Papillion Nightime Crit & more

Lots of racing last weekend so here we go......

Here's Jay just after finish as the Champion of Gravel Worlds. 150 miles of the best gravel roads in and around Lincoln, NE. The best part is that he won on a Trek Domanie with Carbon Bontrager wheels. Light and fast!

Colton with a podium finish at the Driveway in Austin TX.

Last Saturday we headed up to Papillion Ne to race a crit sponsored by the TREK Stores. We had 3 riders from KC and our riders from FT. Collins, CO decided to make the drive to do the race. They called it a day trip. Drive 8 hrs, race, and drive the 8 hrs home. Pretty amazing, then Zach goes and wins the race and Dillon gets 7th. Oh , to be in my 20's again. As a team we rode pretty well and got the win. Personally it was a terrible race as I just can't seem to figure out what is going on with my body. I seem to be really fatigued. I seem to be getting better so maybe I'll get going for Gateway Cup in 2 weeks.

Cyclocross

Today's announcement from Trek World finally let the cat out of the bag, Trek has a cross team!

You can read about it in the press release. Its a pretty exciting time for me as I'm on the the team and back on TREK Bicycles.

The cross season is getting closer but there is still 6 races left on the road with the Mercy Cycling crew!

Missouri State Championship Criterium

Yesterday we made a quick trip to Springfield, MO for the Missouri State Championship Criterium. Bill from the Tradewind Team, and Adam and I from Mercy jumped in the van for a quick dash to the race. Since Adam and I both live in Kansas this was going to be a 3 man effort to get the State Championship Jersey for Austin.

Going into the race I just was not very excited to race. I felt terrible on the bike all week. It just felt like I never recovered from the races in Chicago prior weekend. But what the heck, the race was close and we needed to go and support Austin. When we got there we signed up and found out that there were 50 or so  Pro 1-2 riders signed up. Pretty good turnout for a smaller race but it was going to make our job much tougher.

The race started and for the first 15 minutes the Gateway Harley Davidson team drilled it on the front of the field keeping the pace high. As soon as it slowed there were numerous attacks until there was a huge split in the field. For most of the race the gap between the break and the field stayed the same. We had Austin in the group but there were way too many people with him to hope for the win. Then all the sudden the break started coming back. A lap later it was back but right away counter attacks started and Austin got away to three other riders. This was perfect, Adam and I worked the front of the field a bit and Austin pulled off a great sprint to win.

Overall it was a great team effort in the race. On top of the win Adam picked up a $50.00 prime due to a good sprint and some art full blocking from Austin and I. Pretty fun when you get results when the team is out numbered by every other team in the race.

Austin crossing the line for the win!

Hanging out on the front row at the start.

Bill and Kent from Tradewind at the front of the field.

I found this picture of Emily from the TREK Stores Womens Team showing off her Gold Medal.

Then there is this......Austin did the state TT on his old Masi. Clip on aero bars, a packing tape disc wheel, and a old ill fitting aero helmet. I heard he got 2nd, yup, at 20 yrs old the kid has a motor.

I just like this shop of bike racing around the Missouri State Capitol.

Next week it's up to Omaha for another Criterium.

Sorry if I used your picture with out a credit, I can't remember where I got them other than Flannery Allison.

Racing and relaxing

Mathgeek reminded me that I have not posted anything in about a month so I figured I should do a update. For a while there wasn't much to post about, no racing and work will tend to do that. On top of that the drought continues with high temps and no rain made training tough and exhausting. So last weekend, after a while away from racing I hopped in the Mercy van and headed for the Tour of Elk Grove in Chicago. I was a little nervous going in because the lack of racing but it was a Cat 1-2 race=Good, 70K(or 38 laps)of a mile or so course=OUCH. That's 1hr 35min of racing and that's a long race for me. The course itself has a hairpin turn that brings you nearly to a stop, then you have to accelerate up to speed lap after lap. That hurts after a while.

We had 6 riders from Mercy and one guest rider from Texas with us so we had a strong team but there were many strong teams there as well. Saturday came with high temps and once we got going the race became something of a crash fest. As a team we were avoiding the chaos until the final lap. We had 4 guys in the top 20 coming out of the last turn when there was a huge crash. I don't know what happened but Colton and our guest rider went down in the pile. Shadd barely escaped the crash and the rest of us had to aim for a slot between the riders to get through.The end result was that Zach was 5th and Shadd was 14th. Colton and Michael(our guest rider) came out of the crash in decent shape but the major damage was to Michael's bike. The top tube of his custom Alchemy carbon frame was crushed. I'm pretty sure that as I was searching for a way around the crash I saw his bike get launched about 6 ft up in the air!

Day 2 came around and the temps were cooler but the wind was a little stronger. We raced the same exact course so we knew what we were up against. History showed that on the 2nd day people are tired and a breakaway usually goes to the line. As a team we were looking to be aggressive and make the break and when it happened. Colton made the move and the rest of us tried to keep the break away. The break was made up of 11 strong riders and in the end Colton ended up 8th and Shadd 14th. That was a great result for Colton and it would of been much better if he had not just  returned from 2 weeks in europe on his honeymoon. Props have to go out to Shimano Neutral Support for loaning Michael a bike to race on Sunday

As a team we rode great. Everybody rode strong and did their share of work to make it a successful weekend of racing. One of the best parts of being on the Mercy team is how everyone works hard for the team to succeed and nobody is out for individual glory. Of course there is all the stuff outside the race that makes it fun as well!

Zach winning the Salida Classic Criterium

Austin and Adam at the Springfield Criterium, Adam was 3rd and Austin 6th

This is Chicago, at night, from the top of a water tower, that is on top of a 4 story building. Not my picture and that's all I'm going to say.

Besides my steady stream of Olympic tv watching I'm also way into the Tour of Utah. Former Mercy rider and friend Joe Schmalz was selected to ride with Bissell Pro Cycling in Utah and the Tour of Colorado. Pretty exciting stuff!

Time to get going, stuff to do. I'll post on the Sporting KC game we went to last night. Every bit as exciting as the USA women's game a few days ago.

Actual photographic proof that I tried to race my MTB, as I said, I tried. Made a last minute decision to head out to the race Saturday morning and then paid the price for not being prepared. I guess you can't pull the bike off the hook in the garage and race it after 3 months of inactivity. Oh well, a cut sidewall and a dried up stans sealalnt will end your day everytime.

In the end it really ended up to be a pretty good day, Mathgeek and Curly came with me and we got to check out Wyandotte County Lake Park. It's a really cool park with good roads and trails. There is a big lake and and I'm glad they had the race there. The Colivita guys did a great job designing the course and it would of been fun to go the distance in the race.

A big bummer with having to pull out of the race is that I still had to complete my workout. By time we got done with our errands it was 1pm and hot out. Got it done and today was more of the same. On the ride today I pretty much planned my 4 hr ride around places I knew I could get water every 10-15 miles. In the end I had 8 bottle refills and 2 Gatorades, and a coke on todays ride. All I know is that it's not getting any cooler and Polar Insulated Bottles are a godsend.

Tour of Lawrence, Day 3 Crit

The last day of the Tour of Lawrence was the Downtown Criterium. This race is usually pretty exciting and this year was no exception. There were a number of good teams and solo riders that made the race fast. As far as teams go Mercy had the most riders at 9 while all the other teams had 4 or 5 riders. With that in mind our plan was to try and get a break established with at lest a few of our riders in it. The rest of the riders would work to keep the break away and wait for the finish.

After a fast start that's exactly what happend. A break of 10 got away with 4 Mercy riders in it and it was time to go to work. Most of the teams were represented in the break and it was looking good for our guys until about 5 laps to go. It was then that teh Elbows guys attacked the break and split them up. At the same time Brad Huff from Jelly Belly got some help in the chase group and started pulling the remains of the break back. At 3 to go there was a group of 3 away with Dylan in it and then there was a big crash on the back strech that took out half the field. From then on it was chaos to the finish. Whatever hope we had for a leadout couldnt get organized and ended up with 2 guys in the top 10. Not too shabby but we were hoping for better.

Pretty fast group of guys

Adam giving a little bit back by working the kids race with the team

Jobro at Boy Scout camp. I was all stressed out about him at camp with a broken arm and 100 degree temps. From what I hear he's doing fine and I don't have to worry.

Tour of Lawrence, KU Circuit Race

Where to start on this one......... I guess it was just going to be one of those days. One where nothing goes quite how you planned and in the end you just should of stayed home. One of this weekends issues is that I was running solo with a 10 year old. I'm not complaining, it's part of being a dad. But I am a true worrier and with Curley it's even worse. Friday night at the street sprints Devon and the crew at One-2-Go Event Services let Curly hang out in the trailer with them so it wasn't too stressfull. Yesterday was a totally different situation. It was all hands on deck situation with the heat and long circuit race so the feed zone was going to be a busy place. I was going to have to put my trust in people to keep an eye on him while I race but then they also have to pay attention to the race and be ready to hand up bottles. It's not that I don't trust my friends but the stress of worrying about what could happen kills me.

So like in the street sprints I left Curly and rode to the start line with no warm up at all. We got lined up and the first lap was pretty hard. I was hurting right off the bat but was hoping the pace would slow a bit and my legs would come around. No such luck, by the second lap I wa hanging onto the back of the field. On the 3rd lap I slammed into one of the many potholes on the course and my bars slipped down. I must of had all my weight on the front brake lever because it rotated in at the same time and applied the front brake. By the time I smacked it with my hand and moved it back I was off the back of the field. Oh well, I wasn't going to last much longer anyway.

As a team we had a ok race. The guys rode hard and our support crew was awesome. In the end we got 7th,9th,15th,16th.

Yea, it was that hard!

Heading for the start

Colton with eventual winner Sean Sullivan(Elbowz)

Today is the final day of the Tour of Lawrence with the downtown crit. Still debating weather I want to race or not. It's going to be a game time decision.

Photos: Elizabeth Rangle