A lot of racing has happened in the months of July and August, with Big D Cycling getting on the podium multiple times along the way.

Paul Aldeguer and Joe Kleidosty took gold at the age state championship, in their respective age categories, of the  Sunflower Road Race in Topeka, KS. Mary Thompson earned gold with her effort, as well.

Fast forward to Truman Cup, where Jim Clevenger put in an impressive performance over three different racing disciplines ~ time trial, circuit and criterium racing ~ to earn 3rd overall in the omnium for Masters Men.

Nigel Vaught capped off his road race season with a bronze medal in Category 5 at the Kansas State Category Road Race in Salina, KS! Nigel won every junior KBAR race that he entered this year and has been showing improvement with every race.

Kleidosty shifted his focus from road to gravel this season. He borrowed teammate Alvaro Gamarra’s fat bike to compete in that category at Gravel Worlds in Lincoln, NE.  Kleidosty earned 2nd with his efforts in that race.

Greg Vaught has indicated he plans to do Dirty Kanza in 2017, so he joined Kleidosty recently at the Pony Express 120 Gravel Dash to get a taste of a longer distance gravel race. In addition to recording his longest ride, he completed it in under 8 hours and finished 9th overall, with limited gravel training or riding! Kleidosty finished 2nd overall and also earned the under-8 hour trophy.

Overall, Big D Cycling finished 2nd in the Keen Wealth Cup competition.  Key contributors to that effort were the following people with podium or near-podium finishes in KBAR: Greg Vaught, 2nd Masters 50+; Jay Raupp, 4th Masters 60+; Frank Quinlan, 2nd Masters 65+; Reg Robertson, 6th Masters 65+; Kathryn Johnson, 2nd Women Masters 50+; Kathleen Raupp, 1st Women Masters 60+; Roberta Dierks, 2nd Women Masters 60+; Mary Thompson, 3rd Women Masters 60+; and Nigel Vaught, 1st Juniors 9-14 Male!

Danny Mertz, new to the team this year, raced in a few road races and a couple criteriums, earning a respectable 6th place in Masters 60+!

Big D Cycling is primed and ready for cyclocross to start up this year, with practice happening over the past several weeks at the Vaught Cyclocross Compound. The Masters Men team is ready to defend their team title from last year, and the team is excited to present and promote the Keen Wealth Classic, which will be held at the beautiful grounds of Wyandotte County Lake Park!

Special thanks to our title sponsor Bill Keen and Keen Wealth Advisors for their tremendous support of our team and of junior racing!

Bill Keen and his team hosted their 3rd annual open house on June 9 to show their appreciation for their current and new clients alike.

Bill graciously invited our team to the event, as well. We set up a team ride ahead of the event and had a great time rolling along the streets of Johnson County.  We enjoyed live music and Fiorella’s Jack Stack BBQ after the ride.

Bill is a private pilot and can be seen riding his bike around the Charles B. Wheeler Downtown Airport in his Big D Cycling kit. Big D Cycling recently purchased a bike for his wife, Carissa, who is also getting into and enjoying cycling!

Keen Wealth Advisors also produces podcasts on all things related to personal finance and investing. Check them out and feel free to contact Bill at BKeen@KeenWealthAdvisors.com if you have any questions or are interested in learning more about the products and services he and his team provide.

Yet again, Dirty Kanza and Tour of Kansas City fell on the same weekend. Big D Cycling has talent across many disciplines, and that became apparent in the first weekend in June.

May was a wet month in the area, but the week leading up to Dirty Kanza had the gravel roads drying out. Mother Nature decided to make things interesting at Dirty Kanza this year, though, by providing a thunderstorm a few hours before the start to soak the first several miles of the course. She also provided riders with an unusual (for this time of year) wind out of the Northwest, along with some warmer temperatures, which provided riders with a headwind and heat for the last half of the course. Many veteran riders commented that this was one of the toughest editions of Dirty Kanza.

When the dust settled, Cody Jones overcame a mechanical to finish before sunset with a time of 14 hours, 0 minutes, 04 seconds. That put him at 40th overall! Tim Herre and Joe Kleidosty dealt with their own challenges and were not able to continue much past the third and final checkpoint. Herre still had a great experience, and Kleidosty had a personal best with mileage with 166 miles and learned valuable lessons to assist him with future endurance events.

We had several teammates that completed the 100-mile course: Michael Fiola and Ken Wiebke had been training together prior to the event, and finished the event together with a time of 9 hours, 7 minutes, 45 seconds, overcoming physical challenges along their journey. Alvaro Gamarra led a motley crew on his fat bike, completing the course in 10 hours, 45 minutes, 48 seconds, along with Andres Suarez on a fat bike, and Christian Vila and Reinaldo Barrera on gravel bikes. They assisted a mutual friend to complete his first century ride – on Dirty Kanza gravel, no less!

In a land not so far away, Big D Cycling was also letting its presence be known at Tour of Kansas City, which featured a new downtown location for the criterium course.

Chip Zimmer and Greg Vaught went 5th and 6th in the circuit race at Cliff Drive. Nigel Vaught used his climbing prowess to take 2nd in the circuit race.  Nigel, with his performance in all three race formats, won the omnium at Tour of Kansas City. In addition to this, Greg and Nigel have competed at two Midwest Flyover events to-date, with Greg now in 5th place overall in that series in Men’s 50+ and Nigel in 3rd place overall in the series in Junior Boys 13-14.

Jay Raupp performed admirably in all his races, earning 2nd in the omnium for Masters Men’s 60+.

Our Masters Women’s team is currently in the lead for the KBAT competition. Kathy Johnson and Kathleen Raupp are the big contributors to that effort. Raupp earned 3rd in the downtown criterium at Tour of Kansas City. Mary Thompson gutted out the brutal climb at the Cliff Drive course to earn 2nd in her category. Great job, ladies!

Planning was the key to Cody Jones’ success at Dirty Kanza ~ if you need help with your financial planning, contact our title sponsor, Keen Wealth Advisors!

Joe Kleidosty bought his first gravel bike in December 2015, after rolling over many gravel miles with his mountain bike, with the intent of shifting focus to gravel in 2016.

Kleidosty jumped at the opportunity to register for Gravel Ride for Maisie’s Pride, as he had ridden gravel in Eskridge, KS, before at the Just Another Gravel Grinder Race on Halloween 2015. Promoter Ryan Dudley does these events to support the Maisie Community Pool in Eskridge, named after longtime resident Maisie DeVore.

Wow! What a story! Check out this video on Maisie – many lessons can be learned in this short video. Kleidosty even recognized that a section of K4 Highway leading into Eskridge was named Maisie DeVore Highway.

Many lessons were learned during the gravel ride, as well!

Kleidosty did not have any plans to suffer like he did at Cool Hand Luke Gravel Grinder. He wanted to be free from cramps and just try to settle in with a fast group and get some good race preparation in for Dirty Kanza.

Within four miles, the riders turned onto a low maintenance road with tire ruts that must have been 12 inches deep or more. Many riders were falling, crashing or getting flats on these ruts, which caused some separation early in the ride.

Kleidosty settled into a good rhythm, keeping the lead group in sight, like a dangling carrot. He caught the breakaway around mile 22 and was able to settle in, finally!

After a few more miles clicked away and more hills ate away at riders’ legs, the lead group was whittled down to five riders ~ Ashton Lambie, Evan Fast, Trey Harrison, Bob Cummings and Kleidosty.

Cummings suffered a rear puncture before the 52-mile SAG, likely around the 35-mile mark.  Many sections of the first 52 miles had some very technical sections on them. Playing it safe, Kleidosty was dropped a bit before the SAG, but he still managed to roll out with Harrison and Fast. Lambie was in and out quickly and rode the last half of the ride solo, winning the overall.

Fast, Harrison and Kleidosty worked together, until Fast suffered rear wheel damage on a rocky descent. Then, Harrison and Kleidosty settled in to finish the last 40 or so miles together. Garmin was showing temperatures hitting close to 95 degrees. The heat was definitely having some effect on riders, as Harrison was suffering from some cramps around the 75-mile mark.

Kleidosty was able to stave off any cramping and kept riding solo, into warm headwinds, for the most part, until the finish, earning 2nd overall and 1st in his 40-49 age group.

It was definitely a great training ride with Chamois Butt’r’s rider Trey Harrison, who won the VeloTek Grand Prix last weekend. If you find your personal finance or investment plan in a rut, contact Bill Keen with Keen Wealth Advisors.

Check out Gravel Guru on Facebook and give them a Like.

The forecast was looking like a repeat of last year’s VeloTek Grand Prix ~ rain, lightning and thunder for the time trial! Luckily, it was just raining and wet for the .7-mile uphill time trial, helping us to avoid the 2 hour and 15 minute delay we experienced in 2015. The skies actually cleared as the riders in the Men’s 1/2 category took to the line – check out Kent Woermann’s onboard footage here, with an official time of 2:20.26, to put our times in perspective.

Paul Aldeguer posted a time of 2:26.81, with Joe Kleidosty close behind with a time of 2:28.40, placing them 4th and 5th in the General Classification in Men’s 40+ 1/2/3.

Cody Jones had the fastest time in Men’s Cat 4, putting down a time of 2:22.00. Chip Zimmer placed a very respectable time of 2:42.21, giving him 4th in the GC, with Leo Simbaqueva close behind in 5th in the Men’s 40+ 4/5 category.

Kathy Johnson got her toes wet in the biggest stage race in Kansas, literally, posting a time in the TT that would put her 8th in her Women’s Cat 4 GC.

With the winds picking up and skies clearing momentarily, the crit course at Clinton Lake was drying off. The excellent volunteers at this event worked hard to clear big puddles off the course for the first crits of the day.

In the Men’s 40+ 1/2/3 category, Aldeguer and Kleidosty were able to maintain 5th and 6th position after the criterium, when Paul Bonds leapfrogged up to 1st place.

The only other noteworthy event was Cody Jones working hard to protect his leader position in Men’s Cat 4. He was in excellent position for most of the race and also won the prime sprint, earning 3 bonus seconds.

Towards the end of the race, though, he was out of position. In an attempt to move up, wheels were crossed and a crash occurrred. Jones suffered severe road rash, but he fought through it to finish the road race the following day! Since the crash occurred close to the finish, those involved with the crash were given the same time as the lead finishers. With the finish bonus seconds, though, Jones moved down to 2nd place, down 7 seconds.

Zimmer, Simbaqueva and Ben Christian got gapped in the final lap of the criterium, each losing 3 seconds on the GC. Zimmer was still in 5th place, though, following the criterium.

The stage race finished on Sunday with a 28-mile road race for the Women’s Cat 4, Juniors, and Men’s 40+ 4/5 fields, and with a 56-mile road race for Men’s 40+ 1/2/3 field.

The biggest GC shakeup occurred in the Men’s 40+ 1/2/3 race, where Aldeguer, Kleidosty, Greg Vaught, Jim Clevenger and Raupp truly worked as a team. Going into the race, the plan was to try to move Aldeguer higher in the GC.  As always, things don’t always go according to plan in a race, so adapt we must, hmmm.

Raupp was near the front of the race in the first few miles, giving some protection to Kleidosty early on. Clevenger had a mechanical within a few miles, but caught up with Raupp and worked with him for a bit to try to get him pulled up to the peloton.

The race started out fast with several attacks occurring. Kleidosty covered the attacks and started attacks, while never able to get sight of Aldeguer during the race. Around the 18-mile mark, Kleidosty rolled off the front again on a 3% grade. Around this time, Vaught found his legs, rolled past Kleidosty and yelled, “Sit in.”

When Vaught moved up to the front, he advised Aldeguer to follow him, but Aldeguer sat back, thinking Rick Moseley and Paul Bonds, the GC leaders, were marking him.  It was hard for Aldeguer to do, but his decision likely helped the winning breakaway to form.

Within a mile, around 19-mile mark, a couple OKC Velo racers rolled by, and Kleidosty yelled at Vaught, “Go! Go! Go!” Vaught jumped out of his saddle and looked like he just got tased. At this point, the breakaway was descending at a high rate. After a series of hills, a breakaway of five was formed, which included Kleidosty, Chris Johnson, Bruce Tanner, Trey Harrison and Peter Erdoes.

The breakaway of five would stay together until the 52-mile mark, when Tanner and Johnson were dropped on a long, punchy climb. Kleidosty earned a couple bonus seconds, getting 2nd in the prime lap of the road race. Kleidosty also got 2nd on the final lap, earning another six bonus seconds.  This put him at 2nd overall in the GC.

The breakaway put more than four minutes on the chase group and more than seven minutes on the group after that, which did a complete change of the GC.

Zimmer did a lot of work in his road race, but was unable to maintain his 5th place in the GC. He, however, performed well in all stages, earning 6th overall, just behind Simbaqueva, who earned 5th overall in Men’s 40+ 4/5.  Christian enjoyed the stage race and gained valuable experience in the process.

Kathy Johnson had a great time in her first stage race and learned how to do an uphill time trial!

Jones showed pure grit and determination in his road race, earning a bonus second while getting 3rd on the prime lap. He also got 2nd on the road race, earning another 6 bonus seconds. It was not enough to win the Men’s Cat 4 overall, but he earned a solid 2nd place!

Nigel Vaught faced some tougher competition in this stage race, but performed admirably in all stages, even winning the criterium race! His performance in all stages earned him 2nd overall in his GC!

Special thanks to Keen Wealth Advisors, Chamois Butt’r and BikeSource KC for their excellent support of Big D Cycling!