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Saturday, July 31, 2010

IN State Road Race Championship

IN State RR Results

While some of you were enjoying the sunshine in Indianapolis on Sunday morning, a few of us were spending the first hours of our day riding in steady rain over some challenging roads. Normally the Pancake RR course is not known as a technical or difficult venue. It's straight, wide open and as flat as well... a pancake. However, throw in persistent showers and a couple mile stretch of very fine, loose gravel and things get a little trickier.

The 4/5 race was 3 laps and none went by without incicent. Dave C. went down in a corner on the slick pavement. Fortunately everyone was taking it easy and it was at a slow enough speed that he was able to remount and continue along. The field finished together and in the bunch sprint Bras S. was robbed of a podium right at the line. It turns out the rider that pipped Brad at the end was racing on a one day liscense and therfore was not eligible for a state championship medal. In a bittersweet turn of events Brad was ultimately awarded the bronze medal. Dave came back from his early mishap to capture yet another top ten.

There were only ten 1/2 riders registered so their field was combined with the 3s. I personally was a little psyched out knowin that it could get a little faster than I may have been expecting. After about an hour and a half the field had brought an early break back into range and the Indiebike riders were holding their own. With about 20 miles left to go two riders got clear again. The field eventually reacted and picked up the pace but it was too late. Indiebike tried to pull through and get everyone moving but riders were not organizing well. There was a field sprint for third with some of the known fast men taking honors. Indiebike took 9th and 16th among the 3s and 15th and 21st overall.

Thursday, July 15, 2010

2010 Cross Season

You may not realize it yet but we live in what is probably the fastest growing hotbed of the US cyclocross scene. Ohio Valley Cyclocross (OVCX) is on of the premier cross series in the country, with multiple UCI1/2 events. These races will draw pro riders from across the country and even across the globe. Outside of Oregon, this is the place to be for cyclocross. With Cannondale on board, Team Indiebike has a great opportunity to make a serious impact in the series. Besides the OVCX series there are weekly training rides and training races right here in Indy. I hope you all are as stoked as I am about cross this year. There will be more info to come as the season approaches.

2010 OVCX Schedule
September 19 Kings CX; Cincinnati, Ohio
October 3 Tour de Louisville; Louisville, Kentucky
October 8 Cincinnati UCI3 - Devou Park UCI C2; Covington, Kentucky
October 9 Cincinnati UCI3 - Middletown UCI C2; Cincinnati, Ohio
October 10 Cincinnati UCI3 - Harbin Park UCI C1; Cincinnati, Ohio
October 17 Bloomingcross; Bloomington, Indiana
October 23 Derby City Cup USGP - UCI C1; Louisville, Kentucky
October 24 Derby City Cup USGP - UCI C2; Louisville, Kentucky
October 31 Eva Bandman STG; Louisville, Kentucky
November 7 Gun Club Cross; Cincinnati, Ohio
November 14 Infirmary Mound; Columbus, Ohio
November 21 Promotion Cross; Lexington, Kentucky
November 28 Buckingham Financial OH Champs; Yellow Springs, OH
December 4 Ft Harrison; Indianapolis, Indiana
December 5 OVCX Finale - Brookside Cross Cup; Indianapolis, Indiana

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Team Indiebike and Cannondale in 2011


CANNONDALE has accepted Team Indiebike's proposal for sponsorship goring forward in 2011. We will have the option of ordering new road frames for deliver after the first of the year. Check out their lineup and think about what you might want to ride and race next year. The aluminum CAAD9 is a fantastic race machine for an exceptional value. And if you want the best, the Super Six HiMod is available to you fresh off a win at this year's Giro. If you have any interest at all email me at duejones@gmail.com so we can start to work out the details.

For those of you interested in cyclocross this season the timeframe is even more URGENT. We must have our frame order ready by the first of August in order to receive them in time for the fall cross season. We will have the opportunity to ride the Cannondale CAAD9 CX frameset for the coming cross season. This is the cross bike ridden by US National Cyclocross champion Tim Johnson. If you are interested in cross at all this is this is your best opportunity to build up a great racing bike very reasonably.

Details on components and build kits yet to come...

Lawrence Village Criterium

Lawrence Villate at The Fort RESULTS

It was you basic four corner crit, but that didnt make it any easier. The 4/5 race was plagued by crashes. The enterances to the corners were wide, but the exits were narrow. During on of the incidents, Joe was taken down but suffered little damage to body or machine and managed to get back in on a free lap. The field stayed together until the end. The winner got clear off the front with a well timed attack coming out of the last turn. Brad sprinted well and scored another podium in 3rd. Ryan crossed in 8th, a nice top ten for his first race in a while. Joe finished with the field in 16th after recovering from his fall.

Dustin and Cory lined up for the 3s race. A couple of laps in Cory drilled it to bridge a gap and overcooked the first turn. When we came around the turn all you could see was Cory picking up his bike and throwing down his water bottle. With a broken handlebar his race was over early. After several early attacks and accelerations the field softpeddled a few laps. When racing resumed one rider from Men of Steel got a pretty good gap. Dustin and two other riders moved up to close the gap. The rest of the field did not react and the break was on. By the time they made it across one of the riders was already spent. The three that were left agreed to work together and have a go of it. It was only 38 minutes into an hour long crit so we knew it was a long shot. As the laps counted down it seemed possible that this break could stick. It had grown from 8 sec out to almost half a minute at one point. However with 5 laps to go one of the riders cracked and it was down to two. The headwind on the back straight proved too much for two riders to overcome. As they came around to hear the bell for the final lap they were overtaken by the charging peleton. After a punishing 20 minutes Dustin rolled in behind the field sprint. It didn't work out this time but the effort and experience was worth it. In the word of Jens Voigt "If you get in a break you maybe have a 10% chance to win, if not you have a 0% chance".

Bloomington Cycling Grand Prix Results

Bloomington Cycling GP RESULTS
As always, the Bloomington GP was high speed, high stakes racing. The course requires that you take some risks and sometimes there are consequences. Dustin fought to stay at the front and stayed out ahead of a crash in the last turn to finish 6th in a field of 68.
Results were mixed in the Women's race. Erin finished 11th in a very competitive field. Caroline Brown joined Team Indiebike for the first time and unfortunately suffered a serious crash early in the race and was taken to Bloomington Hospital for further treatment. Lets hope for a quick recovery.

Monday, July 5, 2010

Firecracker 50 Results

Official results are posted for Sunday's Firecracker 50 circuit race.

It was a hot one. The course was wide and flat and other than the stiff wind on the back straightaway there wasn't much to break up the monotony. The brutal heat claimed some riders. Unfortunately a small piece of debris claimed Dustin's rear tire before he had surrendered to the heat. It was an hour into the race and all was going well when my rear wheel got that dreaded mushy feeling. On the long walk back to the start/finish area I saw Tom and two other riders bridging up to a three man break. None had stuck up to this point but by this time some riders were clearly getting tired. This time the move stuck. By the last two laps five of the six had survived and on the final lap on rider decided to have a go of it. With the rest of his break mates seemingly content to watch the winner ride off alone Tom took up the chase, doing the lion's share of the work. With probably 500m to go the four riders collected the escapee but Tom's efforts to bring him back had taken its tole on the sprint. Tom ended up third after a long battle, mostly against the sun and wind. I only wish I was still around to have helped at the end. Maybe the result would have been more favorable...

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Firecracker 50 Circuit Map

Not certain about which direction it will go but here is the course for Sunday's Firecracker 50 race.


View Firecracker 50 Circuit in a larger map