Shawn Knight was one of the few riders in the Cat 4 crit who remained upright for his race. In a rain-soaked event which saw crashes on every lap, Knight managed a seventh place finish while teammate Ryan Rochford had a lot of misfortune but stayed in until the end.
Ryan’s report:
It was rainy….really rainy. The course was a totally wet, 8-turn crit with painted road markings and brick crosswalks all over the place. Other than that, the road conditions were quite good. I started in the back as I rolled up to the line after the other 60-something guys. Whistle blew and I got out of the saddle and worked my way to the front as quickly as possible. Heading into turn 4, I was sitting in the first third of the pack and feeling fine until the guy right in front of me slid out and in my attempt to avoid him, I did the same thing, along with a few other people behind me. The crash was right in front of SRAM neutral support and I got up, collected my glasses and bottle and slammed my saddle back to center, checked the other parts of my bike and waited out my free lap.

The group came around again and off I went to rejoin the group. At this point I’d really lost my nuts in the corners and was nervous. 5 corners later, I went down again. This time I went down on my own and considered ending my race right there. Instead, I got up, adjusted the messed up parts of my bike and rode to neutral support to wait for another neutral lap. Accelerated into the group again and began taking the corners incredibly tentatively. At this point, it seemed that the whole group was realizing how sketchy things were and everybody was taking the corners at a reasonable speed. I was allowing small gaps to go in the corners and would close them up on the straights. I was feeling extremely strong so I wasn’t worried about letting small gaps go.

Rochford at the front, with Knight on third wheel

With 3 laps to go, I was working on positioning myself at the front of the field. I was sitting between 3rd and 10th place and felt great. The rain had just let up and there were actually a few dry patches on the course. There were literally crashes every lap though so it was still sketchy. The pace slowed with 2 to go and one guy attacked and got a good jump on the group with about 1 and a half to go. I got out of the saddle and sprinted up to him figuring I’d either break away from the group and go with him to battle for the win or I’d just bring the group back to him. I got a small gap on the field when I caught him but it wasn’t big enough to try to keep. I also didn’t want to have to push it on any of the corners so I was mostly interested in a field sprint, not a kilo attack or breakaway for the win.

1 to go and everything is together, I’m sitting 3rd wheel. I didn’t want to be that close to the front but it was what it was. The pace was high and the corners were scaring the hell out of me. Coming into the last corner, one guy had gone a bit off the front and it looked like he probably had the win. I’m sitting 3rd wheel still and we’re rounding the final corner when BOOM!!, the rear tire of the guy in front of me exploded. I took a line as far inside as I could in the wet conditions and had a clear path inside of his sliding body. Then, he spun as he slid and his bike stuck out in the road, right in the line I was riding. Down I went. Went into the last corner in 3rd, finished 22nd.

I’m 100% sure I was going to take at least 2nd, probably couldn’t have gotten first but who knows. I was extremely fresh and my legs were great. I was going to lay down a massive sprint and I could just tell nobody would be able to come around me. Now I’m laying here with Tegaderm covering all kinds of road rash and sore as hell. I dented the seatstay on my CAAD9 and bent both shifter paddles. The rear derailleur is scraped up pretty good and the hangar was bent. My saddle is torn up pretty bad and my brand new bar tape is trashed. I was going to take the sprint for a $150 payout but instead got nothing. I absolutely despise wet crits. After our race everything dried out and the other groups raced a fast, dry course.

In a window of dry weather, the Big D’s Swiss-German contingent of Chip Zimmer and Dan Ruettimann kept things honest in the Cat 5’s with a 14th and 17th place respectively. “Chip did a lot of work early on chasing down a break by a Colavita rider.” said Ruettimann. “He was really working hard and positioned himself well for the finish. Great result considering all the work he did.”

Ruettimann near the front in the Cat 5 crit

In the road races, three Big D cat 5’s placed in the top 20; Lee Wafford, Dan Turner and John Taton.

Special thanks to Roger Harrison of Lanterne Rouge for providing the top image for this post. See the rest of his images on his Flickr site.

Tim Lightenberg had a fourth-place finish on day two of the Tour of Kansas City Cat 3 race. Tim rode a stellar race, conserving his energy and setting himself up well for the sprint. “With three corners to go, I attacked and opened a small gap. I sprinted like I stole something. Ended up in 4th place to go with my seventh place from last night.” Said Lightenberg. Tim also got 13th on Sunday.

Lightenberg works his way through the crowd.

Kurt Wilson and Dan Ruettimann both had strong fifth-place finishes on day three. Wilson in the Cat 4 race and Ruettimann in the Cat 5.

Wilson stayed in a five-man break the final few laps and the group was playing cat and mouse with one to go. Kurt got stuck leading a big chunk with two laps to go, but was set up well on the final. “I just didn’t have the legs to hold on for the sprint” said Wilson. He lost contact coming around the final turn but finished right behind the top finishers.

In the Cat 5 race on Sunday, Ruettimann got into the break from the get-go and kept himself there, taking advantage of two big Chamois Butt’r riders. “A gap was created after a little contact in one of the turns. Everyone behind that scuffle got a little bit antsy, and a dozen of us split early on,” said Ruettimann. “We were shedding riders with every lap until there were six of us with two laps to go. I know my heart rate was pegged on that last lap and I lost contact as the hammer came down around the back stretch. Felt pretty good with a fifth to add to my sixth place on Friday, and tenth on Saturday.”

Paul Fancher, with the help of Casey Coffman, won the Masters 50+ division at the Kansas road race championship.

“Kudos to Casey Coffman who rode a great race on Saturday, placing third in his first State Championship Road Race!  Casey was the powerhouse rider in the 5 man break formed after the KOM sprint.  Without his help we never would stayed away or reeled in the guy who escaped on the 2nd climb of the KOM hill before the finish.” said Fancher of his teammate.

Fancher also won the King of the Mountain prize. “Def nice to have Mr. Fancher in the big D kit… by far the strongest guy on wheels in our group and probably all groups” said Coffman   “In our 50+ we had a pretty fun ride, at the roughly 20 miles in, KOM (which paul won also) hill that was a Paul, me, and 3 other guys ended up at the top, pretty close and it turned into a breakaway of 5. We worked together really well to stay away the rest of the race, but let a guy get a gap at about 4 miles left, and Paul and I had to do all the work (mainly Paul) to catch him cause the other 2 guys were 55+ so didn’t care. We caught him, but it cooked me and i fell off at 1 mile left, and Paul took it to the line and beat him in a sprint. I couldn’t talk or walk post race for 30 min. Paul broke a small sweat.”

Donavon Hottman took third in the 60+ event, continuing the great success he has had on the road this year.

Also doing well for Big D were Shawn Knight, placing seventh in the 40-44; Owen Gurwell, who got 8th in th 35-39’s; and Ron Marney who finished strong in 15th in the 45-49’s.