2010 LaCrosse Fitness Festival Criterium

As part of the Second Annual LaCrosse Fitness festival that included running races, bike rides, and seminars, the second annual edition of Festival Criterium was held on Sunday May 2nd, 2010 at Riverside Park, right on the Mississippi river, and just two blocks from downtown LaCrosse. With absolutely perfect weather, there was a good rider turnout from Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, Michigan, and even some from Thunder Bay, Ontario and Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Actually, the racing began Saturday with a citizens 2.4 mile individual time trial up the infamous Grandad's Bluff, a brute of a road, climbing out of the Mississippi river valley. This was won by Ian Stanford (Grandstay) in 8 min 40 seconds. 

Sunday had the criterium racing on the 0.7 mile city criterium course. Morning events included the Jr. 10-14 won by Garrett Roth (IS Corp), 2nd Christopher Sodergren (Baraboo Sharks), and Sam Beste (IS Corp) third. Thomson Remo (IS Corp) won the Jr 15-18 , Jordan Cullen 2nd (Flanders), with Lionel Rocheleau (Geargrinder) 3rd. Masters 50+ saw John Van Susteren (LAPT) ride away with Gordy Paulson (Planet Bike) and despite a fairly organized chase, they were never caught.

Men Cat 4/5 were next out and this group set the tone for the rest of the day that being that turn one, was the 'crash turn'. A number of riders went down in several separate incidents, usually the result of a rider hitting his inside pedal which sent them literally flying over the curb and onto the sidewalk. The result of the race's last crash was that three riders got away and built a 20 second gap, however the horsepower it contained was just not enough and two of the three were brought back into the field. Mankato rider Toby Henkels (unatt), with his number pinned on upside down in true Cat. 5 tradition, rode strongly however and stayed away for a convincing victory. Pat Diamond (Geargrinder) was second, Paul Kumm (IS Corp) 3rd. The one Grand Performance rider who face planted turn one did decide to go to the E.R. for evaluation after some thought, so we hope all is well and that he's back on the bike soon!


The Masters Cat 4/5 riders on the local Brones squad demonstrated great team work by getting two of their riders in a 7 man break, while the remaining 4 or 5 effectively discouraged the chase to the point where the break got a lap up on the field. The only time it happened today. Too bad they didn't get the victory though. That went to Dave Gray (Flanders), John Franceschi (Geargrinder) was 2nd, Barney Sheafor (Fisher) 3rd.


Women's Open included all categories today and only the strong survived to contest the sprint. That was led by the strongest of them all, Linda Sone (Flanders) in convincing fashion. 2nd was Bianca Bergman (Texas Roadhouse), 3rd Katie Spittlehouse of Canada (Thunder Bay CC).

Master's 3/4 went without incident until about lap 20 when the "turn one meat grinder" was turned back on. Several riders were swept clean off the course just as had happened earlier, and just like in the earlier race, this set up four riders nicely off the front. Unfortunately, only two of the four had the speed to take advantage of the situation, and  were actually able to almost lap the field ...  sprinting just behind them as they finished. Jeff Melcher (Team Extreme) from West Bend held off local rider Josh Shively (LaCrosse VC) for the victory, Canadian Marian Pyszczek (Lifesport) of Winnepeg, MB took 3rd.

Masters 1/2/3 lived up to expectations as a blistering war on wheels. Multiple attacks were all neutralized over time and it came down to a one lap test of tactics and speed. On the bell it was Grand Performance and Grandstay at the front, pouring on the coals, but neatly tucked in the draft was IS Corp's super hero Chris Halverson (IS Corp) ,and right on his wheel was former Tour de France professional Jeff Bradley (Velosport IA). Halverson was first through the last turn, and first across the line. Bradley was 4th through the last turn - second across the line, and Scott Flanders (Flanders) was 3rd, but just barely.

Men Category 3 was another big focus of the local team RVCC/Brones. They managed to keep it all together until the closing laps when they sent a single rider off in search of victory. It looked like he might just hold his 20 second gap to the end, but with two laps to go, he was brought back and caught. Sitting in and resting this whole time, Garrett Ping (RVCC/Brones)  launched his winning field sprint just nipping Travis Heller (Team Extreme), and Nickolas Frye (Team Wisconsin) for an exciting victory right on the line!

You know that the racing season is in full swing when the Pro 1/2 event is the main event of the day, not the Cat. 4's, and nobody has to tell you that because you get chills up and down your spine from the anticipation. So it was today, as the largest field of the day (70) lined up and listened to an excellent live singing of the national anthem. Right off the bat, a number of riders tried to force the winning break, perhaps looking to get a lap up, but the correct combination of riders were never up the road, and the one's left behind were never happy. In fact, the racing got quite aggressive at times as evidenced by the loud discussions between the riders, but everyone was well behaved and kept their hands to themselves and on the bars where they belonged. 
Half way through, 11 riders did eventually escape including last year's second place, Pat Lemieux (Texas Roadhouse), and the winner of yesterday's Tour de Sauk, Jordan Roessingh (IS Corp). So, now all the major teams were present up the road and they gained time on the field: IS Corp, Flanders, Grandstay, Grand Performance, and Texas Roadhouse. In the closing laps, Pat Lemieux launched his own bid for victory from this lead group, perhaps to revenge his 2nd last year, but Tim Mulrooney (Synergy), and Brian Rach (IS Corp) still had enough gas in the tank to chase him back down. First across the line was 42 year old Mulrooney, easily taking the win over Lemieux and Rach. Ian Stanford (Grandstay), winner of the uphill TT on Saturday, was dropped from the break and just held off the field sprint for 11th over Colton Barrett (Grandstay). Bergman was 14th, Bradley 15th, Remo 46th, Sedgwick 47th. It was a fine ending to an excellent two days of racing in Western Wisconsin.