Gopher Cycling Blog

The first weekend of racing in the North Central Collegiate Cycling Conference saw the Gophers commence their season after a hard week in spring training in Tucson, Arizona. The Women's team immediately shot to first place in the conference, and the Men ended up in 4th place, to bring the team to an overall second place in the conference. You can find the Team Standings here, and the full individual results here.

Women's Road Race:

For the Gophers raced: Jennifer H (5th) and Miriam W (9th). Jennifer H submitted this report:

"With temperatures in the mid 50s and a partly cloudy sky, it was a beautiful day in Kansas for a road race. Between this being my first race and the moderate amount of caffeine in my previously-decaffeinated-for-three-months body, I was nervous and ready to roll. After the token announcements by the race official, which included a pleasant surprise that the race was 20-some rather than the advertised 30 miles, Miriam-my other UofM teammate-and I and our eight competitors were off.

The pace was slow and it felt more like a pleasure ride than a race. I hung out behind a girl from Kansas (either Kim Kissing or Andy Hoiste, I'm not quite sure) for much of the race and kept contemplating an attack. I had no idea of the strength of the field and didn't want to burn myself out for the inevitable sprint at the end that would occur if I didn't lose everyone. Midway through the course, there was an attack and I and several others took chase. I am not sure whether the entire pack was still together at this point, I didn't look back much. Upon catching up to the attacker I found out that it was one of our own, Miriam. After the attack, things resumed as they had been with the Kansas girl pulling, me behind her, and some unknown number of women right behind us. I pulled a few times and sped up the pace hoping to drop some women. When I saw that there was a group still behind me, I resumed drafting to conserve energy for the finish.

I didn't quite know where the finish was since my poor vision prevented me from being able to read my bike odometer and I had never ridden the course. I was still sitting behind the Kansas girl when we came to a bend in the road where I saw Billy riding around and heard him yell something. OK, so I was near the finish. But then, all of the sudden, while I was riding near the right edge of the road still behind the girl from Kansas, women started passing me to the left. Ahead of me the Kansas girl was not speeding up much and I felt trapped. The other riders were seemingly streaming by and I couldn't get out fast enough to give chase. By the time I got an opening I was next to Emily Brodersen from Nebraska and it was a sprint between the two of us for fourth and fifth place. Try as I might I just couldn't get my legs to turn over fast enough up that hill and Emily beat me to the finish. My conservative tactic was relatively fruitless in the end. Ride and learn I guess!

I had lost track of Miriam during the race. Unfortunately she had a flat, but nevertheless caught up with and passed Emily Farmham from Nebraska to take 9th place."

Men's A Road Race:

For the Gophers raced: Steve G (8th), Chris M (11th), Satoshi I (15th), and Eric S (17th). Chris M submited this race report:

"The KSU Men's A road race was my first test of the season. My body was
feeling a bit drained after coming off a long week of various base, LT,
sprint and coffee shop rides. In any case, the Gopher-mobile rolled into
the Army base. We were stopped at the checkpoint to verify our ID's,
registration and insurance information. Apparently we were missing a
critical document and it appeared as if we were not going to be able to
enter the site. After a few phone calls and impatiently waiting we were
finally allowed inside the Army base.

At the start of the race a few guys immediately got off the front including
our very own, Jacky Durand, I mean Satoshi. It wasn't a full-blown attack,
merely a few guys were itchy from the start and wanted to push the pace.
Without a sweat the peloton easily merged with the few guys upfront and the
pack rolled along conservatively. The pace gradually picked up as we neared
the undulating portion of the course. With a blink of an eye the pack was
now strung out with gaps everywhere. After the smoke cleared I realized a
group of 4 were off the front (Schneller, Burnum, Jensen and Mills);
followed by the chase group of Steve Gillespie, myself, Ian (UNL), Tom (UNL)
and Sean (Carleton). The lead group was within sight so I had confidence in
Steve and Ian pulling it together - so I sat at the back waiting to jump the
gap once we got closer. However, the gap eventually reached 35 seconds and
went up from there. Now the lead pack was out of sight and the chase pack
lost a bit of steam. Steve worked diligently with the other chasers to keep
the pace high.

On the second lap I was dropped on a hill and slowly the chase group
disappeared into the horizon. I found myself in no-mans land thinking to
myself - do I recover a bit and chase to get back on or do I sit up and wait
for other riders? Since I didn't have a time check of the riders behind me
I decided to expend my energy trying to chase back on. However, I soon
spotted 2 riders behind me slowly approaching. I took a sip of water and
waited to latch on but Hammack and Pool wisely blasted past me and therefore
I wasn't able to latch on the 2-man train.

I rolled in 11th place and learned a lot about the dynamics of a collegiate
race. I can almost guarantee all the road races will have a breakaway
simply due to the wide range of abilities from Cat 1 to Cat 3. Jacky
Durand, I mean Satoshi rolled in 15th; Eric Stewart rolled in 17th and Steve
Gillespie rolled all 128lbs of himself in 8th place and was the highest
placing Gopher in the Men's A race."

Men's B Road Race:

For the Gophers raced: Peter F (1st), Andrew C (3rd), Yorgos A (7th), and Peter K (10th). Andy C submitted this race report:

"The Mens B road race started off kind of slow, and a seemed a bit nervous. For the first couple of miles, we all just rode together, and nothing exciting really happened. Gradually, the intensity began to pick up, and a few guys started launching attacks. All were covered by at least one Minnesota guy, and they were reeled in fairly easily. Then, the first truly big climb came, and things began happening.

Peter Flanagan and some KU guys started to break away, and I told Peter Kane and Yorgos to back off and let Pete do his thing. Yorgos looked back at me strangely and said, "But there's only four of us here". The pack had completely broken up without my knowledge, and there was nothing left for us to hold back. So I poured on the coals and caught the breakaway group, which was still only a few meters away. The group was soon reduced to five people: Pete F., two KU guys, an Iowa racer, and me.
Before long, Pete shot off the front on a solo mission, and I just hung out with the KU and Iowa guys. At first, they wanted me to help out, but I politely explained that I wasn't about to help chase down my own teammate. So the two KU guys did all the pulling while me and the Iowa guy just sat on their wheels. I don't know why they didn't make the Iowa guy do any work either, but anyways, the two KU guys were getting pretty tired. I could see Pete up there, and we were slowly closing the gap, but it was too late.

With 19.75 miles on my odometer, and a hill looming ahead, I knew it was time to go to work. As the climb began, I shot around the KU guys and the Iowa guys and made an early break for it. I quickly dropped the Kansas guys but Iowa was hot in pursuit. As we rounded the bend towards the finish, Iowa outsprinted me and my 40 pound bike, but couldn't catch Pete who was just crossing the line. So Pete F. took first, an Iowa guy took second, I took third, and the two KU guys who did all the work took fourth and fifth. Yorgos finished strong in 7th, working with a competitor to maintain position, and Pete K. finished 10th, despite sacrificing so much energy chasing down breakaways early on."

Women's Criterium:

For the Gophers raced: Maria S (1st), Hannah D (2nd), Miriam W (3rd), Jennifer H (4th), and Julie K (6th). Maria S submitted this race report:

"We decided not to screw around, so I started the race with a fast pace and after a lap or so, Julie, Andi from KSU, and I were off the front. After
leading 3 or 4 laps, Julie pulled for a little while and then Andi led.
Coming into a slightly downhill 90 degree, but very wide corner, Andi cut
too close and crashed. Julie had no choice but to run into Andi, and I
swerved and kept going. Andi and Julie got back into the race. I stayed
off the front and lapped half of the field (everyone but our team and Kim
from KU) until the finish. Now the rest is just what I've heard... Andi
rode with the pack of U of M riders- Hannah, Jenn, and Miriam. Those women
used some great team tactics and wore Andi out so much that she quit the
race. Hannah made a break during the race to capture 2nd and Jenn and
Miriam battled for 4th and 3rd. Despite the crash, Julie hung in the race
for a 6th place finish."

Men's A Criterium:

For the Gophers raced: Ben P (6th), Matt K (9th), Steve G (11th), Andrew T (14th), Satoshi I (15th), Chris M (16th), and Eric S (20th). Ben P submitted the following race report:

"The Men's A crit was 50minutes, plus a few laps, cold with a slight uphill finish into the wind. It was fast from the gun, as Satoshi attacked right
away. A few people moved to chase, and F'n Steve and I closely followed
their wheels. Satoshi was soon brought back, and the race started to split
up when the really strong riders (3 Kansas cat 1/2 racers, + Scott)
accelerated off the front. I couldn't hang on, but started working with
Aaron from Nebraska. It was soon clear we wouldn't catch the lead group,
but I kept working hard because I'd seen that two more Nebraska guys were
chasing. They finally caught us, and it was three Nebraska guys and I. I
did some pulls, but it was only to keep the pace up so we didn't get caught
by anyone else or lapped. As the odd man out, I was at a huge disadvantage
in our group if it came to a sprint. I stayed in back for the most part,
doing token pulls but not really working, sizing up my companions. Ian I
knew from last year. He was fast, smart and an experienced racer.
Definitely a threat. Tommy I also knew, but he was barely hanging on and I
knew he was spent. Aaron seemed strong. Really strong. I needed to get away
before the finish.

Incidentally, I noticed the group cheering near the start/finish was
growing. The rest of the field had been lapped out of contention and
pulled. I found out later that F'n Steve had just barely missed getting
into my group and had dangled behind in 9th until he was pulled. 'Burnz and
Screech were in the chase behind with a big group sitting on with Steve off
ahead, but one of them managed to be in front when they ware all pulled to
sneak into 10th.

So towards the end of the race there remained only a group of three up the
road, one off the back, and then my group of four. On the second-to-last
lap, after the leaders passed the start/finish they flipped the board to
read 1 lap to go. Thinking it was the final lap, I attacked hard after the
first corner, surprizing the others, and immediately got a gap. Ian and
Aaron from Nebraska worked hard to bring me back, but my gap held. However,
I was confused when I passed the start/finish and let up a bit until I
figured out I still had one to go. I was pretty spent, but I tried to go
hard until the finish. The chasers worked hard, and with a leadout from
Ian, Aaron just got me at the line. Dammit. But I beat Ian and Tommy, and
in a group of three against one, two out of three is pretty good. Not only
that, but I scored 6th overall."

Men's B Criterium:

For the Gophers raced: Andy C (6th), Peter F (8th), Yorgos A (13th), Peter K (18th), and Cody A (24th). Andy C submitted this race report:

"The Mens B crit was 40 minutes plus one lap, starting at 8:15 A.M. (which meant about 20 degrees). The Crit started a little faster than the road race. I think everyone was just trying to get warm. The pack held together for quite a few laps before things began happening.

Pete F. once again left on a solo breakaway, but was soon joined by a couple of Kansas and Nebraska guys, with me right on their wheels. I was soon gapped off the back however, and found myself in no man's land for an uncomfortably long time. Soon, I joined forces with a Kansas State rider, and we worked together before being joined from behind by a group of about four. So the six of us powered our way along, not expecting anything spectacular.

With about ten minutes left, we suddenly caught the breakaway group, which apparently hadn't been cooperating with Pete well. So now a group of about ten was flying around the course, while the clock ticked down. Soon the bell rang, and the pace lifted phenomenally. I almost crashed coming around a corner, but held it together. Then, coming to the last corner before the finishing straightaway, we lapped a group of riders.

Confusion ensued, and Pete Flanagan, who was two riders ahead of me, caught a pedal. He hit the curb and flew into the grass. Shocked, I could do nothing but finish the race as best I could. I stood up and powered my way up the slight incline to the finish, securing sixth place. Behind me, Pete got back on his bike and finished for eighth place. Yorgos and Peter Kane finished 13th and 18th, respectively, despite sustaining crashes that unfortunately soiled Pete's new jersey. Cody finish 24th. Thankfully no one suffered serious injuries (but a few bikes needed repair)."

The U of M Cycling Team left for Tucson, Arizona, today, as it does every year at the beginning of spring break. The first van with eight riders left at 9am local time and the second van with nine riders left at 3pm. Total driving time is about 30 hours, so the Gophers will be expected to arrive in Tucson at 3pm and 8pm local time on Saturday.

The weather forecast promises a great training camp in sunny and warm conditions:

Stay tuned for reports on how Spring Training went. . .

The Sun Devil Criterium marked the first criterium race of the season in the South West Collegiate Cycling Conference. The field was small with only thirteen starters, which encompassed the Men's A and B field, as well as the Women's field. One woman, actually.

The epic battle that was to be this 35-minute criterium was started off with a blast by Mike Dietrich, who went hard off the gun, immediately splitting the field into two groups. A lead group of four crystallized, including Mike and David of the University of Arizona, an Arizona State University rider, and the U of M's Ben R. A Gopher was a highly unusual sight in the field that was dominated by Arizona school, that in fact would have consisted of only Arizona schools, had it not been for the Gopher. The lead group rode at a brisk pace for some time and through the first prime, which was taken by Mike, after a lead out from Ben. Soon after, the attack came from David, who was, predictably, caught. This was followed by an immediate, stronger attack from Mike, that could only be answered by Ben. The duo quickly settled into a rhythm that left a considerable advantage on the main field, which had been lapped right at the point of David's attack.

One last prime was preceded by an attempted attack by Mike, which was countered by Ben, who also took the prime. On the final lap, Mike and Ben decided to drag race for the finish, which is always an extremely fair way of deciding a race between two racers. No tactics, just side-by-side riding, may the stronger win. Ben turned out to have the stronger sprint, spinning in a relatively low gear at high cadence, which prompted the post-race comment from fellow track racer Joshua Ryan: "Ben, road bikes have gears, you know?"

Fair enough. But if spinning gets the job done, why shift? One is much less likely to mis-spin than to mis-shift. Anyway, the win went to Ben, who won three Clif Bars and an extraordinary trophy in his first race of the season:

The beginning of a streak for the Golden Gophers?

Stay posted. . .