New rider Ryan Kelley made an audacious move in the 4/5’s to get himself in the top spot at Bazaar, while Big D made a mark in all the other categories entered.

Bazaar Road Race was just as hilly and windy as always, and no race group stayed intact in the 25+ mph head wind which greeted the peloton heading south. There were crashes in every large group as the wind gusts played havoc with the riders ability to hold their line. If you got caught out of your group, you had a major task ahead of you to get back in.

Here is Kelley’s account of his superior effort in the 4/5 race, the biggest field of the day:

“I went into the race not really planning on getting a great result and just focusing on getting a good workout in. I met up with Shawn Knight and we discussed what the team tactics were going to be for the race. I’d done this race once before, as a 5 last year, and got shelled off the back at the first turn around, so I knew that if I was going to go full gas anywhere, it had to be there. I sat in the pack most of the time until the first turn around, when there were two crashes (one that I narrowly missed being caught up in) and I took it as a sign that people in the pack were starting to get tired and careless. About a mile after after the wreck, the first hill came up and I decided that I would launch a little attack to see how everybody was feeling. Instantly, a few people were on my wheel and we had a gap starting, but no one was able to pull through with enough power to keep the break going. It was doomed to failure, so I waited for us to get pulled back. About a mile to the first turn, I made sure I stayed in good position before the peloton mushroomed out.

When we hit the first turnaround, I was behind two other riders who started pushing the pace, and it wasn’t fast enough to make a selection so I just laid it down as fast as I could for about a minute, then I turned back to see who was with me, and realized that I was alone. It looked like someone threw a bomb in the peloton. Groups of 3 to 10 riders everywhere, so I put my head down and pushed as hard as I could. A majority of the time I was spinning out my 53×11 at 105 RPMs!

When I hit the second turn around, I was greeted with the most horrible headwind I could imagine after 25 miles of TTing, but I knew the team was counting on me to keep the move going, so I got as small as I could and just kept pushing. A group of 3 riders were about a minute behind me and working together to pull me back. They even told me to slow down when we passed. I eventually caught the masters 50+ field and after that I was having a hard time telling if the riders coming after me were the masters, or if it was the group of 3. So I just put myself in the pain cave and focused on the next turn, the top of the next hill, and finally the finish line. At the mile to go sign I knew I had the victory locked up! And what better way to win than 30+ miles solo?”

In other racing, Skittles (James Summers) was positioned well in the 1/2/3’s but got tangled up with another rider, crashed and flatted with just a few miles to go. He held on for 13th, coming in bloody with a flat front tire. Rochford’s account.

Lynn Wilson got third in the women’s 4’s, while Chica-D teammates Rochelle Schleicher and Susan Ruettimann came in second and third in the women’s 40+ race. Paul Fancher was in the masters 50+ money with a fourth place finish, Bill Mason and Donavon Hottman grabbed third and fourth in the 60+, Shawn Knight came in with a top-five in the 4/5’s.

See more images from Bazaar here.

Shawn Knight and Ron Marney got second and third place in the Cat 4/5 overall in the Spring Fling criterium series in Lawrence which wrapped up March 24. Knight has been finishing high in each week of the series, with Marney right behind him. Shawn had to sit out week four because of illness but Ron filled the gap with a first place finish that week. Marney said that he wasn’t looking for an overall podium, but after his points collection in week four, he found himself in the hunt.

It was a forgone conclusion that Lynn Wilson would podium for the series in the women’s 4’s. She has been doing well in her first year of racing, and has finished in the top three every week of the Spring Fling. This Chica-D has been showing up for races and gaining a lot of experience. She will be a serious force as the season goes on.

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

Ryan Rochford, Lynn Wilson and Donavon Hottman finished out their Perry races with podium finishes!

Wilson got 2nd with consistent performances in the women’s 4’s. Hottman held on to 3rd, and Rochford’s supreme effort for KOM points kept him up there in 3rd.

Once again it was a James Summers/Rochford show in the mens 3’s up until the KOM climb. Rochford was in the red after nabbing two points in the KOM sprint against Bicycle Shack’s Kyle Skinner but lost contact on the backside.

The two of them worked hard to get back into the group and to get Ryan recovered. They made a valiant effort to finish 10th and 11th on the final day of racing. Read Ryan’s full account here.

Hottman laid claim to the King of the Mountain in his 60+ race. His race mainly stayed together with the exception of the KOM and the final climb. “I decided I had accomplished 3rd place and just needed to finish not kill myself. 1st and 2nd place for the series had been locked up before the race began,” said Hottman. Still, Wheels ended up 4th in the final and 3rd overall.

Lynn Wilson capped off a great series with a 2nd place overall. “If I had come out for the race last week, I could have finished first,” said Wilson, referring to the week #2 racing in heavy rain.

She has also been doing the Spring Fling series on the Saturdays before each Perry race, so her accomplishments in her first year of racing are even more amazing.

Sometimes racing conditions are not all sunshine and warm temperatures, but when things are at their worst, the true competitors rise to the challenge, and not just show up, but also excel. Ryan Rochford, James Summers, Donavon Hottman, Bill Mason and Bill Wells came out to race Perry when most of their competitors took one step outside and decided to go back to bed.

The weather was fine for the early races, until about noon. “The Bill’s and I got dressing in our new kits and we did look awesome! No points earned for looking good! It started to rain about 12:35. Race Started at 1:00 sharp w/about 10 riders,” Said Hottman of his Master 60+ race. At the KOM lap he got third place, but the two leaders got off the front and were able to hold their lead. Hottman worked hard to hold his third place but was just nipped at the finish. “At the finish I stopped and talked to Ryan for a bit as they were getting ready to race. Thats when my body started to shake and I realized my fingers were numb. I was soaked to the bone. Now it really started to pour. Glad I was done.” Hottman had to ride his race alone since the Bills both flatted.

Rochford fared a little better but his teammate, Summers, was taken out early with a flat in a race that saw the heaviest rain, wind and cold temperatures. Here’s Ryan’s account:

“Skittles and I went back to Perry, KS for a little more fun at the lake. What a miserable day it ended up being. We had been watching the weather for a couple days and every time a new forecast came out, it was worse than the one before. We got to the course with plenty of time to register and warm up. We registered, watched the Masters finish, and then warmed up. By warm up, I mean we sat in the car with the heat on, wishing the rain would go away. The temperature was in the low 50’s and just before our start time, the heavier bands of rain had moved in. We kitted out and put some of our new Chamois Butt’r embrocation on our legs. With 10 minutes to go before our start time, we hopped out of the car, toweled off our saddles, and rolled up to the line. There were about 9 Cat 3’s lined up. The officials went over some rules, did the whole roll call thing, and told us we were only doing 6 laps today due to the weather and the fact that nobody really wanted to be there. At this point, our field had grown to about 15 riders. I guess some people were taking their sweet time getting out of their warm cars. Lined up along side us was the guy who had taken the KOM points and finished 2nd last week, and a bunch of other people who were below James and I in points (we were sitting 3rd and 4th in points after last weekend).

The whistle blew and we headed down the hill toward the dam. I checked my brakes as we went down the hill, and as I figured, they didn’t work very well…at all. Carbon braking surfaces are notoriously unpredictable and annoying in the wet, and today was no exception to that. Oh well, it was unlikely I’d be using the brakes much anyway. As we headed across the dam, the pace was quite high on the first lap. I was feeling fine and didn’t mind the high pace. James sat on the front for a bit and then wised up and headed back into the pack for a bit. At the end of the dam, we were closing in on the women’s field very quickly. A few guys decided that a wet corner was a great place to pass the girls and then launch an attack. It was, in fact, pretty irresponsible and didn’t work anyway but everybody passed the women safely. I think everything was mostly together the first time up the hill. I had no intention of doing any work I didn’t have to since I was not leading in the points. I let the points leader’s team (Central Plains Cycling or CPC) sit on the front to do all the pace setting. Peter Oien from their team seemed pretty content to lead us up the climb, and he looked very strong doing so. I held onto his wheel and felt less than great, but not terrible. As we crested the hill, the officials rang the bell for the KOM lap.

During the next lap, not much happened. I did a little work at the front, but mostly was up there trying to make CPC get stuck on the front and get tired. My goal at this point in the race was to get them tired and get James in a good position for the KOM and the win. As we got near the hill, I wanted to be sitting around 3rd wheel with James right behind me and that’s exactly what happened. Peter Oien was on the front with a large non-climber behind him, and then me and James. As Peter kept the pace high up the hill, the large guy in front of me looked like he was hurting and kept letting little gaps go. He’d look around nervously to see who else was there and I knew he was about to pop so I pedaled a little harder to get around him and onto Peter’s wheel. James and I had talked on the way to the race about the best place to jump on that hill, and as we approached that point, I got ready to go. James was still sitting on my wheel and I planned to jump around Peter and drag James with me, giving him the KOM. That sort of worked. I jumped and I guess James had a lapse in concentration and didn’t come with me immediately. I easily got around Peter and took the KOM (and the 4 points that came with it). Peter took 2nd and James crossed the line in 3rd. As I crossed the line, I eased up to let the group catch back on. Peter passed by me and said “Let’s go, dude!” I looked back and realized that Peter and I had opened up a pretty substantial gap so I went with him. I was not excited about this because James wasn’t with me and if this was really how it was going to be, I was setting myself up for a ton of work for the next 4 laps. As Peter and I headed across the dam, we had a pretty decent gap on the field. I looked back and I could see James and one other guy (apparently the points leader from last week) attempting to bridge up to us. At the end of the dam, we didn’t really see them anymore and our gap was increasing.

Peter and I worked together around the next lap and up the hill. When we got to the top, somebody yelled to me something about a flat tire. I couldn’t tell what they were talking about, but I looked at my tires and everything seemed fine. Turns out it was James. He had flatted and was back at the start/finish spectating. It was a pretty frustrating and early end to the day’s race for him, but since Perry takes your best 2 results from the series, he is still sitting in a decent position going into next week.

The next time up the hill, I had some problems. Peter rode a steady, fast pace up the hill and I couldn’t maintain it. He dropped me at the second pitch up the hill. Now I had to either catch him or ride the next 2 laps by myself and hope to not get caught. I put in a big effort on the downhill to the dam and closed a tiny bit of the gap. As we crossed the dam, I got into as much of a TT position as I could manage and just buried myself to get back to him. It took me the entire length of the dam, but I finally made contact with him. Once I did, he looked at me, and apologized because he thought I was somebody else attempting to bridge up to him and he was trying to hold me off. I told him it was no problem, but that he was going to drop me on the hill every time at that pace. I told him that I’d agree not to attack him the last time up the hill if he’d just keep us together going over the hill and he agreed to that. (Could I have taken him on the last climb up the hill in a sprint? Possibly…but he could have dropped me the next time up the hill and stayed away for the win if he wanted so it was worth risking). So, there would be no dramatic finish in this race. Peter and I rounded the course together as the rain picked back up. There was one point where I tried to reach into my jersey pocket to get some energy gel out and my arm was so numb I could barely wrap it around my back. On top of that, my fingers were too numb to figure out where the pocket was, so I just gave up on eating. I took one sip from my bottle the entire race. It was super miserable. My legs, with the Chamois Butt’r embrocation, were toasty and comfortable. It was my first time using embrocation and I can say, the stuff really works.

Peter and I rounded the corner to the climb on the last lap together and as the pace picked up, I saw no point in hurting my legs more than necessary. I told him I’d see him at the finish and I dropped into the small ring to spin my way up the hill. I still closed the gap on some Cat 4’s in front of me while taking it easy, so that was nice. I looked back down the hill after I was about halfway up and I couldn’t see anybody behind me so I knew I had 2nd wrapped up. Peter had no points from last week and I beat him in the KOM today, so even though I finished behind him in the race, I beat him by a point for the day and moved into 2nd overall in the points for the series. The points leader from last week won the field sprint and finished 3rd, keeping his overall lead, and setting up a pretty interesting battle next week. James still has a shot at the podium, and I have a chance of winning the whole series if everything plays out right. The thing about this race is that it’s not suited for me. I’m most definitely not a climber and both of the guys from South Dakota seem to be. They have a good chance of taking the top two steps on the podium if they can take a bunch of points next weekend. I think the key for me is going to be to nab some KOM points and to keep a breakaway from forming with either of those guys in it. I feel like I can hold my own in a sprint up the hill, but you never know. What I do know is that I’m really excited for temperatures in the 70’s tomorrow. The uncontrollable shivering at the end of my race today was less than enjoyable.”

Wow! This is setting up to be dramatic finish next weekend in the Cat3’s. Thankfully the weather forecast looks better for the big finale.

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.

Lynn Wilson continued her stellar performances for the Big D Women’s Team at the Spring Fling #3. Wilson decided to try her hand at the Cat 3/4 event after getting a third place in the 4’s.

There was a break early in the Cat 4 race with a rider from VeloTek and Santa Fe splitting the field. Those two would stay away for the remainder of the 20 minutes while Lynn stayed snug as a bug in the pack until the final push. Third place is an awesome result for only her third crit! Kurt Wilson convinced his wife she should try the 3/4 race too and Lynn held her own with another great result – 6th.

Look for Lynn and the rest of the Chica-D team to put the hurt on as Spring Fling continues.