BoldSprints Omnium Series underway!

Once again a pack of sweaty bikers took over the All Asia Bar in Central Square on Sunday night for Boston BoldSprints presented by BostonBiker.org. This round of racing was the beginning of the BoldSprints Omnium Series where everyone competes for Omnium points that can win you some dope prizes. I have to say, this thing is really starting to blow up.

Between the racing, the $2 High Lifes, and DJ Mayhem laying down the beats, everyone seemed to forget about how miserable it was outside and just have a good time.

Our favortite inkman Andrew Snowden of Fat Ram's Pumpkin Tattoo in JP contemplates the pain that awaits him in his qualifying attempt against Mat from Marathon.

Andrew also races for the Cambridge Bicycle Track Team.
Come watch him devour his competition at the New England Velodrome this summer! Or better yet, come race him!

More photos of that kind of fun right here.

This week was the introduction of the wind resistance units, which provide a more accurate feel as your speed increases. The question of the night was whether to gear up and spin it out or gear down and power churn, AKA the Harlem Sage Shuffle. It's a balance that each competitor has to figure out for him/herself, but the best times were set with fairly monstrous gears. The top two times of the evening were set on a 52x14 and 49x14, respectively. That's 100 gear inches. Each week the equipment choices will get more refined, so I expect the times to get more consistent as the event continues. In the future, I hope to see an open class where road bikes can be used along with nitrous and amphetimines. But they say I'm a dreamer. Oh well...


David Wilcox from Broadway Bicycle School brought the power of the rooster. Squeaky rooster. Actually, the rooster serves as a bit of an airbag, keeping David from bashing his forehead into the bars. Once he reaches peak RPM, an odd resonance occurs and every 16 pedal strokes the rooster gets a little lovin'. The best part was Seth and Nick running around looking for their chainlube.


2007 Messenger World Champion Peter Bradshaw looked confident after felling Tall Erik in the quarter-finals. The WC came into Sunday's event as the defending BoldSprints Champion, but was unlucky enough to draw big Josh Schwartz of MIT Cycling in the semi-finals. There was a lot of talk about whether anyone would break 40 seconds on the revised set-up, and if there was a race in which that was likely to happen in would be Bradshaw vs. Josh. Bradshaw took seconds off his qualifying time, but it wasn't enough when Josh set the best time of the night @ 40.52. The third race of the evening is a hard one, and the WC was sent back to the bar. Josh is a man possessed, see for yourself:



There's five thousand dollars worth of bike gear in this single photo, and that does not include the Cannondale track frame. Can you find it? Lightest track shoes on the market, and one of the most expensive cranksets ever. Like I said, possessed.


Ian Sutton, no, the other Ian Sutton, of Seven Cycles was able to unseat Jacob$ in the semi-finals, with both men racing on frames they built. Ian also shares space with Marty of Geekhouse Bikes out in Allston. It's good to see the New England framebuilding community growing. Want to start building your own bikes? Talk to some of these guys and find out how they got started. The wealth of framebuilding knowledge and experience in our region goes much deeper still. There's Independent in Somerville, Mike Norton of ANT Bikes on the south shore, Chris Igleheart on the north shore, Peter Mooney in Belmont, Toby Stanton of Hot Tubes, Mike Zanconato, and Tony Maietta all out of Worcester, Circle A in Providence, and of course Richard Sachs in Connecticut. So the next time your thinking about buying a new bike, think "Handmade in New England."


The finals: The Rockstar vs. The Mad Scientist.
The odds were against Ian, and so was the money, but I took the long shot just in case. Here's how things worked out:

The womens races proved to be some of the most exciting races of the evening. For me, it was Tasha vs. Lodrina in the semi-final. I've seen Lodrina race at the track, and I know she's fast and she's competitive. Tasha, however, is a bit of a wildcard. I've seen her kicking ass on the cross course, but BoldSprints is a power game, and her size is a disadvantage on a stationary bike. However, the two were right on top of each other for 3/4 or the race, everyone screaming there heads off like crazypeople, until Lodrina put in a strong kick at the end to move into the finals. So it was Lodrina vs. Lauren in the finals, and Lodrina proved the strongest again. Who's going to unseat this Champion? Bring it, March 30!

Lodrina and Josh each won copies of Embrocation Maga zine along with other swag from Cambridge Bicycle, plus the coveted Omnium Points!


And as usual, all finalists win chocolate from Taza Chocolate. Made right here in Somerville. And you can usually score some from Alex even if you're not racing. That's reason enough to come out next time, March 30!


WTF happened to this guy? Now that's what I call a bowl of cheeries.

More photos can be found here.

Qualifying Times:

racer  secs
Josh 42.82
Jacob 43.83
Ian 44.23
Peter Bradshaw 44.25
Tall Erik 44.73
Alex Whitmore 44.77
Eric S 45.88
x Jeff x 46.89
Seth 46.98
Mur 47.16
Harlem Sage 47.34
Jordan W 47.41
Mat W 47.44
Conor 47.45
Andrew 47.55
Jeremy S 48.36
Craig Roth 48.66
Bryan 48.99
Lang 49.43
Graham 49.48
Shane 50.48
Dan 50.63
Brad L 51.29
David W 52.17
Andrew S 52.24
Lodri 53.28
Lauren 54.51
Luke 56.93
Arwen 57.99
Natasha 59.05
Mary 59.60
Nicole 60.93
Kate 64.85
Michelle 65.10

Finals: (add a decimal: 5048 is 50.48 seconds)
Shane 5048 Andrew 4755
Mary 5960 Arwen 5799
Bryan 4899 Mur 4716
Dan 5063 Alex Whitmore 4477
Seth 4698 Ian 4423
Josh 4282 Graham 4948
Harlem Sage 4734 Jeremy S 4836
Lodri 5328 Lauren 5451
Jordan W 4741 Jacob 4383
Conor 4745 x Jeff x 4689
Peter Bradshaw 4425 Craig Roth 4866
Nicole 6093 Michelle 6510
Luke 5693 Brad L 5129
Tall Erik 4473 Lang 4943
Kate 6485 Natasha 5905
Eric S 4588 David W 5217
Mat W 4744 Andrew S 5224
Alex Whitmore 4351 Ian 4294
Peter 4175 Tall Erik 4290
Josh 4255 Seth 4507
Lodri 5251 Natasha 5466
Eric S 4549 Jacob 4314
Lauren 5363 Arwen 5624
Josh 4052 Peter Bradshaw 4269
Ian 4290 Jacob 4846
Lodri 5164 Lauren 5424
Josh 4251 Ian 4375