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

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

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

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

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

Sunday we headed over to Miamisburg, OH for the Tour d’Burg criterium, also joined by Paul, Kirk, and Andy C. The plan for the day was to attack more or less indiscriminately, and that’s basically what we did.  A number of moves formed throughout the day, but they always lacked the right combination of riders to stay clear of the field.  With about seven laps to go, I found myself off the front with three other riders and quite a large gap.  We all rolled through steadily, and with a few laps to go it became clear that we would fight it out for the win.  Given the other riders in the group (especially former Panther rider Jeremy Grimm), I knew I wasn’t going to win the sprint without some extenuating circumstances, so I attacked on the technical back side of the course on the last lap, hoping to get a gap on the others and hold it. The gap never materialized, however, and I ended up leading out the drag-race sprint, eventually finishing 3rd (Jeremy took the well-earned victory). In retrospect I should have probably attacked a lap or two earlier when the others were less likely to expect it.

-Greg Christian

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.

We went into the Road Race with the goal of winning the stage, but more importantly of holding onto our lead in the General Classification. The road stage included a 2k climb with time bonuses available at the top, Ryan Knapp went into an early move to take the bonuses off of the board and it worked perfectly.

Half way into the first lap I found myself in a move with Knapp, Greg, and Ryan A. along with a couple RGF’s and Damhoff of ABD among others. The group worked well together, but to my surprise was caught. I think it is because nobody really worked all that hard with 75 miles of racing to go. Once we got caught Kirk escaped with 2 others, including Housley of Chemstar who finished around 10th in the TT and thus became the leader on the road. We could not afford to let him get too far up the road, so Paul attacked the steep rollers after the KOM and all of the other GC guys reacted immediately,  so I attacked when everyone sat up and rolled away from the front of the field, immediately opening a decent gap.

I was hoping that someone would join me so that I did not have to go across 2 1/2 minutes solo. However, no one came so I put my head down and got to work bridging up to Kirk and Nick Housley. I got them after 15 miles of chasing. It was a big effort and I needed time to recover. Kirk rode like a champion, taking long pulls to maintain the gap while giving me a chance to catch my breath. Unfortunately, this work caught up with him and he lost contact on one of the many steep, leg-killing rollers that follow the KOM climb. I rode the last 15 or so miles with only Housley, knowing that if we could make it to the finish I would be the leader of the GC.

I put in a ton of work, but he got me for the stage win. I wanted to win the stage but the race lead was a more than suitable consolation prize. Paul managed to escape the rest of the field and he and Kirk came home 3rd and 4th with another gap back to the field. This meant that going into the Sunday’s final criterium we had 1,3, and 4 in the general classification.

Sunday’s Crit was the easiest race I have ever done thanks to the awesome teamwork by the rest of the guys. I simply sat in and followed Housley to make sure he did not sneak away since my lead was only 23 seconds. The team rode flawlessly with Paul and Ryan A. picking up the mid race time bonuses. Near the end Paul escaped with Tom Burke and won the race with Ryan A. taking home the field sprint (without throwing up his arms  ). I crossed in 10th with the same overall time to win the General Classification. Thanks to everyone on the team for the awesome support , there is no way I could have done it without you. It was my first victory in a stage race, and it is always a nice view from the top step of the podium. Hopefully we will continue to win bike races.

On a side note we learned a few things this weekend.

1) Ryan Knapp is pretty good at basketball, but only when he is allowed to use the girl’s ball.
2)Andy is a hell of a crit racer with a broken hip.
3) Lisa could drive a team car in the pro peloton.

- Erik Hamilton

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/

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 the field never made a concerted chase and we lapped the field with about 20 minutes to go.  My teammates took control of the race and put together a black Panther train on the front to keep me out of trouble, with Greg, Knapp and finally Albers drilling the pace.  The last few turns got dicey on the dark end of the course and I lost Kirk’s wheel but still had Driscoll’s wheel coming out of the last turn into the last 500 meters and a shot to win it.  I could not get around but held on for 2^nd, Kirk was 9^th and Knapp 11^th.

Madeira Criterium

The night before Hyde Park was another twilight crit in Madeira, a Cincinnati suburb.  A great crowd turned out to make it fun for the racers. This one had all the makings of a tough race, 2 180 degree turns, 3 more turns of more than 90 degrees, a railroad track crossing and an 8:15 pm start time.  Thankfully there was no rain!  Kirk, Knapp and I tried to be aggressive from the start, staying at the front and out of the crashes.  I spent about 25 minutes off the front, getting up to a 30 second lead and hoping to take the $200 midway prime (which was called for the field?!).  Jamis Sutter Home started to chase and my time was done.  Kirk made a hard bridge to a promising break with four to go, but the combo wasn’t right and it came down to a sprint, with Kirk setting up Knapp for 6^th, myself for 9th and all three of us opting for safety over pavement surfing during the last lap bumping.

Tour of Grandview Criterium

The final race of the weekend was the long running criterium in Grandview, just west of Columbus. This is a tough crit, a former national championship course, with a long gradual uphill that saps you each lap over the course of 45 miles.  With extra prize money available for the top 4 in a three day omnium totaling results from Madeira and Hyde Park we were racing to win the race as well as omnium placings.  The first half of the race didn’t see any move get more than a few seconds; eventually Ryan Knapp initiated a five man break that looked good for us.  Ryan’s group built up a 30 second lead and shed a rider, leaving a four man sprint for the win.  Four wide across the road on the uphill sprint, officials had to consult the photo finish camera to determine that Jonathan Atwell (Scholars Inn Bakehouse) had edged out Knapp for the win.  I came in 9^th, Kirk 12^th and Greg 19^th.  The team moved Ryan into 2^nd in the weekend omnium and myself to 3^rd.

-Paul Martin

There were a few promising moves but nothing stuck. Eventually a 6-ish
group of relative dark horses got away. I made a solo attempt to
bridge across by the time I knew what had happened, and got within 9
seconds, but couldn’t quite close down the final bit. I drifted back
to the pack to sort it out in the field sprint. The sprint was WAY
sketchy and I decided to save some skin and ride in 27th (which was
still in the money!)

Sunday’s Waukeshaw Crit was a pretty technical course. I followed a
small group with 10 to go up the road just before a prime was called.
I attacked from the group for the prime, but no one followed. So I
took the prime then kept on riding out to a surprisingly large gap. I
had dreams of glory for a whole 3 laps before being caught. I managed
to slip back in pretty far up in the field after that and held on for
15th in the field sprint.

Monday’s Road Race in Greenbush, WI was just plain hard. It reminded
me why road racing is fun, real attacks, attrition, and riding till
your extremities go numb. For the first three laps it was constant
attacking until two small groups formed up the road. After a quick
breather, which opened up the two minute gap, which held constant the
entire race, the peleton rode pretty defensively to keep things
together not wanting to miss out on that crucial bridge move. I made a
few attacks, but was feeling pretty fried by the end of the race and
just rolled in the field sprint (which by then consisted of less than
20 guys).

On the way back home to Greenville, my airplane broke. Our Auxilury
Power Unit failed and we had to board another plane. I would have
missed my connecting flight, so me and a few other people all going to
Greenville spent the night at the airport Holiday Inn in Milwaukee. We
didn’t get into the hotel till 10 and had to eat at the bar (the wings
were good though). On the bright side, even though I didn’t pay
ANYTHING for my bike to get checked on the way back to G-Ville, they
refunded my $60 I didn’t give them, AND I convinced the baggage check
lady at my morning flight the next day that I had a presentation in
that gigantic box (hint: it pays, just this one time, to look preppy)

This past weekend was the USACycling Nationals. I had a pretty bad
weekend of racing for being “peaked”. Friday’s crit was pretty
straight forward: 4 corners not a hill in sight. However the 98 degree
heat took it’s usual toll on me, and I was unable to really race. I
wasn’t the only one suffering, out of over 150 starters, only 61
finished, which is an absolutely ridiculous rate of attrition
considering the relative ease of the course.

Anyway I hung out in Augusta, GA Saturday to give feed’s up to the U23
guys, Hogan from ABD and Mac from Panther. This was the most
productive day of the weekend since I got some serious work done on my
tan.

Sunday’s Road Race was set to be a total slug fest. 102 miles in the
98 degree humid heat, 218 guys, 1000 feet of climbing per 14 mile lap,
and it was nationals. Unfortunately my own race didn’t quite make it
that far. After two laps of relatively defensive racing, I was feeling
really good considering the heat. After some instruction and help from
everyone feeding, I was trying all the cooling techniques that Ben
Damhoff and Hogan from ABD had told me about. Before I really just
kinda turned my nose up at all the guys dumping a ton of water on
themselves and using the ice socks, thinking they were wimps and I
just had a problem with heat. Turns out these techniques are a HUGE
benefit. After three laps I was feeling great, I had gone through a
ton of water and 2 ice socks, but wasn’t feeling anything close to my
normal over heated self. Unfortunately, after three laps, I also
nailed a large pothole on the fastest and most difficult section of
the course causing me to flat.

I got a pretty slow neutral wheel change but by this point the caravan
was long gone. I made my chase, riding my eyeballs out to catch back
on. I even made it into the caravan at one point but was physically
stopped when the entire caravan stopped in the neutural feed zone to
take on neutural bottles to feed their riders. I slammed into the back
into one of the team cars, then nearly got hit again by an ambulance
that didn’t need water and was still driving.

After this I was pretty much done. I rolled in to watch the finish.

-Chris Uberti