The race started out pretty calm with a few attacks but nothing serious going off the front. The three of us; Knapp, Uberti and myself, patrolled the front following moves and trying to get something organized. Knapp unfortunately got a flat midrace so should have been feeling as fresh as a daisy once he took his free lap.

Things got hectic once a rider took a spill near the front of the pack, allowing seven riders to open a gap, eventually stretching their lead to over 20 seconds with no signs of slowing down. With little organization in the field, bridging attempts were made but it looked like the break would stick. The field got hairy with 4 to go as riders were taking risks to move up in position.

Knapp got tangled up behind a crash near the end, but had a soft landing on some hay. In the second to last corner of the race there was another crash which Uberti and I barely made it around causing us to lose contact with the field. We both ended up sprinting each other for 21st place which ended in a bike throw with me receiving top bragging rights.

- Ryan Aitcheson

After only a handful of laps I attacked a smallish group that had separated itself from the front of the race ( I actually didn’t know we had broken away before the attack, and just thought things were strung out). Turned out to be the right move since Jonathan Jacobs joined me shortly afterwards and we put in some good efforts to build up a good gap. In case you don’t know JJ is the Elite time trial champion and I am just about the worst Cat 1 time trialist on earth. I put in some good work early on but quickly, um, started to suck.

By 15 or so laps to go (around 20 minutes left in the race) I was seriously hurting. I was doing my own threshold just to stay on JJ’s wheel and we’d go about 5 mph slower every time I’d pull through then have a pretty hard time getting back on the wheel. The 90 degree heat and humidity (the first hot race of the season) also amplified my deteriorating ability to ride fast. Knowing the rest of the team behind was putting in work to cover attacks and keep things locked down I decided to sit on to try and recover a bit.

I also heard over the speaker that another Panther rider was chasing in a 2 man group at 20 odd seconds behind us (we were also 20-30 seconds off lapping the field, but small group sprints are kinda my thing and I didn’t want to be involved in any last lap nonsense). With some 4 odd laps I tried my hand at pulling through again with some pretty painful results. On the last lap JJ attacked on the back side of the course just as I pulled off but I was able to catch his wheel. As we came onto the finishing straight I jumped and took the win.

Behind Ryan A outkicked Enzo’s Nick Ramirez for 3rd place (it’s so nice having a bunch of quick finishers on the team).

- Chris Uberti

The attacks started out early with Texas Roadhouse and Bissell Nuvo sending guys up the road – nothing was able to establish more then a 10 sec gap and we always had a guy in the move. I was able to launch an attack out of a small break and stay away solo for 5 laps during the last half of the race. I quickly got out of sight of the field forcing Texas and Nuvo to work at the front. I didnt expect to stay away till the end but this gave the other guys a chance to rest.

Getting back to the field it looked like it was going to be a pack sprint. I found Uberti and we had a small discusion in the closing laps on who was feeling the best. I felt I had a good 100 meters left in my legs so I was the sprinter for the day. Kirk took the front with Uberti and myself on his wheel. We got thrown off a bit with Chad from Roadhouse attacking with 2 laps to go but Kirk took a extra long pull and closed that down quick. Uberti took the front in corner 3 as no one challanged us for the lead. He sprinted of the last corner and I went around him a little earlier then I would have liked. Puffer from Roadhouse came within a wheel length of me but i held onto the lead till the line.

We had great teamwork and managed to come out of it with a win. It was my first time on the top step this year and hopefully not the last. Look for Uberti’s report on Urbana Crit when he turns into a time trialist and stays away for 60 out of 70 minutes of racing.

- Ryan Aitcheson

We rolled out for 1 mile of neutral, and then it was just 4 miles of wide open four lane road leading to the potential bottle necking covered bridge that took us onto the first dirt section and subsequent climbs. During these 4 miles, I was part of the most nervous pleloton I’ve ever seen. Legs raged and elbows flew as we nervously, but rapidly, hurdled towards the first decisive moments of the race. From this point on, things get got bit blurry, as trying to take care and position myself took all of my mental resources. Every inch was critical.My sweat dripped from my chin down onto my top tube where I had written the mileages of the important points of the race, turning the notes into useless ink swirls.

Guess what, I guess you just have to “Be At The Front”, I thought to myself. I didn’t bother looking around to see what type of damage had been done to the peloton around me until we collectively, briefly exhaled as we exited the most difficult part of the course from miles 40-50 of the first lap. It seemed we’d already lost 100 or more riders, leaving roughly 40 of us.

Back to business we went. A long exposed cross wind section lead us into the lap’s final climb, Stage Road, at mile 55. I was hanging on for dear life and feeling the burn before we even hit the climb. I made it 2/3 of the way up the climb before coming off the back and promptly vomiting on my left arm, left leg, and left everything. Although it didn’t feel like it at the time, this was probably the single moment that saved my race.

Prior to Puke-Gate, I was having some serious issues getting any food down, but afterwards I felt like a new man. Someone had hit the reset button and I was ready to go. I fought my way over the rest of the climb and made my way through the caravan of cars and was able to reconnect with the dwindling front group by mile 62 at the Start/Finish line. At this point I took stock during a lull in the action and tried to smile for the cameras as we went through town. I found that Chris and I were the 2 Panther riders left in the front group, but then again, most of the pro teams only had 2 or 3 riders as well.

As we headed back out onto the wide open 4 lane road that lead us to Bottle-Neck Bridge for the second time, the racing got spicey. Chris and I we’re chewing on our stems as we tried to go with all the waves of attacks. Just before we turned onto the bridge, the decisive move of the race went up the road, never to be seen again. It’s hard to see the move going like that and not be able to go with it, but we we’re both pretty well red-lined at the time.

With the break established, the field took a little siesta and we took a moment to eat, drink and be as merry as one can be in the throes of a 200 kilometer dirt road race. I was taking on fluids and emptying my pockets of all their food, knowing that an unprecedented bonk was still very possible given the fact that I’d take all of my nutrients and ejected them to the roadside 30 miles earlier. The most selective section of the lap came around again at mile 100 and our siesta was a distant memory as we aggressively tackeld the last few dirt sections as if there were no tomorrow. Chris and I floated near the front and out of trouble, a much easier task with 35 or so riders, rather than 160. We both made it over Stage Road for the final time and tucked into the group for the fast, slightly downhill run into Cambridge for the finish.

With so few teams with more than 2 riders, the sprint was very chaotic and uncontrolled. We did our best to milk our legs of their last watts and “sprinted” the last few hundred meters off the two hundred thousand meters we had done on the day. We both came across is the middle of our small group, finishing 34th and 40th on the day.

It’s tough to be satisfied with a result when it’s a 34th place, but on such a difficult day I think Chris and I were both happy to have survived and learned something in the process about suffering and fighting.

- Ryan Knapp

Returning to the team are fast finishers Chris Uberti, Ryan Aitcheson and Ryan Knapp along with veterans Kirk Albers, Paul Martin and Andy Clarke. New additions to the team are Ben Damhoff (ABD), Gabriel Moss (Ohio State), Andy Seitz and Bob Stumpf (GPOA). Team Panther p/b Competitive Cyclist will continue its focus on developing young elite level riders by racing a Midwest based schedule which will include several National Racing Calendar and National Criterium Calendar events as well numerous regional pro/am events.

The team will race on Orbea Orca Silver carbon frames mated to Easton bars and stems and Easton EC90 SL carbon tubular wheelsets and use Giro’s Aeon helmet and Giordana clothing.

Full Team Roster:
Ryan Aitcheson, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada
Kirk Albers, Upper Arlington, Ohio
Andy Clarke, Medina, Ohio
Ben Damhoff, Morrison, Illinois
Ryan Knapp, Bloomington, Indiana
Paul Martin, North Royalton, Ohio
Gabriel Moss, Columbus, Ohio
Andy Seitz, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Bob Stumpf, Beaver, Pennsylvania
Chris Uberti, Cincinnati, Ohio

For blogs, photos, results and more: teampanther.com, Twitter @PantherCycling and facebook.com/PantherCycling

Team Sponsors include: Panther Expedited Services, a leading provider of expedited ground, air and ocean freight services, Competitive Cyclist, the leading on-line bicycle retailer in the U.S., Orbea Bicycles, Giordana clothing, Easton wheels, stems, bars and Giro helmets and gloves.

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

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

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

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.