Posted: 20th July 2009 by Leadout Racing in Race News
Tags: Cat. 3, Podium, Superweek
With Peter borrowing a pair of pedals for the rest of the week, we were able to bring the full team of Peter, Dan K, Mark, and myself out to play at today’s road race. The course was closer to a circuit race being only 14 laps of a 2.5ish mile circuit. We had decided to keep the race animated, and after some shadow boxing early on I attacked on the power climb to the finish at 2 laps in and ended up riding mostly solo for the next 3+ laps, although midway through Peter bridged across and hung in for about half a lap before going back to slow things up. Eventually the strung out field brought me back and of course Dan K was patrolling the front so I rolled straight off the front with a group of 4 and stayed out for a few more laps in a break that wasn’t overly motivated to work together. Upon getting reabsorbed riders kept making small little attacks that only resulted in the pace staying decently fast and no one getting away. In the second half of the race a decent break got away without any Leadout representation, but 3/4 of a lap with Dan, Mark, and I whipping up the pace brought them back and served as the crushing blow to the field as no one ever attacked us again. With 3 laps to go Mark kept the pace fast on the hill, and the field rolled around at a decent pace as Dan and I rolled to the front. I sat up and gave Dan a gap and it kept opening up. Sean Piper, Nick’s friend/roommate, rolled around me and up to Dan, and just like that the winning break was formed. No one including Dan and Sean thought they had a chance as it all happened at low speeds, but no one chased and the gap grew. They rolled around for two laps as Mark, Peter, and I discouraged chasing and bridging efforts. Coming into the sprint we could see Dan taking 2nd to Sean just a little bit in front of us. I was a little to far back in field and asked Peter to kill himself for me on the steep bottom part of the hill to get me in place for the last 100 meters. Peter did more than enough work to pull me even with the very front of the field and I was able to take the field sprint with a pretty comfortable gap to the next racer and 3rd place on the day. Peter pulled the pin on any effort to sprint and rolled in near the tail end of the field, while Mark got boxed in on the many racers unable to keep their speed on the hill, but did manage to crack the top 20.
GBK
Posted: 19th July 2009 by Leadout Racing in Race News, Racing
Tags: Cat. 3, Race, Superweek, Win
Mark, Peter, and I headed out to Evanston a little later than planned, and met up with Dan K. once we got down there. Things were a little hectic as we got down there, and we managed a very short warm up. Rolling to the start line Peter’s pedal broke and we lost 25% of our team and a big part of how we had hoped to ride. Mark and I tried to figure out a way to get him in the the race and showed up to the start just in time to line up in the very back of a big field. The first 5-10 laps were way to fast to move up much and I wasn’t sure if I was ever going to see the front of the race from my starting spot, and I really didn’t want to try and force it. My patience paid off and I was able to follow wheels up and stayed in the first 25 riders for most of the race, occasionally doing some work or showing my face at the front. With 5 laps to go Dan and I starting hanging out in the top 10 riders and did a fair amount of work to keep things moving along and our places safe. Going into the last lap I had lost Dan’s wheel due to some late race crashes and didn’t have a lead out. With about 700 meters and 3 turns to go the Alderfer Bergen lead out dropped a ton of speed and I decided to jump around them bringing a small group of riders with me and forcing others to adjust their positions and lines. I stayed on the front after going by them and flew into the last corner, and jumped shortly afterwards, about 300 meters from the line, somehow no one was able to come around me and I was able to hang on for the win! Dan rode awesome to take 8th while Mark finished mid pack, and Peter did an OK job as a cheerleader.
GBK
Posted: 13th July 2009 by Leadout Racing in Racing
Tags: Dan S.
July 11th, 2009 BTR Park Criterium (Kalamazoo Mi. Kalamazoo Bike Club)
Possible the best I’ve ever ridden. Things just worked right all day long.
I attacked from the gun and was quickly joined my 3 others. That group grew to 10 with Jeff Koch (Priority Health), Jason Swiatlowski (Bissell ME), & Eric Forester (Bissell ME) joining along. That was a losing situation for me. So when Dave Baar (Spout) and Houston Peterson (Indiana Masters) went off I went with them. We got a gap and worked the pace until the chase group was out of site.
We caught the field with about 10 minutes to go. I couldn’t of been more excited to lap the field – first time ever.
Dave attacked on the last lap and I couldn’t answer but I was able to hold off Houston Peterson. Super happy to ride that aggressive and have it pay off. 2nd is great result. More importantly I feel a lot more confident about my fitness and who I can ride with. Considering who we left behind that alone was a victory.
All that said I couldn’t of done it without the big time teamwork of Chad, Scott and Jimmi. Those guys held things up for and gave me a chance to get away. I owe those guys some money – or some beer – or both.
Dan
Posted: 13th July 2009 by Leadout Racing in Race News
Tags: Dan K, Race report, Racing
The family and I left for Boyne Thursday afternoon ready for weekend of racing, playing in the waterpark, and maybe even some relaxing. I was pretty nervous about the race because last year 3 laps pretty much destroyed me and this year I was doing 4! Friday I went out to ride the course and was quickly reminded of what climbing was about. There are 3 hills (Climb Time, Stairway, and Uh Oh) in the first 4 miles that are ridiculously steep. I walked 2 of them as I didn’t want to kill myself, yet. The middle of the course is awesome with some good climbs, but nothing crazy. The craziness starts at about 8 miles and continues for the next 2-2.5 miles. Go up, turn, repeat. As I finished my lap I was not too excited to see that the course was 11.5 miles, which is about 1 mile longer than last year!
The morning of the race the weather was very nice, maybe even a little too warm, but not too bad. The 29 and under group only had 3 riders, so the 30-39 group started with them. At the start a couple of the “youngsters” took off and I sat in behind them. I followed pretty close for about half a lap and then decided it was a little fast and backed off, as it was going to be a long race. I had a couple of guys quickly catch up to me, but they were content to ride behind me as they were trying to conserve some of their energy. They finally passed and I made no effort to stay with them as I was confident I was going to see them later in the race. I finished the first lap in 56 minutes, which was a little fast but I felt great and ready for lap #2. Lap #2 I tried to relax even more and was suprised to already catch some guys on the climbs in the beginning. The time for lap #2 was about 60 minutes and I felt like I could push #3 in an effort to bring some more guys back. Lap #3 was the only lap that I made every hill and felt pretty good as I picked off several riders, but was unsure how many from my group, as some of the sport and beginner riders were mixed in. Lap #3 was 60 minutes also and I only had 1 more to go! Lap #4 was pretty tough as my energy was quickly running out. Everyone seemed worse off as I passed rider after rider. As I crossed the finish line I was happy to see that I was right at my 4 hour goal. I ended up in 3rd place only 2.5 minutes from second place. This was probably the hardest race I have done, but I loved every minute of it.
The littlest Leadout member (Keegan) brought home 2 first place trophies. He won the beginner 10 and under with a 45 minute improvement over last year. He also won the kids mini marathon as he lapped the field completing 9 laps in 30 minutes.
Dan K
Posted: 13th July 2009 by Leadout Racing in Race News
Tags: Crit, Mike, Paul, Racing, Results
Paul Havens and I rode down to the BTR Crit in Kzoo. When we left we were a little skeptical as it was 6 am and pouring down rain. Our race started at 8:40. At about 8 am it stopped raining and we were able to get a couple of practice laps in before the Cat 4 race. By the time our race started most of the puddles had disappeared but the road was still completely wet. The announcer said we were starting with 47 riders, gave us our guidelines and we were off. I went right to the front and took a full-lap pulll to get things started. My goal was to make sure we started off at a good pace and also to set an expectation that we weren’t going to be sitting up the whole time and waiting for a sprint. After the first lap I slid back a few spots and went around the first 90 degree corner right on the inside. I got pushed into the far inside of the corner and had to go right over a wet metal drain cover. My wheel slid as soon as I hit it and that was the last time I was going anywhere near that! For the next 30 minutes everything was pretty “typical cat 4.” Someone would try and go off the front of the group and everyone would chase. We’d regroup, then someone would put another effort into getting off the front and get caught. Paul was probably the most successful breakaway. He went by himself with about 4 or 5 laps to go. He got out probably 100 yards and some people behind me started griping. Heard stuff like “he’s not going for the prime, he is going for the win, we better try and catch him.” Paul took the prime and let himself come back (with a brand new pair of SRAM socks, a $19 value!). Leadout has definitely made a reputation for itself because I heard people saying to “watch the leadout guys.”
Going into the last half of the last lap I found myself getting pushed out of position. I needed to move forward so I went to the inside and road the concrete curb up to 5th or 6th wheel. The last corner had been giving me problems all day and the last lap was definitely the worst. As we went into the wet last turn my wheel slid out from under me. It caught about a foot later but killed my momentum. I got my bearings and jumped out of my saddle to regain my speed and try and get a position. I sprinted past a couple of guys but couldn’t get to the top 3 since they had accelerated through the corner. I finished 4th overall. Paul got blocked in right at the end and finished in the field just behind me.
