Iowa Weekend, the beginning...

The Iowa weekend of racing has gone pretty well for the Bloomington/ Indiana contingent. Details to come. To whet the appetitie check out www.podiuminsight.com.
First lap of the Snake Alley Crit (Pro/1/2)

Speed-bump at Melon City in Pro/1/2

Pressure on at the front of the Pro/1/2 at Quad Cities

Nashville 90

Saturday 9am from the YMCA with the fast BBC group. Expect a couple of stops and an average between 18-20mph.

Snake Details

For those heading out to the Snake Alley check out this crazily detailed turn-by-turn guide! I didn't realize it was so complicated!!
Lets pray for sun! Photo from here

Racing farther afield

Indiana has a real lack of road racing this coming Memorial weekend so those people wanting to race in that arena will have a travel a little.
The major racing takes place over on the IA/ IL border where friday to monday racing brings out the regions best riders. None of these races have on-line registration so you'll have to eat to late fee. I guess the internet is only patchy in parts of Iowa.
Fri 28th- Burlington RR- Flat RR, not much more to say than that
Sat 29th- Snake Aley Crit, Burlington IA- Best crit you're likely to ever ride. Super hard but super fun, a block of cobbled climbing will do that for a race!
Sun 30th- Melon City Crit, Muscatine IA. Tough loop with a decent climb and a speed-bump to be taken at 40mph.
Mon 31st- Quad Cities Crit, Rock Island IL. Classic 8 corner crit with a big prize list.

For the older racer there are 3 crits in Wood-dale IL, just outside of Chicago.

On the dirt DRT Consulting are holding a race at the French Lick resort in preparation for the US Cup race that'll be happening later in the year. Apparently this is a sweet new-MTB-specific venue which is always nice to be seen developed.

Bloomington Crit- July 10th

The Bloomington Crit is set for July 10th. The flyer will be coming soon but we're hoping to increase the Pro/1/2 prizelist (at the very least) as have got a couple of extra sponsors that will hopefully allow us to bump up the cash! Always one of the best days of the year!!
Remember there is a cyclocross race(!) in Bloomington on Friday night July 9th so make a weekend of it!

Nashville 90

We're trying to get a group together to ride the Nashville 90 on saturday. We'll be leaving Soma at Noon and it'll be steady pace (no drop within reason). If you're not racing you should come out and ride. We'll probably take the 'interior' route between Kurtz and Spurgeons Corner and then ride through BCSP.

Racing this weekend.

Lots of racing going on in parts within a couple of hours of Bloomington. Go race!

Ohio Valley RR at St Leon on sunday`. Hilly LONG road race. Good very hard course. 100miles from Bton.

KY Crit Champs in Frankfort KY on saturday- Crit in KY, nuff said. 150miles from Bton.
Shelby County RR, KY on sunday. Road Race. Rolling Course. 100miles from Bton.

Champaign-Urbana Weekend. Two Crits, some good racing. 150miles from Bton.
Tour of Champaign on Saturday.
Urbana GP on Sunday.

Major Taylor Velodrome TT series on sunday. Track racing for those that have taken the rider clinic. 60miles from Bton.

I guess it depends what you want. Road racing then go to St Leon/Shelby. Crits then go to Champaign.

WW- Forest -NS-SS

6pm at Sample Gates for fast paced training ride. Out Old37N. Lets keep it steady to the top of the first hill on old37 as there are PLENTY of other hills to come later in the ride.

Forest TT- 5/18/20

It was a dank cool evening at MMSF TT where there was a throw back attitude to the proceedings as many of the local fast guys chose to forego any aero gear and ride it 'Merckx'-style (m)! Erik Hamilton gained some much needed confidence after a tough Joe Martin SR with a rapid 22.06 that included maybe 20seconds of extra pavement in a botched turnaround. Jon Atwell was second with usual winner Ryan Shanahan unable to hide behind the tri-bars and finished further down the standings than usual! Sarah Sanders was the top lady with 25m57s and there was another encouraging turnout of 24 riders. This series is going from strength to strength. Next TT is June 1st and apologies for any name spelling mistakes!
Hamilton ready for take-off!
Name, Time (min.sec)

• Erik Hamilton (m)- 22.06
• Jonathan Atwell- 22.45
• Adam Rodkey- 23.02
• Ryan Shanahan (m)- 23.33
• Brett Stewart (m)- 23.40
• Taylor Gaines- 23.46
  
• Alex Jerden- 24.17
• Tomas Golas (m)- 25.07
  
• Greg Bortz (m)- 25.08
• Scott Jerden- 25.16
• Colin Allen- 25.20
  
• Ryan Preske (m)- 25.26
• Tom Cox (m)- 25.33
• Kaleb Naegeli (m)- 25.36
• Sarah Sanders- 25.57
• Scott Todd- 26.09
• Jon Palak (m)- 26.15
• Wes Harris (m)- 26.37
• Erin Hetzel (m)- 27.30
  
• Tatiana Golovou- 27.52
• Todd Davidson (m)- 27.59
• Chris Bonham- 28.09
  
• Randi Cox (m)- 28.41
• Lindsay Rodkey (m)- 32.00

Colin Allen, Top Tortugan of 2010 so far...

Vernal Pike Closed

From the BBC (Bloomington Bike Club):

This map is in today's Herald Times. It shows that for about a year, from
the middle of June through next summer, bicycles will not be able to cross
SR-37 and proceed west on either Vernal Pike or Woodyard Rd.

Forest 10 mile time trial- May 18th

Forest Road TT Tuesday evening at 7pm. Start at junction of forest road and old37N.

Ride out from the rear of BGI at 6pm if you wish. There were 30(!) riders two weeks ago so expect another bumper crop this time out!!

Crane CycleFest

There is a charity ride happening down at Crane Naval Base on May 22nd called the Crane CycleFest. This ride benefits the national Ride2Recovery for wounded veterans. There are ride options up to 65miles and all witll take place on a completely closed course with NO cars at all. Apparently the scenery is very pleasant in this area so register before next Monday 17th for the opportunity to ride. There is NO day-off registration.

Indy Racing

After a successful debut into bike racing last weekend at Brookside Park, the Planet Adventure series returns to Indianapolis this weekend with a crit at Eagle Creek Park on Sunday. Early registration ends tonight so get on it.

WW

There is a link to the 2010 Wednesday Worlds Schedule on the side bar for your convenience.
This week is the new Buskirk-Fry Road circuit. Out north old 37, turn left on chambers, cross SR37, ride to buskirk then instead going up the hill turn left on Fry road to start the circuit. At the end of Fry Road turn R up the hill and follow the road to the church and round to the junction of buskirk where you go down the hill to finish a loop. Whoever is in attendance (not I) decide the number of loops. Finish by turning left off of Fry road onto Bottom and riding all the way to the top of the hill (the three bitches as it is sometimes known) before Bottom road T's into SR37. Hopefully Fry Road isn't too beat up!
6pm at the gates for the steady roll out. Enjoy!

Rider Council '011

The 2011 Little 500 season starts now with decision to name Riders Council at the end of the Spring Semester. The lucky riders are-

Eric Anderson (Beta), Ren-jay Shei (BKB), Chris West (PDT), Zach Lusk (Cutters), Andrew Morrow (Sigma Chi), David Ellis (FIJI), Jordan Bailey (BKB), James Coudright (DTD)

Sonja Arnesen (Gamma Phi), Chelsea Merta (Mezcla), CvK (Teter), Amy Dickman (Theta), Kelsey Kent (DG), Katie Sauter (KKG), Lauren Possley (Phi Mu), Melinda Balchan (AGD)

Most of the big teams are represented (No Psi Phi) as usual. BKB have two representatives but as Ren-jay isn't eligible to ride anymore there's no competitive advantage there.

Let's hope they choose a better color than that questionable light blue for their all important RC jackets this year!

Fantasy Giro

Kaleb requested I put together a group for Fantasy Giro d'Italia as happened on PS3 in years past.

It's free to play and you can sign up at velogames.com

Entries are due by 8am ET Saturday morning.

There is an option to join a mini-league so I have set one up called BVN and the league code is 06192506

Sign up NOW!!

Duelling Crits

This Saturday (8th) sees the unfortunate occurrence of having two crits in Indianapolis on the same day. There is an USAC race in Brookside Park and an ABR race in Eagle Creek Park. This seems crazy to me and from my perspective it's part of efforts to undermine any race that Dan Daly puts on but I may be somewhat biased toward the ABR race as am a friend of Dan Daly and don't know Matt Jourdan (organizer of Brookside Park). Dan Daly and the Indiana Race Series have been putting on races in Indiana for over 10 years and although Dan is not a perfect organizer he has been a consistent supportor of bike racing in this State where many other race organizers have come and gone.
A comparison of the events-

Where- Brookside Park, Eagle Creek Park
Affiliation- USAC, ABR
Licence Needed?- Yes ($10 one day for Cat5), No (included in entry)
Cost- $30-$35 (cat1/2), $30
Cat1/2 Prize- $750, $500
Masters Prize- $100, $400
Cat 3 Prize- $0, $400
Cat 4 Prize- $0, $300
Women Prize- $100, $200

People always criticise Dan Daly for his poor prize-list but you decide for yourself.

On Sunday 9th there is an ABR Monrovia 40km Time Trial

Wednesday Worlds at 6pm

Wednesday Worlds 6pm at the Sample Gates, 6.30pm out at the 446 loop.

MMSF TT 5/4/10

People have been obviously waiting to throw down a TT and there were 30(!) riders for the first MMSF TT of the year. Sarah Sanders has done a good job of recruiting the BBC folks and with plenty of students still in town it was a lively bunch that tested themselves over a deceptively tricky course. No surprise that Ryan Shanahan took the best time and had a rapid start to the year. Ren-Jay threw down a big time just outside 21mins whilst Brett Stewart had the best non-aero time. Elsewhere RJ Half pulled around the other riders on the 4-up Team PS5!
Next TT in two weeks

Name, Time (Min.Sec)

• Ryan Shanahan, 21.03
• Fred Rose, 21.45
• Ren-Jay Shei, 22.04
• Rob Templeman, 22.17
  
• Jordan Bailey, 22.36
• Jonathan Atwell. 22.44
• Adam Rodkey, 22.46
• Brett Stewart, 23.18
• Jason Romain, 23.20
• Mike Sherer, 23.46
• Scott Catanzaro, 24.02
• Kaleb Naegeli, 24.19
  
• Chris Beck, 24.22
• Scott Jerden, 24.46
• Mike Waymire, 24.54
• Chris West, 25.03
• Alex Jerden, 25.20
• Tom Saccone, 25.27
• Chris Hill, 25.32
  
• Team PS5, 25.42
• Brian Holthouse, 25.52
• Sarah Sanders, 25.52
• Wes Harris, 26.18
• Geraint Parry, 26.33
• Todd Davidson, 26.43
• Erin Hetzel, 27.03
• Aaron Prange, 27.25
• Mark Rees, 27.53
• Chris Bonham, 28.01
• Emily Benson, 29.10
  

Results

Results from the weekend-
Winona Road Race
Winona Crit
DINO Series Race 1.

Lots of positive results in there from Bloomington residents with arguably Andy Messer having the best ride to slay pernennial superstar Matt Battin. In the Pro/1/2 crit Ryan Knapp, Mike Sherer and Erik Hamilton got together again and lapped the field in a five man break. These guys have been in the same break in pretty much every race this year so lets hope they can find themselves in a similar situation when the competition heats up at the Joe Martin stage race next weekend
On the negative side was this wreck in the Cat1/2/ crit. I think I see Ryan Knapp surfing through the picture early on....

MMSF 10 mile TT

The first Morgan Monroe State Forest 10 mile Time Trial in this Tuesday at 7pm.
Course starts at the junction of Forest Road and old37 and is a 10mile out and back course. Very simple!
Riders go off at 30second intervals and we get ALL sorts of riders out there from some of the Indianas top TTers to riders just starting out. It really hurts but that's the point of it and is great training so come out and do it.
Either meet there a few minutes before 7pmto sign up or ride out from town. A (usually fast) group rolls out from the rear of BGI at 6pm.