The Birmingham Criterium in downtown Birmingham, MI took place last Sunday, a brand new race on a fast, and somewhat technical 0.5 mile course. I managed to grab a front row starting spot, attacked from the gun, and was joined by Vince Roberge, former Panther and a Bissell rider. We got out of sight of the field quickly, and for a short while I was actually thinking the move might stay away.

Eventually it was brought back after some others, including Kirk Albers and Ryan Cross, bridged up.  From there, it was the standard attack, chase, repeat game until Paul got away with two riders for a number of laps. After this was brought back, I went with one of the counters that turned into the winning breakaway, with Adam York, MCG, and Sven Baumann.

With two laps to go, I attacked into a slight uphill section, loosing Sven. I then did the same thing with one lap to go to break free from Adam and solo in for the win. Ryan Aitcheson took the field sprint for 4th after a blistering leadout from Kirk and Paul. Ryan C. unfortunately crashed on the last lap (he’s OK), otherwise it sounds like he would have been a lock for a top placing as well.

Many thanks to Scott Kroske for the photos.

-Greg Christian

Last weekend Team Panther raced the Cherry Roubaix races in Traverse City, Michigan, the “Cherry Capital of the World.”  Saturday afternoon’s criterium was held on a tight 6 corner course in Old Town Traverse City, with a section of bricks and a couple bumpy corners.  Because the race was only 50 minutes plus one lap it was fast and strung out from the gun, averaging over 28 mph for the duration.  Greg Christian and Mac Brennan took turns lighting up big attacks which eventually set up Ryan Cross to make a three man break that built a 15 second lead.  The break looked good for us, but was brought back with less than 3 laps to go, which coincided with some sprinkles of light drizzle starting to fall. I grabbed Greg’s wheel and he drilled it for the last lap taking me through the second to last turn where I jumped to get into the last turn first but could not hold off Derek Witte (Bissell) and finished 2nd.  Greg held on for 8th, Mac was 10th and Ryan 14th, everyone upright and intact.

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Saturday’s Lakewood criterium was a first year event in the burbs of Cleveland.  The event had a really good vibe to it, the finish took place in downtown Lakewood and looped around some neighborhoods where the community had fully come out to support.

A mostly off weekend for the Ohio crew, I was flying solo for the race which had a small but decent turnout for a first year race. Ohio Crit champ Jeremy Grimm was the main threat, so I spent most of the day watching their moves and attacking early.

With 5 to go I followed an attack by Jeremy and we worked together to bridge up to the 2 guys up the road to make a group of 5. We had a large gap on the field, and the two Carbon racing riders started attacking the group once we all got together. Jeremy and I both covered them knowing we wanted it to come down to a sprint. Jeremy took the reins going into the second to last corner, I started my sprint on the uphill before the last corner coming around the outside and got a good gap going through the last corner, enough to take the win.

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Two hard fought races and two wins for Team Panther.

Mac, Greg and Kirk lined up for the early start at the Maillot Jaune Road Race in Fenton, MI, a race which Greg had won the previous year.  The 100km test the featured a number of small hills and “challenging” pavement, eventually a breakaway of three went clear just before the half way point of the event.

With the field content to watch the action ride away, Greg and Mac went to work steadily reducing the gap until the field was all together on the last lap.  Kirk followed the next few dangerous moves, then with just a few miles to go Greg was able to make a solo move that provoked a reaction from three others on the last hill before the finish.  Kirk followed the chasers and with just one mile to go, a group of six came together.

Greg wound up the speed on the downhill finish, Kirk jumped hard at 300 meters to go and was able to hold off the others to win, Greg was fifth and Mac was second in the bunch for eighth in the race.  Read more and see photos in the Flint Journal.

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Here are a couple pictures showing the team in action today at the Nature Valley GP!

Pictures by Cycleture .

The Mount Pleasant race weekend is always a favorite in the Michigan scene, this year the promoters decided to up the ante and add a time trial to make it a 3 day omnium. It was a short, windy and somewhat technical start to a long weekend of quality racing. Greg put down the best time for Team Panther but a delayed start cost him a podium spot.

The following day was the downtown criterium on the main strip in Mount Pleasant. The community really embraces this event and it shows with the amount of locals that come out to cheer. The course was extremely fast and very few breakaways were able to gain more than a few hundred meters worth of lead.

The team rode very well to cover anything that went up the road and with the presence of RGF, Louis Garneau and Bissell, it was evident that it would have taken the perfect combination of riders to roll away. With about 5 laps to go the team began forming at the front to prepare for what would be a very fast finish. Greg hit it hard with 3 to go and Mac and Kirk powered behind him to set up Ryan A, who had an awesome sprint in his legs today and pulled off an amazing win.

Sunday’s 130 mile road race was a test of endurance, tactics and of course, nutrition. The early break rolled away when the field decided to take a little nature stop on the side of the road.  We didn’t have a rider in the move but a few other teams missed the move as well so we weren’t terribly concerned in the beginning.

Kirk went to the front and rode at a steady tempo for about 90 minutes to keep the break in check. After about 2 hours the break had gained 8 minutes on the field – it was time for us to begin a concerted chase effort. Four of us went to the front and exchanged pulls for nearly 2 hours. With help from Alan Antonuk and Jeff Pendlebury of RGF we began reeling the break in steadily and it was together at roughly the 90 mile mark.  Counter attacks began flying left and right and we contained them very well despite our tired legs. After Greg and I put in a counter of our own which was reeled back, the big move went up the road. Brian Sheedy, David Williams and 3 others got a gap and began rolling away steadily.

The winning move was riding away so again, we assembled at the front and were forced to chase. The next 30 miles were tough. We exchanged pulls without saying a word for an hour while we slowly decreased our time to the leaders. We rode at 30+ miles per hour during the chase and caused a few splits in the field behind us. We finally caught the final remnants of the break in the last mile of the race. Unbelievably, the race came down to a  field sprint with what was left of the group. We did our best to mix it up in the sprint but the chase efforts had caught up with us and the fresh legs of those who sat on prevailed. We walked away a little tattered and disappointed that all of our hard work on the day didn’t’ pay off like we would have liked.

A huge thanks goes out to Mr. and Mrs. Brennan who did our feeds on the day (like pros) and the Fink family for graciously hosting 5 sweaty Panthers for the weekend.

This last weekend Mac and I did the West Branch road race and criterium in Northern Michigan. The road race course has a good-sized hill at the finish, which we raced up 4 times. Last year I made the mistake of not taking advantage of the hill, so I wasn’t going to let that happen again. Throughout the rest of the course we were pretty lax about letting breakaways roll off the front, and I would hit it hard all the way of the climb in hopes of forming a selection. The plan worked quite well, and after two laps Mac and I were both in a breakaway group that had a good advantage on the rest of the broken-up field. I attacked with about 10 miles to go and finished solo for the win. Mac attacked a bit later, also successfully, so we took the top two spots in the race.  The next day’s criterium didn’t go quite as well, with only Mac making the front breakaway. I got away a bit later in a small chase group, but we never caught the leaders. Mac ended up 3rd in the sprint, and I finished 3rd in my group’s sprint for something like 12th overall.

-Greg Christian

Cone Azalia is about as epic of a road race as you will find in the Midwest.  Sure, it’s only 70 miles and pancake flat southeast Michigan, but when the race’s website says “anything you have that is carbon fiber on your road bike, if you can, LEAVE IT AT HOME! Seriously! It may BREAK!” you know you’re in for it.  28 miles of the 70 are dirt/gravel roads, littered with 6 inch deep potholes filled with water by morning rain.  This turned the dirt into a wet cement like spray that coated your face, legs and drivetrain.

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After 3 months off the bike dealing with knee issues this Spring, I’ve finally begun to get some training in my legs over the last couple of weeks. It feels nice to be back on the bike, but I’ve definitely been missing the races, so when I realized there was a local crit in Indianapolis over the weekend, I decided to give them a shot; not so much as a chance to test my fitness, but just because I missed pinning a number.

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