We are stoked to present this guest report from Jon Woodroof (@twotoneatl)! Jon is a dad, bike racer/commuter and entrepreneur in Atlanta, GA. We hope to have more from him and others this summer so stay tuned.

Roswell, GA | April 28th 2013 | CAT 3/4 Criterium

Oh man. Why the rain? This was literally my second ride on my Speedvagen. Freshly dialed & prepped with the PRO service from Chris at Loose Nuts Cycles. I was ready to ape it. Or was I?

After some debate of wether or not to brave the weather, I stepped up to stage for the CAT 3/4. Strategy: keep it cool & see how the race goes. And save some gas for the 2/3 I had also registered for.

The whole ‘keep it cool’ strategy is a common one for me. I never follow through with it. Mid-crit I jumped & tried to get away, having had some success with that in East Atlanta last year. (By some success, I mean getting away & getting reeled back in) That happened today as well. So I sat back in.

More pain face. I ended up back towards the front with 3 or 4 to go. Tempo ramped up but my cohorts weren’t keen to pull so I easily made it to the front & with some great encouragement from my trackie bud Nathaniel Rowe, we made an attack getting several seconds up. We took turns pulling for two laps. I made this face the whole time.

On the bell lap I went berserk. Suddenly realizing I could pull this off I ape’d it full power & brought it home. Second ride on the bike, first crit of the season & I managed a win. SO. STOKED. I decided to not push my luck with two rainy crits in one day & went home already looking forward to Sandy Springs.

[Photos courtesy Mike Waine]

Sandy Springs, GA | May 5th 2013 | CAT 2/3 Criterium

Fueled by my glory last week & mid week success at the track, I rolled up to the staging are for the CAT 2/3 race feeling great.

Sandy Springs’ route is known for the final sprint’s climb. It gets more brutal each lap & got the best of me this year! My instagram caption below sums it up:

Doh! The @SandySpringRace #SandySpringsCrit was a tough one. The 2/3 field had some heavy hitters driving the pace. I had ended up towards the back. Worked my way back mid pack. Then founds myself tail gun’n once again. With 15 to go I got pulled. Bummer! Shout out to @rualrite for an impressive win. Looks like @danchabanov was right. ; ) Congrats to you guys on a solid #speedweek!

Lessons learned? My first two races on my Speedvagen span the spectrum of highs and lows on the bike: winning & getting dropped. I’m lucky to have such a reliable steel steed to carry me through the ups & downs of racing & training. Not to mention turn a few heads in the process. The bike felt exceedingly stiff compared to the alloy rig I rode previously. It is a great feeling to go toe to toe in competition with such a unique bike. It spurs confidence & is an honor to own such an amazing piece of craftsmanship. More reports to come!

Jon Woodroof | twotoneatl.com

Just in time for Summer! You can find the new Speedvagen caps at the Vanilla Workshop.

These caps are 100% cotton and made in the USA. They have a traditional bill and classic Euro-style 8-panel construction with cotton twill tape inside. The sublimated ribbon matches our team kit and says ‘Speedvagen Integrated’ with our unicorn on it to add a little magic.

A little bit of everything this weekend. Keep ‘em coming!

The response to the first Weekends post was fantastic so I’m going to keep the series going.

@archcloth completed the Flèche NW on her Vanilla rando rig. Congrats!

Our friends at @LeaveItOnTheRoad put in a ton of miles over the weekend. We’re getting their bikes together but @mtabtabai has been riding a Speedvagen since he got his 2010 Surprise Me! road.

 

I shaved my legs for the race this Sunday. More out of excitement than anything else but there’s always the practical matter of road rash and in the 4/5 race that’s always a real possibility. This is the race I’ve been waiting for. It was my first road race two years ago and though I had put a lot of time on the trainer it didn’t add up to much on the road in those freezing conditions. But I learned a lot by volunteering and riding along with some old timers. I never managed to finish with my group and vowed to return in two years, after my son was born. Those races were a bit of a last hurrah as having two kids in the house was going to take some work and time away from the bike.
So, now it’s two years later and time to give it a go. I’ve mixed training up a bit and been doing more riding, even lost 18 lbs. So I figured it was time to give the old legs a little attention. What surprised me was how much of a camouflage that thin layer of light brown leg hair concealed.

Theres a pretty good sized bruise on my right leg from a futsal match two weeks ago that I hadn’t noticed. I have a lot more freckles than I thought I did, thanks mom! And then there are the scars, some new ones likely thanks to a slip of my hand, but others relatively ancient. So many memories locked up in those misshapen spots of repaired flesh. There’s the ACL repair from getting hit by a utility truck as a messenger in Columbus, OH more than a decade ago. The nickel sized remnants of my first attempt at skitching (holding onto the side of a car on my bike) in high school, now 20 years ago; it didn’t end well. And the time in middle school when I jumped off the bridge into the Yakima River and hit something deep in the water, maybe part of an abandoned car or discarded appliance, probably just a rock. That thing looked worse than it was but it healed poorly and its still there, just below my right knee.
I wasn’t expecting a  trip down memory lane when I lathered up but I’m glad it worked out that way. It was nice to take a moment and remember where I’ve been, and look at my kids and know we’ve got a lot more living to do and scars to collect.

We  had a lot of fun with Dean DePaco’s (@merckxy) Workbench Racing set on Instagram last week! Here’s the whole series in review, a look back at some turning points in the race and a few out takes as well. Thanks to everyone who cheered our racers on and participated. This won’t be the last time you see Workbench Racers at the Workshop.

Departing from Vice and making their way to the File forest and the first big climbs of the day.

A welcome sun break as they entered the File forest warmed their spirits and the breaks started forming.

An early break on the Col du Bent aka the Bastard.

Team Red protecting their man in yellow and pushing the pace at the front.

Blue challenges our leader on the final climb of the week and they separate from the safety of the peloton as they enter the Village of COAT.

The break is caught in the narrow streets of COAT.

(Obligatory aerial shot)

It’s on as they approach the 1K mark and the Park de Triomphe!

Yellow makes his move on the left with just meters to go!!! It’s going to be a photo finish folks!!!

Blue pushes through the line to take the stage! Yellow will be rewarded for his efforts with the overall win of the 2013 Ronde de Vagen!! Thank you for joining us for this week of racing on TVW. Stay tuned for more #workbenchracing from a shop near you. Special thanks to @merckxy for letting us kick off the season, it was a pleasure and a privilege. Have a great weekend and remember to take it to Eleven everyone!

The final sprint from our friends in the sky.

If you or your shop want to get involved just email Dean and he’ll get you in the game!

Next are a few moments that didn’t make it to Instagram but were pivotal in the overall race for GC. Enjoy!

The team time trial in the prologue really showed how tight this red team was early in the game.

High in the mountains of the Lathe range.

Racing through the streets of Tinté.

The infamously dangerous Tinté cobble sectors were lead out by the youngest of the peloton. Naive? Maybe, daring, definitely!

A welcome sun break in the flats allowed the peloton to refuel.