Successful Weekend of Racing!

This past Sunday was the Wisconsin State Road Race Championship, and the team came away with several state champs, podium finishers, and top five finishes!

Starting off the day, Mike (I ride alone) Meteyer captured the overall win in the Masters 55+ as well as the state title. And for the second road race this year, he took off early (in this case, Lap 2 of 6) and soloed impressively to victory!  Also, in the race, Gordy (I only need one working leg) Paulson managed to play the good teammate making sure no one bridged to Mike, and then proceeded to take 4th overall and capture the state title in his age group as well!  Nice work boys!

Not to be outdone (and having already heard of Mike's exploits earlier in the day), in the Masters 45+, Eric (if Mike can do it so can I) Knuth and Dale (what, no beer at the finish!) Humphrey started a series of attacks and counter-attacks part way into Lap 2, with the result being Eric going away solo for the final 4 laps for the overall win and state title! So take that Meteyer! :)

In the women's races, Diane (hills, smills) Schlipper took the Masters Women state title and Lisa (I never met a hill I didn't like) Harms just missed out on the Women's 1/2/3 title taking second.  Way to go ladies!

And in the largest field of the day, Tony (Oh so close!) Lemke narrowly missed the podium in the Men's Cat 4/5 race taking 4th!

All-in-all a fine day of racing for the team!  Hard to believe it's not even August and that was the final WCA road race of the season!

Training For States

Anybody out there???

So...  I've been quiet on this "Blogger" for a while.  I apologize for the lack of my great stories and my recommendation of cheap, good beers.  It's been a great but long summer.  I never thought focusing so much on the road scene would take me all the way to the end of July!  I am tired!  Yet, I have had some good results.  Top 11 at the La Crosse races. 6th, 7th, and 11th at the TOAD races I did. A couple podiums here and there. I'm happy.  However no win yet like I want so bad.... soon.

So forth, the last major race of the season is coming up on Sunday.  The State Road Race.  I have a couple buddies who are not on the team planning on racing with me.  We have a plan, we will be active, it will be fun!

He's a pic of the clan training out west of Cross Plains, WI in the hills.  We did 55 miles west of Madison with the last 6 miles on the Military Ridge Trail. Which is gravel. I felt like Fabian on the cobbles.  It's the closest we get to Paris Roubaix here.  It was a great, sunny Sunday!

After States it's Cross Season!  Much needed.  However, that will bring cold temperatures.  Not sure how I feel about that yet.  Maybe I'll move to SoCal.

Well,  get out there and enjoy a ride!

Tony

Colorado Hill Climb Championship

Took a road trip out to visit family in Colorado and decided to do the Colorado Hill Climb Championship that was taking place while I was out there, The course (see the profile) was less than 11 miles in length and climbed from about 8500 feet to just under 12,000 feet - I figured I'd show those Coloradans they were no match for a climber from the Midwest! 

The race started with a few minutes (yes, only a few minutes!) of flat easy riding before we hit the 8-12% slopes. My plan was to stay with the front group, but that plan was quickly shot to hell as the combination of poor warm-up plus altitude and immediate hard climbing efforts had me redlined within the first 10 minutes of the race - not a good sign for an hour long climb! Fifteen minutes into the race I was ready to call it quits - so much for my pre-race bravado! :)

Since I had sent warm clothes to the finish with the support car (for the descent) and could not convince myself that it was OK to kiss my expensive clothes good-bye and just head back to the car, I trudged on eventually making it to the top. With dreams of glory long gone, I enjoyed the high speed descent back to the start.  Lesson learned - climbing at altitude is tough! :)

Another beautiful night to ride yer bike!

‎"B" crit, mid-race

"B" crit, lap 1

‎Sadly, last night of the season. 

Galena 2014

LAPT/Trek Midwest RR Recap

"Fun" day of racing at the LAPT / TMT road race this past weekend - although the temps were in the low 80s, it was one of the first hot days of racing so far this year, so the heat was definitely a factor (not to mention it was also pretty windy, with a strong headwind on the finishing stretch).

Looks like the team had some excellent results, with Tony taking 3rd in the Cat 4, David S taking 3rd in the M3/4 35+, Eric taking 4th and Greg 9th in the M1/2 35+, Sanjay taking 6th in the Cat 3, and Lisa taking 2nd, Diane 6th, and Shelley 7th in the W Open. And the tough luck award goes to Michael Mayer for getting a flat in one race, suiting up for the next race, and then flatting in that one too!

You would think that the "old" guys race, the M1/2 35+, would start kind of mellow as a warm up and then at some point racing would start - but no, we roll up to the start and ATTACK - the pack is strung out right from the get go! Several iterations of attack-chase-attack-chase went on for the first half a lap, and we settle down for the moment with a Velocause rider hanging off the front. I noticed John Van Susteren moving up and looking ready to attack, so I follow him, and sure enough, a small gap opens up along the center line and off he goes with me on his wheel. We bridge up to the Velocause rider and immediately start a pace line. Our gap begins to grow and over the next few laps the peleton is no longer in sight! I am hoping that means we can let off the gas a little bit as the heat (and effort) is killing me and as we roll past the finish line with 2 laps to go I am thinking "I sure wish that had been the last lap!" - not a good sign!

Fast forward to 1.5 laps to go and we can see a pack approaching us - I think it must be the pro race catching us - but no such luck, it is the rest of our race! Mark Harms bridges up to us, which we are happy to see as Scotty was requesting more power from the engine room! The four of us keep at it, but the pack draws within about 10", and I think to myself, "finally, I can sit up and recover in the pack and save a bit for the end." But then the pack sits up, so we hit the gas again and our lead extends back out - but then the peleton chases again and gets close (and once again I am ready to wave the white flag) - but then they sit up and … you get the picture for the next few miles. Finally, one other guy manages to bridge up with half a lap to go and proceeds to go right past us, we half-heartily chase, but he holds on for the win, and our foursome holds off the fast-approaching pack!

20May2014 Madison Practice Criterium

Schwag is getting better each week as the volume of participants increases.
And, Smart Motors seems to be color matching our kits with the vehicles their letting us use for the events (Thank you!).

Come on out if you’ve ever wanted to try a criterium!

Bike to Work Week

Early morning set up at Colectivo:
getting ready to wrench on bikes and hand out great food/coffee to support Bike to Work Week.

13 May 2014 Madison Practice Criterium