BICYCLES!: Marian

Last weekend Jane, Jared, Kevin and I headed out to Indy and the Major Taylor Velodrome for the Marian University Midwest Cycling Classic. This race featured open USAC races in addition to the collegiate races so we all got to race twice, which makes the day literally twice as fun.

Jared was in good position all day.

In the Women's Pro/1/2/3/4 Jane put in such a good fight that even 40x National Champ (yes she's won Forty National Championships) Coryn Rivera and Cyclocross National Champ Kaitlin Antonneau couldn't drop her and she rolled in 10th. (Kaitlin Antonneau has her own webpage too, but at the time I'm writing this it appears to have been hacked and I don't want to infect anyone's computer with malware; google it at your own risk).

Jane rocking the B race.

I, on the other hand, had my ass handed to me by David Williams of the Competitive Cyclist Pro Team, Chad "Snake Champ" Burdzilauskas and Chris "Fuckin' Rocket Scientist" Uberti. The dustbuster Bissell team fielded a big squad too, but didn't control the race as much as I expected.

This is the tricky corner at the bottom of the hill.

Jared was riding in good position near the front in both the Collegiate D and Cat 5 races, but both times he was crashed out in the last lap. Luckily he didn't get hurt and will be in the hunt for some podium finishes in the C races at Notre Dame.

Jared before the 5 race. Notice the fatter guys.

Now that I think about it, those crashes might have been the result of bad karma from when he took someone else out at Lindenwood. I guess that's just how you learn to take care of yourself in the field.

Fighting for a wheel.

Kevin had a strong C race and finished in the pack despite tailgunning for the whole half an hour so he decided to take a nap in the car instead of doubling up.

Move up Kevin!!

The collegiate A race has some crazy shit go down. Unfortunately there was a bad crash which resulted in a couple broken bones, but there was also some entertaining stuff: kids riding in the grass, Nick Grigsby (Lindsey Wilson) throwing up mid race after chasing down a break, and Matt Brandt (Lindenwood) rolled his tubular in the sprint and somehow kept his bike up while sliding on the carbon rim.