This weekend Angie and I went to Saint Louis to compete in the Gateway Cup. We left before the sun came up Friday morning for four days of racing- what better way to spend Labor Day weekend. Our third traveling buddy was Yvonne from Iscorp, who also competes in the same categories as Angie and I. I had arranged for host housing which was located conveniently on the course of our first race on Friday, not 50 feet down from the start/finish. It was great to be able to get ready in the comfort of our own rooms, and walk right out the front door and onto the course, and since we were the first races each day, we were able to warm up on the course. Friday’s race was around Lafayette park, a 4-corner course with a slight rise on the backside. It was great to get the legs spinning again after tje long 7 hour drive down. Even for the first races of the day, there was a great crowd there to cheer us on. With a few laps to go, I attacked and so did Angie, I yelled at her to go. I stayed back to block and I was surprised how long the field let me control the pace. Finally the field caught on and started to swam me, but Angie had still stayed off the front for an impressive lap or two. The men’s 4/5s were racing on the course at the same time, and right about this time they came around to lap us, so our field was neutralized until they passed. Once they got by, we had about 2 to go. I had decent position in the last couple laps and came in 5th place in the field sprint. Not a bad day after sitting in the car for so long!

Saturday we woke up for our second day of racing and it was raining. It was a day most people would rather be curled up in bed with a book than be outside on a bike. Since our host housing was so centrally located to all the races, we had only about a 10 minute drive to the race, and I sat in the car for as long as I could until I had to get warmed up. I think we all decided to ourselves that day that we were going to race conservatively for the sake of keeping the rubber side down. Luckily there were no crashes in the race, we still kept a pretty fast pace even in the rain, even though it didn’t feel as fast Friday. In the last lap, I was probably a little farther back than I should have been, but I was still able to finish 11th, and had I not gotten boxed in, I could easily have place a few higher. It remained cloudy the rest of the day and only rained a little bit more during the pro women’s race later that afternoon. It was nice again to be able to go back to the house to clean up ourselves and the bikes, eat, and relax for a while, then head back to the races to watch the pro men and women. That evening Angie and I wanted to try to get up in the arch and Yvonne had some homework to work on so we dropped her off and got some dinner before heading downtown. According to the Gateway Arch website, the last tickets to get up to the arch were sold at 9:10pm. We finished dinner a little after 8:30 thinking we still had plenty of time to get tickets. After an adventure trying to find parking, it was 9:00 when we finally got out of the car so we were practically running through the park, Amazing Race style, to get to the arch, only to find that the tickets were sold out. The website failed to mentioned that they might sell out early. We were very disappointed but had some fun in the mean time.

Sunday morning, we went out for breakfast, from advice from our amazing hosts, at a little cafe in the Soulard neighborhood. In all my trips to St. Louis, I have never been able to see all the awesome neighborhoods St. Louis has to offer, and Soulard was no exception! Sunday’s race was at ‘the Hill’. For those who have never been there, it is an Italian neighborhood, and the St. Louis Bocce club hosts a pasta dinner. There is a hill on the backside, and the finish is downhill, and combined with narrower roads, it is difficult to finish high if you aren’t high up in the field in the last lap or two. With about 5 laps to go, I was sitting 4th-5th wheel. Then the men’s field came to pass us and our field was neutralized for them to get by again, and we were going painfully slow for too long. When the official finally let us go again, we were at the bottom of the hill, and some girls attacked up it, but I was able to comfortable maintain my 5th wheel postition, until the girl at the front popped at the top of the hill. We instantly swarmed her, I started to go around her right side, and another girl started crowding me on my right coming into the third corner, I ended up loosing some positions. Then in the last lap at the same corner, someone had crashed into a hay bail and it was in the road so there was some confusion trying to get around it which did not help my efforts to try to move up. We all finished mid-pack. We all took advantage of the pasta dinner and watch the pros race, and were happy to see two Wisconsin riders finish in the top 5.

We were all sad that the weekend was going by so quickly. On Monday, we were racing downtown bright and early at 7am. Yes, 7 in the morning. Luckily, our house was only two miles from the race so we rode there still needing lights since the sun wasn’t quite up yet when we left. When I turned onto the course, there was a beautiful view of the arch, still a little foggy as the sun was rising. I turned corner 1 and there was a parking lot filled with all the pro tour buses (Columbia HTC, Garmin/Slipstream, Cervelo, Saxobank….etc. etc. etc.) which were there for the Tour of Missouri which was starting that afternoon and sharing the same start/finish but on a longer course. I started to get giggly, as I have never seen anything like it! Then I turned corner two and there was the baseball staduim which was also a cool sight. It was a very cool course to say the least! The race started and it took me a while to get mentally into it, but once I was there, I was there. With about 4 laps to go, I made an attack and got off the front with one other girl. We got a pretty good gap pretty quickly. I pulled for a while then motioned for her to take a pull….and she didn’t. I asked her if she was going to work with me and she just said no. She outright refused to work with me, even though we both had people in the field working for us and together, we could have stayed off the front for the remaining few laps. After a lap or two of that, I had to to give up on the idea of staying off and get back into the field. Yvonne and I made a plan to do some attacks and counter attacks trying to get one of us on the podium, and especially since we weren’t wearing the same jersey, we were easily able to trick the other riders. Yvonne attacked and got a good gap with 2 to go, It took close to a lap before we caught her again and I made my move, but my legs were tired by that point and I was not able to get the gap that I usually can get, and finished 14th.

After our race, we went back to clean up and sadly start packing, but we planed to go back to watch the start of Stage 1 of the Tour of Missouri. We rode our bikes back, watched the pro men and women again, and were able to walk around the lot that had all the buses and mechanics tents. The three of us were like giddy school girls, seeing George Hincapie’s bike, Christian Vande Velde and Zabriske’s bikes, etc etc. By this time of the day, we started to bake in the sun and water bottles were empty, so we had to take a break in the nearby Hilton. When we came out, some of the riders were starting to ride around and finally it was time for the start! Seeing that peloton go by was so impressive, but seeing the caravan of support vehicles follow them was a close second! Since we had a long drive ahead of us, we had to get back to the house to get the car packed up, but lucky for us, the course also passed about half a block away from our house, so we could run over whenever they came through.

The trip overall was a blast. This was my first experience with host housing and I will definitely do it again- thanks to Susan and Paul for their hospitality! I am already thinking about next year’s trip to St. Louis. I can’t believe the road season is basically done, but that means cyclocross starts soon!

Jessica

Early this year I had the notion of doing the Wisconsin trifecta which I define as the Birkie, Downer Ave, and the Fat Tire 40. So, this notion is well before I ever heard of the horrible hilly and other nostalgic events (Wisconsin Iron Man) , I’ll remind you this was pre-internet. But back in the early 90’s these were the most prestigious events for non-traditional sportspersons.

So as the snow fell late December of 2008, I made it my goal to take part in each event. This last weekend was the culmination of almost a year of training with the Chequamegon Fat Tire festival. The event takes place in Hayward and basically runs the Birkie Ski trail in the opposite direction (minus the lake crossing). The total mileage is 40 miles that span a variety of surfaces and trail types. With that said there was asphalt, gravel, dirt, grass trails, single track, sand, and then there is the glorious fire tower hill.

There were two big lessons doing the ride for the first time.
1. Get up early and get your bike to the start line.
2. Camel backs rule when they have tools and liquid in them.

My goal was to ride the trail in 3 hours, which seemed reasonable, but as I read more and learned more about this race, the 3 hour goal seemed unreasonable, but I stuck to the goal.

Three moments:
1- Sealy Fire Tower Trail was shocking – why, because at the bottom of it, it appeared like the bean stalk that Jack climbed to meet the giant.
2- Two miles to go, One mile to go – the limit of perceived effort can you say leg cramps and pure psycho babble
3- A broken seat – From mile 25 to the end my seat began to function erratically, or erotically depending on if you were the seat or not.

Every fast downhill vibrated the seat so the nose of the seat pointed to the sky. For me not a preferred position. So with all the trials and tribulations, I crossed the line, my time registered 3:02, I was pretty happy.

Jim (Road Racer Cat 3)

This last weekend was the Neenah WCA race, and here is my race report about my exploits.
I wanted a solid placing high on the finish for the race in the cat. 3’s race. This Neenah crit race was my first race back after my infection. I will tell you that when I arrived at the race I was nervous, a little bit of performance anxiety was creeping in. Keeping it at bay while watching the exciting race performances of Patick C., and Jessica H. I registered, and while pinning my number onto my jersey I changed my mind-set to game on mentality. After a long warm-up I lined up to race.

The whistle blew for the start of my cat. 3 race, and I was off! With my nervous energy I lead the first lap while drilling the pace. I thought that I needed to chill out and think of the finish. Settling in in the front of the field I covered attacks with seeming ease. A prime lap was the next change in the race dynamic. A prime lap was announced and 2 riders took of for it, one rider came back to the field after, and the other rider kept right on going. I thought good move, but let him fry a little before we go get him. Without an organized chase in the field the job was left to 3 of us, and it got tiring not having anyone else pull through. The rider got 20 seconds on us-there went first place.

The focus then came down to 2nd place for the finish. A few attacks went off with 10 minutes plus 5 laps to go in the race. I then decieded that it was my personal job to chase those riders myself. While keeping the pace high so as to not let anyone come around me I won a prime. Not letting anyone get away, we then had 2 laps to go.

With 2 laps to go a rider took off up the right hand side; I was on him like white on rice. He effectively lead me out up until the last lap. 1 lap to go I drove the pace from the back half of the course, through the wind, to not allow anyone around me. I come into the last corner full tilt style. I see the finish line with no one in front of me, the sprint starts. I held full speed, and only 2 riders came around me! I decided to surf out any field sprint action to keep me in the front. That idea got me a 4th place finish.

After an infection that left me in a hospital bed I felt good about my comeback race. I also spoke with Heidi the chief referee about the possibility of an upgrade. Heidi said that I was ready for it based on that races results, and my experience from many years of racing. I got the upgrade to category 2 on Saturday.

I hope to see all you gals and guys on the team ride today at 5:30 (weather permitting of course),

Alan Ziolkowski

This past Sunday in Evanston began the woman’s 3/4 series of Superweek. Sacha, Angie and I had all committed to racing at least 5 races each and we were all excited to race with each other again. Sacha started out the series alone in Evanston and finished 7th. On Monday for the Whitnall Park Road Race, the three of us were all ready to race together. We all got a little too excited and did too much work in the first half of the race. By about 4 laps to go, we all hit a wall around the same time and ended up finishing at the back of the pack.

Tuesday went much better, we had all learned our lessons from Monday- don’t do so much work, let the other girls and teams else work for us, and don’t do anything without a reason to do it! Coming into the last lap, I think we all had pretty good positions in the field for some strong finishes. After the last corner, I forgot how much distance there was until the start/finish and started my sprint too soon. I was leading it out and at the last second a bunch of girls came around me. I knew what my mistake was but in spite of it was happy to have finished 10th- in the money.

This morning, despite the threat of rain, the three of us were ready to race the Lakefront Road Race. Just as we were lining up it started to sprinkle on us. By the time we started, the rain had become more steady. We knew that going down St. Mary’s hill would be especially sketchy in the rain so I settled in at 3rd wheel to try to avoid any crashes. Turns out, the hill was like ice, we came around the switchback and the first two girls slid out, and I barely kept myself upright. A little shaken up, I continued down and on with the race. Second time around, we all approached the hill a little more cautiously and this time I was second wheel. The first girl and I slid out this time. Faster than I could realize what was going on I was on the ground. The field passed and I remember Angie passing and asking if I was okay. Luckily, the wet roads kept me from any major damage and I ended up with just a couple minor bumps and bruises and my bike didn’t have a scratch. The other girl and I got back on our bikes and- very cautiously!- continued down and began our chase back to the field. We caught them just before Lafayette Hill and I caught up to Angie and Sacha again and they both seemed to be relieved that I was back. We had to regain our position in the field. The next lap or two went by fairly uneventful and just before start/finish with one to go a girl attacked. I hadn’t really planned on doing a lot of work for the rest of the race- after crashing I was a little nervous and just wanted to finish with the field. I had just finished a gel and no one really responded to her attack and I had good position to chase so I just went for it. I caught her and we started to drill it when she realized her rear wheel was going flat so she dropped back. I still had a decent gap on the field so I kept going. Two other girls bridged up to me and the three of us drilled it as hard as we could, until we were coming back down Lincoln Memorial and the field caught us. I was determined not drop back into the field and claimed 4th or 5th wheel. The sprint started and one girl was leading it, and myself and two other girls were fighting hard, wheel for wheel, for second place. At the last second another girl came around us and got second, so I knew I at least got top 5. Turns out I got 3rd place! It was definitely a wild day of racing at the Lakefront, crashing and still making podium!

Sacha and I will be racing Racine and Kenosha, Thursday and Friday, and Angie and Dana will be joining us for the last two races of the series at Humboldt Park and Whitefish Bay on Saturday and Sunday. Come on out and cheer on the Hollander ladies!

Hollander RDC/KOSS Stereophones very own Mike Buechel
took 3rd Overall @ Superweek 30+ Masters for 2009.
Mike won the overall in 2008 and fought hard to gain another podium finish for 2009, with a 9th place finish in Evanston, IL secured his place on the podium.

1st - Vance James (160 pts)
2nd - Thomasz Boba (147 pts)
3rd - Mike Buechel (139 pts)
4th - Robert Baird (109 pts)

Nice Work!

Saturday, July 4th was the US Masters National Criterium Championships in Louisville, Kentucky. I was competing in the 35-39 age group and decided to just focus on the Criterium Championships (the TT and Road Race were earlier in the week).

For the last month, my former teammate and friend, Robbie Ventura (Vision Quest Coaching) has been coaching me. After having a successful Tour of America’s Dairyland and following my coaches training regimen implicitly, I knew I was ready for the showdown in L’ville. The course was actually in the infield of Churchill Downs on some service roads. It was roughly 1K, flat with four corners and a slight bend on the back-stretch.

I rode from the hotel down to the course for my warm-up. As I neared Churchill Downs, I felt a few rain drops coming down but remained optimistic that it would hold off. I was hoping to use the set of Zipp deep-dish carbon wheels for the criterium and since they were loaned to me, wouldn’t want to risk using them in the rain. Things looked good until they called us to the line for staging and the sky pretty much, opened up. No thunder or lightening but a heavy, steady rain and I had already committed to the Zipps. No turn back now!

Amgen Masters, Texas Roadhouse and Panther Cycling were three of the top squads there; each having at least 2 riders in the field. In typical National Championship fashion, we started out fast and furious. Too fast for many riders, either from a pure speed perspective and/or bike handling perspective. There were crashes on the first lap and guys were getting spit out the back almost immediately. A couple of moves went and then came back to the field. John Puffer (Texas Roadhouse), Chris DeMarchi (Amgen/GIANT Masters) and Andrew Clarke (Panther/RGF p/b FELT) rolled off early and never looked back. Their teammates shut down the field and the rain prevented anyone from making serious efforts to join them. I decided to key off of Mike Heagney (Vision Quest) and hopefully have a run at 4th or 5th which would put Hollander on the podium. Aside from not being able to see (we definitely need a glasses sponsor next year), I felt great. I made a choice to jump the field with few to go since I knew it wasn’t going to be a pretty field sprint. I attacked on the back stretch and came through the S/F area at 2 to go with a small gap. The course was so wet and slick that I slid out a bit in turn one and it was hard to hold my normal attacking speed and power (very frustrating).

I was caught by the field with 1 to go which was lead by the chasing Texas Roadhouse and Amgen posse. I quickly positioned myself near the front for the field sprint and right past the S/F, a rider lost control and took a bunch of us out. I hit the ground hard enough to think I definitely broke something. Had it been dry, I would probably be in pretty bad shape right now. Our former teammate, Hans Higdon (Rainbow Jersey) was right there getting ready for the 30-34 race. He scooped up my bike and the rest of the carnage of riders made if off of the course just in time for the breakaway to finish. Puffer nipped DeMarchi for the Stars & Stripes.

I’ve got some minor road rash but a fair amount of deep bruises. One of the wheels is slightly out of wack but won’t be an issue to true up. I guess I’m most disappointed that I didn’t get a chance to have a run at the title under perfect conditions; but, I guess that’s bike racing! Time to regain my composure and get ready for the next races. Hopefully I can hold my form and deliver some big results in the upcoming 2 months.

Kent

The Downer Classic Bike Race – This race is like a reunion. I lived on the eastside for 12 years, and every Downer bike race I run into so many “eastsiders”.

The Downer Classic this year was part of the Tour of America’s Dairyland. A race series that ran races in great Wisconsin communities, venues like Racine, Waterloo, Fond du Lac, and a favorite of the RDC Hollander Boys, “Manitowoc”. Big wide open criteriums and beautiful rolling road races, what could be better!!

This year the Downer Classic ran all classes of racing. All the riders brought out their “A” games, as this is the most prestigious course in Wisconsin.

Notables from the day:
1. Mike Buechel Placed 5th in the Master 1-2-3
2. The Bens Cycle Super Prime I think broke $5000
3. The Pro Women’s race was won by nose
4. Belgium Beer on Tap – thanks Mike Eitel
5. The Pro race was amazingly fast

Great event! Great Series!! Looking forward to this next year!

Kent Savitt of the Hollander RDC/Koss Stereophones squad takes 3rd place at the Tour Of America’s Dairyland criterium in Fond du Lac today. Kent along with 5 other brave souls headed off the front of the peleton today in the 96 degree heat. They quickly plowed thru corner after corner of this tight .6 mile course to see the peleton right in front of them. They determined that they would sit tight and not navigate thru the pack to fully lap them. This decision was wise and they sat behind the pack for the remaining 40 minutes to sprint to the finish. Congrats Kent!

words by Brian Janssen

It’s a classic! Flat, fast and wide open.

First I’d like to say welcome to Corey Dempski for participating in what I believe to be his first Masters 1/2/3 race. Buechel, Savitt, Rich and I were the other players in this macabre dance. It started heavy from the gun as expected with multiple attacks and counter attacks. Buechel made the first real move of after four other attempts; this one had all the right players. Halverson was allegedly going to hang back today and Hancock or Billy Jones was already in the break. We started working on shutting down the field but the attacks kept flying off and it was hard to keep control. A few of the other GC riders started to bridge here and there but we had to let them go or risk pulling the field to the break. It finally was well represented with 11 riders I believe. Halverson did eventually bridge as well. Go figure.

I’ll let Buechel and Savitt bear the details and politics of the break. Rich and I settled in for a long day at the front of the field and did everything we could to slow down the field chase and monitor other attempts to bridge. The break was holding at about 15 seconds for quite awhile and I was getting worried that it wasn’t going to hold. Eleven is a bit large for a fluid breakaway and often times falls apart due to in-fighting. Eventually teams let me ride on the front and I slowed it down to about 23 and just waited for someone to come around but they never did. “Fine” I thought. It was like that for a couple of laps and it really helped let the break get solidified. The break was now out of sight of the main pack.

A chase resumed once again with renewed vigor and I spent the rest of the day in my 13 sitting 2nd wheel for the most part just getting sucked along. The primes started coming out then, of course, so it was back to sprinting quite often so another split didn’t occur. My calfs started cramping at about the 50 minute mark and had 20 minutes to go. I gutted it out until 6 laps to go and I finally gave in. A lap later the break lapped the field and I would have liked to have still been in there to bring them through the field, maybe next time. Buechel and Savitt were both top ten but I don’t remember exactly so they will have to fill you in on that. The best news is that we are really starting to gel and get some good experience with each other. It is being noticed and commented on by other teams as well. The Cafe Hollander name was plastered over the PA all day long.