Pine Mountain Challenge - 2008

The CBR team and CCC club showed up in force to support the Pine Mountain Challenge. The PMC is a charity Century to support Valley Health Care. VHC provides medical support for low to no income people around the Chattahoochee valley. The day started with a brisk 58 degree morning and a bright clear sky. The ride was well supported with ample SAG stops and great support from the Harris County Sheriffs department and the local motorcycle club. Both rode support that took care of all the riders needs.

We were able to kick off the event with a special presentation to Sherry Matty. Sherry is the widow of Scott Matty, CBR racer, CCC member and one of our great friends. Scott was tragically lost on February 3rd when a motorist struck he and Jeff Davis on a training ride. We presented this seasons race jersey to Sherry. The jersey has a black band commemorating Scott with the words "In Memory of Scott Matty". The Shadow box with the jersey also had the state champion medal from Scott's win in the Alabama Team time trial championships in 2007.



The ride was also fortunate enough to have Jeff Davis return to the road for the ride. Jeff was classified an "incomplete paraplegic" following the accident. Jeff had 3 major surgeries, 12 weeks in the hospital and thousands of hours of rehab. He is now back on his feet and riding his bike. The PMC ride was Jeff's 4th ride in the last two weeks and those were his first rides since being hit by the SUV. We are so fortunate to have Jeff back and would like to do whatever we can to keep him riding!



Here are a few photos from the event.

CBR says goodbye to two racers

Ryan Crabbe sprints for a Top 10 in LaGrange



This year's team was fortunate enough to have Ryan Crabbe and Stephen Bolton race most of the season. Ryan joined CBR in 2007 and won the Georgia Cat5 Road Race championship in his first season of racing. Steve joined the crew in 2008 and put in a 20 race season with his last team race in Elberton. Steve & Ryan both put in several great performances highlighted by achieving top ten finishes in the Tour of Atlanta Stage race. Both men placed top 10 in a 7 stage - stage race. Both were always strong competitors and typically were within the top 15 finishers in every race.
Steve Bolton- LaGrange Criterium

Ryan raced through LaGrange before moving on to Indiana for his new job as the head coach of the St. Mary's College Women's Soccer team. Ryan raced both road and cycle cross with the CBR team. Ryan recently upgraded to Category 3. Congrats Ryan!! Steve has also moved from Ft. Benning to Ft. Bragg. He will eventually return to his home in Colorado. We were lucky to have two such strong riders race and support our team. You will be missed, good luck guys!

ORAMM 2008: 62 miles 11000' climbing 7 advil

CBR represented in Old Fort, NC at the off road assault on mt mitchell 100k mountain bike race.


View Larger Map

yesterday was my second oramm. the route was slightly different than in 2007 when we turned on the blue ridge parkway instead of crossing it. the route wasn't much longer but it did include a 10 minute downhill followed by another hour long climb.



8 hours 14 minutes 14 seconds, 62.02 miles, 10,581 feet of elevation gained, innumerable leg, arm, finger, and jaw (yes, jaw while trying to drink from the camelbak) cramps. two gu roctane, two enervit gels, four 100oz camelbak refills, 1 bag of beef jerkey, 4 bags clif shot bloks, 7 advils, 2 tylenol 500mg, four electrolyte mix bottles, two bananas, 18 hammer endurolytes, oh and did i mention it was 98 degrees??? 1 cbr kit at the coolest race in NC, priceless...

click here for the full report

CBR rider wins State Championship

2008 has been a great season for one CBR rider. Steve Murray has continued to improve as the season progressed. It began in March with the first Georgia Cup race in Albany, Georgia, and this report goes through the Rome Georgia Cup race weekend. 14 Podiums and counting.

Race High lights of 2008:

Georgia State Cat 4 criterium championGeorgia Cup cat4 35+ series Georgia Cup cat4 35+ series Leader- yellow Jersey holder
Georgia Cup cat4 35+ sprint leader


Albany Stage Race - cat 4
Prologue - 2nd Place


Tundra Time TrialMaster's - 6th

Perry Roubaix Race weekend
TT - 3rd place
Circuit Race - 5th Place
Overall - 3rd

Gainesville Stage race - cat 4
TT - 1st place
Crit - 8th place
Overall - 1st Place


Chattanooga Stage Race - cat 4
TT - 2nd Place
Crit - 8th place
RR - 13th place
Overall - 2nd place



Sunny King Criterium 45+ master's
4th Place

Historic Roswell crit 45+ master'
6th place

Union City Stage Race - cat 4
TT - 2nd place
Crit - 3rd place
RR - 17th place
Overall - 2nd place


LaGrange Stage Race - cat4


TT - 1st Place
Crit - 1st Place
RR - 11th Place
Overall - 1st place

Rome Stage Race - cat 4
Team TT - 5th place
Crit - 5th place
RR - 4th place
Overall - 2nd

CBR takes the Tour of Atlanta

The 2008 Tour of Atlanta was 7 stages over 5 days. Beginning Thursday afternoon, May 22 - Monday, May 26 (Memorial Day Morning). The CBR group took 5 riders for the whole tour and 2 who joined for many of the races. John Stowe, Matt Ragan, Ryan Crabbe, Steve Murray and Steve Bolton all rode the entire stage race. Jeff Mayhand also joined in to help the team with the Team Time Trial and Saturday road race.

The first day was the key to it all for our big gun - John Stowe. John won the Time trial and then took second on the sprints.

TT results:
1st - John Stowe
4th - Steve Murray
15th - Matt Ragan
16th - Ryan Crabbe


















John built a good lead that he took into the criterium at John's Creek the next day. John took control of the race which took place during a huge downpour. He barely missed a win against the strong sprinter from AVX bikes. Ryan went down during the race but still managed to finish well in adverse conditions.

Criterium Results:
2nd - John Stowe
4th - Steve Murray
15th - Ryan Crabbe
19th- Matt Ragan

Day three was the Team Time Trial and road race. The team TT was a mixed bag. Matt Ragan flatted early and the pace was too high for Steve Bolton and Ryan Crabbe. Steve Murray, John Stowe and Jeff Mayhand finished the 16 mile route and the team placed 2nd overall in the TT. The road race started well and only one of the boys ran into issues. Steve Murray went down hard about 20 miles into the race. He lost so much time that he moved from 2nd overall in the Tour standings to 18th.

TT results - CBR team scores 2nd (we missed 1st by 19 seconds)


Road Race results:
8th - Ryan Crabbe
11th - Steve Bolton
16th - Matt Ragan
20th - John Stowe

Gainesville Criterium Results;
15th - John Stowe
18th - Matt Ragan
19th - Steve Murray
21st - Steve Bolton
27th - Ryan Crabbe

Buford Criterium results:
11th - Steve Murray
13th - Matt Ragan
15th - Steve Bolton
17th - John Stowe
23rd - Ryan Crabbe

Overall finish results:
1st - John Stowe
6th - Ryan Crabbe
10th- Steve Bolton
12th - Matt ragan
14th - Steve Murray

serc #4 ducktown, tn 5th place

CBR gets a 5th place in ducktown, tn


yes the 2nd place kid is 13 and the 1st is 18 but they're future u23 national team.... it didn't bother me too much. i haven't really been training for xc races so i was very happy with a 5th place finish.

now its a 7 hour training ride sunday getting ready for the burn

jg

an update from boone, nc:

hello all. i miss seeing you guys, but i don't miss riding the flats lands... some pictures from a 'road' ride on 4.22.08. 67.05 miles 5:37 ride time 6300 feet elevation gained three pave (gravel) sections. come visit and bring your bikes!!!

i hope you enjoy.

my fly new bike, super six, sram red, 16.2 lbs:

three top road, view towards todd, nc:

me on three top rd:

the peak, ashe county, nc:

me climbing snake mountain (from nc-88), nc (1500 feet, 6 miles, 42 minutes):

snake mountain, nc:

boone pave, umm.... gravel:

raysweather.com photo of the day april 25th, 2008:

2008 - a new season, a new spirit

2008 began with the horrible accident that took Scott Matty's life and nearly crippled Jeff Davis for life. Jeff's progress in his recovery has been mind boggling in how well he is doing.

Our race season is dedicated to both Scott and Jeff. With that said - the year has started off pretty well. The road team has taken off with a great big bang!

Tundra Time trial saw the boys get two top 10's in a very competitive field with times that rival top finishes in previous years.

ALBANY - Georgia Cup
As Georgia Cup is the series we typically focus on - 2008 is not different. The GA Cup started in Albany in early March. Georgia Cup is a stage race format - modeled after more famous races like the TdF. Each stage earns the rider a time and the combined times of a riders events determine how their stage race placing turns out. Albany started well with John Stowe taking the Cat 4 Prologue and Steve Murray taking second in the Cat 4 -35+ group. The prologue was a very technical course with 12 turns in just over two miles.

The criterium was a 8 turn technical course and John again performed well with a top three finish and more MAR points than his competitors. The other guys did okay, but not like John. Also racing were Matt Ragan (fresh off knee surgery) and Victor Karm- V-man, Jonathan Cook, Steve Murray & Ryan Crabbe.

The Road race was pancake flat and the temps were brisk. Ryan Crabbe put in a monster sprint and placed 4th, John got 8th and the rest of us finished. For the RR, there were the addition of Shane Irvin,Bill Swain and Kevin Adams to our group.

Perry-Roubaix Series 7 Weekend (TT, circuit race and the RR with "Georgia Pave")

The TT was a tough one - 12 miles on rolling hills with rain looming. Steve & John each placed 3rd with good times. Matt & Victor also had good rides with top 20 finishes.

The circuit race saw some bold, aggressive riding from the faithful crew. The under 35 crew rode first. John finished 12, Matt 18th and Victor 21st. Steve placed 5th in his circuit race.

The RR was a tough course with hills, wind and a two mile dirt road on each of the 4 laps. John did great with a 4th place and next was Matt, Victor, and Ryan Crabbe. In the 35+ race - I have an excuse- a guy hit me and took me down on the last lap - threw my wheel out of true and I chased for 9 miles and never caught on. I finished 19th.

Mountain Bike - Macon Arrowhead TrailI have no details of the course- but Nicki Sutherland placed 3rd in the women's Expert group and Jose Mendez placed 9th in the men's Sport group

Columbus Race

Nicki Sutherland - 2nd place
Jose Mendez - 3rd place
Victor Karm - 4th place
Gabe Denes Jr. - FIRST PLACE
Dayton Preston - 13th place

Gainesville - Georgia Cup

For Gainesville -it was just Matt Ragan and Steve Murray. The weather was horrible. On Saturday, we awoke to heavy rain and got to race both our TT and RR in it. Did I mention the temps were mid 50's. That may be fine for Belgium, but this is Georgia for crying out loud!

Poor conditions worked well for me. I won the Cat 4 35+ TT and had a good RR. I took a flyer off the front with a few hundred yards to go. I was leading until about 40 yards when 23 other riders stormed by. Oh well. I still got the same finish time, so I had a lead going into Sunday. Matt rode a good TT and RR as well.

Sunday the weather got better and Matt and I both had good crits. I got 8th and didn't loose much time. I ended the weekend winning the stage race by 1.4 seconds.

Chattanooga - Georgia Cup

Matt Ragan and Steve Murray were the only riders from CBR to attend. The weather was great, the courses were great and we had a good weekend. Kind of.

Steve missed first in the TT by .5 seconds. It was a 5.5 mile TT with 3.5 miles of gradual climbing. The last portion was fast. Matt thought the course was 9 miles and didn't crank it up until the very end.

The crit course had six turns and was blazing fast. Matt's group had just over a 29 MPH average for the crit and mine had a 28.6 - really fast. I finished 8th and was going into Sunday with a 4.5 second overall lead. The RR was in a beautiful valley just below Lookout Mountain. Matt had the misfortune of getting wrecked by a guy 5 miles in and had to ride the race in the wheel truck. I rode a solid race and with 3 miles to go got behind a big wreck. I chased the group in front of the wreck, but never caught them. I finished :19 seconds back. The final results have me placing 2nd overall and Matt is not listed since he could not finish the Road race.

So far - So good!

Scott Matty, you will be missed!

Matthew Scott Matty

February 3, 2008 is a very sad day. Scott Matty was lost in a tragic accident while returning from a Sunday training Ride. The day started like many similar Sunday morning rides. Several people rolled out onto lightly used county roads. Our group had six riders and we planned to travel from Ellerslie to Talbatton and on to Buena Vista, Georgia and back. It would be a nice 85 mile ride. The weather was nice and Scott commented that he wished all our rides had weather like today.

Jeff Davis

We reached Geneva and Scott and Jeff Davis decided to cut their ride short to get home earlier. Unfortunately for all of us, more than the ride was cut short. As they were riding single file along the white line on the right of the road, a young driver hit both Jeff and Scott from behind. They were just 2 miles from their parked cars. Scott passed away at the scene and Jeff was airlifted to the hospital. Jeff underwent the first surgery to relieve pressure on his spine. He will have at least two more surgeries for fractured disks and multiple breaks in his left leg. His prognosis is good with a long and painful rehab and recovery.

Our prayers go out to the families of both Scott and Jeff. We are fortunate that Jeff will remain with us and be back on his feet soon. Scott was the proud father of three beautiful girls. He also leaves behind a loving wife Sherry.

In Scott's death we have lost a fine man. Scott was the friend you always wanted, always smiling, happy and just fun to be around. If he was on the bike - he was attacking or just about to. You always knew what to expect. The profound sadness I feel with his passing is beyond words and will be with me for a very long time. Scott you will be missed!

CBR looks back to warmer weather!

The CBR race team competed in more than 279 events in 2007. Of these events, 167 were placings within the top 10. CBR had 49 podium appearances which included:
27 - First place finishes
16 - Second place finishes
6 - Third place finishes
Rankings based on USCF rankings listed as of September 15, 2007.

CBR State Champions
Nicki Sutherland - Georgia Women's Sport Mountain bike
Ryan Crabbe - Georgia Men's Category 5 Road Race
Benjamin Weinbaum - Alabama Juniors Road Race
Benjamin WeinBaum - Alabama Juniors Time Trial

CBR series results
Georgia Championship Series
Women sport - Nicki Sutherland - Winner
Men Sport 30-39 - Jose Mendez - 6th Place
Men Sport 19-29 - Joseph Grimes - 4th Place

New Jersey Cycle cross Cup
Men's - Mike Reardon - 1st Place

Georgia Cup Series
Men's Masters - Scott Matty - 7th Place
Men's Masters - Steve Murray - 8th Place
Men's Masters - Barry Carswell - 17th Place
Men's Cat 4 - Matt Ragan - 15th Place

National Rankings (12 top 25 rankings!!)

Mountain Biking

Nicki Sutherland - Womens Sport mountain biking - FIRST (as of September 2007)

Jose Mendez -19th place Men's 35-39 Sport class

Joseph Grimes - 22nd place Men's 19 -24 Sport class

Team Time Trial (as of January 2, 2008)
Matt Ragan & John Stowe - Cat 4 - tied in FIRST
Ryan Crabbe - 5th
Scott Matty & Steve Murray - Master's - tied in 5th Place

Stage Race (as of January 2, 2008)
Category 4
Matt Ragan - 3rd
John Stowe - 5th
Ryan Crabbe - 15th
Master's 45+
Scott Matty - 11th

Individual Time Trial (as of January 2, 2008)
Matt Ragan - Cat 4 - 14th
Scott Matty - Master's 45+ - 14th

CBR's achievements built on 2006's results which resulted from 246 events raced with 2 state championships and the winner of the Norba National Series by Ursula Sandefur - women's expert 45 -49. 2006 also saw multiple CBR riders ranked in the top 10 Nationally.