Brief Cherry Pie Criterium Recap...

The weather was amazing...65 and Sunny. I got to race in shorts & short sleeve jersey. The weather here still gets me, especially when I call my parents back in Chicago and they tell me that it's -3 degrees and 30 below with the windchill.

The course was fun...about a 50-75 foot hill, a 180 at the top and three 90 degree turns...curvy sections throughout. As you can see from the map below (Garmin Data) my finish wasn't where it was supposed to be...if you look at my helmet or carbon bars, you would understand why. :-(I was sitting in great position for the final lap and in the curvy section there was a crash just ahead of me...I threw the brakes on full blast and rode a nose-wheelie for what felt like fifteen feet (as well as slow-motion). It wasn't enough and I buried my front wheel straight into the crashed rider's back, throwing me over the bars.

My team rode aggressively and grabbed a few primes on the way...would have been great if I would have made it to the sprint to contribute.

We stuck around to watch Eric, Jan and Charlie race the P/1/2 race. All 3 did an awesome job in what turned out to be a very fast race. A fairly early breakaway of 9 stayed away till the end, but "Fast Freddie" Rodriguez put in some huge efforts to try to bring them back...Here's a photo of Freddie pushing the pace with Jan in the background.


Next race: Snelling Road Race

Get a Grip Racing Blog

My team has begun posting on the team blog - race recaps and whatever else comes up (training, product reviews, world domination, etc...)

Check it out here: www.getagripracing.blogspot.com

UW Parkside #3

Just a quick race report from the 3rd UW Parkside Crit (well after the actual race).

Anyway - It was the perfect racing weather and not the normal Parkside racing weather. It was all sun and reached nearly 80 degrees! First time on the bike in just shorts and jersey and it felt amazing...if you've done winters in Chicago you know that feeling.

So the plan was to make sure that our teammate, Lee, stayed near the front or off the front in a winning move. These Parkside races present an overall podium for the series and going into this race Lee was sitting pretty in 3rd. This report is well overdue, so forgive my memory and lack of detail. Basically, our team presented an amazing team effort to chase down anything threatening and keep Lee from any unneeded work at the front. At one point I was chasing down a breakaway and looked back for a bit of help only to find Lee grinning back at me and had to push on. The race was fast, faster than the second of the series. During the final few laps our teammate Chip got off on a breakaway with a couple guys, while me and my other teammates controlled the front with Lee sitting on our wheel. There were a few bridging attempts that we had to jump on...unfortunately, these attacks are what killed us from giving Lee a proper lead out when it counted. Chip and the rest he was with were caught on the final lap and then it was just up to Lee. He battled the field on his own to pull off another 4th place finish, which was enough to move him up to 2nd for the series!

Our goal was for Lee to do what he did, so the team deserves a pat on the back for a very well executed race.

UW Parkside Crit #2

First race on the new bike with the new team...we killed it. I was extremely pleased with the way everyone on my team raced yesterday. We were on the attack most of the race. Not much of a race report from me except that we tried and tried to make something work, but the headwind at the high end of the course was a leg killer.

In the end, the race came down to a sprint finish. Lee had an awesome race and pulled off a 4th place finish. Chip, myself and Steve pulled in 11, 12, 13th respectively to round out 4 Get a Grip racers in the top 15.

Here are a few pics from the race(sent over by former Higher Gear teammate - Thanks Ken)

Wisconsin Rider, Me and a Cliffy trying to get something going



Steve on the attack with support on the front of the field



Steve on the attack again!



Uwe making a solo attempt look like fun.


Overall, we had an awesome race. On the downside Tenney took a nasty spill and got pretty banged up, both body and bike. While laying in the gutter, he got a first hand view of 2 riders riding over his frame. Moment of silence for his System Six...only a few days old. (check Jon's blog soon...I'll let him tell it all)