Dec 27, 2010

Top Ten 'Rides' of 2010

This is my list of top ‘rides’ by Bloomington racers for 2010 (not races but 'rides within races'- if it was 'Top-Race' list then Mens L5 would win easily!) . Of course it is a little biased toward Little 500 and also the races I attended but there are a few outside of those parameters. As even I’ll have forgotten plenty so comment on any omissions or disagreement.

Number 10- The PDT Pincer
The 2010 Men’s Miss N’ Out was a seemingly straightforward win by PDTs Steve Sharp and also gave evidence that Phi Delta Theta were going to be a force in the 2010 Little 500 (they ultimately finished 2nd). My favorite moment came in the 2nd round where PDTs Chris West and Nick Sovinski were battling favored Adam Mercer (Psi Phi) for 2 places in the semi-final. Coming out of turn 4 on the final lap, Mercer was caught in the PDT pincer as West went wide and Sovinski undercut and eliminate the perplexed Phi Psi! It was a sweet move where teammates worked together to ensure their mutual qualification!

Number 9- 20.38
Ryan Shanahan is characterized by speed so we can become a little blase toward it. Regardless, the highlight of the evening Forest 10-mile TT in 2010 was Ryan’s 20.38 where he smashed the previous record by a huge 25sec. There were large number of participants this year and especially encouraging was the high number of female riders. However Shanahan remains a class above all-comers.

Number 8- CvK ‘Team’ Pursuit.
Caitlin Van Kooten was as dominant as any rider has ever been in Little 500 series events in 2010. This was demonstrated most completely in Team Pursuit where, in both qualification and in the final, she pulled her team the entire way to victory. Her teammates sat limpet-like on her wheel whilst CvK rode with metronomic consistency to crush all who challenged her. CvK topped the year off with a victory for Teter in L5 and it’d be a fool that bet against them again this year.

Number 7- USGP Top 11
At the moment, Ryan Knapp is in Belgium battling both the weather and the worlds very best cyclocross riders! Back at the start of the season, the first stop on the USGP circuit was in Madison WI, where Ryan got arguably his top result of the year. 11th place against the Nations best as well as some of the top Euro’s was an indicator that Ryan was looking at his best season yet. Look for Ryan to build on his Euro experience next season!

Number 6- NRC Podium
Mike Sherer had a great road season and his first big breakthrough came in the NRC Tour de Grove in St Louis where in a torrential thunderstorm he won the bunch kick for the final spot on the podium. Joining him in 1st and 2nd were two PROs from Kelly Benefits, the team to which Mike has graduated in 2011.



Tour De Grove from Verizon Wireless u25 Cycling on Vimeo.

29 comments:

Anonymous said...

What is the story with Patches? Did he quit the team? Per the rules, he could join a frat and be elgible to ride come April!

adamrodkey said...

That's only 6 dude.

Geraint Parry said...

5 actually..it's a tease! More to come ;)

RJ said...

Umm...Shanahan's old record was 20:45 and he went 20:38...so he only broke the record by 7 seconds, not 25

Frederick said...

Its the story that counts RJ.

Still, Ryan is tough as nails on a TT bike so I'd give him a worthy nod for 2010 (it is the current course record after all).

Cheers,
Fred

P.S. does every thread devolve to a Cutter thread these days? The first post comes off as a non sequitur in the context of this blog entry.

adamrodkey said...

You're such a teaser...

alley fruit said...

Ryan Shanahan's ride sounds great. Thr "race of truth" does not lie.

Jim

Erik Hamilton said...

damnit man the suspense is killing me! haha

Tom said...

Don't sit around waiting to see what the last 5 are, you still have 3 days to become one of them.

Anonymous said...

Let me spoil it by saying
#4 or 5 will probably be another Eric Young result in the summer.
#4 or 5 will be someone other than Eric Young due to the fact that he will have 3 of the last 5.
#3 will Be Eric Young at Collegiate Nats
#2 Will be Teter, CVK winning Little 5
#1 Will be Cutters Young winning the Men's race twice.

Anonymous said...

GP,

I would love to see you do the top ten riders for the 2000's for women and men. Would be interesting to see your prospective, on where everyone falls into place.


John

Anonymous said...

Eric Young
Chris Woj
Hans Arneson
John Grant
Sasha Land
Craig Luekins
Isaac Neff
Chris Vargo
Clayton Feldman
Alex Bishop

Anonymous said...

So this is going to be the 'all Little 500' edition?

Anonymous said...

Sad day if Patches is done. He is a top 15 rider this year.

His summer results were better than just about every rider at IU excluding Eric.

Anonymous said...

Ok, non Little 5 would be a lot different. Take Woj, Hans, Vargo, Leukins, Bishop, Sasha out. Add Hamilton, Knapp, Kiel??, Shanahan, Fowler, and I don't know someone else maybe Ren Jay or Brett Stewart or fred Rose for old timers? Hans still can ride a bad ass time trial in his Tri relays. I am probably missing a couple people that deserve it.

Anonymous said...

Sherer, Kehrberg would also factor in.

Anonymous said...

agreed, forgot them

Anonymous said...

leukins won a national championship at yale.

what is patches out

Geraint Parry said...

Patience all. Yes as my time in Bloomington winds down there will be a few L5 and non-L5 based top ten lists. The only qualification I have for doing such a thing is that I have wasted my life attending most every series event since 2003 and started 95% of wednesday worlds (the true test of a rider)....and have been very careful to look ahead to those riders who were routinely dropping me!

Frederick said...

Hey anonymous,

Who you callin' "old timer"?

Cheers,
Fred

Anonymous said...

For 'old timers' the list begins and ends with Chris Kroll. USAC and ABR Masters State RR champion 2004, numerous top 5s, USAC Masters State RR champion again in 2010 after an 18 month hiatus from racing.

Anonymous said...

Rashan Bahati too.

Anonymous said...

Mike Walls for sure

Anonymous said...

Bahati is from Bloomington????

Anonymous said...

No, but he went to IU for a bit and lived there a year or two.

Anonymous said...

So using that liberal definition, can we count any bike racer who happened to pass through Indiana on the interstate?

I'll even bet Cavendish flew over Indiana airspace once on his way to the Tour of California.

Anonymous said...

Rahsaan Bahati went to IU and raced at Collegiate Nats for IU winning a track nats title and playing a key role at road nats for IU....he is a legitimate contender for non little 5 cyclist at IU

adamrodkey said...

I've been really impressed by that Adam Rodkey kid. He's one tough bastard.
(oh wait, maybe I should have posted that "anonymously")

Frederick said...

Worst sock puppet _ever_!