Young Medalists High Performance is going through some changes these days with some exciting additions expanding the coaching program to other locations in USA and introduction to the Norwegian Cycling Community. Stay tuned for updates in January 2012!

In the meantime, for those of you who are not racing cyclocross, I hope you have or are in process of setting your goals for 2012 and planning your training and racing to accomplish those goals. Anyone who needs help with this and looking for a great coaching program are welcome to contact us at maybritt@youngmedalists.us we accept new clients in USA and Norway. We also work with Junior cycling clubs for group coaching and training club coaches – just ask us.

Best of luck with the 2012 preparations!

May Britt

LMC is a very small school in Banner Elk, North Carolina, right in the heart of the Appalachian Mountains. After a nine hour drive from PA to NC, I quickly realized that this was not the tiny, isolated school I had imagined. Surrounded by mountain peaks on every side, the town of Banner Elk dwarfs everything about you. Everywhere you look, switchback mountains reach up into vaporous clouds; and you stand in wonder as your coach tells you that’s where we’re headed today.

This immensity makes for an interesting test of drive, however. It takes all that you have to push despite the fact that you still have four miles left on a seven mile climb and you’re about to break. You get a personal reward for pushing to be the first one to the top.

But the camp was definitely not simply a grueling battle against the mountains. There was plenty of time to relax and socialize in between rides. Many of the riders at the camp took advantage of LMC’s vast array of college-owned mountain bike trails and downhill courses. Pool tables, foosball, and TV were all on-campus options for relaxation.

LMC riders accompanied us on most of our rides, usually showing us up on most of the climbs. The coaching staff was phenomenal, and the campus, albeit small, was a great place to stay. And maybe after ascending some of NC’s mountains, those hills in PA will become puny little risers for me.

Reported by invited rider Matt Voyer (16) from Blandon, PA 

Four riders from the local junior development team stood on the five-place podium during three days of racing among the fastest teens in the nation.

 The Young Medalists strongest showing was in the 50-kilometer criterium race on Friday, June 25. In that race, Juan Carmona, an 18-year-old from Breinigsville proved again that he is one of the fastest sprinters in the nation. Carmona edged out other racers to win a field sprint to the finish line and take the second place medal.

Wes Kline, 17, of Emmaus, was almost as fast. His strong sprint at the end of the 31-mile race earned him the fourth-place spot on the podium.

Robin Carpenter, 18, of Philadelphia, finished 13th and Zack Noonan, 17, of Kutztown, crossed the line in 16th place to give the Young Medalists four riders in the top 20 – a showing unmatched by any other team in the nation.

Jeff Alpert, 18, of Coopersburg, finished 53rd of 118 who started that race.

Carpenter again made a strong showing two days later in Sunday’s 113-kilometer road race. He broke away with seven other riders early in the race. They stayed out in front until the last lap of the 70-mile race and Carpenter hung on for a fourth-place finish.

Noonan was second in the field sprint to earn eighth place. Carmona was 13th and Kline finished 67 of 128 riders.

Again, it was the strongest showing of any team in the nation.

Noonan had begun the team’s podium appearances earlier in the competition with his fourth-place finish on Thursday, June 24, in the 24-kilometer time trial.

 Next, the team will return to the East Coast for the Fitchburg Longsjo Classic in Massachusetts this weekend. Then, the Young Medalists will be on the home concrete of the Valley Preferred Cycling Center for the Junior U.S. National Track Championship, July 8-11. It is there that Noonan and Carmona will be attempting to qualify for the Junior World Team.

The Young Medalists will be staying close to home for the Nicole Reinhart Memorial Tour de FCCC, July 17-18. On July 19-25, select team riders will be traveling to Canada for the international Tour de l’ Abitibi stage race where they hope to continue their winning ways.

Local youth bicycle racers finish top 20 in Europe and win regional races

Juan Carmona,18, of Breinigsville, was riding hard through northern France in a group of nine other bicyclists. The group, from the United States and several European countries, were nearing the finish of the junior version of the famed Paris-Roubaix race when Carmona’s tire went flat.

With no support car in sight, Carmona rode on his rim for three miles before he was able to get a replacement wheel. Then, in a show of speed, Carmona charged the last seven miles to cross the line 20th of the 66 riders (out of 120 starters from 20 nations) who finished the brutal, 78-mile race which is famous for the 16 sections of cobblestones over which the racers must ride.                                                   

Carmona, 18, was the third American across the line in the April 11 race. It was his best showing in five weeks of racing with the American national team of 17- and 18-year-olds. The team competed In races in Belgium, France, Germany and the Czech Republic.

Carmona earned his spot on the U.S. Cycling Junior Development Team with his strong performance in regional, national and international races. He is a runner up for the 2010 Junior World Championships and has compiled Impressive results as team captain of the Trexlertown-based Young Medalists/Team Dual Temp.

While Carmona raced in Europe this spring, his Lehigh Valley teammates have continued to win in regional competition.

At the Tour of the Battenkill, in Cambridge, N.Y., on April 10, Robin Carpenter, 17, of Philadelphia, took third and Zack Noonan, 17, of Kutztown, was fourth in the men’s 17-18 race.

Kody McCracken, 16, of Wellsboro, won the men’s 16-19 division of the Mid-Atlantic Duathlon Regional Championship, held near Doylestown, April 11. He then went on to take 6th place in his division at the USA Duathlon National Championship, in Richmond, Va., April 25.

The team made a hat-trick at the Lower Providence Criterium, PA-Bar, on April 18, with Carmona, Noonan and Carpenter placing first, second and third in the men’s 17-18 race. McCracken took first place in the men’s 15-16 race. Magnus Hartwell, 12, of Breinigsville, was first in the men’s 10-12 race and Andres Weller, 11, of Emmaus, was third place.

Carpenter went on to win the men’s 17-18 race at the Pocono Raceway Criterium, May 9, and McCracken won the men’s 15-16 race.

At the Tour de Syracuse, Syracuse, N.Y., on May 22-23, Carpenter won all three of the tour’s races and the overall win in the men’s 17-18 competition; Hartwell won the overall competition in the men’s 10-12 race, Mark Yaroshevsky, (age, hometown), was third in the overall; and Emily Krause, (age, hometown), was second in overall competition in the women’s 15-16 race.

Matt Voyer, 16, of Blandon, finish in on the podium with a strong 2nd place finish at the Clarks Summit Criterium – PA Bar, May 29.

And, at the Tour of Somerville, in New Jersey, on Memorial Day, team riders took five of the top seven spots In the men’s junior race, with Jeff Alpert, 18, Coopersburg, taking second, and Noonan, third, Carpenter 4th, Carmona 5th and Matt Muney, 17, Darien, CT, 7th.

The local team is the racing program of the non-profit Lehigh Valley Cycling Club. The club and its team were established two years ago to develop elite junior cyclists, age 10-18, who can compete regionally, nationally and internationally.

Under the leadership of former cycling Olympian and World Medalist May Britt Harwell, Young Medalists/Team Dual Temp cyclists have during the two seasons won 33 medals in national championship events, 55 medals in state championship events and 19 medals in regional championships. The team also earned more than 50 wins in local, regional and national level road races.

Earlier this year, the team learned it was selected by USA Cycling to receive a Development Foundations Center Excellence Award – the highest amount given a junior program. And, for the second year, the team has been fortunate to receive support from title sponsor Dual Temp, a Lehigh Valley-based mechanical contractor.

In the coming months, Young Medalists/Team Dual Temp will be racing in Oregon, Vermont, the Atlantic region, Quebec, Canada and local road races in Pennsylvania, and locally on the track at the Valley Preferred Cycling Center. On Aug. 16, the team will host its own race, the Oley Valley Road Race. The event will serve as the junior state championship road race for both Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

More information about the team can be found at ymteam.com and youngmedalists.com  

Information about Pennsylvania Cycling Associations: http://www.pacycling.org/

Photo by Anthony Skorochod, Cycling Captured.

Juan Carmona is born in Pereira, Colombia but is both US and Colombian citizen. For the last three and half years Juan has been living in the Lehigh Valley, PA with his sister, uncle and dad to pursue education and the sport of cycling. Juan finished high school this past January and is looking to an exciting season as last year junior cyclists. Now being out of school and with the Paris-Roubaix on his race calendar, Juan set course for his home town in Colombia to visit his American born mother and to get away from the wintery Pennsylvania to be able to train in good conditions outdoors for few weeks.

Here is a “travel letter” from Juan writing about his experience racing the Copa Colombia de pista in Pereira February 12-14, 2010.

One good experience!
 
Racing in Colombia has been a complete different mind changing experience. I just happened to be here when one of the most important track races in the country was going on, I was invited since my old friends and club support knew I had some experience on the track. I knew little about the racing in my native country, I never had the opportunity to compete in this type of event. Along with my enthusiasm came some problems, I didn’t have a bike and the local league resources were very scarce. I knew I wasn’t going you have the best bike or equipment since I had been invited to participate. The first couple of days of track training I did were a mind opening experience about the poverty and low support this young athletes have. Race time had come and prepared or not racing we were. The first event I had the opportunity to participate was the kilometer, a race I had never done before, although I knew plenty about it. I was first out of all juniors, a minute and some seconds later I had the best time although there was still the waiting time. All juniors were done and to my surprise I was still first. I had become a celebrity among the other young juniors hiding from the killer sun under our own tent. The scratch race, the points race and elimination were the group races i competed in also. A strong field, aggressiveness and good racing were some of the characteristics that accompanied these events. Being able to watch and race with people of low resources really thought me a lesson.. I really wish more of us fortunate United States citizens were able to see for ourselves what desire and the wants to succeed really are. 

Cheers,

Juan Carmona

The athletic aspect camp consisted of what I would call “cycling two-a-days”, where the team would have two rides per day, varying in intensity. Sometimes these rides focused on time-trialing, circuit-racing, or caravan skills. Saturday and Sunday included the most intense rides of the weekend, with a mini “stage race” with three stages over two days. Apart from the riding, we had plenty of time after and in-between rides, and with the group of guys at the lodge, hilarity and a generally fun atmosphere were bound to ensure. Nerf-wars, BB-gun target shooting, bonfires, and “The Lonely Island” music were among the non-cycling elements that made it such a fun camp. The general objectives of a camp of this sort are to improve and observe the ability of the riders on the road, and to help them bond off of it, both of which were accomplished.

After leaving the house Sunday afternoon, the YM team still knew there was more to come. The grueling Tour of the Battenkill was the next Saturday, and we as a team had to be ready for it. Most of our school weeks were again cut short, as we started our drive back up north, farther this time, to Cambridge, New York, where we would race the closest thing to a true one day Classic in North America. Coincidentally, Young Medalist teammate and USA junior national team member Juan Carmona would be racing the junior version of the King of the Classics, Paris-Roubaix, the next day, giving the Young Medalists/Team Dual-Temp riders even more reason to persevere at the race’s American counterpart.

Over the 62 miles of dirt and poorly paved roads, and despite a protected rider’s crash, the team came out of the Tour of the Battenkill with Robin Carpenter and Zack Noonan finishing third and fourth, respectively.  The jarring race proved no match for the Young Medalists, the best finishing team.

Two weeks of treacherous terrain and exciting racing show the bond that the team shares and our ability to work to pull out a great camp and a great race. YM determination was visible even hundreds of miles away and hours after Battenkill when Juan Carmona pulled out a astounding 20^th place after flatting with just 20km to go in the junior “Hell of the North”. As I type this, the Battenkill team has settled down and Juan is just coming home, and the past two weeks have shown nothing but an remarkable outlook for the rest of the 2010 Young Medalists’ Season.

—by Matt Voyer YM Team member.