This past weekend Kirk and I participated in a couple races in the
Flint, MI area. Satuday was the Malliot Jaune road race in Fenton and
Sunday the Le Champion Pave criterium in downtown Flint.  Saturday’s
road race got off to a rather wet start, but despite the ominous
looking radar the conditions turned out to be pretty nice: just wet
enough to keep things cool but not enough to get you soaked.  The
first third or so of the race was the typical attack, chase, repeat
drill with nothing getting more that a handful of seconds over the
field.  During a lull in the pace, local MTB stud Mike Simonson got
off the front alone…riding on his mountain bike. Granted, it was a
rigid 29er, but still, it was a mountain bike.  The heckling from the
course marshalls was more that I could take, so I attacked on the
biggest hill of the course and bridged up.  I rode with Mike for a bit
before riders from Bissel (Nate Williama) and Priority Health (Andrew
Florian) made it across, forming a solid breakaway.  We got within a
handful of seconds of getting caught at one point, but a few rounds of
extra hard pulls by everyone in the break was enough to demorliize the
chase.  Simonson impresively hung in for quite a while before going
back to the field, even doing his share of the work.  Did I mention
that he was running knobby tires too?

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I headed back up to the infamous 100 km crit series for the second week of racing in Milwaukee.

Whitnall Park Road Race

The first race took place in a botanical garden in Milwaukee. It was raining and more of a field split went early. I stayed up front and made the right side of the split. I was feeling really really strong. Maybe strong enough to do some stupid things like attack a group that contained mostly Pro’s including UHC’s Karl Menzies. I was pretty spent by the end and attacked midway through the last lap, poor idea, and got caught just before the finishing climb. Ended up 11^th

Bucyrus Road Race

Another twisty 3 mile course with a few hills that wound through a lake-front park on the south side of Milwaukee. I made the 12 person breakaway again. However I was definitely feeling my efforts from the day before. I got gapped out on the last lap, but caught back on and knew I had nothing in the sprint. Ended up 11^th.

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Saturday July 18 the team headed to Troy, OH, just north of Dayton for the Ohio State Crit Championship, a $3500 purse for the Pro 1/2 race.  The course was a technical 8 corner course with the last straightaway curving around the roundabout that is the center of downtown Troy.  The weather was like a sauna, mid 90s and high humidity, any hard efforts could make you blow to pieces very quickly.  We traded attacks and counterattacks with the Kenda/Geargrinder, Cleveland Clinic, NUVO and Texas Roadhouse teams.  A group of three with Jake Rytlewski of Kenda got a 20 second gap and I attacked to bridge up, got within 5 seconds but kept getting hotter and hotter, had to back off, couldn’t close the gap, ending up 4th.  Kirk finished well in the field sprint, grabbing 8th, Ryan 12th and Brent 20th.

The next day was a $2500 crit with a tough section of bricks in Miamisburg, a suburb of Dayton.  Somehow the heat index was even higher today than in Troy, I was running my Capo jersey fully unzipped and dousing myself with water.  Andy Clarke animated the race with a long two man break with Jeremy Grimm that looked like it would stay away, getting 30 seconds at one point, only to be chased back with 3 to go.  I countered but drew out two sprinters who I didn’t want to take to the line.  With one to go it came back together and I went to the front and led out Kirk to the last corner, he was nipped on the line by a Kenda rider but secured a podium spot with 3rd, Ryan was 8th and Brent 9th.

Superweek and Michigan Races

Greg Christian won the Maillot Jaune Road Race in Fenton, MI on Sat July 24, besting several Bissell riders, with Kirk Albers finishing 4th.  Kirk finished 2nd at the Le Champion Pave Crit in Flint, Mi the next day, with Greg Christian 6th.  Full reports to follow.

Chris Uberti and Ryan Knapp raced several races and turned in some excellent results at the Superweek series in Wisconsin.  Chris finished 5th at the Kenosha Crit on Friday July 23, making a tough break with Fly V Australia and Kelly Benefits riders, 10th the next day at the Downer Avenue Crit and 11th at the South Milwaukee Crit on July 20th.  Full reports to follow.

Next for the team is the Tour of Elk Grove, two big money crits outside of Chicago this weekend and the Presbyterian Hospital Crit in Charlotte on Aug 7.

-Paul Martin

Stage 1 – Time Trial

The Tour of the Valley is a 2nd year stage race held in the Mahoning Valley of eastern Ohio, home to the steel towns of Warren and Youngstown, just upriver from Pittsburgh and on the edge of the Appalachian foothills.  Carbon Racing did a great job with the event, bringing a $10,000 prize list and teams from Mountain Khakis, Team Type 1, Kenda and Panther/Competitive Cyclist to the pro/am race.  The time trial was a relatively flat 9.5 miles out and back, made interesting by late afternoon rain.  Andy and I got a good pre ride of the course to check out the wind direction and turnaround. I told Andy that it would take a 19:00 to win, a 30 mph average, so that was my goal. I started to 2nd to last, 30 seconds in front of last year’s overall winner, Joey Rosskopf from Mtn. Khakis.  I made good progress on the way out, catching 3 riders by the turnaround.  The wind went out of my sails when Rosskopf caught me from behind in the last two miles.  I finished with a 19:17, 3rd place, 37 seconds behind Rosskopf and 8 seconds behind Matt Cooke (Mtn Khakis).  Andy Clarke had a strong ride for 8th, and Kirk was 20th. Hats off to Rosskopf, who averaged 30.53 mph.

Stage 3 – Youngstown Criterium

Coming off Kirk’s strong win in the road race our goals were to retake 3rd place on GC and go for the stage win, as I had dropped to 4th by one second to Oscar Clarke (Mtn Khakis).  The six corner course was dead flat, but rough and bumpy, going past reputed old mafia hangouts that color the history of Youngstown.  Time bonus sprints were on offer at 20, 50 and 75 minutes in as well as the finish at 90 minutes.  Kirk exploded out of the field for the first bonus sprint with me on his wheel, the only rider from the field who could follow us was Rosskopf, who took the sprint but I took the 2 second bonus for 2nd.  The second bonus sprint was similar, except my leadout came from Brent and Andy, and I took that sprint with a bike throw in front of Clarke.  Kirk took the 3rd bonus sprint and I was 2nd, plenty of time to retake 3rd on GC.  Panther again took control of the race for the finish, with Brent and Andy controlling the front, Kirk did another monster leadout, single handedly holding off trains from all the other teams.  Rosskopf jumped our train with two corners to go and with another rider gapping me off his wheel coming into the last turn I ended up 3rd.  A great team effort, we placed a rider on the podium for the stage and the GC, with Andy Clarke 9th on GC and Kirk 14th.

-Paul Martin

The rolling and often twisty roads of the 33 mile lap featured one significant climb with time bonuses at the summit, although the field was put under considerable pressure on each passing, it was positioned far enough from the finish to not play a significant factor in the outcome of the race.  However, the warm temps coupled with the 10 finishing loops and three opportunities for bonus seconds proved to be the deciding factors in the outcome of the stage.

With Team Mountain Khakis occupying the first two spots in the overall and Team Panther’s Paul Martin slotted in third just one second in front of another Mountain Khaki rider, the bonus time available on each passing of the KOM was a goal of the top riders and with the time gaps relatively tight over the top ten riders, breakaways were kept to a minimum leading into the climb on the first lap.  Paul climbed well on the first and was able to score a single second bonus while Andy Clarke suffered an untimely puncture just a few miles from the base of the climb.  Over the top, most of the group reunited, while Kelly Benefits rider Cheyne Hoag put in the huge solo effort and quickly built up a 50 second advantage.

Andy Clarke was able to chase back to the field while Mountain Khakis kept the gap manageable and the rest of the field was content to wait for the second ascent of the climb.  Hoag was able to just hold off the lead riders for the second offering of bonus seconds, while Paul was slotted in with a select group of chasers a few moments later and myself not too far behind in a group of ten.  Within a mile, the lead group was up to 15 riders, but the heat and terrain began to take it’s toll on the race animators, allowing a lead group of 30 riders to form.  Unfortunately for Andy Clarke, another mechanical and a detour off course would take him out of the running on the stage.

Paul and myself, along with the Mountain Khakis riders provided much of the race animation on the relatively flat and fast run in back to Columbiana as we began to focus on the time line at the entrance to the finish circuit and the bonus time available on the first and fifth passing of the finish line.  I was able to latch on to a small group 1.5 miles out from the time line, but the field was more or less back together as we began the false flat to the line, I made my move 200 yards before the last corner, maintaining a small advantage to score the first bonus.

The attacks were fast and furious over the next few laps, the quite long false flat taking a toll on the greatly diminished field, I followed a hard acceleration by second place on overall Matt Cooke, setting me up well to score the second bonus sprint much like the first.  With 10, 6, and 4 second bonuses on the finish and Paul so close to reclaiming third on overall, I moderated my efforts in the lead group of five, but was then forced to solely respond to all the eventual attacks.  With one lap to go, race leader Rosskopf from Mountain Khakis was close to making the junction to our group, just as he came charging through, his teammate Cooke made a blistering attack 500+ yards from the finish.  Cramping and twitching all over the place, I gave it all I had left, overtaking both riders 100 yards before the last corner, holding off the teammate duo before finding the nearest bit of shade to lie down for a good stretch.  Paul finished quite strongly just behind the remainder of the break in 8th, with the rest of field literally finishing in groups of ones and twos.

- Kirk Albers

This past Saturday Chris and I represented the Panther / Competitive Cyclist squad in the Meijer Grand Classic NRC crit in Grand Rapids. This race seems to change courses every year, but it always features a few brick sections, which make it hard and keep things interesting. It has always been one of my favorite crit races ever since it’s first edition in 2007.  A small (for an NRC race) but very strong field lined up, with the Bissel Pro squad, whose sponsor is based in Grand Rapids, being the team to watch. They brought so many riders that one of them had to sit out as they were over the limit for number of riders allowed to enter a race.  The race started off fast and was basically full gas all the time. About halfway through I attacked, got a decent gap, and Bissel rider bridged up just as I was realizing that my rear tire was flat. I went to the pits to get a wheel and was unfortunately put back into the field instead of back off the front. A few laps later I attacked again and bridged up to the lone Bissel rider, taking one of his teammates with me. Not long after that we dropped one of the Bissel riders (not sure whether it was the original rider or the one who followed me up), so it was just Patrick Bevin, Bissel, and me off the front. We killed it for a few laps and built up a nice gap, and then I started to hurt, bad. I tried sitting on for a few laps to recover, but he was having none of that, jumped hard going into a corner and I wasn’t able to hold onto his wheel. He went on to take a well deserved solo victory, and needless to say I was pretty disappointed to get dropped from the move.  In any case, I merged with a chase group of 8 or so and rode the remainder of the race with them until we got caught with around one lap to go. I was completely toasted for the finish and couldn’t do much. Chris said he was pretty tired too but still managed to get up there for the sprint, finishing 16th, and thanks to attrition in the field I was able to place in the money as well.

After the race I made a spur of the moment decision to follow Chris to Sunday’s Superweek race in Homewood.  Again the field was small for a Superweek race but high quality nonetheless.  It started sprinkling at the start, barely enough to get wet, but just enough to make things slick in the corners for the first 30 laps or so.  This caused a good bit of carnage/attrition, but both Chris and I were able to avoid the crashes and stay it in front of the splits. Chris was riding great and made the break of seven that took a lap on the field about halfway through the race.  After that we split our time between watching things at the front to prevent any of the riders a lap up from getting away again and looking at the lap counter and asking ourselves if there was any way we could really have so many laps left. You always forget just how long these 100k crits are when you haven’t done one in a while.  They did actually end up shortening the race by a few laps due to impending thunderstorms, and with three to go a rider from the Garneau team (who was a lap up) attacked.  There didn’t seem to be much of a chase going on, so with two to go I went to the front with Chris on my wheel in hopes of bringing him back and keeping Chris up front for the sprint. It didn’t quite work out, and I started to run out of gas with three corners to go. The Garneau rider stayed away to win, and Chris stayed up front for the sprint to finish 4th.  Once again thanks to attrition I was able to sneak into a money spot despite being blown and soft pedaling the last 500 meters or so of the race.

-Greg Christian

Panther p/b Competitive Cyclist notched another victory this past weekend as Kirk Albers won the 75-mile road race. You can read the full article and interview by John Bassetti at Vindy.com.

(Paul Martin takes 3rd at the Tour of the Valley time trial. )

(Kirk Albers claimed the top spot of the podium after the 75-mile road race.)

Tour of Lawrence, I was flying solo for this one. I was worried about this at first, but the P/1/2 fields were pretty small. Mostly it was just team Hotel San Jose, that Trek VW team and Mercy in attendance. The road race course wove around the campus of the University of Kansas. The course was sweet, two long climbs and a bunch of twisty decent dictated the four mile circuit. Unfortunately it was raining hard and the roads were very slick.

There was a large pile up in the first half mile of the race on a straight downhill section. I managed to weave my way around everyone sprawled across the road and dudes putting out the tripod in the turns. I channeled my Purdue Regional crit cornering skills and attacked and put nearly a minute into the field. As the course dried up we were brought back by what was left of the field, about 12 guys. We dicked around for a little while until 4 to go. I attacked on one of the uphills by a group of drunk KU students that were cheering for me because I gave them a thumbs up while I was in the breakaway after they offered me a free beer.

I spent a lap alone until Adam Bergman bridged up and we were riding really hard but were caught with 1 to go by three riders. There were some little attacks but it came down to the final uphill sprint, I had nothing left in the tank and ended up 4th.

Sunday was a repeat of the 2008 Collegiate Nationals Criterium course. However there was more rain. Another wet day, and I knew Hotel San Jose would be riding for Josh Carter. So I sat in and spent most of the day in my Endurance zone. With a few laps to go I took off my glasses that were fogging up pretty bad. Then it started raining, so I pretty much couldn’t see at all. I got a little sketched out with the whole wet roads and not being able to see so got caught out a little far back in the sprint and ended up 12th.

-Chris Uberti

After a tough week of racing up in Minnesoooooooota I took some rest for a couple days back home before it was off again to Cincinnati for some big team races, including the USACrits race Hyde Park Blast on Saturday.

Friday was the first year race in Madeira, Ohio. This was the first twilight crit of the year for myself and the course ran along the main boulevard of Madeira. Pretty much the entire Panther team was in attendance, so we had some high expectations. The course was very much on the technical side, with two 180 turns and a technical back side of the course the entire pack was single file for a majority of the race.

Our Panthers were on the attack the entire race, causing the field to shrink considerably until the race was neutralized halfway through for a nasty crash caused by a deflating finishing banner. Since the race was so technical the powers that be, namely Aerocat and Mountain Khakis’, kept a pretty tight lid on any potential escapee’s. With about 10 to go Vince and our Andy Clarke drilled really hard at the front to bring back the breakaway at about 4 to go. From then on it was sticking your neck out and risking life and limb for 8 more hairpin turns. Paul brought me up to the front with 2 to go, in the final hairpin we got swarmed, but I slotted in at 6^th wheel which seemed like a good place to be for the final 500 meters or so. However, those last 500 meters were pretty much spent cornering and I only managed to pass one lead-out man in the second to last finishing straight for 5^th place.

Saturday was going to be another dark race, not starting until 8:30 and running for an hour and a half. The Hyde Park race was also a USA Crits series race, which meant big money. The weekend of hairpins continued with a not so dramatic 180 just after the Start/Finish. Aside from that the course was basically two long drags with a trip up a dark narrow alleyway. To start off, the race was hot, and fast. Within a few minutes there was  a large field split with an elite group at the front, which thankfully contained nearly the entire Panther team. We were again very very aggressive, present in every move, or at least chasing it. Attacks and counter attacks went all race, until Andy Moskal got into a large group late in the race that got a good 20 seconds. However, as the sun went down and the dark alleyway got to be completely pitch black, the margin began to shrink. The Panther train got to the front with 3 to go, just as the breakaway was getting caught, and totally smashed it, keeping the other teams off until the final straight. My sprinting confidence was a little low and I waited to follow some wheels on the long finishing stretch. With about 100 meters to go two guys ahead of me just smashed into each other taking each other down, I did a little drifting and only managed to get tagged in the shin. I managed to sneak through and roll in 3^rd, Paul also avoided the crash to come in 5^th.

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