M I crooked letter, crooked letter......

Mississippi Grand Prix, Brookhaven, Ms.
April 20-22, 2007
Cleve Blackwell

Team Myogenesis Nutrition PB Landmark Dodge headed off to Mississippi with Cleve Blackwell, Travis Sherman, Casey Magner, and Ron Williams. Accompanying the Myo boys would be Eric Murphy, from the AEG-Toshiba-Jetnetwork crew (also the marketing director for Myogenesis Nutrition). The Stage Race would be made up of some large teams, such as Herring Gas (Louisiana), Memphis Motorworks (Tennessee), and Compliance Depot (Texas), just to name a few. Friday night would be the first stage of the weekend, a criterium around downtown Brookhaven. The race was fast, and we we’re attentive. Cleve ended up working himself into a late break. Casey was able to bridge up on the shirt tails of Jason Snow (Cycle Science). Casey 4th , Cleve 5th

Saturday would be an 80 mile Road Race. Casey and Eric Murphy would work themselves into a 6 man break on the last lap. Cleve, Ron, and Travis would stay behind to keep the group in check. Coming into the finish, Casey pulled out of his pedal, not once, but twice and still managed to bring home the bacon with his first WIN as a pro 1,2 and would be in the yellow Leaders Jersey.

After the TT, there was a new person in yellow, Eric Murphy.

With Eric in yellow and Team Myogenesis helping protect his lead, the last day of racing was tough. All we had to do was keep the group together and little E would win the overall. We performed our task with laser guided precision, and Eric took the overall. Casey came in with a 4th in the race and with that, secured 4th overall. LOOKS LIKE THE NEW MYOGENESIS “PODIUM” MIX IS DELIVERING AS ADVERTISED…PICK SOME UP FOR YOURSELF…… www.myogenesis.com

Things are looking good for the crew, as they rest up and get geared up for the USA Crit Series (www.USACRITS.com). This is going to be a tall order, since we will be locking horns with some of the best and fastest racers that North America, and the World for that matter, has to offer.

Check back periodically throughout the week of the races for little blurbs from the team.

Until then …………….

Blistery B'ham

This Easter Weekend would be a family affair for Cleve Blackwell, Jackie Soladay, and Little E Eric Murphy (known collectivly as TEAM FAT KID). The crew packed it up and headed out to Birmingham, AL, to race an exciting circuit around Barber Motor Speedway (AMS track) . Team Myogenesis Pb Landmark Dodge would only have Cleve,Travis and Michael racing this weekend while the rest of team would be circling the ATL, preparing for the weekends ahead. Their new motor scooter has also been getting amp'd for the USA CRIT SERIES, April 28- May 6. Also, Ron Williams has been spotted in California at his training camp for US Para National Team. (www.ronswilliams.com)
Saturday morning "The Family" awoke at Travis's house, ready to start the day as soon-to-be infamous Team Fat Kids (founding members Eric- vice pres, Jackie-Public Relations, Cleve-el presidente). Since it would be several hours before the first race of the day, the decision to get good fuel was at the top of the agenda. 1st stop: the brand new Whole Foods in Homewood, Al. Team Fat Kids was in there for over an hour. Not only was everything shiny, new, and organic, there were samples in EVERY ISLE! Highlights included the ever popular red and green grape section and the newly discovered Olive Oil counter...over 50 different olive oils to sample with delicious Whole Foods baugettes. The team decided to make a meal of it and headed over to the Hot Plate section for breakfast. It was incredible to say the least. Eric and Jackie had such a hard time deciding what kind of muffin to get that just shrugged their shoulders and got one of each. It's always better to be safe than sorry! After loading up on a few essentials from the grocery part of Whole Foods, the team departed, in search of bigger and better (and more delicious) sights.
Next stop: Big Sky Bakery in the epicenter of Homewood. Again, tummys grumbled at the sights and smells. The aroma led the group right to the door. Fresh bread has a way about itself; no matter how full one is, one can always make room for a piping hot, fresh-out-of-the-oven loaf. The clan left with a batch, intending to consume all in their way.
TFK decided to take a break from all the calories and got to get motivated by making a store stop where all those calories can be burned. With 4 hours til go time, the boys decided to see a good friend Mike Hurly at Bob's Bikes (Homewood). After a long overdue ragging, they secured a Myogenesis Nutriention order from him and headed off to the race.

The group got to the race about 3 1/2 hours early, and boy was it cold and windy. The race had a metric century ride prior to the race, so a little marketing time for Myogenesis was in order. The press box up over the race track was a great place to meet and catch up with old friends and potential new customers. Barber Moter Speedway is a beautiful track: a challenging course with a lot of twists, turns, and dips, proving difficult for any level of racer. Jackie (Land Rover/ The Briar Rose) would have the 1st race of the afternoon. With a harsh wind in her face, she got her 1st "W" of the year. Good job girl.
Now Cleve and Eric have to get ready and race , and slowly the guys got out of the car to brave the cold weather and wind to try to warm up. Team Myogenesis (Micheal,Travis,Cleve) and Eric (AEG- Toshiba Jet Network) would cruise around, trying to keep circulation and spirits high. The game plan was for Team Myogenesis to get in a break and have Eric bridge to it. From the gun, all teams were shooting bullets out with attacks (Team Hincapie, Memphis Motorworks, Team Type One, Team Bookoo/BBC, RPM) When all said and done, Cleve was in a break with Terry Duran (Team Bookoo/BBC), and Eric Murphy and G.W. Winsel? (RPM) would come join the break. In the break, the tempo ramped up yet again by Terry and Cleve and Eric would be the only survivors going with him. With one lap to go, Eric attacked and held it. Eric (AEG) won, Cleve (Team Myogenesis) 2nd, and Terry (Team Bookoo/BBC) 3rd.

With money in their pockets, wind burn on their noses, and empty stomachs growling, Team Fat Kids would stop off in Decatur to celebrate their victories with some fine Belgium beers, cheeseburgers, and good conversations at Twain's. All was right again in the universe.

This coming weekend, the Myogenesis crew will again be spread amongst 3 races. The first being Raccoon Mountain, in Tenneesee, the second being the Rock Hill Omnium, South Carolina (what a classic!, and it's now a Gerogia Cup) and the NRC race in Jacksonville, Florida
Stay tuned for more reports.

By: Cleve Blackwell (severe editing by: Jackie Soladay, even further editing by Brady)
4-08-2007

Tsali Knobscorcher MTB Race

Mud In My Eyes!

Here it is several days after the Knob Scorcher Mountain Bike Race at Tsali, NC and I am still finding mud and feeling the effects of the mud that littered Sundays race course. A constant barrage of rain Saturday night and all day Sunday morning made an extremely fast trail an extremely treacherous one.

Saturday was the first time I have ever ridden Tsali and I was stoked.. lots of climbing, only a few fast technical downhills (I don’t like those), and lots of fast single track. I felt confident in maybe taking home a win, especially coming off of a win at a few weeks ago in Macon, GA.

After pre-riding we found out our host for the weekend had bailed on us so we had to find a hotel, which fortunately was pretty easy and only 50.00 bucks a night. We met some friends for dinner at an Italian restaurant in Bryson City. The owner/chef was a large Italian guy so I expected the food to be really good…. It wasn’t. My grilled trout was okay but my pasta was overcooked and the sauce just OK. How does an Italian overcook pasta?

Back to the hotel I sacked out pretty quick as I had spent the previous two days and nights in Athens, GA, which many of you know translates to out late having drinks two nights in a row. Throughout the night I heard the sound of thunder rolling through sky, the crackle of lightening, and the pitter patter of rain. These sounds are nice for sleeping but are a recipe for nastiness when it comes to mountain bike racing.

We had learned of a local coffee shop, so when we awoke we made our way to downtown Bryson City to have coffee and pastries, only to find that the coffee shop was closed on Sundays. Isn’t Sunday one of the best days to sit around drinking coffee? Fortunately I had scoped out the cities eateries on the way to the coffee shop and had noticed a bustling little diner called the Everett St. Diner, which we decided to patronize. It was amazing… some of the best grits I’ve ever had , awesome pancakes, and homemade muffins that would make you slap your momma! Stuffed and bloated we headed to the race.

We had a good 3 hours before we raced and I spent most of that time sitting in the car listening to music as the rain came in 10 minute increments. As the race start approached, I slowly got ready and got what would be a very inadequate warm up. It’s just plain hard to get motivated with such nasty conditions and before you know it you go from “I’ll get a good 45 minute warm up” to “ahhh I’ll just use the first 10 miles of the race as a warm up”… the later never being a good decision.

Our start was delayed due to a rider that was injured and having to be taken out of the woods via a four-wheeler. This allowed for more, much needed, warm up time. About 45 minutes later we were still delayed and the officials decided to change the course, which ended up being good news for me. Now instead of a short dirt road climb that dropped into a downhill single-track section we would climb for over a mile before hitting the single-track. This was good because it would allow me to try and get somewhat of a gap before descending on slippery muddy trails (if you can’t tell by now I’m not very fast on downhills, too many years away from the mountain bike).

We finally got started and as we ascended the fire road climb I sat in and waited to see what kind of pace the others would set. I found myself riding very comfortably when the climb really started to go uphill I decided to hit the front and lift the pace. Within a few hundred meters I was alone with my teammate Cleve Blackwell in 2nd. I kept the pace high all the way up wanting to build as big a gap as possible.

By the start of the 2nd lap I was still alone with at least a 5 minute gap. I felt awesome buy my bike was starting to feel the effects of the nasty conditions. My tires were some of the worst you could use in muddy conditions (this is being fixed with my new Maxxis Tire sponsorship that I acquired just after the race), my rear brake no longer worked, and my eyes were absolutely trashed from a constant spray of muddy water and chunks of mud. The worse my brakes and eyes got the slower I went. I put in another hard effort on the start/finish climb and any other climbs I hit, but the downhill sections I had to take pretty easy. Only having front brakes and a dry weather tire I started to crash anytime I hit my brake and wasn’t going in a straight line.

After several crashes, I was ready to throw my bike into the woods and I began to get very frustrated.. I wasn’t even going hard or fast and I was crashing. My vision was pretty blurry by now and I figured the guys behind me would probably start to catch me, but at this point I just wanted to finish the race without any broken bones.

As I neared the last couple of miles of the course a guy informed me that the race had been cut short and we would finish on this lap. Better news couldn’t have been heard!
I could put it in cruise control and win no problem, another lap may have been a different story. I crossed the finish line and immediately ditched my bike. Several people were there to help me out as I couldn’t keep my eyes open anymore. My sinuses were also flowing like crazy trying to flush the barrage of mud that invaded my whole head.

A huge thanks to Jackie Soladay and the others for helping me after the race…. I was a mess!

We hit a killer little restaurant after the race and I pounded 2 beers to help me sleep as my eyes were still very irritated and sleeping was the only cure.

My eyes are better and thanks to my neighbor Drew, that works for The Bike Center (another team sponsor), in Peachtree City my bike is better too!

-Eric Murphy