Lawrence
Kansas on Saturday, March 23. Cold. 37 degrees. Numbers have
dropped. Many of our teammates are on Spring Break. The sky was
overcast. The course looked grey.
Mark Ramsden and I arrived early this week. Last week's high pace race
still fresh in our minds. We selected a good site for our tent.
Used the brick wall to help block the cold winds. No heater today - Roger
Harrison was supporting the God's Country Duathlon.
We had a great 45 minute warmup. No more teammates arrived. Mark and I went
to the start of the men's masters. Same fast guys as last week. All
the races at this series are "points races". To get any
place at all, you have to get points. You only get points on sprint laps or the
final. We knew we had to be aggressive. Mark and I were at the back
of the field as they rang the bell for the first sprint. One lap to
go. He could see me looking around to find a way to the front. Mark
followed. I made it to the front, but soon was tired. Mark came
around to take the lead. He did a tremendous pull which allowed me to
recover and increased our lead on the field. I survived to take fourth
place (points) in the sprint. We both continued to ride well challenging
the finish, but outside the points.
Next race was the ladies. Missy Holstead was our only lady racer.
She was in high spirits. Her family was visiting and watching her race
for the first time. She did not disappoint. Missy placed fifth in
the women's category 4. Great job!
John Finnegan was our only junior racer this week. He was first place in
the junior 10 to 12 and sixth place in the juniors 12-18. Great job
John!
Finally the men's category 5 race. These four guys have made it to every
race - Mike Miller, Bill Cole, Matt Doolan and Jim Lee. If you remember
Saturday afternoon at 3 PM, you know the snow had started. The wind was
blustery and the temperature had dropped about 6 degrees. Bill rode over
to me after his warmup to tell me "this is nuts!". The men's
category five race started quickly. To make things even more fun, the
promoter added an additional lap this week. The field strung
out. Matt and Jim stayed with the lead group. Matt made an
attack on what was supposed to be the sprint lap - no bell rang. Jim attacked
on lap 4 - bell lap. Jim won the sprint! By the final lap only
three leaders remained. Jim was with them, taking third place.
Great job by all these guys! Snow criterium!
Although the last four races have been epic, we look forward to racing in
warmer conditions. Next Satuday is the fifth and final spring fling
criterium.
Spring Fling Criterium Series
Well we thought it might be warm....but it wasn't.
Temperature was about 37 degrees when we arrived at Clinton Lake State
Park on Saturday. The winds were super strong hitting you in the face as
you rode down the finishing straight. When we arrived, Adam, Armando,
Blake and I set up the tent, trainers, chairs, etc. That was a potential
error. Our efforts only afforded us about a 10 minute warm-up. Each
week the masters have gradually turned the pace up during the race. The
speeds were high, but not intolerable at first. That all changed
Saturday. New faces who had not raced appeared at the start. The
hard winds enticed riders to attack. Knowing they could get a gap.
Our teammate, Art Mathisen was one of those riders he launched one of a
series of attacks early on in the race. Mark Ramsden was able to make the
move. The rest of us were unable to.
The next race was the ladies' category 4 race. Anita
Gonzalez was our only racer and she garnered points! It helps to be
persistent. Anita has been. Congratulations!
Next the juniors raced. Abby Olsen, and John Finnegan raced.
They toughed out the cold and rode well. John was second and Abby
was third. John raced in the 12 to 18 year old juniors as well on
Saturday.
The men raced again in the category 4/5 race. No points were
made by anyone; however all of us stayed with the field and several of us
challenged the final sprint. Evidently we were properly warmed up by this
time. Racers included Armando Peralta, Adam Wilcoxen, Zach Bowen, and
myself.
Finally the men's category five field. Mike Miller, Jim Lee,
Matt Doolan, and Bill Cole raced. No report on their results.
Sunday was the final race of the Lake Perry Series. Shawn
Morelli raced and won the entire series for the women's open. She also
won King of the Mountains. Outstanding job in cold and windy conditions.
Thanks to Roger Harrison for supplying our heater and cheering us
on!
Froze Toes Road Race
Our first weekend of racing we had the worst snow storm of the
winter. Our second weekend was blustery and cold. This weekend we
had torrential rain. In some circles they call this type of racing
"Epic". I think people usually call it epic after the race is
over. We arrived in Columbia to see cold rain. The temperature was
47 degrees. The rain was strong. The course was flat when compared
to Leavenworth. It was 31 miles long with four corners. We were to
race one lap. Our team was actually in high spirits.
Sparky Anderson was there from Fort Leonard Wood. He joined
Alex Ardussi in the men's category five race. Alex was in high spirits
before the race. He told me that he liked racing in terrible weather as
it reminded him of the Spring Classics in Europe.
Armando Peralta and Adam Wilcoxen joined me in the men's category
4/5 race. Armando searched out for any dry place to warm up. There
were none. I was pretty happy to just stay in the car and try to remain
warm until the misery...uh race started. The race director asked us to
come out into the rain to receive our instructions.
As we began the race, the rain continued. The roads were
slick and you could hear a sound of cars passing; only it was the bikes
swishing water in the wheel ruts of the road. My thoughts were primarily
to stay upright. I noticed our speeds were 23 mph or higher. One
rider attacked early, in the first mile. We let him go and never saw him
again. As the race took it's penultimate turn, the wind and rain went
straight in our face. The hills seemed to be concentrated on this part of
the course. Our peleton picked up the intensity and what had been an
amorphous group turned into a straight line. We made the final turn and
the attack happened. Two riders went up the road. They got a 100
meter gap. I jumped across. Adam followed but had a mechanical.
The rain came down hard. I hit a crater of a pot hole and flattened
both my tires. Armando raced on to take 5th place. I fixed my two
flats and continued the race to finish in 12th place. Alex took 8th place
in the men's category 5 race. Sparky was 4th place in the men's category
5s.
We all enjoyed Shakespeare's Pizza afterwards and talked about the
race. Probably the best part of the day. The sun came out as we
left the restaurant.
Shawn Morelli raced the Lake Perry Road Race and won the women's
open. Shawn was facing temperatures ten degrees colder than we were.
Roger Harrison was at the Lake to provide encouragement and race support.
We are all excited about this weekend's Spring Fling Criterium.
Weather is forecasted to be 60 degrees and sunny. What?
Perry Series 2
Shawn did not take it easy on the riders this week, she did not soft pedal as she did last week, she just took off and never looked back. Shawn almost lapped the other rider who is not a slow rider and chased her last week also. Now she is guaranteed the championship of this event going into Perry Series 3. Not an easy day to race or ride for that matter.
3/2/2013 spring fling criterium
Saturday's
spring fling criterium in Lawrence, KS. March 2, 2013.
 |
| Anita Gonzalez |
 |
| Abby Olson |
 |
| Art and Armando |
Brendan
Missy
John Finnegan
Well, the news must have gotten out! March 2nd's Spring
Fling Criterium had more riders, in some fields, twice as many riders.
The day started cold - 22 degrees. Our riders were in good spirits.
The men's masters 35+ saw Art Mathisen, Armando Paralta, Zach
Owen, and Brendan Sheehan. Despite hardwork at the front, numerous
attacks and excellent position we came away with no points in this race.
Competition was fierce.
The next race was the women's category 4 race. The ladies
road courageously. Missy Holstead and Anita Gonzalez rode well but
garnered no points.
The juniors stepped up next. Despite freezing temperatures,
they were in high spirits. John Finnegan and Abby Olson took 2nd and 3rd
place respectively. Great job!
Next was the men's category 4/5 race. The host team, GP
Velotek controlled the race with five riders at the front of the field.
Art Mathisen and Armando Peralta rode strongly at the front of the field
as did Zach Owen. We tried attacks which were brought back. Armando
did take top ten in the final sprint; however, places were only to top eight.
The men's five race saw improvement by every racer on our team.
James Lee won the first sprint. He caught a "flyer" -
that's a rider who has leapt off the front of the pack. The rider had
over a 30 yard lead. James chased him down, rode his wheel and won the
sprint. He also finished strongly on the final lap to take 5th overall!
Great job by all the category 5 men including: Matt Doolan, Alex
Ardussi, Mike Miller, Bill Cole, Gene Lamb, and Roger Harrison.
There will be no criterium at Clinton Lake March 9th.
Instead there will be road races at Lake Perry, Kansas and Columbia,
Missouri on March 10th.
Shawn Morelli raced for our team on Sunday, March 3rd at the Perry
Lake Road Race. This is a cool event. The race consists of a five
mile circuit that Shawn rode five times. The circuit has a long steep
climb, followed by a crosswind section on a damn, followed by rolling hills and
then back to the long climb. Shawn won the climb on the "Queen of
the Mountains Lap". She led the entire race, but lacked the strength
on the final climb. Shawn took second on the final lap.
Special thanks to Roger Harrison for supporting our team with a
heater, encouragement and photos.