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The Planet Bike Cup, Sun Prairie WI, September 25-26, 2010
From Juniors Coach Gary Achterberg
Lionel Rocheleau had great results at the first big weekend of cyclocross racing this fall.
Lionel got on the podium Saturday with a third-place finish in the Cat. 2-3 race at The Planet Bike Cup, which is the first of four stops in the annual U.S. Grand Prix of Cyclocross series. In Sunday’s race, he finished sixth. Both races had approximately 100 starters.
Since he’s racing age 16 for ‘cross, this was the best choice for a competitive race for Lionel. While the junior race was a UCI event, it was restricted to riders who were racing age 17-18. The Cat. 2-3 race was much longer, there were more riders in it and was going to be a lot more competitive.
On both Saturday and Sunday, Lionel got off to a really nice start. His dad, Jim, and I both were wondering if he was maybe burning a few too many matches early in the race, but Lionel said after the race on Saturday that he felt fine and never felt he was in over his head.
An interesting development in Saturday’s race: Jordan Cullen from Hudson, Wis., who also was too young to do the UCI junior race, started very strong and was holding down the lead early in the Cat. 2-3 race. An unfortunate crash caused him to have to switch bikes. He lost a lot of places in the process.
Jordan did an awesome job of staying level-headed and slowly working his way back up. He Lionel and at least one other rider were in the sprint for third place at the end.
While I wasn’t at Sunday’s race, it played out much the same way, other than the fact that Jordan wasn’t chasing back from a crash this time. In the end, Lionel turned in a very respectable sixth-place finish. Jordan was fourth.
The weekend’s results solidified plans to travel to the second round of the U.S. Grand Prix, which is in Louisville, Ky. – on basically the same course that will be used for the world championships next year – on Oct. 23-24.
Lionel also is planning to race in another national-caliber cyclocross weekend, Jingle Cross in Iowa City on Thanksgiving weekend. Junior nationals, which are in Bend, Ore., in December, also are on the radar.
Gateway Cup Photos
Gateway Cup, St. Louis MO, September 3-6, 2010
Treadfest (WORS), Lake Geneva WI, September 12, 2010
From Juniors Coach Gary Achterberg
For the final road event of the season, Paddy Diamond, Lionel Rocheleau and I traveled to St. Louis over the Labor Day weekend for the Gateway Cup races.
Because of the different race times, it made sense to just focus on the Cat. 3 events here. This offered a great opportunity to see a higher level of competition and also bigger fields than either Paddy or Lionel had raced in before. All four of the criteriums had over 100 riders in the Cat. 3 events.
This series has been going on for a number of years and attracts riders from all over the central United States. People traveled from as far away as Minnesota, Texas, Colorado and Tennessee for the weekend. And, one of the races in the series, Sunday’s Giro della Montagna, celebrated its 25th anniversary.
While this was an awesome experience and a nice way to put a cap on the road season, the highlight of our results was Lionel’s in-the-money 11th place finish in the opening night Tour de Lafayette. The race attracts a huge crowd and is actually run in the dark – with floodlights on the corners, on a couple of the straights and at the start-finish. It’s a very cool atmosphere! Paddy finished 34th on Friday.
For the rest of the weekend, here were our results: In Saturday’s Tour de Hills, Lionel was 45th and Paddy 50th. In Sunday’s Giro della Montagna – run in St. Louis’ “Little Italy” neighborhood – Lionel was 41st and Paddy, 55th. And Monday’s “crit” was really more of a short circuit race. In the Benton Park Classic, Paddy was 28th and Lionel, 53rd.
The other highlight of the weekend was staying with a college friend of Lionel’s dad, John Lynch, his wife, Cindy, and their family. They definitely made it a very comfortable and stress-free weekend. We truly enjoyed staying there – along with Daniel Holloway (Bissell), who won the Pro/Cat. 1-2 omnium for the weekend, just a couple weeks after winning the USPRO Crit in Glencoe, Ill., and his friend, Eric Riggs, a former U.S. National Team espoir who is getting back into racing after taking a year off.
In a separate race the next weekend, Lionel Rocheleau raced his mountain bike for the first time this year in a WORS event and got on the podium at Treadfest in Lake Geneva with a third-place finish.
Gateway Cup Photos
WORS Photos
Attitude Sports Criterium, Fond du Lac, August 21, 2010
Sunday Smackdown, Madison, August 22, 2010
xXx Racing Cyclocross Relay, Chicago, August 29, 2010
Cherry-Roubaix Road Race, Traverse City MI, August 29, 2010
From Juniors Coach Gary Achterberg
As the season winds down, the Geargrinder juniors continue to turn in some fine results.
Two Geargrinder juniors were vastly outnumbered as they stood on the starting line for the final WCA Wisconsin Cup race of the season on Aug. 21.
Lionel Rocheleau did a great job of answering a steady stream of attacks from ISCorp riders throughout the final 20-minute junior race of the season. He set himself up nicely for the sprint and won the race by about three bike lengths.
Matt Jackson also raced and did a great job of doing what he needed to do during the race. He had a nice solid finish in the field, which is something he’s been working toward for a while.
Later in the day, Lionel raced again along with Darrell Kohli in the Category 3 race and finished fourth and fifth, well into the money spots in the race. Luke Kmezich raced in the Category 4-5 event.
While it wasn’t a race, I met Darrell on Sunday and we traveled to Madison. I got Darrell hooked up with the Sunday Smackdown, which is a group ride that is gaining a great reputation. The ride hit a lot of the great climbs west of Madison, including the one to Brigham Park in far western Dane County near Blue Mounds.
The ride was nearly four hours long and Darrell did a great job on the climbs. It was a neat experience and a group ride that I’d like to get some of the other guys from the team to do as we move into fall.
This weekend, two Geargrinder juniors recorded wins – Darrell Kohli in a road race in Michigan and Lionel Rocheleau in a first-of-the-season cyclocross race in Chicago.
Darrell traveled from his home near Escanaba across the Mackinac Bridge to the Cherry-Roubaix Road Race in Traverse City on Sunday.
“I attacked at the base of the climb which was about 1.5 miles,” Darrell said in an e-mail. “This gave me a gap, which the peloton closed as the gradient flattened towards the top. Still, I won without a sprint.”
On the same day, Lionel competed in the xXx Racing-Athletico Cyclocross Relay Race in downtown Chicago. Lionel competed with Gage Rodriguez, who is from Kenosha. The two nearly lapped everyone else as they won the junior competition.
Lionel is planning to put a big focus on the ‘cross season this year and already has plans to travel to at least a couple of the U.S. Grand Prix of Cyclocross races, to Jingle Cross in Iowa and, of course, to do most of the Wisconsin Cycling Association races.
In what will probably be the final event of the road season, Lionel, Paddy and I are traveling to St.Louis to do the Gateway Cup races of the Labor Day weekend. These four criteriums attract riders from about a radius of about a 10-hour drive. The weekend has turned into a classic ending to a great season of road racing.
Superweek, July 10-25, 2010
From Juniors Coach Gary Achterberg
Our junior team put most of its marbles on the Tour of America’s Dairyland earlier this summer, but we had a number of solid results during many of the races that happened in Wisconsin during Superweek’s two-week run.
Our three guys who did the bulk of racing during this series were racing in Cat. 3 since Lionel Rocheleau upgraded after his second-place overall finish at ToAD. He was joined by Darrell Kohli, who was at Junior Nationals while ToAD was happening, and Paddy Diamond, who had a number of very solid Cat. 3 races during the Dairyland series.
Here are their results during Superweek:
- South Shore Cyclery Classic, Cudahy, July 15, Paddy Diamond, 4th.
- Schlitz Park/Brewers Hill Criterium, Milwaukee, July 17, Darrell Kohli, 2nd, Paddy Diamond, 3rd.
- Whitnall Park Road Race, Hales Corners, July 19, Darrell Kohli, 5th, Paddy Diamond, 22nd.
- Bucyrus International Road Race, South Milwaukee, July 20, Lionel Rocheleau, 4th, Paddy Diamond, 17th.
- Lakefront Road Race, Milwaukee, July 21, Darrell Kohli, 1st and Paddy Diamond, 18th.
- Kenosha Food , Folks and Spokes Criterium, July 23, Lionel Rocheleau, 19th.
- In addition, Luke Kmezich and Alex Riva also raced several times each during the series.
Photos
Chiropractic Partners Time Trial, Waukesha, WI, July 11, 2010
From Juniors Coach Gary Achterberg
Geargrinder juniors won both the Junior 18 Boys and Junior 16 Boys categories at the Chiropractic Partners Time Trial in Waukesha.
Darrell Kohli, just back from the Junior National Championships in Bend, Ore., posted the fastest junior time of the day with a 27:31, which won his Junior 16 category by nearly 2 minutes. His time would have been good enough to win the older junior category as well as the Category 3s.
Paddy Diamond won the Junior 18 race on a road bike with no aero equipment in a time of 28:21. Ted Pyzyk also raced in the Junior 18s and finished fourth in 31:32.
There are not a lot of opportunities during the season to compete in a time trial, so thanks to the Chiropractic Partners team for putting this on. It’ll be great experience for everyone with the state championship time trial coming up in early August.
Photos
Tour of America’s Dairyland, WI, June 17-27, 2010
From Juniors Coach Gary Achterberg
The Tour of America’s Dairyland was a great racing experience for our juniors. We got some fantastic results and turned a few heads. Even more important, it gave several of our riders a wonderful opportunity to race for multiple days.
Our juniors made eight podium appearances during the 11-day race series. We had four wins, two second places, one third place and also two fourth places.
Lionel Rocheleau had a great Tour. After skipping the first stage and getting caught behind a crash the next day in Grafton, Lionel came back and got a second in Appleton and then won three races in a row – Road America, Sheboygan and Waterloo. He put an exclamation point on the series the final weekend with a fourth place at Downer Avenue and a second place in his hometown of Waukesha.
This earned Lionel second overall in the series – and nearly a lifetime supply of Stone Creek Coffee!
Lionel upgraded to Category 3 as soon as the Tour ended. Paddy Diamond and Darrell Kohli both are excited to have another teammate in Cat. 3 races.
Paddy also had an excellent Tour. He successfully got into breakaways in both the Giro d’ Grafton and also the Greenbush Road Race, finishing on the podium in third in Grafton and fourth at Greenbush.
Alex Riva competed in – and won – the junior race that was held on the last day in Waukesha. While the field was small, Alex and two other riders got into a front group. Alex played his cards right and won the sprint. The rider who finished second, Alex Beutel, is also a promising cyclist and he and I have been talking about him joining the team next year.
Other team members who raced during the series were Luke Kmezich and Matt Jackson. Both showed some nice steps of progress.
One thing that I noticed while going to all 11 days of the series was the consistent performance of juniors in the Category 4 races. I don’t think there was a single Cat. 4 podium that didn’t include at least one junior. That really speaks well to the health of junior racing in Wisconsin.
Besides the guys from my team that I’ve already mentioned, some of the other impressive junior performances came from Nate Labecki of the Expo Racing team, as well as Kevin Lindlau, Leif Byrge-Liebig, Alex Docter and Pete Davis, all of ISCorp.
The race series was really well-organized and well-attended. The second-year event took a real nice step forward from last year’s inaugural race.
Lionel and Alex both are leaving in the next few days to travel to Trexlertown, Pa., to compete at Junior Track Nationals. We wish them the best of luck.
Photos
Junior Road National Championships, Bend OR, June 26, 2010
From Juniors Coach Gary Achterberg
I am very happy to pass along news that Geargrinder’s Darrell Kohli earned a spot on the podium at USA Cycling’s Junior Road National Championships on Saturday with his fourth-place finish in the 15-16 boys road race.
Darrell said that a large group of riders remained to sprint for the finish line in the 60-kilometer race, despite more than 2,000 feet of climbing. “The road race was fast and very competitive,” Darrell said in an e-mail.
Darrell’s finish on the road race podium is a very nice payoff for all of the focus and hard work that he had put toward this one race for the entire season. I know I speak for everyone connected with the team to say that we’re all very proud of Darrell for his accomplishment.
On Thursday, Darrell finished 15th in the 24-kilometer 15-16 junior national time trial, approximately two minutes off of the winner’s time.
While driving out to nationals with his father, Darrell competed last weekend in a road race and time trial in eastern Oregon, along with a number of other juniors who were traveling to nationals.
The 75-mile road race in Baker City, Ore., had a lot of climbing and finished with a flat three-mile stretch. Darrell finished eighth in the Cat. 3 race; Jordan Cullen from Hudson, Wis., finished ninth.
There also was an invidividual time trial. “My first TT of the year, I had a respectable 14th, one minute out of first,” Darrell said.
Congratulations to Darrell!!
Photos
State Criterium Championships, Ripon WI, June 12-13, 2010
From Juniors Coach Gary Achterberg
The Geargrinder Junior Team collected its second state championship jersey of the season on Sunday as Lionel Rocheleau won a three-up sprint for the 15-16 championship.
The junior race was short – too short, at 20 minutes – and got off to a predictably fast start. By the first time up the big hill on the course, Darrell Kohli (who wasn’t eligible for the 15-16 championship because he’s from Michigan) was off the front with Thomson Remo, who is 18 and on ISCorp.
After a second lap, Lionel and ISCorp’s Pete Davis were the next group on the course. Pete was content to let Lionel do all of the work . The cat-and-mouse game that ensued led to ISCorp’s Kevin Lindlau joining them. All three of the riders are 15-16, and Kevin has improved impressively during the season.
Our third rider in the race, Alex Riva, was in the biggest chase group on the course and they were doing a nice job of working together and chasing. Alex went on to win the field sprint for that group, finishing ninth overall in the 15-18 field.
As the race finished, Thomson finished ahead of Darrell and Lionel won the sprint for the 15-16 jersey in a drag race down the two-block stretch from the last corner to the finish line.
During the Cat. 4 race immediately after the junior race, Lionel was off the front by himself for a couple laps in a move that looked like it might stick. However, he got brought back and finished 14th.
The day was split between racing on Saturday and Sunday afternoons, mainly to accommodate riders who did the Trek 100 ride on Saturday morning. That ride also attracted some national-caliber riders for the Pro/Cat. 1-2 race. Trek-Livestrong’s Justin Williams and Iggy Silva raced. Both are from California. They rode the Trek 100 and later in the week joined their U23 teammates at the Nature Valley Grand Prix stage race in Minnesota.
Paddy Diamond competed in his first Cat. 3 race on Saturday after getting his upgrade during the week. The race went well and Paddy spent a lot of time being aggressive and doing work at the front. He got swallowed into the pack too much in the battle for position in the last couple laps and ended up 12th.
Paddy also did the Pro/Cat. 1-2-3 race at the end of the day. A field of about 60 started the 75-minute race and only 25 finished. Paddy lasted about 45 minutes before getting popped by the big hill and probably was the last Cat. 3 rider left in the race.
Darrell is on his way to junior nationals in Bend, Ore., right now and others on the team are geared up for the start of Tour of America’s Dairyland. Lionel and Alex both are racing on the track in Kenosha every Tuesday night and are headed later this summer for Junior Track Nationals in Trexlertown, Pa.
State Road Race Championships, Spring Prairie WI, June 6, 2010
From Juniors Coach Gary Achterberg
We came away from the state road race championships weekend with two second-place finishes and a state championship.
The day started off with the 15-18 junior race. There were a total of 22 riders on the line for a hilly 26-mile race on the course outside of Burlington that has been used for the state championships for years.
Our plan going into the race was to start fast and try to whittle the front group down to the group that would be competing for the top places. That plan worked out well. After the first six-mile lap, Lionel Rocheleau and Jordan Cullen – a Flanders rider from Hudson, near the Twin Cities – were off the front with Paddy Diamond close behind. There was then a good gap to Katie Antonneau, one of the top junior girls in the country, and an ISCorp rider. Alex Riva was in a small chase group and in decent position overall.
That basically stayed the same for the rest of the race. Jordan attacked Lionel and won the race. Lionel finished by himself, taking second in the 15-16 competition. Paddy was next across the line, winning the 17-18 state championship. Alex finished in the top half in a very respectable 11th place.
Later in the day, Darrell Kohli raced in the 52-mile Category 3 race. There were 41 riders on the starting line. Darrell did a good job of staying toward the front and not doing any unnecessary work. He was off the front for a time in the middle of the race, but that move came back.
While there were a number of riders who were dropped on the hill, the Cat. 3 field stayed together surprisingly well. The race for the win was the last climb up the 18-percent-grade Johnson Hill Road to the finish line.
Darrell was first over the hill and then got nipped at the line, finishing second. Darell and his family leave after the state crit championships this weekend for Junior Nationals in Bend, Ore. Obviously there are a number of strong 15-16 riders from around the country, but I think Darrell will do just fine.
In some other news, Lionel and Alex both have been racing on Tuesday nights at the Kenosha velodrome and doing well. Lionel has upgraded to Cat. 3 on the track and had a great race in the main event points race at the end of the evening. Paddy also has upgraded to Cat. 3 on the road and joins Darrell in those events. Both Paddy and Lionel plan to do at least six races during the upcoming Tour of America’s Dairyland series.
Photos
Snake Alley Criterium, May 29, 2010
Melon City Criterium, May 30, 2010
Quad Cities Criterium, May 31, 2010
From Juniors Coach Gary Achterberg
Our road trip to Iowa for Memorial Day weekend gave the guys on the team a great opportunity to race in some big junior fields and see how they stacked up against some of the top juniors in the Midwest. I’d say things went just fine!
The riders making the trip were Lionel Rocheleau and his dad, Jim; Alex Riva and his dad, Mike; Matt Jackson, who traveled to Burlington with his sister; and Paddy Diamond.
We left the Milwaukee area mid-day on Friday and drove to Burlington, Iowa. Once we checked into motel rooms, the guys had a chance to get on their bikes and check out Snake Alley. For those of you who have never seen it, Snake Alley is paved in bricks and has a 21 percent grade. There are seven curves in its 275-foot length. After a pre-race ride that included a few trips up the Snake, the guys met the adults a couple of blocks away to watch the end of the Pro/Cat. 1-2-3 road race, which is the start to the weekend.
We were up bright and early the next morning to head back downtown for the race. There were approximately 60 juniors in the race, including a number of teams, including us, ISCorp, the Red Zone team from Kentucky and a handful of riders from Orlando, Fla. There also were several other strong individuals who we’ve seen before this year, including Jordan Cullen from the Minneapolis area and Spencer Oswald from Dubuque.
As is typical with Snake Alley, riders are lined up by the order in which they register. And, the race from the starting line to the first trip up the Snake is like racing for the singletrack at the start of a mountain bike race. Lionel did a great job of getting up front. Paddy got caught behind a crash and spent most of the race chasing.
Riders kept getting spit out of the lead group and with about two laps left of the eight-lap race, it became apparent that Lionel had as good of a shot as anyone of winning the race. He was climbing well and looked great. In the end, Lionel finished third, Paddy was 11th (one place out of the money) after passing a ton of riders during the race and Alex was 35th – out of 60. Matt has been struggling with some medical issues, did not finish and decided to head back to Wisconsin with his sister after the race.
We decided before coming to Iowa that it made sense to only do the junior race at Snake Alley because the race is so extreme and because it would be the first of five races we’d be doing in three days. That probably turned out to be a good call, also because the temperature rose into a humid mid-90s as the day wore on. We staked out a great perch on the side of a wall of Snake Alley to watch the pro race that afternoon.
After the race, we headed about an hour up the Mississippi River to Muscatine, Iowa. I think every junior in the race was staying at the Super 8 there! We went out to eat and then did some quick recon of the next morning’s crit course, which is on a hilly road through a park. There are a few technical turns at the top – and a speed bump at the bottom of the hill!
The junior race the next morning was fast and pretty uneventful. The finish of the race got a bit complicated because the finishers caught a large pack of lapped riders about 100 yards or so before the finish, which made the sprint interesting. Again, there were about 60 riders starting the race and Lionel finished 11th, Paddy 12th and Alex 35th.
We did a great job later that morning of making the Cat. 4 race aggressive. While the results didn’t turn out the way we hoped, I’m really proud of our guys for trying to make something happen. Early in the race, Lionel and another rider got off in a breakaway that held a 10- to 15-second gap for several laps. The field didn’t seem particularly motivated to bring it back and what looked like an early move off the front started to look like it had potential. The breakaway finally game back with four laps left to go on the mile-long loop.
About a lap later, Paddy and another rider attacked and got some separation. That rolled for about a lap before Paddy said the other rider wasn’t able to do much work. Paddy ended up off the front by himself with a little over a lap to go and made a split-second decision to go for it. He held his lead through the downhill and about half-way up the climb before getting caught. He rolled the dice. A lot of times this would have worked – but, unfortunately, not this time. Lionel was 13th, Paddy was 29th and Alex 56th.
It was another sweltering hot day and we decided that returning to the motel and the air conditioning made more sense than hanging out in the park all day. We came back to watch the Cat. 3s and then the Pro/Cat. 1-2 race that included Geargriders Ross White and “spider monkey” Ben Damhoff.
We spent the night in Muscatine and left at 6:30 a.m. on Memorial Day to make the half-hour drive up the river to our final destination, the Quad Cities Criterium in Rock Island, Ill. Rain was in the forecast and, while most of the day was dry, the skies opened up just in time for the start of the junior race. Riders were standing on the starting line letting air out of their tires.
Lionel avoided the crashes and got into the front group. He finished in a very impressive fifth place. Paddy was chasing again, due to crashes and sketchy riding in the rain and ended up one place out of the money in 13th. Alex was 46th.
In the Cat. 4 race later in the day, Paddy and Lionel both finished in the money in 14th and 15th places. Alex did a great job of getting into a chase group that worked well together and finished on the same lap as the leaders. It was some really solid progress for him.
None of our guys or their parents ever had been to the Memorial Day weekend races before. I don’t think I’m speaking out of school to say that everyone had a great time and got some really solid experience racing in big and talented fields.
In addition, we spent much of the weekend with Ross White, a Geargrinder rider, and James Stemper, a Kenda p/b Geargrinder pro. It was great having them around the guys. They were interested in how they were doing and very positive and encouraging. Money from our sponsors also helped make motel rooms for this weekend possible, so we all thank you for your support.
Photos
La Rue-Denzer-La Rue Road Race, May 15, 2010
Wheels on Willy Criterium, May 16, 2010
From Juniors Coach Gary Achterberg
This past weekend included what probably will be the most challenging road race of the season and the most fun crit in Wisconsin Cup series.
We had a group of four riders make the trip to La Rue. The junior race included three long and challenging climbs in the 31-mile race and Darrell Kohli, who did the Cat. 3 race did an extra lap for a total of just under 50 miles and five significant climbs.
We had three riders in the junior race, Lionel Rocheleau, Ted Pyzyk and Alex Riva. All three guys put out a really nice effort. All three were still in the main field after the first half-lap and one of the major climbs, even though many others already had been dropped. The real challenge – and selection – came on the final climb, which was on the full loop with maybe 8-10 miles left to go in the race.
In the end, Lionel was fourth, Ted eighth and Alex ninth.
The Cat. 3s were on the course at the same time as the juniors. Darrell did this race because he’s looking for the distance and the challenge as he gets ready for junior nationals, which are in Bend, Ore., in about a month.
Darrell and Jordan Cullen, another one of the top juniors in the Midwest who we’ve already seen a few times this year, were off the front in a breakaway for about three miles during the race. That came back and – while riders were getting dropped – the front of the race pretty much stayed together. At the end, Darrell got nipped in the field sprint and finished second. (Jordan was sixth.)
We’ve been looking forward to Willy Street for some time. The race always is fun and we knew it would be a good junior race. There were 27 riders who started the junior race, including a number from ISCorp and other strong riders from the region, including Spencer Oswald from Iowa and Jordan Cullen and a couple Minnesota riders.
The race started fast and there were a number of moves off the front. Spencer Oswald went for a prime and never looked back. He built up a big gap and soloed for the win. While it wasn’t exactly what we had planned or were hoping to do, we finished fourth (Darrell Kohli), sixth (Lionel Rocheleau) and ninth (Paddy Diamond), which certainly is respectable in a field of 27. Alex Riva was 18th; Matt Jackson also raced.
We turned right around from that race and Paddy and Lionel jumped into the Cat. 4 race. Paddy got into a four-rider breakaway that hung 10 seconds off the front of the pack forever before pulling away. Paddy finished fourth and Lionel won the field sprint and took fifth place.
Darrell did the Cat. 3 race later in the day. He rode a good smart, aggressive race at the front, but got swarmed a bit in the last lap and finished 15th. I think Darrell is in a real good position as he’s getting ready for nationals, and we certainly all wish him a lot of luck as he makes the trip West.
With 10 of the 16 Wisconsin Cup events completed, Lionel Rocheleau is solidly leading the 15-16 boys standings and Paddy Diamond is currently in a tie for second place in the 17-18 standings.
A couple other quick notes: Two of our riders have been making it over for the Madison practice crits on Tuesday nights. Paddy Diamond has made it to all three that have happened so far and Lionel Rocheleau was at the first one. These are an excellent opportunity for these guys to challenge themselves in a way that they can’t in a junior or Cat. 4 crit.
Also, racing on the Kenosha Velodrome has started. Lionel and Alex were both at the first night of racing this past Tuesday, riding for their track team, Kenosha Velosport.
Photos
Circuit of Sauk Road Race, Reedsburg WI, May 1, 2010
La Crosse Criterium, La Crosse WI, May 2, 2010
From Juniors Coach Gary Achterberg
Our first team road trip of the year went really well – both with our results and just for being a fun weekend.
We started at 6:45 a.m. from the park-and-ride lot in Brookfield off of I-94. Lionel Rocheleau, his dad Jim, Paddy Diamond and Alex Riva traveled to the road race. Alex and his dad realized as they were on their way to our meeting point that Alex didn’t have his team jersey with him. An e-mailed request from Paul Weaver resulted in a couple of team members who offered to help. Thanks to everyone who lent a hand.
About 20 riders started the junior race, including our three, at least 11 ISCorp riders and a number of others. The junior race was 30 miles, two laps of the 15-mile loop that included one significant climb and several others. Wind definitely played a factor, too.
At the end of the first lap, Lionel, Paddy and Spencer Oswald, a Baraboo Sharks rider from Iowa, had about a three minute gap on the rest of the field. The three didn’t exactly stay together for the entire race as various attacks split the group before it regrouped. The end of the race saw Spencer winning, Paddy second and Lionel third. Alex spent much of the race in a small chase group and finished in a very solid 11th place.
Darrell Kohli also traveled to the road race from the Upper Peninsula with his dad. He competed in the Cat. 3 race because he’s getting ready for junior nationals in a little over a month. It also was an opportunity for him to race against Jordan Cullen, who is from the Minneapolis area. Jordan podiumed in two 13-14 age group races at junior nationals last year in Bend, Ore.
Darrell and Jordan both made the selection into a front group of maybe a dozen riders. At some point, Jordan fell out of the group; we’re not sure why, but I’m guessing he had mechanical issues. Darrell finished seventh in a very hard race. He should be encouraged about where his fitness is at as he has his sights set on a return trip to nationals.
We moved on to La Crosse after the Cat. 3 race and took a suggested scenic route to avoid some construction on the Interstate. We were all tempted to stop and take the bikes off of the cars to ride the climbs near Wildcat Mountain and the Kickapoo River valley. What a beautiful part of this state!
We checked into motel rooms in La Crosse, got some dinner and then drove up Grandad Bluff to check out a great view of the city at sunset.
The next morning, the junior race started with somewhere between 15 and 20 riders. In addition to Paddy, Lionel and Alex, there were at least eight ISCorp riders, Jordan Cullen and a number of Minnesota riders.
What looked like it was going to be a promising early breakaway with about a half-dozen riders, including Paddy and Lionel, came back pretty quickly.
Lionel got a flat early in the race. The riders were told on the starting line that there was no free lap, probably because the race was relatively short. There was some confusion in the wheel pit between the chief official and a mechanic working in the pit and Lionel was held for a while before he was told he had to chase.
And chase, he did! The main field was riding painfully slow because any earlier attempts at attacks went nowhere. Jim and I were encouraging Lionel to keep chasing. He eventually caught the field with about three laps to go. He recovered, got into good position for the sprint – and finished third! Paddy was fifth and Alex finished tenth. Alex deserves a lot of praise for how he rode in this race. He did a great job of being where he needed to be in the field. He was smart, worked hard and had a very respectable finish in a race filled with a lot of older and more experienced juniors.
With one race in between to re-pin numbers and chill, the guys raced again in the Cat. 4s. Paddy really has wanted to get into a good breakaway in a Cat. 4 race and he got his opportunity. He got into a three-rider breakaway with Paul Kumm, who is on ISCorp, and a 31-year-old rider from Minnesota. Their gap grew to about 20 seconds at one point and was coming back a bit later in the race. The older guy attacked the break and managed to stay away. Paddy beat Paul in a sprint. Lionel was second in the field sprint, behind another Minnesota rider, for a fifth-place finish. Alex was 32nd. He spent most of the race working with a chase group.
After the Cat. 4 race, Lionel, Paddy and Alex rode from the downtown race course, across town and then climbed Grandad Bluff. The climb is about 600 feet in just over two miles. After descending – Jim didn’t want to watch his kid flying down the hill – they rode back downtown, we packed everything up, got some food and arrived back in Milwaukee about 6 p.m.
We’re currently in the middle of organizing another road trip for the end of this month to the Memorial Day weekend races in Iowa and Illinois. We also have a group ride planned for Mother’s Day morning.
Photos from Reedsburg & La Crosse
Menomonee Criterium Race Report, Menomonee Falls, April 17, 2010
Great Dane Crit #2 Race Report, Madison, April 18, 2010
From Juniors Coach Gary Achterberg
After the second weekend of the Wisconsin Cup season, Team Geargrinder junior riders are leading the individual competitions for both the 17-18 junior boys and the 15-16 junior boys. Paddy Diamond is in the top spot for the older juniors; Lionel Rocheleau is currently winning the 15-16 division.
From my standpoint, the highlight of this past weekend’s racing is that the guys have been doing a great job of riding together as a team.
Let’s start with Saturday’s race. We’re continuing to see large and competitive junior races, which is a great thing for both the riders and the sport. There were about 25 riders in Saturday morning’s junior race, including a large contingent of ISCorp riders and six Geargrinder juniors, counting Ted Pyzyk, who is racing age 18 from Grafton and just joined the team. He has a strong high school cross-country background and is giving bike racing a try. This also was Darrell Kohli’s first race with the team. The others on the starting line for us were Paddy Diamond, Lionel Rocheleau, Alex Riva and Matt Jackson, who also was in a Geargrinder kit for the first time.
Any thoughts of easing into the race were quickly erased with a fast pace from the gun. Darrell, Paddy and Lionel did an awesome job at the front of the race without doing an extreme amount of work. While Matt ended up in a small chase group, he and the others did a great job of bridging back up to the main field. Alex had just returned from a week in Washington, D.C., on a class trip and was probably still feeling the effects of too many monuments and too little sleep.
In the end, Darrell won the race with a very nice sprint against ISCorp’s Thomson Remo. Lionel was third and Paddy finished sixth. Matt was 14th and Ted, who did a nice job of keeping his head above water in a pretty challenging first race ever, was 17th.
Three riders also raced in their category. Lionel Rocheleau did a great job in the Cat. 4-5 field sprint and finished third. Paddy did some leadout work in the last lap and finished in the field. In the Cat. 3s later in the afternoon, Darrell got into a two-rider break 10 minutes into the Cat. 3 race. It stayed away and Darrell finished second.
We had a smaller turnout on Sunday for a variety of reasons. In the 9:30 a.m. junior race, Paddy and Lionel stood on the starting line with 11 ISCorp riders six riders from a variety of other teams. ISCorp spent approximately the first half of the race taking turns attacking. Paddy and Lionel did an awesome job of covering all of them. Things eventually calmed down and the race ended in a field sprint between the remaining riders in the front group. Paddy finished second and Lionel fourth. It was great job of executing a team plan. Both raced later in the Cat. 4 race and finished in the field.
In two weeks, we’re looking forward to an overnight road trip to the Circuit of Sauk Road Race and the La Crosse Criterium the next day. We’re also making plans to travel as a team to the Memorial Day weekend races in Iowa.
Photos courtesy of Mr. Kohli
Great Dane Crit #1 Race Report, Madison, April 11, 2010
From Juniors Coach Gary Achterberg
The Geargrinder junior team got off to a promising start at the first Wisconsin Cup race weekend of the year. We had a nice turnout and solid results in the junior race.
There were at least 26 riders on the starting line for the Junior 15-18 race. We had five riders there, ISCorp had 11 and there were several other strong riders, too. The junior races this year are off to a great start. All three of the Kenosha ABR crits and this race had big and strong junior fields. They all have been good, competitive races and everybody had fun.
While some people fell of the back of the junior field, the front part of the race pretty much stayed together. Little attacks went off the front and got reeled back.
Toward the end of the race, Geargrinders’ Paddy Diamond and Spencer Oswald from the Baraboo Sharks attacked and got a nice gap off the front that ISCorp couldn’t pull back. Spencer jumped Paddy on the last lap for the win; Paddy came in well of the front of the field for second place. Lionel Rocheleau did just fine in the field sprint for Geagrinders, collecting fifth place.
The others who raced were Alex Riva, Matt Jackson and Luke Kmezich. I think everyone had fun and learned a lot.
Two of our riders – Paddy and Lionel – raced again. Paddy stayed up toward the front of the Cat. 5 race. He got some help – and compliments later – from a couple of older Geargrinder riders in the race. He attacked with another rider with about three laps left around the course in the UW Research Park. On the last lap, Paddy dropped his companion and soloed in for the win.
Lionel definitely was feeling the matches that he burned in the junior race during the Cat. 4 race. However, he did a really nice job of staying up toward the front of the field for the entire race. He finished 18th out of the 40 or so riders in the race.
On a related note, we had a very productive team day a week earlier on the day before Easter. We had three riders – Lionel, Paddy and Darrell Kohli – come for a group ride that left from Lionel’s house in Waukesha. Lionel’s dad, Jim, and Darrell’s dad, Darrell, also joined us for the ride. Ross White, a rider on the Cat. 1-2 development team also came on the ride and stayed for the meeting and dinner afterward. A big thanks to Ross for helping support our juniors.
We’re looking forward to two more crits this coming weekend in Menomonee Falls and back at Research Park in Madison. We’re also planning road trips for the La Crosse crit at the beginning of May as well as the Memorial Day weekend races in Iowa.
Photos from the Great Dane Crit
Kenosha Crit #3 Race Report, March 28, 2010
From Juniors Coach Gary Achterberg
We had a nice solid finish to the three-race Kenosha training crit series. With a really strong wind coming out of the north all day, it was chillier than you'd expect. The headwind on the back side of the course also definitely played a role in the racing.
While we've already won a number of age-group competitions, I'm happy to report that Lionel Rocheleau got our first real win of the season with a fairly decisive sprint over an ISCorp rider to win the 15-18 junior race. Since Lionel is racing age 15 this year (and was doing most of his racing in the 14-and-under junior category last year), it was his first win in a "big-boy" junior race!!
Alex Riva also raced and put in a really solid attack with about two laps to go, but the headwind on the back side of the course brought things back together pretty quickly. He finished sixth.
There were 16 riders who started the junior race and the wind and some aggressive early laps caused a split with a front group of eight (that included Lionel and Alex) and then smaller groups off the back.
Alex and Lionel both raced the Cat. 4 race right after the junior race. The wind also played a big factor in that race and Alex was one of those casualties. Lionel finished seventh.
While he's no longer a junior, Eric Dobberfuhl is back in Wisconsin on spring break from college at Murray State. He raced the Cat. 3s and finished second.
We're also all looking forward to next weekend's one-day junior training camp on Saturday. We're meeting at Lionel's house, doing a 3 to 3-1/2 hour group ride through the southern Kettle Moraine, having a team meeting to talk about some upcoming events and have dinner.
Kenosha Crit #2 (Pleasant Prairire), March 21, 2010
From Juniors Coach Gary Achterberg
Yesterday's second training crit in Pleasant Prairie (Kenosha) went well for the juniors. The weather wasn't bad, but it was another windy, chilly day. The turnout in general seemed to be down a bit from last week, but once again there was a healthy junior field (maybe 20 riders or a few more in the 15-18 race). It also was another good race with a number of strong riders, including a contingent of five or six from ISCorp.
We had a couple of guys who had to work, so we had three riders in the race -- Alex Riva, Lionel Rocheleau and Luke Kmezich.
Alex saw an early two-rider attack go and jumped on it quickly. He bridged up to it and did a really good job of staying with it. He finished third in the race.
Lionel also did a great job of staying toward the front of the field and being ready to go with any other attacks. He ended up winning the field sprint and finishing fourth. Luke made nice improvements from last week, worked to stay with the field and had a nice solid effort, finishing 14th.
All three of the riders were scored separately for 15-16 results. Alex won, Lionel was second and Luke was 7th.
Lionel finished seventh in a 20-rider-or-so Cat. 4 field. Alex also started the race, but I think he was pretty much running on fumes after his effort in the junior race.
We're looking forward to Week 3 of the Kenosha series next weekend. There's also a crit on Saturday in South Beloit, Ill. -- not sure yet who's planning on racing it.
Photos from the Kenosha Crit
Kenosha Crit - First Race of the Year!
Four of our six guys raced in the first of three Sundays of ABR crits in a Pleasant Prairie industrial park, just outside of Kenosha. It was in the low 40s with a strong wind coming off the lake all day.
The field for the junior race was awesome -- better than for most mid-season races last season. Let's hope this continues!! There were probably 25-30 riders in the combined 15-16 and 17-18 fields, with a number of guys who were pretty strong last season. It was a good race.
Paddy got into an early break with a rider/triathlete from Illinois. They had a nice gap off the front before the tri-guy pulled away from him. While this was going on Greg Krieger, who's riding for Extreme Ski & Cycle this year, bridged up from the field and got to Paddy with maybe two or three laps left in the race. Greg ended up second, Paddy third.
Lionel won the field sprint for us -- so he was fourth overall and was actually first in the 15-16 results when they separated the riders out. Alex also did a really good job of keeping up toward the front of the field for most of the race. It was a real nice start of the season for him as well. Lucas also did his first bike race ever -- and finished it and had fun. So, it was a really great effort by everyone.
Here are the junior race results:
- 1st -- Lionel Rocheleau, 15-16
- 3rd -- Paddy Diamond, 17-18
- 7th -- Alex Riva, 15-16
- 14th -- Lucas Kmezich, 15-16
Paddy, Lionel and Alex also raced in the Cat. 4-5 race, which started immediately after the junior race. The officials separated the Cat. 4s from the Cat. 5s, started them 15 seconds apart, but told the two fields they could mix during the race.
Paddy was right up at the front along with a bunch of Extreme guys (a couple of juniors, a couple older). A handful of riders, including Paddy, managed to bridge across to the Cat. 4 field fairly early in the race. That group eventually got all the way around the loop and caught the Cat. 5s. A crash on the last lap kind of jumbled things up, teaching Paddy a few things about positioning. Lionel also got caught up in a crash (but was fine) with about four laps left in the race, that dropped him out of the Cat. 4 pack.
Here are the results:
- 4th -- Paddy Diamond, Cat. 5
- 23rd -- Lionel Rocheleau, Cat. 4
- 25th -- Alex Riva, Cat. 4
It was a good, but chilly day -- and a nice start to the season.