Brion Goudreaus on the Wonder Lake Crit podium
Ok, maybe you weren’t away. Neither were we, really. Just because this update has taken a minute to get posted, doesn’t mean we weren’t racing! Actually, things have been going quite well the last couple of weekends. We have been having a lot of fun.
Our main man in cheap shades, PFK, rolled up to the Wonder Lake crit and won the Cat 3/4 race. Pete has quietly been having a strong year in the 3′s, and it’s good to see him hit the top spot on the podium. In dong so, he earned another first for the team. We have now had a team member of each men’s category win a USA Cycling sanctioned race this year. Pete now joins Rob Kelly (Cat 1), Ara (Cat 2), Dave Ross (Cat 4), and both Daves Ross and Pratt (Cat 5) in winning a race. Not many teams can say that. That doesn’t even count our Women’s team or the guys tearing it up in Masters… and there is still plenty of racing to go!
About those girls, our Cat 4 women’s crew continues to impress. Mara won the ABR Cat 4 crit state championship last weekend, and Karen finished second! Not to be out done, Andy Swims picked up another state jersey in the ABR Cat 3 state crit champs.
I know you’re not counting at home, but we are. And, that makes six state championships on the road in 2012! Lucky year for us! It’s not luck, really. Did we mention that we’re having fun this year?
And, lets go back to Wonder Lake for a minute. One of the coolest things about this sport is watching people get stronger. People who’ve never raced bikes often have a hard time when they start- it’s a brutal sport and your introduction is usually a cold, hard lesson that you’re not as good as you need to be. A lot of people get frustrated early and never come back. For those who stick with it, though, this sport can be more exciting and rewarding than any other.
Just ask Brion. That’s him at the top of the post standing on the Cat 5 podium at Wonder Lake. Brion started road racing this spring, and so did Jason Lynch. Both guys had rough starts and both guys “paid their dues”. Things came together for them at Wonder Lake, where Jason helped move Brion up in the closing laps and, well, it worked out nicely.
Speaking of Jason and Brion, both have now upgraded into the 4′s. They follow Dave Ross and Dave Pratt who had done so earlier in the year. Of course, the Daves replace Bryan Fuller and Scott Bowden, who have both recently upgraded into the 3′s. And, we need them there because we’ve got two guys about to upgrade into the 2′s…
Did we mention it’s been a fun year?
This weekend we bring the fun to the Superweek races in Beverly, Wood Dale, and Geneva. We’ll also be be down at the Morton Crit.