The Scholars Inn Bakehouse Cycling Festival

The Scholars Inn Bakehouse Cycling Festival (formerly know as the 'Bloomington Grand Prix'), a criterium held in the shadows of Indiana University, has traditionally not been a kind race to our team. It seems that we've always had nothing but bad luck, mostly in the form of crashes. Last year alone, we had three of our four riders hit pavement. The combination of large fields and a rather tight, technical course has a tendency to lead to much skin being donated to the asphalt.

The pack entering turn 1 on the first lap.

This year, Jason Mygrant finally broke our jinx, by missing massive carnage in turn two of the final lap and squeezing into the top 10 with a solid 8th place finish!

Mygrant giving us a nice demonstration on cornering. Yes, his inside pedal is down (technically incorrect), but let's assume he's laying down the hammer and pedaling through the turns!

Ride Across Indiana (RAIN)

Every July for the past 25 years, cyclist have been lining up on the Indiana/Illinois state line in the wee hours of the morning, braving the sweltering midwest heat and humidity, and heading east for 160 miles to the Indiana/Ohio state line. This year, 1800 cyclist were up to the one day challenge, including team riders Jeff Ryan & Jason Romain. Both did a fantastic job of representing Blue Ridge Design - Jeff Ryan (a veteran of multiple RAIN's) nailed a personal best, finishing within the lead group of 23 riders in a time of 7hrs and 6 minutes. Jason, doing RAIN for just the second time, also put in a great result with a 74th place finish.

Parkview Cycling Festival

The fine folks up in Ft. Wayne have done a great job of building up the Parkview Cycling Festival into one of the premier cycling events in northern Indiana. The Saturday evening criterium course snakes around the gorgeous TinHats minor league professional baseball stadium in the heart of downtown Ft. Wayne. Jason Mygrant was the our only rider to make the trip up north, and put forth an excellent 8th place finish, out of 50+ racers. Jason has been our most consistent racer this year, almost always finding his way into the top 10. Nice work Jason!

Tri West Ominum Wrap-Up

Chris Jolivette got the team off to a solid start with a 5th place finish at Friday night's Hummel Park Criterium in Plainfield. Jason Romain, Jeff Ryan, and Jason Mygrant all finished with the pack.

Jeff is all smiles before the race


The peloton looks so small up against the tall trees of Hummel Park

Saturday's race took us to the 'traditional' course at Eagle Creek Park - a flat, wide 'D' shaped course, with a nice little rise up to the finish. Mygrant was our top finisher at 10th place, with Romain not far behind in 14th. Jeff Ryan & Chris Jolivette finished in the pack. The big news of the day was the amount of skin Slattery donated to the pavement - both him and Jolivette got caught in a nasty wreck. Both got pretty banged up, but does not appear to be anything to serious.

Sunday's race was also at Eagle Creek Park, on the 'contemporary' course. This was the second year on this new course, which was designed by Planet Adventure Race, with some assistance from park management. With Slattery and Jolivette out of commission due to the prior days wreck, Yancey missing the weekends festivities due to the birth of his new baby girl, and Pillar also out all weekend due to work obligations, only Mygrant, Ryan, and Romain were left to duke it out on day 3. All three riders finished in the pack.

Slattery proudly showing of his brand new road rash.

June 3-5: Tri West Omnium

This weekend, the fine folks at Planet Adventure Race bring us a second installment of a 3-day criterium omnium weekend. Racing kicks off Friday evening at Hummel Park in Plainfield. Saturday and Sunday action takes place at Eagle Creek Park, one of largest municipal parks in the United States. Saturday's course utilizes the 'traditional' course (utilized by Dan Daly's Indiana Race Series for many years) - a gently rolling loop through dense woods, with just two real turns. Last year PA introduced us to the Eagle Creek 'contemporary' course, which incorporates a number of tight technical turns. The two courses offer a nice variety - Saturday is more 'wide open, full throttle', while Sunday's course will more tight and technical. Should be a fabulous weekend of racing!

In other race related news, for the past 14+ years, Dan's Indiana Race Series has been affiliated with ABR. Dan recently announced on his website that his crits will now be run under USA Cycling, due to "established infrastructure in place, local and statewide support, and accomplished officials." IMHO, this should be good news for everyone - there will not be races held on conflicting dates, Dan should see bigger turnouts, and racers only have to take out one license. For new racers especially, I think this should also help eliminate confusion regarding upgrade points and race categories. Other promoters should also benefit, as more quality racing in Indiana will hopefully help grow the sport, both by attracting more out-of-town racers, as well as developing more local interest.

Calvin's Challenge 12-hr Bike Race

While most of the team was hitting the TKO 3 day crit series, Jeff Ryan (ultra-endurance racer extraordinaire) and team benefactor John Mead (who is a lawyer with Leeuw Oberlies & Campbell, P.C, one of our sponsors for the past two years) headed east to Ohio to compete in Calvin's Challenge, a 12-hr bike race. The rules are simple: ride as many hours as you can in 12 hrs. Most miles wins.

Jeff pulled through with a solid top 10 age group finish, despite the fact that he had to thrown in the towel hours early due to stomach issues. John took home the big 'W' with a first place finish in his age category! Way to go John!!

Tri Klassic Omnium

The Indy 2011 race season got underway with a bang at the Tri Klassic Omnium, presented by Planet Adventure Race. Nothing like 'knocking the dust off' with a 3-day criterium omnium.Friday night's action took place in Lawrence under the shadows of the former Ft. Benjamin Harrison. A brand new, .6 mile 'L' shaped course on silky smooth pavement. The star of the show for BRD was Jason Mygrant, who spent a good portion of the race off the front in a two man breakway. The dynamic duo got reeled back in by the pack with about 15 min or so left in the race. Mygrant ended up with an 8th place finish, Jolivette and Yancey both finished safely in the pack. Pillar hit pavement early in the race, and Slattery suffered some nasty cramps towards the end of the race.

Mygrant in the two-man break in Lawrence.

Less than 24 hrs later, we heading north to the Village of West Clay (Carmel), which over the past few (4?) years have allowed us to turn their picturesque neighborhood into a great little crit course. As a team, we have traditionally had pretty good results at this race, but not so much this year. Slattery nailed a prime towards the end of the race, and was also our sole top 10 finisher. Jolivette finished with the pack. Yancey (who has 'one-day' race fitness :-), Pillar (still pretty banged up from the previous nights crash), and Romain (who was stuck in traffic and barely made it to the race) will be back to fight another day.

Slattery & Jolivette on the front @ West Clay

Day 3 took us to the heart of Broad Ripple - Indy's funkiest little 'hood with streets lined with bars, restaurants, and boutique shops. For years it's been said that there was no way the Broad Ripple Village Association would ever allow the streets to be closed down for a bike race, but Matt Jourdan and the rest of the PA staff put in a town of work to make this a reality. If only Mother Nature decided to play nice. As if we have not had enough rain already (I believe this past April has been the fourth wettest April ever in central IN) , Sunday saw even more rain. Mygrant and Pillar were our two finishers (17th, 18th)

Jolivette & Slattery decided stay dry and take over pace car duties for the 3's race in Broad Ripple.