Superweek Day 3- Bellin Health Village of Howard Cycling Classic

Bellin Health Village of Howard Cycling Classic in Green Bay was a nice flat crit with a strip mall on one side and a farm field with big bales of hay on the other. Strange.

The race was full of attacks and counter attacks. Maia and Kelly mixed it up as well. Kelly got in a two woman break, but it didn't stick. There were lots of attempts at breaks, but nothing really got too far away. The back side of the course had a slight up hill rise and had a pretty good head wind. Coming into the finish, Kelly jumped too early and had a good gap, but couldn't hold the 34.8 mph to the line and ended up 4th. Maia finished 16th and thought it was a really fun race.

Overall, Kelly ended the day in 3rd, and Maia ended in 21st.

The money winners for the day. (Well, John Coyle took 24th, but his daughter didn't race.)

Ray finished 6th in the 40+ and then doubled up in the P/1/2 race later.

Brent took a flyer on the last lap and motored home for a W in the Cat 4!!

Kroske rode strong and finished 7th in the Cat 3 race.

Luke finished 20th in a race won by the Aussie Olympic Gold Medal Pursuit winner.

Superweek Day 2 - Cedarburg Classic

The Cedarburg Classic is a slightly hilly crit in a quaint little neighborhood with 0.9 mile laps.

Kelly and Maia had a nice big field for a change. The race included many attacks and one very brief solo break and came down to a pack finish. Kelly finished 7th and Maia finished 22nd. The uphill finish was pretty challenging. Kelly was sitting in 7th wheel around the last turn thinking she might pass a few in the sprint, but the field finished right in the order they were sitting. Maia felt pretty strong for the day and was pretty happy about her finish. She learned not to sit too far back and get mixed up with the women who brake around the turns. I'll add the pics from Tim's camera when I get them.

7th was in the money. So was Dybo's 15 place in the 40+ race.


In the 40+ race there were 9 away and 5 in a chase group. Ray pulled a "classic Ray move" to bridge up from the back of the peloton to the chase. It was a thing of beauty.

Watching the Cat 3 race.


We laughed our heads off cheering Kroske on after he got lapped multiple times and refused to give up. I guess taking a week off the bike to take your kids to Cedar Point is probably not a recommended training tactic.

One of the funniest things was when Tim borrowed a bull horn from a kid who bought it at a garage sale for $2 and chased after Kroske.

Superweek Day 1 - Travel Day

7 hour drive wasn't too bad. Blue skies and I robbed the piggy bank for the toll road through Chicago.


The boys got the sweet set up.



The money winners for the day at Holy Hill.

Waiting FOREVER for dinner at the Mineshaft.

Welcome Christy Keely!

The Maillot Jaune Road Race wasn't a very good day for the Wolverine Women. Renee, Mary and Maia don't really like climbing hills, and Kelly had a bad day, so she decided to save her legs for Superweek next week and dropped back to keep Renee company and enjoy the beautiful course.

The best news of the day was that we added the talented Christy Keely to our squad. Her first race as a Cat 3 was Cedar Creek and she did an aweome job there. Christy finished 7th in Fenton after the squirrly Cat 5 men's pack took down two women (Christy being one of them) when they passed. Small damage to the body and bike. She's also got one of the coolest personalities around. For formality sake, in the following picture from left to right is Mary Ward, Maia Orabi, Christy Keely, Kelly Paterson, Renee Schroeder.


The course in Fenton is absolutly beautiful and it was awesome to see such large women's fields in both races. Thank you to CycleFit and everyone else who did such a great job organizing a fantastic event. The brand new vehicles for chase cars were really cool too. It was also very nice to see another women's team emerge. Haggerty (insurance company) had several women in both races. The had the cool Brick Wheels logo on their shoulders as well. (Traverse City Trek Dealer)

And, of course, no visit to Fenton is allowed unless you stop at the French Laundry for an oatmeal cookie, Italian soda or a sandwich that is big enough that you're not sure whether to eat it or do bicep curls with it. There is a picture floating around. I'll post it when the electrons get here.

Mary says...

"It was great to get back racing again after having a bad year for crashes. This one was perfect as I had no one to crash into or to crash into me! After falling off the eventual first place finisher (now I know not to pull too much and get tired!), I felt like I was racing by myself. It was only after lapping another racer twice that I knew there was someone else out there!"

Editor's Note:
Mary had a very serious hematoma on her thigh from a crash. If you want to be grossed out, check out some of these photos of "Battle Scars" from bike crashes. Mary's thigh and hip were as bad if not worse than some of those photos.

Caution - photos not for the faint of heart!
http://www.more-mtb.org/galleries/browseimages.php?c=11

Common Crit - Lansing

It was a capitol day in Lansing Michigan. The women's 1/2/3 race was 45 minutes + 3 laps. Tara Tasma of Team Giant won both primes uncontested, but on the first prime, Renee got gapped off from sitting on the wheel of the wrong rider. Maia was having a hard time generating power after taking a few days off the bike to watch Superweek racing. Kelly answered every one of Priority Health's attacks and counter attacks.
Coming around the last turn, Kelly hit a 4 inch indented sewer cover and her rear wheel came off the ground. She went to the "Coach Ray Dybowski cornering school" and had power to the wheel so she luckily didn't go down, but she lost position and finished second behind Amy Stauffer. Tara Tasma came in 3rd place. Renee finished 7th, Maia DNF.

Click the link to see a nice video of the field from the pedestrian bridge.



In the Cat 4 race, Mary finished 2nd. She's learning and gaining experience with every race she does.

Where's Beth?

Beth Skau raced Superior Bike Fest on June 22nd and 23rd and finished 7th in the Criterium and 8th in the road race out of fields of 13 and 18 respectively. Beth trains every day in the hills around her home in Northern Michigan which is what makes climbing her specialty. Here are some pictures of her from Kensington.