2/4/2007 Usery Pass Road Race Phoenix, AZ
Before Guy East cheered on the Indianapolis Colts to Super Bowl victory last Sunday he spent the morning opening his season at the 110km Usery Pass Road Race outside of Phoenix. The Usery course features three major climbs that traditionally would not have suited Guy yet with 10km to go East launched a blistering attack in pursuit of the early break that had escaped on the first lap. Guy was joined by Dan Schmantz (BMC) and the two riders road across the gap just in sight of the finish line. In the end Guy sprinted to a fantastic 5th Place finish at the Arizona season opener.
For full results visit: http://www.ProConCyclingAZ.com/UPRRresults2007.pdf
2/6/2007 Sakonnet Riders Travel to Tour of Belize Belize City, Belize
Riders Andy Cornelison, Gavi Epstein, Guy East, Rob Giannini along with Sakonnet alumni David Wiswell (NERAC.com) traveled today to Belize City for the M&M Engineering Tour of Belize. The Tour is an eight day nine stage event that begins on February 10th and features a mixture of road races, criteriums and various time trials including a team time trail. The Sakonnet group will be racing the event in a composite team sponsored by local company Sun Digital Photo.
To follow the race visit: http://www.TourofBelize.com
2/8/2007 Introducing New SKNT Rider Gavi Epstein
Gavi Epstein is a 21 year old racer originally from Toronto Ontario but currently hailing from Englewood New Jersey. Gavi comes to the team from the fabled G.S Mengoni amateur team that has produced championship riders like Greg Lemond (Tour de France winner 86, 89, 90), Steve Bauer (Olympic Bronze medalist and Classics standout) and most recently George Hincapie (1998 and current U.S. Road Champion and Lance Armstrong’s right hand man). Gavi joins the team as a G.C threat for the shorter stage races; his strengths include climbing, time trialing and racing in a break away. Expect to see great things from Gavi in 2007 – Editor.
Editor: Tell us a little bit about yourself?
I am 20 years old. I was born in Toronto, Canada but moved to the USA when I was pretty young. I grew up for most of my life in Englewood, NJ where I currently live, and spent a few years living in London, England in between.
Editor: How did you get into riding?
I first started riding when I was 11 years old and received a flyer at school, in England, for a 35 mile bike ride for charity. I thought it would be fun even though I had never really ridden my bike too far before and had a cheap mountain bike. I had such a great time doing it so I started doing more of them. By the time I was 13 I was riding my cheap mountain bike everywhere and decided to buy a road bike.
Editor: How did your first race go?
My first race was a spring series race in central park at the beginning of March. I was 14 years old and had no idea what cycling clothing to wear. I had no idea what tights or leg warmers were. All I had was a jersey, arm warmers and shorts. It was freezing cold and only one lap into the three-lap race of 18 miles I was dropped. I pressed on and I even finished the race by myself.
Editor: What are your strengths and weaknesses on the bike?
I would say my strengths are that I can climb and suffer well in a hard break away. My weaknesses are sprinting.
Editor: What do you miss the most when you are away from home traveling to races?
Of course I miss my girlfriend*, but other than her I don’t really miss much. I love traveling.
Editor: What would your perfect 2007 season on Sakonnet look like?
I would like to grow into a strong all around rider. Gain more experience racing at the top level here in the US. I would like to get a good placing at the Tour of Virginia, get on the podium at the Canadian National Championships, accumulate some NRC points, and most importantly get to grow with my team mates so that we can all help each other achieve our goals.
Editor: What do you like to do when you aren’t riding your bike?
I love cooking. I love cooking in different styles and different cultures, learning about different tastes and textures. If working in a kitchen as a chef was not such a hard demanding job I would do it now, but I could not handle the demands of working in a restaurant and being a bike racer at the same time.
Editor: What is the last movie you saw (what did you think about it)?
The last movie I saw was called Promises, which I really did enjoy since I feel everyone should have the right to be happy and live in peace, especially kids. It is a documentary made by and American/Israeli in between the first and second Intifada (Palestinian uprising) when there was a “peace agreement” between Israel and the Palestinians. The journalist went and interviewed children, both Arab and Jewish. From this you could see how some of the children on both sides had such a negative education of non-acceptance of the other side. Yet you could see in the movie that it was not hatred that kept them apart but fear of each other, because of the violence that goes on. In the end the journalist actually brought together children from both sides and it turned out that they had more in common then they actually thought and became friends, playing together.
Editor: New York City, L.A or Denver?
I would say just outside of New York City, almost the same as where I live now. I love the culture and atmosphere of the city, especially the cycling community in the city. I love being close enough to the city yet far enough away from all the commotion and having easy access to some good riding.
*NOTE: At the time of the interview Gavi was dating the lovely Viviana, his girlfriend of two years. On December 28th Gavi and Viviana where married in a beautiful ceremony in Englewood. Congratulations Gavi and Viviana!
