The veterans on the team continued to rack up great results in their qualifiers for the Senior Olympics. Bill Mason, Roberta Dierks, Bill Jennings, and Bill Wells all collected hardware in Missouri recently, while Chip Zimmer was the one Big D bright spot at Tulsa Tough.

Here is Mason’s recap of the events at the Missouri Senior State Games:

The four races included a 40K Road Race followed by a 5K Time Trial on Saturday; and a 20K Road Race followed by a 10K Time Trial on Sunday. There were competitors from several States other than Missouri, including Illinois, Kentucky, Kansas, Arkansas, and Texas just to name a few. In Bill Wells and my 65-69 age category, the 3rd place 2011 Nationals winner participated in the field of ten riders. So competition was strong.

Everyone is trying to qualify for the 2013 Nationals in Cleveland, Ohio and the Missouri Games being one of the early scheduled ones the age fields were larger than in an off year.

Results were as follows:

Roberta Dierks – 60-64
40k Road Race – Gold
5K Time Trial – Gold
20K Road Race – Gold
10K Time Trial – Gold

Roberta is of course now qualified for the 2013 Nationals. Big D Women continue to rule.

Bill Jennings – 70-74
40k Road Race – Silver
5K Time Trial – Silver

Bill J. was unable to ride Sunday’s races; but with his two Silvers in now qualified for the 2013 Nationals.

Don’t think Bill J. plans to stop racing here as he just invested several thousand bucks in a new Carbon Bike from one of our sponsors, Bike Source. Also got new Aero bars and I think plans to get a Time Trial Helmet. Appears he has caught the passion to race.

Bill Wells – 64-69
40k Road Race – Bronze in a bunch finish
5K Time Trial – 7th
20K Road Race – 4th – Just missed Bronze by half a wheel in a bunch finish
10K Time Trial – 7th – Had a rear wheel problem

Bill W. is developing as a strong sprinter as is evidenced by several of his recent road race results. Great to see him being competitive in the bunch sprints.

Bill Mason – 64-69
40k Road Race – 5th
5K Time Trial – Gold
20K Road Race – 5th
10K Time Trial – Silver

My large size continues to plague me in a bunch sprint, so I spend time at the front trying to set a fast pace to try and drop as many as I can to reduce number in the bunch sprint and also, because TT’s follow, to take a little out of the others.

Had my best 5K Time Trial ever, 6 min 36 sec (28.2 mph), but at that only beat the 2011 Nationals guy by 1 sec. First three finishers were separated by only 5 sec. He got me in the 10K Time Trial by 9 sec. First three finishers only separated by 21 sec.

Chip Zimmer has been improving steadily throughout the season and shows real promise in his final few races as a Cat 5. Several Big D riders enjoyed the racing and festivities at Tulsa Tough, but Zimmer had the best finish with a sixth place and a prime win!

Here is his account:

There were 30 starters for an 8:40am race- first race of the day so the crowd was only just gathering.

My strategy was to immediately maneuver to the front of the pack at the gun so as to avoid all the nonsense of riders crowding the turn into the first hill.
Sat in 5th or so using others’ wheels as I tried to figure out who the contenders were going to be. No one was taking the first part of the hill aggressively and I didn’t mind doing so, because the momentum would carry you through the second part without much additional effort.

I used each subsequent lap to move up in position on the hill and by the time it was about 10 minutes into the race I found myself in 3rd. Coming around again, I said the heck with it and climbed at my own pace, which at that time happened to be more aggressive than everyone else, so I just held on and took the pack around for another lap and a half. During the process, I was able to gap the chase group and this is when I picked up the prime.
I hit the hill again, still in first but slacked off at the dip and that is when the chase reconnected. From there, I rode their wheels pretty much for the rest of the race.
Not sure how it happened but 3 riders split from one other guy and myself and gained about a half block advantage, which by then was a bit too much distance for the two of us to reel them in. We worked together and crossed the line 5 and 6. 6th place for me.

As for Cry Baby Hill, the hill itself is not an issue, it is the monotony of repetition that gets you. The crowd on the other hand is awesome, and pulls you through each time.
We had 7 Big D riders attend and race this event and I think we all agreed we would definitely do it next year.

Tulsa also served as a scouting trip to do some research on hosting a major national-level event. Big D is looking to model their hosted races on events like Tulsa Tough.