Ceraland

It was a meteorologically varied weekend in central IN that significantly impacted the racing. 70F+ on Saturday at Ceraland meant for some good crowds and even bigger race fields (over 60 guys in the cat 3s) whilst thunderstorms on Sunday meant the canceling of the racing in Mooresville. There was plenty of Bloomington-based success at Ceraland. In the Women’s event Louise Turner (Alderfer Bergen) ditched the rest of the field along with her teammate Katie Weber and proceeded to comfortably win the final sprint.
Louise Turner winning the sprint
The Cat 4 race saw a very nasty crash in the final sprint that resulted in a couple of expensively broken bikes and a rider from Fort Wayne suffering a separated shoulder and an unhealthy selection of road rash. During the race Charles Spencer (IU- Dodds House) took a mid-race prime with a strong sprint. The Cat 3 event was an aggressive affair unfortunately punctuated by a nasty crash to Nick Puaca (Morris Trucking). An unsuccessful late race breakaway featuring a rider from the Turner-Prochain was expertly countered by teammate and Bloomington HS student Taylor Gaines. Taylor and a breakaway companion stayed away for three laps but their effort appears to be doomed coming to the bottom of the final hill. However Taylor found an extra gear to cruise away from the sprinting peloton to take the win.
Taylor Gaines had time to salute in the classic manner
The Cat 1/2 race was dominated by a five man group that included Issac Neff, Chris Chartier (Alderfer Bergen), Eric Hamilton (Nuvo), Ryan Good (Anthem) and noted sprinter John Puffer (Tx Roadhouse). This group was away for over an hour of the 75min race but in the final two laps split leaving Neff, Hamilton and Puffer to contest the finish. Puffer led out the sprint and just held on despite being almost overhauled by Neff at the line. The finishing distance was less than a quarter of a wheel. Eric Hamilton made it two Bloomington residents in the top three positions. Issac and Eric seem to have spent literally hundreds of miles in real and training race breakaways this spring! Overall it was a good day for the Aldefer Bergen team as Chartier, Harry Clark, Mike Sherer and Tom Cox were in the top ten. Bloomingtonite Karim Abdelkader (MOB squad) also finished 9th. Great weather and a great day of racing!
Hamilton (front) and Neff in the winning break
Puffer (right) pips Neff to the line

Photos courtesy of John Bennett- http://n4xi.smugmug.com/