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