Monday, June 29, 2009

SBF Report

Day 1 - Twilight Criterium
The criterium is a .7 mile loop around downtown Marquette. 35 racers lined up for the criterium and SISU Cycles went in with a plan to put 4 up front and 2 mid pack to hold back any response to attacks. As in most races, the plan didn't work quite as we wanted but we did place 3 (Tom, Tyler, Jesse) in the front and 3 (Glen, Danny, Tim) in the chase group. SISU dominated the front of the race for most of laps with Jesse doing a lot of the work because no other team was willing to do work. In the last lap Tom responded to an attack leaving Jesse and Tyler chasing. Tom rolled off the attack leaving the strong legs of Behan with the victory. Jesse, 7th; Tom, 8th; Tyler, 11th; Tim, 18th; Glen, 20th; Danny, 22nd. Full Results.

Day 2 - Michigan State Championship Road Race
The State Championship was resolved on a 55 mile course on mostly flat terrain with 2 slight climbs. For the most part the race was quite uneventful. Several solo attempts were tried early but failed into a South wind. The only real attack happened in the rear of the race when Tyler had a flat rear wheel 14 miles into the race on 553. With great help of the Palomaki support vehicle, 13 miles of 30 mph solo tempo later he caught the group which was still together. The peleton made the turn together onto 480 just in time to enter a steady rain. Danny then through a strong attack giving the rest of SISU a break while others chased. Danny was caught a few minutes later and a counter attack was fired by Tyler trying to keep the other teams and guys working giving SISU every bit of rest for the sprint. Not lasting more than 2 minutes the attack was caught. The peleton reached granite point neighbor hood and the mini attacks started and the tempo increased along with the rain. The rain was making every body a bit jumpy because nobody wanted to sprint with the group around the final corner. Approaching the the 1000 meter mark we had Jesse front middle and Tyler, Tim, Tom, Danny, and Glen front right (not a good place to be). We tried to organize lead outs but the only lead out that was attempted was Tyler leading out for Tim but it failed when the last corner presented just to much danger with the slick roads. Jess had the best line and put together an awesome sprint for not having a lead out. Jesse, 4th; Tom, 11th; Tim, 15th; Glen, 18th; Tyler, 19th; Danny, 31st (Danny dropped his chain in the sprint). Full Results.

Day 3 - Presque Isle Circuit or Mountain Chase
SISU Cycles represented both SBF events on Sunday and sent two (Tyler & Tim) racers to the circuit and 4 (Tom, Glen, Danny, & Jesse) racers to the knobby race.

The circuit had a new course this year. It was completed at Presque Isle on a 2 mile loop with a kicker of a hill on the back side. It was scheduled for 4 laps. Tim and Tyler had practiced on the course earlier in the week and knew what could be accomplished on the hill. With that knowledge they planned on a lead out and an attack on laps 2,3, or 4 which ever presented itself. Each time around the course tired the group out a bit more and you could tell each rider was hurting from the 2 prior races. The hill had split the group slightly each time favoring the climbers but each time was brought back together on the gradual down hill. With no established break away Tim knew that lap 4 had to be controlled by SISU. Tim roared his way to the front on the final lap and pushed the pace to 24 miles an hour into an West wind off the lake knowing no one could pass at that pace. Right before the base of the hill Tyler yelled to Tim to put the hammer down. With the lead out executed perfectly it launched Tyler up the hill at a pace that only a select few matched. At the top of the climb only one rider beat Tyler up the hill, it was Behan and he put on a super attack and put a 5 second gap between the group. Tyler answered with a hard tempo and then an attack by Lynch was made leaving one choice, follow. With a great block by ACE's Wes P. it allowed Lynch and Tyler to chase Behan. It came down to a sprint with Behan overcoming the chase and Tyler just edging out Lynch at the end. Tyler, 2nd; Tim, 18th. Full Resutls.

Mountain Chase - ?

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