Herring Gas News: 2011 Spring Wrap-up

New Sponsors!

Herring Gas Cycling is thrilled to announce that we are now a SRAM Sponsored Team. We are so proud to be in the SRAM family. "SRAM is by far the best component group we've ever installed on our bikes," says team founder/manager Frank Moak. "The parts are lighter, they work better and the riders are much happier with them," he continued. We hope to be good ambassadors for SRAM in the years to come. We'd like to thank Stan Day and Bennett ven der Genugten for their help in bringing Herring Gas Cycling and SRAM together!

Herring Gas Cycling Team is also proud to be sponsored this year by Pounds Directional Consulting, an oil field services company. Pounds Directional Consulting is a local company with an international presence in the drilling industry.

Victories in the Spring!

Herring has already ticked off a few marks in the W column this year. The team's bigger wins came first at the Mississippi Gran Prix Stage Race where Bain Foote won the time trial with an average speed of 30mph breaking a 6-stage-win-streak by another rider! The following day, young Ben Gabardi barely pipped that same rider for the Circuit Race win. Great video.

Herring Gas also took home ALL the medals from a stacked field at the LAMBRA Criterium Championships with Jeb Falgout, Jacob Brewer and Andrew Hammond taking the Gold, Silver and Bronze respectively. Now that's how to take a Championship!

Jeb Falgout is not only the LAMBRA Criterium Champion, he also out-sprinted 2 of the most fierce and feared sprinters in the entire South to take the win at Racing Rapides Criterium. One is a former National Champion (Matt Davis) and the other is a perennial winner in any Pro race (Carlos Vargas).Way to go Jeb!.

Video: fast Forward to 2:15

Roster Additions:

The Herring Gas Team has recruited Isaiah Newkirk from the Mirian University Cycling Team. During the Spring, Isaiah will be splitting duties between his school team for the collegiate circuit and Herring for Pro/1/2 races. Isaiah is 21 and has already won a race this year for Mirian U and finished on the podium for Herring Gas twice. He is a strong, smart racer who is only expected to get stronger. It won't be a surprise for us to see Isaiah take the top step on the podium this year.

Here's video of Isaiah 'off the front' for the last 3 laps of The Sunny King Criterium, setting up Woody Boudreaux for a top 3 finish! Video here. You can see how well the team works in these last few laps with Andrew Hammond and Isaiah doing a ton of work to get a great result for their team mate.

Off the Presses

The Herring Gas Cycling Team and the Herring Gas Company have been highlighted in a feature article in the national trade publication LP Gas Magazine. The article describes the long friendship between team founder Frank Moak and company principal Ed Herring. You can see the online version of the article here.

Update on Ben Gabardi

If you missed the news around Christmas, Ben Gabardi was scheduled to leave for the Garmin-Cervello Team training camp in January. Days before he was to leave, Ben suffered a broken back and some severe facial lacerations in a horrible crash while training with Andrew Hammond. Ben ended up in the hospital and spent the holidays in a back brace and missing a couple of teeth. Many wondered if he would ride again. Fast forward to April at the Mississippi Gran Prix, and you can clearly see from the pictures below, that Ben's condition has greatly improved. We are very proud of Ben, both on and off the bike. Although, the accident ended up with Herring Gas retaining Ben for another season, we are confident that Ben is a tremendous talent and has a bright future in Pro Cycling and whether with us or with a ProTour team, we are happy for his success.

New bikes!!!

Here's a couple of pictures of our new Orbea Orcas. These pictures were taken with iPhones and we think the bikes really make great photographers out of iPhone users. The new frame is lighter, stiffer and more aerodynamic and it gives the Herring boys a solid platform to take the victories! We are more than pleased with our ongoing relationship with Orbea and the quality our bikes. They are simply the best!

As you can see, our 2011 Orbea Orcas are decked out with Mercury Wheels. Mercury Wheels continues this year supplying Herring Gas with some of the best, most aerodynamic and stiff, all-carbon fiber wheels available today. "These wheels just make me feel faster", said LAMBRA Best All Around Rider Woody Boudreaux.

Jacob Brewer:

Jacob Brewer spent the spring on a whirlwind tour on pro circuit, racing for the U.S. Military Team. While racing for the U.S.M.T., they traveled to the Redlands Classic, Sea Otter and many other races on the early Spring National Calendar. Here's a great picture of him that ended up in Velonews: Picture

Other Victories:

You might have known that team founder, Frank Moak's wife Terry was diagnosed in December with breast cancer. "Without Frank, this team wouldn't be here and without Terry, Frank wouldn't be here," says Kenny Bellau. Terry has been a major factor in the viability and longevity of this team. We are happy, thrilled to report that Terry has "Things look great now. We're over the toughest part and everything is going to be fine," says Frank of his wife's recovery. Terry recently completed her final round of chemo-therapy, after some scary and difficult months. We wish the best for Terry and Frank and all the Boys in Blue are acutely aware of their importance. This year the Herring Gas Team is sporting a Pink Breast Cancer ribbon next to the cuff of their shorts. We wear this ribbon very proudly and are proud of Terry's recovery.

Bain and Bethany Foote are the proud new parents to a baby girl, Lydia. Congrats on the new arrival!

Our Extended Family: Keeping track of teammates that moved on to other endeavors:

Chris and Taylor Alexander have moved to Austin, TX. Chris took a job at a hospital in Texas and although we will miss them both, we wish them the best as well as their new arrival Ian Alexander. They will always be part of the Herring Gas Team family.

Chris and Rene' Stokes have moved to the North Shore of New Orleans. Chris is now an agent in the FBI and is working on the Gang Task Force in Metro New Orleans. We know that the streets are safer with Chris on the job!

Troy Porter is having great success working on the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope at Stanford University. Troy's field of specialty is Particle/high-energy astrophysics. The Fermi Telescope is a low Earth orbit satellite launched as a joint venture with NASA and other space agencies. It is up there to do an all-sky survey looking specifically for dark matter, pulsars, active galactic nuclei and Gamma-ray bursts. Troy is one of the few people able to explain how it does that.

As always, thanks to all of your sponsors, supporters, family and fans. It all makes a huge difference having you on the team. We'll be traveling all over the country this Summer starting next week in Tupelo. See you on the road!

Herring Gas Cycling Team