Tag Archives: #criterium

Crash, Comebacks, and KCBC Grit: A Midseason Recap from Missouri

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By Mike Ivancic

This race report is unofficially brought to you by the letter “C”—for Crash. Because every rider knows: it’s not if, it’s when. And my when came hard in Columbia, Missouri, during the Froze Toes Road Race, held July 15—the Missouri State Championship Road Race. It was my worst wreck since I first clipped in back in 2010, and let me tell you: Missouri pavement does not forgive.

Ironically, despite its name, the Froze Toes race felt more like Inferno Heels. With temps pushing past 90°F, the 31-mile road course offered a fast, flat profile—except for the kicker in the final 500 meters. And if you’re carrying 20–30 pounds more than the featherweights in the peloton, you feel every inch of that uphill finish.

Unfortunately, my day ended early—taken out at mile 11. I still managed to finish, albeit 25th out of 27. Not ideal, but part of the game.

20180717_114948Dan Schaeffer

KCBC Shows Up

Despite my misfortune, KCBC represented well.

  • Dan Shaffer took on the Masters field and earned a solid 12th out of 20. Steady and dependable.
  • Kurt Wilson raced in the Cat 3 field and landed 26th out of 30.
  • Lynn Wilson powered to a brilliant 2nd place, narrowly missing first by inches—and picked up some podium cash for the ride home. (Note to self: get a picture of Lynn on the podium next time!)
  • Shelly Milner, racing for the first time since surgery, rode a strong race, finishing 5th despite missing a turn. Without the detour, we may have seen her on the podium.

Special thanks to race director Aaro Froese, whose passion for cycling is evident in every detail of this well-run event. Froze Toes may leave some skin behind, but it’s a race built with heart.

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The Truman Cup: KCBC Women Steal the Show

The following weekend, the Truman Cup took over the racing calendar—a 3-day omnium with a Friday time trial, Saturday circuit race, and Sunday criterium. I was sidelined with injuries, but the KCBC squad rolled deep in orange.

Highlights from the women’s field:

  • Michelle Lingenfelser took 3rd in the TT and 1st overall in Women’s Cat 4.
  • Lynn Wilson doubled up on Sunday, snagging 1st place in both 40+ and Cat 1/2/3. Incredible performance from a true workhorse.

In the men’s events:

  • Kurt Wilson grabbed 1st in the circuit race.
  • Shawn Knight locked in a 2nd place finish in the Sunday crit (40+).
  • Kyle Guinn clocked a strong 3rd in the Friday TT.

Even from the sidelines, I enjoyed seeing so much KCBC success. I spent Sunday at the crit, not quite 100% yet, but lucky enough to hang out with Michelle’s son, Nash—a future cyclocross or BMX racer if I’ve ever seen one. Smart, enthusiastic, and already soaking up the racing world

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Gratitude, Crashes, and Kenny’s Redemption

A big shoutout to Shelly Milner, who came out all weekend to support the team. Whether it was setting up, passing out water, or cheering like hell at the finish line—Shelly reminded us what real teammates look like.

And while I was bandaging up my crash wounds, Kenny Carlson was in the woods racing MTB—and hitting trees. Literally. Despite splitting his chin open mid-race, Kenny shook it off and won the Cat 3 race. Guts, grit, and a podium finish to prove it.

Meanwhile, Jennifer Pikos decided to make a little side trip up to Ft. Dodge, Iowa, where she snagged 3rd in her category at the RockNrail 1850 Crit. Well done, Piko—and we know your Facebook’s got the photo evidence!

In cycling, there’s pain, yes. But there’s also perseverance, support, and family. Every race isn’t just about podiums—sometimes it’s about who showed up, who helped out, and who refused to quit.

As I always say: Every friend you have today was once a stranger. So go out this weekend, meet someone new, and maybe even hand them a water bottle at the finish line.

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Thank you for reading.

Monday KCBC race report 6/18/2018

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This report should start with the gents that went to road nationals in Agusta GA. But, since I have the proverbial pen in hand, I will begin with the incredible women of KCBC. This weekend we got to see three women race in Ames, Iowa at the 2nd annual Ames Grand Prix. There was a Saturday night criterium and a Sunday circuit race. The Saturday crit took place in downtown Ames under the lights. The race started with all women categories and masters mass start. We had 3 women start that race and the lead pack formed quickly, Lynn Wilson (cat 2) sat in a very comfortable 3rd spot with Madison Shepherd (cat 4) sitting on the back of this peloton. Jennifer Piko was racing in the masters category and missed this break, but held on for a 4th place in 40+ masters. The race pushed speeds of 25+ for our ladies and mid way through the race they announced a $100 prem. Also, there was a local jeweler sponsoring the womans race with over $2800 in diamonds and this is what Mrs Wilson was focused on. As they came into the final turn Lynn was sitting in the 3 or 4 spot and held on to the wheel of Anne Meyer out of La Crosse and Dee Mable of IA. All three of these women laid down the hammer in an all out sprint for the finish line. It was a back and forth race and in the last 30 meters, Anne pulled ahead by a wheel and Dee and Lynn threw their bikes for a photo finish. Lynne took the 3rd spot and one of those lovely diamonds! Madi also took a 3 spot and some cash home. IMG_0977.jpg

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Day 2 was a hot one and our KCBC ladies were on fire!!! Lynn Wilson took 1st in the 123 race, Madison Shepherd took 1st in the 4/5 race and Jennifer Piko fought it out for a 4th place spot and a little walking around money.received_10212232426625633[1]received_10212232426345626[1]

As for us men in Ames? We all worked to get in position and with 2 large local race teams running the race, you pretty much get shut out at every turn.

Kurt Wilson and Kyle Guinn were in the cat 3 race. Kyle had an epic crash with an even better landing (I give his landing a 9.8). Jack Mason of 360 racing was also involved in this mayhem. If you watch closely, at 15 seconds you will see an Ames Velo racer bunny hopping the rider on the ground. At 19 seconds it looks like Kyle is going to finish the race with out his bike with jack pretending to be in his open wheel race car and another racer curled up in the fetal position praying not to be hit by yet another bike.

In Ames on Saturday night here is how the placing looked

Kurt Wilson took 17th/35 in the cat3 race and Kyle Guinn placed 21st in that same race. We also had another Kansas City racer in Ames. Aaron Sims from Cycle City Racing placed 18th in the 3 race.CRA_4982.jpg

As for the cat4 race on Saturday evening? It was Ian Pepin and myself representing KC/Lawrence. Ian took 13th of 36 and I limped in with a 22nd place finish.CRA_4960.jpg

The gents of Subaru racing out of Lawrence KS worked hard in the pro/1 2 race. but were out numbered 7 to 3. Garick Valverde took 4th, Scott Williamson 6th and Jordan Miller 14th. There were 18 men entered in this race. That is certainly respectable in my book. 

Day 2 in Ames for the men looked a bit better. Although with just as many crashes as day 1. We all stayed upright. Cat 3 race – Kyle took 14th out of 22 racers lined up. Cat 4, I took 16th out of 35 racers that lined up. Ian did not finish (DNF) do to several attempts at a break away group and very little sleep:) Great effort Ian! The master race was directly after the 4 race and I jumped in with Kurt Wilson who took 15th out of 20 and I ended up with a 16th place.  The Subaru team had a better circuit race and put Garrick in 2nd, Scott in 4th and Jordan in 10th out of 16 men that lined up at the start. Well done Subaru!CRA_5209.jpg

NATIONALS————————————- 

Mark Horn, Bill Smith, Kenny Carlson from KCBC. Also, Mike Harrison from GP Velotek and Andy brown from 360 racing all traveled to Augusta GA for masters national.

The Friday road race looked like a brutal course and took its toll on the crew. Mark Horn pulled the pin, blew up and decided to save his legs for the crit. Andy 9th in the 70+ with Mike ending up with a respectable 17th place finish.

Saturday was day 2 of the road race with Kenny taking 22nd out of 37 starters and Mr. Smith pulling the plug so not to completely shred his legs. These masters races are basically a bunch of ex-pros that can still drop the hammer. It is a painful event and will put you in the pain cave for the entire race.

Sunday was the crit and the boys did much better. Andy 5th and Mike took 9th in the 70+. Mark Horn 25th out of 52 starters. Kenny with a strong finish, placing 17th.  In the masters 40-45 Bill raced the crit and tailgunned it with 5 laps to go. He moved up to the front, and was at the front with 1.5 laps to go, being in a perfect position to contend is extremely tough but a gutsy move. As the front of the pack came through the start finish on the bell (final lap), Bill was swarmed, and they entered turn one, two guys in front of him crashed battling for position and took Bill down and out of the race. With a broken helmet and rashed body, he was out as fast as the race started. To be that close and competing at that high a level he has to be happy with how he performed against the best, but it was just not in the cards. Next time Bill!35240537_10156349685707158_306068208555655168_n.jpg

 

Mountain Madness? 

Looks like KCBC had one racer in the Mountain Madness race. Mr. Pat Robinson decided to move from the cross country category into the marathon category. This tells me that he loves to suffer:) Well done digging a deeper hole to get out of. That is a true sign of someone who likes to challenge himself. Pat finished 5th overall.35744121_10212101887406718_2675636991864864768_n.jpg

Great job to all of those cyclist out there and keep putting on the miles no matter where you are at in you cycling life.

Remember, Every friend you have today was once a stranger!

 

The forgotten Monday Race report from 8/21/2017

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This weekend took me to Papillion, NE for the Papillion twilight criterium.  I have never been to Papillion before so I was excited to see how this race would compare to others. It did not disappoint. I made it to the race around noon and the volunteers were just setting everything up. I had a chance to meet Matt, the race director, and of course asked if he needed any help setting up. They had everything rolling very smooth. He gave me a few pointers about the course and the possible rough spots.

This was going to be my last road race for the US Military Endurance Sports team. I am moving my affiliation to a local team here in Kansas City called KCBC. I have had several guys ask me to be a part of their team, but I feel that these are the guys I can help and in turn they can help me move up. You will hear more about the KCBC team in the near future. I will be staying with USMES for the cross season.

My 1st race was the 40+ Masters. This race has all fields represented from category 1 to category 4. Being a cat 4 in this race is like racing a Chevy Corvette against a Honda prelude. Out of the 8, 40+ guys I finished 3rd. There were a total of 15 in the race and I was 6th overall. This was my best road finish ever. I actually only signed up for the race because there was another USMES guy that was supposed to race in it. His name was William O’Brien and he was nice enough to take the picture below. I want to thank William for not showing up, and giving me 3rd place:) My guess is that he would have been right there with me. In this race I worked much smarter than harder. This really was my only option because the majority of the guys out there were faster than me. So, instead of spending any time out front, I had to sit in and tail gun. This basically means hold on for dear life. I did get dropped during the prime lap, but was able to work with one other guy to catch the small pack that broke away. That took almost everything out of me. I did have about one match to burn in the sprint and I actually used it to pass one guy and go head to head with my fellow dropee. in the last turn he was in lead and I pulled up next to him and just laid it down. We both worked hard in that last 100m. At the last second I did a bike throw and just beat him by a tenth of a second. After the race we congratulated each other on a hard fought race and of course I had to make sure he was a 50+ racer. He was, I laughed and thanked him again for all his work to catch the pack. I didn’t realize that I took 3rd so when the results came out, I said out loud, “I took third”? Totally surprised by that finish. I say that because I always know where I am in a race. You have to or you might miss a guy go around a turn and break away from the pack. I was working so hard to hold on, the only thing I could pay attention to was the wheel in front of me and the turns.

The next race was about 2 hours after. I had to eat and try to keep off my feet. Both I did with some success. I was surprised to see several cat 4 guys from KC show up. Actually, KC had about 10-15 racers show up. I will post a link to the results later. In the cat 4 race I knew what I had to do and I knew the course. The one thing I did not know is would my legs hold up. I also was 100% that I was mentally all in. Not that I am ever not:) This race had a cat 4 national champion in it and of course he was 14 years old. His name was Luke and both him and his father were very pleasant to talk with.  During the race Luke and I ended up in a small group behind a 6 man break, that are very tough to catch. I worked as much as I could for him. He sat in for a bit until he knew that he could bridge the gap. When he took off I tried to hang on but since I was just in the wind pulling for him, I was dropped. I did manage to hold on to two of the guys with our 4 man pack. This meant that there were 7 in the pack ahead and 6 laps to go. Want to guess the odds of a 3 man pack catching the 7 in the pack ahead? Slim and none. So, I worked hard with 4 laps to go then 3 laps to go. As I came across the finish line and saw 2 laps to go, I noticed a shadow behind me. These two guys were on my ass and having me drag them around the course. I sat up, dropped my speed to 15 and they were still behind me. I moved to the left and dropped my speed even more and insisted that they pull through. Then one of them jumped and jumped hard, they almost dropped me with 2 laps to go. I made them both pull for those final laps and in the sprint I had the choice of taking 8th, 9th or 10th. We all went into that final turn at top speed and in the sprint I took 2nd out of the three of us and secured a 9th overall out of 25. The legs did well!

After the cat 4 race I sat with Chris from foodys and watched the 3’s race and then the pro 1,2. By the time the pro 1,2 race started it was Chris, Zach and Finn (son o

f Shad, cat 1 racer) sitting around. This is why I stick around the races. To support those guys and girls out there but to also hang out with people I may have never had the chance to meet. Out of the 4 of us we had a span of 4 generations. Finn 11, Zach 26, Chris 33 and me 48. I think that’s pretty awesome. We sat around, watched the race and watched Finn do his BMX tricks, poked fun of each other and, for me at least, just enjoyed every ones company. Racing is fun, but hanging out with these 3 was way more entertaining. After the race, Chris and I were going to grab a bite at the local brewery and asked Zach and Jordan (cat 2 racer from KC) if they wanted to join us. We all met at Nebraska brewing and had a beer, ate dinner and cracked jokes all night and just relaxed. I did tell a few war stories:) I might share some of those here one day.

Thank you for reading. Now go out and meet a stranger and be nice to cyclist:)

 

Monday Race report 8/21/2017

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This weekend took me to Papillion, NE for the Papillion twilight criterium.  I have never been to Papillion before so I was excited to see how this race would compare to others. It did not disappoint. I made it to the race around noon and the volunteers were just setting everything up. I had a chance to meet Matt, the race director, and of course asked if he needed any help setting up. they had everything rolling very smooth. He gave me a few pointers about the course and the possible rough spots.

This was going to be my last road race for the US Military Endurance Sports team. I am moving my affiliation to a local team here in Kansas City called KCBC. I have had several guys ask to be a part of their team, but I feel that these are the guys I can help and in turn they can help me move up. You will hear more about the KCBC team in the near future. I will be staying with USMES for the cross season.

My 1st race was the 40+ Masters. This race has all fields represented from category 1 to category 4. Being a cat 4 in this race is like racing a Chevy Corvette against a Honda prelude. Out of the 8, 40+ guys I finished 3rd. There were a total of 15 in the race and I was 6th overall. This was my best road finish ever. I actually only signed up for the race because there was another USMES guy that was supposed to race in it. His name was William O’Brien and he was nice enough to take the picture below. I want to thank William for not showing up, and giving me 3rd place:) My guess is that he would have been right there with me. In this race I worked much smarter than harder. This really was my only option because the majority of the guys out there were faster than me. So, instead of spending any time out front, I had to sit in and tail gun. This basically means hold on for dear life. I did get dropped during the prime lap, but was able to work with one other guy to catch the small pack that broke away. That took almost everything out of me. I did have about one match to burn in the sprint and I actually used it to pass one guy and go head to head with my fellow dropee. in the last turn he was in lead and I pulled up next to him and just laid it down. We both worked hard in that last 100m. At the last second I did a bike throw and just beat him by a tenth of a second. After the race we congratulated each other on a hard fought race and of course I had to make sure he was a 50+ racer. He was, I laughed and thanked him again for all his work to catch the pack. I didn’t realize that I took 3rd so when the results came out, I said out loud, “I took third”? Totally surprised by that finish. I say that because I always know where I am in a race. You have to or you might miss a guy go around a turn and break away from the pack. I was working so hard to hold on, the only thing I could pay attention to was the wheel in front of me and the turns.

The next race was about 2 hours after. I had to eat and try to keep off my feet. Both I did with some success. I was surprised to see several cat 4 guys from KC show up. Actually, KC had about 10-15 racers show up. I will post a link to the results later. In the cat 4 race I knew what I had to do and I knew the course. The one thing I did not know is would my legs hold up. I also was 100% that I was mentally all in. Not that I am ever not:) This race had a cat 4 national champion in it and of course he was 14 years old. His name was Luke and both him and his father were very pleasant to talk with.  During the race Luke and I ended up in a small group behind a 6 man break, that are very tough to catch. I worked as much as I could for him. He sat in for a bit until he knew that he could bridge the gap. When he took off I tried to hang on but since I was in the wind pulling, I was dropped. I did manage to hold on to two of the guys with our 4 man pack. This meant that there were 7 in the pack ahead and 6 laps to go. Want to guess the odds of a 3 man pack catching the 7 in the pack ahead? Slim and none. So, I worked hard with 4 laps to go then 3 laps to go. As I came across the finish line and saw 2 laps to go, I noticed a shadow behind me. These two guys were on my ass and having me drag them around the course. I sat up, dropped my speed to 15 and they were still behind me. I moved to the left and dropped my speed even more and insisted that they pull. Then one of them jumped and jumped hard, they almost dropped me with 2 laps to go. I made them both pull for those final laps and in the sprint I had the choice of taking 8th, 9th or 10th. We all went into that final turn at top speed and in the sprint I took 2nd out of the three of us and secured a 9th overall out of 25. The legs did well!

After the cat 4 race I sat with Chris from foodys and watched the 3’s race and then the pro 1,2. By the time the pro 1,2 race started it was Chris, Zach and Finn (son of Shad, cat 1 racer) sitting around. This is why I stick around the races. To support those guys and girls out there but to also hang out with people I may have never had the chance to meet. Out of the 4 of us we had a span of 4 generations. Finn 11, Zach 26, Chris 33 and me 48. I think that’s pretty awesome. We sat around, watched the race and watched Finn do his BMX tricks, poked fun of each other and, for me at least, just enjoyed every ones company. Racing is fun, but hanging out with these 3 was way more entertaining. After the race, Chris and I were going to grab a bite at the local brewery and asked Zach and Jordan (cat 2 racer from KC) if they wanted to join us. We all met at Nebraska brewing and had a beer, ate dinner and cracked jokes all night and just relaxed. I did tell a few war stories:) I might share some of those here one day.

Thank you for reading. Now go out and meet a stranger and be nice to cyclist:)

 

Monday Race Report. The Truman Cup

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The Truman cup is a series of races that start with a 5.6 mile time trial on Friday night then on Saturday there is a 3 mile circuit race that is a 4 lap race. Sunday is the 45 minute crit. All of the races took place in Independence MO this weekend.

During my race weekend in Lacrosse, WI I met a few fellow cyclist. One of the guys I met that weekend was Ryley. We hit it off immediately. Ryley was a new cat 5 and was fast, I mean, I would put him up against or in any cat 3 race and he would easily beat half of the field. So, Ryley decided to make the 9 hour drive down to KC for this race, and I am glad he did. Here is a picture of Ryley and I tooling around the city. 

Another friend that came in for the race is DK from San Diego. Of course she did not drive:) DK and I will be doing the RAGBRAI this week. RAGBRAI is a ride across Iowa. Not sure why it’s not a race, seeing how you probably want to get across it as fast as possible. I am kidding, Iowa is pretty cool and so are the folks that call it home. You will hear more about DK over the next week. We have way to much fun and will hope for no injuries and or arrest this coming week. Thank you DK for all the cheers during the race.
Friday – The Truman Cup Time Trial. This is a solo event so you have to go as fast as you can for 5.6 miles. The last 300m is basically where you empty the tank. Ryley and I headed out to Independence a little early to get the legs warmed up and check out the course. Fairly flat and a pretty good road. All start times were just after 6pm and each racer would start 30 seconds after the next. My goal is always to catch the rider in front of me. After that 9 hour drive I knew his time trail would suffer, and it did. He placed 11th and I took 6th with a 13:26 time, Fastest I have done on that course. During the TT we met some guys from St. Louis that were in town for the entire series. Super nice guys from a few different teams. To celebrate we decided to head out to Lulus. Possibly my favorite Thai restaurant in KC. So, while we were at the restaurant Ryley and I were talking about dating and how I find cyclist attractive. He was explaining how I should ask out a non cyclist. So, with out hesitation I point to a server and asked Ryley if maybe I should ask her out. As he shrugged his shoulders she walked by and I politely asked if she would give us a moment of her time? She stopped and said “of course, whats up”. I proceeded to ask her if she would like to go out on a date. I think Ryley may have been a bit uncomfortable with this whole experiment. Me? on the other hand, I was eating it up:) She was in a relationship and was super nice and went on to explain how when she was in roller derby a lot of the dating happened in the roller derby circle and that most of those relationships didn’t work after they left the sport. I don’t believe I will be leaving cycling anytime soon. 

Saturday – The Truman Cup Circuit Race. This is a 3 mile course that has a 1 mile climb, 1 mile of flat and a mile of down hill. I does seem to favor the climbers. Saturday’s heat index was like 300°. Ok, that is a bit high, but it felt like it. This race took it’s toll on several of the strongest riders. I went for a break in the flat of the first of 5 laps. Not the best idea but I wanted to spread that field out.  The break did not stick and they caught me on the hill because of a mechanical issue. Ryley crushed this race and took first and $100 for the win. Super proud of that dude. We hung out and chatted with the St Louis guys as DK continued to drink free beer at the Bier co tent. She is possibly already drunk but took some awesome pictures and maybe got some digits:) 

Sunday – The Truman Cup Crit.  With less than a mile loop, 6 turns and 45 minutes of racing, this is never a dull moment. This race had 51 racers in it and was as fast as it has ever been. We did 18 miles at about 26mph and it looked like the island of misfit cyclist. There were about 30 different teams. Ryley and I held on to the front most of the race and possibly worked harder than we should have but, that’s racing. He took 6th and I placed 16th.  Overall we were 4th and 10th in the 3 day Omnium. I was proud of us both! 

Always have to give props to the women’s free state team. They always win and look good doing it. Great job ladies!