First up was Masters 4/5 30+ (old and slow). There were only 14 riders in the field, which featured 6 Wild Cards (Dan Shunk, Art Hess, Karl Crapse, John Sturmanis, Jim Pirzyk, and me). I tried to get away early, but it wasn’t an overly ambitious attack. I was mostly just trying to open up my legs and test the other teams and I was brought back after 1/2 lap or so. At that point, there were only 7 left in the lead pack, but two teammates were still around: Jim and John. I went to the back to rest. A few laps later, 2 riders jumped off the front (Frank from Team Mack and Jon from Bloomington Cycle). Jim was in a position to follow and I paused a bit to see how he would respond. He tried initially, but didn’t have the legs to stay with it. I had mostly recovered, so I bridged up. Frank and Jon welcomed a third set of legs because they were a little tired. With 3 of us pulling, all would be guaranteed a podium as long as nobody quit. We worked well together and did about equal work, but I was tiring toward the end and my pulls didn’t feel particularly strong. In the end, they were good enough to keep us in front. I pulled the 2nd to last lap, then dropped to the back. I came around the last corner in third wheel, facing a headwind sprint. I came around Jon and was able to nip him, but Frank was a bike length or so ahead of me. Ironically, we finished from oldest to youngest. (I thought young guys made better sprinters, but maybe I will get faster with age.) I was my first podium in a crit (or anything other than TT and tri), so I was pretty happy. Scott Dahman

Triathlon season begins!
The weather was nearly ideal for high intensity sprint racing in Petersburg: 50 F and a 10 mph west wind.  The Wild Cards were represented by Scott and Martin in this 1 hour race, the Pioneer Triathlon in the Abe Lincoln Triathlon series.  The race was chip-timed, and 144 athletes plunged into the PORTA High School pool for the short 300 m swim.  Martin and Scott had to do maneuvering in the narrow lanes, as some contestants did not understand the meaning of ‘line yourself up in the order of estimated swim time.’ We had to swim around them – with two sets of swimmers in both directions in each lane causing massive interference.
We emerged wet into the 10 mph 50 F wind, but in the heat of race, you don’t notice.  Hopping onto the bike, the second leg took Scott and Martin out into the wind, over a hilly course.  As expected, we passed a lot of people, and were not passed.  Scott maintained a 0.2 mph lead: was it the disc wheel, or he’s just in better shape?
The 5 k run to finish of the race was uneventful, but very hilly.  Petersburg is northwest of Springfield, where the ice age actually left some hills standing.  With Schadenfreude, the organizers even named the last long climb of the run “just for you.” Scott finished in 1:02:04 (3d overall), Martin in 1:02:36 (5th overall), beating his previous course record from 2008 by half a minute.  Gotta bring the disc wheel next time!  The overall winner did 00:58:23, with a bike ride 0.4 mph faster than Scott (0.6 mph faster than Martin), but hey, he was a 30 year old baby.
The event was well organized, with plenty of food and swag afterwards, including First Place awards in their age groups (40-44 and 45-49) for Scott and Martin.  Note the exhausted look on Martin’s face in the finisher photo – I sprinted up to 189 beats per minute in the finishing chute (didn’t even know I could reach that any more).
-race reported by Martin

Jason representing Wild Card. He’s in the video 3 times. 

Went out to Iowa City to do some racing this weekend. I haven’t been doing a very good job of this so far this year but here is a quick recap of the weekend. It was my first dedicated Cat 2 race and there was a pretty elite field that showed up from through out the mid-west.

Fri was a night race which was interesting. There were huge lights run by a semi truck but a lot of the course was still very dark. The course was by far the most difficult I have ever done, including a descent (slip-n-slide) down a big hill. I had a good start and the race was going good, it was a 40 min event. I was in second and closing on first most of the race until 1/2 lap to go I got marker tape in my rear wheel. I sorted it out and was in 4th...I reeled in 3rd and the other guy happened to be a (good) Cat 3. So 2nd place on the day, I was very happy.

Sat more of the same. Slightly different course, including a crazy railroad tie uphill run. I got a terrible start nearly getting taken out and had to pull a foot. So first corner I was maybe in 40-50th place. I light probably ALL my matches and worked up to 5th in the first half lap. I just sprinted my ass off the whole time. I got into the lead chase group of 4 with 4 up the road and sat in seeing spots for quite a while. Then I got on the front trying to bring it all back, One racer got shot off the front group and my group lost a guy. Last big hill I was racing for 4th and got gaped on the hill. Going for 5th but the guy with me was giving me a handful...we changed position 3 times in the last 3 corners. I came around on the last turn and sprinted with all I have. Nabbed 5th on day 2, still in the money and tired as could be. Not too happy with the finish but glad I made a descent result out of it all.

Sunday, the hell day. By this point I was so beat up I wondered if I could even start. My back, hands, feet, and legs were all killing me....but hey this is cross! Got a pretty good start, 5th or so and our group quickly got away. The 4th place guy took a spill and I got tangled up in it. So I was pretty much in 4th the whole race with a big gap ahead and behind me. Money again, cool.

It was an awesome, long weekend of racing. I am pretty happy with how it went-- three top 5s with 1 podium-- and got lots of USAC points. Currently I am ranked 16th in the nation for Cat 2 Cyclocross. There was however some humble pie involved....a 15 year old phenom WON all 3 days (he is #1 in the nation)!!

Montrose (state championship) is next weekend...Im feeling pretty good, we shall see how it goes.

Razzle Dazzle

Mark French