Stage races were on the weekend menu with Armed Forces Team members contesting a total of 18 weekend events.

Beth Mason placed ninth in the general classification in the Tour of Ephrata, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Her results included a fourth place in the Farmersville Challenge Road Race where she placed second in the field sprint. Then she had to overcome some bad luck in the Pain Mountain Time Trial -- 8 miles with 1025 feet of climbing, all in the final four miles. Beth posted an 11th place finish even after a chain problem required her to get off the bike at the three mile point. She got back on and back into time trial rhythm and was very happy with her final placing. The Ephrata Criterium was the final event but Beth was eliminated with a mechanical with only three laps to go in the race. Overall, she was a bit disappointed about the circumstances but feeling good about her fitness and race form at this point in the season.

Holly Borowski rode the three-event Madera Stage Race in Madera California. A 13th place finish in both the Madera Crit and Sharon Time Trial left her wanting to move up in the standings with only the 70-mile road race left. Holly rode well and felt good in the road race finishing between 5th and 8th. GC results not available.

Steve Mlujeak raced in Ann Arbor Michigan's Willow Run Time Trial, the first race of the Michigan Challenge Point Series, placing 12th. The race was 13.2 miles on a 2.2 mile loop. Steve recounts, "I made a rookie mistake and went out too hard on the first lap. The two best TT guys in the midwest went by me just after my start and I made the mistake of trying to stay with them without drafting, and I went over the RED LINE for too long. I had a great first two laps but then had to back off and find my own pace. Although this was 29min and 42 seconds of suffering, it was a great threshold test and this will give me updated heart rate zones to train by!"

Michael Gallagher rode for The Valley Athletic Club in the Methow Valley Stage Race in eastern Washington and helped his team capture 2nd and 3rd place overall finishes. The event started with a hilly 10-mile time trial where Michael placed 17th, followed by a 60-minute crit where he placed 13th but, more importantly, helped teammates to place 2nd and 3rd. The final event was an 82-mile road race where, according to Michael "we needed to place either of our guys two places in front of 1st to win overall in the final road race. Our 2nd place got off the front with one other rider and I was the workhorse to keep that move off of the front. The 1st placed leader blew his team up in 10 miles trying to bring it all back together and, in the process, isolated himself. We won the final stage but could not get the two positions in front of the leader to take the overall win like we wanted. Our plan worked correctly but our opponent was strong and deserved the win."

Ian Holt raced the 80-mile Deer Trail Road Race in Deer Trail, Colorado, placing 18th. The race included heavy winds, rain and hail throughout! According to Ian, "There were three big teams and a couple of pros and attacks were very numerous until a group of 6 guys got up the road in the head wind that the teams liked. Unfortunetly, I wasn't able to get into it and we spent the next 40 miles at a crawl. At one point I realized there were huge gaps opening up and the pack was shattering. I went into time trial mode and actually caught and passed 10 guys one-by-one and closed the gap to the chase group but was unable to catch them."

George Ganoung finished an overall 45th in La Vuelta de Bisbee in Bisbee, Arizona with 9,250 feet of climbing in 177 miles of racing. From George - "I have done this race 4 times now and this year was a bit more aggressive then in year’s past, the teams were more organized. I finished about where I expected in the prologue, the times were a lot slower then previous years due to a strong headwind all the way up the climb. Stage 1 was fast from the start, with constant attacks for the first 30 miles or so until a small break got away. At 4k to go, the break still had 40 seconds and the field just accelerated hard all the way to the line. I hung on and finished 35th about :20 seconds behind the 5-man break, covering 80 miles in just a touch over 3 hours. The afternoon TT went so-so, I was only 1:05 off the winner and a handful of seconds out of a top 10. The last day was again fast from the start with constant attacking for about the first 35 miles. Finally something got away and the field slowed down a lot. Within about 10 miles the break got 4 minutes and the GC teams got nervous and started riding tempo. Five miles later the break had 4:30, and then things got rough as the GC teams worked hard in the long cross-wind section leading into the final climbs. The gap was down to about 1:30 when we got to the base of the climb and the tempo just kept on going. I ended up 47th on the day."

Rebecca Gross also contested La Vuelta de Bisbee in Bisbee, Arizona with a women's format the same as the men's. Rebecca finished 26th in the general classification after a 29th place prologue, 25th in the Sulphur Springs Road Race, 31st in the time trial and 27th in the Tombstone Road Race.

The Next Week at the Races:
3 May:
Steve Mlujeak - Bloomer Park Velodrome Track Races, Rochester Hills, MI
6 May:
Shawn Olin - Barrio Logan Grand Prix, San Diego, CA
Beth Mason - Poolesville Road Race, Poolesville, MD
George Ganoung - Poolesville Road Race, Poolesville, MD
Rebecca Gross - National Mountain Bike Series #1, Fontana, CA
7 May:
Beth Mason - Bunny Hop Criterium, Suitland, MD
Steve Mlujeak - Gone Azalia Road Race, Milan, MI (The Paris Roubaix of Michigan)
* Michael Gallagher has reserve duty so he won't be racing this weekend
** Holly Borowski has military work to do and will resume racing on 13 May
*** Andy Shaw is recovering well and doing boring trainer rides for now!