The Tour of Kansas City Returned for it’s 50th consecutive year. The three-day event saw it’s share of spills and upsets, but Big D managed to keep it together for the most part.

Saturday’s New Longview course was the usual sprint for the first corner and try to maintain position for the rest of the race. This was a course for cornering and climbing, with eight turns and a long uphill section. South winds mitigated the hill somewhat, but riders had to face gusts up to 30 mph coming back into the finish straight before negotiating the hill once again.

In the Cat 4 race it was mayhem with several crashes. Noah Collins was involved in one, grabbed a bike from a teammate and then proceeded to crash again. Noah ust really dig going down on the tarmac! Kurt Wilson stayed out of trouble and landed himself into the lead group. He finished 8th.

Jim Clevenger showed his crit skills again in the Masters 50+, finishing second, while Steven Whalen and Greg Vaught went seventh and eighth.

Lynn Wilson finished thid in the women’s 123 and then followed up on Sunday with a sixth place in that race and a third in the 3/4’s. Bill Smith looked strong in the men’s Cat 4 with a top-ten finish!

The team showed up in force and grabbed some KBAR points at the KS state TT championships in Walnut. The course was a rolling L-shape jaunt that went to the east and then south for 20K each way. Some of the other categories had a shorter distance, but everyone competing suffered in the race of truth.

Rochelle Schleicher and Susan Ruettimann won State Champion gold in their respective categories. Schleicher got first overall in Master and Ruettimann got second overall, but won her age group. Josie Measures was close behind in third. In the Cat4’s the ladies pulled in second (Bree Ginden), and third (Alissa Stinnet) and in the 55+ masters, Roberta Dierks grabbed third.

The boys in green as usual trailed a bit behind their pink-clad teammates, but still had a strong showing, most notably with Jim CLevenger’s third place in the masters 50+. Newcomer Bill Smith got fifh in the Cat4’s while Joe Kleidosty and Shawn Knight wer sixth and seventh.

Rounding out the Masters 60+ field were Bill Mason fourth, Patrick Bunch in seventh, Bill Wells in 9th and Donavon Hottman in 10th.

Wichita hosted two days of criterium racing to start out the month of June, with the Bicycle X Change Crits on Saturday and the SPECS Wichita Riverfest Crits on Sunday.

Saturday was a big day for the team with a couple of top finishes and a bunch of primes.
Joe Kleidosty got his second big win as a four this season, with a first place in the Cat4 race. The green was controlling and attacking all race, with Kurt Wilson and Shawn Knight leading the charge. Dan Ruettimann stepped up early on and grabbed the first prime sprint, then had a big gap with another rider. They held on as long as they could, but the pace was just a little too crazy back in the field, so they got swallowed up within a lap or two. Kurt Wilson grabbed prime #2, and managed to keep on attacking the field until a mechanical slowed him down. With two laps to go, Knight and Kleidosty got set up near the front of the pack. Joe launched his final push with a crazy amount of distance to the finish, and Knight was on his wheel the whole way. Instead of launching himself for the win, Knight held back so the competition would have to come around him to try to get the win. Special K kept putting the heat on all the way across the finish, with Knight two spots behind him in third.

In the Masters 40+ race Knight got 7th and Jim Clevenger came in 10th. The first race of the day was a bit chilly, but got our riders used to the cobble section which transitioned to concrete. Potholes and cracks were all over the place so you really had to pay attention.

Lynn Wilson once again took control of the Women’s open field with the help of Rochelle Schleicher, who chased down the breaks and kept tabs on the competition from VeloTek and Tom’s of Tulsa. Wilson grabbed a prime along the way and sprinted for first while Rochelle stayed cozy and let the competition do the chasing. She came in sixth nonetheless.

On Sunday the team did not fare quite as well, but did pick up a few top-ten spots and a couple of primes.

The Chica Ds were marked women in the open race against a stacked VeloTek field. With a break about halfway through, Rocky and Lynn were under pressure to shut it down but two motivated riders ahead combined with some solid tactics by the team from Lawrence made it difficult. The wind also worked against them, as it seemed like it was always in the face of the riders by the afternoon races. Wilson did well to pick up fourth and Rochelle turned in a respectable 11th.

The other bright spot was Jim Clevenger’s performance in the Cat3 race, which he kind of decided to enter at the last minute. He was at the front the entire race and came around to the final sprint in a group of about six riders, who had a slight gap on the field. Third place for Jim to cap off a pretty successful weekend for him and the team in general. Jim had a seventh place finish in the 40+ race where Shawn Knight also did well with a top-ten. In the Cat4 race Knight took seventh while Wilson and the rest of the fast 4s finished together 13th-16th.

A lot of first place finishes at the Jesse Blancarte TT 10K.

Jim Clevenger was first in the Men Master 50+
Donavon Hottman and Frank Quinlan went 1 and two in the 60+.
Cathy Wood got first while Bree Ginden got second in the Womens Cat4.
Kitty Gomer grabbed the top spot in the Womens 40+.
Leslie Treas and Roberta Dierks, third and fourth in Womens 50+
And Tom Faerber had a respectable finish in the Master 55+ with fifth.

Special thanks to Leslie Treas for providing the image for this post.

Special thanks also to Keen Wealth Advisors and Bill Keen for their continued support as our major sponsor.

Awesome results at the Salina 2-Day and the Jesse Blancarte TT to finish out the month of May.

The team traveled out to Salina for the MMCT Two-Day, with a rainy cold and hilly road race on Saturday and crits on Sunday. The weather was miserable for the road race but that didn’t stop the team from posting three first-lace finishes!

Joe Kleidosty got his first big win on the road as a 4, and Lynn Wilson and Rochelle Schliecher each took top honors in their races. Kurt Wilson was aggressive as usual in this race and was in a break in the second half, while Joe was able to save a little energy in the shelter of the pack. Later on Kurt regrouped and there was one rider out for Special K to chase down. Working with one of his competitors, Joe was able to bridge up to the leader, who by that time was in the pain cave. I put my head down and chased down the leader and caught him around the 58-mile mark. “When I hooked up with him, I could tell he was hurting – he asked me for water,” said Kleidosty. Special K walked away with first place while Kurt came in fourth. Shawn Knight was just out of the top ten for all the hard effort he put in for his teammates.

The Chica-Ds looked resplendent in pink as they continued to dominate on the road. Lynn and Rochelle worked together in their combined women’s field to grab top spots in the open and Masters races!

In the Mens 60+ race Donavon Hottman got 4th while Bill Wells and Bill Mason came in 6 and 7th respectively.

In Sunday’s crits Jim Clevenger got some help form Knight, bridging up to the leaders. “He got to the front and surged giving me the opportunity, the block and the motivation to bridge to the solo breakaway. Without his efforts I sit in the pack waiting for the luck of the draw in the field sprint,” said Clevenger. This race also saw some trouble on the north end of the couse as a 360 rider slid out on turn four, and took out two riders behind him, on of whom was Dan Ruettimann. “For a change, I felt like I was getting myself into a great position for a good placing in the final sprint,” said Ruettimann. “This course is all about position, but unfortunately, sometimes your position is sprawled out on the pavement, on top of the rider who took you down.”

Joe K took 7th in the Cat4 with a little help from Knight. The Bills and Hottman had their own club race at the back of the 60+ field, but grabbed 4th through 6th. Rochelle looked comfy on her way to second place in the women’s 40+.