Let’s hear it for the older guys! First 48-year-old Steve Tilford (HRRC/Trek) demolished the Midwest’s hardest road race when he won Hillsboro-Roubaix in April.  And now 39-year-old Dewey Dickey (Mercy/Specialized) has crushed our hardest criterium, Saturday’s Snake Alley Criterium in Burlington, Iowa, not once but twice. Gives hope to those of us on a 10- to 20-year macrocycle.

After winning the morning’s 30+ race, Dickey easily won a two-up sprint against Brian Jensen (Successful Living) to take home the P/1/2 race, a field stacked with the region’s best riders.  “It’s a dream come true,” Dickey told the Burlington Hawk Eye, adding that he’d been trying to win there for 21 years. (See this profile for more background on Dickey.)

Among Chicago-area racers, Lindsay Koren started what would turn out to be a very fruitful weekend by winning the women’s 4’s race. Koren rode away from her field early and finished with a 31-second lead. (The Hawk Eye has coverage of her victory, too.)

Our other winner was Kaleb Koch (Smart Cycling), who won the juniors 13-14 category, the biggest win in what’s already been a successful year for him.

XXX Racing-AthletiCo pushed two riders into the top 10 of the 4’s race, Peter Strittmatter in 5th and Brian Morrissey in 9th, and they were kept company by Adam Clark (Chicago Cuttin’ Crew) in 6th.
In the 5’s, Max Riordin (Chicago Cuttin’ Crew) hit 6th while Avi Neurohr (Unattached), whom you may know as “that dude racing on the single-speed” or “that dude racing cyclocross in the Jordan jersey,” following in 7th in one of his first races on a geared bike.

Our only rider to hit the top 10 in the 3’s was junior Chris Hurst (Baraboo Sharks), coming in 9th, but Devon Haskell came in 4th in an impressive women’s-open field.

Finally, congrats to Neurohr for a 4th in Friday’s prologue road race, and to Jacques Cartier (XXX Racing-AthletiCo) for a 6th in the Cat 4 road race.

I was in Indianapolis all weekend -- watching a car race and pretending they were bicycles -- so it will take a few days to digest all the great racing that transpired over the weekend and serve up a report. (Let me tell you, all y’all getting so many top 10’s doesn’t make my job any easier.) Stay tuned!

Full Wapello-Mediapolis Race and Snake Alley results.

Photos
Shawn Delk: P/1/2, 4
Fry Guy Images
Bryan Moritz
Heet Myser
Iowa Pix
Punk Rock Cycling
Matt Smith

Wapello-Mediapolis race reports
Avi Neurohr (Unattached; 5): “The fear of getting dropped by the wayside seems to keep me from giving it 100 percent. What if they use me up and I’m off the back as they bridge? But then something else kicks in: Who fucking cares anyway?”

Snake Alley race reports
Carson Christen (HBA; 4): “I hit the top with a gap and then smooth sailing to the finish line for the WIN! I could not believe it. My fat ass was able to get myself over the climbs faster then anyone else!”

Nick Gierman (Vitaminwater-Trek; 4): “‘Dude, let’s see you out here.  This is tough!’”

Jeff Holland (XXX Racing-AthletiCo; 4): “On the 9th lap, about halfway up the Snake, “KAPOWWW!” My tube blows up, blows the bead of the tire off the rim, and I come to a screeching halt . (Well, about as screeching as you can when only going 8 mph.)”

Nate Iden (Spider Monkey; 4): “Slipped a pedal on the start, bad, did not get out front on the first corner, bad, got stuck in the middle of a mess heading up the 1st lap of the snake, bad, did not bomb the downhill to make up for the error, bad.”

Lindsay Koren (Team Get a Grip Cycles; W-4): “After some serious wheel rubbing with one other woman throughout the first time up the chute, I managed to get clear of the biggest groups.”

Amanda Miller (Mesa Cycling; W-open): “Need to learn better shifting techniques, as it cost me the race.”

Brian Morrissey (XXX Racing-AthletiCo; 4): “It was agony to spin the big ring but I had to get up to speed to lose my pursuers, and the bait of the last lap must’ve been beyond enticing.”

Avi Neurohr (Unattached; 5): “I nipped two spots to get into 5th at the last top-out of snake alley, only to freewheel my way around, thinking I had another lap.”

Tristan Schouten (Planet Bike; P/1/2): “This year I saw more guys standing on the sidewalk puking on different parts of the course than in previous years. It’s fun watching guys ride straight of the course on the back section hunched over their bars with drool down to their top tubes -- one more spot for me!”

Mike Sherer (Alderfer Bergen; P/1/2): “I got suddenly very sick and just started puking on the side of the road. Man that pissed me off. Oh, well. I guess that’s bike racing.”

Steve Tilford (HRRC/Trek; P/1/2): “Dewey was crazy strong today and deserved the win.”

Jeff Wat (Vitaminwater-Trek; 3): “One switchback up and a guy just fell over. All he could muster was a "sorry" and I think he gave up.”

Kim “The Devil” West: “After AGAIN being offered an ice-cold frosty barley malt, he turned back and SPAT at me, er, the devil.”