Southeastern, WI Arthritis Walk.. May 19th.. University Lake School.. Hartland, WI
Team Velocause participated in The Arthritis Walk fundraiser on Saturday May 19th. Ryan White, his wife Kimberly, their daughter Brianna White, Benny Smith, Andy Feuersthaler, Melinda Curtis, Michael Cudahy and his two daughters Devin and Riley attended their event to promote a cure for juvenile rheumatoid arthritis.
Kenosha Velosport Sprint Cup.. May 22nd.. Washington Park Velodrome.. Kenosha, WI..
“Andy Wins”. Team Velocause racer Andy Feuersthaler competed in his first track event Tuesday night. Andy had never ridden a fixed gear bicycle much yet on a Velodrome, but yet was able to finish 2nd in the unknown distance race, and win the Scratch race. He liked his first experience, and plans on racing every Tuesday night.
Iowa Memorial Day Weekend Races.. May 26, 27, and 28.. Burlington, IA; Muscatine, IA; and Rock Island, IL..
Snake Alley Criterium. Saturday, May 26th: “Benny nearly catches his chubby teammate”. Team Velocause racers Benny Smith and Andy Feuersthaler made the 5 hour drive to Burlington, IA to race the Snake Alley Criterium. Snake Alley is the most challenging Criterium in the United States. With a hill as steep as the Schlitz Park “Wall” that leads to the Snake which is a 276 foot long climb with 5 switchbacks on cobble stones.
In 90+ degree heat and sunny skies, the boys did hill repeats for an hour prior to the start of the race, to prep the legs for what was to come. Andy charged right to the front to start the race and was in the lead group straight away. Benny got balked on the line by some riders in front of him that had trouble clipping in. Benny would have to work the whole race to pick riders off one by one, which he did. Andy stayed in the front group of 5 until the 9th time up the Snake when he lost touch with the leaders. Andy lost a couple of spots each lap and Benny made up a couple of spots each lap. On the 11th time up the hill Andy looked down and saw Benny 20 feet away. Worried about bragging rights (and more comments about his weight) Andy went full gas down the backside of the course to open up a gap on his buddy Benny, and went up the hill the 12th and final time, gaining back 1 of the positions he lost. Andy finished 13th and Benny finished 16th.
Melon City Criterium. Sunday, May 27th: “Andy Podiums”. Held in Weed Park in Muscatine, IA this Criterium was also very challenging. Sunny again and 95 degrees, this course was winding and had the riders either climbing or descending. To add a little spice to the course, there was a huge speed bump at the bottom of the hill that riders hit at over 45mph. Tracing back to his childhood BMX days Andy showed Benny how to pre-jump it during a site lap. Benny thought that if we weren’t going so fast, it might have been appropriate to dismount/re-mount like a Cyclocross race. Anyway, the speed bump was big and riders caught air every lap.
Early on a rider rode off the front, and the peloton wasn’t interested in bringing him back. Laps went on and the lead rider gained and maintained 15 seconds on the field. Feeling somewhat nervous about his gap Andy decided to take the initiative to bring back the lone leader. Benny joined in along with another rider, and the 3 of us brought him back. Good thing we did because after the race Andy’s Coach Mike Heagney informed us that the rider that was off the front was the Masters World Pursuit Champion on the track. Needless to say that guy can drill it, and probably would have stayed away and won. On the final lap Andy used his weight advantage (gravity) down the very fast back side of the course to move into 3rd place. Right after the speed bump, a Missouri riders attacked at the base of the long climb and Andy went with him. That rider fell apart halfway up the climb, so Andy decided to go up the hill alone. Andy got caught at the top of the climb by Andy Crater, and lost another spot just at the line. Andy secured the Team a podium and finished 3rd. Unfortunately going up the hill on the last lap a rider in front of Benny changed his line and the two went down. Benny got scraped up pretty badly, but his new Specialized Venge is fine.
Quad Cities Criterium. Monday, May 28th: “Survival Mode”. This Criterium was held in downtown Rock Island, IL just a block off of the Mississippi River. Like the past two days, Sun and temps in the 90’s greeted the racers. This day the guys also had to deal with 25-30mph winds. Labeled the cage match this race was extremely fast and because of the high winds gaps opened quickly. Benny and Andy both used maximum effort for the first third of the race to ensure one of them would be in the winning break. Bridging gaps with little or no help from the field both Velocause riders were running low on energy. At that time the winning break was established, and the guys tried very hard to encourage everyone to work together. That help didn’t come, and the guys ended up finishing in the field with Andy 17th and Benny 22nd.
Elkhart Lake Multisports Criterium.. May 28th.. Lakeshore Technical College.. Cleveland, WI
“1-2 for Team Velocause”. The Elkhart Lake Criterium was relocated this year to the Lakeshore Technical College campus. The course was just over a mile long with winding roads and rolling terrain. Ryan White and Chai Kung were the two members from Team Velocause to compete.
The race started off steady with everyone marking each other. 10 minutes into the event Ryan attacked on the uphill finishing straight. Ryan quickly learned after that effort that no one in the field was going to match his speed up that straight. Ryan went again 30 minutes into the race and again quickly opened up a gap, but the others couldn’t match his pace. Realizing he may not be able to stay away for 30 minutes alone, he returned back to the peloton. With 3 laps to go Ryan went again, and was all alone. He soloed the final couple laps and took the win. Chai out sprinted everyone else winning the field sprint.
Kenosha Velosport Sprint Cup.. May 29th.. Washington Park Velodrome.. Kenosha, WI..
“Andy Wins”. After 3 days of racing in Iowa, Velocause racer Andy Feuersthaler went down to the Velodrome to compete in the 2nd round of the Velosport Sprint Cup. Andy won the 5 lap Scratch race and was 2nd in the Miss & Out race (because he thought there were 3 racers left instead of 2). A slight mis-calculation, but a lot of fun.
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