Bill Mason continued his TT dominance in the Jesse Blancarte Time Trial, while teammate Rochelle Schleicher also took first place in the women’s master 50+. Big D had ten riders in the top four, and the women’s team was the best represented of all the competitors. It was a relatively flat course, but the wind was hot out of the south, which made things painful heading for the finish line.

Team Results:

Donavon Hottman, third, Masters 60+
Bill Mason, first, Masters 65+
Bill Wells, third, Master 65+
Shawn Knight, fourth, Cat3
Susan Ruettimann, second, Women Masters 40+
Rochelle Schleicher, first, Women Masters 50+
Leslie Treas, third, Women Masters 50+
Roberta Dierks, sixth, Women Masters 50+
Cathy Goodger, seventh, Women Masters 50+
Abby Gomer, second, Women Cat4
Cathy Wood, third, Women Cat4
Bree Ginden, fourth, Women Cat4
Mendy Jarman, fifth, Women Cat4
Cindy Brock, sixth, Women Cat4

More images of our team competing here.

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.

Several members of the team lent a hand at the Kiwanis Club KCK Bike rodeo at Schlitterbahn Water Park on May 19th. This is a pet project for Big D, and volunteers from the team helped fit 250 free bike helmets and did some basic repairs on bicycles free of charge.

Our racer/mechanics went to work pumping up tires, lubricating chains, and tightening brake cables and headsets. We helped give away free helmets, and showed each recipient the proper way to wear them. It’s important to understand proper fit, since a lot of kids wear their helmets too far back on their heads, leaving their foreheads exposed.

Look for Big D later this season at the Bike Rodeo in Shawnee, right in our own back yard.

Special thanks to Leslie Treas and Dave Chapman for the photos in this post.

Bill Mason, Donavon Hottman and Bill Wells traveled to Iowa City for a weekend of racing on May 5th and 6th.

Here’s a quick recap from Bill Mason:

Bill Wells, Donavon Hottman, Bill Mason road in the Old Capital Omnium in Iowa City, Iowa on May 5 and 6. Consisted of a morning 39 mile RR followed by an afternoon 13 mile TT on May 5 and then a .07 mile 20 lap afternoon Crit at the University of Iowa Campus on May 6. All three of us raced in 60+. This year was the 35th running year of the Crit.

RR course was a rolling hill loop in Amish country so had to dodge horse buggies and “road apples”. Wind was high going out and start confusion had us three trailing the field from the beginning. 40+, 50+, and 60+ all had the same scheduled start time but the actual start was to be slightly staggered. However several of our 60+ participants went with the 50+ group, so we chased most of the race.

The TT was a single lap of the RR course. The Crit course had one 10 plus degree block long uphill which was a killer (had to do it 20 times). 40+ and above raced all together so quite a large field (65 or more).

The TT place points available for Omnium for some reason were less than half of those for RR and Crit places.

Our results were as follows:

RR
Hottman 4th
Mason 5th
Wells 6th

Donavon and I fought out the uphill sprint finish, but as usual he won out by a bike length.

TT
Mason 2nd
Hottman 5th
Wells 6th

Crit
Mason 4th
Hottman 5th
Wells 7th

Omnium
Mason 4th 35 points
Hottman 5th 32 points
Wells 6th 25 points

Congrats to Bill, Bill and Donavon for great results!
The trio travels all around the region looking for competition throughout the season. Iowa City sounds like a great event with good payouts for the top riders. We may be sending an even larger team contingent to Iowa next year!