2009 Road Season Recap
March 21/22 - Due to Spring Break we were unable to attend the first race of the season held by the University of Iowa in Iowa City, IA.
March 28/29 - The second race of the season was supposed to be our local Jayhawk Classic but we were forced to completely cancel the races due to weather.
April 4/5 - Matt, Laura, and I headed down to Manhattan early Saturday morning for our first taste of some collegiate action. Kansas State University hosted the same Road Race course on Saturday as they had last year so we knew we were in for some hills and wind. This day the weather was chilly with 40+ mph winds and of course the hills were still there. Laura braved the wind and finished her race strong. Matt finished the A/B race and was 7 of the 12 to finish the entire 76 miles. I finished the 51 mile C race in 6th place.
April 11/12 - No races due to lack of interest from the conference teams.
April 18/19 - The University of Nebraska-Lincoln did an excellent job of promoting a weekend of criteriums. Saturday’s Criterium took place on a tractor test loop which had the feeling of a track race without the banked corners. The Men’s Ds and Woman’s Cs started with a wet course and racers were constantly washing out or sticking their front wheels in the cracks around the corners. This was most definitely a dangerous and tricky course. The riders with the best bike handling skills were the riders to triumph. By the time the Men’s C race was over the course had almost completely dried, however, there were still people crashing out of the races. There were 15 crashes in total and KU’s finishes were greatly effected by them. Laura rode strong in the Woman’s D race and managed to stay upright the entire race. I was caught up in a crash and was unaware of the “free lap” rules and wound up back in the pack but one lap down. Despite being a lap down and almost going down due to a crash in the last corner of the race, I was able to sprint to the finish line in second place. Matt was a beast in his A/B race and took 2 of the 4 sprint laps with authority. His technique was to jump off the front with half a lap to go take the corner hard and then sprint all the way to line. With only a few laps to go, out in front of the pack, and looking strong, Matt unfortunately struck his pedal while coming hard out of the far turn. Both Matt and his bike were okay with only a few scrapes and bruises. Although the sprint points count, I would really liked to have seen Matt destroy the field once more with his sprint.
The next day of criteriums were located around a high school in southern Lincoln, NE. The course was technical in a couple of narrow chicanes and very windy on the back stretch. Laura raced first and kept a nice rhythm for her entire race. In the Men’s C race a group of 6 of us were able to pull away from the rest of the field and worked hard to stay away. The race came down to a 200 meter sprint finish and I took 4th. Matt was looking strong but after his race was a little shaky on the corners. The field was obliterated and Matt raced hard with Mario from UND and Matt from UNL. Unfortunately the bell lap was misunderstood and no one sprinted out of the three of them so they crossed the line as they were sitting in their pace line. Not the best results this weekend, but I think we all grew in our racing and learned from our experiences.
April 25/26 - Our next adventure required that we drive up to Cannon Falls, MN for Saturday’s road race and then to the UM campus for their Campus Criterium. These races were extremely important because this weekend was not only the last collegiate road races of the season, but these races were worth double the points due to being the Conference Championships. Laura and Yurik both finished their D races strong and looked great out on the course. I missed a breakaway in my C race and then spent the rest of the 40 miles trying catch with little help from other teams in our group. At the end of the race it came down to a sprint for second and I ended up taking third out of a 35+ man field. Matt had an amazing race and caught onto a break with two A riders from Minnesota. All three of the these guys worked together to make a huge gap between the pack and the breakaway. At the end of the second lap (each lap being 21 miles) the Minnesota guys worked together to gap Matt on a large climb. Matt, being fearless and courageous, chased them for the entire last lap and ended up 3rd overall but was the Champion B racer, taking the gold!
The Sunday criterium in the University of Minnesota looked absolutely dreadful. The forecast was calling for non-stop rain all day after the Men’s D/Woman’s C/D race. Yurik rode very well for his first Criterium and managed to continually pass people during his race. Laura worked well with some UNL girls and they also finished strong. I, along with some a couple of other chasers from the previous day were still gassed, and were thrown off the back early in the race. Despite the wet roads and pouring rain towards the end, we kept a pretty level distance from the break and sprinted for the line. After our race the course was shut down due to torrential down-pouring and flooded streets. After about an hours delay and Matt spinning on the trainer inside to stay warm, the clouds stopped for a while and the Men’s A/B race was on. The field exploded almost from the gun as the Minnesota team worked together to make a break. Unfortunately there were 3 MN guys all up front and everyone was gapped. Matt stayed stranded between groups almost the entire race, and with only a few laps to go was caught by the rest of the A/B field. Despite this, Matt continued to work with the guys and launched two attacks in the last lap to take 4th place overall but once again 1st Men’s Bs. Overall Matt was the undisputed Men’s B Conference Champion!
-David Neidinger
KU Cycling President
Cyclocross Collegiate Nationals
This year we had 5 riders participate in this years Collegiate Cyclocross Nationals in Kansas City, MO. The day got off to a beautiful start and the Division I guys were about to line up when the temperatures dropped 20 degrees. Everyone scrambled for warm clothing and rode around in an attempt to stay warm for the 45 minutes of fun and pain. Despite the cold air, the course was perfect for a fast race. The mud was hard-packed and riders were able to corner at high speeds, making this a pure climbers race. Shad Schreiner was KU’s top dog, finishing in 21st place. Our second man was Jason Knight finishing in 33rd, and the rest followed with Ben Fishman in 41st, David Neidinger in 44th, and Andrew Slater in 54th. Overall it was some exciting racing, and we all stayed with the K-State kids after the race to watch the elite men and woman duke it out in the 15-20 degree weather. We can always look forward to next year as this crazy sport of cyclocross continues to grow and becomes more competitive.
Click here for full Division 1 Results.
Another KU rider, Josh Patterson, rode the single speed race earlier in the day and finished in an awesome 17th place. Click for list of all Results.
Ben Ross Photography has some cool shots for sale of riders from every race on his PhotoShelter Account. Andrew Slater also compiled a nice album on his facebook. Check ‘em out.
Don’t forget about the support team/Volunteers. Kelsi Miller, Jeff Schroeder, John Waller, Josh Patterson, and others came out and braved the elements to watch some awesome racing.
K-State Mountain Bike Race
This year we only had the chance to send a few riders to Manhattan for their 2-day Most Extreme Mountain Bike Elimintation Challenge. The trails were freshly cut and the competition was great. In a battle between KU, Iowa State, and K-State we had Yurik Norton and David Neidinger in the men’s C/D races and Gill Armstrong in the woman’s races. Results are below and some cool pics follow.
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