With April closing out Big D has been active in racing across the state line.

Ryan Rochford competed in the Tour of St. Louis Carondelicious Circuit Race on April 16 and placed 4th in the Cat. 4 event. Awesome by any measure, but truly fantastic since he is still a Cat. 5 rider! (Not for long). “Felt really strong but my positioning wasn’t quite right at the end. Temps were in the low 40’s and it was windy and spitting a little rain on us here and there so a pretty miserable race with an average speed of 23.9mph, said Rochford.

Ryan stuck around for the crit the next day and ended up 9th! “I went off the front with about 5 to go and held that for 3 laps then got caught (damn headwinds),” said Rochford. Ryan floated back the the group, but found himself in some traffic that almost took him out before the finish. “I gave a pretty good sprint and flew by a lot of people, but started too far back and had to make up too much ground. A guy basically fell over me a few meters from the end, and I had to sit up and hold him up.” Ryan is ever-modest about his results, but he understands that in order to win, you have to be willing to lose!

Four Big D riders took on the challenging Tour of Herman Road Race. This difficult course winds through the steep, hilly terrain around Herman, MIssouri, and is not for the faint of heart. Chip Zimmer, Kurt Wilson, Antoine Winkelmolen, and self-described non hill-climber, Stephen Whalen, were all up to the task. Wilson placed 9th in the Cat. 4/5 race, with Twan and Whales close behind in 15th and 17th. Zimmer came in strong in the middle of the pack. Had this race been separated by category, Wilson would have been third, Twan 5th, Whales 6th, and Zimmer would have been 13th! Really excellent performance as a team.

Special thanks to photographer Dan Singer for use of his image for this post.
See more of his spectacular racing images at www.dansingerphotography.com.