During Garage Racing's attendance of the Tour of Walla Walla stage race, a teammate pointed out that the house where the team stayed is listed forsale.  Garage Racing gratefully appreciates the current owner of 329 Summers Circle using their property as a vacation rental.  And to the future owner, Garage Racing would like to express our commitment of continued rental of and intent to stay at 329 Summers Circle annually during the Tour of Walla Walla.  This post highlights to those considering purchase of 329 Summers Circle the various amenities that Garage Racing appreciated  during our stay.

First, ample parking.  The property just has way more parking than we could make use of.  Jason Bethel attempted to take up as much parking space as he could in this photo.  He even opened his car door and stood (hidden) in the driveway to take up more space.  Yet there was still adequate room for the rest of the gang to park.  Amazing.





Arguably second after car parking is bike parking.   And whoa, did 329 Summers Circle impress. A three car garage gave us real estate galore to park bikes.  You'll notice no double parked bikes in the photo at left!  You'll visually notice the security of the garage, and our bikes, was significantly increased by leaving some strategically placed stinky shoes.  Be glad it's a photo only.  Future owner of 329 Summers Circle, please contact Kevin Masterson to obtain a custom set of stinky shoes.




As important as bike parking is chamois parking.  With only two floors one would think banister space is at a premium.  Not at 329 Summers Circle.  The picture at right only displays the beginnings of creative thinking for airing out race clothing.  Modern lycra just wants to breath, and 329 Summers Circle delivers with a massive amount of linear footage for hanging said lycra.  Joe Baum's clothes may serve as an even better security system than the shoes in the garage.

The best thing about coming home from a race up and down the roads of Waitsburg is a smile from man's best friend.  And 329 Summers Circle is smile friendly and dog friendly.  "Duke" and "Buddy" were put work in the feed zone at Sunday's Kellogg Hollow Road Race.  Sean Philips attributed his 2nd place finish to the St.Bernard style-brandy barrel Duke provided in the feed zone as Buddy went Cujo on the rest of the pack.

And where would a house full of guys be without mom to look over them?  The watchful eye of Katharine Hepburn at 329 Summers Circle is ever present as one takes care of business at one of four of the bathrooms.  The future owners of 329 Summers Circle will very much appreciate her attentive eye on their every "move",

USA Cycling Permit numbers 2013-747 and 2012-752.

Garage Racing and the Audi Cycling Team present this year’s annual Sequim races on Saturday 16^th March and 23^rd March. The races take place in the rain shadow of the Olympic Mountains just outside Sequim on the peninsula. The course is same as previous years and is dry, fast and mostly flat with a few rollers and makes for excellent early season racing.

See Link for course details.

Pre-registration:
Be careful to register for the correct date!!
For the 16th March Race pre-reg closes at 9pm PDT on 14th March go to
Race #1

RESULTS
For the 23^rd March race Pre-reg closes at 9pm PDT on the 21^st March go to
Race #2

RESULTS
Also for pictures see
Race Pics

Day-off registration is available, but pre-registration is recommended especially for Cat 5 men as the race may fill up. For everyone else it’s just more convenient.

Prizes
This year we will have Cash Prizes totaling over $2400 for the two races.
We merchandise prizes from FSA, SKS, Osprey, boon, Swiftwick, Center Cycles, Garage, Golazo, Tutta Bella, and of course growlers from Georgetown Brewing! Thanks to all for supporting our local races!!

Note: Women’s Cat 1-3 race has the same prize money ($499 each race) as the Men’s Cat 1-2 race (as it should be). So Cat1-3 Women please come out and support this event!

In addition and new for this year, there will be a Women’s Cat 4A and Cat 4 B race. The Cat 4 B race is intended for beginner/starting Cat 4 racers who wish to race separately from more experienced Cat 4 racers. Please note however we do need to have a minimum of 20 racers registered for both these races by 12^th March for race #1 and by 19^th March for race #2, otherwise we’ll have to run the races combined at the 10am time slot.

Race distances for 16^th and 23^rd March are different for some categories.
See flyers at Race #1  and  Race #2

Directions – for more details see flyer.
Recommended route is via Edmonds-Kingston ferry for Seattle area racers. Total travel time to race venue from Edmonds (includes ferry) approx 1hr 40 mins, and from Kingston approx 1 hour 5 mins. For schedule see Edmonds-Kingston Ferry

From downtown Seattle via Bainbridge Island (travel time approx 2hours) from Bainbridge ferry terminal approx 1hr 25mins.
For schedule see Seattle-Bainbridge ferry

Photo by Dennis Crane

For some, the road racing season is only a warm-up to the real racing season of Cyclocross.  This year has been no exception.  A dedicated group of Garage Racing faithful have been tearing it up on the Seattle CX scene across a multitude of categories in both of the local cross series.

The season started with a bang with a resurgent Matt Hill taking second at Big Finn Hill in the Cat 1/2 45+ group.  This served as a warning shot to all in that category that Matt was back, and with a vengeance, after recovering from a serious back injury.  With consistent placing in the following races, Matt broke through with a victory in the Starbucks SCCA race at Marymoor.  Taking a cue from Matt's script, Nikos Mills raced the Garage colors to victories at the Lake Sammamish GP, Starcrossed, and Woodland Park in the Cat 1/2 45+ field. 

Not to be outdone, Sean Phillips was also racing with notoriety.   Unfortunately for Sean, a big, bad luck cloud seemed to be perpetually parked above his head as he found new and novel ways to break his bike.  Center Cycle, our excellent bike shop, got very used to greeting Sean on Mondays after a weekend of racing. However, we all know this is just a transitory bad patch, and Sean will be tearing it up soon (the course, that is).  

With only the final SCX race at Monroe and the CX State Championship left, the local cross season is coming to a close.  From the dust-bowl conditions of Starcrossed, to the mud and cold of Steilacoom,  it's been another eventful cross season for Garage Racing.

The road season has been over since early September giving the guys at Garage Racing enough time to recover, reflect, and most importantly meet up to figure out what actually happened.  So what did happen in the last months of racing?  Oh, some national championships races...

Starting small and working our way to big: Road Masters Nationals were in Bend, Oregon again this year.  Both Alex Rosenast & Kyle Farrell competed in the time trial, with both ending up mid-field in their age group packs.  Jason Bethel went on the attack in the road race, spending the majority of the race in a 2-man break and doing it the hard way.  Unfortunately an active peleton combined with a long finishing climb didn't work in Jason's favor.

Much bigger: Track Masters Nationals in Colorado.  Aaron Berntson went down and represented Garage in a big way.  I haven't done much track racing myself, but the piece of advice I got from Aaron was about not having a sprint, going for the break, and dieseling it to the line.  "If you're a one hit wonder, ride that pony."  Aaron certainly did in the scratch race.  After trying a couple late moves Aaron managed to pull a gap off the front.  Six laps later Aaron was first across the line for Gold at Nationals!  Congrats Aaron!

Last weekend the numbers three and four came up repeatedly at the Capitol Stage Race.  Three days.  Four races.  Four Garage riders in the 1-2's.  Three races with fourth place finishes.  Garage finishes fourth in GC.

Friday began the stage race with the 72 mile Capitol Forest Road Race with John, Zach, Qayam, and Kyle at the line with the 1-2's.  John Sindell made the selection for the break of the day, working with four other riders to start the weekend with minutes on the rest of the field.  John finished over two minutes up on the pack and in fourth overall after stage one with Zach covering late attacks in the field.

Stage two was a short 3.6 mile time trial on Deschutes Parkway in Olympia.  Kyle Farrell pulled fourth on the stage, finishing 26 seconds behind race leader Ian McKissick (Audi).  Let's skip over stage three; the crit was our greatest miss of the weekend with a field split putting John & Zach down in time and Kyle missing all the time bonuses.  doh!

Stage four, the 90 mile Queen Stage, got Kyle Farrell in the early break with four other riders.  The break amassed over 11 minutes on the field by the halfway point at Elma.  Logan Owen (HB) attacked the group on one of the return climbs and was not seen again.  The remainder of the break rolled across the line still 5 minutes ahead of the next finishers, securing Garage's fourth in GC.

Tough weekend with many local teams bringing out their A-game.  Garage Racing is looking forward to the upcoming July crits!

The Wenatchee Omnium, known this year as the Beast of the East, always crowns only the most deserving champions.  This year was no exception in the Masters A field with Kyle Farrell taking the overall title in dominating fashion.  

The Garage Masters team sent a strong squad consisting of Mike Burdo, Kevin Masterson and Nikos Mills in support of Kyle.  Neil Casserly and Morgan Coleman joined the team on Sunday for the road race.  Excellent teamwork and strong riding resulted in Garage winning every event, taking all three KOM spots, and three-fourths of the crit primes.  And when all the omnium points were tallied, in addition to having Kyle in 1st, Nikos took 2nd and Neil and Morgan 9th and 10th.

Though great teamwork ruled the weekend, the first stage--a rolling time trial held in 20-30 mph winds, was all about individual performance.  Kyle outpaced the rest of the field in winning the first stage.  That afternoon's crit was a windblown affair.  After an aggressive start by several Garager's, Kevin soloed for off the front to pick up the first prime.  Shortly after Kevin came back to the field, Kyle did his own solo thing and promptly lapped the field in the span of only a few laps, collecting 2 primes along the way.  The finish saw Kyle finish 1st and Nikos 3rd.  

Sunny skies and upper 70's greeted the racers for the last stage: a 60 mile/6000 ft of climbing affair.  Kevin, Mike, and Neil quickly set a hard tempo on the bottom slopes of the Malaga climb.  Morgan sped off and spent most of the first lap off the front collecting valuable KOM points along the way.  By the midpoint on the second time up the Malaga climb, Kyle and Nikos were able to get away with Marty Heck, a very strong rider from north of the border.  Kyle was a force to be reckoned with and did the lion-share of the work to set Nikos up for the stage victory which vaulted him to 2nd overall.

The Garage Masters team is hoping to continue the trend of aggressive riding, great teamwork, and strong results this coming weekend at the Capital Stage Race.  

The last few weeks of the racing season have seen a truly remarkable run of victories by the Garage Masters team.  Excellent teamwork, aggressive racing, and raw horsepower have resulted in a string of 5 consecutive wins for the men in red and black.  The Garage Racing juggernaut has shown the rest of the peloton a clean set of rear wheels at the following events:

• Olympic View Road Race: 1st - Aaron Bernston
• Green Valley TT: 1st - Alex Rosenast
• Vance Creek Road Race: 1st - Nikos Mills
• State Warmup TT: 1st - Aaron Bernston
• Ravensdale Road Race: 1st - Aaron Lavin

Adding to the victory tally, the Masters team has yet to lose a race in 8 straight appearances at Pacific Raceways.  With a several tough stage races and crit season coming up, the Garage graybeards are gearing up for some more fun--and hopefully, some more wins.