Free State At Gateway

Free State Racing had a great showing in St. Louis over the Labor Day weekend, led by Carla Farrell's 2nd place finish in the Women's Pro/1/2 race in University City. Carla broke away with Mesa rider Kerry Soraci in the first half of the race and they made it stick, coming into the final lap with almost a minute on the field. Carla had great position on Kerry's wheel coming out of the final turn and onto the downhill finish, but couldn't come around the flying Soraci, who sprinted to a 2-length victory on the line.

Meanwhile, in Women's 4s, Michelle Jensen scored a 2nd, a 3rd, and a 4th at Lafayette Square, Giro della Montagna, and U. City, respectively. It was a great weekend out for the Jensen family--Michelle's husband Brian (HRRC/MacLaren) took 2nd in the Men's Pro/1/2 at U. City, outsprinting John Lieswyn (HealthNet) after a long chase (Lieswyn's teammate Jason McCartney soloed for the win).

Eric Struckhoff, riding his last weekend as a Cat 3, finished 5th at Lafayette in a bunch sprint and 2nd at U. City, winning the field sprint for 2nd, 30 seconds behind solo breakaway winner Winfield Gibson (New Moon).

Eric's Gateway Cup Report

Although I generally prefer hilly road racing to flat-out crits, I've always enjoyed the Labor Day events in St. Louis, both for the excellent race organization and for the free lodging at my folks' place.It's one of the few times that my family gets a chance to see me race, so it's always exciting for me. I've also done OK there in the past, with 4th and 8th place finishes in the Lafayette Square and Greentree events, respectively. Naturally, the Saturday Greentree course, with it's uphill finish, is my favorite, but Friday night's Lafayette Park event is fun, too, with the nighttime lights, consistently excellent neighborhood crowds turning out, and of course, the flat-out speed--we'd averaged almost 32 mph in my previous trip to Gateway.

Last year, promoter Tim Ranek provided misters on the course to provide cooling for the rider, and it rained--hard--all weekend. This year, the weather was absolutely perfect--temps in the low 80s, a few clouds, and zero rain. Lafayette Square again turned out in style, with the on-course bars and restaurants open and busy, yards full of lawn chairs and barbecue grills in front of the 19th-century homes, and great crowds along the entire length of the start/finishing straight. In the 3s it's hold on till the end, get good position on the last lap, then sprint your brains out, since nobody can escape the field moving at 30+. I'd planned to be in 5th wheel at the last corner, and not wait for a fortunate leadout--I was going to open it up from the corner. But I ended up in about 10th at the top of the finishing straight, got a little boxed in by a Gateway club rider, but managed to get around him and a couple other guys to take 5th. Big Shark's Jeff Constance won the sprint, with his team taking 3 of the 5 top spots.

On Saturday at the beautiful spectator venue in Greentree (Kirkwood) Park, the pack was together for most of the race until three riders managed to escape with about 7 to go. With 5 to go, I led the field up the hill and across the line and getting a gap in the last 50 meters before the line. Normally, with a hill sprint to the line, I'd have sat up (see Tour of KC), but with Utah breakaway artist Winfield Gibson (New Moon) in the break, I knew that I'd be assured of a top-five finish if I could bridge. I chased hard for 3 laps, closing halfway after 2 laps and realizing the futility of the chase for one lap. The field caught me on the hill with just over one lap left, and I just tried hard not to slip too far down the pack. I managed to hold my place in the top 15 until the bottom of the final climb, but I was pretty worked from my chase, and I clanked lamely up to the line in 11th, sitting up early just to make sure I gave away 9th and 10th. Still in the money!

Sunday's Giro della Montagna is, like Lafayette, well-attended and celebrated by the neighborhood. "The Hill" area is the Italian neighborhood, and the locals come out in force all along the course, patio furniture set up on tiny, perfectly-manicured lawns, opera and strains of Frank Sinatra drifting across the route. The course is just under a mile, with a headwind climb into turn 3, and a blazing 11T sprint out of turn 4 to the finish. This race is about keeping the pace high up the hill into the wind or risk getting swarmed every single lap, and it stayed together for a sprint royale. Last lap, I attacked before turn two, but Gibson and a couple other guys jumped out of the pack immediately, bringing the field up and quickly closing down my attack. I found myself leading out, up the hill, into the wind at turn 3--rats. I shut it down and rolled across the line in 20th.

The University City loop is similar to the Giro, with a quarter-mile climb in one direction and a very fast downhill sprint to the line. Turns 1-2-3-4 make up a tricky right-left-right-right chicane at the bottom of the hill, so there's not much chance to build momentum going into the long headwind climb. Once again, it was Winfield Gibson on the attack with about 7 laps to go, and once again it was big teams doing nothing to bring him back. With first place pretty well sealed up, it looked like a big sprint finish with one lap to go. We came down the hill for the bell with Team X's 120-pound Chris Hall on the front, into the chicane and leading it out up the hill with Paul Leightle (Denver Green Mt. Sports) in second and not much bigger than Chris, then me in 3rd. With just two small guys to roll out into the wind, I worried that I was a bit too near the front with almost a whole lap to go. But as Chris pulled off about 50 meters into the backstretch, Leightle sprang out of the saddle and kicked all the way to the top of the hill with me on his wheel the whole way, stretching the pack into one long line as we reached the top. Perfect! I held his wheel as we came off the sweeping right-hander at the top of the finishing straight, where I put it into the 11 and jumped as soon as I saw the line. 61 kph on the speedo as I took second, a bike length ahead of Team Concordia's Jan Konrad.

If you like hard crits, wonderful neighborhood bike festival atmosphere, and great racing in a great city, don't miss the Gateway Cup if you get a chance to race it. Check out stlbiking.com for Gateway results.

Eric's Tour of KC Report

The 2004 Tour of KC was just my second race since Joe Martin in May, and I was looking forward to Saturday's Cliff Drive race. As usual, the race stayed together for the first 7 of 9 laps, and I felt good coming up the hill at the end of the 8th lap. But at the top, KSU's Scott Hammack accelerated away from the field, chased by one Tyson rider. I put in a small chase as we crossed the start/finish, but with no help. I wasn't going kill myself chasing the Kansas TT champ for 3 miles and then arrive at the bottom of the hill feeling spanked, because I felt my strength was in a group sprint up the hill. Scott dropped the Tyson guy on the reservoir climb, and set off for the finish line alone. I waited for one of the big teams--Big Shark, Mercy, or DMOS--to take up the chase, but the field sat there as Scott extended his lead out of sight. After the straightaway at the bottom of the course, we never saw Scott again.

I hit the final hill in about 10th wheel and tried to stay near the front as guys swarmed and blew, swerving and bumping each other as they ran out of gas. I hit the top of the hill in about 5th place, behind Mercy's Tim Tobbe and a tall Tyson rider, and two other guys. As we made the turn at the top, everyone sat up and I thought I'd have to lead out, but then Tobbe opened the sprint from the front, and I was right on his wheel. He began to fade about 100 meters from the line, and I came around him for 2nd.

On Sunday, we were treated to a newly-redesigned hairpin turn on the Overland Park Criterium course. The sharp corner at the south end of the course had been recently repaved and its radius greatly increased, providing a much faster corner than in previous years. There were several small breaks during the race, but none with staying power. I sat in for most of the race and tried to keep out of trouble in the first 15. Finally with about 7 laps to go, Adrian O'Hara (KCOI) and Phil Mann (KCBC) attacked and got a good gap on the uphill section after turn 3. Again, I waited for one of the large teams to take up the chase, but nothing. With 4 to go, I tried to lift the pace with an acceleration in the same place, and I looked back to see that I'd opened up a gap of 20 or 30 meters. I could see Adrian and Phil about 150 meters ahead, and I knew I had a chance to catch them, as they'd been off the front for 3 laps already.

After one lap of chasing, I'd closed to about 100 meters, then less, but my speedometer was telling me the bad news--between turns 4 and 5, my speed was dropping each lap, from 29 to 27, then 25. At the start of the last lap, I'd closed to maybe 50 meters and was still closing, but after turn 3 Adrian looked back and saw me coming. He had to open the sprint and ended up leading out through the last turn. Adrian went down the right side, and Phil was able to come by down the middle of the street 50 meters from the line for the win--I had a good view of the sprint from 30 meters or so back. Ryan Halloran (Cowtown) took 4th after attacking the field on the last lap. Thanks as ever to Peter Greig and the KCBC crew for a great event. Go to slimenundgrossen.com for more results from KC.

Free State Takes Gold in Kansas and Missouri

FSR's Carla Farrell beat three Dent Wizards and ended the triple crown hopes of MO time trial and road race double gold medalist Stacey Bertsch to win the Missouri Criterium Championship in Jefferson City on August 8. After breaking away with Bertsch and former FSR riders Pam Hinton and Ali McNulty, Carla outsprinted her breakaway companions to claim her second gold medal in as many weeks--Carla and Craig Farrell won the mixed tandem time trial title the previous weekend. Carla then traveled to Masters Nationals in Park City, UT, where she made the front group in the women's 40-44 race and finished in 8th place in the sprint for the national title.

Tammy Spray won the gold medal and the Kansas women's masters time trial title to go along with her bronze in the KS women's open road race and her 4th place in the KS women's crit. Suzanne Johnson won the gold medal in the MO women's 35+ TT, and Joe Douglas captured two KS 60+ championship medals--a bronze in the road race, and a silver in the criterium.

The Missouri Crit title was a great result for Carla after finishing 2nd in the Forest Park Crit and 3rd in the Cougar Crit. Carla capped it off with a great 2nd place finish in the University City Criterium, the final event of the Gateway Cup weekend in St. Louis.

Way to go, Carla! And congratulations to all the FSR medalists!

SUZANNE'S PROCTOR CYCLING CLASSIC RACE REPORT

Carla Farrell and I went to the Proctor Cycling Classic this weekend and fared well. The 36 mile women’s open RR was a challenge with the wind, a few technical corners and a couple of hills towards the end that Catherine Walberg just loved to fly up like a rocket. Carla finished 7th after being sent off into the grass during the longest sprint ever. I though that she was behind me after getting back in, but even from a near standstill, she is able to advance on the pack in the sprint. I finished 15th and am pleased, since during the second lap the fast pace up the hill left me stranded behind the pack and needed to dig into the TT ability to get back in. We had a field of 23.

The Crit was a very exciting course in downtown Peoria with 8 turns, wind, some rough pavement, holes, grates, and an uphill climb before the block-long stretch to the finish. Carla chose the early race to get her on the road to home early, and stayed with the pack for a few laps and decided to kick up the pace. She left all in her wake only to lap the field, taking on no company when she passed them, and ended up a lap and a half ahead. She clearly had no competition and does have TT ability.

The Women’s open field was later in the day with 29 gals on the line. It was an exciting race with at least four teams of aggressive and strong riders. At most any time, three gals would be off the front, but not for long, as there were others not wanting it to last. In the end, it was a sprint finish. I ended up 11th and in the money, enough to take care of my coffee addiction for a few days. The news is that the event will make the NRC next year.

Eric's Joe Martin Race Report

"Make sure you have a 25," was the message of the week before the Joe Martin Stage Race, held in and around Fayetteville, AR in May. The hilly terrain struck fear into the hearts of flatlanders from Iowa to Oklahoma, but they must have been thinking of the Pro/1/2 race with its gruesome Mount Gaydon climb and 5,000 feet of vertical. |More| As it turned out in the Cat 3 race, however, I never took it out of the big ring during the 3 laps of the Hogpen loop, and I instead ended up wishing for my 11 at the downhill finish of the road race. No worry, I'd make up the 15 second time bonus on the uphill time trial (gotta love those hills, you know). That afternoon, it was free advice from all around: don't kill yourself on the slight downhill section before the climb--just roll up to the base of the hill and then start killing yourself. 20 seconds into the 2.5 km course, I'm doing 32 miles an hour and I'm thinking about the advice: OK, I know I can go even faster, but I'll just sit here at 32 mph and conserve energy.

Too late. I'd already blown the ride. 500 meters into the 6.8% climb--POW! Every mph over 20 from the first 500 meters of the ride came back to haunt me like clouds of misery and doom which rained down on my usually cheery uphill parade. At 5 minutes, my 30 second guy caught me, and I knew I was sucking big time. At the top, I'd lost 2:10 to the winner and any hope of a high placing on GC. As I turned around to coast back down, my thoughts turned to the Sunday criterium and hopes of some primes or at least a high finish.

The crit course is an up-and-down affair with some off-camber sections, some rough pavement, and 12 turns per lap, including one about 100 meters from the start/finish, at the bottom of a steep little pitch leading up to the line. I was able to make up a lot of ground on this little sprint, and got one of the large swag primes near the end of the race. But before I could score the booty, one of the other prime winners claimed my stuff! Or at least didn't tell them that they had the wrong bib number. So the swagmaster laid it on thick, with an armful of tires and Powerbars, and those "cheer packs" of Enervit. Probably out of sympathy. So, it was not only a cheerful prime, it was generous and useful too, and a nice cap to a very fun and challenging weekend. I'm looking forward to next year's race.

Meanwhile, in the women's race, Suzanne Johnson-Crocker and her FSR teammate, defending MO state champ Pam Hinton, had signed up, but Suzanne came down ill before the race and was unable to start. Pam took the start but, 2 km into the race, fell victim to the worst kind of luck as two riders collided right in front of her. Pam crashed hard over the fallen riders, suffering a broken arm and some serious facial road rash. As I talked with her the following afternoon, her first words after describing the crash were, "I think I can be back by the state road race." Me, I'd have been looking for the couch, some pie and a good massage. That chick is hard as nails, I tell ya.

Eric's Joseph Sheehan Road Race Report

In a repeat finale of last year's Joseph Sheehan RR, KCBC's Bruce Tanner and I hit the final hill together at the front of the masters race. I was determined not to make he same mistake as last year, when I sat on Bruce until the finish hill, thinking I'd give him the Boogerd treatment in the sprint. In that race, I never got the chance to come around, because Bruce started time trialing into the headwind from about 600 meters, winding up to about Mach 2, and simply rode away from me up the finishing straight for the win. No way I was going to let that happen again.

Heading north into the headwind for the first half of the race, the pack had stayed pretty much gruppo compatto until the road headed east, when Bruce launched a series of attacks that left a front group of about 10 guys. A series of small attacks in the crosswinds came to naught until Chris Hess and Jack Mason (both KCOI), then Bruce, put in some good attacks on the north end of the course, and we had a breakaway of four after Chris chased back on. The pack kept us at about 10-15 seconds until the road turned south amongst the steeper hills. With a strong tailwind, we were able to stretch the gap with some good paceline riding. Chris was barely recovered from bridging, however, and Jack was apparently pretty excited and had a hard time keeping a smooth roll, jumping each time he came to the front. We kept the pace high enough that Chris never quite got back into rhythm while we tried to help Jack pull through smoothly, but he was hurting himself with the repeated jumps. Sure enough, at the steep short wall just before the main highway, Jack came off.

Bruce and I settled into a good team time trial back into Leavenworth, and I was surprised that Bruce didn't try any attacks before we reached the last K. With about 500 meters to go, I moved to the right line and went into tactical mode. In the 14, I jumped with about 250 meters to go, opened up about 10 meters and held it to the line. Thanks to Brendan Sheehan, the Lanterne Rouge and the SFT gang for another good race. Results at slimenundgrossen.com.

Eric's Perry-Roubaix Race Report

Although the local weather reports had advertised 80+ degree temperatures, we lined up for the start of the Perry-Roubaix with clouds threatening and the temperature at about 65 and dropping. The wind, however, was just as promised--20-25 mph from the south, with gusts of 40 or more.

We started with an easy first lap to get an idea of the new gravel sections and because we knew it'd be a difficult day in the saddle with 60 miles, six climbs of Thompsonville Hill and almost 20 miles of gravel. The 3+ miles of gravel featured a killer crosswind and two sections where boneshaking, babyhead-sized rocks turned the bikes into two-wheeled demons, sliding sideways across the road, seeking any smooth surface and relief from the teeth-rattling punishment of newly-graded
gravel. On the second lap, Keith Walberg (Tailwinds) hit the gravel and went to the front immediately. Keith didn't let up for 3 miles, and when we reached the paved road and the tailwind, FSR's Gary Irick went off the front with RCRC's Jeff Usher. That was fine with us, because we had Thom and me, and RCRC had Bob Brust and Curt Shelman. With our guys up front, it was left to the other riders to chase. I dropped back a bit to keep an eye on Mark Smelser (Kansas State University), who's been
riding strong all spring, as he went to start the chase. He was joined by Evan Solida (Hinckley Springs) and they pulled the pack for an entire lap.

As we completed our second climb and hit the gravel for the third time, Walberg went straight to the front again and hammered half of the rough stuff, until we turned right for a bit of tailwind, where I gave him a bit of help until we turned left and onto the new gravel again, when Keith turned on the juice again. By the time we reached smooth road again, the pack was starting to break up. The crosswind and difficult surface were taking a toll on riders, and Keith was hurting them, too.
I took this lesson into the fourth lap, when I pulled as hard as I could across the gravel section, splitting the pack and leaving a lead group of five: me, Smelser, Solida, Shelman and 210-lb Usher. Next time up the hill, big Jeff tailed off, leaving the four of us to ride the last lap to the finish.

With about 3 miles to go, Smelser had a couple of digs, but the lakeside winds made it impossible to get away, and we entered the last mile together. Smelser attacked two more times, which was fine with me, as I figured he'd wear himself out for the last climb--he managed to drop Solida, too. At the bottom of the hill, I had both Smelser and Shelman where I wanted them, with Smelser leading. Mark jumped and instantly opened a gap of 5 meters on Curt. I jumped around to try to close, but with the headwind, I wasn't going to cross that last gap, and Mark certainly wasn't slowing. Smelser, me, Solida, Shelman.