New Port Ritchey & Brooksville, FL – Sept 5th-6th 2010 – With four weekends of Florida Point Series 2010 races remaining, GS Palm Beach – Garneau – H2O Overdrive has a commanding lead in the Masters 35+ overall team and individual standings. The Florida summer heat was still in force, but the team took to the roads in their LG Carbon Ion jerseys and stayed cool. The Labor Day weekend criterium had a cut-off that allowed top the top twenty riders to advance to the Win-and-Out event later that day. In the criterium, Julio Rojas had a significant breakway of 5 that got caught towards the end of the race. Julio was still able to salvage a top ten finish and Phil Elliott launched a decent sprint to place 4th. Sunday hosted a hot Labor Day weekend road race with rolling hills. Joel Rierson made the breakaway and that rolled away for the reminder of the race. He cracked towards the last 7km to finish in no-man’s land for 7th. Phil was 2nd in the field sprint for 10th place.

New Port Ritchey Criterium – Masters 35+
4th – Elliott, Philip
7th – Rojas, Julio

New Port Ritchey Win-and-Out – Masters Combined
10th – Elliott, Philip

Brooksville Road Race – Masters 35+
7th – Rierson, Joel
10th – Elliott, Philip

Florida Points Series – Team Standings (prior to this weekend)
2269 – GS Palm Beach – Garneau – H2O Overdrive
1682 – ZMotion Racing Team
1501 – Ball Watch Cycling Team

Florida Points Series – Individual Standings (prior to this weekend)
714 – Elliott,Philip – GS Palm Beach – Garneau – H2O Overdrive
633 – Soler,Carlos – DWC Racing
460 – Lopez,Frank – ZMotion Racing Team

Florida is a big state. The north part of the state is completely different than the central part around Orlando and Disney. The south part of the state is really a different country. In a way, Florida is three different personalities, with each one having very different characteristics.

In cycling a Omnium is like Florida. Three different events, with each one totally different from each other. The Sunrise Classic held in Fort Lauderdale Florida on April 10-11 was a perfect example of what a great omnium should be. It consisted of a circuit race, a time trial and a very technical downtown criterium.

The first event was the circuit race around the Bank Atlantic events building in sunrise Florida. With huge fields in every category, a wide open road, around most of the course and a 400 meter upwind sprint to the finish. This race was fast. When bicycle races are held in South Florida, the Miami riders show up to race. In almost every category, a Miami racer is really from Columbia or Cuba. They are usually ex pros, or even current pros. In the 45 plus division the winner was from Brazil. The second place rider was from Jamaica. This was really a international event with riders from all different countries, that have been racing their whole life.

45 plus is a great category. The competition is excellent and everyone tries to ride their best. This circuit race had enough room for riders to be aggressive, but in some parts of the course some had to back off and let up just so the whole field would not go down. Amazingly hard to believe that a field with close to 70 riders, all trying their hardest to finish the best they could managed to race with out a crash. As with all races there was shouting, and pushing, and braking and swerving. But, the rightful winner in the end was Aiton desouza from Brazil, a ex pro. GS PALM Beach had most of their riders entered in the 35 plus category. Where Phil Elliot again demonstrated his sprinting finesse by placing second.

Later that day, the time trial was held on the same course, with minor modifications to make the course a bit more challenging. The course was 3.4 miles long. It had a tight corner that required a bit of braking to make the ninety degree turn after descending from the top of the arena entrance. GS PAlm Beach rider Chris Hoch almost had the fastest time of the day after just returning to racing after severely breaking his collarbone just five weeks prior.

The final event of the Sunrise classic omnium was held on Sunday in Fort lauderdale in the Riverview district of downtown. This course was a nine corner, technical masterpiece designed to scare the novice away and let those with great bicycle racing skills show their stuff. It was made even more difficult, with a tropical rain and cobblestone crosswalks that seemed to have a glaze of grease on them. The 45 plus category started out in dry conditions. The start was fast, and the race to the first corner organized the group into a single file chain of riders, that snaked through the down town for about ten laps until the rain started. Then, the crashes started. Almost everyone crashed at least once. Luckily, these were not the types of crashes that brought the ambulances to the course. These were more like, slip and slide…however, they still left a mark, especially the next day when the black and blue colors started to really show up.

This event was completely different from the circuit. Technical, slippery and wet. But, the results were similar to the circuit, especially in the 35 plus category, were Phil Elliott riding for GS PALM BEACH won the event, followed by teammate Julio Rojas.

Just like Florida, this Omnium had three different parts, but together they made up a great race weekend.

Webster, Florida – April 3rd, 2010 – The day before Easter in Florida, is the annual classic road race called the Webster Roubaix. For some this is the race that some racers skip. For others it is the race they call the best race in Florida. Every year the racers ask the same question. “How is the dirt section this year”? In the past it has been so soft you sink in to the valve stem or if it is still a little hard packed, the dust and small rocks can pinch flat even the best tires. This years road conditions were very good. That does not mean that the race was easy.

For the 45+ group the race is 105 kilometers. This breaks down to seven – nine mile laps. Each lap has the dirt section that is almost 3 miles long. This section of the course is soft, gravel and dusty. Perfect conditions for a Roubaix style course. The race this year took a little over 2 and a half hours. The race strategy was to enter the dirt section in the top five riders and then the dust and risk of crashing was reduced a little. Even the most experienced riders had some difficulties were the pavement changed from asphalt to gravel. “I went wide and hit the soft stuff” I heard Mark Stein say after the race with his leg peppered with small rocks. Another rider was just trying to warm up before the race and and fell right on his hip and hand leaving a mark like being shot with a bb gun, with some dirt to make it look even worse. But this was what makes this race memorable, challenging and difficult. Jack Keiser, the winner did not seem to mind the conditions. He won last year too.

For the GS Palm Beach team, most of the team entered the 35+ category. In that race Phil Elliot, of GS PALM BEACH-GARNEAU-H20 OVERDRIVE, won the race with a sprint that looked like it was right out of the real Paris-Roubaix highlight reel.

In the 45+ category, GS PALM BEACH-GARNEAU-H20 OVERDRIVE rider, Russell Kitz finished 13th, just thirty seconds back from the winner. After all the dust settled for the day and the faces were wiped clean, the smiles and satisfaction of riding the hardest race of the year were visible on all the riders that participated. Some were even heard saying, wow that was hard, can’t wait for next year.

Fort Meade, FL – March 3rd 2010 – Julio Rojas (GS Palm Beach – Garneau – H2O Overdrive) outsprinted his 3-man breakaway in the 35+ road race today in Category 35+ and Shaun Redman (GS Palm Beach – Garneau – H2O Overdrive) took the field sprint for the win the 45+ road race in Category 45+. See race reports below.

Men’s 35+ Road Race — On the last of 4 laps of a windy race filled with countless attacks and counter attacks, Julio Rojas (GS Palm Beach – Garneau – H2O Overdrive) covered a late attack by Kevin Lenk (Orlando Velo), the pair gained 30 yards on the field, which saw Kent Wheeler (Velo Voodoo) jump across, the trio worked well together, and with 2 miles to go started gaining ground on the field which hesitated to start the chase. The peloton was more interested in saving legs for the sprint. Meanwhile the front trio still encouraged each other to keep charging turns at the front. Within 800m to go the trio started playing the waiting game. As the field started getting closer and closer, Julio Rojas jumped with 400m to go and open a 10 length bike gap on Wheeler that he kept as he crossed the line hands in the air to celebrate his second win of the season, the 6th for GS Palm Beach, Wheeler was 2nd, Philip Elliott (GS Palm Beach – Garneau – H2O Overdrive) won the field sprint, relegating Lenk to 4th, and Pedro Leon (GS Palm Beach – Garneau – H2O Overdrive) rounded the top 5.

Julio Rojas reflected on the race after the finish “Was an awesome display of team work today, we try several times to generate the breaks and to cover every break, fortunately I was able to go with the final move, I was surprised the field let us gain some ground, within 1k to go I knew we had a huge chance, I read the situation right, waited just enough for the group not to catch. Fortunately I still had some power at the end to go for a long sprint and keep everybody at distance. It is nice when you can cross the line with enough gap so you can put the hands in the air and celebrate, I dedicate this victory to my teammates Chris and Jonet. We hope they recover soon.”

Men’s 45+ Road Race — Shaun Redman (GS Palm Beach – Garneau – H2O Overdrive) took the win by photo finish over Peter Aldridge (zMotion) with both racers throwing their bikes to the line for maximum advantage. Shaun rocketed off his leadout men Glenn Schneider and Jeff Fleming. Teammate Russell Kitz came across in tenth place.

Tallahassee, FL – Feb 28th, 2010 – Chris Hoch of GS Palm Beach – Garneau – H2O Overdrive took first place in 35+ Category with a winning time of 5:37:922 for 2.7 mile Tallahassee Cycling Classic ITT followed by teammate Julio Rojas in 2nd trailing by 8 seconds. Jeff Fleming scored 4th position with 5:58.735 just ahead of Philip Elliott in 5th place with 6:10.330. These placings along with the 2 minute GC lead from yesterday’s circuit race takes the team into a solid foundation to begin the final stage.

Tallahassee, FL – Feb 28th, 2010 – Philip Elliott won the final stage of the Tallahassee Cycling Classic in the 52 mile road race for 35+ category by passing in the grass to ensure his win. He was followed by teammates Julio Rojas in 4th, Chris Hoch recovered from an earlier flat tire to come back to 5th place and Jeff Fleming in 12th place. A big team thanks goes out to Jeff who dropped back and helped Chris chase back after his flat tire in the 1.8 mile dirt section and salvage this top GC placing.

Final GC ended up stacking GS Palm Beach – Garneau – H2O Overdrive riders as 1-2-3 in the 35+ category with Julio Rojas the final winner, Chris Hoch in 2nd and Phil Elliott in 3rd. And all three stages were won by GS Palm Beach.

Tallahassee, FL – Feb 27th, 2010 – Philip Elliott of GS Palm Beach – Garneau – H2O Overdrive won the men’s 35+ Tallahassee Cycling Classic Circuit Race on Saturday with teammate Julio Rojas joining him on the podium. Also filling the top positions were teammates Chris Hoch in 4th place and Jeff Fleming in 5th place with this group finishing 2 minutes ahead of the remaining peloton. An excellent start for GC in the first stage of a weekend of racing.