This was my third year participating in this race and without its UCI status it opened up the doors to a lot of Amateur teams. There was still a good turnout of high class riders including a few from Kelly Benefits, Jelly Belly, Kenda, and Louis Garneau. The race was Roubaix style and the course was ¼ gravel roads with short but steep climbs and fast gravel descents. I went into this 100 mile road race with 125+ starters with hopes of a top 20 finish. I was attentive at the front of the pack and had to choose my moments to follow attacks to conserve my energy. I followed a few attacks and got off the front for a few miles but was later swallowed up by the chasing peloton.  I fought hard to stay close to front because as the race went on gaps were opening as riders were falling off the back. Heading into the last few miles of the race the main pack had about 30 riders in it with 2 still up the road. The last corner was about 200 meters from the line and had some pretty rough pavement so there wasn’t much passing done after this point. I fought to pass as many riders as I could but just could not muscle right to the front. In the end I crossed the line in 13^th place and I will gladly accept that.

-Ryan Aitcheson

The leg warmers stayed in the bag this weekend as we finally got a break in the cold weather and saw a glimpse of the warmth that is to come. The high temps encouraged a great turnout for the third week of the annual Ann Arbor Spring Criterium Series and the racing was quick from the gun. A couple of laps in, former Panther rider Vince Roberge made a move up the road and I bridged up with 5 other riders to form the slightly dysfunctional group of the day. The warm spring winds were blowing hard and preventing the group from rolling as smoothly as I would have liked. After about 40 minutes off the front, we finally lapped the field and Vinnie snuck away with a couple of lapped riders to take a well deserved win. There was some lap counting confusion after the field had finished and the breakaway was given 3 extra laps to play cat and mouse for the final podium spots. I was heavily marked for the sprint and in the process, we let my former teammate Tim Finkel get away a corner before the finish and I ran out of road while barreling down on him in the sprint and wound up 3^rd. It was a beautiful day for racing and great to see so many good friends in my first race in MI this season. Photo: Erica Fulk

-Ryan Cross

2 Races, 2 Podiums

This past weekend wrapped up with two podium finishes for the panther cycling team. The Saturday race in the little town of Hillsboro brought 120+ riders out to the pro start. A heavy wind helped a small group of 5 riders with me in it get away in the first 10 miles and were later in the race joined by Greg Christian bridging up on his own. Working together we managed to get up to a 4 min gap on the peloton and managed to keep them at bay for the rest of the 86 mile race. There was a climb about 3 miles from the finish were Jordan Roessingh from IsCorps attacked and got a slight gap with a Team Mercy rider. Greg and I quickly closed the gap on the decent into the cobbled section where there is now 1.5 miles to go. Greg took the lead around the last corner with Roessingh on his wheel and me in third. I jumped with 200 meters to go and opened up a quick gap. With 50 meters to go I started to feel the pain of the 80 mile break and could not hold off the IsCorps rider. I rolled across the line for a 2^nd place finish and Greg 3^rd.

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Each summer Competitive Cyclist hosts and promotes the Ronde van Burns crit series. It’s a simple concept- 55 minutes of racing on a Tuesday night.  Five bucks to enter and you always get more than you pay for.

For the 2010 edition the Panther pb Competitive Cyclist team will ride all of the races. Just to keep things interesting, our own sponsor built a team of the remaining local racers that they feel can take us down. The SRAM Froggies (get it?)have about ten riders and are solid I will admit. So, 10 guys vs. 4 guys, but the 4 are all cat. 1’s.

About 20 minutes into the races a few attacks had been thrown out, but nothing was really sticking. Finally, Wade (Panther) laid down an attack and was quickly marked by local stud Peter Beland (BMC/Wal-Mart).  Those two are both known to have some punch, and once they got about 15 seconds up the road I did everything I could to bridge up to them without pulling the field. I went, and turned around and had a clear gap. My two remaining teammates were blocking and I made it safely to the duo up the road. With about 30 minutes still remaining, and 95 degree temps it was going to be an effort. We grew our gap while taking perfectly timed pulls lap after lap. Shortly after we got up the road Zach and Kris (Panther) tried to bridge up with two other Froggies in tow. They came within about 15 seconds of us but didn’t make it. We never even knew they were trying to bridge up, and just kept the pace at the 26-28mph range. Once they were back in the field I think it was pretty calm for the rest of the race for the pack. Meanwhile Wade, Peter, and I were leaving nothing left in the tank, and just burying ourselves to stay away.

With four laps to go, Wade attacked Peter and I to get away. Peter quickly followed and it didn’t stick. Immediately after that, I gave everything I had for my attempt at a break from the breakaway. It worked. I quickly grew a 15-20 second gap for the three remaining laps. I saw the field in front of me, and out of principle felt obligated to overcome them. It would just be cool. So, with about 300 meters to go I made it around the entire field and came across the line with my arms in the air, as they continued on for one more lap. Wade then jumped Peter for 2^nd, while Kris won the field sprint. Panther went 1^st, 2^nd, and 4^th. Not a bad way to start out the week, and open up the legs for the upcoming Tulsa Tough series this weekend.

Full race flyer and results can be found here. www.competitivecyclist.com/ronde

Click here for the complete album with nearly 200 photos from the race last night, all taken by Competitive Cyclist photographer Rob Karman.

-Noah Singer

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