On Sunday November 21 team Expo was represented by Cliff and Jon at the 2010 Robinson charity ride to benefit the Shriners Hospital in Western Massachusetts.  Also, in attendance were teammates Jonathan Swan and Jesse Quagliaroli.  Several of the team did this ride last year and had overwhelmingly positive feedback regarding the event.  The ride is held at Robinson State park in Agawam, MA and consists of 17 miles of twisty fun leaf free single-track.

Jon and Cliff started with the advanced group at 9:30 and within minutes were already smiling as the trail quickly starts to descend and twist through the woods.  After 2 hours of riding bliss they were back to the car for the raffle and a quick snack.  Talking with several riders at the conclusion of the ride everyone was amazed with how great an event this has grown to be.  Expo will sure to be back again next year to benefit this great cause.

On Saturday, July 17, Jon Tarbox, Mike Martin and Cliff Kenyon ventured out to Western MA for the inaugural Jeremy Powers Gran Fundo.  The Gran Fundo supports J.A.M., which in turn supports motivated, young cyclists reach their potential both on and off the bike in and around the Pioneer Valley through the issuance of grants and mentoring.

In the cycling world, a gran fondo is a massive group ride/race, which can attract riders numbering in the thousands, encompassing all ability levels.  This ride took the spirit of a gran fando and added some interesting changes and called it a Gran FUNDO!

The ride consisted of a 62 mile scenic route with minimal auto traffic and 20+ miles of dirt roads with some dirt roads being just slightly better than mountain biking double track.  The route included several long steep climbs strategically placed towards the middle of the ride which in turn resulted in some fun descending at the end.  Overall the ride was well supported with several rest stops including an ice cream truck rest stop at 35 miles.  For some reason Cliff was the only one out of the group which actually enjoyed ice cream at the rest stop!!

At the conclusion of the event all sat down for a pig roast where the ice cream truck made a second appearance.  A great day and event and one we’ll certainly attend in the future.

The weekend of July 17-18 saw some strong EXPO support at the ERRACE charity ride to benefit the Helen & Harry Gray Cancer Center and the Livestrong Foundation (www.errace.org).

Twelve EXPO Wheelmen started the 100 mile ride from the cancer center in Avon at 7:00 on Saturday morning.  As expected the pace was high until Dave H. bagged the first town line.  After that the paced slowed, but only slightly.  Groups had formed based on ability or motivation level by the first rest stop at 25 miles.  The second rest stop at 50 miles was a welcome sight.  The huge climb immediately after was not.  The miles and climbing ticked by until the course reached the center of Colebrook where a long down hill grade brought us to rest stop three.  From there it was 25 relatively flat miles back to a waiting barbeque and cheering crowd at the cancer center.

I think we can all agree that the organizers and volunteers did a great job organizing the event.  The rest stops were well stocked with snacks and drinks along with encouragement from the volunteers and the food at the finish was tasty and plentiful.  It was great to see and ride with some good friends and team mates.

The 2010 road racing season is now nearly half way done, and the EXPO Wheelmen have been racing and creating news almost every weekend.  During the weekend of June 26/27, EXPO racers stacked the field at both the Three Village Tour Road Race as well as the Keith Berger Memorial Crit.  EXPO had a few competitors placing in the top 15 of the Cat 4 and Cat 5 races, including Dennis D (read his post here), with Tom Hixson scoring the best finish at 4^th in the Cat 5s.  There were a few other EXPO racers who dodged a few crashes in some of the races, and there were also mechanical misadventures for one unlucky rider (read here).

EXPO’s Keith Berger racers had some good results to report on as well.  Chris A and Aki S each had their own view of how the Cat 3 Keith Berger race played out (here and here), which included a Prime for Cliff K.  Dennis D also claimed a Keith Berger Prime in the Cat 4 race earlier in the day, where he was also joined by Steve Y and Dave J in pushing the pace of the race (read more here).

EXPO isn’t just about showing up for adventure and fun – there’s also some pretty fierce competitive spirit donning EXPO gear.  That drive manifested itself in New England’s premier race last week at the Fitchburg Longsjo Classic Stage Race.  Dave H notched a top 10 GC placing in a very tough Masters Category, and he even scored a stage 4 victory!  Read more about his stellar results here: Stage 1, Stage 2, Stage 3, and Stage 4.

Speaking of Dave H and great race results, check out all of the Expo results from the 2010 Expo Wheelmen Time Trial Series.  Better yet, come down and join us on Thursday nights all summer long.

In addition to racing, EXPO team members are helping the community through charity rides.  And nearly a day doesn’t go by without some group of EXPO guys and gals getting together for a group ride.  Speaking of which, read on to hear Steve Y’s report on last month’s MS Bike Tour, and then continue on to hear about JC S’s fun out on a recent group ride.

MS Bike Tour (by Steve Y)

One June 6th, 2010, six EXPO Wheelmen participated in the MS Bike Tour in Windsor, CT.  It is an annual event benefiting multiple sclerosis research.  Over the years, many corporations and individuals have participated.  The MS Bike Tour is the premier cycling series in the nation with more than 100 extraordinary rides across the country.  The weather was not ideal but that did not deter us.  A big storm was moving in and a tornado warning later in the PM.  We started on wet roads but no rain.  Then from mile 10 to around 25, it poured on us.  We were completely soaked but that did not slow down our pace.  One of our EXPO teammates, Steve Yau, had a mechanical at mile 51 – his derailleur cable broke.  Luckily the SAG wagon came to the rescue.  Bob from Alternate Spokes bike shop who volunteered at the rest stop graciously fixed the bike.  Bob didn’t want any money and he asked Steve to make another donation to MS.  Consider it done!

We are back on the road.  The condition is now hot, muggy and windy.  We heard that another storm front is moving in.  We spin easy to drain the lactate acid for a few miles and we are back on pace.  We pacelined through the wind and made good progress.  The team made it back to the finish line before the nasty storm hit us.  A hot shower never felt so good.

It was a great ride and there were about 600 riders and countless volunteers who braved the weather to support a great cause.”

Willimantic July 1^st Group Ride (By JC S)

A large group of 10-15 riders headed out for the weekly hammer fest on Wednesday evening, June 30th, leaving from Willimantic at 6 PM.  Five EXPO club members were present including J.C., Mike, T.J., Lance, and Jeff.  We were also joined by several members from the Thread City Cyclers club.  The first hour was an absolute slugfest, with Mike and T.J. dueling it out on the hills and Lance pushing the pace on the flats.  You would think that Lance would be slowed down by riding on a cross bike, but he continually pushed the pace.  Shortly after the hour mark, things settled down a bit while still moving along very quickly.
Ride Stats: 1 hr 55 min & 39.4 miles

Be sure to check back here on the news tab on a regular basis going forward as we hope to have multiple updates each month recounting the stories from many of the Expo adventures.