More Little 500 Photos

Velonews/ Cyclingnews contributor and Garmin-Slipstream webmaster Mark Zalewski has posted the photos he took of the 2010 races. Check them out.
mzphoto.printroom.com

Little 500 Photos

A lot of photos here taken by the official photographers CTC Photo Express

Cat Two ban?

I haven't heard anything about this amongst the riders but the IDS is stirring the pot a little with this article about Eric Young, the Cat2 rule and being too damn fast!
http://www.idsnews.com/news/story.aspx?id=75577

News from the Little 500 rider banquet-

- Sarah Rieke Schlifke inducted into HoF. Well deserved and she gave a nice acceptance speech.

- Clayton Feldman was on the ballot for HoF and results of the vote will be announced later. In a very unofficial pole of 3 2010 top ten teams he got 2 'yes' votes so if that continues then he'll get in (50% required). The lower placed teams often will not vote so that might also work in his favor.

- Some nice $-value scholarships were handed out (as ever). I get the sense more students need apply for these are there are prizes out there to be had!

Another IDS story about the Cutters love/hate. Clayton's being a good guy and helping some other teams get onto the podium!
From this website

Fat and Skinny

This weekend racing leaves the track and heads to the dirt and the tarmac up in Northern Indiana. Its the all weekend Fat and Skinny Tire-fest in Warsaw IN with the first 2010 DINO race on saturday and a saturday-RR, sunday-crit on the road. Register for the road stuff before midnight tonight for a cheaper price!

BBC Rides

For this people looking for a slightly easier but still good paced training rides and are fed up of getting smashed out the back of the wednesday worlds you should consider the BBC training rides that leave Bryan Park Pool at 5.30p on Tuesday and Thursday. Rides are of solid cat4 pace with a variety of abilities that always regroup. The BBC is also a great group to ride with at the weekend as they keep up the pace and will do plenty of routes off of the usual student repertorie. Check them out!

Final Fantasy

The inaugural Fantasy Little 500 is now in the books and after selecting the 1st-2nd-3rd Mens teams and the 1st-3rd and 4th Womens teams Dr BVN wins the overall title! However in a surprisingly magnanimous gesture the prizes will go to Emily Max ($50 from Revolution Bike and Bean), Zach Lusk ($25 from Bikesmiths) and Chris West (1lb bag of coffee from Revolution Bike and Bean).

On to the numbers-

Top 10 overall
Team, Points, Team
Inside Track (Geraint Parry), 495, Young, Burnworth, Leone, CvK, Dickman, Phillips
Emily Max, 475, Schroeder, Quay, Holthouse, CvK, Half, Dickman
Revelation (Zach Lusk), 457, Young, Burnworth, Leone, Brown, Dickman, Phillips
POTTP (Chris West), 455, Bailey, Brown, Sharp, Balbach, Calvert, Sauter
Power Hour (Baxter Burnworth), 451, Ellis, Trogdon, Sharp, Metherd, Arnesen, Sauter
Brain Drummy, 432, Ellis, Sharp, Morrow, Half, Metherd, Davis
Man of Constant Sorrow (Andrea Wolf), 428, Young, Kiel (M), Morrow, CvK, Duemler, Bickel
Brice Fox, 419, Young, Burnworth, Greene, Brown, Arnesen, Davis
Stephen Quay, 418, DRR, Burnworth, Quay, Half, Calvert, Rush
Team Crazy Legs, (Chris Wojtowich), 416, Young, Leone, Holthouse, CvK, Arnesen, Ziemba

Top 5 Race Scores
Team, Points, Team
Inside Track (Geraint Parry), 112, Young, Burnworth, Leone, CvK, Dickman, Phillips
Revelation (Zach Lusk), 107, Young, Burnworth, Leone, Brown, Dickman, Phillips
RJ Stuart, 106, Young, Boeglin, Stuart, Metherd, Rush, Loebig
Amy Dickman, 102, Ellis, Schroeder, Trogdon, Metherd, Calvert, Phillips
Emily Max, 101, Schroeder, Quay, Holthouse, CvK, Half, Dickman

Optimal Legal Team
Caitlin Van Kooten, Lauren Half, Katie Sauter, Steve Sharp, Dan Brown, Andrew Morrow. Points- 579

Best Selected Womens Teams
Team, Points, Riders
Emily Max, 290, CvK, Half, Dickman
Squirly Wheel (Charlie Metzger), 252, CvK, Arnesen, Dickman
Inside Track (Geraint Parry), 250, CvK, Phillips, Dickman

Best selected Mens Teams
Team, Points, Riders
Brice Fox, 260, Young, Burnworth, Greene
Brian Drummy, 247, Ellis, Sharp, Morrow
Inside Track (Geraint Parry), 245, Young, Burnworth, Leone
Revelation (Zach Lusk), 245, Young, Burnworth, Leone
Inside

Forest 10 mile time trial- May 4th start.

From Sarah Sanders-

2010 MMSF10-MILE TIME TRIALS

WHEN: May-September?

1st & 3rd Tuesday of the month

WHERE: Morgan Monroe State Forest.

Start line shortly after turn onto Forest Rd.

WHAT: You ride, we time. It's free & it's fast.
Course is out-and-back (road is open to traffic). Rider sent out every 30 seconds. First rider leaves at 7:00 pm.

*Results and changes/updates can be found on Bloomington Velonews*

Wednesday Worlds at 6pm

6pm start for the Wednesday Worlds this week, Meet at the Sample Gates for the Forest Loop. Take it easy up that first hill on old37 for inclusivity. It's the Little 500 banquet this wednesday so this ride will likely be poorly attended aside from the local hammers! Enjoy!

Jersey Night

So part of the Little 500 experience is the fabled 'Jersey Night' where riders go out and have a few drinks whilst wearing their jerseys. Although this extremely high-brow blog is not usually into such things (the author was on flavored water over the weekend) I have been asked to post this set of rules for 'Fantasy Jersey Night'.
Have at it kids, results in the comments section probably rated 'R'.

Waking up with more than 1 rider - 20 pts
Waking up in the dorms(only for seniors) - 50 pts
Making Out
-Top 5 finisher - 5 pts
-Finishing between 6-15 - 3 pts
-Finishing between 16-20 - 2 pts
-Finishing between 21-33 - 1 pts
-Wearing the same color jersey - 5 pts
-With someone a teammate has already tapped - 4pts
-Someone whose name you don't know -2 pts
Closing down Kilroy's - 3 pts
Wearing someone else's jersey - 3 pts
Keg Stands - 2 pts
Longest Keg Stand - 2 pts
Beer Pong and shotgun champion - 5 pts
Swimming in your Jersey - 4 pts
Consuming more alcohol than you did on your 21st birthday - 8 pts
Spending more than $80 - 7 pts
Spending more than $100- 10 pts
Getting kicked out
Before midnight - 10 pts
After midnight - 8 pts
Blacking out before midnight - 7 pts
"Successfully" making it to class before 10:00 am - 5 pts
Extra points if you're in your jersey- 5 pts
Extra points if you're in someone else's jersey - 10 pts
Puke and Rally - 10 pts
Puke and Don't Rally - negative 10 pts
Waking up in the hospital
From too much alcohol - negative value of the medical bill
For any other reason - value of the medical bill
Buying someone else a drink - 1 pt
Incorporating a line into from Breaking Away into conversation - 1 pt
If a male gdi wakes up in a sorority- 7 pts
If a frat brother wakes up in a sorority - 10 pts
Extra point if next to house mom's room
Plan B - 20 pts
Bonus: doing any two things simultaneously doubles points

Dynasty Realized!

Teter has arguably been the dominant team of the past 7 years but with just one win in that time (2005) their potential had not been realized. They were pole-sitters in three consecutive years (2007-2009) and should/could have won the race in both 2004 and 2008. All that was forgotten as they rose from being under the radar prior to quals to sweeping the series events and dominating the Women’s race. Caitlin van Kooten individually won ITTs, MnO, TP and throughout Fridays race her burnouts were more effective than anyone else’s. This gave her rookie teammates the opportunity to easier integrate into the pack each time they rode. Eventually something had to give and as Teter came around to lap the gallant Pi Phi at about 80laps, CvK attacked the field with a fake exchange. She quickly gained a good gap that was maintained by teammate Lauren Gowdy and finally punched home through the final 8 laps by the women of the moment herself! Yes there were a few laps of yellow that helped their cause but there is little doubt CvK would have held off the chasing teams AGD, DG, Theta and Kappa. All that was required was a proper victory salute and it would have been a perfect day!
Photo from IDSnews.com
The chasing teams in the finale took positions 2-5 but all had largely anonymous days and played second fiddle to CvK. Defending champ Pi Phi made a solid attempt at repeating with Caroline Brown riding over 70 laps before being sadly taken out of the race with a separated shoulder after colliding with a horrible Delta Gamma exchange (that strangely wasn’t penalized). Pi Phi’s day was pretty wild with a lot of exchange uncertainty that eventually caused them a 5 second penalty that put the final nail in their attempts to be competitive for the win. Brown had done a great job keeping Pi Phi on the lead lap for 70 laps but her team-mates also deserve some credit for holding onto the teams fifth position for the last 20 laps. The other issue of the day was the amazing amount of creeping that was allowed by the judges: when a 25 rider pack forms after 85 laps you know something is up!
There were only a few crashes throughout the race but those that occurred were nasty! An Air force rider was taken off with a broken clavicle in the first 5 laps but the worst of the day was when Lauren Sewell (I think) of Army wrecked between turns3+4 out of sight of her team. She sickeningly hit the ground face first that apparently resulted in a broken nose and clavicle. To her enormous credit she actually got back on her bike and make it round to the pit in tears before being eventually being taken to the medical tent. Caroline Brown hit the ground close to the gutter in a crash that also involved a Zeta rider performing a nasty face-plant. It always seems much worse when a girl lands on her face then it does when the same happens to some ugly dude.
With all of Teter’s riders coming back next year I think it’ll be easy to select next years favorites as they try to make it 3 wins in 7 years!
Pi Phi (yellow) and Zeta crash. Photo idsnews.com

What a race!

To simply state that the Cutters won their fourth consecutive L5 would be to undervalue what was a magnificent spectacle. Many ‘proper’ bike racers undermine L5 as a parochial intramural event that has little sporting value but in yesterdays event the competitors gave a spectacle in which they will be proud to have participated in for years to come. No official results yet due to some slight scoring confusion but it doesn’t mean the BVN awards can’t be given out-
Most Aggressive Team- PDT. Blew the race apart with early attacks, making the Cutters work harder than they would have liked and all but eliminating 5 teams with maybe 80 laps in the books.
Best timing- The Weather. Everyone knew rain as coming but the big stuff held off until 90 laps were in the books essentially causing a race to 100 laps as the teams knew the race would be postponed/ ended.
Best Premature Celebration- The Cutters. Eric Young had both hands in the air under yellow after 104laps and was busy commiserating with the other teams before Student Coach Sam pulled him away saying that the race may not yet be over.
Best line of riders- All 33 teams. Seeing them lined up in order on the restart was a fun to see.
Best lapping of the field- FIJI. On the restart FIJI were erroneously placed 2 laps down where they knew they were only 1 lap back. As the leaders slowed at 150 laps they took their chance and unlapped themselves to get back on the lead lap. Therefore The Cutters, ATO and FIJI are now the only teams to have lapped the field at the new stadium. It was a great ride.
Best use of low-technology- The Cutters. There is often mild mockery of the number of people who keep track of other teams progress from behind the fence but the Cutters were the only other team that knew that FIJI were back on the lead lap and therefore knew that FIJI were sprinting for the win at the white flag. Without this knowledge Fiji could have conceivably ridden away solo for the win under everyone else’s noses.
Least deserved result- BKB. Ren-jay Shei attacked early and then often as they tried desperately to unlap themselves after the restart. Somehow they never managed to get more than 1/2lap ahead whilst FIJI slipped away to gain their lap (probably because all teams but one thought FIJI were two laps down). In the finale they were all burnt out and finished 10th.
Best use of resources- The Cutters. Put under pressure early they put aside any thought of lapping the field, made sure there were ahead (1/4lap) at the red flag, were aggressive between 100-150 and then sat in and ate laps between 150-180 when a group sprint seemed inevitable. In the final twenty laps Schroeder and Lusk put the hurt on the other teams allowing Young to get on the bike pressure-free with five laps to go.
Young wins, Sharp in second (pic- Mark Zalewski-http://mzphoto.printroom.com)
Most surprising results- DTD in 4th and Beta in 5th. DTD actually had a good gap on occasions but chose not to push their advantage. Beta (and GGC) were 1/3lap down late in the race but clawed their way back into it but just didn’t have the legs in the final sprint.
Best way to deal with the rain- IUSF. Dealt with a unique occurrence with a series of sensible decisions that was fair to everyone. The rule from the IUSF rule book- ‘If a race is temporarily stopped, and IF the Chief Steward rules that the full 200 /100 laps cannot be completed then 101/51 laps shall constitute a complete race’. The IF is important, as fortunately we were able to complete the race. The easy thing might have been to not restart but they showed the willingness to get the full 200 laps in the books.

Get in the mood

Just to put everyone is the right frame of mind-

Although conversely the rain will likely make the track safer given how dry it's been recently.

Rain Plans

So it's gonna rain for one or both of the races. The IDS have a nice break-down of the rain rules as Mike Howard (chief Steward) sees them.
http://www.idsnews.com/blogs/hoosierhype/?p=11453

Math Geek (no offence) says: PDT win!

Nathan Hart at the IDS drew this to BVNs attention-
http://eandreol.wordpress.com/2010/04/20/race2010/
A regression analysis of this years L5 results makes it plain that PDT will win!
Team, Victory Chance
Phi Delta Theta 24.5%
Cutters 18.3%
Phi Kappa Psi 16.8%
Phi Gamma Delta 11.5%
Sigma Chi 7.4%

However with Sig Chi at 7.4% but within a standard error of PDT don't put all your money on the favorites just yet! What isn't factored in is which teams will turn all wicked-witch and shrink from the rain!

L5 Photo Opportunity.

If any team wants to commission some photos focused on their team during the race then you should get in contact with Kristen Armstrong at Ebby Grace Photography. She will be on the infield during both races and will be taking general shots but will focus on an individual team if asked to do so. Contact her at kristen@ebbygracephotography.com

Technology at L5?

The IDS special L5 issue has an article about the IUicycle program which will hopefully be keeping electronic time of all racers in this years races. Their website will have real time updates which will obviously be useful for those people out of town and for those teams off of the lead lap where it can be confusing as to whom you are racing against. I hope it works out. The article mentions that they have an iphone app but that isn't true, rather it's just a web-based application that can be found at http://icycle.informatics.indiana.edu/

Higher Level Support

The Evil Empire spreads it's influence (from @jason_fowler). So Euro!

My two questions-
1. Fabian vs Eric Young at the white flag- who wins?
2. Which team would Fabian leave the Wine and Cheese with (one person wouldn't be enough)?

WW. Buskirk-Paragon

WW will roll out at 5.30pm from the Sample Gates for the Buskirk-Paragon Loop. Lets take it easy until the top of the hill on old37 as we successfully did a couple weeks ago. Also please do NOT race across SR37 on the two occasions we cross it. Check out the route below as it's a no-wait ride as ever.
Next week we will transition to a 6pm start.

Official BVN Little 500 2010 Odds- lets gamble!

At the risk of blowing my own trumpet I got my early picks pretty much spot on (including predicting the demise of ATO). However it's now gametime so how are the BVN bookies thinking about the 2010 race? Let's roll the dice!

Womens L5 23rd April 2010
Relatively long odds reflect a weak womens field with a couple of dominant riders on teams of very different strengths.

Teter 5/1 fav- CvK can win solo or in a long sprint and has an OK team to keep her close. I don't see them attacking but will be there at the end. Teter are due a win and this should be the year.
Delta Gamma 6/1- Deep team but can they keep Half fresh enough to have enough to outpace CvK in the finale. Will look for an opportunity to go it alone late on.
Theta 6/1- Will be aggressive and need to be solo to win. Apparently there is a plan brewing and they have the firepower to implement it well. Dickman will be a L5 monster.
Kappa Kappa Gamma 8/1- L5 relevant again but will need to be solo to win. Coach Naas' recent pedigree is without equal so don't count them out.
Army 10/1- Quiet and always effective with no finisher or difference maker.
AGD 10/1- See Army....
Pi Phi 11/1- Brown is prepared for a 90+ lap effort and being on the lead lap would be a magnificent achievement. It's difficult to see it happen and Brown having an effective sprint finish. However they had longer odds last year......
Wing-It 12/1- TP indicated that they are coming to the boil at the right time but it's a year too soon for them.
Kappa Delta 12/1- The five year window is closing. We could see Balbach riding 70laps but she has never shown a killer instinct. Oh for Jenna Cerone.
Gamma Phi 15/1- Don't seem to have progressed since last year so a top 8 is their ceiling.
25/1- The Field. Every other team would be overjoyed with a top ten.

Mens L5 24th April
The three year domination of the Cutters casts a long shadow over the race. Other teams have been mostly quiet with 95% of the BVN comments concerning one team. Could the fraternal alliance become a reality?

Cutters 3/1 fav- Until someone shows they can beat them they must be favored. Don't let TP cloud your judgement as they are in good position. Even if Young has to do more laps than planned he is unbeatable if in position at the white flag.
PDT 7/2- Hard work behind the moto has taken this squad to another level and they will ride aggressively. If they can stay lucky and upright they roll 4 deep like few other teams.
Phi Psi 4/1- A four-deep team with Mercer desperate to be in it at the end. His talent on the final lap is somewhat a mystery and he could be the closest to Young.
BKB 4/1- Aside from Quays MnO they have had an anonymous spring but they are deep. Need to be solo to win and will hopefully try to make it happen.
Fiji 6/1- A dissapointing spring but showed well in TP so seem to be ready to go. An
alliance with PDT or Phi Psi to remove the GDIs would be fun to see.
Sigma Chi 8/1- Strong and deep but maybe a little too green to take the initiative needed to win the race. A fresh Morrow in the finale would be dangerous.
Gray Goat 8/1- Just don't to be able to put it together even with their obvious talent. Would need to be in a small group at the end to have a chance.
Beta 10/1- A remarkable turnaround from '09 and this will be an important learning experience on the road to really contending in 2011.
DTD 12/1- Found a good level after their big losses from '09. Coudright could be a good finisher although I'm sure wishes the 46*18 was a little larger!
Delta Chi 14/1- Another team with a steep learning curve who should be contending in 2011.
Acacia 15/1- Seem to be well prepared but have no standouts to rely on when the going gets real tough.
DU 16/1- DRR makes the guys a last lap contendor but will find it tough to get there with the leaders
Wright 18/1- A second top ten in 3 years is a possibility.
Hoosier Climber 18/1- Almost as green at the top level as their hair and a top ten would be a great result
Sigma Nu 20/1- These guys seem out of control so anything is possible! I like their style!
The Field 22/1- a few others may touch the top ten but not compete for the win.

Wednesday Worlds change?

There's been a suggestion to change the start time for the Wednesday Worlds to 6pm instead of the current 5.30p. It already doesn't get dark until after 8pm and none of the routes take more than 2hrs. This would help those folks who actually work for a living and don't get off until 5.30 or 6pm. We're thinking of starting the new time a WEEK wednesday on 4/29/10 so as to get the word out. If anyone has any objections to this then use the comments section or send me an email and we can discuss.

Fantasy Update

A few players suffered with the loss of Jordan Bailey and DRR yesterday which all meant that Geraint Parry (that's me) won the day and now has a solid lead in the overall! Emily Max and Chris West lie in the other prize positions.

Top Points in TP
Name, Total, Team
1-Inside Track (Geraint Parry), 110- Young, Burnworth, Leone, Van Kooten, Phillips, Dickman
2-Matt Ewing, 108- Ellis, Schroder, Sharp, Bembenista, Sewell, Loebig
3-Emily Max, 101- Schroeder, Quay, Holthouse, Van Kooten, Half, Dickman
4-Lauren Half, 101- Young, Shei, Trogdon, Gowdy, Phillips, Dickman
5-Power Hour (Baxter Burnworth), 100- Ellis, Trogdon, Sharp, Metherd, Arnesen, Sauter

Top Points Overall
Name, Total, Team
1-Inside Track (Geraint Parry), 383- Young, Burnworth, Leone, Van Kooten, Phillips, Dickman
2-Emily Max, 374- Schroeder, Quay, Holthouse, Van Kooten, Half, Dickman
3-POTTP (Chris West), 371- Bailey, Brown, Sharp, Balbach, Calvert, Sauter
4-Power Hour (Baxter Burnworth), 356- Ellis, Trogdon, Sharp, Metherd, Arnesen, Sauter
5-Revelation (Zach Lusk), 350- Young, Burnworth, Leone, Brown, Phillips, Dickman

Notes from Team Pursuit

Full Results here and the IDS report.

What I saw-

- CvK and by extension her Teter team are the real deal. CvK lead the entire way in both first round and the final. The final was a masterclass with her team-mates all hanging tough on her wheel with CvK watching Kappa the entire way and then picking it up in the last few laps as Kappa's train started to derail. The surprise of having the white jersey on the line in the final was an extra spur!
- Kappa are also it in to win it. The quals was clearly not a fluke for these four ladies. Like Theta they have no real sprinter but will be in the mix for sure.
- DG and Theta were as solid as we suspected they might be but seemed to be lacking a little with a clearly weaker fourth rider.
- Wing-it looked well drilled as you would expect from a team coached by 'The Dean', Went off a little fast but showed they'll be there or thereabouts next friday.
- Jennifer Balbach also lead the entire way for KD but clearly don't have the depth of Teter. If Jenna Cerone has chose to ride then these girls would have been a real big contender
- PDT was also the real deal. Burnworth, Sharp and Sovinski were very very impressive in both heats and in the final Chris West showing he can do a job for them as well. No-one else was close for more than 10 laps. Baxter was responsible for the rebirth of the 'push' as he gave a Sovinski a little nudge toward the line, soon to be copied by...
- ...the Cutters. Their run look an absolutely mess but even with Patches blowing up and Clayton pushing Lusk for much of the last two laps they still came 4th. A less talented team would have just made the top ten. They clearly started a little too fast and paid the price. I understand Young's helmet cam was burnt last night to remove the evidence.
- GGS were up on the Cutters for much of the way and looked good throughout but their time was a little disappointing.
- In contrast Sigma Nu looked faster than their time as their 3 riders seemed to be racing each other every time they pulled through.
- Don't sleep on BKB. 6th place lacking their fastest rider means that even though their spring series has been somewhat disappointed they are ready for action
Photo- Stephen Quay

Indiana is a go..

The unofficial start to the Indiana Race season is this weekend with the classic Ceraland Park circuit race on saturday and the Mooresville circuit race on sunday. Both are on gentle safe courses, close to Bloomington that offer an ideal introduction to racers young and old. Neither race requires pre-registration and as the weather looks to be fine there should be a bunch of riders in attendance. Ceraland has extra poignancy this year as it is the 'Joanne Daly Memorial' in celebration of the life of promotor Dan Dalys wife who was killed in a freak accident last summer. Come on out to race it up in her memory!

Fed up...

...of scrolling to the bottom of the MissNOut post so I'd like to mention in a fresh post that

- Cutters lap the field in the practice race
- Pi Phi win both practice races.

What insight can be found in these occurences without taking shots at any individuals? I'd say the Cutters love putting the pressure on the other teams and that for Pi Phi it's a indication that they might be competitive. I believe that if Pi Phi can finish on the lead lap it would be a remarkable achievement. However Wing-it couldn't do it last year so it's gonna be a big ask but I would love to see it happen.

WW- 446 loop

5.30pm at the Sample Gates, 6pm out at the course. With the final practice races before L5 happening at the track expect a smaller group but it will be filled with quality for sure.

Stuff

I totally forgot about the Blueline Hub for quality L5 pics and video.

Some good results for Bloomingtonites over the weekend with Ryan Knapp, Mike Sherer and Erik Hamilton all finishing within the top 15 at Hillsboro-Roubaix. Below is a video of the finale of that race shot by a guy called David Henderson. It's kinda interestingly to see the speeds that everyone is going and the guys who seemed to be settled at the back of the group sprinting to hold their positions. Tough stuff.


Elsewhere Adam Rodkey finished 2nd in the Cat3 race over at the Hueston Woods RR (but I can't find results) and Don Galligher won the DINO series spring tune-up event.

It's L5 Team Pursuit on Saturday and the heats have been posted. Look for the usual suspects to battle it out- PDT, Phi Psi, Cutters, GGC, BKB, FIJI and new potential power Sig Chi. For the women DG and Theta looked good in this evenings TP practice an will probably meet in the final. However don't count out CvK led Teter and pole sitting Kappa.

MissNOut

Miss and Out proved it’s unpredictability with an exciting and unexpected day of racing at the L5 track yesterday. Mechanical issues were arguably the big winner of the day as Eric Young, Matt Kain and Eric Anderson all suffered chain-failures that obviously cost them their chances. The big marker of the day was thrown down by Phi Delta Theta who placed three guys in the final and rode beautifully in the early rounds to eliminate Coudright and Mercer. Steve Sharp won in as dominant a fashion as possible, basically leading the final from the front and never being headed. Quay and DRR showed they know how to ride MnO with second final appearances. Arguably most impressive was Andrew Morrow’s ride in the semi-final where he crushed his opponents with consecutive out-of-the-saddle-eating-the-stem efforts. PDT has all but sealed the white jersey with their 1-3-6 finish with both Cutters and FIJI having sub-par days and Phi Psi having a little bad-luck (Brown) or double teamed by PDT (Mercer).

Team parity was the word of the day in the Womens race with KD, DG, KKG, AGD, Teter and Pi Phi each with one rider in the final. It was fitting that the three strongest riders came together at the end with CvK, Caroline Brown and Lauren Half all lined out with a lap to go. In the end CvK just got faster and faster and rode the other girls off of her wheel with an impressive piece of front-running, putting to rest any concerns that she can’t finish. It all points to a very even womens race but we learn more about that next week after Team Pursuit.
IDS report
IDS Slide Show
CvK about to drop the hammer
The Mens Finish - thanks to Brian Drummy

Miss and Out

It's MnO on saturday in the only L5 event that allows riders to go head to head! It's a fun day of racing and the brackets can be found on the IUSF website. The first round is usually a walk for the higher seeded riders (as determined by ITT results) although there will be a few intriguing match ups this year. Heat 16 stands out with 3 of the 5 top Phi Delts in one heat meaning they'll either gang up on DTDs James Coudright or one of them will 'miss out'. Heat 6 is of interest with Matt Kiel as a real high quality lower seed after his poor ITT. The first round on the Womens side is usually less competitive although with a number of rookies taking high seeding the chances for inexperience causing a tactical error is never far away. Interestingly Kelsey Kent and Erin Axley seem to have their seedings swapped so hopefully this will be amended before saturday or there's a good reason for it I'm unaware of. Watch out for Mary Rush in heat 31- she didn't ride ITT so gets the lowest seeding- danger there for the other girls in that heat. Each year at least one higher seed usually gets in all wrong and exits early so it's worth checking out every early heat.

The second round is where the action really heats up with just 2/6 riders advancing to the semis. Heat 34 sees the first match-up of the 2009 top 2 with Young and DRR going at it- the Cutters will surely be looking for Patches Schroeder to put a move on DRR to eliminate him early in the game. Ryan Kiel will be lurking with intent in this heat as well. Heat 44/46 look the weakest on paper yet heat 48 will see a good battle between Sharp, Quay and Trogdon for those 2 qualifying spots.
Heat 33 for the women sees ITT champ CvK with two of this years super rookies, Kelsey Phillips and DanaVDG.The rumour is that D-VDG has quite the sprint yet Kelsey showed in this weeks practice race that she is no slouch in the final 100meters as well.

My predictions for the M semi-finals are as follows-
1- Young, DRR, Feldman, Kiel (M), Baxter, Ellis, Mercer, Kain
2- Shei, Fish, Brown, Morrow, Bortz, Bailey, Sharp, Quay

And the final- 1st- Young, 2nd- Mercer 3rd- Sharp, 4th- Quay 5th- Baxter 6th- Brown

For the ladies semis-
1- CvK, Phillips, Dickman, Balchan, Balbach, Ziemba, Half, Sewell
2- Arnesen, Metherd, Axley, Davis, Duemler, Baylis, Brown, Rush

Final- 1st- Brown, 2nd- Half 3rd- CvK 4th- Metherd 5th- Rush 6th- Phillips

Have at it!

WW

5.30pm at the Sample Gates- fast paced training ride. Forest-North Shore- South Shore. As this is the toughest of the weekly routes with LOTS of hills lets try to be considerate to all abilities and take it easy until we reach the TOP of the first hill past Anderson Road on old37.

Road Racing..

Little 500 fever may be gripping Bloomington but don't forget that the Midwest road racing season is picking up pace. This past Saturday was the Midwest Cycling Classic at the always wet Marian University. It was down to the IU girls to 'represent' in shitty condition with Caroline Brown dominating the Womens B race winning all primes and taking the final sprint. Mary Rush toughed it out in the lead group of four in just jersey and shorts for a final 3rd place. Emily Max finished 7th, which was one place better than her L5 team-mate Kristen Metherd finished in the Womens A race. It was a surprisingly competitive race and Kristen showed some good sass to complete against the Marian Armada.
A picture especially for the Metherd family.

The Cat1/2/3 USAC race was a total Bloomington stitch up with Ryan Knapp, Erik Hamilton and Mike Sherer making the break of the race together with Martinsvilles ex-pro Greg Strock and current Kenda pro-Chad Burdzilauskas. In the finale Strock attacked early to take a surprise victory with Sherer, Hamilton and Knapp finished 3rd-5th while sprinting for 2nd.
Knapp chatting with a mustachioed team-mate!
Hamilton in the break
Next weekend sees the first big rendez-vous of the Midwest season with Hillsboro-Roubaix taking place in Illinois. Full fields for all events make this race one to watch and will be a real test for out local Cat1s. Sunday sees an Ohio Valley Spring Series race over at the excellent Hueston Woods circuit close to Miami (of Ohio). Collegiate racing also heads to Ohio where Scott Catanzaro may continue to search for points in the hope of becoming IU sole representative at Collegiate Nationals.

Photos

Here is a bunch of photos to buy from Quals day. Some nice ones in there.

Here are a few photos from Spring Break week as taen by the excellent Caitlin Coar

ITTs

Download results here.

Good summary of the evening from Nathan Hart at the IDS.

Photo Gallery from the IDS.

Video from the IDS

No huge surprises out there aside from the slowness of the track. Young was an expected winner and CvK was always going to be in the mix. Theta and Teter have found excellent rookies in Dickman and DVDG. No womens team truly separated themselves aside from DG (looking good in their Bikereg skinsuits) who showed they MAY have the fastest duo this year in Kelsey and Lauren. Pi Phi is badly lacking after Caroline as I know from experience that it's different to get a 3min+ ITTer to hang with the leaders for even a lap or two.
Phi Psi continue their rise back to relevance and take the early lead in the white jersey competition. PDT are deep and perhaps the purchase of a moto is serving them well. Cutters has the same sort of results as in 2009 so I wouldn't be too worried about their lack of apparent depth. Again we saw that good road-men need not make good L5 ITTers with Ren-jay and the Kielers struggling. And what about Sigma Chi? A top ten finish last year and three in the top 15 at ITTs in 2010? Watch out for them, they are now real contenders.

Kristen Metherd bringing home a solid night for Theta