DeBaets-Devos Pro-Am Criterium Cat. 3

Posted: 9th September 2009 by Leadout Racing in Race News
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This was the first of three races that I had planned on doing for the day. Mark, Mike, Peter, and myself lined up and had our normal plan ready. The plan was to see what happens and react. The race was pretty uneventful as many people tried to get into breaks, but everything was shut down fairly quick. Leadout put in their fair share of chasing and the field seemed to be willing to work also. The one break I thought would work was when Mark and an MCG guy went off the front. Zack from MCG and I patrolled the front and it seemed like no one wanted to go around us. A couple of guys bridged up and the field finally decided that was enough and put in a decent effort and brought them back.  On the 2nd to last lap the pace really slowed as people were anticipating the sprint.  On the last lap Mike and I found ourselves on the front.  We quickly decided I was going to sprint and he began the leadout.  Just as we were getting up to speed, Mark rolled by and took over at the front.  Having Mike in front of me was good, but with Mark and Mike I felt we already had the win.  Mark took us up to the last 180 turn and left it up to Mike and I.  It was still a long way to go and I could see that Kevin Collins was on my wheel.  As Mike was climbing the incline to the finish straight I became nervous of the field and came around Mike.  It was a looong way to the finish and I had started my sprint.  I gapped Kevin a little but let up a little in hopes that someone would come around and lead me to the line.  No one came and I hammered down the whole straight.  Kevin stayed behind me until the very end and squeeked out the win as I finished second.  Second place is good, but I really hated not crossing the line in first as I felt like my teammates worked hard enough for me to win.   

Dan K

Cherry-Roubaix Old Town Crit Masters 35+ & Cat. 3

Posted: 2nd September 2009 by Leadout Racing in Race News
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All week the forecast for Traverse City was cold and rainy. Come Saturday morning the weatherman was perfect, as it was in the high 50’s with lots of precipitation. The course was great, but the weather was going to be the biggest factor. There was a stretch of road that was bricks and looked to be quite slippery. As the masters race began a lot of guys were being extremely careful.  A small group of riders willing to take some chances with the slippery conditions started to form at the front.  The group didn’t really breakaway as much as they just slowly left the overly cautious people behind.  I think we had 6-8 people in the lead group and most of the race was pretty uneventful except some unknown rider made a little break in the middle of the race.  He went off all alone for a few laps and appeared to be quite strong.  We pulled him back and then with about 4 laps to go he broke away again.  He continued to extend his lead as I and the group thought we could bring him back.  The last 2 laps were pretty frantic as we put in big efforts to chase him down.  On the second to last lap I lead around the last corner about as fast as I could.  I heard the unmistakable sound of bike on pavement and looked back to see the rest of the group was taken out.  Second place was all mine, but now I had to chase all alone.  He had about 20 seconds on me and I gave it everything I had.  I ended up in second place by 2 seconds and I am sure we would have caught him had the whole group stayed upright.

At the start of the Cat. 3 race I was feeling rather miserable.  I was soaking wet still from the masters race and was freezing.  It was a very similar start to the masters race as there was a division between the cautious riders and those willing to push it.  After a few laps 2 guys, Brian Hill and Adam York, began to break away.  I was toward the back of the pack and had no chance to go with them.  I quickly moved to the front and began to pull in an effort to bring them back.  I had no intension of trying to bridge by myself, but that is what it turned into.  I had made up about half the distance when another rider went flying by, I put in a huge effort to get on his wheel and we worked our way to the 2 leaders together.  The guy that helped me bridge up was pretty cooked and he soon fell back to the pack and the 3 of us rode the rest of the way.  Brian was pulling extremely hard and Adam wasn’t much of a help, as he was sliding all over the place and worked to catch up on almost every straightaway.  On the last lap Brian motioned for me to pull through and I decided it was time to start setting up for the finish.  I sat in behind him and he realized I wasn’t going to pull.  He quickly resumed his pace and pulled Adam and I the whole last lap.  I guess he thought he was strong enough to take it the whole way.  As we rounded the last corner I started my sprint and didn’t have any trouble going around.  I was sort of suprised that I didn’t see Adam and as we crossed, it was me in first and Brian was able to hold off Adam for second. 

All in all, a good day of racing.  It is too bad the weather was so miserable because the coarse was pretty fun and fast.

Dan K.

Tour de Gaslight Crit Masters 35+ and Cat. 3

Posted: 25th August 2009 by Leadout Racing in Race News
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dank2

I had registered for both races and wanted to focus on the masters race and just help out in the Cat 3. The masters race went as planned as Dan S. and Jimmy made constant attacks for the first part of the race. I take a little longer to warm up and didn’t make any moves until about 15 minutes into the race. Dave Baar made a big attack and I thought now would be a good time to go. It was! We formed a break of 8 riders. Dave and I did most of the work and I even felt good enough to get on a few guys who weren’t doing any work. Our lead continued to climb throughout the race, due mostly to my great teammates killing the pace in the field. As the race neared the end I continued to feel awesome and was pretty sure I could out sprint the group. As we rolled around turn 2 on the last lap Dave Barr put in a huge effort. Houston Peterson was on his wheel and I was comfortably in third. Dave carried his lead into the last corner, I jumped just before Houston and took it all the way for the win.

The Cat 3 race was quite a bit different as no break got away and I sat back for most of the race. Once again Dan S made some attacks in the beginning, but nothing was working. About halfway through the race I was feeling pretty good and made my way to the front to patrol for my teammates. Mark put in a few attacks but this group would not let anything go. Dan S and Mark had some great efforts toward the end to try and breakaway, but this race was going to come down to a field sprint. With 2 laps to go I placed myself toward the front and with one left I moved right to the front. As we rounded the 2nd turn I backed off to see what was forming. Right away 2 MCG guys went by and I decided they were my leadout. The guy in front carried us to the last corner. The other MCG guy and I started our sprints, I got the lead, actually sat down and shifted, then stood back up to finish off the sprint to the line. I had guys on both sides of me , but I was able to hold them off.
Dan K

Meijer Grand Cycling Classic – in pictures

Posted: 11th August 2009 by Leadout Racing in Race News
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Geoff Kuyper - Leadout Racing

I’ll let Geoff tell his story from inside the peloton but from the sidelines it looked really hard. With $2K on the line for the win, and guys like Bissell Pro Tom Zirbel lining up. The pace was going to be anything but slow. Trial by fire for Geoff’s 2nd race as a Cat. 2

Check out my view of the race.

–Dan

Chicago Criterium – Cat 3

Posted: 28th July 2009 by Leadout Racing in Race News
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The Cat 3 race was a lot of fun. Peter, Mark, Nick, Mike, Geoff, and I all discussed our plan before the race. Naturally, our plan didn’t work worth a crap.

At any rate, I wanted to stay near the front, because passing was somewhat difficult, turns 2 and 3 are tight enough that the accordian effect is nasty if you’re in the back. So, I managed to stay in the top 30-ish most of the time. I wanted to be further up, but the field was big and fast, and I was just doing the best I could at the time. At one point, I really made an effort to move up in the field. I got to the far left of the field, and put in a hard effort through the “half moon” section on the backside of the course. I got near the top ten when a rider attacked off the front. I was already going pretty fast, so I thought “breakaway?” and went for it. I’m no breakaway expert, so this was uncharted territory for me. I caught the rider, went past him, and took a nice hard pull to the corner. I looked back to see if he was going to take a turn, but he wasn’t on my wheel. He was 2-3 bike lengths back. So, I slowed a bit, thinking/hoping maybe a group would form and I could be a part of a serious breakaway. Nope. The guy never really caught up to me, but the field didn’t either. It stayed that way through turn 4, back onto the front stretch. I decided to keep going just so I could lead a lap (hoping someone would take a picture of me in front of the big field). I found out later I had won a prime for a $100 gift card to a local pizza place. Very cool, and very much dumb luck. I had no idea there was a prime……

Anyway, the other guy eventually caught up, and I asked him if he wanted to keep going. He said “no”, so we drifted back into the pack by the end of the front stretch.

At the end of the race, the plan was to get to the front to leadout Nick. I kept moving up, and at one point was somewhat near Mike, Mark, and Peter but it was very difficult to stay with anybody. Geoff was at the front and took a very hard pull on the front to neutralize some late attackers, and on the last lap, I almost caught up to Nick. However, it’s very difficult to lead someone out when you’re behind them. But, Nick was in a really nice spot (top 5-10), and I was 2 riders behind him going over the bridge towards the last turn. Just after the crest of the bridge (near the 300 meter sign), the eventual winner launched his sprint, and snaked across the road. He had another rider on his wheel, and a rider to the left of Nick decided to try and jump after them and took and abrupt right turn atttempting to follow the riders diagonally across the road. He shot from left to right, and his rear wheel crashed into Nicks front wheel, turning it sharply to the right and sending Nick skidding across the pavement. He looked like a 1980’s break dancer spinning on his back, except without the piece of cardboard that keeps your skin from ripping off……. I missed his spinning feet by 6 inches or so as I passed him. The final corner was next, which I got through that cleanly, and then sprinted out of the saddle as hard as I could to the line for 9th place. I was happy to get a top ten at such a big race, and giddy about the prime, but a little disappointed that the team didn’t get a podium spot after such great performances by Peter, Mark, and Geoff at Superweek. Nick had some nasty looking road rash, but walked away, and his bike appeared to be relatively unscathed as well.

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