Granted, I was already pedaling squares and had been dropped from the 3’s race, but when the lead P/1/2 group passed me 70 miles into their Tour of Holy Hill, it was like I was standing still. First it was a group of four, including Kayle Leogrande (Rock Racing), then a chase group of about eight, including two more Rock Racing riders. I presume they made the catch, because the results included four of the top six.

Rock Racing’s Sebastian Haedo, younger brother of CSC sprinter J.J. Haedo, won Tuesday’s criterium in Cedarburg, Wis., giving Rock Racing four consecutive wins.

The P/1/2 overall is as tight as can be, with a single point separating the top three riders (Marco Rios and Jonathan Cantwell (Kahala LaGrange) and Brian Jensen (HRRC/Trek Stores)). Certainly Rios and Cantwell have the team advantage, but much is likely to hinge on how much more Rock Racing will be doing, as Leogrande is only 28 points down.

I confess to not following the NRC teams that closely when they are not racing nearby, but does anyone know why more teams didn’t show up this year? Seems like most of the big teams skipped Superweek and went straight from the Cascade Cycling Classic in Oregon to the Tour de Toona in Pennsylvania. Previous years have had more riders from the likes of Health Net, Navigators and Jelly Belly. Only Victor Rapinski is representing Navigators, even though Hilton Clarke (Navigators) had been racing here just a few weeks ago, and one almost has to wonder why. Does Milwaukee have a great Belarussian restaurant we should know about?

As for the other categories, perhaps I shouldn’t have been so braggy about teammate Ed Amstutz (XXX Racing-AthletiCo), who found himself a marked man at Tour of Holy Hill, Superweek’s final road race. He held his lead in the 3’s overall but then had to return to the office, and others bave been taking advantage. Craig Streit (Procon) won Cedarburg in a break of three to move ahead in the standings. I must also call out Lance Niles (Unattached), who won at Holy Hill in a four-man break. All year Niles has been an aggressive rider in the 3’s and a genuinely nice guy. I wasn’t disappointed to see him take this one.

Cedarburg kicked off a six-race women’s 3/4 series, with Kristin Meshberg (Flatlandia) of Lyons winning to take the first overall lead.

The 4/5 race is down to two riders: Nathan Longley (Beans & Barley) and Tomasz Boba (WDT), who finished 3-4 in Cedarburg. Longley has won three races so far and has a 34-point lead over Boba and almost twice as many points as the next-closest contender.

Holy Hill race reports
Bryan McVey (Vision Quest; 3): “It felt like I was standing outside in a hail storm going downhill at 35 mph getting pegged by little pieces of road.”

Seth Meyer (Team Get a Grip Cycles; P/1/2): “It was really just 50 guys attacking and counterattacking each other, 5 miles into a 100-mile race.”

Mark Swartzendruber (Delta Faucet; 40+ 1/2/3): “All three are great riders, hard workers and honest racers and are held in great esteem in my eyes. The three were Chris Halverson (Nova IS Corp), Clark Priebe (Team Mack) and John Van Susteren (Mach Schnell/JDRF) ... Racing with those three was as much fun in bike racing as I’ve had in a long while.”

The Editor (XXX Racing-AthletiCo; 3): “It’s a shame I didn’t quite have the tactical know-how or fitness to make this work.”

Cedarburg race reports
Rahsaan Bahati (Rock Racing; P/1/2): “This has been the best venue thus far this superweek. The local community came out in numbers to support us and it was really cool.”

Christine Roettger (X Plane Team Revolution; W-3/4): “I thought I quit at the line, but it was the WRONG line. And I am dumb. Why race my butt off for an hour and 25 miles worth of racing to give up one half second short?”

Amanda Miller (Atlas; W-P/1/2/3): “I tried to stay in the top five the entire race. One, to avoid crashing. Two, to cover any attacks that I thought would stick. Three, not have to sprint out of every corner like I did this weekend in the Pro/1/2/3’s.”

Mark Swartzendruber (Delta Faucet; 40+ 1/2/3): “The race was essentially 35 laps of terror as each lap, Clark Priebe (Team Mack), who descends and corners like Paolo Savoldelli (Astana), swooped into the fourth corner faster than anyone else was willing to risk and then we’d chase like hell as Priebe would look back and smile at the eight of us chicken[s] who were grabbing handfuls of brake while he was careening around the corner like frickin’ Valentino Rossi.”

Wolverine Sports Club (W-3/4): “The race included many attacks and one very brief solo break and came down to a pack finish.”

Cedarburg photos
Machine is Organic