Blues, BBQ and Bike Race - Clear Lake, IA

Saturday, Eric, Ben and I (Travis Jass) competed in the criterium held in Clear Lake in conjunction with the BBQ & Blues festival. 21 lined up and the pace was high from the git go.

We really had no strategy going in, just stay up front and out of trouble and trouble was to be had. About halfway through, on a righthander turning away from the lake, I was third wheel and behind me was the screeching of someone no longer upright. I knew it was going to be close to where Ben & Eric were and as I looked back it was a guy in blue on the pavement. Later, they said he went down right in front of them. Everyone heard it and the pace got wound up right away. A few laps go by, and again trouble struck. Right beside me, coming out of the left hand following the last incident, a U of I rider got his front wheel tangled up with an A9Y bike. Not sure exactly what happened to the U of I rider, but the A9Y guy drug his unpiloted bike quite a distance and couldn't shake it loose. He ended up pulling off to the outside curb to get untwisted. Not long after that it all seemed to start breaking up.

Tim Putnam from NI Spin and Rick Noyes from ICCC and I kamikaze'd a couple corners in a row together to find that we were away from everyone else. We worked well trying to stay away and with two laps to go we knew we had it, but wouldn't let off the gas. Turning into the wind on the final lap along the lake, Tim put in an acceleration that I couldn't immediately match. I caught back on after the last turn into the final incline finishing straight but at the bottom of the hill they started laying more power down and there wasn't much left for me but to watch them go. I was happy with 3rd, and a beer prime. Ben snuck in a prime as well getting some socks and finishing 8th. Eric rolled in 10th making it 3 top tens on the day for the MOB. More pictures from the criterium...

Travis Jass on the podium, Nice Job.

The follow motorbike for the pro race.

Results / Cat 4 Men (18.3 miles/ average speed 23.1mph)
1 Rick Noyes ICCC
2 Tim Putnam NI Spin
3 Travis Jass MOB Racing (Fort Dodge Trisport)
4 Evan Peterson NI Spin
5 Nicholas Campbell Bikes 2 You
6 Andy Johnson NI Spin
7 Gavin Huseboe Colorbiotics
8 Ben Acree MOB Racing (Fort Dodge Trisport)
9 Carl Buchanan Rasmussens
10 Eric Knox MOB Racing (Fort Dodge Trisport)
11 Richard Fliehr RVCC Brones
12 Mike Johnson Bike Tech
13 Lee Current Iowa Orthopedic
14 Daniel Davis DMOS / RDMB
15 Brent Hansen Colorbiotics
16 Todd Her…??? DMOS / RDMB
997 Steve Reynolds All 9 Yards
997 David Parrott ICCC
997 Andrew Bantz University of Iowa
997 Grant Headley University of Iowa
997 Jacob Kuperman University of Iowa

Sunday 42 mile road race

Sunday morning brought overcast skies and rain threatening on the radar, but a total of 28 Cat 4 riders dared to give it a go anyway. As the three MOBsters were getting loose, we talked a bit of strategy. We decided after Tim Putnam's win in Cedar Rapids the previous weekend and a strong showing in the crit, I would be his shadow all day long.

The neutral roll out start

Happy to say that we only got a few sprinkles out on the course, about 2/3 of the way through. A nice long neutral roll out got us going but it was on as soon as we hit the actual start. Right away Rassmusen (who was well represented) sent two off the front. They didn't get too far out and I found myself on the front of the pack. It was pretty early so I wasn't going to kill it to catch them right away. They might have gotten a maximum of 10 seconds when one, then two, then more came around me to catch them. I sat in towards the back, and watched another Rassmussen guy go. Again a gap formed and someone got nervous to go chase him down. This happened again and again. It never seemed to be the same one chasing them down. The boys in black did a fine job of bullying everyone around, and nobody would let them get out and dangle to beat themselves up BEFORE chasing them down. At one point I was in the middle of the pack, Ben was on front not chasing a Rassy guy hard, when the rider ahead of me hollered "what the hell, are the MOBster's working for Rassy's?". We just figured let them hurt themselves one by one, then go get them. I pulled alongside Tim, who I never did let out of my range, he said we were just past half way, and the rollers ahead would work for the pack getting the current Rassy fly away back. Around a turn, another Rassy guy went just before a hill with a left turn at the top. I had made my way back to the front and spun a pretty good effort starting about 3/4 the way up the hill and as I got around the turn, Tim pulled through and I looked back to see that He, I, and Rick from Saturday had a small gap and as I was back on the front again I pulled real hard to see what would happen. I fell back into line and Tim relayed we had a Rassy guy with us as well. After my next pull, Rassy guy wouldn't pull through, and he had no reason to do so, and that move was history. I dropped to the back of the pack and just hung out a bit and got some gel down. When everyone got situated after the final turn on beautiful new pavement I made my way to the front where Eric was dragging everyone into the wind. I thought I was feeling good, so I said we would get it going from there on in. I put in a pretty serious effort for what seemed like a long time but only maybe lasted 60-90 seconds or so. I pull over to let followers around and Eric leads the charge saying we had a few miles to go yet. I look back to see the whole group single file moving right along. I got in line 6 or 8 riders back and recovered well, and we passed a very animated traffic marshall letting us know we were down to 1 mile to go. I went inside to see that a Rassy guy was starting to go a bit, followed by someone in white, and then I got in third wheel. I sat behind them only a few seconds and put in everything I had left. I never looked down or back, just head down, full steam ahead. The finish line wasn't approaching quickly enough and I just sensed a mass from behind. As the back of the pack got around me the field sprint took off. I was cheering on Ben and Eric, but I was far enough back they probably couldn't hear me. At the end Eric was just nudged out of 3rd and Ben was 8 again. I eased on over the line second to last.

All in all, 6 finishes netted 5 top tens, nothing to complain about at all....Travis

Cat 4 Men Road Race Results (41.6 miles / average 23.7 mph)

1 Gavin Huseboe Colorbiotics

2 Andrew Bantz University of Iowa

3 Tony Muse Rasmussens

4 Eric Knox MOB Racing (Fort Dodge Trisport)

5 Grant Headley University of Iowa

6 Marcklin Schelburg HBA Racing

7 Mike Johnson Bike Tech

8 Ben Acree MOB Racing (Fort Dodge Trisport)

9 Rick Noyes ICCC

10 Dustin Mars Rasmussens

11 Carl Buchanan Rasmussens

12 Jason Alread Rasmussens

13 David Hammer DMOS / RDMB

14 Evan Peterson North Iowa Spin

15 Daniel Davis DMOS / RDMB

16 Chad Mason Rasmussens

17 Daniel Swenson HBA Racing

18 Tim Putnam North Iowa Spin

19 Richard Fliehr RVCC Brones

20 Lee Current Iowa Orthopedic

21 Ryan Wilcox DMOS / RDMB

22 Nicholas Campbell Bikes 2 You

23 Travis Jass MOB Racing (Fort Dodge Trisport)

24 Tony Nelson North Iowa Spin

996 Steve Reynolds All 9 Yards

996 Gregory Schultz Swiss American

999 Andy Johnson North Iowa Spin

999 Jacob Kuperman University of Iowa