A few riders made the trek west for the MMCT Salina 2-Day, with a road race on Saturday, and a downtown criterium race held on Sunday.
Lynn and Kurt Wilson, along with Chip Zimmer, were there Saturday for the road race, which Lynn described as hotter, windier and longer than Bazaar (a typically very windy race).
In a combined women’s field, Lynn held her own, as usual. “The first 20 miles was into a head wind and mostly flat. We managed to drop four women before the turn to head west with a cross wind. Coming out of the turn (Shawn Marelli from Santa Fe) took off. Alaina Beckwith (VeloTek) and I were able to stay with her and ended up dropping one more rider. It was the three of us for a while and then we hit the tailwind and Shawn was able to drop Alaina and me,” said Lynn. The two of them worked together until the end, but our Chica-D got edged out and finished third. With this placing, Lynn added to her commanding lead in the Cat4 KBAR standings.
Kurt’s finish was not without controversy in the Cat 4/5 men’s race, with a photo-finish for third. Kurt felt like he had it, but the finish was very close. “About 10 miles left to go, there was a group of eight of us that got away from the field. It was a hard time trying to get everyone to work together, but we managed to stay away from the main field. As the miles ticked off, our group decreased to four. It came down to a sprint between me and Jeremy Smith (In-a-Tub) for 3rd with a bike throw at the finish. Was not sure who got 3rd or 4th. It was that close. I ended up with 4th overall,” said Kurt.
On Sunday, Susan Ruettimann continued stacking up KBAR points in the women’s Masters race. It was a small, but feisty field, and things got interesting beginning with the prime sprint, which was taken by Glenda Taylor (Free State). “Glenda took off with Ann Michael (VeloTek) after the prime, and I was riding by myself in third,” said Ruettimann. “I kept waiting for Wendy (Guilbeau – Local Cycling) to catch me, but after a while I just decided to go get Ann.” There was no catching Taylor, who had a commanding lead, but Ruettimann and Michael worked together during the second half of the race, until the last couple of turns, when Ruettimann began to unleash her powerful sprint. She left Michael at the last turn and had about six bike lengths on her at the finish. This was Susan’s first podium in a crit and first cash payday. She also claimed bragging rates over husband Dan, who only managed to finish ninth in his Cat4/5 men’s race earlier in the day.
Kudos to the podium winners and to CZ, who was the only Big D rider to compete both days. He came up a little short on Sunday in the crit, admitting being a little gassed after a hard effort the day before.