Sometimes racing conditions are not all sunshine and warm temperatures, but when things are at their worst, the true competitors rise to the challenge, and not just show up, but also excel. Ryan Rochford, James Summers, Donavon Hottman, Bill Mason and Bill Wells came out to race Perry when most of their competitors took one step outside and decided to go back to bed.

The weather was fine for the early races, until about noon. “The Bill’s and I got dressing in our new kits and we did look awesome! No points earned for looking good! It started to rain about 12:35. Race Started at 1:00 sharp w/about 10 riders,” Said Hottman of his Master 60+ race. At the KOM lap he got third place, but the two leaders got off the front and were able to hold their lead. Hottman worked hard to hold his third place but was just nipped at the finish. “At the finish I stopped and talked to Ryan for a bit as they were getting ready to race. Thats when my body started to shake and I realized my fingers were numb. I was soaked to the bone. Now it really started to pour. Glad I was done.” Hottman had to ride his race alone since the Bills both flatted.

Rochford fared a little better but his teammate, Summers, was taken out early with a flat in a race that saw the heaviest rain, wind and cold temperatures. Here’s Ryan’s account:

“Skittles and I went back to Perry, KS for a little more fun at the lake. What a miserable day it ended up being. We had been watching the weather for a couple days and every time a new forecast came out, it was worse than the one before. We got to the course with plenty of time to register and warm up. We registered, watched the Masters finish, and then warmed up. By warm up, I mean we sat in the car with the heat on, wishing the rain would go away. The temperature was in the low 50’s and just before our start time, the heavier bands of rain had moved in. We kitted out and put some of our new Chamois Butt’r embrocation on our legs. With 10 minutes to go before our start time, we hopped out of the car, toweled off our saddles, and rolled up to the line. There were about 9 Cat 3’s lined up. The officials went over some rules, did the whole roll call thing, and told us we were only doing 6 laps today due to the weather and the fact that nobody really wanted to be there. At this point, our field had grown to about 15 riders. I guess some people were taking their sweet time getting out of their warm cars. Lined up along side us was the guy who had taken the KOM points and finished 2nd last week, and a bunch of other people who were below James and I in points (we were sitting 3rd and 4th in points after last weekend).

The whistle blew and we headed down the hill toward the dam. I checked my brakes as we went down the hill, and as I figured, they didn’t work very well…at all. Carbon braking surfaces are notoriously unpredictable and annoying in the wet, and today was no exception to that. Oh well, it was unlikely I’d be using the brakes much anyway. As we headed across the dam, the pace was quite high on the first lap. I was feeling fine and didn’t mind the high pace. James sat on the front for a bit and then wised up and headed back into the pack for a bit. At the end of the dam, we were closing in on the women’s field very quickly. A few guys decided that a wet corner was a great place to pass the girls and then launch an attack. It was, in fact, pretty irresponsible and didn’t work anyway but everybody passed the women safely. I think everything was mostly together the first time up the hill. I had no intention of doing any work I didn’t have to since I was not leading in the points. I let the points leader’s team (Central Plains Cycling or CPC) sit on the front to do all the pace setting. Peter Oien from their team seemed pretty content to lead us up the climb, and he looked very strong doing so. I held onto his wheel and felt less than great, but not terrible. As we crested the hill, the officials rang the bell for the KOM lap.

During the next lap, not much happened. I did a little work at the front, but mostly was up there trying to make CPC get stuck on the front and get tired. My goal at this point in the race was to get them tired and get James in a good position for the KOM and the win. As we got near the hill, I wanted to be sitting around 3rd wheel with James right behind me and that’s exactly what happened. Peter Oien was on the front with a large non-climber behind him, and then me and James. As Peter kept the pace high up the hill, the large guy in front of me looked like he was hurting and kept letting little gaps go. He’d look around nervously to see who else was there and I knew he was about to pop so I pedaled a little harder to get around him and onto Peter’s wheel. James and I had talked on the way to the race about the best place to jump on that hill, and as we approached that point, I got ready to go. James was still sitting on my wheel and I planned to jump around Peter and drag James with me, giving him the KOM. That sort of worked. I jumped and I guess James had a lapse in concentration and didn’t come with me immediately. I easily got around Peter and took the KOM (and the 4 points that came with it). Peter took 2nd and James crossed the line in 3rd. As I crossed the line, I eased up to let the group catch back on. Peter passed by me and said “Let’s go, dude!” I looked back and realized that Peter and I had opened up a pretty substantial gap so I went with him. I was not excited about this because James wasn’t with me and if this was really how it was going to be, I was setting myself up for a ton of work for the next 4 laps. As Peter and I headed across the dam, we had a pretty decent gap on the field. I looked back and I could see James and one other guy (apparently the points leader from last week) attempting to bridge up to us. At the end of the dam, we didn’t really see them anymore and our gap was increasing.

Peter and I worked together around the next lap and up the hill. When we got to the top, somebody yelled to me something about a flat tire. I couldn’t tell what they were talking about, but I looked at my tires and everything seemed fine. Turns out it was James. He had flatted and was back at the start/finish spectating. It was a pretty frustrating and early end to the day’s race for him, but since Perry takes your best 2 results from the series, he is still sitting in a decent position going into next week.

The next time up the hill, I had some problems. Peter rode a steady, fast pace up the hill and I couldn’t maintain it. He dropped me at the second pitch up the hill. Now I had to either catch him or ride the next 2 laps by myself and hope to not get caught. I put in a big effort on the downhill to the dam and closed a tiny bit of the gap. As we crossed the dam, I got into as much of a TT position as I could manage and just buried myself to get back to him. It took me the entire length of the dam, but I finally made contact with him. Once I did, he looked at me, and apologized because he thought I was somebody else attempting to bridge up to him and he was trying to hold me off. I told him it was no problem, but that he was going to drop me on the hill every time at that pace. I told him that I’d agree not to attack him the last time up the hill if he’d just keep us together going over the hill and he agreed to that. (Could I have taken him on the last climb up the hill in a sprint? Possibly…but he could have dropped me the next time up the hill and stayed away for the win if he wanted so it was worth risking). So, there would be no dramatic finish in this race. Peter and I rounded the course together as the rain picked back up. There was one point where I tried to reach into my jersey pocket to get some energy gel out and my arm was so numb I could barely wrap it around my back. On top of that, my fingers were too numb to figure out where the pocket was, so I just gave up on eating. I took one sip from my bottle the entire race. It was super miserable. My legs, with the Chamois Butt’r embrocation, were toasty and comfortable. It was my first time using embrocation and I can say, the stuff really works.

Peter and I rounded the corner to the climb on the last lap together and as the pace picked up, I saw no point in hurting my legs more than necessary. I told him I’d see him at the finish and I dropped into the small ring to spin my way up the hill. I still closed the gap on some Cat 4’s in front of me while taking it easy, so that was nice. I looked back down the hill after I was about halfway up and I couldn’t see anybody behind me so I knew I had 2nd wrapped up. Peter had no points from last week and I beat him in the KOM today, so even though I finished behind him in the race, I beat him by a point for the day and moved into 2nd overall in the points for the series. The points leader from last week won the field sprint and finished 3rd, keeping his overall lead, and setting up a pretty interesting battle next week. James still has a shot at the podium, and I have a chance of winning the whole series if everything plays out right. The thing about this race is that it’s not suited for me. I’m most definitely not a climber and both of the guys from South Dakota seem to be. They have a good chance of taking the top two steps on the podium if they can take a bunch of points next weekend. I think the key for me is going to be to nab some KOM points and to keep a breakaway from forming with either of those guys in it. I feel like I can hold my own in a sprint up the hill, but you never know. What I do know is that I’m really excited for temperatures in the 70’s tomorrow. The uncontrollable shivering at the end of my race today was less than enjoyable.”

Wow! This is setting up to be dramatic finish next weekend in the Cat3’s. Thankfully the weather forecast looks better for the big finale.

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

Lynn Wilson continued her stellar performances for the Big D Women’s Team at the Spring Fling #3. Wilson decided to try her hand at the Cat 3/4 event after getting a third place in the 4’s.

There was a break early in the Cat 4 race with a rider from VeloTek and Santa Fe splitting the field. Those two would stay away for the remainder of the 20 minutes while Lynn stayed snug as a bug in the pack until the final push. Third place is an awesome result for only her third crit! Kurt Wilson convinced his wife she should try the 3/4 race too and Lynn held her own with another great result – 6th.

Look for Lynn and the rest of the Chica-D team to put the hurt on as Spring Fling continues.

Dan Turner is a strong rider who has been making a lot of progress. He hasn’t had a ton of experience in the crits, but he found himself in a good postion in Spring Fling #3 thanks to a little help from the rest of the team.

“I started out the CAT 5 race feeling decent after finishing up the 4/5 about an hour earlier… with an almost 25mph avg it was a fast one but I finished with the group. I was worried about how I would feel going into the 5 race after 45 minutes of hard riding, especially after my performance in 5 last week and I didn’t even race the 4/5. Little did I know, some of the experience in the 4/5 would help me out in this event! I knew all of the Big D boys would be pulling hard and ready to push the pace. We talked about pushing it and we did not disappoint. Get it on, gonna get in on, got to get it on!

Unfortunately, we got to the start line late and ended up towards the back of the pack of 40 riders with most of the Sante Fe guys up front. We were outnumbered for sure. At the start there was some surging and I missed getting my left foot clipped in and just as I got it clipped the guy in front of me pulled up and I came real close to falling over. Some choice words were said. By this time the front group had a slight gap down the hill so it was time to stand up and get back in it. Once I reached the back of the front group I settled in around the first turn and moved up to the middle. English Beat, Whales, JT and DanR were riding hard. Dave Whitney was hanging in there too. I knew we had a chance for someone to get on the podium. At this point I never thought it would be me.

It was going to be a short race and things would happen fast; 7 laps or 20 minutes…. just enough time to get warmed up in the 4/5 race. DanR and Whale Doggy took some good pulls! After the sprint lap, which I think DanR pulled everyone around on, I was barely hanging on to the back of the front pack. After turn one I had to stand up to catch back on. I got in and recovered slightly thru the S turn and along the back straight. The legs felt a little tight but I felt pretty good after catching back on. Whales took a pull to the front and then I took a run off the front with about 2 laps left. I dropped it back down before the S curves and got back in and let some of the other guys work the slight hill and back straight. Good time to recover. All the Big D guys were getting together… ready for the last lap. One thing I picked up on was most of the pack seemed to be real tentative going into all the hard turns. I don’t think most of the guys were comfortable hitting those turns at speed (in a pack) and wanted to slow it down before turning in (after doing this for 45min in the 4/5 I was ready and comfortable). You could gap the pack on every turn if you wanted to. With this in mind, on the last lap, I remember coming up thru the S curve and ending up towards the outside down the back straight. I knew if I hit that last right turn balls out, even on the outside, we could get the jump for the sprint. Especially down hill!

I was going to try to lead it out and began moving to the left, accelerating, as everyone was hugging the inside line (right side). I went by JT about 50yds from the final turn and said lets go hoping to lead him out along with Dan R, The Beat and Whale Doggy. I ended up passing the lead guy and was feeling pretty strong and just started mashing it. I hit the corner very hard and realized I was out front and got a good gap going down hill towards the finish. I am not a good sprinter so I decided to stay seated (I may have stood up for a bit but don’t remember) and get up over the pedals as much as possible and hammer it to the finish. Could I hold it? I got passed about half way to the finish and thought I may have a chance for 2nd or 3rd if I could hold it. Another guy got by me right before the line and I was hoping it was JT, who was the best sprinter in our group, but it was another rider. I came across the line and realized I had just finished 3rd. That was my best finish to date (never in the top 10) and like I mentioned earlier I never thought it would have been me. It looks like Big D ended up 3rd, 4th (DanR), 5th (JT), 7th(English Beat), and 9th(Whale Doggy). Great job guys and cudo’s to Dave Whitney and Dave Chapman for coming out, racing, and hanging in there.”

James “Skittles” Summers and Ryan Rochford came in third and fourth at the first Perry Road race. This difficult course was made even more challenging with a crazy wind, but the dynamic duo once again worked well together, with some help from Paul Aldeguer. Read Ryan’s extensive race report here. It’s a real nail-biter!

The Big D Women’s Team also known as “Team Chica-D” notched their first win of the season with a first place in the women’s 4’s by Lynn Wilson! Her race was combined with some of the Masters categories and the other women’s field, so she used those numbers to her advantage, shielding herself from the wind and making her move when the time was right.

“The pack was getting blown around a lot and you really had to be on your toes. The first lap there were no breaks and the pack pretty much stayed together until the first time up the hill when the pack began to splinter a little bit. For the most part, everybody was able to regroup as we went across the dam,” Said Wilson. “Entering the third lap, there were still several cat 4 women in the main pack and I knew the race would be decided on the last hill. I stayed tucked in the group as long as possible and as some of my competitors started to fall off the pace, I knew it was time to put the hammer down. Not looking back, I found myself unchallenged at the top. I placed 1st in my division and fourth out of the combined group!”  Look for Lynn to be a force in future races and even more of a threat for Big D as her teammates join her this season.

In other racing, Lynn Wilson’s husband, Kurt, came in 8th in the Cat4 mens race. Shawn Hawkins finished just outside the top ten in the 5’s, and the Senior contingent had a strong showing in the 60+ race, with Donavon Hottman finishing third, and the two Bills; Mason and Wells, each getting top tens.