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This is the new home of Cannondale Midwest Racing! CMR is the premier grassroots mountain bike racing team in the Midwest. Our thanks go out to Cannondale Bicycle Corp. for their long-time support.
While the site is about the CMR team, all people are welcome to register and use it! I think you'll find the Forum is a lot of fun ... Enjoy!
Posted by joel on Tuesday, May 06 @ 16:54:10 MST (3 reads)
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It's getting busy in the Midwest!
The racing season is now in full swing as nearly all of the race series have started.
In the first race of the Fast Lap Series at the John Bryan State Park near Yellow Springs, OH, Dan Mascret and Matt Weiner worked on their spring fitness in this weekly Time Trial series. For the first time this spring, they had dry trails for the race. The course is flat but very tight and twisty with many turns that bring you to a near stop to navigate the trees. If you can carry your speed, and not smack into the trees, you have a shot at the podium. Matt raced in the Sport Open class with all age groups and finished just off the podium in 6th place. Dan raced in the Novice Open class and took the lead in the 2 out of 3 series championship with a 1st Place finish. Because this is a midweek race, the racers need to deal with fading light and long shadows. Dan thought that his Rudy ProjectEkynox Sport glasses with the Racing Red Lenses made a big difference.
It was a great day for racing, with 70 degrees, sunny skies with dry and dusty trail conditions for the second race in the Ohio Mountain Bike Championship at Vulture's Knob near Wooster, OH. Wes Jones and Ryan Knopf contributed a few weekends to implementing many of the trail improvements during the last year. This has made the 6.5 mile course more rider friendly. But this is still a very technical course with many tight corners and a few obstacles that are still just too risky to attempt during a race. In its typical style, the Knob claimed many riders as its victims with its steep descents fast switchbacks and many very scary narrow bridges that destroyed many racers day.
The team thrived in these conditions and had great results. Wes Jones raced in the Veteran Open class with some super fast competition and finished a hard earned 3rd place. Matt Weiner raced in the 15-18 Sport class and battled the entire race in a group of 5 riders and had to fight hard for a 3rd place finish. Dan Mascret raced in the Novice Masters class and had a rough day but still managed a 3rd place finish. In the second event for the series, the team accomplished three podium finishes with all garnering 3rd place finishes.
At Bloomer Park near Rochester Hills, MI, racers competed on a course that uses the ridgeline above the Clinton River in the Tailwind Enterprises Michigan USA CYCLING State Series. The main feature of this course is a series of descending switchbacks that take you from the ridgeline to the river's edge. The trail at this point is made up of rocks, roots, and clay. In dry conditions, this is technically challenging with the rider accelerating with each pass across the ravine. In wet conditions, it becomes greasy and potentially treacherous. But the conditions for this race were near perfect with a firm trail that only had intermittent soft spots, blue sky and temperature in the upper 60's.
With his first race after moving up from Expert to the Open Elite class, Hugh Smallwood scored a top 10 finish. Racing in the Expert 18-Under, Rafael Kronenberg took a 3rd place finish and Bernie Wendel recovered from last weekend in 14th place in the Expert 40-49 class. In the Sport Division, Jeff Patrosso came in 9th place in the Men 30-34, Bryan Wissman battled with his chain and still finished in 12th position in the Men 40-44, Joe Zakrin in the 45-49 came through in 8th with an honorable mention to Rebecca Wissman for winning the Women 24-Under. For our Beginner division racers, Ginger Wissman dominated the Women 14-Under with a 1st place finish. Oliver Wissman successfully finished his first race for the 2008 season on his new Caffeine and Shawn Schaffert finished just off the podium in 6th place.
The first race for the DRT Race Series was at the Winona Lake Trail near Warsaw, IN. This is a very popular course that is used for many events. This is a fast course that is a blend of technical and open field single track and is a dream for single speed racers. To take a win at this course, you need to have good legs for the entire 9 miles.
In his warm up before the race, Cory Swihart, squeezed his left brake lever, and trashed his front brake rotor. Although he attempted to compete without a front brake, the rock garden was too risky to be safely attempted with only a rear brake. Kody Hughes took 2nd overall for the Beginner Men and 1st for the 18 and under class!
The race included 35 miles of climbing between 6% and 37% grade for a total of 13,015 feet in elevation. This year, the course featured wet fireroads that made the 27 miles of flats much more challenging. Then there is the one section that has a 41% descent on a wet rocky surface. I'll let you decide which of these made this a "fun" 100 miler! This is what sets the National Ultra Endurance Series, and those that compete at these events, apart from the rest.
The team took full advantage of their Hammer Nutrition products using a blend of Perpetuem, Heed, Endurolytes and Hammer Gel to sustain themselves for the 9 - 10 hours in the saddle. Wes finshed 44th in 9:09:48, and Ryan finished 74th in 10:05:33. Steve finished 7th in 9:53:39 for the 50+ Class.
Hugh Smallwood had a great start in the Paris Ancaster spring classic near Hamilton, Ontario Canada only to have a sidewall blowout! It was a huge dissappointment after a dominating win the previous weekend.
Our largest contingency of racers was at the traditional first race of the season in Michigan. The weather this weekend was dramatically improved. Rather than snow and thawing trails, we had warm spring time weather. The Yankee Springs race is a Time Trail event that is deceptively challenging with a course that takes full advantage of the many ravines within the State Recreation Area near Hastings, MI.
This MMBA Championship Points Series race is one of the largest mountain bike races in Michigan with over 675 racers. To make the event even more memorable, this year the racers were sent out to compete on the course in the reverse direction. This made many of the racers nervous about the turns and climbs. Pete Colan (Team Member and owner of Spin Zone and SportCrafters) thought that this was an improvement. Many of the steep short climbs that have controlled descents turned into steady grinding climbs with short descents. Bernie Wendel took full advantage of the situation to test the durability of his crank and chain ring. We recommend that he apply Loctite on the chainring bolts on the new crankarm.
After a top 5 finish last weekend, Rafael Kronenberg finished this weekend 24th in an older age group for the EXPERT MEN 29 & UNDER. For the rest of the team at this race, this was their first fitness test of the 2008 season. Reid Arnott competed on a single speed while his Lefty is in for a rebuild and still finished 18th in the EXPERT MEN 29 & UNDER. Mark Todd completed the course with a steady effort for the EXPERT MEN 30-39 with a 15th place finish. And despite his catastrophic component failure, Bernie Wendel hiked out the course and scored a finish in the EXPERT MEN 40-49.
In the Sport class we had Jeff Patrosso finish 23rd place for the SPORT MEN 30-34, Mike Fry in 34th place along with Mark Hoinka in 37th place for the SPORT MEN 35-39. Pete Colan finished just off the podium in 6th place for the SPORT MEN 50 & OVER and Jen Hoinka with a strong finish in 7th Place for SPORT WOMEN 30-39. (Here is Jen in the Grand Rapids Press!)
I want to thank Georgina Leary for traveling with me and taking the photos during the race.
We also want to recognize Jeff Buerman of Michigan Youth Cycling for his leadership in conducting the Kids Race. We financially support and promote his efforts to raise $10,000 in scholarships for the junior mountain bike racers in Michigan.
Posted by joel on Sunday, April 20 @ 14:55:46 MST (34 reads)
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Pete makes the big announcement!
After 28 years, Pete Colan has decided to accept the challenges of running Spin Zone Cycling Outfitters and SportCrafters with his wife, Sheri, full-time, and will be leaving Bosch at the end of May. Pete has been a team member of CMR since 2003 and our Shop Sponsor since 2006 with the opening of his bike shop in Granger, IN. It is with great pride that we congratulate Pete in his transition from Bosch.
Our greatest hope is that this creates more time for Pete to be on the trail, and more time in the machine shop bringing new innovations to the cycling world!
Posted by joel on Thursday, April 17 @ 18:38:56 MST (33 reads)
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The race included 35 miles of climbing between 6% and 37% grade for a total of 13,015 feet in elevation. This year, the course featured wet fireroads that made the 27 miles of flats much more challenging. Then there is the one section that has a 41% descent on a wet rocky surface. I'll let you decide which of these made this a "fun" 100 miler! This is what sets the National Ultra Endurance Series, and those that compete at these events, apart from the rest.
