It was a busy weekend, so lets get to it.
Minnesota: “Toren Heuvel Kermesse,” Dutch for “Tower Hill Bike Race.” It’s a hilltop finish circuit race on a traditional Flemish style race course. (Groucho Sports) with a 'significant' 1.5 km finishing climb according to the race flyer and a course that's 12.5km long. (map with profile) Word from Big Ring Flyers is that 22 riders were disqualified in the Men's Cat 3/4 race. (Center line violations?) No results to report yet other than Big Ring Flyer's Brad St. Mane scored a win followed by Matt Christiaansen in 3rd.
Wisconsin: On Saturday was the 32nd Annual Fire House 50 citizen's race. The first of 295 finishers was Eric Meier of Baraboo with a winning time of 2:02.06 (results). Here's the video of the finish:
Iowa: Iowa State Road Championships. 108 miles for the Senior Men and the results come from Chad Bishop of Chasing Life. He states that 7 riders went up the road early gaining up to 8 minutes on the the easy going 14 rider field. The last of the break was caught with 9 miles remaining meaning a sprint finish for those left.
Men Pro, 1,2 - Iowa State Road Championship - August 6th, 2011
1. #14 – Matias Perret, ICCC (Gold)
2. #12 – Jared Osterloh, Zealous Racing (Silver)
3. #2 – Brian West, World of Bikes – Bikes To You (Bronze)
Indiana: Warsaw Downtown Classic on Saturday was won by Derek White (Bissel) (
results) and on Sunday was the Indiana State Road Race Championships. We have no idea who won, but here's a
couple of clips of the Pro 1/2 field:.
Illinois: First up - the 2nd Annual Edwardsville Rotary Criterium, held in a town that is approximately 30 miles east of St. Louis.
Steve Tilford has a great race story (as always) from this race as he recounts attempts to capture glory that are dashed and literally left in the curb. No results available other than what's reported in Tilford's report.
The race got some
nice coverage in the
local press and there are a bunch of short clips posted on YouTube:
Tour of Elk Grove Oh sure, we all know that Luis Romero Amaran (Cub) Jamis - Sutter Home won the Pro 1/2 race and you can read that all on
Cycling News. Although they don't mention this as posted by Kenda Pro Cycling on Face Book:
More photos from all categories from
Themiwas.
You want to know what happened in the REAL races .... Cat 5! Say no more. The complete race:
Oh, and remember Ed Veal? He's the rider from the Toronto area that won in Brookfield during Superweek, here's
his story from the Elk Grove time trial:
I went down to Elk Grove thinking I might be able to get a top 15 or
20 and win some money with the way I’ve been riding as of late. I have
had a few short TT’s around the 47km/hour mark and I thought that just
might be good enough to be competitive down here. Likely you can already
tell from what I have written so far things didn’t go as planned. I was
one of the last to go and for the first time in my life I had a follow
car during the TT.
The first 500-600 meters hurt way more than normal and right away I
was worried that I’d been beaten before I even got into the meat of the
TT. I did get on top of the gear after the first turn but never felt
comfortable which I thought meant I was flying. If you’re not in pain
your not going fast right? I cranked out a big gear while the guys
behind me honked the horn and rev’d the engine to pump me up. When I
finished I really thought I had gone pretty good, but the first thing
out of my mouth to the team was… ”I’m sorry guys”.
I don’t ride with anything on my bike so other than knowing that I
gave it everything I had I had no idea what kind of time I pulled off. I
just knew that my everything today wasn’t likely going to be enough. I
couldn’t have gone any harder so I was happy knowing I’d emptied the
tank and left it all on the road but my gut still told me that I wasn’t
at my best.
I got the results sheet from the timer and quickly skimmed down
looking for my name on the first sheet. Not there? I skim it again a
little slower this time and ask Sean Kelly to look over my shoulder and
look too. The top 30 guys are on the sheet and my name isn’t there. I
flip the page and go almost to the bottom before I see my teammate
Matteo Del Cin in 54th with a time of 8:59. Two spots later I see my
name at 3 one hundredths of a second back of Teo with 8:59.
Let me tell you seeing 56th place hurt. I killed myself for almost
nine mins only to get beat by 55 other guys. The crazy part is the
winner Karl Menzies (United Health Care) got me by 30+ seconds… on a 7km
course?
Read more...
From Chicago, the track at the Chicago Velo Campus is nearing completion, ready for opening this Friday, August 12th according to Chicago Cuttin' Crew's blog. This work is done largely by volunteers, so if you live in the area on Chicago's south side, here's your chance to be part of history. This 166 meter wooden track with turns banked to 50 degrees will be covered with a temporary enclosure this fall, so it can be ridden all winter. A larger, permanent velodrome and associated building is planned for the future. 
