Gopher Wheelmen Cycling Club

From: Lee Penn
Date: Jun 4, 2007 9:42 AM

Yup – I showed up. I kept hearing this little voice in my head – I
can’t afford to crash… I can’t afford to crash. Sometimes, this
mom-thing really gets in the way of savy racing. Anyway, I was also
nervous about the conditions, although not on the 180 for some reason.
It was the bit of a descent and corner number one that had me
nervous. There was a sewer cover there, and people weren’t taking
what I thought were smart lines through it So, everytime down that
little descent, I got gapped. Then, I would work hard to get back on.
Then, I would gain a position or two on the 180. Then, I would gain a
position or two on the hill. Repeat that six or seven times, and you
take the race to the point at which I couldn’t get back on after that
little pip-squeak of a descent. Yes, descending is my weakness. I get
nervous and have visions of 10k 2004 and that massive crash that sent
six women to the er….. If I break something, I’m just screwed.

So, note to self…. I need to practice descending corners. I’m good
on the flats and somehow feel like attacking whenever cornering out of
a little hill climb…. but I consistently get dropped on descents.
One of my friends says I need to go to Italy.

Time to get over this dangit! Well, this is my first real foray back
into racing after the massive crash, hit by a car, lyme’s disease
season. So, I guess I’d best cut myself a little slack, no? Well,
that’s what people keep telling me, but the voices just won’t listen!

Finished 10th out of 12.

Lee

From: Sara Brokaw
Date: Jun 4, 2007 9:21 AM

Womens 1/2/3

7/12?

Lined up on a damp course with representative(s) from EVERY womens
team present (except Grumpys), Birchwood having the most (3). Happy
to have a “larger” field including Rodent teammate Lee. Hollywood hit
the hole shot from the gun. Allowed others to chase. First few times
around the 180 I was a bit hesitant crossing the wet paint strips (as
these have taken me out before on wet commutes), but seeing others
going through the corner faster & annoyed by having to chase on after
the 180 gave me more confidence to move through faster. H-wood &
Nature Valley (U of M rider who I just raced against at the track last
thurs…), & I spent alot of time attacking, chasing, setting tempo
with b-wood chasing a few moves. Attacked during a lull in the field
& found myself off the front, solo, with a discussion behind over
chasing. Put a little energy in to the tempo now that I was off the
front to make t! hem work a little. Legs weren’t doing so well up
the little hill, so I was caught after a lap off the front.
Surprisingly not counteattacked.

Move of the day award goes to Nature Valley. With 1 to go, she
attacked up the hill, gaining a nice gap. Feeling like I’d done
enough work for the day and would take my chances on a pack sprint for
second (AND unwilling to tow some super-rested legs of eventual second
and third place riders to the line…time for them to do some work if
they really want it), I yelled that hey she’ll stay away (heard she
succeeded at putting a lap on the field at the track), expecting
someone else would chase. Eventually B-wood rider says, “Why is no
one chasing.” I told her to go for it. She chases but … oops too
late! Nature Valley stays away for the win…. Got myself into a
good position for the finish (4th rider with 2 turns to go), but legs
weren’t super on the uphill (likely due spending 5 of the 8 last days
racing) & passed at the line by 2 B-wood riders. Satisfying effort,
improved high-end endurance from previous weekend.!

Thanks for reading.

Sara

PS–Track last Thurs 5/31

Race of unknown distance 5/11. Very confused with this one…even
verbalized this to the field. Gun fires to start the race, Gun fires
again later, bell lap, end.

Chariot. Standing start 2-lap sprint. Won my heat. 4th/6 on the final.

Points race. Very confused again with this one, asking if I had any
points at one point in time, to which Alan rider replied, no you don’t
have any points. Picked up a few points in the two middle sprints
just by sitting down on the inside holding second position. 5th
overall due to wily velo bella taking the field sprint.

Only picked up 1 point so I didn’t place top 5 for the omnium, so I
just need to focus on placing higher.

Nice racing against fresh faces at the track…addition of a sister
duo of Speedskaters from Kenosha.

From: Martha Gilligan
Date: May 30, 2007 9:34 AM

Here are a couple race reports from the youngest Gopher Wheelmen and
their weekend in Duluth. They did the TT and the Crit. The RR for the
Jr’s was 35 miles and we thought that might be a bit much for them
(and their other brothers really didn’t want to spend the entire
weekend at the races).
Thanks to all of the GW’s and the support and encouragement you give
our boys – we want to be sure that they are having fun! They’ll be out
of town for most of the summer, so they’ll only be at a few more
races. They hope to give cyclo-cross a try in the fall, so keep an eye
out for them!

Brian:
Wrenshall TT:
On Saturday May 26 there was a 16 mile time trial. It was difficult
riding in the rain and having the water soak into your clothes and
then have cold wet feet most the race. Right before I was going to the
finish I see Michael who I have had trouble beating. I catch Michael
and I finish the race 3 minutes faster then him. I come back to the
finish to watch Michael and I forget to clip out and fall over with a
smile on my face.

Cloquet Crit:
On Memorial Day there was a crit. We got the start time wrong and
ended up getting to Cloquet four hours before the Jr’s race. We hung
around and watched the other races. It was pretty fun to watch them
and my Dad liked looking at all the really nice bikes. Everyone is
always really nice to us and the other Gopher Wheelmen came over and
wished us a good race.
During the Women’s 4 race it started to rain. Finally it is time for
our race, the rain stops but the roads are wet. The Jr’s under 14
field is made up of the same kids as most every ROY race so far:
Jordan Cullen, Loon State, he’s good enough to hang with the older
Jr’s. He has won every race. Jake Mittlestaedt, Milltown cycles, he’s
pretty good and I’d like to beat him. Michael and I make it 4.
I was really nervous because it was my first crit of the year. As I
start the race I start to swerve into Matt Anderson the USCF official.
Right in front of me I see a MNJRC fall on the first turn. I start up
the hill going really slow because I’m not the best at them. I am
dropped from the group and end up riding the race on my own. I finish
4th out of 4 and was not very satisfied with that. Michael spoils all
my fun. If it was not for my mom and dad who get me to the races and
my rivals Jordan and Jake then I probably wouldn’t have as much fun as
I do now!!

Michael:
Wrenshall TT:
Heave-ho!! Riding in the rain going up a big hill, then a sharp
u-turn… did the wind change on me? WOW, no wonder I’m going so fast
I thought. Later in the race I’m felling like crap, I have puddles in
my shoes, it’s cold and windy. I am hypoglycemic and I have to be
careful with my blood sugar and I could tell that it was getting low.
Then to make it even worse, my brother Brian (which I have beat in
every race) passes me. He ends up beating me by three minutes.
About 100 yd away from the finish line 2 racers come up behind me and
cheer me on to the end. I was just glad I finished. Now I have to deal
with Brian bragging about his win until Monday’s race. I’ll let him
have his little victory, I know I’ll beat him at Monday’s Crit.

Cloquet Crit:
When I started the race I had the worst start, I couldn’t clip in.
Once I finally did, I saw someone turning the first corner wipe out.
Before the race I asked an official “has any one crashed yet?” he
replied “no, don’t jinx it.” I felt bad for the jr. that crashed, but
he was OK and got a free lap. On the 3rd to last lap Jordan, a JR
under 14, in my category, laps me saying “good job”. Then the next lap
Jake, my racing buddy, and I start to sprint… I hear the last lap
bell – oh this isn’t the end yet. My strategy was to drop Jake on the
hill, I knew I had to be ahead of him on the descent because he’s
bigger than me and goes faster downhill. I draft behind Jake through
the first corner and take off up the hill. Jake shouted something out
about working together, but I knew that wouldn’t work now. I got a
good gap on him and he closed it up on the descent. Going in to the
finish he was right on me. Everyone wanted to see the sprint for
second because Jordan had tied up 1st place (like always) and the
sprint began. I was going fast and trying to stay in front of Jake and
I did it! Once I crossed the line, Jake counted 1thousand 1 then he
finished. It was a hell of a ride taking second place for the first
time and beating my rival but friend.

From: julee taylor
Date: May 29, 2007 7:55 AM

This will be short…

Cat 4 Women-Wreshall TT-16 miles: I got 3rd and beat several Cat 2/3
women as well-46:21….beat by JM (GP) by 4 seconds and LK (BW) by 17
seconds! I like time trialing. Thanks to PDK who loaned me his 3-spoke
HED wheels-clearly they made a difference.

Cat4 Women-South Range Road Race-35 miles-8th/10-We stayed all
together for 34.5 miles…..I didn’t care about the sprint
(well-that’s not entirely true-but whatever).

Crit-I bailed and went home to work on the “church.”

Black Dog tomorrow and State TT on Saturday…can you tell where this is going?

Congrats to Sara B, Cheryl B. and Dan W, who all did well in various
events…looking forward to reading the reports.

Jules

From: Tracy Bergemann
Date: May 23, 2007 3:34 PM

I’m not entirely sure, but I don’t think there were any Cat 1-2-3
women at Opus last night. If memory serves, last year at the last
Opus there was an agreement to leave it to the Cat 4’s for the final
race. So, I wonder if that wasn’t the plan again last night. Or I
wonder if the weather simply kept all of the major players away. At
any rate, I’m thinking there were 10-12 Cat 4 women lined up for the
race.

By the first sprint lap, the pack had broken up and there were only 5
of us left up front from Peace, Birchie, MNJRC, one Unaff. and me.
Peace and Birchie pulled for most of the laps. I usually sat in at
3rd place. On every sprint lap, I attempted to contend for the sprint
and usually placed 4th or 5th. So, those girls could out-sprint me.
At the last lap, I didn’t even contend for the sprint finish thinking
“I already know these four girls can out-sprint me”. In retrospect, I
should have tried anyway, but I was tired. So, I finished 5th.

After the races were finished, I rode back into Minneapolis with 4
Flanders guys and two other friends that came along to spectate.
There was some sprinting on the Greenway on the way home, and I with
my backpack containing work clothes, bike lock, etc. was working hard
to try and do the 26-28 mph surges that were going on amongst the boys
messing with each other. So, it was like a mini-race on the way home,
but with more luggage.

Anyway, I’m really tired today. Brain no work no more.

In other news, I leave for Belgium this Friday and will be galavanting
about Europe for the next two weeks. Everyone enjoy the upcoming
races/training rides/etc. and I’ll see y’all in June.

Cheers,
Tracy

From: Sara Brokaw
Date: May 20, 2007 11:53 AM

Sidelined from traveling to a weekend of racing in Madison, WI by a
stomach virus, I took the opportunity to salvage legs rested for 2
days of hard WI racing by attempting a race at the track Saturday
night. I figured that despite eating 1/4 of what I normally eat over
the last 2 days woudn’t make too much of an impact for short events as
long as I could consume Cytomax during the event. Accopanied by my
better half, we showed up at the track finding another Gopher (Dan S)
and a gaggle of County Cycles mechanics (swilling Sumit;-)).

Womens field (2 Grumpy’s (Sarah S, Gwen S), wily Velo Bella, Alan,
Peace Coffee (who was in my track class last fall)) was a bit small,
but still excited for my first racing evening at the track.

First race was a win & out…ie winner of first sprint wins the race,
winner of second sprint is second, winner of 3rd, is 3rd. The race
started and I was pinned down on the inside. Remembering Dan S’s
comments from his miss & out, needing to be riding more uptrack to
prevent elimination, I got myself out of the jam, but not soon enough
to catch Grumpys GS accelerating down the backstretch. Knowing this
would not be closed, I sat up to conserve energy. Second sprint, I
accelerated out of turn 2 & had a bike length or 2 in the backstretch
on the next rider. Held it to the line for 2nd. Bella took the third
sprint.

Second race was a handicap (riders set around the track at 20? m
intervals around the track) riding 3 laps. Top 2 in each heat go to
the final. I was set at 20m, a rider ahead & behind. We held our
gaps to the end, so I advanced to the final. Set again at 20m for the
final (2 riders on the line, me at 20 m, one ahead at 40 m), I found
through the s/f that I wasn’t going to close the gap on the rider in
front. Hopped on the back of the 2 girls behind chasing, but was only
able to manage hanging on in the sprint.

Third race was a 20 lap race (not sure of the name?). Wow. 20 laps
of 250 m…. short. Very short. Only the end matters. Threw in 2
attacks in the first half of the race and realed in each time. Bella
launches after a $20 prime shortly after my second attack, and I
needed to recover so I couldn’t follow. She went after a second
prime, and no-one is chasing (again!!) so recovered, I head off after
& miss getting her at the line by a few inches. With a lap or 2 to
go, Grumpys SS makes a tactically brilliant move off the front with
Grumpys GS sitting on the front of the pack. No one attempts to close
this down, and seeing that they will have 1-2 at the finish I close it
down. Bella, Grumpys GS, & I have a gap, GS taking the win, my 2nd,
Bella 3rd.

In the end a successful first time out. Ran a 48×15, and felt like a
larger gear would’ve helped close the gap in the win & out, so I will
probably try a 48×14 next time to see if that helps.

Thanks for reading.

Sara

From: Dan Schueller

I made many mistakes in my first 3 races at the track, but that’s a good
thing because hopefully I’ll learn from it. There were 26 cat 4 racers
(including many fast dudes like Tim Mulrooney and Dave Pramann), which
we were told was a huge group to have on the track at one time. The
first race was a scratch 10-lap race which is a regular race to the
finish. It was quite congested and there was a crash during lap 3. So
on lap 4 I went to a safer position at the front when an opening
presented itself. Then I heard the announcer say I had a 30 meter gap
(I didn’t want to do that). Unsure what to do, I just dangled off the
front until the last lap when 5 guys flew by me and I ended up 6th. I
used a 98 inch gear in this race which just didn’t feel right, so I
changed to a 91 inch gear for the last two races, which was much
better.

The second race was a miss-and-out where every lap the last guy got
pulled. I learned that being on the inside is not good because you have
nowhere to go when guys on the outside can use the space on the upper
track to sprint around everyone. I ended up getting pulled with 8 guys
left when I got trapped on the inside.

The third race was a 40-lap points race (points every 10 laps) which
was a fun but confusing race. I took 3rd in the first sprint but then a
few laps later things got chaotic when 5 guys broke away (including Tim
Mulrooney) at the same time we started lapping riders. Riders were
spread all around the track and for the rest of the race I had no idea
where I was. I just rode hard and on the last lap I sprinted at 100%
effort (max speed of 35mph). Somehow that sprint brought me close to
Tim Mulrooney who won, I finished 3rd (4th when based on points).

The racing was a blast (Sara I think you will love it) however I had a
bad scare when I got a flat during warm-ups. There were about 50 riders
warming up and I was entering a turn at the top of the track when my
back tire went totally flat (later I found out it was from a wood
splinter). It was the worst possible place I could be. So I turned
down track and barely kept my bike upright until I got on the grass, and
luckily nobody was in my path or that would have been a bad collision.
Also, it wasn’t pretty seeing someone pull big slivers out of the
shoulder of the kid (he appeared to be about 16) who crashed in our
first race.

Kay. Here’s the deal. 4 GW cat 4 women in our 36 mile race. 3 of the 4 stayed at the back of the pack for 1st half of the 1st lap. I said nuts to that. I knew there was a big hill coming and that I needed to be in the front for it. So I went to the front. The pack was being led by 6 BW girls. I decided to mess with their pace line, not do any pulling, and have them try and figure out how to rotate around me. They were having trouble with that. Good to know.

I got dropped from the pack during the climb on the big hill. As usual.
Here was my inner dialogue as I then TT’d for the next 26 miles:

“Why do I always get dropped climbing hills? Note to self: climb more damn hills. But, I am climbing damn hills damn it. Note to self: climb even MORE damn hills. Hmm… there’s 3 BW girls just up ahead of me. Should I try to catch them? Maybe I will….. How come I’m only going 26mph in the tail wind? That seems slow. That is slow. I should be going at least 31mph. Am I really that tired? I can’t be that tired. Oh well. I’m not going to try to catch them. [after turning back into the headwind on lap 2] Hey, whaddya know? I’m in the small chain ring. Well, that was @*!$’ing stupid. No wonder I could only go 26 in the tail wind. Nevermind. If I had to catch up to the BW girls then I’d have to ride with them for the next two laps. And they would probably just mess with me. So, I’ll just keep TT’ing. [end of 2nd lap] Hey it’s pouring rain now. This sucks. Would it be absolutely crazy to keep pedaling in the pouring rain when I’m clearly going to lose this race? Yes, yes, it would be crazy to any normal person. But, this is cycling, which is clearly a crazy-ass sport. So, I’ll keep pedaling. Is that thunder I hear? Which sort of frame sttracts lightning? I’m probably safe on steel. And now my cell phone is ringing in my jersey. Hmmm…. it’s probably John calling to see how if I’ve finished racing yet. Should I answer my cell phone during a race in the rain? Would that be crazy? Yes… answering a cell phone to tell your boy that you are losing a bicycle race in the rain is crazy. Just keep pedaling.”

Finished 17/20

Thanks for reading,
Tracy

good afternoon rodents!

opus yesterday evening was a blast. i had a great time. showed up and
barely got into the race – AGAIN! man – i’ve got to figure out how to
remember how to get to registration. i was – really i was – running on
time. it was the confusing nature of opus that caused me to nearly miss the
race.

but i didn’t! yippee!!!!

right – we line up, and i have a teammate (yay sara b.)!!! woo hoo! oh -
jules – where were ya???? next week, woman!

okay okay.

feeling much better this week than last. feel like my power is coming back
- especially in comparison to how i was feeling last week!

get there with about three minutes to spare. drop my backpack, saddle bag,
second bottle of water. clip one pedal in – whistle blows – we’re off.
already, it’s more challenging than last week. Teresa M. is doing strange
coaching but racing things… she did this last week too, but i couldn’t
make the front group selection, so i didn’t care as much. anyway, i can’t
really figure out her story. she controls the race for the first six laps,
and then she doesn’t so much. it was harder and faster overall, which i
liked….

first prime – i went too early – why do i always do that? crossed fifth….
no points. pout. chastise self for doing the usual leepenn mistake of
going to early.

second prime – sara launched a great attack at the very start of the lap.
she’s got a nice pace going. i manage to secure good position as a result.
wait for it… wait for it… oh crap – t is pulling a couple of women
around the outside, so i couterattack cuz i refuse to miss that train…. i
stick the train, but i end up having nothing spectacular for the sprint.
crossed seventh. no points. pout.

third prime – wait for it…. wait for it…. fourth! no points, though.
pout. two women in front of me were 1-2-3’s…. hey, wait a minute – i
should have a point for that!

final sprint – wait for it… wait for it…. fourth! points for me! yay!
one woman in front of me (u of mn kit – really awesome cat 4) was NOT a
1-2-3…. i beat linda sone at the line… barely. three points for lee.
mmmm…. points. i like points.

overall – fourth. that’s cool! i was very pleased to actually have two
pretty good sprints, although i still feel somewhat low on power. that’ll
change. i was pleased to stick with the front. it was a harder race than
last week. linda sone (very cool fire fighter cat 2) says hey – you’ve got
a good sprint. then, she tells me that my form is a little off on my sprint
- too far forward she says…. hmmmm…. ted????? maybe i need some
coaching here. can we have a sprint session?

some squirrelly riding – kenwood woman knocked into me by charging up on the
inside at the beginning of the climb…. some overlapped wheels – i was
just sure these two birchies were going down…. but no crashes. not a
clean race overall, but no crashes is a good good thing.

thanks for reading!

lee

ps – more rodents are opus next week please!

Sara Brokaw