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

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

Grand Cycling Classic
Cat 1, 2 and 3 all raced together in a 40 min race, even though the streets had dried there were still a ton of crashes. It was very hard to move up, but I finally made it to the front as a group of 5 started to roll away from the field.

I made an attack and tried to bridge up, but I didn’t have any help so I was slowly reeled back in by the field. It looked like the break was going to come back as well but after I was caught the field started to loss its organization. With such a short race the group of 5 was able to stay away, on the last lap I just tried to avoid crashing, but Ryan Cross was able to pull a 7^th place finish.

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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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With the Panther squad spread a bit thin between Elite Nationals in Georgia and Canadian Nationals in Ontario, our team for the USA Crit series weekend in Cincinnati/ Columbus Ohio was a little bit reduced. With good money for 3 consecutive days, this weekend always brings out a solid field.

On Friday night we raced a twilight crit in Madeira with Paul, Kirk and Myself being the only Panther’s. The race was aggressive from the start as most of the strong men were looking to split up the field with the two 180* turns. The 3 of us together instigated many of the attacks and we represented in any move that looked promising. Paul spent the middle 30 minutes or so off the front solo, which gave Kirk and I a chance to put our feet up and relax. After a while, the Jamis boys got a bit nervous and burned a few matches to bring Paul back to the field. However, by this time the front group had dwindled significantly and it was time to position ourselves for the sprint. I was the designated “sprinter” for the day, so Paul and Kirk did their best to guide me through the closing laps, but with the U-turns and lack of daylight, it was a dangerous task. I got bumped from Kirk’s wheel with a few corners to go and could only manage 6th in the sketchy sprint. But at least we all left with the same amount of skin that we came in with.

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The Stage 6 Stillwater Criterium can make or break your week, just finishing this race can move you up drastically on the GC. After yesterdays long day of pounding up the hills, I wasn’t too excited about a crit on a hill. The hill was short and steep but for me it was false flat at the top that was the real killer. Everything fell apart with 3 laps to go as a group of 5 ripped away off the front with the leaders on the GC. I managed to stay connected with a good size chase group of about 10. Sprinting up the hill for the last time I crossed the line in 12^th place and 3^rd young rider, that moved me up in the young rider competition to 3^rd overall, a great way to end the week.

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I finished up Nature Valley with a decent ride on the final day at the infamous Stillwater Criterium. I had the goal of finishing the entire race and perhaps improve my overall standing. I got popped off of the lead group with a little over a lap to go. I rode in, thus completing all 20 laps but only finished 37th on the day. Not as good as I had hoped for but I did improve overall. I finished my first ever Nature Valley Grand Prix in 34th overall, which is nothing to brag about but I was satisfied with it.

The morning of the US Elite National Time Trial went well, I was fortunate enough that Mac competed in the U23 event earlier, so I had a gauge as far was what it would take to do well. I set off right as Jonathan Jacob crossed the line and immediately knew what it would take, which would have been the ride of my life.

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