Last weekend I competed and won my first overseas bike race. Former Panther rider Derek Laan, now teaching English in Korea, told me about this Changwon Amateur World Criterium that was looking for international riders to bring over to compete. After corresponding with the race promoter a bit I was sent totally free round trip tickets to and from Seoul.

I took a few days off work and flew out Wednesday, going through Detroit before the final 12 hour flight to Seoul. I arrived Thursday afternoon and met up with Derek. After a brief opener on Friday we drove all the way south across Korea to the southern coastal city of Changwon, the race was part of a conference on eco-mobility and included an interbike type expo.

The race itself was a big 2.5 km hotdog criterium (hairpin turns at each end), with a pretty international field and the equivalent of a one day NRC race worth of prize money going to the top three finishers, I was unsure about what to expect. $500 primes every 5 laps combined with the top three prizes, I was pretty sure things would come down to a field sprint, however I was also unsure about given the Korean love for Keirin racing and the good number of Korea dudes with legs the size of tree trunks.

We started off with 2 neutral laps followed by 25. On the 5th lap I set myself up for the first prime and followed a Keirin tree trunk leg guy who sprinted away right out of the last corner (which was 600 meters to the finish). I had a hard time closing the gap but once I did he was pretty spent and I sprinted around him for the 1st prime. I sat up and drifted back to the group. The race started playing out just like I had expected, no one really getting any daylight between themselves and the field. The second prime went to a group of 2 off the front, who was brought back the next lap. Going into the 3rd prime things were getting strung out by some attacks, I followed going into the bell and countered, going off solo. I built up a solid gap and stayed away for the 3rd prime before sitting back up.

I tried to lead out my old teammate Derek for the last prime but he was spent from a lap long attack the previous lap. The last five laps things were getting nervous, but I committed myself to staying at the front despite having to use a little extra energy, even chased down a leadout that had turned into a breakaway going into the bell lap. Coming into the last corner I was sitting on the front just riding tempo, knowing that getting boxed in by a swarm would be the end of my race. I waited until a few riders from the Storck group attacked on the inside going into the last corner. I jumped across the road into 3rd wheel. Fortunately the Korean’s aren’t quite as cut-throat when it comes to wheel stealing as Americans. I went through the last corner 3rd wheel.

Chuck Hutchenson an American rider from the Armed Forces team was second wheel and attacked pretty much right out of the corner, I immediately jumped on his wheel. After a few seconds I glanced back…we had a HUGE gap. He motioned me to pull through, knowing it would be tough for the field to catch us I pulled through pretty easy baiting him to open up the sprint first, he did. I got up onto his wheel and accelerated in his draft to jump around him for the win.

Overall a great fun weekend, I won 6 million Korean Won, and was able to race my bike in another country.

- Chris Uberti

Big fields, big courses, and big crowds were the theme for the Labor Day weekend in St. Louis, Panther Cycling was looking to make a mark and the guys did not disappoint.

A big shower rolled through the St. Louis Hills area an hour before the start of Saturday’s race, dropping the temps from near 100 down to a mere 80 degrees, but the 140 rider field kept the pace high on the wide open four corner course.  The breaks were numerous throughout the contest – Erik Hamilton’s bid for glory came up short as the field came together right before the bell lap.

The team tried to organize in the last lap chaos, Ryan Aitcheson posted the best finish with a sixth, while Ryan Knapp and Chris Uberti both finished in the top 20.

Sunday was the 26th edition of the Giro della Montagna, raced in the neighborhood of St. Louis known as “The Hill”, the Italian themed atmosphere was primed for great racing.

The breakaways started forming on the opening lap and never let up the entire night.  Chris Uberti put himself in a good move mid way through the race with former professional US Criterium Champ Brad Huff, Alder Martz, and Sutter Home rider Nick Frey. Despite a furious chase by the field, the quartet stayed strong, with Martz winning and Uberti running second in the four man sprint to the line.

In a wild field finish, Aitcheson was next best of the Panthers for 7th, with Greg Christian in 15th, and Hamilton/Albers threading their way through a last lap crash to sneak in the top 20.

- Kirk Albers

A decent field of 40+ Elite riders lined up this past Sunday on the back roads of wine country for the 120km road race. The 12km loop went up the Niagara Escarpment which brought 500 meters of little ring pain, to make it worse the top was where the finish line was. Being the lone Panther in the field I had to be very attentive and covered many attacks so I didn’t miss a move.

Garneau, H&R Block, and MVP all had 4+ riders in the race and each had a couple strong guys that would need extra attention by me. About halfway into the race I grew weary of covering attacks and launched my own on the back side of the course into a headwind, three others grabbed my wheel as we quickly opened a gap on the field. Having a Garneau and an H&R Block rider in my group I knew this could be the winning break.

We all rotated through strong and soon were well clear of the field, the final half lap was where the games began; H&R Block was the first to attack and was easily shut down. I attacked right after and opened up a gap but they worked together to chase me down. We rolled to the bottom of the hill keeping a close eye on each other with 300 meters to go. I launched from the back of the group and gave it my all to the top. I was dying in the closing 50 meters but had opened a big enough gap to roll across the line.

- Ryan Aitcheson

A van of four from the Columbus area made the trek over to Warsaw, Indiana for one of the annual events of the KCV cycling club.  A well run event with the added bonus of a Mad Anthony microbrew restaurant right on course, everyone in our group was quite content to follow the races while having a pre-race fuel.

The skies opened during the women’s event and along with the action, did not abate until just after our event was completed.  After struggling the previous week with a upper respiratory infection, I was questioning whether it would be wise to intensify the illness by racing in the rain.  Of course I raced anyway.

The short course and slick roads made it easier to control the attacks, Adam York, Derek Witte, one other unnamed rider plus myself were able to rotate strongly at the front of the diminished field as we turned sub one minute laps.  Everything was altogether on the bell, coming out of turn one, I went to the right, Witte went to the left, which was unfortunately the clean route, I just could not close the gap down the back stretch and held on for second, but with all my skin and equipment intact – almost seemed to be the word of the day (almost won, almost crashed, almost didn’t rain…)

- Kirk Albers

While the rest of the team was in Sylvania, another contingent headed to the Tour of Elk Grove near Chicago, a series of two criteriums with very large payouts and separate races for Pros and Cat 1/2 amateurs.  In Saturday’s race, the team rode very aggressively, placing a rider in nearly every move that made any sort of gap on the field. In the end, this was for naught as the race came down to a field sprint, and unfortunately the team’s top sprinter, Chris Uberti, was watching from the sidelines due to misinformation on the race website regarding start times.  A number of crashes in the last two laps either took out or held up Panther riders, and the best finish was Greg in 21st.

For Sunday, the team decided to be a little less aggressive early on in the race, hoping to conserve energy for a late move or the sprint. Unfortunately, this backfired as the winning move of three slipped away fairly early on. Mac and Greg tried to join forces with riders from the IsCorp team to bring the breakaway back, but the chase never really organized, and after a while it became clear that the field would be racing for 4th place.  The closing laps were much safer this time around, and Chris ended up finishing 4th in the field sprint for 7th overall.

-Greg Christian

This past Saturday, Ryan K., Chris, Eric and I raced the Bloomington criterium, which was held on a tight, technical course in downtown Bloomington, IN.  I started off in the back row, and after about 20 minutes finally made my way to the front, dodging a few crashes in the meantime. Soon after that, I attacked for a prime and ended up forming a breakaway that also included Eric, as well as Jonathan Jacob (Nuvo), John Grant (Texas Roadhouse) and a rider from the Zipp team. The mix was strong and working well together, but the efforts of a few strong individual riders in the field eventually brought the break back.  From here, no moves gained any significant time, and the race ended up coming down to a field sprint.  The team lined up quite nicely with two laps to go, and when I pulled off with little under a lap left I was pretty confident that we had the win in the bag.  In the end, two TX Roadhouse riders (Grant and John Puffer) jumped around the train in a corner on the back side of the course and ended up going 1-2. Ryan and Chris finished just behind in 3rd and 4th place. As consolation, we did win $100 in gift card primes to a local tavern that featured $1 shots all night long. I will refrain from reporting on how those prizes were used….

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I got the chance to race with the entire Panther crew this last weekend at the Tour of the Valley in Youngstown, Ohio. It was a great weekend with Andy Clarke being gracious enough to open up his house to 5 cyclists. The hospitality was great. Thank you Andy!

The race consisted of a 9 mile Time Trial, a 93 mile RR and a 90 minute Criterium. The race started off with the time trial on Friday evening. I wanted to win win this race, but could only manage 3rd behind Paul and Dave Wenger. I covered the 9 mile course in 18:36. I was satisfied with my ride and more importantly the team was in a great place with 1st and 3rd on GC going into Saturday’s tough, hilly Road Race.

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Team Panther’s Erik Hamilton won the GC at the Tour of the Valley Stage Race in Youngstown, OH on July 8 – 10.  The team won two of the three stages and 3rd place and 4th place on the GC as well.  Full race report and photos to follow shortly.

Link to local newspaper write ups from Saturday and Sunday:

http://www.vindy.com/news/2011/jul/11/acing-the-final/

http://www.vindy.com/news/2011/jul/10/grueling-challenge/

Team Panther raced the USA Crits Hyde Park Blast event in Cincinnati, Ohio last weekend.  With a $10,000 purse on the line and a big crowd turning out for this twilight criterium (8:30 pm start and 10:00 pm finish) we were hoping for a good result.  Since half of the team was in Augusta, GA for the US National Road Championships and sprinter Ryan Aitcheson at Canadian Road Nationals we knew a breakaway would be a good option for us.  Last year’s Hyde Park runner up, Clayton Barrows (AXA/Stan’s Notubes) took an early solo flier that saw him continue to gain time on the field, eventually building to 50 seconds before the field started to chase hard.

I countered an attack from a teammate and got clear with a group of four including Jamey Driscoll (Jamis Sutter Home), Clay Murfet (RideClean) and Pittsburgh rider Andrew Seitz (GPOA).  We made slow but steady progress chasing down Barrows, catching him almost an hour into the race.  I was hesitant to work too hard, thinking that the Jamis/Sutter Home team wouldn’t want this break to stay clear as their best two sprinters were back in the field and Murfet was a fast finisher, having won last night’s crit in Madeira.  However

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Giro d’Grafton was last Saturday’s race which was part of the USA
Crit’s series, which meant extra $ and prestege. 150 dudes lined up
for the 90 minute crit on a hilly fairly technical course. I had
mentally readied myself for something along the lines of Speed Week
which took place earlier this year in the deep south, but this race
was a bit different. Grafton was lacking some of the firepower of UHC,
which meant a crit that wasn’t quite as fast, and therefore not quite
as strung out. Because of this the pack was pretty large and dangerous
for the duration of the race. Like I said there weren’t many instances
of difficulty during the race, I went for a prime mid race and got it,
then tried my best to be up front to watch for moves going from the
favorites like Johnny Cantwell and Bahatti.

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