Weekend Review - April 24 & 25 - early report

With cold rain covering much of the region, this was one springtime weekend to be remembered for a while. Soggy shoes and embrocation were the norm. Even up in Minnesota, at the Ken Woods Memorial Road Race, they got rain in the morning. Field sizes seemed moderate but most fields drew riders in from surrounding states.  In the Pro 1/2, Grand Stay Hotels put 4 riders into the top 5, Pat Lemieux took the Collegiate A race, and Leah Prudhomme won the Women's Pro 1/2 event. You can find many great photos from there at SkinnySki.Com.
Moving down to Iowa and the Old Capitol Criterium weekend, Steve Tillford has a nice write up of what went down in the Pro 1/2 road race on Saturday (official results are not yet online) and in the 33rd Old Capitol Criterium on Sunday, Pat Lemieux took the win with a nice solo effort. 

At the Big Shark Tour of St. Louis Saturday morning there was the Carondolet Circuit race in the morning (photos) and the Big Bottom Time Trial in the afternoon. The TT had to be stopped half way due to lightning, hail, and tornado warnings.
Despite the conditions, Don Lowe took the opening TT with a blistering average speed of 29.775 mph. 

Here in Wisconsin, it was time to pretend you were Belgian again as the temperatures never got out of the 40's and the water never stopped running through your toes. Fresh from his own cycling trip from Belgium, Luke Seemann (ChicagoBikeRacing.Com) gives an excellent report on conditions in Hales Corners: "As soon as I stopped riding, I started trembling with cold. I was soaked, and my feet felt like bricks. Quickly I headed to the car and cranked up the heat." No strangers to this type of weather, Cole House (BMC) was present to show everyone how it's done across the pond as well as IS Corp's Tristan Schouten (raced UCI level 'cross in Belgium) who took this day's Pro race as well as Sunday's Fast and Furious race on Sunday in Fitchburg. Of course Schouten lives in Sheboygan, right on Lake Michigan, and it's always cold there anyway.  Andrew Zens of Chicago's Team Spidermonkey also shares his race stories.
No results coming out of Michigan or Ohio just yet, so let's wrap this up with a little video from our WiSport friends who share their experiences from Saturday: