Rob's Report #3

Caught out in the Cold!
The action for Saturday’s Giro heated up pretty quickly with several attacks in the first few miles, but all the teams kept things in check. The JW Dundee’s team all took stabs at the front to keep things in check early on. There was a scattering of riders with small gaps on the field trying to get away when the action really heated up on Strong Road. I remember riding off the front & closing up on the middle group of 3 riders. Almost immediately, Craig Mattern attacked hard just past Dryer Road and formed a get away group. They were quickly joined by an aggressive Todd Scheske (Preferred Care) and point leader Jay Joslyn (Shikluna) along with several other riders that formed a group of about 8 riders up the road. They really put some punch on and opened a gap on the peleton. Unfortunately, I missed getting on the get away train, as well as my teammates & we were left to chase. Chase we did, all the way out of Ionia, but the break was rolling away in high gear & we could only see the gap growing. We missed it, it happens. As the race was winding down on the final circuit near Mendon, Taylor & I were soldiering on with the peleton until Taylor got tangled up with another rider climbing the hill near Smith Rd. and gets credit for the first team ‘tip-over’ of the year. A quick wheel/brake adjustment and we were on our way back to the shop with our race over. Scheske won the race with point leader Joslyn coming home 2nd.

Buffalo, 3/26/06
Don’t bring a knife to a gunfight!

The first of four laps in today’s race was fast and decisive. With most of the big guns in the field, the attacks were relentless the first five miles, ultimately blowing a big hole in the field and about 15 riders going up the road. With Kevin Mahoney (JW Dundee’s) in the lead group, I was content to stay put. But that all changed the instant Preferred Care riders started going up the road to join the lead pack. I jumped on to join the chase group of Jason Skalski (Preferred Care) & Mike Mathis (back from his trip to Spain, also PC) and one Handlebars rider. The chase was pretty furious to gain time on the big group out front. I blew up after 6 miles of that effort and returned to what was left of the peleton. Kevin Mahoney stayed in the lead chase group as four riders, including Todd Scheske and Jay Joslyn, went clear of that pack. In a replay of Saturday, Scheske won the sprint, Jay 2nd, Joe Halter (Handlebars) 3rd, Frank Mesi, 4th, and Skalski brought home the field in 5th, John Roden (Shikluna) 6th. Unfortunately, Kevin was isolated in the group sprint for the final 2 places because I didn’t make it across. So, we came away empty handed for a 2nd day in a row.

In the B race, JW Dundee’s Mike Dispenza soldiered to a strong 5th place finish in a small ‘group sprint’ finish.