Don’t let the cold temperatures and frigid wind chills keep you from exploring the great scenery and outdoors that the Kansas City area has to offer. Wear some base layers, use some of this stuff (thanks Chamois Butt’r!), and enjoy the camaraderie of your teammates.

There are bald eagles in the Dotte, graffiti in Fairfax, low traffic/safe roads in Leavenworth County, and pleasant slipstreams behind your teammates. It’s all about that Base. Roll Big D Cycling!

30 seconds after taking this picture, Greg Vaught could not find his bike …

Jim Clevenger drank special coffee on the morning of August 10, giving him delusions of grandeur or possibly giving him enough giddiness to think he could stay in a breakaway for 67 miles to earn a podium finish. Clevenger saw an opportunity to exploit a gap about five miles into the 72-mile road race. Five racers got clear, including two time trial specialists along with Clevenger.

After a short while, one of the breakaway racers was shot off the back and swallowed up by the peloton, leaving the breakaway with four racers. As this was occurring, Joe Kleidosty and Greg Vaught were working well with Jay Hawkins, who also had a team mate in the breakaway, to disrupt the chase and any organization efforts in the peloton. At one point, the gap was approaching one minute. Kleidosty was optimistic that Clevenger and his breakaway could take it to the finish, but a stiff headwind from the north was too much for the 4-person breakaway to handle.

The peloton caught the breakaway around the 53-mile mark of the race. Clevenger did not get a podium finish, but his breakaway efforts put pressure on the main leaders in the peloton to do a lot of work to catch the breakaway. It also pulled the wheel vehicle up to the breakaway, leaving one of the lead cyclists in the peloton without a spare wheel when he got a flat tire well into the race. Kudos to Clevenger for putting in such a strong effort to change the dynamics of the race up.

Kleidosty came up short by half a wheel length out of a top five finish, coming in sixth overall. Clevenger placed third in Masters 50+ category, while Greg Vaught battled some difficult cramping issues to place sixth in Masters 50+. Doug Young unfortunately flatted out in the first lap.

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

The Kansas State Road Race Age Group Championship took place in Arma, KS, on August 2. Racers were greeted with near perfect conditions for the 13-mile circuit course, which included a 500-meter long climb within a mile of the finish.

Donavon Hottman and Bill Wells earned silver and bronze, respectively for their efforts in the 65-69 age category, over the 26-mile course.

Frank Quinlan was a little off his game at the road race, but made up for that on the following day in the criterium races on the Pittsburgh State University campus. Quinlan outpaced his top KBAR competitor, David Wamsley, in pursuit of a podium finish in the KBAR series. The trio of Hottman, Quinlan and Wells have been frequent competitors in the KBAR 65+ races this year, fine tuning their race stategies as the season has progressed.

Greg Vaught strung the field out on a hill climb in the Men’s 50+ race, helping to secure silver for Jim Clevenger and bronze for Vaught in the 50-54 age category.

In the Men’s 35-49 age race, Kurt Wilson had a great race, placing sixth overall in a stacked field. Joe Kleidosty earned a silver medal in the 40-44 age category.

Nigel Vaught continued with his Midas touch, earning gold in the 11-12 age category.

Another successful weekend of racing, getting our title sponsor Keen Wealth Advisors on the podium in several categories!

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

Big D cyclists descended upon the state capital on July 18-20 to claim medals across three different cycling disciplines: time trial, criterium and road racing. In addition to being part of the Sunflower State Games (SSG), the criterium race on Saturday and the road race on Sunday were also part of the KBAR/KBAT series.

The highlight of the series was that Jim Clevenger, Joe Kleidosty and Nigel Vaught each won the omnium for their respective age categories. Most impressively, Vaught earned his omnium trophy by placing first in each of the disciplines, with no help from any team mates. For being his first year of competitive cycling at such a young age, Vaught is showing much promise.

Clevenger and Kleidosty earned their omnium trophies with the help of their team mates, in particular during the road races. To shed some light on the team work, let’s take a closer look at the Masters 40+ road race. Paul Aldeguer and Kleidosty found themselves in a six-man breakaway after splitting the 14-person field up on a series of attacks leading up to the feed zone area. In one attack made by Aldeguer, he joined a Midwest Masters cyclist that required three of the stronger cyclists in the field to work together at a high pace to reel them back in, softening them up before the toughest climb on the course.

Jay Hawkins, Brian Peters, and Steven Wathke slipped away on the climb at the neutral feed zone. It took some serious effort by Kleidosty to pull Aldeguer and Steven Baxter back to the lead group, with speeds topping 49 mph on the descent. Once the six-man breakaway organized, they started a fast pace line to ensure no one came back up to their group. As the breakaway approached closer to the finish, Kleidosty and Aldeguer quit pulling through, and the pace slowed down.

Eventually, Kleidosty found himself on the front, pushing an easy pace. As the breakaway headed south into a moderate headwind, prior to the final turn west to the finish line, Aldeguer came to the front to shelter Kleidosty. After a short, punchy climb prior to the final turn, there were still no attacks from the field. Kleidosty slowed his pace down, allowing Aldeguer to get a gap of 30 feet or so. After the field saw the gap lengthening, the others attacked to grab Aldeguer’s wheel. Kleidosty followed suit, and the attacks and counter attacks started happening. Hawkins and Peters got clear for gold and silver, respectively. Kleidosty was able to get into Baxter’s slip stream on the final sprint and overtook him before the finish line for bronze, with Aldeguer coming in sixth. It truly was a great display of team work to get the podium finish and seal up the omnium win for Kleidosty.

In other SSG road race news, our Masters 50+ and Masters 60+ racers had three team members participate in each category, earning great KBAT points. Clevenger took silver in Masters 50+, with Greg Vaught and Doug Young coming in fifth and seventh, respectively. Donavon Hottman led our Masters 60+ crew with a sixth place finish, with Bill Wells and Frank Quinlan crossing the line in tenth and eleventh place, respectively.

Roberta Dierks was the lone woman in pink to compete, but she made it count, earning a silver and second place points in the KBAR series. Only five KBAR races remain for the season, so full participation will be required for the team’s final push in the standings!

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

Big D Cycling descended upon Stilwell, KS, for the annual State Line Road Race, but it was the competitors of a smaller stature that wreaked havoc on the fields on July 13.

Peter Whalen and Nigel Vaught combined forces for another one-two punch in the Juniors Age 9-13 race, which consisted of one challenging 8.5-mile lap, earning gold and silver respectively. Whalen went off the front towards the end of the race, with Vaught close behind. In fact, Whalen just crossed the finish line as the Men’s Master field darted by on one of their six laps.

As Greg Vaught approached the end of his first lap, he saw his son Nigel spinning his legs around in rapid fashion. The elder Vaught yelled, “Bigger gear, Nigel! Bigger gear!”, in an attempt to get him in the proper gear for a more efficient pedal stroke. Nigel exclaimed later that it was fun to race with the bigger guys.

It’s exciting to see our juniors learn, excel and race together. Our title sponsor, Keen Wealth Advisors, is playing a key role in promoting juniors racing in this area. Keen’s generous donations allows for junior racing fees to be kept low, with several races being free or as low as $5.

In other action, Kurt Wilson continued with great success in the Masters 40+ race, which traversed 51 miles and consisted of six grueling climbs on the road east towards the finish line. Wilson attacked during the race, keeping others on alert and earned a top 5 finish. Paul Aldeguer was close behind, coming in at seventh place.

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