Jan 31, 2010

The best of Little 500 in the 2000s

The end of the decade provokes many lists of dubious quality. Therefore I’d like to add my own and suggest the 10 most important Little 500 moments of the 2000s. Disagreements and additions welcome…

10- ITTs 2005- The do-over record.

The scene was set for a record breaking ITT that went all wrong when Hans Arnesen broke his chain in the starting effort and in a fit of petulance rolled his bike down the track almost taking out Sasha Land. That would have been it for a 'lesser' rider but in the cold 10pm darkness IUSF allowed Hans to ride again and in an almost deserted stadium crushed the ITT record. How long will the record stand? I'd give it a 30% chance of surviving to May 2011.

9- Mens Race 2005- The Crash
Chas Pall’s wheel twitched on the loose cinders, Hans Arnesen over-reacted and over 20 teams hit the deck. The most amazing crash in L5 occurred in turn 1 of lap 1 leaving just 8 teams in contention. Mark Zalewski’s photos of the wreck are a painful joy to behold.

8- Quals 2008- Look both ways.
Kappa rider Coleen Groth rounded turn 4 picking up speed as she started her effort. Unfortunately she ended up on the floor with a broken clavicle as IUSF red shirter John Herrel attempted (and failed) to cross the track, colliding with her back wheel. It was like watching in slow motion as those of us in the stand thought 'he's not going to cross the track now is he'? Well he did and Kappa has really not been the same since. Herrel of course feels terrible about the whole affair and theories that his rash move was precipitated by the smell of pizza from the press-box are unknown.

7- Womens Race 2009-Pi Phi!

Does anymore need to be said? Rarely does a team under the radar even compete, let alone win the race. Caroline Brown rode a perfect race and was a deserving winner, nothing more to say than that.

6- Womens L5 2008- Faltering Favorites.
Teter placed 4 riders in the MnO final and were overwhelming favorites to win the main event. All seemed to be doing to plan when Sarah Rieke put in a big effort and took a half lap lead at around half distance. Amazingly Theta clawed their way
back to the leaders and then....nothing! For whatever reason the two riders sat up and allowed it all to come back together with DG eventually prevailing. Sitting up with half a lap lead is an unheard of occurrence and sadly it was Teter who paid the price.

5- Quals 2006- Only Women Out.
In the increasing gloom Gamma Phi and Pi Phi took to the track for their fourth attempts hopeful to avoid the ignominy of being the only Womens team who have ever failed to qualify. Pi Phi led off with a cautious yet successful effort. Gamma Phi were looking good on time as they went into their third exchange. The young lady jumped on the bike yet did not maintain full control and seemingly in slow motion the bike and rider rolled into the gutter. Celebration was impossible as an awkward silence descended on the stadium. Hopefully we'll see another full Womens field soon.

4- Final lap 2004- Crash and Controversy.
Six riders crossed the line with 1 lap to go, each with a decent chance of
winning. Rounding turn 2 touch of wheels took out TMT, Briscoe, Fiji and Acacia
leaving ATO and the Cutters alone. Out of turn 4 Hans Arnesen clearly altered his line preventing Chris Vargo from passing. With commendable speed the chief steward reversed the result leaving ATO the only team to cross the line first and not win the race. For what it's worth, the Cutters would have likely won with no crash and no impeding, Vargo was the fastest that year.

3- Womens Race 2002- All Wangerin all the time.

However many laps Jenn Wangerin rode for the victorious Roadrunners is almost unimportant. Such was her dominance that she could have lapped the field but chose instead to destroy everyone in the sprint, toying with everyone else as a kitten plays with a ball of twine. A master-class fitting for a rider destined for the Olympic training program.

2- Mens Race 2000- Woj reigns supreme.
Although I didn’t observe it the second occasion of lapping the field in the new stadium occurred after a masterful performance from Chris Wojtowich of the Cutters. The legend goes that Woj got a gap, the rest of the team maintained and then Woj would lengthen the gap next time on the bike. The whole process of taking a lap took an agonizing 100 laps. Woj’s second victory was a appropriate end to a legendary career.

1- Mens Race 2006- A quick strike amid the confusion.
Whether you feel he was aided by creeping under yellow or benefited
from a confused field, Hans Arnesen’s achievement to lap the field within 10 laps was a remarkable occurrence. A chance opened up and he took it with both hands and produced arguably the greatest individual ride in L5 history.

Jan 29, 2010

World Champs to Louisville!

If you thought the Midwest CX scene was on the up and up you ain't seen nothing yet! Yep in 2013 the World Championships will be coming to Louisville! Added to the Masters World CX champs in 2012, 2013 Louisville is putting itself on the map as a major venue for cyclocross!
Niels Albert..coming to a course near you!

Jan 28, 2010

Marian Indoor TT #3, Jan 30th

It's pretty much all we have going on at the moment! Sign up here to get rid of the winter cobwebs with a competitive blowout for 10km!

Jan 26, 2010

Lady in 'not in love with Cutters' shock

This is a screen grab from some new TV show and demonstrates rare evidence that not everyone outside of Bloomington is in love with the Cutters. Thanks to Evelyn Ewing for the pic.

Race schedules

After a brief thawing last week, winter is back in Bloomington. Help those roller hours go by quickly but considering the upcoming race schedules and how you're going to crush the competition.
The Ohio Road schedule was just released as was the tentative schedule for the MWCCC spring collegiate season. The USAC Indiana schedule hasn't changed much since early in the year whilst Dan Daly has put out his Indiana Race Series schedule that focuses on TTs and spring events. I think we can be somewhat grateful for a varied race program all with in a few hours of Bloomington!

Jan 19, 2010

Pro-Styling

Phi Psi rolled out with a celebrity during their winter trip to San Diego. I hope they half-wheeled him, sat in and sneak attacked for the town signs. Funny story.

Jan 18, 2010

Marian Indoor TT #2

Even though the weather was (relatively) good this weekend an increased number of riders tackled the Marian Indoor TT. Flying the flag for Bloomington was Rob Templeman who cruised to second place with a time of 14-52 and a 25mph average! Rob commented on his twitter that he averaged an impressive 192bpm for the 15minutes! Ouch!

Jan 15, 2010

Retro sweetness

Pictures from the bowels of Wilcox House of the 2010 bikes (thanks Pam)




Fantasy Little 500

To add a little fun for Little 500 check out the Fantasy Little 500 website. Pick a team of 6 riders to 'compete' for you through all the events!
FREE to enter with prizes donated by local bike shop Revolution Bike and Bean and Bikesmiths. You'll find a preliminary rider list and the rules of the 'game'. Final rider list to be published on March 1st and entries in on March 25th- two days before quals....which is in just 10 short weeks! Check it out!

Jan 14, 2010

Ragin' against Road Rage

Related to 'a good decision' below is this facebook group attempting to draw attention to a different unfortunate FB group that extols the virtue of running bikers off of the road. Thanks to Tom S for flagging this up.
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=235515394023&ref=mf

Jan 12, 2010

Marian University Indoor TT #2

This Saturday 16th January. Will be fun/ painful!

Info and signup on Truesport.com

Jan 8, 2010

A good decision.

I'm not lawyer but hopefully this will set some sort of nationwide precedent and make our favorite rednecks think twice before trying to run us off of the road! However I doubt they read the LA Times....
Doctor sentenced to 5 years in prison for assaulting bicyclists in Brentwood
January 8, 2010 | 11:05 am
A doctor convicted of assaulting two bicyclists by slamming on his car brakes after a confrontation on a narrow Brentwood road was sentenced today to five years in prison. Christopher Thompson, wearing dark blue jail scrubs, wept as he apologized to the injured cyclists shortly before he was sentenced.
"I would like to apologize deeply, profoundly from the bottom of my heart," he told them, his right hand cuffed to a court chair.
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Scott T. Millington called the case a "wake-up call" to motorists and cyclists and urged local government to provide riders with more bike lanes. He said he believed that Thompson had shown a lack of remorse during the case and that the victims were particularly vulnerable while riding their bicycles.
The case against Thompson, 60, has drawn close scrutiny from bicycle riders around the country, many of whom viewed the outcome as a test of the justice system's commitment to protecting cyclists.
The July 4, 2008, crash also highlighted simmering tensions between cyclists and residents along Mandeville Canyon Road, the winding five-mile residential street where the crash took place.
One cyclist was flung face-first into the rear window of Thompson's red Infiniti, breaking his front teeth and nose and cutting his face. The other cyclist slammed into the sidewalk and suffered a separated shoulder.
At his sentencing hearing at the county's airport branch court, Thompson cited the Bible in urging cyclists and residents of Mandeville Canyon to try to resolve their differences peacefully.
"If my incident shows anything it's that confrontation leads to an escalation of hostilities," Thompson said.
Thompson, a former emergency room physician who described the crash as a terrible accident, testified during his trial last year that he and other Mandeville Canyon residents were upset that some cyclists rode dangerously and acted disrespectfully toward residents and motorists along the street, a popular route for bike riders.
On the day of the crash, Thompson said he was driving down the road on his way to work when several cyclists swore at him and flipped him off as he called on them to ride single file. He said he stopped his car to take a photo to identify the riders and never intended to hurt anyone.
But the cyclists said the doctor was acting aggressively from the start. They said he honked loudly from behind them and passed by dangerously close as they moved to ride single file before he pulled in front and braked hard.
A police officer told jurors that shortly after the crash that Thompson said he slammed on his brakes in front of the riders to "teach them a lesson."
Prosecutors said Thompson had a history of run-ins with bike riders, including a similar episode four months before the crash when two cyclists told police that the doctor tried to run them off the road and braked suddenly in front of them. Neither of the riders was injured.
Jurors convicted Thompson in November of mayhem; assault with a deadly weapon, his car; battery with serious injury; and reckless driving causing injury.

Jan 6, 2010

PS4

It seems as though there's a move to start up the old discussion board in a rather newer format- facebook! It looks to be Cutter-driven so expect it to be crass, cocky yet very successful!
PS4 Facebook Group

Jens Scale

It's cold outside so rate your ability to ride on the Jens Voight Scale! From cyclocosm.com

Cold and the Phoney War

Cold days in Bloomington means there's not much going on in the bike community. Chill MTBing and trainer riding are pretty much the order of the day for anyone looking to build form for the upcoming racing season. With that in mind the only event on the horizon is the second Marian University Indoor TT on Jan 16th. Register for it here.
Elsewhere the phoney war of information and misinformation has started for Little 500. Many teams are off in (slightly) warmer climes and putting in some miles. However misinformation might be a strategy to psyche-out some of your opponents! Interesting times!
The Cutters are down in FLA. From coach Fowler- '5+ hrs, 20 mile average, about 20 sign sprints. i am toast'. Impressive..if the actual L5 riders participated in the entire ride!
PDT are also in FLA. From Chris West- 'Good times in Trouble Creek, 50 mile total miles today. Felt great during all three race simulations'. Is it too soon for race simulations?
BKB are in AL. From Ren-jay at 9.30am. 'up and at 'em again...breakfast'. Need to get out of bed earlier!