The 2015 KBAR/KBAT season wrapped up with two days of criterium racing at the Cathedral Criteriums in Kansas City, Kansas, on August 15 and 16.

Nigel Vaught put an exclamation point on his season, which showed significant improvement in many areas of racing. He won both days and had a tremendous come-from-behind finish on day one.  Vaught was behind by many bike lengths heading into the final corner, but he used his climbing prowess on the uphill finish to take the lead just before the finish line!

Joe Kleidosty earned the title of Kansas criterium champion in Masters 40+ by finishing third in his race and beating out all other Kansas competitors. Kleidosty closed down a threatening gap mid-race and then put in an attack on the back side of the course with 2 laps to go. He was able to hold everyone off until right before the finish line.

Jay Raupp capped off his successful first season with Big D Cycling with a silver medal in his Masters 60+ race.  His wife, Kathleen, also had an excellent season, earning the title of KBAR champion in her category. If you are interested in having a great smile, such as one sported by Kathleen, contact our new sponsor, Dental Health by Herre!

Donavon Hottman and Frank Quinlan were consistent and successful in another year of Masters racing. Both contributed in a big way to Big D Cycling securing the title of KBAT Men’s Masters champions for the second year in a row!

The Big D ladies always had a blast when they were racing with each other! Lisa Doane had a great first season with Big D Cycling, earning silver in KBAR!

We came up just a bit short in our sprint for the Keen Wealth Cup, sponsored by our title sponsor Keen Wealth Advisors. We came in a close second to 360 Racing.

Thanks to Dan Ruettimann Photography for these racing images.  See more of Dan’s pics from the Sunday, August 16, races here.

Lucas Borkowski was giddy with anticipation in early July.  The Marmaton Massacre Kansas State Mountain Bike Championship was scheduled for July 12.

In the nights leading up to the race, he’d awaken his wife, Amy, with rapid thrashing of his legs. It became so serious, they sought the counsel of team doctor, Dr. Bob Rinaldi, thinking it may be a serious case of restless legs syndrome.

Rinaldi completed a thorough examination of Borkowski, including going through a series of Rorschach cards. With every image placed in front of Lucas, he exclaimed, “Holeshot!”  After the fourth card, Rinaldi glanced over at Amy and stated, “He’s just extremely focused on hitting the holeshot at Marmaton. Just have him sleep with the dogs, so you can get your rest, and this will be over in a couple more days.”

Unfortunately for Amy, torrential rains and flooding forced the postponement of the state championship to August 16.  The dogs were even getting tired of Lucas’ constant thrashing of his legs at night.

Fast forward to August 16, and Borkowski found himself at Gunn Park Trails in Fort Scott, Kansas, for the Category 3 Kansas State Championship. His legs were rested. His mind was sharp. His race consisted of one lap through the park.

At the sound of the whistle, Borkowski looked like a a person afflicted with restless legs syndrome with a shot of adrenaline, hitting the holeshot onto the singletrack. Never looking back, Borkowski guided his bike through the trees, brush and rocks, taking advantage of the fast track conditions. He won the Category 3 Kansas State Championship with a time of 33 minutes and 20 seconds. His closest competitor came in at 38 minutes and 49 seconds.

As Borkowski waited for everyone else to roll in, race official Amy came up to him and advised him to see her later. She was going to go ahead and cat him up, based on his performance. A short while later, Amy came up to Borkowski and stated, “You’re officially a Cat 2!”

Actions certainly can speak louder than words. Borkowski rode himself into Category 2, while collecting a gold medal for his efforts.

Chalk that up as a State Championship for our title sponsor, Keen Wealth Advisors.  Don’t let the volatility in the current market rattle you. Seek sound financial advice from Bill Keen and his staff!

Jim Clevenger and Joe Kleidosty switched gears a bit and decided to go for the state title in Category 3 in Salina on August 9.  It can certainly add a bit of excitement in the air by racing people less than half your age!

Due to the size of the fields, the category 1 and 2 racers were combined with the Category 3 racers.  The race started out at an easy pace, but then Lane Johnson attacked and everyone else was in pursuit, which picked up the pace through the rolling hills.

Nothing was able to stay away until Clevenger rode up to the front 9.5 miles into the race and rode away from the peloton up a hill. When Clevenger realized he had a gap, he put in some effort and maintained a good tempo, holding a 30 to 60 second gap.  Kleidosty tried to neutralize attacks and went up front to slow down the pace.  A couple racers attacked and were working their way up to Clevenger, when he flatted around the 18-mile mark.  His race was done.

This left two Category 3 racers out front. When Kleidosty realized Clevenger was out, he attacked to bridge up and was able to work with Travis Tesone to chase down the lead duo.  Just as Kleidosty and Tesone were about to make contact with the lead duo at the 26-mile mark, Kleidosty’s rear tire punctured.

The wheel truck came up pretty quick. Kleidosty swapped out wheels and headed south into a decent headwind.  Kleidosty could see the group ahead, but was seriously doubting he could bridge up to them. He was even considering abandoning the race, momentarily.

Kleidosty bridged up to one racer that was dropped and work with him for a short while until he realized he needed to go faster. The road going south has some undulating and punchy hills, and Kleidosty could see the group spreading across the road, meaning the pace was slowing.  Kleidosty made contact with the group around the 31-mile mark and jokingly said, “Is this the last lap??” Unfortunately, it was not.

Shortly after making contact, Kleidosty sat in, recovered a bit, but then noticed Britton Kusiak attacking up a climb around the 33-mile mark. Kleidosty grabbed Kusiak’s wheel, and, before they knew it, they had a decent gap.

Kusiak and Kleidosty worked together and stayed away until the 49-mile mark, where three other racers bridged up to them (Micah Newell, Cat 1; Justin Leopold, Cat 1; and Lane Johnson, Cat 3).  The pace picked up when these racers bridged up to us, and, almost immediately, Kusiak was dropped. Kleidosty sat in the back a bit to recover, as he did most of the work with Kusiak.

The lead group of four worked well together over the next 20 miles. Johnson put in a couple of attacks on some hills and Kleidosty covered those and was in good position. Kleidosty then lost position going up to the finish line and was edged out at the line, earning silver in Category 3.

Lisa Doane raced her race and earned another podium for Keen Wealth Advisors.

Nigel Vaught continues to show improvement throughout the season, winning his race! Joe Rehm even raced his first road race, mentioning he was glad he applied generous amounts of Chamois Butt’r before the race. Great job to all!

Special thanks to Roger Harrison of Lanterne Rouge for providing the race images for this post.  See more of his images on his Flickr site.

Donavon Hottman, Fred Thompson, Frank Quinlan, and Bill Wells had their sights set on earning a gold medal at the 2015 Sunflower State Games Age State Championship in the Masters 65+ category on July 19, not letting the likelihood of rain deter them from their goal.

The course is a 29-mile loop in southeastern Shawnee county. The race started with a 3.5-mile neutral roll out. As the race progressed, the racers encountered light rain and a 2-mile section of road with new chip seal applied.

Attacks occurred throughout the race, but nothing got away until a final punchy hill just before a right turn to the finishing line straight. The pack was strung out after that final climb, and Hottman and Wells were able to gut it out to the finish line, earning gold and bronze in their category, respectively.

Quinlan has attended and completed every single KBAR race so far this year, a testament to his durability and competitive nature.

Greg Vaught came unclipped in the final sprint to the line, but was able to slyly glide across the line for a bronze medal in his Masters 50+ Category. Jay Raupp earned yet another podium in his Masters 60+ category.

Joe Kleidosty was a little out of position and did not respond to the final sprint quickly enough, but he able to still get silver in his Masters 40+ category.

Podiums galore for our Big D Cycling team, sponsored by Keen Wealth Advisors!

Jay Raupp, and his wife Kathleen, joined Big D Cycling in 2015. Jay has attended almost every KBAR race event this year, and he has shown improvement as the season has progressed, culminating with two, second-place finishes at Tour of Lawrence on the last weekend of June.

I asked Jay to give me some of his thoughts on the weekend, after he was done counting his winnings.

Following are the reflections of a man, who is not quite 60 years old, but he gets to ride as if he were 60 years old. Yet, he rides like he’s 40 years old…

Watching the Masters 40+ Tour of Lawrence race go by Sunday morning at tire-numbing speed made me thankful that USA Cycling ages its racers in horse years, so that, as a 59.8-year-old, I race up in Masters 60+.

We do our own brand of racing in our drive for points toward the Keen Cup.  No one wants points more than Reg Robertson, who had an incident on the 15-corner Haskell Campus course on Saturday. Reg finished that race, and on Sunday, he rolled out onto Massachusetts Street looking like a 12-speed M*A*S*H unit, going after more KBAT points.  What great spirit Reg has!

On two beautiful mornings for racing, we gave our rivals all they could handle.   Despite my mantra of ‘Don’t Let Dean Parker Get Away’, he did so with a half mile to go  on Saturday, winning by three seconds.

On Sunday, he was picking up cash all over.   Literally.    Cruising to the start, he stops, reaches down, and picks up a dime.   One lap into the race, where our Masters 60+ field of 10 included Reg, Donavon Hottman, Frank Quinlan, and Bill Wells, a $100 prime was announced. Dean used his motor to go pick up more cash, tooling away too easily.

I caught back on while he was considering which of the many cool downtown Lawrence shops he should go to for a shopping spree, but with me were two of his 360 Racing teammates.  Then, a merchandise prime came up, and Dean was gone for good.

A surprise third prime was put up for the field, and the real surprise was, I got it.    The downtown Lawrence criterium course is so much fun, with the little rolls and fast corners and excellent course control by the corner monitors.

Though Dean took first, I was able to conserve enough in the race and obtained a lead-out off Andy Brown of 360 Racing, winning second with a bike throw.

Special thanks to Donavon for hosting the team’s Tuesday night criterium practice we used to tune up for these races. Thanks to Joe Rehm for attending the races and obtaining the finish line photo. I can’t wait to spend some of my winnings at BikeSource, our local bike shop with great service and products!