Well, the season has nicely wrapped up and while some of us are busy with cyclocross racing and training and others of us are busy with dusting off our rain bikes, there is lots of glory in the middle and the end of the 2010 road race season that has gone unreported here. So here we go!

Cheney State Championship races, mid-June
Cheney was the site of the State Championships Crit and RR this year. Several Garage racers donned their dry-weather gear and headed east. The crit was Saturday, on a hard but nicely technical *9* corner course in downtown Cheney. We only had two Cat 3s in the field, but the technical finish served us well. Alex Rosenast placed 2nd, and Tom Wick placed 3rd in the mad dash to the (state-championship) line. The Cat 2 race was next, and after a (typical) flurry of attacks throughout the race, Kyle Farrell got away with three laps to go, which suddenly became two laps to go after a mix-up with the lap cards. Todd Herriott came up and joined him, but the two stayed away for Kyle getting 2nd place in the race. Congratulations!

The next morning was the road race, on a fantastic point-to-point 76-mile course. The Cat 2 race was first, and a strong breakaway of six went up the road with no Garage representation. They stayed away, but Hitch placed first in the pack sprint for 7th place, and Kyle Farrell was close behind in 10th for the day. The Cat 3 race was interesting. After promising teammates that he wasn't going to do anything stupid like attack early in the race, Tom attacked within the first two miles of the race and ended up riding solo off the front for about 45 miles. Three people ended up bridging to him, and then one of those flatted. Alex spent a good amount of time off the front of the pack trying to bridge up to the leaders, but he wasn't able to get up there. The break stayed away, and Tom got 2nd in the race. Alex Rosenast and David Hills got 8th and 9th on the day, with 5th and 6th in the pack sprint. A great day!

Nikos Mills got 7th in the Masters A State Championships crit in Olympia on June 26.

Boston Harbor CR State Championships, June 27
Master A, Robert Powell 3rd, Nikos Mills 6th, Jay Hilwig 8th, Mike Burdo 10th
Men 1-2: John Sindell 4th, Chad Marion 6th, Kyle Farrell 10th
Men 3: Alex Rosenast 1st (State Champion!)

Elma State Championships TTT, July 11
As usual, Garage posted some great results here. In the Cat 2 race, our team of Brian Hitchcock, Kyle Farrell, John Sindell, and Jason Bethel placed 2nd overall, just SIX seconds behind first place.
The Garage Cat 3 team of Aaron Berntson, Aaron Lavin, Alex Rosenast, and Tom Wick won their event, for the third year in a row!

Bellingham Senior Stage Race State Championships, July 16-17
Morgan Coleman 7th Cat 3
Kyle Farrell 9th Pro-1-2

Tenino TT State Championships, August 1
Master A: Robert Powell 3rd
Master B: Aaron Berntson 1st, with a time that would've won the Master A event, would've won the Cat 3 event, and would've been top ten of the Cat 1-2!
Cat 3: Alex Rosenast 3rd, Steve Zeliadt 8th
Cat 1-2: Kyle Farrell 6th, Chad Marion 10th

Lake Washington Velo Series, August 8, 14, and 28
The Masters B-C category was owned by Garage racers. Alex Rosenast repeated his last year's win at the first race at Skagit Flats. For the second race in Gig Harbor, without Alex, Aaron Lavin stepped up and took the win. The final race in Carnation was a very close sprint, and Alex Rosenast took 2nd place and the Masters series title.
Also in Carnation, Chad Marion unleashed a great sprint for 3rd place. (That's him - by a tire width - in the picture here.)

Crystal Mountain State Hill-climb TT Championships, August 21
Master B: Morgan Coleman 1st, nearly two minutes ahead of 2nd place!
Cat 1-2: Kyle Farrell 6th, Brian Hitchcock 9th, John Sindell 10th

Seward Park Season Ender, August 28
Cat 1-2: Brian Hitchcock 9th
Cat 3: Aaron Lavin 8th
Master A-B: Jay Hilwig 8th

And Garage racers did exceptionally well in the Seward Thursday night summer race series:
6pm race (Cat 3-4): Alex Rosenast won the series easily, with results across the entire summer. Aaron Lavin was 3rd place, and Michael Wasserman was 6th.
7pm race (Cat 1-2-3): Kyle Farrell placed 3rd.

And, finally, the final 2010 Washington State Bicycle Association season standings were covered with Garage racers:
Masters A: Robert Powell 4th, Nikos Mills 6th, Kyle Farrell 9th
Masters B: Morgan Coleman 7th, Aaron Berntson 8th
Men 1-2: Kyle Farrell 4th, Brian Hitchcock 7th, John Sindell 10th
Men 3: Alex Rosenast 1st, Tom Wick 3rd

All in all, we had a fantastic season. And we'll be back strong next year!

Garage is two months into the 2010 season, and we have produced some outstanding results!

The season started back in February with the Frostbite TT, on a nice and dry and not even particularly cold day in Snohomish. Alex Rosenast chalked up Garage Racing’s first win of the year, with a stellar Cat 3 time. Kyle Farrell placed 5th in the Pro-1-2 category, Chad Marion was 7th, and John Sindell was 10th. Jason Bethel was 6th in Masters. Our season was underway!

The next weekend was the Icebreaker TT in Auburn, and Alex Rosenast dominated the Cat 3s again, with another win! Jason Bethel placed 8th in Masters, and Kyle Farrell placed 8th in the Pro-1-2.

Mason Lake 1 was the next day, the first Sunday in March. The weather was again surprisingly nice, and results flowed. David Hills placed 8th in a very fast Masters 2-3 race. In the Cat 3 race, Aaron Berntson spent most of the day off the front, and he was only caught 1km before the finish. After a pretty harrowing crash around 500m that removed Morgan Coleman, Aaron Lavin, and much of the rest of the field, Tom Wick sprinted for 3rd place. In the Pro-1-2 race, Brian Hitchcock was active and off the front for the end of the race, and he ended up placing 4th.

Garage Racing and Kryki Sports co-promoted the Sequim Road Race #1 the next Satuday. We had record numbers, with just shy of 500 racers! People loved coming out and racing on the peninsula and getting more good dry weather racing in. We all volunteered to help the event run smoothly and we didn’t end up in any results from the day.

The next day was Mason Lake 2, and “Mr. Consistent” David Hills chalked up a 9th place in the Masters 2-3 race. Michael Wasserman was 10th in the Cat 3 race.

The next weekend was Garage Racing/Kryki Sports’s Sequim 2. Again we had huge numbers of racers, thanks to the good weather and the well-promoted race! David Hills was 7th in the Masters event, which proved to be our only result of the day. (Way to go, David!)

Mason Lake 3 followed, and Kyle Farrell was good enough for 8th in the Pro-1-2 race. Michael Wasserman turned in a 7th place in the Cat 3s.

The Independence Valley Road Race, on Garage Racing’s “home course” was a mixed bag. In the morning races, Michael Murdin placed 7th in the Masters race. We had no Cat 3 or Pro-1-2 results, unfortunately: many of the Cat 3s were victims to various problems (crashes and mechanicals, mostly).

The Ravensdale-Cumberland Road Race was the next day, and though we didn’t bring a huge Garage contingent, our Brians still did well. Brian Estocapio was 3rd in the Masters race after spending most of the day off the front in a break. Brian Hitchcock placed 10th in the Pro-1-2. Hitch spent a large part of this rainy day off the front with a few others. And (non-Brian!) Michael Wasserman placed 5th as Garage Racing’s lone rider in the Cat 3 race! Nice!

The first weekend in April saw a race on the east side of the state, the Frozen Flatlands Omnium near Spokane. Two Garage riders made it over there: Chris Broyles raced Cat 4, and Brian Hitchcock raced Pro-1-2. Brian placed 9th in the first day’s (cold!) time trial and then he won the first day’s (cold!) road race. The next day, Brian placed 4th in the second road race, enough to WIN the overall Pro-1-2 omnium! Congratulations to Brian for his first Pro-1-2 win!

The Volunteer Park Criterium was the next Saturday, and Nikos Mills placed 5th in the Masters 1-3 race. Michael Wasserman placed 8th in the Cat 3s. Chad Marion placed 9th in the super fast Pro-1-2 race.

The next day, Olympic View Road Race near Elma was a new race for the calendar. Several Garage riders went to this race. In the Masters 1-3 race, Jason Bethel placed 4th, Aaron Lavin placed 6th, and David Hills placed 9th. In the 90-mile Pro-1-2 race, Kyle Farrell spent more than 50 miles off the front with a few others, and he ended up placing 2nd. Brian Hitchcock placed 9th.

The first Washington stage race of the year was next: the Tour of Walla Walla stage race. Garage Racing brought several racers to the event. The Pro-1-2 and the Cat 3 events started with a road race on Friday evening. Brian Hitchcock placed 9th in the Pro-1-2 category. In the Cat 3s, Matt Heck and Christian Kittleson stayed with the front group. Saturday was a TT and then a criterium. In the Masters TT, Alex Rosenast placed 7th. Matt Heck was 7th in the Cat 3 TT (with what I think was his first time on a TT bike!) In the Masters criterium, Nikos Mills and Dan Hazzard picked up some primes, and Tom Wick finished 7th. In the Cat 3 criterium, Matt Heck and Michael Wasserman gained some time on some of their competitors by staying with the front group in the blistering-fast race. Sunday was the road race. The Masters race ended up coming down to the final 3km climb, and Kevin Masterson stayed with the front group and placed 7th, gaining lots of time on most of his competition. Alex Rosenast was near the front as well, also solidifying his general-classification standing. At the end of the event, Alex placed 7th in the Masters GC! In the Cat 3 race, Matt Heck stayed in contact with the front group, and ended up taking 7th place in GC. Nice job, all! (And thanks for arranging the team house, Steve Z!)

Garage Racing has started the season with lots of high placings, a few victories, and a lot of great teamwork and comraderie. Here’s to more of the same!