John Taton cleaned up on points in the Cat5 race in the second week of racing at Spring Fling in Lawrence.  JT sat out last week to get ready for Froze Toes, but was out in force with his Big D teammates this week.  Taton along with Antoine Winkelmolen, Dan Turner, and Stephen Whalen worked hard to get a podium placing and collect points for the series.

Leading up to the first Sprint, Whalen lead Taton out and created a gap between the contenders and the field, “I think JT got 2nd, but once the sprint was all over, the small group reorganized and started to work together,” said Whalen. JT was winded so I helped him bridge the gap so he didn’t drop off.”  The small group of six to eight riders kept their breakaway going and helped Taton finish things off in third place.

Look for Big D to have an even bigger contingent next week in all the races, including the women’s 4’s!

This was the second weekend for the Spring Fling criterium series in Lawrence.  Shawn Knight continued his dominance with a big win in the Cat4/5 event, to go with his strong showing on points from last week.  The numbers aren’t in quite yet, but it looks like “The Bat” is the man to beat in the series.  He has been right there in all the intermediate sprints, and took fourth last week in the series opener.  Here is his recap of the race:

“The race started off with a fast pace set by VeloTech from the whistle for about 5-6 laps with an average speed around 25 mph. After the pace slowed, members of Big D grouped and were ready for the first sprint. The wind was coming out of the NW and there would be a headwind for the sprint. The bell sounded for and the pace quickly picked up again. I was sitting in the pack with Whalen, Twan, John T and Ron close by. With the wind coming from right to left on the back strait, one rider jumped and no one wanted to chase. The field realized what had happened and attempted to cut the gap only to allow Ron and myself to be set-up for a head wind sprint. Ron lead me through the last right handed corner with 200 yards left for the line. I had a good cadence and put my head down and finished the sprint in second. We were not able to catch the lone break away rider.

Immediately after the sprint Twan broke off the front to attempt to break up the field, and it seemed to work. He almost dropped me as it was very difficult to hang onto the tail end of the group.

The bell rang for the second sprint, and I mentioned to Ron that this was set-up for him. Positioned behind a couple other riders, shielding himself from the wind, Ron rounded the final corner in second position and ended up third on the sprint.

Eight laps left into he race and it was Big D’s turn at the front. First, Whalen jumped on the inside on the back-side of the course making every one on the front panic and attempt to catch. The pace was quickly increasing, and as they caught Steve on the back stretch, the group came together and slowed, then it was Twan’s turn to go off the front and the same thing happened. With a couple laps left in the race, John T and Steve were planning a break, but Steve got boxed in and John was by himself. This was excellent for Big D because we did not have to chase and it made Velo Tech and other riders work harder. As they pulled John back, the bell rang for the final lap and everyone was fighting for position. Twan was in front of me, and Ron was positioned to the right, and Whalen and John T. were right behind me. On the back side of the course, as we were going through the “S” turns, one rider got pushed off the road and into the grass, but was able to stay upright. The race was approaching the back straight, and Big D was positioned perfectly. It was Twan, Ron, then myself on the left side of the pack, shielded from the wind by the other riders. The pack attempted to move to the left, but there was no room. Ron got pushed off the road and into the gravel, and made an excellent recovery to get back onto the road and only lost a couple pedal strokes in the process.

About 700 yards to go, Twan powered up his big diesel engine and accelerated with Ron on his wheel and me attempting to hang on. Twan got the three of us in the front of the main group with 450 yards and one corner left into he race. Ron Marney took over from there, powering his way into the corner with me attempting to stay on his wheel, but unfortunately, another rider cut in on my right side and had the inside line on the last right hand corner before the finish. Ron increased his speed through the corner and the other guy broke for his sprint at the apex. I came out of Ron’s draft and moved over behind the other rider with a high cadence in attempt to stay with the him. I put my head down with about 100 to go and I could see that I was gaining, but it was going to be close. With about 20 yards left I had more speed and was even with the other rider and took the victory by less than a bike length.

Ron Marney held on for 3rd place. It was a great race for Big D, and I could not have done it with out the help of my awesome teammates.

Afterward, a member from another team was talking about how well Big D worked together for the victory, and that they wish they could get members of their team to do the same thing.

Again I would like to thank John T, Steve W, Twan and Ron for their hard efforts in getting Big D to the top of the Podium.”

Race pace: 24 mph for 44 minutes.

Shawn’s average HR: 170 bpm

Max speed:  36 mph

The team competed in several events on Sunday at the Froze Toes road races in Columbia MO.  The Big D “Keen Green” was out in force and really worked well together as a team!  Read on to learn more. We have a few great race reports to share.

Our numbers were biggest in the Cat 5 event with ten.  We had 5 riders in the top ten. Here’s the report from John Taton who finished 2nd:

“As the race started with the tail wind, the pace was fast as expected. About 7 miles into in, 2 riders tried to break and I went with them just to see if the field would react, which they did. Quickly we let up and set back in the pack. After turning into the wind heading south, Shawn, I and one other rider put in an effort to try to get away. Looking back, we could see the field single-file which meant they were chasing us into the head wind so we let up, and set in to start thinking about the finish. Turning west with 5 miles left, the pace was high, and hard to get a draft unless you wanted to ride in the ditch. Out of the 30-man field, the finishing group was quite a bit smaller. Not sure how many. Half way up the hill to the finish line is when everyone started their accelerations. To get the good draft to slingshot someone in the sprint, you really needed to be on the right side of them. With a good lead out from Shawn, I was able to pull a 4th place finish. (Thanks Shawn!) Overall, it was a fun race. Looking forward to the next one!”

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Kurt’s wife, Lynn competed in the women’s Cat 4 in her first ever road race for the Big D women’s team.  She had a great showing for team “Chica-D” with a 7th place, in a race where the wind tore the field apart:

 

“This was my first road race and was not sure what to expect.  The women’s Cat 1,2,3, & 4 all started together with a group of about 20.  Kurt and I discussed before the race how it might be a little spicy going out with the tail wind.  And it was!  I found myself caught behind a couple of slower riders and noticed the pack riding away (rookie mistake) and bridged back to the main pack.  The pack was still together, minus a few riders that were dropped due to the fast pace early on, as we started heading south into the wind.  Things stayed pretty calm with a few failed breaks until 4 women got away with about 6 miles left to go.  I missed the break and tried to chase them down but was not able to bridge in the stout wind.  My last 5 miles was basically a time trial into the wind to the finish.  There was no pack sprint in the women’s field just staggered finishes.  I’m happy with my finish and learned a lot from this race and look forward to taking what I have learned and experienced into the next race.  Thanks everyone for the support and I will see you at the first Perry Dam Race!”

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Ryan Rochford was the only Big D competitor in the Cat 3/4 race, so he enlisted some help from his friend, James Summers, aka “Skittles” for a great result:

“I was in the 30ish mile 3/4 race because I wasn’t in the mood to ride 60 miles in the ridiculous wind today.  The race started in a different location this year, providing more of a “hilltop” finish.  I stopped at McDonalds for some pre-race fuel and showed up to register with about 40 minutes until the race started.  Luckily I had enough time to realize that my powertap hub was acting funky so Shawn helped me throw another wheel on right before the start of the race.  The race started to the West with a short neutral section.  As soon as we turned North, it was on…and so was the tailwind.  We were comfortably cruising near 30mph, just getting our chit chat on.  A few people put in some digs, yours truly included, but nothing that was going to break the group apart.  I ended up rotating at the front with a few other guys for a while and then realized that was a dumb idea so I wised up and drifted back about 10 spots to relax.  Things stayed pretty calm as we turned East, since the Southwesterly wind was still providing a nice tailwind.

As soon as we turned South, things started getting interesting.  I’ll preface this with a conversation I had with James “Skittles” Summers in the car on the way to the race.  We decided that ideally, one of us would end up off the front in a small breakaway and the other would not chase immediately (if too many guys go, the whole group goes).  The other guy would wait patiently until the gap grew fairly large and then put in a big effort to bridge up to the breakaway and hopefully not bring many people with him.

Back to the actual race.  We turn south and shortly after, Skittles goes off the front with two other guys.  I dutifully waited near the front of the peloton to let the gap grow big enough to discourage people from bridging, but not so big that I couldn’t bridge it myself.  Now, keep in mind the wind is howling, mostly in our faces, at 20mph gusting up in the 30’s.  I let the gap grow, and when it looked about right, I decided it was time to get myself up there.  Unfortunately for me, one of the guys in the break had a teammate sitting right in front of me in the peloton, happily blocking.  Next to him was a rather large fellow, who seemed to have no intention of moving.  On the other side was a not so large guy, but big enough to take up the remainder of the road and not let me through.  I’m 2nd row, and can’t get out!  Sh*t!!!  I was poking my front wheel into any gap I could find, trying to wedge my way through.  Finally, after about 2 or 3 minutes, I was able to get my wheel in between the big dude, and the blocking teammate enough that they had to let me squeeze between them or we’d all crash.  As soon as they gave me my space, I gunned it hard enough to keep any stragglers from grabbing my wheel, but not so hard that I’d blow up halfway across the abyss I had to cross to the break.  I put my head down and pedaled.  I’d check my heart rate occasionally to make sure I was keeping things under control.  When I saw 195bpm, I backed off a little.  I was about 3/4 of the way to the break and didn’t want to blow up now.  I gritted my teeth, kept low, and finally latched onto the breakaway.  Skittles looked back and saw me and we both knew our plan was working to perfection.  We were in a break of 4 guys and, to my surprise, we all started working together like we were best friends.

After a couple of minutes of working together, we had two more guys join the breakaway, making a solid 6-man break with a good chance of sticking.  When I was rotating around the back, I’d glance back down the road and could see that nobody else was attempting to bridge.  So, this was our little circle of pain for the next 45 minutes.  We rotated the paceline fairly well, and I continually glanced at my computer to see how many more miles of this torture were left to go.  We made the final right hand turn to the West, marking 6 miles left in the race.  The wind was a little less brutal in this direction, but still not exactly pleasurable.  There were a few hills we all climbed steadily, but nobody made any moves yet.  As the miles went on, our friendships began to fade.  We talked to and praised each other less and now we just eyeballed each other to see who was looking strong or twitchy.  The paceline stopped rotating smoothly.  We had a big enough gap on the rest of the field that they weren’t a factor anymore.

I knew the finish was approaching pretty quickly so I stopped working for the most part.  I sat on the wheel of the tallest guy in the group, trying to rest as much as possible for the inevitable sprint.  We passed the 1k to go sign and I was sitting 3rd wheel, Skittles sitting 5th.  I was trying to figure out how I was going to shift as quietly as possible and get a jump on everybody.  With about 500m to go, I shifted 2 gears as quick as I could and popped out of the saddle, gunning it as hard as I could to get a gap.  I flew by the guys in front of me and knew I had them beat.  Behind me were 3 other guys chasing me down and I just needed to keep my power up for a few hundred more meters and I’d have the race won.  Yeah, it’s easy to talk about, but doing it is another thing.  I could hear somebody gaining on me pretty quickly and got passed with about 200m to go.  I shifted to a harder gear and pushed it as hard as I could.  I looked back and could see one more guy coming pretty hard.  I shifted another gear and gave it whatever was left in my legs and the guy chasing me sat up.  I couldn’t catch the guy in front of me and crossed the line in 2nd.  Skittles ended up 4th.  I’m pretty happy with my fitness at this point in the season, but I guess I’m gonna need some more sprint intervals to get my sprint where it needs to be.”