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 race started with an 8 mile time trial around a lake on top of Raccoon Mountain. I rode it in 7:54 which would have been good enough for 6th but for some reason 3 seconds were added to my time and I was officially 10th on the stage.

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

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.

Tour de Gaslight Village
A 70 minute crit on a 4 corner course which had a wide 180 degree turn and a long straight away on the back side of the course, looking to be a tough day as Bissell had their full elite squad plus David Williams and the newly crown National Crit Champion, Eric Young, from their pro team.

The race started out fast, but I was able to get up to the front quickly, which was a good thing because shortly after the winning break rolled of the front and I was able to bridge jump into it before it got too much distance. Several more riders bridged up and we ended up with 8 riders. This included Derek Graham, David and Nate Williams from Bissell, two Chemstar riders, a Hincape Development rider, Vince Roberge and myself.

We rotated though and were able to get a large gap quickly. About half way through David Williams and the Hincape rider came on the inside of a Chemstar rider going around the 180. The Chemstar rider started to get on their wheel and then just sat up. This gave them a gap and there was a hesitation from the rest of us and they started to pull away pretty fast. I made a big effort to get back up to them and was then attacked by a Chemstar rider who tried to bridge up with Nate Williams. Vince and I were able to pull those two back, but David and the Hincape rider continued to pull away. They ended up lapping the field.

With no help from Derek or Nate, Vince and I had to do the bulk of the work. As we came to the last lap Nate Williams ended up being on the front with a Chemstar rider sitting on his wheel making him pull. On the back side, Nate attacked and I was able to get on his wheel. Going into the 180 we had a small gap and I pulled though and pulled to the last corner and started my sprint. It was a long way and Derek Graham came flying by me, but I was able to hold off Nate and a Chemstar rider to get 4^th.

- Mac Brennan

Sunday’s race was a 93 mile road race starting and finishing in the small town of Cedar, taking in some of the hills in the area, including a climb up the road to the Sugarloaf Mountain ski area.  Numerous breaks formed and were chased down for the first half of the race, often on the tailwind sections of the course. Over the top of one of the hills I found myself in a five man group to which Greg bridged up within a few miles.  We had two riders in seven with the strongest sprinters back in the field and only one rider from Bissell, putting them in a position to chase.  Our group rolled out to a solid gap by the start of the last 15 mile lap, where Greg and I attacked to split up the break, hoping to get one of us clear.  Over the top of Sugarloaf the break shrunk to three and then only Chris Fisher (Priority Health) and I.  The group swelled to four on the tailwind run in to the finish with Greg just short of making contact before the sprint.  I jumped hard out of the last turn but left it about 25 meters too short as Fisher came around me at the line.  Greg rolled in for 5th, Mac Brennan for 8th after a long bridge attempt and Ryan 16th.

Two more podium finishes for the team and a good weekend in Michigan.  Thanks much to Pat and Iris Brennan for hosting us at their place in Traverse City and to Mac’s parents for top notch work in the feed zone.

-Paul Martin

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.

Afterwards I drove up and stayed with my parents the day before the Milford State Championship Criterium the next day. Panther had most of the Michigan crew present with Mac and Greg, which was good since the field had a full platter of Michigan racers vying for the title. I’d never raced here before but the town and course were great.

The start/finish was on Main Street, then the course wound tightly through some neighborhoods. The final turn before the finish was a tight hairpin turn that was followed by a gradual uphill 400 meters to the finish.  I knew the uphill finish suited me pretty well if it came down to a sprint.

A combination of heat, wind, and difficult course made it apparent that it would be a breakaway day for sure. We all took turns covering groups going up the road, about midway through Mac got into a pretty large group that started rolling pretty well. The pack was becoming lethargic so I attacked to bridge up, bringing a Carbon Racing and Bissell rider with me. The Carbon Racing guy and I rotated through pretty well and caught the break in a couple of laps. Once there, the group was a little too big to rotate smoothly but we were going fast enough to get out of sight of the main field.

As the laps started counting down some attacks started going. Mac followed a move for a prime with 5 to go, which was immediately followed by another even bigger prime. Naturally he had to go for both. It worked out well since his group of 3 prime hunters was up the road, I was able to sit in and let others close the gap.

When they came back Mac was pretty fried so I took up to keeping the group together so he could recover.Coming into the last lap we set up a lead out that kept everyone at bay through the last corner. I opened up my sprint probably way too early in the head/cross wind but managed to hold everyone off for another win. Mac even won the U23 state championship too, so we had all our bases covered – not a bad weekend.

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.

Sunday’s event, Le Champion Pave (named after Flint icon spark plug make Champion), again featured some challenging pavement, this time in the form of a 600 meter stretch of bricks.

Mac and Greg were quite aggressive, with Mac making it into the breakaway after the halfway point.  The attacks came fast and furious from within that group inside the last ten laps, but it was all Brennan when it counted, finally going clear for his first win in the Pro/1/2 ranks – congrats!

Kirk, Ryan, and Greg sprinted in the field, with Kirk taking the overall omnium for the weekend – many thanks to Scott Kroske for the photos in this post.

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.

After some coffee, a recovery spin and a bit of pool side spectating on Saturday, we were nice and recovered for the Hyde Park Blast, a stop on the USA Crit Series. We had been joined by Greg Christian, so our wolf pack had grown by one. With positioning at a premium, the team made it’s way to the front and staked out a good spot to keep an eye on things. Paul rolled off the front in a group of 4 that would eventually scoop up USA crit series winner from 2010, Clayton Barrows, who’d been off solo from the early stages of the race, and they were gone. Things stayed pretty civil in the field, and Paul and his group eventually made their way around to lap us. Greg, Myself, Kirk and Paul lined up on the front in the closing laps with hope of keeping Paul safe and giving him a good crack at the finishing sprint. Greg did a great turn of the front in the closing laps and dumped it off the me at the base of the climb with a half lap to go.I swung off once we hit the finishing straight and Kirk launched his sprint with Paul close behind. In the long, hectic drag race to the line, Paul was able to best all but one of his break mates and get Panther on the podium for the second consecutive year at the Hyde Park Blast. Kirk and I were able to roll in in 9th and 11th to keep ourselves relevant for the Overall.

Sunday’s Tour de Grandview is one of my favorites of the year. It’s a 1 mile loop with a nice big ring climb to the finish line. Every year a break away goes here, but not normally until later in the race. I was a little anxious in the opening laps, jumping on anything that moved off the front of the field, but quickly noticed that Paul was sitting comfortable near the front, but not wasting the energy like I was. I dropped back to have a chat with Paul and we concurred that it was best to bide our time and try something in the second half of the race. Because Paul was second in the overall, he was pretty heavily marked, but I was down in 5th, so I wasn’t being shadowed.

At just over the half way point, I put in an attack on the hill and dragged 3 others away with me. We worked well together for a few laps and established our gap. With the better teams represented, there wasn’t much motivation to drag us back to the field. We started positioning for the sprint and sizing each other up with 2 laps to go. I sat on the back coming into the final climb up the hill. Everyone seems to sprint too early,with the false flat before the line always being a bit longer than you’d imagine. The guys in front opened up the sprint and I started to move through a gap, it closed, so I went out and around the side of the group and threw my bike at the line. It was a dead heat, and none of us were sure who’d won. The finish line camera said I was only 2nd. It was frustrating to not win the race for the team, because I had the perfect scenario for me and I just botched the sprint. I should have been a little more proactive in the final and thing would have most likely turned out better. My second place did move me up into 2nd Overall for the weekend, giving Panther 2 guys on the Overall podium. A solid weekend of racing for the team, but we’ve just got to move up one more step on these podiums!
- Ryan Knapp

Canadian Nationals
I skipped out on the TT this year to save it all for the road race. It was 180km (yes Kilometres), 14 times up a climb that I was struggling to do with my 39×28 gearing. Spidertech, being the only pro team in Canada, had 15 riders start the race and put the squad on the front within the first lap. Keeping the pace high they controlled the first 4 laps easily. The 5^th lap was where all hell broke loose and they started launching attacks on the climb. I found myself too far back in the field and missed the chance to get into the winning move. In the end Spidertech swept the podium crossing the line 1 minute in front of 4^th. I was in the 2^nd chase group and crossed the line 31^st but 10^th in the U23 category.

- Ryan Aitcheson

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.

I took off and felt terrible, just couldn’t find a rhythm and the legs were fighting me. I am not one for excuses but I would have loved to have had better legs – at the end of the day I ended up 13th out of 70 something guys.  I know I am capable of riding better and it is disappointing that I didn’t have the ride I know I am ultimately capable. However, congrats must go to my friend and old teammate Jonathan Jacob. He is the world’s nicest guy and to see him pull on the Stars and Bars as Elite National Champ was great. If I could not win I can not think of a person I would rather see get the gold. Congratulations Jonathan, awesome ride!

I then had 2 days before the road race so I rode around Augusta – the heat there was absolutely brutal. I watched the U23 road race detonate and figured due to the heat that the attrition rate would be just as high among the 200 starters in the Elite race. I could not have been more wrong. with 28 miles to go there were still 100+ guys in the mix.

A selective race suits me, a bunch sprint does not. WIth about 20 miles to go I laid my cards on the table. I got into a minor split and then followed attacks and found myself in what I hoped would be the move. We came through with 1 lap (15 miles to go) and things went south. As I feared our group of 13 was a little too large, people started sitting on and the gap plummeted. Our break came apart and I attacked but was brought back. One guy from our break survived as a group of 5 formed with 4 miles to go and fought it out. I was disappointed but gave it my best shot and actually raced the bike race. Next year will be better I hope. Now onto the rest of the season. I have some good form after by most ambitious racing trip and am hoping it will pay dividends.

- Erik Hamilton