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.
Hottman and Wells on the Arma podium!
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.
Wells, Quinlan, and Hottman in Arma, KS.
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.
Clev digging deep in the first turn after the finish line, with Vaught close behind.
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.
Clevenger, Vaught, and Kleidosty with their omnium trophies
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.
Quinlan (rear), Hottman (front), and Wells (center) also found success in Saturday’s criterium, finishing fourth, fifth and seventh 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.
Whalen and Vaught with gold and silver, respectively.
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.
Kurt putting the pressure on the field.Little Paul shows no signs of exhaustion, always cool and collected to strike fear in others.
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.
Aside from the sweltering heat that beat down racers at the Tour of Kansas City criterium races on Saturday, June 21, in Lee’s Summit, Missouri, racers were greeted with light winds and sunny skies. The heat index, though, made the challenging course even tougher, testing racers ability to handle the heat while cutting tricky corners throughout the course.
Kurt Wilson showed some true grit in his Masters 40+ criterium race. He was trying to stay towards the front of the pack, and he could see the pack was thinning as the race progressed. About midway through the race, in an attempt to avoid a rider that crashed in a corner, he ended up taking a bad line and took a tumble in the grass.
“I sprang up and no cuts. Bike was good – just chain came off and that was it,” Wilson said after the race. Wilson took his free lap and cemented himself in the lead group again. With a couple of laps to go, the eventual winner of the race, Bob Cummings, shot off the front and opened up a gap. Wilson’s chase group of five attempted to close the gap, but they could not match the strength of Cummings in the muggy heat.
Wilson was able to sprint to a fifth place finish in a stacked field of tough competitors.
Kurt Wilson gritting out a corner, with Paul Aldeguer close behind.
The Big D Cycling team had many other success on this day in Lee’s Summit. Jim Clevenger placed seventh in his competitive Masters 50+ field. In the Masters 60+ field, Donavon Hottman and Frank Quinlan took fourth and fifth, respectively. With the team’s eye on the future, Peter Whalen and Nigel Vaught also did well in their first criterium races, placing fourth and sixth, respectively, in the Junior 9-14 age category.
Jim Clevenger cutting a tight line in the first corner of the Tour of KC Masters 50+ criterium race.
Steve and Amy VanNieuwenhuyse, new members to Big D Cycling in 2014, each participated in their first criterium races, as well. Steve raced aggressively in his Category 5 race, leading in the first lap and doing most of the pulling for his chase group. Steve was able to hold out for a fifth place finish. Amy, meanwhile, learned she can hang with the more experienced racers and earned a fourth place finish in the Masters 40+ women’s category.
Special thanks to Dan Ruettimann Photography for spending the day in the heat with the team to snap these sharp and fun images. See more of Dan’s pics from the early Saturday races here.
I had a great day a couple of weekends ago competing in the Dirty Kanza 200 Gravel Grinder Bike Race through the scenic Flint Hills. Special thanks to Jarred Young and my wife, Barb, for performing support operations for me. They had a great setup for me with shade and chairs and helped keep me stay hydrated, well fed and did the routine maintenance on my bike.
The race started promptly at 6:00 am, and I was lucky to squeeze into a spot on the front row. I knew I was in over my head, but I was just wanting to stay towards the front to avoid getting caught up in any crashes or accidents. The pace was fast as we hit the first stretch of gravel out of town. Lots of dust and rocks were flying around, hitting spokes and frames. It was a bit crazy with people riding in pace lines outside the main tracks. At one time, there were four pace lines, side-by-side.
The day went really well, except for an ill-timed flat front tire at mile 19, when I was still up with the lead group of riders. It took about six minutes to change the tire after examining the tire and the sidewall for cuts or damage. As it turned out, the tire itself was fine, so after installing a new tube, I was back on the road. Now it was on to Madison for the first check point after 50 miles. By the time I arrived in Madison, I was at 2:58 and about 17 minutes behind the leaders, and the field was starting to string out. After a quick seven-minute pit stop at Madison, I was off for the second leg to Cassoday at mile marker 100. There was a lot of climbing on this leg, and, with a Camelbak full of water and two large water bottles, I could feel it on the climbs.
At this point, it was going to end up being a solo push for the next 150 miles to the finish line. I completed the 50 miles to Cassoday in 3:12. At Cassoday, I decided to install my aero bars for the second 100 miles. It took some extra time to install them, but the comfort and aero advantages were worthwhile. So after an 18-minute stop, I was off again at 12:35 pm.
The third leg to Cottonwood Falls was probably the hardest leg of the day. There was a lot of climbing in the beginning of the leg and, with the combination of the extra water weight and tired legs, it made every hill or false flat an effort. Plus the day was heating up and, with the slight tailwind, it was hot grinding the pedals in the sun. This was my slowest leg of the race at 3:26. I was really glad to see my crew in Cottonwood Falls. I didn’t feel like eating, but Barb basically forced me to eat a sandwich and some cookies, followed up by lots of Gatorade and electrolytes. It was 4:20 in the afternoon when I left Cottonwood Falls for the fourth and final 50-mile leg.
At this point, I knew I just had to stay out of trouble and not crash or break something. The cutoff time for the special “Race the Sun” lithograph award was 8:42 pm, so I knew if I finished this leg in under four hours, I would be golden. The last 30 miles of this leg was into a head or cross wind, and I was glad to have my aero bars on. I completed the fourth leg in 3:15 and arrived at the finish line after 203 miles and 9948 feet of climbing at 7:36 pm, for a total time of 13 hours and 36 minutes. I finished in 90th place out of 750 starters.
Fancher finished 10th in his Men’s age category of 50-54!
The beer at Mulready’s never tasted so good afterwards. ~ Paul Fancher
Cheers, Fanch! Congrats on a job well done.
Official Website of the Big D Cycling Team Presented by Keen Wealth Advisors
