La Clasica de Almeria

120 professional cyclists took the start Sunday in the Spanish one day classic Clasica Almeria. Among them were Tom Peterson and five of his Garmin-Cervelo team mates. The parcours on the day saw three categorized climbs along the 180 kilometer route characterized by sparse vegetation, unrelenting cross & tail winds, and gruelingly undulating terrain. As the cyclists crossed kilometer zero drops of rain began to fall on the dry arid landscape and upon the Spanish roads infamously known for their oil slick attributes when wet.

Immediately from the neutral racing was aggressive. The American Garmin-Cervelo team responded in unison covering and initiating moves over the first 60 kilometers, each rider took turns powering into short lived escapes, each distinguished by an imperfect composition of teams. At kilometer 95 the race came to the second of the three mountain classifications and aggressive racing continued. Peterson Bicycle’s Tom Peterson responded to the aggression and accelerated to cover a chaos of attacks all the way over the mountain causing the peleton to split into bits of 20 rider groups. Tom continued to ride aggressively on the decent off the mountain where numerous riders found themselves on the ground due to the oil slick nature of the road. Navigating the fallen riders Tom was soon in a select group of over 25 riders. No one in the group was eager to work with the others and so the pace slowed. Behind however, more crashes marred the peleton and in fact it too split into four groups, so despite the slow speed of the front group, the groups behind were not speeding towards the finish line either. Finally the groups came together and a small 3 rider breakaway was allowed to ride at two minutes ahead of the peleton.

The sprinter teams took control of the race smelling the scent of a field sprint and began to reel the three riders in the front back in. At the end of the day the Garmin-Cervelo team was satisfied with their day of racing having been in every move of the day and felt they had good condition after a very hard day of unrelenting racing. Tom Peterson spoke on the day of racing saying “I had a big surprise today, normally coming straight into a one-day race I have problems getting my legs going, but today from the gun I was feeling really well. Straight away I was in moves, initiating moves, doing everything I was capable of. For sure there was a moment when I was a bit afraid of the roads; they were so wet and slippery. I’ve never been riding my bike straight and felt like I was slipping before. It was a bit nerve racking, but at the end of the day everything turned out all right, I’m really happy with my condition just coming back from sickness at Algarve. Good things are to come for sure. Next race is eroica in Italy, I think it will go fantastically.”

Tom will use the next four days in Girona as preparation to continue with his current form in the Italian one day classic Monte Paschi Eroica.

-Peterson’s PR Team

Expansion and Renovation

Peterson Bicycle is continuing its expansion. Here are a few renovations to come in and look at over the next few days:

-New tile floor

-1200 sqft of additional floor space

-New “Island Style Counter/Point of Sale Area” for mechanics/staff

-Espresso Area- more to come on this

-Surround Sound System

-An expanded inventory of bicycles and accessories

We encourage you to come by and check out the renovations.

-Peterson’s PR Team

Volta Algarve

Tom Peterson of Peterson Bicycle flew south on Tuesday February 15^th ahead of the Portuguese early season stage race Volta Algarve. Having just finished the Tour Mediterranean Tom had no expectations coming into the race other than to help his team mates throughout the race and perhaps try for something towards the later part of the competition. Unfortunately on Monday the 15^th Tom began to feel a bit of a head cold coming on. He raced Tuesday and tried to recover over night but the illness only increased and he was forced to abandon by not taking the start Wednesday morning. Tom said “It’s really a shame. I felt great coming out of Mediterranean and I really was excited to have a go here. Portugal is one of those countries you don’t get a chance to race in often and I always relish the opportunity. Unfortunately I picked up a bug straight after Med and that has only escalated. Perhaps I should have quit the 1^st stage half way through instead of pressing to the finish and hoping to feel better the next day. I probably just made things worse.” Tom will fly home on Thursday morning and begin to rest up and recover for his next race: the one day Spanish classic Classica Almeria.

-Peterson’s PR Team

Tour Mediterranean

Stage five of the tour mediterranean saw Tom Peterson slip into a break away on a hilly and intense 185 kilometer course. After 20 kilometers a group of twenty riders rode away and Tom Peterson was presented in it for Garmin-Cervelo. Unfortunately the group failed to work efficiently together and after 85 kilometers Francais De-jeux had managed to bring the group back to the bunch and until 100 kilometers the peleton fought within itself as riders attempted to jump away. At 110 kilometers 3 riders escaped and the peleton relented. With a major climb at the finish Tom Peterson's Garmin-Cervelo team stuck together towards the front and protected Dan Martin in his attempt in the final. At the end of the day the team placed well and the team has high hopes going into its next phase of racing. When asked about the racing quality and whether he was satisfied with the way the race turned out, Tom Peterson said "Tour Med is an excellent prep race. The riders are fit, and they're motivated. Plus, whenever you're in France for racing you get great intensity and a nice jump start in early season handling skills. I hadn't thought we would have been able to pull off a lot of the moves through the towns like we did. Sometimes it's like a video game this time of year. I'm looking forward to the next couple of races though and the form is really good and the motivation for myself is definitely good as well. I think great things are to come."

-Peterson's PR Team

Lady’s Clinic Huge Success

Peterson Bicycle’s first Lady’s clinic on bicycle Maintenance was a huge success. Guest instructor Jessica Cutler brought her savvy as a bicycle mechanic to the shop and lead two great classes on basic and advanced bicycle maintenance on Sunday. Peterson Bicycle is currently planning more similar classes in the future. After the class Sunday, Ben Peterson said "I thought the class was great. We had a ton of ladies show up. For what we were offering the two hour session was a huge success, and really something that I think in the future will be a big draw for many woman in the area. We're really looking forward to doing it again."

-Peterson’s PR Team

Sunday Ride at 1pm from the shop

Join Peterson Bicycle this Sunday for the Sunday ride and enjoy a free ClifBar item on us! The ride is approximately 2 hours and averages 18-20 miles per hour. See you there!

(ClifBar promotion excludes drink mix)

Lady's Bike Maintenance class: Program

The program for our Lady's Bicycle Maintenance Class is below. Remember that it is this Sunday at 4pm!

Hour 1 (4pm-5pm): The Basics

Quickly and safely changing a flat
Fixing a Broken Chain
On the fly cable tension adjust
Road bike brake adjust (pad placement and cable tension)

Hour 2 (5pm-6pm): A little more advanced

Basic wheel truing both on and off the bike (i.e. "I broke a spoke but I still need to get home!")
Headset adjustments
Cyclocross/mtb brake adjustment
Basic derailleur adjustment
Removing and replacing a cassette
Removing, caring for, and replacing cranks and bottom brackets


What to bring

We'll have some bikes for you to work on so no need to bring your bike (unless of course you ride it there). Please do bring a rear wheel with a tire on for practicing tire changes and cassette changes.

See you there!

-Peterson's PR Team

Tour Mediterranean Stage 3

Today’s stage of 130 kilometers saw aggressive riding from the get go with two categorized mountain passes in the first 30 kilometers. Tom’s Garmin-Cervelo team took part in the action immediately sending Andrew Talansky, Peter Stetina, Dan Martin, Christoph le Mevel, and Peterson Bicycle’s own Tom Peterson, up the road in response to and to help initiate break away efforts. After cresting the second of the two climbs the race plunged down hill and for another 40 kilometers the racers played a game of attack and follow. At kilometer 70 the peleton had just crested a short explosive hill and splintered, and in a moment of hesitation Tom Peterson made his move. Tom built up a lead of 4:45 but in a brutal section of head wind during the last 50 kilometers 4 teams and 8 riders began to pull him back. With just 10 kilometers to go Tom was caught and the sprinters teams began to set things up for a field sprint.

With three days of racing done and two of the most important general classification days suited perfectly to Tom, Tom is posed to both clinch a strong finish in the overall and be among the leaders in the coming stages.

Peterson’s PR Team

Lady's Bicycle Maintenance Class

Peterson Bicycle will host it's inaugural Lady's Bicycle Maintenance Class this Sunday February 10^th. The class will start at 4pm and be broken into two segments: from 4pm-5pm basic maintenance, from 5pm-6:30 advanced maintenance with an opportunity for questions. Both segments will facilitate the interaction of student and teacher with plenty of hands on, take-home experience. The goal will be to help students develop the confidence and savvy they need to partake in the maintenance of their own bicycles.

The class will be lead by Jessica Cutler, call the shop to RSVP your attendance; space is limited. 425-271-0396

-Peterson’s PR Team