.  Chris LaBerge had an excellent effort in the 17-18 race but in the end came 2nd to a team of six Ritte Development teammates.  Marcus toughed out 80 miles with the pro/1/2 field at the Berkeley Hills Road Race.

Upcoming Junior races and events
-        Beginner track session – May 19 8:30-11:30am at the San Jose Track
-        Modesto Crit and Road races this weekend
-        So Cal teammates watching Tour of California!
-        Memorial Day camp
-        Bakersfield SCNCA state road champs – June 2
-        Dunlap NCNCA time trial champs – June 3
-        Folsom Cyclebration – June 9-10
-        Nationals – June 20-25

With or without a Facebook page you can see our photos and stories - http://www.facebook.com/#!/TeamSpecializedRacing

Greg Lemond once said, “Perhaps the single most important element in mastering the techniques and tactics of racing is experience. But once you have the fundamentals, acquiring the experience is a matter of time." I am now on my 3rd year of racing with Team Specialized and have been attaining the skills to develop into a serious and dedicated cyclist. Racing nearly 70 races in 2010 and 2011, and 20 races so far this season, I am learning from every race, especially since I upgraded to a Cat 2.

Development is a key part of Team Specialized. Team director Larry Nolan has always stressed the importance on how his personal goal is to help all juniors succeed and evolve in the world of cycling. Part of my development is experiencing the highs of cycling, like winning Track Nationals at 14 years old, and the lows, crashing on the last lap of a crit because someone rolls their tire or not having the strength to finish a road race. Whether I win or lose a race, I know there is always a lesson to be learned from the experience.

We, as a team, are also learning how cycling isn’t an individual sport, but a dynamic team sport, which means you have to be willing to sacrifice yourself for the good of the team. Because we understand and apply this in the races we participate in, we’ve been successful in winning a few stage races, like San Dimas two years in a row.

My fellow 15-16 teammates will be brought together as a full squad next week at Sea Otter Circuit and Road Race. I’m looking forward to having everyone together again and showing others what we can do as a team.

Thanks for reading. ~Matt Valencia

The 20th annual Valley of the Sun Stage Race took place last weekend in and outside of Phoenix, Arizona. While a hotly contested stage race, especially for southwestern cyclists that chose not to compete (or even ride) in the summer months, this was NOT a targeted event for our team. With the Callville Bay Classic cancelled we found that eight teammates had already registered and were making plans. I wanted to go and support the eight juniors and return to this event.  So, instead of a “targeted event” Valley of the Sun became another chance to race and train together.
 
Valley of the Sun Stage Race has a reputation that the General Classification is decided in the first 14 mile individual time trial. We have a strong time trialing tradition in our history and that is mainly because we know that to be competitive in most races we need to be fit and fast so that we can play the game. We also knew that we are taking a very young team to contest this stage race. As a comparison we took four 17-18 year olds in 2010 and five teammates in 2011. This year we had two competitors of which Dean Haas (18) was still on antibiotics. These are not excuses, just the facts that this is early season racing, and that we have a young 2012 team.
 
Marcus Smith posted a nice story and photos to our team Blog: http://teamspecializedracing.blogspot.com/
Richard Castellano posted photos to our team FaceBook account (no FaceBook account needed to view): http://www.facebook.com/#!/TeamSpecializedRacing
 
Lessons learned:
- when we are not protecting a top GC place, we attack! (and we did!)
- Look at the average speeds below and tell me if you are not amazed at how fast a young man can ride!
- we will always work to improve our time trialing, every one of us
- we race as one team. If a teammate is up the road in a breakaway they know who they are running away from. We have a strong team which is to say you cooperate with breakaway mates until you attack or get caught because you have teammates that can win.
- we educate our parents, supporters and loved ones about our teamwork. For instance, if a teammate wins or does better than they could have on their own because of teamwork it does not matter how the other teammates place. Conveying that story to parents can be difficult, or very easy when that same teammate is on the receiving end of some great teamwork.
- juniors chose to race with their age group or category peers. Tactics, distances, behaviors, and field sizes all translate to varying race experiences.
- we race often so that we get many and varied race experiences, including winning as a team.
- juniors have their own long-term development path... some mature quickly, some take quick advantage of their cumulated years on the bike, some develop skills/ tactics before speed, and some the other way around. Mostly, we like to chart their improvements and see progress, just like this chart portraits...

Hello sponsors, supporters and teammates - here's a quick update of our 2011 Racing Season, which is not yet over.  This is strictly a numbers update:
 
- one stage win in North America's only UCI Nations Cup (James LaBerge on stage one at the 43rd Tour de L'abitibi)
- one UCI Masters World Time Trial Championship (Rob Anderson in Leige, Belgium)
- one USA Junior National Points Race Championship (Andrew Lanier, Jr. in Frisco, Texas)
- one USA Masters Road Race National Championship (Kevin Metcalfe in Bend, OR)
- one USA Masters Criterium National Championship (Dean LaBerge in Bend, OR)
- one USA Junior Time Trial National Championship (Jack Maddux in Augusta, GA)
- one USA Junior National Team kermesse win (Diego Binatina in Heesert, Belgium)
- BEST all around team USA Masters Nationals (Craig, Rob, Dean, Chris, Kevin and Larry)
- two USA Masters Time Trial National Championships (Chris Lyman and Kevin Metcalfe in Bend, OR)
- five category one juniors (James, Torey, Willy, Jeff, and David)
- five events where all fourteen juniors travelled hundreds (and thousands) of miles to be together for races and training camps
- six juniors raced in Europe with the USA National Team (Dean, David, Andrew, Phil, Matt and Diego)
- eight of fourteen juniors upgraded their category in 2011 (Diego, Jack, Matt, Kyle, Torey, Willy, Jeff, and David
- fifty six wins in the 2011 racing season by the Masters squad
- fifty seven wins in the 2011 racing season by the Junior squad
- one hundred thirteen wins in the 2011 racing season by the Masters and Junior squads
= one great team of sponsors, supporters and racers!
I have also attached a PDF summary of our racing in terms of wins, podium placings and top ten finishes, as well as total starts.  The second page is a nice look into the frequency of the teammates racing against their age peers or against categorized competition.  The fact that the juniors started 385 events against adults and category peers (versus 273 junior starts) proves that the juniors want to race against the best so that they can compete at their best.
 
Thanks once again for your support of our Team Specialized Racing program.
 
Larry Nolan, on behalf of the whole team.