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.

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

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

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

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