2012 Snake Alley

IOWA: Burlington - Snake Alley Criterium - RESULTS PHOTOS -Saturday, May 26, 2012 was the 30th annual Snake Alley Criterium in Burlington, Iowa. Attracting racers, this year, from 25 states and 2 Canadian Provinces, this race is still a defining event in many racer's careers. If you're a REAL racer, then you HAVE to race the Snake at least once. (AR, AZ, CO, FL, GA, IA, IL, IN, KY, MI, MN, MO, MS, NC, ND, NE, OH, OK, ON, PA, SK, TN, TX, UT, VA, WI, WY)

The 4 day weekend of racing began on Friday with the Burlington road race. 95 miles for the Pro 1/2s. Jacob Rytlewski took the win in style by coming in solo, breaking away from the leaders with six miles remaining. The Iowa Hawkeye reveals: "We were in a big group and nobody was working together so I just attacked and got a gap," Rytlewski said. "I thought if I kept going hard maybe they wouldn't work together to chase back on so I could go by myself."

Luzadder knew Rytlewski was not coming back.

"I kind of knew once he got 100 meters, he's not coming back. He's a pretty strong rider," said Luzadder.

Category 1-2 Pro

1. Jacob Rytlewski, Brownsburg, Ind.; 2. Weston Luzadder, Indianapolis; 3. Zach Reed, Edwardsville, Ill.; 4. Bob Stumpf, Bonel, Pa.; 5. Ben Anderson, Madison, Wis.; 6. David Hauber, Clarksville, Ind.; 7. Robert White Jr., Brown Deer, Wis.; 8. Michael Sencenbaugh, Carroll; 9. Andrew Otte, West Lafayette, Ind.; 10. Paul Deninger, Iowa City.

11. Josh Gillinghan, Thunder Bay, Ontario; 12. Billy Jones, Milwaukee, Wis.; 13. Mike Sherer, Glencoe, Ill.; 14. Spencer Oswald, Dubuque; 15. Daniel Holt, Atlanta; 16. Jim Vandeven, Crystal City, Mo.; 17. Adam Kaye, Ann Arbor, Mich.; 18. Nicholas Ramirez, Normal, Ill.; 19. Ryan Sullivan, Nashville, Tenn.; 20. Matias Perrett, Iowa City.

21. Andrew Lister, Springfield, Ill.; 22. Brian Rach, Chilton, Wis.; 23. Willy Zellmer, St. Louis; 24. David Carpenter, Norwalk; 25. Matt Zimmer, DeWitt.

Then on Saturday came the big one - the Snake Alley Criterium with it's famed cobble stoned climb of 5 switchbacks and pitches reaching 21%. Paul Martin (Panther p/b Competitive Cyclist) came up the victor in the Pro 1/2 event in his 15th try.  Again, The Iowa Hawkeye gives us the full story (check the Hawkeye for more race stores on other categories including Cat. 5!):

He started in 84th position in the 118-rider field.

Martin's and Aitcheson's teammate, Chris Uberti, stayed near the front early, as various riders attacked off the front, testing the chase group. Each time, the lead was reeled back in, and the game started again.

By lap 10 of the 20-lap race, Martin had worked his way into the lead. He and Luca Damiani opened a 20-second gap on the chase group.

Just a couple of laps later, the duo had been caught and brought back into the pack. That is when Martin, Aitcheson and Neff broke away.

"Ryan's a superfast sprinter so I knew when we were with the guy in the orange jersey (Neff) we probably had the advantage if we just kept a good tempo and kept him fresh for sprinting," Martin said. "He was so strong with four laps to go, he was just riding the other guy right out of our group."

By lap 17, Martin and Aitcheson were on their own and pulling away from the field. But they did not know that.

"Frankly I wasn't sure we were in the lead," said Martin. "I thought there was still someone up the road. Our teammates on the hill confirmed (we were leading)."

All that was left was deciding the finish order for the teammates. But when they came down Jefferson the final time, instead of picking up speed and sprinting to the line, they held hands and rode across together.

"I'm oldest so I called the seniority card," said Martin, who at 39 is 19 years older than his teammate. "Our team, he's a sprinter and we're going to be leading him out all season long. That's one of my duties. This is one of the few races I have a chance to win. He let me have it."

PLACE	NUMBER	NAME	CITY	STATE	CLUB
1	84	PAUL MARTIN	NORTH ROYALTON	OH	PANTHER/RGF PB FELT BICYCLES
2	50	RYAN AITCHESON	KITCHENER	ON	PANTHER P/B COMPETITIVE CYCLISTCYCLING CLUB
3	63	ALEX VANIAS	LEROY	MI	BISSELL-ABG-NUVO
4	71	ISAAC NEFF	MADISON	WI	5NINES
5	7	ANDREW DILLMAN	FAIRDALE	KY	TEXAS ROADHOUSE
6	14	ZACH REED	EDWARDSVILLE	IL	DOGFISH CYCLING
7	20	TRISTAN SCHOUTEN	PLYMOUTH	WI	ISCORP
8	85	NICK FREY	FORT COLLINS	CO	BOO BICYCLES
9	88	DANIEL HOLT	ATLANTA	GA	TEAM TYPE 1 DEVELOPMENT
10	65	WESTON LUZADDER	INDIANAPOLIS	IN	BISSELL-ABG-NUVO
11	23	CHRIS UBERTI	CINCINNATI	OH	PANTER/COMPETITIVE CYCLIST
12	5	BRIAN JENSEN	LAWRENCE	KS	TRADEWIND ENERGY
13	113	MATIAS PERRET	IOWA CITY	IA	ICCC
14	19	DAN AJER	FITCHBURG	WI	GREAT DANE VELO CLUB
15	60	LIAM DONOGHUE	CHICAGO	IL	XXX RACING
16	102	PAT LEMIEUX	ST. PAUL	MN	KENDA 5 HOUR ENERGY
17	67	MAC BRENNAN	EAST JORDAN	MI	BISSELL-ABG-NUVO

Photo: Unknown - Facebook

For the women, it was the Little Badger (Le Petite Blairelle),  Kaitlin Antonneau coming up with the goods in their Cat. 1/2/3 race. Second place was Jeannie Kuhajek, the New Zealand rider racing for PSIMET on her 'winter' break.

PLACE	NUMBER	NAME	CITY	STATE	CLUB
1	16	KAITLIN ANTONNEAU	RACINE	WI	EXERGYTWENTY12
2	17	JEANNIE KUHAJEK	CRYSTAL LAKE	IL	PSIMET RACING
3	19	EMMA BAST	MINNEAPOLIS	MN	SPEED FIX P/B ZUBAZ
4	3	KIM EPPEN	IOWA CITY	IA	MERCY SPECIALIZED
5	27	DEBBIE MILNE	BELDEN	MS	ABSOLUTE RACING/MSMOC
6	22	HAYLEY GIDDENS	MILWAUKEE	WI	ISCORP CYCLING TEAM
7	15	LEAH KLEAGER	OMAHA	NE	MIDWEST CYCLING COMMUNITY
8	14	NICOLE MERTZ	ROBBINSDALE	MN	UNIV OF MINNESOTA
9	18	TERRA JAMES	MINNEAPOLIS	MN	ANGIE'S KETTLE CORN
10	13	BRIANA CLARK	CARMEL	IN	RACING FOR RILEY
11	24	ASHLEY JENSEN	KENOSHA	WI	IS CORP
12	8	ANDREA PETHER	LAKE GENEVA	WI	ISCORP
13	26	VANESSA CURTIS	IOWA CITY	IA	IOWA CITY CYCLING CLUB
14	7	KELLI RICHTER	LIBERTYVILLE	IL	PSIMET/ENZO'S
15	23	ZOE REKER	LITTLE CANADA	MN	ISCORP