CCNS Community

The 2010 CCNS Team Roster has been finalized! CCNS is glad to bring Jon Awerbach from New Haven, CT, and Ryan Serbel from Benton, PA!

Aidan Charles, Chris Kohnle, David Hoyle, Ernie Tautkus, Jon Awerbach, and Ron Larose, and Ryan Serbel will make up the Team Roster for this 2010.

It was another great day for the CCNS Squad. Team riders Dave, Chris, Aidan, Ron, and a guest rider from from the GHCC, Ryan Serbel, carpooled up to northeastern Massachusetts for the race. The weather was poor, with rain and 60 degree temps. The team wanted to take the race out hard from the gun, as usual, and they did just that as Ron launched an attack from the line. After a lap of attacking and countering, Ron managed to slip up the road with Paul Richards from CCB, and Tom Francis from BikeBarn. With those riders just a few meters up the road Aidan managed to bridge up with heavy hitter Dan Vaillancourt from Colavita’s Pro Cycling Team. From less than 5 miles into the race, the break was established and the group stayed away for the rest of the day! Everyone worked well together on the fast 4.5 mile circuit and the break eventually earned a gap of 3-4 minutes over the field. Coming into the final lap the break was still together, and with a few brief attempts to get away from the group and quick responses from the other breakaway riders, the finish came down to a sprint. Ron handily won over Dan Vaillancourt and Paul Richards, with Aidan coming in for 4th. David Hoyle also managed to win the bunch sprint out of his chase group, and managed 6th! Another great day with aggressive racing for the CCNS squad!

Summary: Ron Larose Wins the Green Jersey for the Cat 2 Field. David Hoyle places 3rd in the circuit race!

CCNS had a great team day at the Three Village Tour in Sprague Connecticut. Even though we let two riders get up the round from the gun, Ron and Dave were able to escape and form a two man chase group. Aidan played a defensive role to assist them in gaining time and the team managed to place 3rd, 4th, and 6th, for the day! A great all around day for CCNS which demonstrated our ability to work well as a team and promises for exciting results from GMSR!

Capital Region Road Race.
Every year the weather at the Capital Region Road Race tends to be 90-100 degrees and windy, and this year was no exception. This was the New York State Championships Road Race, and Ron and Aidan decided to make the trip out to upstate NY to contest this 83 mile road race. The course was a 20 mile loop, with the first half being considerably tough with two decisive climbs, and the second half being tough in a different way as it was flat/rolling, and very windy with a headwind.

Aidan’s Account:
The race started off conservatively, I think because everyone was a little nervous to make this hard race even harder by racing it all out from the gun. Ron and I sat in the second half of the field for the first climb or two, and it made me nervous… because a few riders were pushing the pace and it looked like a few riders were already having a hard time in back. After the first climb Ron and I decided to move up to the front so that we wouldn’t get caught behind anyone blowing up on what is a very challenging 2nd climb. (A right hand turn into a 16% grade, which carries on for a few minutes). We were in perfect position, about 4-5th going into the second climb. I moved to the front and set pace, which the rest of the riders on the front gladly let me do. I felt pretty good on this tough rise, and in my own excitement I continued to push the pace over the top, on to the next little riser, and tried to drill it on the following flat section. So much for being conservative in the first lap!
Everyone seemed to not be responding too well, so I threw in an actual attack to see if I could draw out some riders. They brought me back, but in perfect timing Ron took my cue and decided to counter attack! They brought him back too. A few riders countered off of Ron’s effort and the field let them roll up the road. At first we weren’t too worried about 1 or 2 riders staying away on a long breakaway on such a tough race, but then a few more riders from decent teams slipped away up the road and formed a group. I didn’t like the numbers that were forming up the road so I went with the next 2 riders that decided to try to get away. The field continued to sit up, and we worked together to bridge up to the small breakaway group ahead. After a few minutes of closing the gap I looked back to see where the field was, and who else do I see bridging but Ron… solo! He managed to bridge up to our group, and both breakaway groups met up to form a lead group of 8 riders.
After seventy more miles of great cooperation amongst the break away riders, we managed to whittle the group down to four riders. On the final climb with about 10 to 12 miles to go my legs felt surprisingly good and I decided to go for it and managed to gain a 40 second lead over the other three riders and took my first road race victory of the season! Ron managed to place eleventh after working tirelessly in order to keep the break rolling fast up the road.

The Tokeneke Classic was New England’s Championship road race this year. With such bragging rights up for grabs a solid field showed up for the 66 mile road race around the Barkhamstead Reservoir. Ron, Dave, Chris and Aidan lined up for the race, with the thought process of having Ron and Dave mark earlier breaks, and have Aidan sit in for harder climbs and to follow any major splits.

Aidan’s Account
The race started off well, as Ron took the liberty of not only marking any breaks that went away, but taking every possible opportunity to attack off the front. He must have attacked 10-15 times in the first lap!. This was great, because his aggressiveness for the first 3rd of the race took the pressure the rest of the team. As the 2nd lap got underway, Dave and I stepped up and took turns rolling with moves. I managed to get in a breakaway of 6 riders for the second half of the race. The break worked together, with the exception of a Bikereg.com rider, and we entered the second half of the final lap. The bikereg.com rider told us that he had stronger climbing teammates in the field, and that he wasn’t going to work. We pushed the pace on first of a series of hard climbs and managed to get rid of 3 riders from the break, leaving just 3 of us (Myself, An empire rider and the Bikereg.com rider). The empire rider (Jake Hollenbech) and I knew that this was a great opportunity and we continued to push it hard… but the Bikereg.com Rider still sat on!
I thought we were set. We had 3 or 4 miles to go and started rotating… but not much longer than two minutes after we finally got the Bikereg.com rider to give in, we glanced back and saw a bridging group of 6 riders coming up on us fast. We were pretty bummed, because all of our messing around trying to play a tactical game with each other ended up slowing us down enough to have a bridging group catch us. The real kicker was that this lead group contained all of the races best climbers. These riders had waited until the last 10 miles or so to launch a bridging move at the beginning of the hard section… so they were fresh and coming up on us quick. So with a few miles to go we were swallowed up by the lead group and became the lead group of 9 riders. I managed to hang on until about 500 meters to go and came up with 7th for the day. It was a lot of work for 7th place, but a good shot at the breakaway. I was happy to see the form coming along. I took my chances in the early breakaway and things didn’t play out quite in my favor… but that’s racing, and 7th place isn’t quite that bad!

The conditions were awesome on the 2nd race of the Johnny Cake Series. The temperature was just over 40 degrees, the winds were gusting over 25mph, and there was drizzling rain throughout the day… It was a great hard-man’s-race environment. Aidan, Brian, Ron, and Dave were representing the CCNS squad for the day.

Right from the gun Aidan went with the first move of 4 riders, which immediately formed a decent size gap. After staying away for the first lap the move was reeled in, only to be countered immediately by Ron. From this excellently time effort a breakaway group of 8 riders formed the winning break of the day. The break worked together well for the next 45 miles going into the final lap. Everyone approached the final lap cautiously, waiting for one of their breakaway companions to initiate the first aggressive move. Ron took it upon himself to start the hurt with about 1km to go. Everyone managed to respond to his move, but this didn’t stop him from beating everyone for 1st place in the final sprint by a healthy margin. Another great day for Team CCNS!

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The weather was beautiful for the first of the Johnny Cake Training Series (Coxsackie, NY). Team members Aidan Charles, Brian Tompkins, David Hoyle, Patrick Brandon, and Ron LaRose lined up for the Men’s A race. The weather helped promote the race, with a full field of 70-80 riders on the line! Some of the larger teams with a good turnout were the Spooky/Kenda Team, Westwood Velo, and the Keltic Cycling Club, all with around 10 riders representing from each squad.

Team CCNS rode very well from the start. The team always had representation in any threatening break, and managed to get both Patrick Brandon and Aidan Charles up the road in a break of 10 riders for the remainder of the 55 mile race. Within one or two laps, both Patrick and Aidan managed to slip away from the breakaway with two Westwood Velo Riders, infamous Roger Aspholm and Todd Cassan. It was Two-on-Two for the remainder of the race.

After some tough efforts Patrick found himself shaken loose from his breakaway companions, leaving Aidan with the two Westwood riders. He dropped back to the chasing remainder of the breakaway. Aidan managed to stick with the two Westwood riders down to the finish, taking second place against Roger in the sprint. Patrick also managed to take 5th place overall for the day after winning the sprint out of the chasing group.

The usual suspects and teams were out for the race. Stage One and IRS Medic in were large numbers, the Cyclonauts and a couple of CVC riders. In a surprise move, long time unattached rider Tim Unkert was sporting the yellow and black Cyclonaut jersey.

Craig, Hunter and Chris K were out for CCNS, ready to get into the assumed winning break.

Pretty quickly a 3 man break developed with young Connor Sallee, Unkert and a rider from Empire Cycling. This break was given some leeway, as it didnt have any Stage 1 or Medics in it.

When it was evident that the Stage 1 and Medic chase wouldn't be enough to bring the break back, Chris and Hunter went to work up front. When the gap was brought from 25+ sec to less than 12, Craig jumped across the gap with Medic rider Mike McGinley. He would bridge up in a couple of laps to the tiring trio in front, making it 6 in the break with only Stage One left to chase. Craig was able to fend off a couple of last lap attacks from the break and take the sprint for the win. Hunter easily took the field sprint, with Chris right behind him in 8th.

The jersey now is on the back of Craig Luekens, with second place one point behind, Dave Hoyle.

Team CCNS made its largest showing yet for the Bethel series today, with team members Aidan Charles, Chris Kohnle, David Hoyle, Patrick Brandon, and Ron Larose making it out to the race.

A stiff wind on the course made the race a little tougher than usual, and after a quite a few break away attempts, Team CCNS was able to put Aidan, Dave, and Ron in a break of 10 riders with about 10 laps to go. As Patrick and Chris held the field behind at bay… Aidan Charles attacked the break with 3 laps to go in order to draw out some of the break's main competitors, including Eneas from Team Targettraining. With Eneas and the rest of the breakaway members chasing, Ron and Dave were able to pounce on the tired riders in the final lap, and take 1st and 2nd in the finish! Ron also managed to take a prime, adding a great final touch to a successful and exciting day.

After last week’s great performance, David Hoyle earned himself the overall leader’s jersey. Team CCNS had to play a defensive role for the race, with the goal being to make sure that no one in contention for the overall was able to get up the road and away from Dave. The team set out to keep a steady pace on the front, and not let any threatening break get to far ahead without proper representation.

With members of the team being on the front for the large majority of the race, CCNS was able to control the race, even with the good deal of challenges laid down by the other teams, including CVC, Team IRSmedic.om, and Team Stage-One/Fusion think. Ron Larose was able to scoop up points primes, and David Hoyle was able to get second in the final sprint, with the help of a lead-out from the rest of the team.

The team now has a healthy gap in the overall team points competition, and is holding on to 1st, 3rd, and 4th in the in the individual points competition for the P123 ranks.

A solid field lined up for the second Bethel race of the season under some surprisingly sunny skies. Many of the usual suspects showed up, all in their new team gear, ready to find some racing legs for the
2009 season. The race was active all day, with lots of various moves going up the road - some of which the two lone CCNS riders, Hunter and Luekens, were mixing it up in.

The most promising break of the day - with Hunter, some Targetraining, Bubble boys, and Keltic folks represented - made it to about 20-30 seconds before the field brought it back. That's not to mention Luekens and Hunter going 1-2 in a cash prime later in the race. It wasn't until about 10 laps to go that a strong move of Eneas from Targetraining and Chad Butts from Champion System (who earlier edged Luekens out for a prime) made it up the road. Their gap made it to a max of 15 seconds, which apparently wasn't enough to scare the better represented teams of FusionThink and Keltic. Hovering at 12sec. with only 2 to go, something of a chase finally materialized, but it was too little too late as the sprinters finished just a few bike lengths behind the two winners.

With more CCNS riders there, we surely could have brought the break back, but Luekens and Hunter managed to scrounge their way through the sprint nonetheless, grabbing 8th and 13th. It was great to get some more early racing in and to recognize how strong the CCNS team really will be when we're in full force. Should be an exciting season...........

The CCNS had a great day at the second race of the plainville series this past weekend. The full Squad showed ready to race hard and make an impression. Right from the gun the team set pace on the front for the first few laps, setting the high paced standard for the day. The team continued to launch attacks and make the race series leader race hard, who was just 1 point ahead of CCNS' own Craig Luekens in the overall. The team did just that as they managed to force a break with 2 CCNS riders, David Hoyle and Ron Larose, along with 6 other riders about halfway through the race.

The break stayed away for the rest of the race. In excellent tactical fashion David Hoyle launched a solo attack from 2 laps out and managed to stay away for the win! Ron Larose handily won the sprint while letting the others chase, officially giving Team CCNS 1st and 2nd place for the day!

Tim Malton, also a CCNS Client, managed 3rd for the day in the 1,2,3 race behind the two Team CCNS riders. Steve Youmatz, a Team CCNS Masters rider, won the Category 4 race earlier that morning too!

A strong field of 60-70 riders were out for the first Bethel Spring Series race. The new look Target Training squad and CT Coast were the best represented in the field. Plenty of talent had made the trip up from NYC as well. In for the team was Hunter Pronovost and newcomer Josh Friedman. It was a windy day, as usual for Bethel, and the plan was to be up front and represented in what was probably going to be a race decided by a break.

Both Josh and Hunter were active at first, Josh took the lead in instigating a couple of attacks, but couldnt find the right mix of guys to stay away. Hunter as well, had a go off the front in a break but that fizzled out within a lap and half. The two CCNS riders were working well together, and despite not having numbers, were at the front most of the race. Hunter missed the first prime lap prize by a bike and a half.

Most activity off the front was anchored by the strong Target Training crew. Though most moves didnt last more than a lap. The most dangerous looking break got free with about 7 laps to go. 2 Target Training guys, Eneas Freyre and another, broke clear at the right moment and got free. They had a gap as high as 17 seconds at one point, but then the duo split as the chase was ramping up behind, leaving Eneas alone to try to get to the line first.

Going into the last lap, Josh was sitting in the top 12, looking good. Hunter was a little farther back. The lone Tartget Training rider would get swept up in the final 200 meters. Josh got boxed in and couldnt get a good sprint into the top 10. Hunter had worked hard at moving up the left side on the backstretch, found an alley and sprinted a long way, managing to snag 5th... Just a few bike lengths from the win.

After the first weekend of training races, CCNS riders have points in both series...

The first race of the year just went down this past weekend at the first of the Plainville Crit series. The CCNS squad had a great turnout for the first race of the year.

Pro 123 Race: The usual central Connecticut cycling suspects came out for the first race… including Mike McGinely, Eric Merril, and Ron Fantono for the new IRS Medic Cycling Team. Arlen Zane Wenzel from the Horst Cycling Team, a lot of guys from the Bubble Boy Stage 1 cycling team (we’ll learn their names eventually), and the entire CVC squad.

The team was pretty excited to get things rolling for the first race of the year… and the team goal was to have someone represent CCNS in a break at all times. After a few good break attempts from various guys from the team, including Ron, Craig, Hunter, and a nice long flyer from Patrick Brandon, Aidan established with a small break with Ed Angeli and Barry Miller. After a few laps off the front, a chase group bridged up from the field with Craig Luekens in tow (deemed the “Freight Train” in the Horst Cycling Teams Blog).

With two CCNS riders established in the break of 11 riders, the group went on its way towards lapping the field. During this time the break maintained a healthy pace with the help from riders such as Arlen, Mike, Ron Fontano, and Peter Petrillo. Craig managed to win a prime and get second by a wheel length in another, all while doing his fair share of work at the front of the break. Aidan was playing the conservative role, hoping for a late attack opportunity.

As the group made full circle and attached with the back of the field, CCNS riders Ron, Patrick, and Hunter set a stiff pace for the remaining 5 laps to keep the field under control. With the leadout help of Ciaran Mangan from CCB, the CCNS team led Craig and Aidan into the final sprint for a respectable 2nd and 5th place.

The team is excited for the next race.… And with a full squad planned to show for next weekend, the team is ready to race aggressively and really throw down.