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.

Gateway Cup - Giro Della Montagna

Day 3 of the Gateway Cup took us to 'The Hill', St. Louis' Italian District. This was the 25th Anniversary of the Giro Della Montagna, a 4 corner rectangle shaped crit with one long gradual uphill and one long gradual downhill along the main straightaway. The beer was flowing, and the Italian salisiccia sausages were flying off the grill in the parking lot of St. Ambrose Catholic Church, which sat directly next to the Start/Finish Line. Nothing quite like racing full gas while inhaling pork flavored smoke. Mygrant and Romain had to pack up and head back to Indy after Saturday's race, leaving Yancey alone to duke it out. Unfortunately, no spectacular tales of glory, just another day of hard, fast racing. Yancey took home 66th out of 108.

Gateway Cup - Tour De Hills

'Tour de Hills' might conjure up images of hard steep hills, but round two of the Gateway Cup, held in the St. Louis Hills neighborhood, was a relatively flat, wide four corner course that wrapped around scenic Francis Park. The course itself was lined with red-brick bungalows, and I think there was a large church on nearly every corner.

Mygrant, Yancey, and Romain were once again out representing the black, red, and white of STV.

110+ CAT 3's lining up to race

Racing was aggressive as usual. With about 30 minutes left in the race, I managed to get a ball of saran wrap wrapped around one of my front spokes coming through the second turn (had to have come from the large backyard BBQ that was taking place just past the turn). Luckily, all it ended up doing was cause a loud irritating noise every time the wheel spun (which was happening a couple times a second). I'm sure it killed any aero advantage I might have previously enjoyed :-)

Romain fell victim to a last lap crash in turn three (see pic's below). According to his computer, he smashed into the curb doing 39 mph. Jason manged to escape with hardly a scrape, but his frame was cracked, and the beloved carbon Cormia wheels took a beating.
Myself and Jason practically duplicated our results form the previous night. Mygrant ended up 20th, an I was 67th.

Romain on the front

Jason Mygrant

Yancey

Romain smashing into the curb...

...Romain down! At least he is not the guy doing an upside down face plant.

Photos courtesy of http://www.timbrumitt.com/ & http://www.ficksphoto.com

Gateway Cup - Lafayette Square

St. Louis, MO is THE place to be for Labor Day Weekend bike racing here in the Midwest. This year, over 700 racers took to the starting line at the Gateway Cup, and four day criterium race series that highlights four of St. Louis' most historic neighborhoods. Friday night's action kicked under the light at Lafayette Square. Yancey, Romain, and Mygrant joined 110+ other CAT 3's to duke it out for some twilight glory.

Not to be confused with Indianapolis west side shopping mall, St. Louis Lafayette Square consists of historic Victorian homes, restaurants, and bars that surround Lafayette Park, located in the shadows of downtown St. Louis. Our race started at 7:3opm (CST), and 20 min in the course was completely dark, except for the huge spotlights erected in the four corners, soft-light street lamps on the straightaways, and the glow emitting from house parties all along the course. Despite huge fields, fast, aggressive racing (this race always seems to be the fastest race I do each year) and darkness, I only saw one wreck, which happened on turn three of the last lap. Luckily, the STV crew avoided all carnage. After an hour if intense racing, Jason Mygrant was our top finisher with a strong 18th place finish (just three spots out of the money). Romain and Yancey both finished mid-pack, in 45th and 65th ,respectively. It's not often you can finish 65th, and be considered mid-pack!

Below is a 11 min video from our race, recorded via a helmet cam worn by another racer. Romain makes appearances at the 3:40 and 9:38 mark. Video gives you a decent feel for what is what like racing in the dark.

Indy Crit

Last Saturday (8/21) was the first very Indy Crit held in downtown Indy. Hopefully this race will become a permanent fixture on the Indy racing season - highly organized, good payouts, and a great course. With a start finish on Meridian St at University park, the four four corner course took us up Meridian, left on Vermont St., left on Illinois St., left onto Market, and back onto Meridian St. via the northwest corner of Monument Circle. Nothing like racing on bricks in Indy! Jolivette was our top finisher in 7th - Yancey, Ryan, and Romain all finished in the top half of the 60 rider field. Reed also put in a strong effort, having already earned a 5th place finish in the Masters 35+ race earlier in the day.

Yancey chasing down a break early in the race

Romain approaching the first turn

Jeff Ryan leading the pack down Illinois St.