Once again the Washington Park Cyclocross, presented by Team Trocadero, did not disappoint! No, there weren't any flaming barriers this year (rats), but the racing was hot and the costumes even hotter. In addition to two sets of regular barriers, two small 'coffins' are set up as a small obstacle (these used to be set on fire). They are quite hop-able if you've practiced that in training, if not, watch out!
Team Tibco's Sam Schneider took the top spot in the Women's Elite race besting MTB specialists Holly Klug and Abby Strigel. A roadie beat the mountain bikers!
In the Pro Men's race, Brain Matter went pull for pull, or probably more accurately - attack for attack with Marco LaLonde the entire event. From time to time it looked like either might have been riding away from the other, but it really came down to a 100 meter sprint from the last corner to the finish line with LaLonde besting Matter by just a wheel. Sort of a mountain bike specialist vs cross/mtb/roadie. Also back on home soil was Kenda Pro Cycling's Chad Hartley, fresh back from Korea and the Tour of the DMZ.
Other notable appearances were:
Lady Gaga
Super star Ace Frehley
Over at the Team Expo party, there was some sort of
royalty present:
and I don't know what was going on with the DJ:
Mark McGeen was riding his new 'cross bike:
(Yes, he rode most of the course!)
and Katy Steudel was riding her horse:
(Riding her horse???)
So, everybody had a great time, and once again the Washington
While the region's top dogs were eating dust down in Kentucky, those that hung around here got a good taste of some Wisconsin mud during today's cyclocross race held in Milwaukee's Kletsch Park. Temps hung in the low to mid 60's and a light rain fell on and off throughout the morning bringing up just enough mud to enhance your 'crossing experience. Turnout was average, one would guess, for a rainy Saturday, and while you could hear the horns and cowbells all around the course, the top of 'the climb' was probably the choice spectating spot. This was especially true if you were from the host Team Pegasus, because you got to cheer for your riders, decked out in pink trim, twice every lap.
Wearing the pink of Team Pegasus was a sure fire way to bring out the best of the spectators as Pegasus rider Katy Steudel found out as she appeared to be the crowd favorite lap after lap. She was even seen blowing kisses to her loyal fans! You may recall that Steudel was the winner of last year's Halloween costume contest over on Peloton-Pix. Perhaps she is working on another winning costume this year? Time will tell.
The top of the climb was also a prime spot for watching some phenominal suffering as well as here we see the men's Cat. 3 winner Scott Vogelmann power up the hill for his second victory of the season.
In the Masters 45+, once again it was Greg Ferguson putting the hurt on the rest of the crew as he powered on to his third victory in a row in this division. He was pushed today, however, by Mark McGeen of Team Mack who had been on the podium the last three races but is still looking for that elusive win.
The largest field of the day was the men's Cat. 4 which topped out at 39 starters. First across the line was Tim Racette who comes from a land down under (Illinois) but rides for Team Wisconsin / MC2. Successfully staying away from a long line of chasers, this was Racette's first 'cross win of the season, added to his numerous podiums on the MTB circuit this year.
The women's Pro 1/2 race was once again won by Abby Strigel, today decked out today in her Chequamegon Fat Tire Festival jersey. Leading from start to finish, today's win was her 3rd 'cross victory this season and 12th win for the year so far.
As mentioned earlier, most of the regional heavy hitters were racing in Kentucky today, but nobody said we couldn't have a great race without them. The men's Pro 1/2 race started off, as usual, with a BANG! Today coming from Planet Bike's James LaLonde who lit the afterburners early, probably planning on putting this one in his pocket right away, then cruising to an easy victory. Madison's David Staab had other plans in mind though, as he reeled in LaLonde over the course of several laps, and turned this a real drag race. The pair traded pulls and it really looked like it could be any one's race as both looked strong going up the big climb.
With three laps to go, however, LaLonde put in a dig that Staab couldn't answer, and he rode away for about a 45 second win on the line. RESULTS
The Wisconsin Cyclocross series continues tomorrow at the Cam-Rock trails near Cambridge. Peloton Star will resume cyclocross coverage next Saturday at Washington Park for the annual Halloween Cross put on by Team Trocadero. See you there!
The first annual Cross the Domes cyclocross race in the heart of Milwaukee is in the books and it was a rousing success. A good turnout with many top racers tackled the long and quite difficult course in Mitchel Park, a first ever for this venue. Cool temps in the very low 50's, a steady northwest breeze, plus a nice cold rain shower or two made for perfect 'cross racing, even though most spectators weren't probably quite ready for summer to end just yet!
Starting by the duck pond, the course rose steadily toward the infamous botanical domes, snaked back and forth through the trees, across the sand pit - not once but twice! - then downhill once again only to lead to the base of a steep, nasty climb which was rideable by only the strongest of climbers.
Mountain biker extraordinaire Abby Strigel took the women's race with her strong climbing ability. Brian Matter and Marko LaLonde rode away from the men's field together with Matter attacking on the big climb with about 3 laps to go. LaLonde kept the gap close, but was unable to bridge. Mike Sherer rode strongly for third. Many more photos yet to come PLUS some extraordinary video that you're not going to want to miss!
"Cannondale prepared by Cyclocrossworld.com is proud to announce the addition of Kaitlin Antonneau, the prodigious cyclocross talent from Racine, Wisconsin, to the team for the 2010 season. Cannondale prepared by Cyclocrossworld.com took notice of Antonneau during a breakout 2009 season and extended an invitation to join a team where she could develop into a top-level cyclocross talent. Antonneau will be afforded the full support of the Cannondale prepared by Cyclcrossworld.com family, and will be given the chance to grow and flourish under the guidance of some of America’s most accomplished cyclocross racers, while majoring in biology at Marian University. ... "
Getting the hole shot off the line, Jeremy Powers led todays Planet Bike Cup race from start to finish. Tim Johnson was 2nd, Jonathon Page 3rd. Photos from the post-race news conference. More later!
Most aggressive rider: Tristan Schouten
U23 podium:
Katie Compton takes the Women's division, followed by Georgia Gould and Amy Dombrowski:
The 2010 cyclocross season is underway! Wisconsin's first race the, "No Good Double Cross" was put on in grand fashion at the Kettle Moraine Ranch which is a western style dude ranch / horseback riding / hayride resort. It was quite a change from the traditional start of the 'cross season the past 13 years which was at Lapham Peak State Park. While that's a great venue, this new venue at KMR is less MTB and more 'Cross and I think it's safe to say that everybody enjoyed the site.
It seems that Mother Nature wanted to do her part in kicking off the 'cross season right, so just as the first race lined up for their instructions, a small thunderstorm rolled in complete with thunder, lightning, and pouring rain - completely soaking every one to the bone for 10 minutes and ensuring that the course was extra sloppy!
The course at KMR has plenty of variety. With a wide, gravel road start area, riders are sent up and down a grassy knoll, down around the barn, through the western town, and then off to church up a nasty stairstepped climb that had riders wondering "can I ride this?" but running was the safe choice. Up the stairs, around the church, then back down to town where riders were greeted by a tight turn at the bottom of the downhill (don't hit the wall!), around a barrel and then over the first barrier, which was conveniently placed next to some stairs that you 'traversed'. It was quite dastardly.
Winding back through the western town, you were then sent out to do some spirals back by the horses before racing out into the woods on a horse trail which gave you a great view of some trees downed by the Eagle tornado June 22nd. Then it was a sprint back to town, past the pit area, and across the line to start your next lap.
Most of the official results are not yet in, but just to highlight a few performances, we give props to 15 year old Lionel Rocheleau who won the 15-18 year old Jr race, and then placed second in the Sr Men Cat. 3's. Well done! Sarah Huang (IS Corp) took the Jr Girls 15-18, Scott Vogelmann (Unattached) won the Sr Men 4's, and Brandon Leach (Unattatched) of Chicago took the Sr Men 3's. Pro Women results I do not have.
In the Pro Men's race, it was all Jordan Roessingh (IS Corp) who got the hole shot and never gave up the lead. Pony Shop's Brain Conant gave chase, but slowly faded back to the rest of the chasers which was initially a group of 4, but thinned down to 3 at the end. Final results will be posted when available (I was back by the horses when the race ended).
So, the 2010 cyclocross season started off with a bang. Illinois' season begins tomorrow at Jackson Park followed next week by the UCI santioned USGP Planet Bike Cup September 25th and 26th. Be there!
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As the 'cross bikes are getting pulled out of the basement and riders are reluctantly doing some running to make sure they remember how to do it, let's do a quick review of what's happened in the past few weeks.
The WCA season wrapped up with the Attitude Sports criterium in Fond Du Lac on August 21st. Holly Mathews (unattatched) took the Women's 1/2 race with Rachel Roessingh (IS Corp) sinching the Women's WCA Cup overall. Pat Lemieux (Texas Roadhouse) won the men's Pro 1/2 and Ben Anderson (Team Wisconsin/MC2) sealed the WCA Cup overall competition. Thompson Remo (IS Corp) takes the Junior 18 boys overall over Patrick Diamond (Geargrinder) by just 3 points. All the WCA results can be found on their website and the FonDuLac reporter has a few photos.
The FondDuLac criterium was just a warm up for the weekend's big event of course, Midwest Sport's "Race the Lake", a 88.5 mile single lap around Wisconsin's largest lake, Lake Winnebago, on Sunday. Andrew Crater (Aerocat) took the victory check of $2,000 and with the help of a strong field, gets credit for setting a new course record time that comes along with a check for a cool $20,000. (that's no typo folks!) Steve Tilford was there the whole way with the leaders and gives a great blow by blow account of how it all went down. (the only decent photo I've seen of this glorious victory is here but I can't link to it, you'll have to go there and search for it yourself. Looks like I'll have to go next year and shoot some myself!)
The Kenosha track season wrapped up with Chad Hartley taking the 150 lap points race, the Bob Pfarr Classic bike at the Washington Park Velodrome July 27th. The Kenosha News has a nice article on this final night of racing (where this photo was found). The article states: " In his first Pfarr appearance, Hartley accomplished the feat of winning the Pfarr and the Mayor’s Cup, the Velodrome’s two signatures points races, in the same year. The last racer to do that was Jeff Senn, who accomplished the feat in 2001 and also in 1999. “I know I’m definitely one of the better track racers,” said Hartley, 29. “There’s a couple accolades that you can get during the year to really prove that, so I think this year I’ve gotten two.” Collegiate track racers still have the Collegiate Track Nationals in Indianapolis on Sept. 23-25th. 2010 Wisconsin TT Champion Kyle Jacobson states that he's been practicing his head butts, so if you can make it down there, I'm sure there should be some exciting racing to watch!
This past weekend, ToAD organizers (Tour of America's Dairyland) put on a new race southwest of Madison - The Unnamed Epic, which was a 75 mile road/MTB race finishing on southern Wisconsin's highest point, Bluemound State Park. Starting in Mineral Point, the 200 some starters rode a combination of paved roads, bike paths, and private trails to Governor Dodge State Park,where, riders rode a lap on the rolling MTB trails, then it was back on the road, more bike trails, and more private land off to Bluemound State Park where they had to negotiate two laps of the very difficult MTB trails there, before finally summiting on top of the Mound. Roadies such as Pro Chad Hartley and others drove the pace hard early while later on, mountain bikers used their bike handling skills to make up time on the rocky single track.
At the half way point, teammates Adam Bergman and Pat Lemieux (Texas Roadhouse) had about a 2 minute gap over the nearest chasers and even this early in the race, time gaps were in the multi-minute range for the top 25 riders. Half way through their first Bluemound State Park lap, however, they were no longer in the lead, it was Max Anderson who moved up from about 5th to the lead. It turned out that Bergman had flatted at the entrance to the park, and Lemieux waited allowing Anderson to take a commanding lead. It's not over until you cross the line, however, and Anderson himself flatted allowing Lemieux to regain the lead somehow without his knowledge. Halfway through his final lap at Bluemound he quized the spectators: "Am I in the lead???" ... "YES YES! YOU'RE LEADING!"
Lemieux took the win in 4hrs 48 minutes, several minutes over second place Michael Naughton, with Bergman rolling across the line in 3rd, and Max Anderson finishing in 5th. (RESULTS) Note that the overall results also have teams, tandems, and single speeds mixed in. One single speed racer was actually on a FIXED GEAR cross bike, who promptly collapsed onto the grass once he crossed the finish line.Chad Hartley slid out on a gravely road section and did not finish. Many riders probably wished they had a similar fate as they dragged themselves over the final miles of very difficult single track. Women's winner Lindsey Kriete flatted not once but twice, rolling across the finish line on a rim in 6hrs 0mins 26secs. (PHOTOS)
Finally, for this report, Lance Armstrong was in Madison this past Sunday for their Ride the Drive event. Here's a short video of the speech he gave prior to the ride. Skip to 5:30 for Lance.
P.S. My heart felt condolences to the family and friends of Pro racer Laurent Fignon who passed away today from colon cancer (VELONEWS). Certainly one of my cycling heroes as I grew up and raced myself.
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Once again the Washington Park Cyclocross, presented by Team Trocadero, did not disappoint! No, there weren't any flaming barriers this year (rats), but the racing was hot and the costumes even hotter. In addition to two sets of regular barriers, two small 'coffins' are set up as a small obstacle (these used to be set on fire). They are quite hop-able if you've practiced that in training, if not, watch out!
In the Pro Men's race, Brain Matter went pull for pull, or probably more accurately - attack for attack with Marco LaLonde the entire event. From time to time it looked like either might have been riding away from the other, but it really came down to a 100 meter sprint from the last corner to the finish line with LaLonde besting Matter by just a wheel. Sort of a mountain bike specialist vs cross/mtb/roadie. Also back on home soil was Kenda Pro Cycling's Chad Hartley, fresh back from Korea and the Tour of the DMZ.
