WW- take the lake

A new route for WW this evening and I think it made successful debut. The return of Mike Sherer and Ryan Knapp to WW meant it was a top quality group of 25+ riders who steadily wound their way via the bike route south of town with no traffic issues before turning onto Fairfax to pick up the pace. Avoiding Ramp Creek was a good decision as Fairfax and then Strain Ridge allowed a large group to get some good quality speed work, where the pace seemed to pick up significantly when Knapp got on the front.
As the Dam(n) climb loomed, the pace slowed before Ryan Shanahan attacked and led to the base of the hill with a small gap. As expected the group shattered on this steep ramp with a front group of approximately 8 riders getting a small gap on a ragtag group of chasers. A truce at the front allowed a 15 rider bunch to reform before the same separation occured on the next always-surprisingly-tough climb. The front group of Hamilton, Sherer, Knapp, Shanahan, Hays, Pilling, Rose, Golas kept the pressure on and gapped Neibler on Chapel Hill Road who then dropped back to the creeping second group of Hans, Parry, Lewis, Templeman, Quay, Allen and the Hoosier Climber.
This group stayed together until Neibler lit it up back onto SR446 definitively gapping Allen. Surprisingly the remainder of the group stayed together up the Causeway hill and toward the sprint where Neibler won it from Hans, Lewis and Parry as the group caught Pilling who had been gapped front the front group. I'm sure the 4th of July fireworks came early on the Causeway hill in the front group with a likely trio of Hamilton, Sherer and Knapp getting away to contest the finish although I might be way wrong with that! Any other thought of the route will be gratefully received. Next week- 446 circuit.

Forest TT- 6/29/10

Pleasantly cool day at the Forest but it was a relatively slow day. Ryan Shanahan resisted the Hamilton-attack but I think this will be a big battle for the rest of the year! Elsewhere there was a big improvement by Bob Costello. Next TT in two weeks on July 13th.

Name, Time

Ryan Shanahan, 21.06
Erik Hamilton, 21.12
Jordan Bailey, 22.32
Jonathan Atwell, 22.58
Jason Romain, 23.33
Chris Beck, 23.53
Eric Anderson, 24.44
Gary Palmer, 24.47
Ryan Preske, 24.52
Bob Costello, 25.07
Sarah Sanders, 25.08
Tom Saccone, 25.47
Chris Arvin, 25.58
Kirk Weesner, 26.00
Geraint Parry, 26.39
Todd Davison, 26.43
RJ Half, 26.45
Team Big Half Cox, 27.07
Lynn Allen, 28.05
Emily Palmer, 30.33
Lindsay Rodkey, 30.45

WW- take the lake

6pm at the Sample Gates. We'll try something different on WW tomorrow- riding south! Out the bike route across Hillside and Winslow to Rhorer then to Harrel. Turn right onto Moffat and then to Fairfax where the pace could/should pick up. Play it safe on Farifax as it's busy. Then simply follow the classic 'Take the Lake/ 60k) route around lake monroe. Finish by coming in SR446 and sprinting (whoever remains) at the white gate on Knightridge road where the 446 loop finishes (but from the opposite direction of course)

Hyde Park Bton homer

Some Bloomington homerism from yours truly as Eric Young takes a $200 prime in the Pro/1/2 race at Hyde Park.

MMSF Tuesday TT

The Forest TT is going to happen every two weeks (instead of the 1st and 3rd tuesdays) so there will be a TT tomorrow evening at 7pm at the junction of forest road/old 37. Ride out if you'd like at 6pm from the rear of BGI.

Weekend racing

Some great racing in Cincinatti over the weekend both at Madeira where RJ Stuart won the cat4 race with some ease and Ryan Knapp continued his form of top ten finishes in big crits. Saturday in Hyde Park saw a bonkers crowd of 5000 make for a great atmosphere of racing and Eric Young took a sweet payday of over $650 with a prime and a 6th place finish. Erik Hamilton also hung tough in a wicked fast race for 14th.
Hamilton at Hyde Park by Caitlin Coar

Closer to home there was the MMSFRR on sunday and it seems there was a good turn out for it with some good local results. BVN wasn't in attendance so if anyone wishes to give some insight into what occurred then please feel free (or if there are any photos that folks wish to share then send them to me).

Pre-Reg

Hyde Park Blast registration end TONIGHT at 10pm

Morgan Monroe RR registration ends TOMORROW at midnight.

WW report abbrev....

I have been told that reports of WW are a highlight of this blog, allowing others to keep up with the local scene etc. One reason for the scarcity of such reports was exemplified by this evenings ride... A big group of maybe 35 rolled north on old 37 before turning onto Anderson where the pace immediately picked up. However it was a short lived burst as most riders were clearly mindful of the looming giant of Beanblossom. Almost everyone came to the base of the hill together but that rapidly changed (in slow motion). Your author looked up the road as the front two groups cruised away on the first steep ramps. As I understand these groups came together by the end of Forest Rd but then was bust up again due to the pressure of Rose and Hamilton on Hindustan. If I were a betting man I'd wager that Rose, Hamilton, Young, Golas battled it out for the V ahead of a second group of Lane, Naegeli, Lusk, Hans et al. I toiled around for two laps in a small but honest group far from the cutting edge of things! Next time....   

Madeira Pre-Reg Closes Tonight

Pre-registration for the Madeira Centennial Criterium in Cincy closes this evening at 8pm. Pre-reg and save $10 then stay for the entire OHIO Crit weekend! It will be a fun time!
http://www.bikereg.com/events/register.asp?eventid=10588

WW- MMSFRR Tie-in

Wednesday Worlds, meet 6pm at Sample Gates. As there is a road race on Sunday on the forest loop course then we'll ride out old37N to that loop. We'll head down Anderson and go UP beanblossom as the race will do. Register for the race here. If/ when you get dropped on BB then keep at it and don't be downhearted as clearly we'll have riders out there tomorrow who will be competing in every category next sunday.

Sherer on top at ToAD

It's great to see that a ton of winter miles and some serious dedication can start to bear dividends. Mike Sherer, as the only guy to score points in all 5 races, takes the overall lead at Tour of Americas Dairyland. Story from the Verizon Wireless Cycling Website here. Cyclingnews.com story here.

Tour of America's Dairyland: Day 5 - Road To America from Verizon Wireless u25 Cycling on Vimeo.

L5 racer vs Bike racer

One of the many questions that swirl around the Little 500 track during the spring is whether Little500 racers can be considered true bike racers. Little 500 is clearly a unique event that requires a particular skill set but is obviously closely linked to more conventional road or track cycling. Looking at the results from bike racers around the greater Midwest it seems there are less Little 500 riders racing their bikes over this summer than in years past. Is this a greater plan by Little 500 coaches, a sign of rider disinterest or a thought that 2010 summer racing is of no use to 2011s Little 500? On this flip-side there are a few riders putting themselves into the pain cave on a regular basis including all of the returning Cutters, Chris West (PDT), Ryan Kiel (GGC) amongst others. Are these riders helping their prospects in next years race (assuming they care about it)?
Did this help Feldman and Kiel on the cinders? (photo Caitlin Coar)

All L5 racers need a break after the mental and physical stress of Little 500 but after a month off then what are the Pros or Cons of summer racing?

- Keep cycling-fit over the summer BUT- Risk burning out with year-round intensity
- Banging bars in Crits or on the velodrome helps with bike-handling in a pack BUT- Risk a costly crash in those events.
- Learn race tactics? BUT- Risk a costly crash and what use are non-L5 tactics?
- No need to race as plenty of time to find form over the winter BUT- Isn't it better to come to winter training with a stronger platform?
- Track racing improves the spin BUT- The Little 500 bike/ track is a unique circumstance so there is little cross-over.
- It's fun to ride/race with friends BUT- I have other friends who don't race and I want to hang out with them
- Other teams don't race through the summer? BUT- In recent years the Cutters do race and....
- I have to work through the summer. BUT- People with full-time jobs can ride fast as well.

There is no right or wrong answer to this question as clearly L5 excellence has come from riders that never raced over the summer (see almost the entire Womens race). However this would appear not to be the norm in the Mens race and for me racing over the summer at whatever level would seem to be beneficial. I guess it comes down to whether you like riding/racing your bike or whether you like being a Little5er. Both are just fine but the results may be better one way or the other.

Bike Polo Lives

Whereas shaved legs and pigeon-chested dudes are the norm in road-racing circles then beards and tats are the equivalent in bike-polo events! As one might expect there was a healthy dose of fun mixed in with some good competition as bloomingtonbikepolo held a small regional tournament on saturday afternoon over at Wright quad tennis courts. Most of the teams in attendance were at the beginning level and there were clear differences between them and some of the more expert traveling teams who showed some amazing balance and dexterity on their mostly fixed gear machines. The beauty of the event and sport in general is that all are welcome and there are weekly opportunities for anyone with any sort of bike to go along and give it a go. Practices are Mon and Thu 9:00pm-2:00am @ Wright Quad Tennis Courts. Go over to see what's going on and the next time take your bike.
State of the art machine, probably not what Masi had in mind....

Bloomington Crit Poster

Get registered!

Tour de Grove vid

The sweet video's keep coming from Verizon Wireless Cycling Team, although they clearly didn't want to risk the camera equipment in the torrential rain at the end of the race!

Tour De Grove from Verizon Wireless u25 Cycling on Vimeo.

Weekend Stuff

Not a great deal going on locally on the road this weekend so you racers will have to try other thing.

Major Taylor Velodrome has racing on thursday and friday night.

The DINO MTB series moves to the French Lick resort for their race on Saturday and the big US Cup qualifer races. Expect a LOT of riders!
More widely the big races up in the upper Midwest are the Nature Valley GP where Ryan Knapp and his Panther team is tackling the big boys. So far so good for Ryan as he did a solid TT and an good if unlucky 29th in the first evening's crazy crit! Keep up with Ryan's progress by twitter and on the NVGP website.
Wisconsin sees the second addition of TOAD and ten days of high intensity racing. Local's Mike Sherer, Tom Cox and Pam Loebig will be throwing down for a few days to try and win some cash!

Saturday Century

A few riders will be heading out to do the Clay City Century on Saturday at 7am meeting at Soma. We'll be hoping to get back into town by 1pm. It'll be steady pace with probably 3 stops so nothing crazy so come on out if you're up to the distance. Approximate route is below, the last 30 miles rides backwards on day 1 of the Hilly Hundred. Any questions about it then shoot me an email.

WW sprint!

Your aging author had a tough day at WW this evening so took the opportunity to take a little video of the final sprint. It was a steady evening with local P-R-O Guy East laying down some solid efforts, causing those of us with Cat3 on the license to suffer a little. No-one managed to make a significant break throughout the day so a pretty large group made it to the finish. In a seemingly low intensity sprint Matt Neibler took the V ahead of Chris Kroll and the Polish Pulverizer!

Apologies to Matt for my apparent disbelief!

Bike Polo Tourney this saturday

From Zachary ( polovelobloomington@gmail.com )- Bloomington bike polo are hosting the state of Indiana's first ever bike polo tournament this saturday. Last year only Bloomington and Indy played polo but now Ft.Wayne, Muncie, and Lafayette all have clubs. We're also expecting teams from Columbus (OH), St.Louis (MO), Louisville (KY), Grand Rapids (MI), Decatur (IL), and Nashville (TN). If you or anyone else is around on Saturday you should definitely come check this out!
Information can be found here and the matches will be held at 7th & Campbell, behind Wright Quad on IU campus.
I gotta say this does look like a fun day, I'll be rolling over to see what it's all about!

WW- 446 loop

Wednesday worlds. 446 loop. 6pm at the sample gates, 6.30 at the course.

MMSF TT 6/14/10

The usual. 7pm 10mile TT out and back on Forest Road at the junction of Old37. 6pm to ride out to the course from the rear of BGI if you wish.

5.30pm- Tornado warning is in effect so the BGI crew will not be riding up to the Forest for the TT. If you go you may have to time yourself and to be honest that may be a little silly as branches in that forest tend to fall in thunderstorms.

Big Result

Mike Sherer (temporary out of town but still a Bloomingtonite) had a big result this afternoon at the National Racing Calender Tour de Grove in STL winning the field sprint for 3rd place! Aside from winning a ton of cash it's a result that shows Sherer's sprint is developing into quite a weapon and that the Verizon U25 squad is working together very well! Aside from that Ryan Knapp notched another nice result with an 11th and Erik Hamilton got in the money with a 20th place. Results and media will follow shortly I am sure! Pam Loebig also continued her great recent form with a 7th place in the NRC Womens race!

Start of the rain, pretty small field for an NRC but some good quality!

Lots of Photos here.

Return of MMSFRR

It been away for a while but a Midwestern classic will be back on the books for June 27th this year- The Morgan Monroe Forest Road Race. Using the Forest loop that ALL riders in town are familiar it makes for a hard road race when the route goes up Beanblossom hill. It's being organized by Rapid Running and the Pro/1/2 guys will be asked to do 84miles or 6 lap of the circuit. The race is scheduled for later in the day so look for guys who go well at Wednesday Worlds to excel! Also ideal for those students who don't like to get out of bed before noon! Register here.

Hyde Park Blast 2009 Video

Check them out, it's a real fun day down in Cincinnati. June 26th this year.

Hyde Park Blast 2009 - Mens Pro 1-2 race from ohio cycling on Vimeo.

Hyde Park Blast 2009 -mens cat 4-5 and 3 races from ohio cycling on Vimeo.

Decycling

Decycles starts tomorrow on their usual epic journey- this time from Seattle to LA. This trip never fails to amaze with the organization involved and the ability of often out of shape kids to ride 100miles/day! Who will come out of this years trip as a race star of the future? Accomplished Decycle graduates include Mike Kehrberg, Hans Arnesen, KMoore, Matt Qubal, Ren-Jay Shei, Isiah Newkirk, CvK and of course Jon Palak.

Details of the trip as it developes are found in this series of daily diary entries.

Racing

There's a little travel from Bloomington involved to go crit/circuit racing this weekend. South Bend is hosting the EcoFest Crit, Louisville is hosting the Tour of Olmstead (both saturday), Richmond KY is hosting the Mens Health Awareness Crit (sunday). I know little about these races apart from the fact the Richmond race has more $ to give away ($2000 for Pro/1/2).
The biggest kinda local-ish race in the Tour of Mount Pleasant in Michigan which has a whopping $6500 in the 106mile sunday RR (Pro/1/2).

Get Registered!

In the style of the recent Snake Alley Criterium both the big Crits in Cincinnati on June 25/26th and the Bloomington Criterium on July 10th will be lining up riders according to their time of registration.
Both Madeira Crit and the Hyde Park Crit have slow 180 turns that will wreck havoc on anyone caught at the back of the group.
Anyone who has raced the cat3/4 or 4/5 race at Bloomington knows that not being in the first few riders when turning from 7th onto Dunn can make things difficult to say the least!

Register here-
Madeira
Hyde Park
Bloomington
The Madeira Course- notice the two 180s!

WW. Buskirk-Paragon

WW. 6pm at the Sample Gates. Roll easy to top of the first hill on old37 before it kicks off. Be careful of the holes out there and don't race across SR37.

Epic and not so Epic

By all '140-character-accounts' the racing at Red River Gorge in KY over the past weekend was epic with a major thunderstorm adding to the 'excitement' of the 90+ mile final day. Results are here with Erik Hamilton battling to a 2nd overall that you can read about on his blog. Ryan Knapp finished 3rd on the big final stage showing his prep for the upcoming Nature Valley GP is going well. Caroline Brown continued to show her recovery from that nasty L5 wreck is on course with her second victorious weekend in a Womens Cat4 race.
Climbing at RRG. Photo- Caitlin Coar

Closer to home the racing was a little less epic with the McCormicks Creek RR and Eagle Creek Crit. Disappointingly small fields on both days meant on average the racing wasn't quite as exciting as it might have been. Local top performers included Chris Kroll (1st 40+ McCormicks Creek), Tom Cox (2nd Cat1/2 Eagle Creek), Pam Loebig (2nd, Eagle Creek). Patches Schroeder (3rd, Cat3 Eagle Creek) among others.
Women get ready to battle at Eagle Creek. No Little 500 would equal no Indiana Womens racing!
Over on the dirt at BCSP the usual 100s of riders showed up to race even though the trail was a little damp from recent rain. The Bloomington-based DRT tandem of Andy Mexler and Emily Benson both scored top three places in the highest divisions with many other quality local rides throughout the pages of results. Check them out.

Memorial Day Video

Mike Sherer put me onto these vids of the Snake Alley and Memorial Day Races produced by the Verizon Cycling Team. I hear they are doing a full length documentary about the year of racing so look out for that sometime in the winter. Sherer was killing it on the Snake and those yellow shoes sure do stand out in the bunch! If anyone hasn't ridden this race then get pumped up and get out there next year!

May 29, 2010 - Snake Alley from Verizon Wireless u25 Cycling on Vimeo.

Memorial Weekend Races from Verizon Wireless u25 Cycling on Vimeo.

Weekend Racing- Local edition

A bunch of racing close to Bloomington this weekend.

Road- Saturday is the McCormicks Creek RR. The closest RR to Bloomington all year and on a very fair safe circuit. No pre-reg. Check out this silly little video describing the course (the dates are obviously wrong).


Road- Sunday. Eagle Creek Fast Crit. The safest and easier course in the land! On corners at all makes for some fast racing. Perfect for someone wanting to dip their toe in the racing waters or aren't too confident about their form.

MTB- DINO Brown County State Park Race. Nice numbers on a great course close to home. Go race if that's your thing!

Weekend Racing- Regional edition

The big regional road event this weekend is the Tour of the Red River Gorge held, predictably, in that area of KY. This offers some spectacular scenery and some hard racing. On-line registration end this evening and you have to pre-reg to be eligible for the omnium that includes a friday evening TT, saturday and sunday road races. I know a few locals will be attempting including the Bton-NUVO squad and the Gray Goat-Lily team. Good luck to all.

WW

Low Gap- Mahalasville loop this evening. 6pm at the Sample Gates riding out Cascades to old37 north. Start Anderson Rd to Low gap. All the way to the end of Low Gap, turn RIGHT, ride over the little hill to next T turn RIGHT. Turn RIGHT at next junction onto Downey. At end of Downey turn LEFT back on Low gap and return to Anderson Rd to finish.

Forest TT- 6/1/10

A hot humid evening in the Forest and another 20+ riders rocked up for the 10mile TT. Ride of the day came from Scott Catanzaro who on a new full TT rig took 2min off of his previous best time to post a 21.45! There were a bunch of other first-timers out there tonight including Jake Tudorica who threw down an impressive time a little over 24mph. Erin Hetzel set a scorching 26.05 without any aero-gear! Next TT- June 15th

Name, Time

• Ryan Shanahan- 21.04
• Scott Catanzaro- 21.45
• Jonathan Atwell- 22.59
  
• Brett Stewart (m)- 23.05
• Scott Jerden- 23.52
• Gary Palmer (m)- 24.12
• Chris West (m)- 24.41
• Markus Naegeli- 24.41
• Colin Allen- 25.01
• Jake Tudorica (m)- 25.03
• Alex Jerden- 25.04
• Kevin Hays (m)- 25.09
• Kaleb Naegeli (m)- 25.18
• Scott Todd- 25.31
• Erin Hetzel (m)- 26.05
• Kirk Weesner (m)- 26.20
• Todd Davidson (m)- 26.36
• John Bowden- 27.19
• Lynn Allen (m)- 29.01
• Claire Troutman (m)- 29.42
• Frank McGill (m)- 30-02

(m)- Merckx Style!

Iowa Results

Lots of racing over this past weekend in Iowa with the Bloomington/ Indiana contigents getting some good results.
Burlington RR/ Snake Alley Results.
Melon City Crit Results
Quad Cities Crit Results.

Local highlights include Eric Young and Mike Sherer going 1st and 2nd in the 40mph field sprint at the Burlington RR. Caroline Brown and Mike 'Patches' Schroder winning their Quad Cities Crits. Ryan Knapp, Sherer and Young riding above their expectations on the Snake Alley. Knapp finding his sprint legs at Melon City and Quad Cities. Pam Loebig coming back strong after a tough weekend at the Quad Cities Crit. Tom Cox playing the strong team-role on Quad Cities. GP staying upright on the Snake!
Eric Young suffering on the Snake- Photo- Caitlin Coar

Bike for Sale

From Ben- benschmidt13@yahoo.com
Used 58" Giant TCR (Aluminum, Tiagra shifters). I bought it for $700 but It's too small for me. I'm willing to be flexible on price, esp if going to someone getting into Little 500 racing/training. Let me know if anyone if interested. benschmidt13@yahoo.com

Tuesday Evening TT

7pm in MMSF. Forest Road and old37. 10miles out and back. Ride out at 6pm from the rear of BGI if you'd like.

Podium Insight

Check out www.podiuminsight.com for reports on the Pro/1/2 races at the Snake Alley and at Melon City.

If anyone in the Pro/1/2 race wants a picture of themselves at either venue then contact Caitlin Coar as she had a LOT of pictures!