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Horseshoes and hand grenades - Quad Cities Crit Race Report

Attacking on the inside. Nobody was watching ( yeah right! ;-) )

The race was dominated by the Texas Roadhouse. They had an answer for everything.

Myself and David, even though he is on Priority Health, he is an great dude.

Sheldon doing some work on the front

Me attacking and hoping to get string to snap. It never did though.

Monday's race went as planned until half way through 2 laps to go. Team BISSELL rode the front for the most of the race, only sticking our necks out when we were at risk. I also used the hot spot primes to get the feeling of the sprinting power of the pack. Fortunately, it seemed like it was nothing I couldn't handle. But as luck would have it at 5 laps to go, Texas Roadhouse and the Panthars (the two biggest / strongest teams) each had a guy up the road. Sheldon went to the front and crushed it for two laps hoping to catch them, but there were 3 Roadhouse riders on his wheel blocking for Bergman up the road. I was on the back of the Roadhouse riders comfortably in 5th position. Then once Sheldon came off the Roadhouse crew took an exceptionally wide turn around the back side at two laps to go and riders darted to the inside. Somebody hit me from the inside and knocked me off my line and then I had to decide between going into the curb & pole or hitting the brakes. That decision brought me from 4th wheel back to 40(+). Probably should have just soft attacked to the inside once I knew the pace would slow. Oh well, tomorrow is another day.

Melon City Race Report' - SPEED BUMP!

Ever been airborn in a criterium? The speed bump was right after the downhill section. We hit it at about 35MPH every lap.

Sitting in the field

Sheldon

Me

Myself and Nate

I need to remind that there is no such thing as an easy win. The thought was that it was probably going to come down to a bunch kick so the plan was to sit in and have me lead out Sheldon up the hill and drop him off at 100 meters to go. However, there was a group of 10 off the front with Derick Graham (BISSELL Elite) and Sheldon was sitting on in a chase group of about 15 with me surfing the front of the peloton. As luck would have it, about 1/3 up the hill, we made contact with both groups, but for all intents and purposes, the sprint had already started and everybody finished about where they started from at the bottom of the hill, sans a few folks that detonated up the hill, causing a little chaos up the climb. Sheldon ended up in the best position at 8th. So as Glen has told me, "there is no such thing as an easy win." Lesson learned today, as I hardly felt like I did anything today.

1-800-FUN-TOWN

Ever dialed 1-800-fun-town? Probably not... but if you do, you'll reach the Frankenmuth chamber of commerce in Frankenmuth Michigan. Quite the Bavarian town. They have a massive Christmas store that is open 365 days per year. Not sure why anybody would be buying a christmas tree stand in May, but apparently there is a market for it. Also, there is the Frankenmuth Road Race that was held this morning.

Seven Team BISSELL riders assembled to try to get to win. It started out a little chilly and a sprinkle of rain (on a side note, Bob got all suited up for the Masters race and after the first drop of rain hit the ground, he deceded not to even start). We ended up getting Nate (BISSELL elite) in a lead break Ben (BISSELL elite) in a following group. Not sure exactly what happened, but Nate ended up in 4th and Ben ended up 7th. Not too happy about the team results but oh well, tomorrow we will be in Iowa for a little redemption. Stay tuned.

Mid-week report

Grattan Speedway was Wednesday evening. Sheldon and I spent the whole time in breaks and attacking hard. Close to the end of the race, Sheldon, myself, and a Priority Health guy were in a break but when the PH guy decided not to roll through, Sheldon attacked. Myself and the PH guy were then reabsorbed into the back and Sheldon stayed away for the remainder of the race for the win. I did a suicide at 2 laps to go while the PH team chased. At about 1k to go, Birdman (GH) started out the leadout train but ended up catching me. Fortunately, Jason (Elite Bissell) won the sprint for second and we also got 3rd, 4th, 5th, and I got 7th. So another good training day for me and good results for the Elite team.

Besides racing, Michigan has been pretty good. Amway had a celebration downtown last night for it's 50th anniversery. So they put on a massive fireworks display that apparently trumped the 4th of July display by 2 fold. It was pretty impressive to say the least.

We are heading out for the races this evening in Eastern Michigan and then it's off to Iowa.

In Michigan - Kensington RR

I landed in Michigan Friday night and met with my team mate Sheldon Deeny who flew in from Fort Colins. Bob picked us up from the airport and took Sheldon and I out for a pre-race favorite, burgers and beers. Then it was off to Bob's house for a bike build session and preparations for the Kensington Road Race.

It was an early 4:30AM wake up call so we could make the journey accross the state. Ben, one of the Bissell Elite riders came over too and it was off to the races to meet up with the 4 other Bissell Elite riders.

The 85 mile road race started out pretty slow. I would be suprised if we were even going 20mph. Then Ben attacked the pack and the rce was on. An Essix Brass rider attempted a bridge and I was in perfect position to follow. After getting a nice tow up to Ben, the three of us dug in for a long break away. We rotated through pretty fast and there was no sign of a chase until mile 40. It took a couple laps for the pack to make up the 3 minute gap, but once they did around mile 50, it was rapid fire Bissell from the pack. Any time the pack would slow up a bit, a red rider would go off the front and force a chase. Several rounds each of the riders went off the front before one finally stuck. It was a move from Sheldon that had former Elite National Road Race champion Paul Martin on his wheel. Derick Graham (Bissell Elite) was soon to follow when Pal Martin's team mate bridged up too.

Sheldon put the hammer down and made it hard for the riders in tow. Paul attacked at about 1k to go, but Derrick followed and surged past him at 150 meters to go for the win.

Bissell Team Finishes
1st Derrick
3rd Sheldon
5th Nate
6th Tim
8th Ben

Off to Michigan

Off to Michigan for 2 weeks of racing. I'll also be in Iowa for the Memorial Day Criterium.

Best wishes to Ron Nelson

I just read that Ron was struck by a car on Sunday just outside of Lincoln. Ron and I go back since I first started riding in Lincoln and I will always remember him as one of the people I aspired to be like. Tough guy, very active, and a true gentleman.

Word from Lincoln is that he broke a few ribs and his hip, but knowing him he'll get through it.

God's speed recovery Ron!

Check out this big trail in Nebraska

http://www.railstotrails.org/newsandpubs/trailofthemonth/index.html

Length: 161 miles

Counties: Antelope, Brown, Holt, Madison, Rock

Start Point/ End Point: Norfolk to Ainsworth (143 miles), and Arabia Ranch Road to Valentine (18 miles)

Surface type: Crushed stone

Uses: Walking, jogging, bicycling, inline skating and cross-country skiing; horses are allowed alongside the trail and on bridges.

WNWCWC

Looking forward to tomorrow night. 5PM. Can we beat our attendance record of 6??!!??

Day... 4

An old friend named Matt Pavlovich dropped by this weekend to help celebrate me leaving the rat race. Thankfully I had a recovery day planned so it was off to Napa for some wine and a late lunch. It was sort of an odd feeling waking up later then usual, killing time, then driving to a place that was not work. I kept on having the feeling like I was supposed to be doing something else right now, but I didn't.

First on the "to do" list was exploring a couple wineries. Markham Winery was right off the 29 so we had a visit. This place was pretty cool since it had an art gallery in it as well. So not only did we taste an amazing Cabernet Franc, but we also got to see some photography of rock legends. Hendrix, Floyd, Zappa, and many others were represented in the collection. Then we went next door to the Charles Krug winery. They had a Cabernet just to my liking in that it had a great nose and body, but it was not heavy as most of the Cabs around here are.

Next was lunch. We headed down the road to meet Pav's uncle John at the world famous Mustards restaruant. We felt pretty lucky to go there since they recently had a fire and were colsed for a couple months. Fortunately, they were back in business and they did not dissapoint. Between the three of us we ordered duck, lamb, and a pork chop. The waitress warned uss over and over that the duck has a heavy smoke flavor and that "you better like the smoke taste." Well, the thre of us agreed that nothing about the smokieness was offensive at all. It was marvelous. The lamb was so tender it practically fell apart on the plate. The chop was seared to perfection and had a sauce that paired well with the swine and sweet cabbage. I would go there again in a heartbeat, but only if I had a couple extra Benjamin's in my pocket begging to come out.

Then it was back to SR for a recovery ride. We drove over Oakville Grade which becomes Trinity Grade which is a pretty famous climb in this part of the woods. Matt seemed pretty impressed by the steep grades, winding roads, and senic views the pass had to offer.

Oce we got back to SR, we had the opportunity to ride in the rain... again.... 90 minutes of recovery was about all we could stomach.

Today should be better for training. Let's just hope the rain holds off for a while so i can leave the rain gear at home.

Day 1

I had been planning for a while what I would do my first day sans 3M. But all that got thrown out the window as the gods wanted to throw down rain ALL DAY!!!! So instead, I spent the whole day cleaning, running errands, grocery shopping... OMG... I am turning into a housewife! and watched monster trucks on TV while downing a six pack :-)

-Timmo