Day three of criterium racing in St. Louis, and after our good showing the previous day, our heads were held high as we hoped to crack the top 10 once again. Sunday was a complicated course, 6 corners and stretching over 1.5 miles long, it had everything a tough crit needed, a fast sweeping corner, long flat straightaway, downhill tight right hander, and to top it off a long uphill finishing straight.

The race started out pretty calm with a few attacks but nothing serious going off the front. The three of us; Knapp, Uberti and myself, patrolled the front following moves and trying to get something organized. Knapp unfortunately got a flat midrace so should have been feeling as fresh as a daisy once he took his free lap. Continue Reading »

After Saturday’s win by Ryan A on Illinois’ Campus the Tour de C-U shifted to downtown Urbana for a tight 8 corner 1 km crit. Being super technical we knew it wouldn’t end up like Saturday’s race so the plan was to wait until things were starting to get a little broken up then attack hoping one of the other “Diesel” type riders would join up with us. Things went pretty much according to plan except for the waiting part.

After only a handful of laps I attacked a smallish group that had separated itself from the front of the race ( I actually didn’t know we had broken away before the attack, and just thought things were strung out). Turned out to be the right move since Jonathan Jacobs joined me shortly afterwards and we put in some good efforts to build up a good gap. In case you don’t know JJ is the Elite time trial champion and I am just about the worst Cat 1 time trialist on earth. I put in some good work early on but quickly, um, started to suck.

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Being the first weekend of May we are still just getting into the race season, I needed to brush up on my Crit skills so heading out to Champaign Illinois was a good idea to work on team tactics and positioning. Panther sent 5 riders out for the two days of racing, a good Crit squad with Knapp, Uberti and myself being the fast finishers. Then Kirk and Gabe being the power houses.

The attacks started out early with Texas Roadhouse and Bissell Nuvo sending guys up the road – nothing was able to establish more then a 10 sec gap and we always had a guy in the move. I was able to launch an attack out of a small break and stay away solo for 5 laps during the last half of the race. I quickly got out of sight of the field forcing Texas and Nuvo to work at the front. I didnt expect to stay away till the end but this gave the other guys a chance to rest.

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As the 6 of us sat together in the pre-race meeting, some of us in folding chairs, some leaning on the bumper of the car and the others resting on the top tubes of our trusty Orca’s, we poured over the details of the course, the important climbs and different strategies for taking on feeds. After a few minutes, one common theme hit us all like a cobble-stone to the head: Be at the front. Be at the front to put someone in the break. Be at the front for the climbs. Be at the front for the gravel sections. Be at the front for the narrow covered bridges. Be. At The. Front! We could practically hear the other 160 or so riders saying the same thing in their meetings. I knew that if we were going to be at the front, we were going to have to earn it.

We rolled out for 1 mile of neutral, and then it was just 4 miles of wide open four lane road leading to the potential bottle necking covered bridge that took us onto the first dirt section and subsequent climbs. During these 4 miles, I was part of the most nervous pleloton I’ve ever seen. Legs raged and elbows flew as we nervously, but rapidly, hurdled towards the first decisive moments of the race. From this point on, things get got bit blurry, as trying to take care and position myself took all of my mental resources. Every inch was critical. Continue Reading »

After a successful 2011 season that included 25 wins, 28 podium finishes and several top 15 results at National Racing Calendar events, Team Panther p/b Competitive Cyclist is pleased to announce the 2012 elite team roster.

Returning to the team are fast finishers Chris Uberti, Ryan Aitcheson and Ryan Knapp along with veterans Kirk Albers, Paul Martin and Andy Clarke. New additions to the team are Ben Damhoff (ABD), Gabriel Moss (Ohio State), Andy Seitz and Bob Stumpf (GPOA). Team Panther p/b Competitive Cyclist will continue its focus on developing young elite level riders by racing a Midwest based schedule which will include several National Racing Calendar and National Criterium Calendar events as well numerous regional pro/am events.

The team will race on Orbea Orca Silver carbon frames mated to Easton bars and stems and Easton EC90 SL carbon tubular wheelsets and use Giro’s Aeon helmet and Giordana clothing.

Full Team Roster:
Ryan Aitcheson, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada
Kirk Albers, Upper Arlington, Ohio
Andy Clarke, Medina, Ohio
Ben Damhoff, Morrison, Illinois
Ryan Knapp, Bloomington, Indiana
Paul Martin, North Royalton, Ohio
Gabriel Moss, Columbus, Ohio
Andy Seitz, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Bob Stumpf, Beaver, Pennsylvania
Chris Uberti, Cincinnati, Ohio

For blogs, photos, results and more: teampanther.com, Twitter @PantherCycling and facebook.com/PantherCycling

Team Sponsors include: Panther Expedited Services, a leading provider of expedited ground, air and ocean freight services, Competitive Cyclist, the leading on-line bicycle retailer in the U.S., Orbea Bicycles, Giordana clothing, Easton wheels, stems, bars and Giro helmets and gloves.

Last weekend I competed and won my first overseas bike race. Former Panther rider Derek Laan, now teaching English in Korea, told me about this Changwon Amateur World Criterium that was looking for international riders to bring over to compete. After corresponding with the race promoter a bit I was sent totally free round trip tickets to and from Seoul.

I took a few days off work and flew out Wednesday, going through Detroit before the final 12 hour flight to Seoul. I arrived Thursday afternoon and met up with Derek. After a brief opener on Friday we drove all the way south across Korea to the southern coastal city of Changwon, the race was part of a conference on eco-mobility and included an interbike type expo.

The race itself was a big 2.5 km hotdog criterium (hairpin turns at each end), with a pretty international field and the equivalent of a one day NRC race worth of prize money going to the top three finishers, I was unsure about what to expect. $500 primes every 5 laps combined with the top three prizes, I was pretty sure things would come down to a field sprint, however I was also unsure about given the Korean love for Keirin racing and the good number of Korea dudes with legs the size of tree trunks.

We started off with 2 neutral laps followed by 25. On the 5th lap I set myself up for the first prime and followed a Keirin tree trunk leg guy who sprinted away right out of the last corner (which was 600 meters to the finish). I had a hard time closing the gap but once I did he was pretty spent and I sprinted around him for the 1st prime. I sat up and drifted back to the group. The race started playing out just like I had expected, no one really getting any daylight between themselves and the field. The second prime went to a group of 2 off the front, who was brought back the next lap. Going into the 3rd prime things were getting strung out by some attacks, I followed going into the bell and countered, going off solo. I built up a solid gap and stayed away for the 3rd prime before sitting back up.

I tried to lead out my old teammate Derek for the last prime but he was spent from a lap long attack the previous lap. The last five laps things were getting nervous, but I committed myself to staying at the front despite having to use a little extra energy, even chased down a leadout that had turned into a breakaway going into the bell lap. Coming into the last corner I was sitting on the front just riding tempo, knowing that getting boxed in by a swarm would be the end of my race. I waited until a few riders from the Storck group attacked on the inside going into the last corner. I jumped across the road into 3rd wheel. Fortunately the Korean’s aren’t quite as cut-throat when it comes to wheel stealing as Americans. I went through the last corner 3rd wheel.

Chuck Hutchenson an American rider from the Armed Forces team was second wheel and attacked pretty much right out of the corner, I immediately jumped on his wheel. After a few seconds I glanced back…we had a HUGE gap. He motioned me to pull through, knowing it would be tough for the field to catch us I pulled through pretty easy baiting him to open up the sprint first, he did. I got up onto his wheel and accelerated in his draft to jump around him for the win.

Overall a great fun weekend, I won 6 million Korean Won, and was able to race my bike in another country.

- Chris Uberti

The course on paper looked really tame, just a standard 6 corner “L” shaped crit with what the flyer described as a ”slight” hill. First of all the hill proved way more than slight, second the straight just before the finishing stretch was a 100 meters of roughly 20% descent – a little sketchy at first glance, but it proved to be a really fun race.

The race being a small field on a tough course, was going to do nothing but split up. I watched most the moves, and finally when things started breaking up bridged up to Jeff Pendlebury from Cleveland Clinic and Brad Schaeffer of Nuvo. We worked really well together and lapped the field in about a half hour.

Things were pretty chill in the field until 2 to go when Jeff attacked pretty hard, I was caught in a little of a poor location and honestly mistook him for one of the 5 other RGF riders at first. I followed him, just catching him on the last lap’s climb, then attacked going into the downhill corners knowing whoever went through those first always had a bit of an advantage. I came out first with a bit of a gap and opened it up for the finish.

- Chris Uberti

Big fields, big courses, and big crowds were the theme for the Labor Day weekend in St. Louis, Panther Cycling was looking to make a mark and the guys did not disappoint.

A big shower rolled through the St. Louis Hills area an hour before the start of Saturday’s race, dropping the temps from near 100 down to a mere 80 degrees, but the 140 rider field kept the pace high on the wide open four corner course.  The breaks were numerous throughout the contest – Erik Hamilton’s bid for glory came up short as the field came together right before the bell lap.

The team tried to organize in the last lap chaos, Ryan Aitcheson posted the best finish with a sixth, while Ryan Knapp and Chris Uberti both finished in the top 20.

Sunday was the 26th edition of the Giro della Montagna, raced in the neighborhood of St. Louis known as “The Hill”, the Italian themed atmosphere was primed for great racing.

The breakaways started forming on the opening lap and never let up the entire night.  Chris Uberti put himself in a good move mid way through the race with former professional US Criterium Champ Brad Huff, Alder Martz, and Sutter Home rider Nick Frey. Despite a furious chase by the field, the quartet stayed strong, with Martz winning and Uberti running second in the four man sprint to the line.

In a wild field finish, Aitcheson was next best of the Panthers for 7th, with Greg Christian in 15th, and Hamilton/Albers threading their way through a last lap crash to sneak in the top 20.

- Kirk Albers