Team indiebike.com p/b OrthoIndy Family,

The race was the final of the Ohio Spring Race Series. Three team members made the trip; Michael, Steve, and myself. The course was an 18 mile loop that was mostly flat with the exception of one bitch of a hill. And I mean this thing was serious; steep and well over a mile long.

Michael rode in the 5s race, finishing in the pack. They did 36 miles (2 loops). He thought he placed somewhere in the 20s. I didn't hear an elaborate race report from him.

Steve and I were in the 3s race. We did 4 loops for a total of 72 miles. The race started slowly, and then about 9 miles in, the hill happened. By the time the hill had been conquered there was no single group, and there wasn't for the remaining 63 miles. This was great for me b/c myself and another rider had gapped the group. A small group of maybe 5 riders were chasing, and we figured they'd catch us on the flats, which would be great b/c we'd probably have enough guys to stay away from the pack. For whatever reason, they didn't chase us down. We kept on it and by the final lap, according to Michael who was at the start/finish line, we had about 10 minutes on the next rider. Of course we didn't know, so we continued to push ourselves to complete exhaustion. The separation between the two of us in the break happened a bit outside of the 200 meter mark. He had made an attempt to drop me about a half mile before the finish, but i was able to hop on his wheel and rode there until i made my move. He wasn't able to counter.

When I finished, Steve was already off his bike. And i believe he said it was a "mechanical" issue that kept him from finishing. Isn't that right, Steve?

Chalk it up: another victory for team indie bike!

Awesome results yesterday.

Brad Sheridan grabbed another top 5 in the 4/5 race and Justin and Dustin both placed top ten in the 3/4, 8th and 10th respectively.

But the even bigger story is that Brad was also able to finish 20th in the 3/4, ahead of Josh Prater and Chris Jolivette, simply by standing on the side of the road and cheering. Impressive. Dustin also turned in a big finish in the Pro/1/2/3 race. Despite being at Marsh grocery shopping during the race Dustin placed 17th just behind Brett Stewart. Great work everybody.

Cory and I were casualties in a crash on the last lap in the 3/4 race. We both had good legs and were toward the front in good position going into the first corner of the last lap. Two guys ahead crossed wheels and went down collecting a few other riders with them, myself included. I had nowhere to go so I rode over the top of the pile. Cory managed to slow down enough not to hit the deck but his chances at a good finish were over. I have a puncture wound in my right butt cheek, a scraped up left forearm and got stabbed in my left quad by my chainring but other than that not too bad. The bike is repairable. Scratched up bartape, shift lever, pedal and skewer all on the left side. Broke two spokes on my front wheel. Both bike and body survived well enough to ride another day.

here's a quick rundown from the weekend of racing. a couple of top 31's and a few crashes highlighted a weekend of racing.

tom's intro to cat 3's included a 4th place finish in the road race and being crashed out of the crit on sunday. heading into the final turn in 5th place proved to be exactly the wrong place to be positioned. a few scratches on the new groupo and a torn kit were his reward for a hard ride that was headed toward another top finish.

i won the 4's road race and got 2nd in the crit on sunday. in keeping with tradition, i made it rain at wendy's afterward - though it just wasn't the same without sherry ordering a baked potato.

mark g. got a jump on the DINO series by winning his age group and was top10 overall in his mtn race on saturday - nice work, mark! rumor has it that he replaced his post ride shake with a bloat (beer float) at the festival.

cory turned his focus to road racing and traveled to ohio on sunday. ever wondered what skin looks like after a crash at 42? talk to cory. sounds like he's still pretty sore and he has some equipment that needs to be sent to zipp for repair/replacement. luckily, cory has more bike gear than any one person should and skin will heal. luckily, or unluckily for Tim, cory didn't break anything.

Erin had a solid finish in the road race on sunday. she was certainly a marked rider in her sweet indie kit - as 3/4 of the field were her former teammates - alderfer bergen. she road well to a 5th place finish.

there you have it. see you tonight for a recovery ride or tomorrow for a few beers after the ride from the shop.

-Gus

The race: It was a 3/4 combined. Steve and I stayed near the front from the start. It seemed like someone was attacking every other lap, but no one was able to stay away. With 2 laps to go there was one guy out front trying to hold on, the pack picked it up and caught him 3/4 of the way around of that 2nd to last lap, and then I went off the front to try and speed up the tempo for the last lap. The field dropped from 17 or so for most of the race down to what seemed like 8-ish on that last lap; maybe it was more than that. After a bit of jocking around for position, we got to the start of the final climb (uphill finish) and I was able to take off without anyone grabbing my wheel. Hill-climbing-champion, Steve, stayed with the front runners and climbed his way to a 6th place finish! According to Jeff Ryan's GPS, the finishing group averaged 24.7 mph for the 60 minute race.

If you havent heard indiebike/OrthoIndy had a pretty good day a Ceraland as well Brad missed the podium by the thickness of his front tire. We claimed the 4, 5, 6, 7 and 12th positions. Dave made it through a pretty bad final lap crash with just some scraped fingers but he rode a really good race, matching many accelerations mid way through to keep the front of the field together.

I finished 3rd in my age group (25-29), and 31st overall out of 1,000 participants in the Carmel Sprint Triathlon this morning so I got to bring home a trophy for the second year in a row.

Team indiebike.com p/b Ortho Indy definitely made an impact today. We had eight riders (out of the ten that signed up). Our numbers made it impossible not to notice our presence.

A stiff wind on the back side of the course and a very competitive field shredded the pack in the 1/2/3 race. Seven riders got away and nearly lapped the field by the end of the race.

The 4/5 race stayed together despite a handful of early attacks. The wind was just too much for anyone to face alone. Team IB contenders were near the front of the group the entire time and kept any attempted attacks under control. Indiebike had their guys near the front coming out of the last turn. Heading into the uphill finish the pack hesitated a bit to feel out who would go first. Tom and Dustin launched a perfectly timed attack. Dustin dove through a gap on the inside just before the window closed. When he saw the move Tom responded with an acceleration around the outside. They approached the finish line with a decisive gap with Tom and Dustin crossing 1, 2. Indiebike has established themselves early as a team to look out for.

Good riding today guys!