The tight course made it imperative to stay at the front as the field lined out single file very quickly and gaps were hard to close.  Kirk and Andy started off the attacks right from the gun and put the field under pressure.  I followed an attack from Vince Roberge (MCG/Trails Edge), a strong rider and former Panther teammate, and we worked together smoothly and established a good gap as the skies darkened and a storm approached.

It’s always good to be off the front in a crit before the rain comes down. The rain started to fall about 45 minutes in, causing a number of crashes in the field. Within the last 5 laps, Vince and I lapped what was left of the field where Andy kept me out of trouble and in a good position to jump before the last turn and sprint for the win.  Kirk had escaped from the field and finished a strong 4th, with Andy coming in 12th.

Kudos to race promoter Jon Card who not only put together a great first year event but also finished 3rd in the Pro,1,2 field.

-Paul Martin

We started with egg carton like containers of SRAM Force derailleur’s, brakes, cassettes, shifters, cranks, BB’s and chains. We then assembled the pieces from Easton/Giro that included both EC90 Aero carbon race wheels and EA70 aluminum training wheels. Giro supplied an Ionos and Advantage 2 TT helmet, along with new Havik sunglasses. Easton came through with  handlebars, stems, and seatposts. We all run aluminum handlebars because of the nature of the racing and travel involved. Aluminum can be crashed over and over and you need less worry when repeatedly removing your bar from you stem during travel.  Next was sorting through a box of Capo apparel to find each members allotment of jerseys, bibs, and skinsuit.

We keep all members sizing info on a Google Doc that lives in the “cloud”. This way each mechanic could simply log on and build the bike to spec. Further, if we get to a race and need a new bike on short notice we can log onto the doc from our phones and get the exact sizes and measurements for each rider.

After building for six hours we were done. The Panther truck showed up the next morning and gathered the goods. The driver got word that he was picking up the companies team equipment and was genuinely excited to be the one doing the job. Now that everyone has their goods it’s time to get down to business, we will be seeing you at the races.

-Noah Singer