Photo by Luke Seemann

Weekend wrap-up: June 20-21
Jun 23
2009
Filed in: Race reports


Comments (8)

Some highlights from this weekend’s racing, including the memorable Fox River Grove climb (above):

  • » Sometimes it’s hard to be an impartial observer. I cannot help but lead with the performance of XXX Racing-AthletiCo, which swept nearly every men’s elite category between the two Illinois Cup Races. At Cobb Park it was Tom Briney in the 4’s, Curtis Eldridge in the 30+ 4/5 and Peter Strittmatter in the 3’s. Briney and Eldridge won in bunch sprints, while Strittmatter won out of a late two-man break with Jason Knauff (Burnham Racing). At Fox River Grove, wins came from Briney again in the 4/5’s, David Moyer in the 3’s and Ed Amstutz in the P/1/2’s.
  • » Speaking of clean sweeps, New Zealand import Jeannie Kuhajek (Team Mack) won all four of her races this weekend, taking the women’s open and masters races at both Cobb Park and Fox River Grove.
  • »  Three members of regional powerhouse Texas Roadhouse stopped by Cobb Park and put a veritable beatdown on the locals in the P/1/2 race, sweeping the podium behind Kevin Attkisson (2008 masters criterium national champion), John Grant and John Puffer.
  • » Tomasz Boba (WDT-Allvoi) raced well. At Cobb Park he finished 5th in the P/1/2’s (2nd, non-Texas Roadhouse division). At Fox River Grove he outsprinted Amstutz to win the masters 1/2/3, then traded positions for a 2nd in the P/1/2.
  • » Post-up of the weekend goes to Doug Braun (Tower Racing), who with two to go in Fox River Grove’s 30+ 4/5 made a three-man selection, then with one to go unleashed an unanswerable attack that let him zip up and cross the line in style. This is a repeat victory for Braun: He won here the masters 4/5 in 2008, too.
  • » Kudos to promoter Robert DiSilvestro and Fox River Grove for patching the road at crest of the hill. The surface was smooth as butter, a significant imporovement over just a week earlier. This race gets bigger and better every year, and even many people who DNF’d have vowed to return in 2010.

Full Cobb Park results. Full Fox River Grove results.



Cobb Park reports
Newt Cole (XXX Racing-AthletiCo; 3): “I slide up to Kyle’s wheel and tell him, ‘I’m on, brother. Let’s do this.’”



Jared Rogers (XXX Racing-AthletiCo; 4, 30+ 4/5): “From that point on I tell myself that I’m not giving up any more wheels.”



Luke Seemann (XXX Racing-AthletiCo; 3): “It was early, but if a group was out of sight, anything could happen. Better do something about it.”



Mike Shea (Spidermonkey Cycling; 4, 30+ 4/5): “In the final 20 meters, Davy Jones (Team Get a Grip Cycles) and I bumped shoulders and I badly threw the bike somewhere near the line. It was an exciting finish.”



Cobb Park photos
Carolyn Golz
Mark Keller
Video: Rob Ragfield



Fox River Grove reports
Doug Braun (Tower Racing; 30+ 4/5): “Over the top and down the hill at 35 into the corners, I take a quick look behind and no one is in sight.”



Newt Cole (XXX Racing-AthletiCo; 3): “For me, this is the race. I did my job and will not be denied two days in a row.”



Seth Meyer (XXX Racing-AthletiCo; P/1/2): “DFL > DNF > DNS.”



Brian Morrissey (XXX Racing-AthletiCo; 4/5, 30+ 4/5): “Two shifts and out of my saddle, I passed out of mere tunnel vision and into Dr. Dave Bowman hallucination-worm hole territory. “



Dave Moyer (XXX Racing-AthletiCo; 3): “I got a gap and motored down the final flatish portion of the descent.”



Tom Panton (XXX Racing-AthletiCo; 30+ 4/5): “I don’t think I ever suffered so much in only 20 minutes.”



Rob Roop (North Branch; 4/5, 30+ 4/5): “In this race if you weren’t going forward you were going backwards, and I didn’t find anyone to work with.”



Tim Speciale (Bicycle Heaven; 4/5): “He hammered it up the hill, the pack followed and I had no choice.”



Michael Young (XXX Racing-AthletiCo; 4/5, 30+ 4/5): “Wow.  That hill is making my legs burn.  This is great.”



Fox River Grove photos
Nikki Cyp
Carolyn Golz
Mark Keller

Comments

1.

Jun 23
2009

1:56 pm

RHRoop (Team Higher Gear)

Fox River Grove is a great race venue. Why there are two Cat 4/5 races instead of one Cat 4 and one Cat 5 doesn’t make sense. On a per minute basis the Masters Cat 4/5 race cost about $1.50. I paid it (in fact I paid it twice to race two times) and I’ll probably pay it again next year because there aren’t many alternatives but seriously- $30 to race 20 minutes?

2.

Jun 23
2009

2:03 pm

.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

I agree…$30 for 20 minutes is a joke…Kind of like $35 for 25 miles at Elgin. If only I was fast enought to upgrade.

3.

Jun 24
2009

7:50 am

.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) (xXx Racing-AthletiCo)

Instead of posting semi-anonymously and bitching about a race, try emailing the promoter/director or even talking to them. Every promoter/director wants to make their race better, and they appreciate constructive criticism. I’ve been on both sides of the fence (racer with criticism and director receiving it), and you will get MUCH farther by being constructive in your comments and going straight to the director to discuss it.

And does anyone (besides other directors/promoters) have any idea how much it costs to put on a race??? Permit fees, other fees, yet other fees (especially city of chicago races), rental equipment, primes, cash prizes, officials, USAC permits, medals, etc, etc. It’s not cheap. Instead of targeting money, maybe ask for another 5 or 10 minutes added to your race.

4.

Jun 24
2009

9:37 am

usrnull (Chicago Cuttin' Crew)

There are benefits to having combined 4/5 fields. It’s usually a haul to get out to a race, and once we’re there, some of us like to double up (one of the few benefits of being >30).

A cat 5 field would be limited to 50 by USAC regs. Conversely, a cat 4 race could have up to 100 entrants, which might be a bit much for this course. As it was, the pace of the leaders was enough to get half the field pulled.

I think it’s great when organizers stage a Masters 4/5 field. I’ve been to a number of races where Masters is open, and as a 4, you’re lunch meat for the P/1/2s who are using your race as a warmup.

5.

Jun 24
2009

10:16 am

RHRoop (Team Higher Gear)

I didn’t mean to start an argument with my comment but a little debate isn’t a bad thing.

1. If a Cat 4 or 5 could race for 40 to 60 minutes would they feel the need to sign up for two races that were each 20 to 30 minutes?

2. If USACycling says that a safe Cat 5 field should not exceed 50 riders how is this rule maintained by combining Cat 4 and 5 and allowing 75? It doesn’t happen but is possible in theory that no Cat 4 riders could sign up and the field would consist of 75 Cat 5s. I understand the promoter rationale (in fact as a race promoter I have done this) but the practice doesn’t make sense and I wonder if it doesn’t actually create some liability exposure for the promoter and USACycling.

3. I also like Master’s races and I agree that open events aren’t much fun for 4s and 5s. I wonder if the demand for Masters races is also a function of racers wanting to able to race multiple times because one 30 minute race isn’t enough.

4. Promoters always cite a lack of time in the day as the reason that the number of fields/categories is limited. However, a big portion of each day is the time between races. If you reduce the number of heats you also reduce the amount of lost time between them which would allow for longer races.

I do know how much it costs to put a race on having been involved in five or six over the past three years. I understand the math and I still say that it doesn’t make sense.

BTW- while I have posted my comments here be sure that my good friend Steve Hansen at the IL Cycling Association knows my opinions.

6.

Jun 24
2009

10:52 am

.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) (xXx Racing-AthletiCo)

Agreed, debate is a good thing. And my comments were more directed at “Racer X” than RHRoop.

A Cat 4/5 race longer than say 30 minutes at FRG? Hmmm… Not sure the average Cat 4 has the stamina to go much longer than that at race pace on that course.

At Sherman Park this year, we just barely broke even (I think, still calculating). City permit fees killed us, and even though we had good attendance, it just cost so much money to hold a race (especially in the city). It does cost a lot to race at FRG in terms of the $/minute, but that’s a unique course given its difficulty so you can’t expect to race that thing for “very long” (depending on your category).

But hey, FRG is such an awesome course. It’s totally worth the extra $/minute to race it.

7.

Jun 24
2009

11:00 am

Luke Seemann's avatar

Luke Seemann (XXX Racing-AthletiCo)

Given the choice, I think two 4/5’s races is always preferable to separate 4’s and 5’s fields. Given the demographics of our sport, 30+ 4/5’s is a sweet spot, so you will maximize your entries from people doubling up. It also gives older riders an option to do only the masters race, isolating themselves from dangerous younger riders.

Ideal, of course, is separate 4’s and 5’s fields and a masters 4/5’s field. In a perfect world.

This year there were ~65 4/5’s and ~50 30+ 4/5’s at Fox River Grove. 115 total entries. My estimate is that if it were 4’s and 5’s, you’d get ~50 4’s and ~40 5’s to this race. Roughly the same number, probably less. That means less racing, and less money to cover the promoter’s expenses. That’s just my guess.

But say it was 4’s and 5’s rather than two 4/5’s races—How would that make the races any longer?

As for race duration, Fox River Grove is a special case. Like Snake Alley, which has a similar course profile and races of similar length (although measured in laps, not time), 25 minutes at FRG is comparable to 45 minutes on a flat course. Judging from the placings of masters who doubled up back-to-back and the way they slouched over their bikes in the second race, many of them obviously couldn’t race for 45 minutes.

As I would with any promoter, I am going to give Robert DiSilvestro the benefit of the doubt and assume he wants to provide the most racing for the most people given whatever restrictions he has, one of which is undoubtedly time.

I’m also going to go out on a limb and speculate that, even with high fees, RDS Cycling isn’t getting rich off FRG. And despite small, money-losing fields (three in the women’s open? 15 in the P/1/2?) he always lives up to the advertised payout. The lower categories end up subsidizing the higher categories. That’s racing.

8.

Jun 24
2009

1:59 pm

RHRoop (Team Higher Gear)

I talked with Robert Di Silvestro about co-sponsoring FRG back in the spring. He’s a great guy and he is organizing races because he loves the sport. There is an old saying- “The fastest way to a small fortune in the cycling industry is to start with a big one”.

Maybe FRG isn’t the best example given the uniqueness of the course for cost per lap, mile, or minute cmparisons. That sort of metric probably isn’t appropriate (eventhough it was my post). I believe that common practice might be replacing common sense when it comes to scheduling races.

The field limits that USACycling places on promoters are being circumvented in order to generate more race fees. More heats are also being scheduled because of the field limits to generate more race fees. Perhaps my suggestion is better directed at the logic that limits a Cat 5 race to 50 participants.

I don’t think that the fitness of atheletes can be considered a factor. Otherwise we would find that time trials would also be handicapped for distance which does not happen except for Juniors and Seniors.

 

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