Palos Meltdown

This past weekend Iron Cycles had a big turnout at the Palos Meltdown.

Making his dirt debut in the Comp class, the indomitable Steven Van Deven won the race. Also making her mountain bike debut after an 8 year hiatus, Kristina Young finished second overall in the Sport race (1st Age Group).

Watch out for them this cross season.

Also racing were Derrick, Tim, Mike and I. Additionally, Sophia was instrumental in providing race support and cookies for weary racers.

Soldier Field 4/5 A

On 8/17 the Soldier Field Cycling Series held its makeup from the June rainout. A bit of rain was in the forecast, but aside from a few drops it missed us for the 4/5 races. The A race, which was the later of two scheduled 4/5 heats, included me and two other Iron Cycles teammates: Chase Negley and Ken Dorado.

I talked to Chase before the race and we had the same plan, ride near the front 5-10 positions to avoid any crashes and react to moves if they occurred. Chase being the stronger and more experienced rider, I hoped to help him out if possible.

Chase and I lined up in the first row next to each other. The first few laps were fast and I was anywhere from 3rd to 6th wheel. During the 5th lap, which was a prime lap, I sat in second wheel going into the back straightaway. This was into a headwind and as the guy pulling peeled off, I attacked and brought a couple other riders with me. Coming around the last turn I was passed by a Cutting Crew rider (who had won the first 4/5 race), who took the prime. He eased up across the line and me, a XXXer and another rider passed him. As we made the second turn, one of the guys said "we've got a gap, let's go" and they began pushing a bigger gear to see if they could make the break stick.

I went with them through that 6th lap. As we went onto the 7th, I lost their wheels and looked over my shoulder, finding the CC rider. He came around me and took a pull, where I sat on his wheel about 30 seconds but I couldn't hold that either. Meanwhile a chase group of about 5-10 riders caught me. Part of that group shot ahead, while about 5 of us stayed grouped together.

After maybe another 5 laps I was cooked and couldn't hang onto their wheels. I ended up soloing the last 7 laps by myself and averaged 24.4mph. The leaders finished were half a lap ahead of me, while we all had lapped the back 1/3 of the field twice.

My legs definitely were still hurting from racing at Glencoe on Saturday and doing 76 miles on Sunday.

Lesson learned: the tactic worked, as the prime lap attack I made created a split in the field, but I didn't have the legs to stick on a wheel and recover enough to stay up in the breakaway or the second group.

The race came down to the small break, with a 3-man sprint to the line. Chase said he basically just ran out of road and had to settle for second, still a great finish for Iron Cycles. Here's a pic of the 4/5 podium from our race.

-Henry Heisler

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Happy Memorial Day Weekend!

We hope you have big plans, and in observance we're making some plans as well!

This weekend, we'll have the following special hours:

Friday May 28 - 9 am - 7 pm

Saturday May 29 - 10 am - 4 pm

Sunday May 30 - 10 am - 4 pm

Monday May 31 - 10 am - 2 pm

Enjoy the weekend, the weather is supposed to be beautiful!!

The Reader Best of 2010

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New blog coming, new site around the corner!

We know, our website has been lacking, but it's for good reason: we work on bikes, not computers! I think we're pretty good at bikes, but our web design is lacking, and you know what, we're ok with that!

But, we do have some good stuff coming, thanks to some of our bike shop friends.

Stay tuned, more is coming!

Spring Classics - Leland

A whole bunch of IC riders headed out to the far, far suburb of Leland for the Leland Kermesse. I'm not sure what Kermesse means, but I'm pretty sure it is Flemmish for crappy roads.

Before the race Jason Meshberg offered sage advice to get to the front before the gravel because those at the front will put minutes into the rest of the field right away. I told my teammates to mark the strong guys, especially the cyclocrossers, because I had a feeling they would be the ones drilling it in the gravel. I also had a feeling the first break to get away would stay away for the rest of the race.

About 2 or 3 miles into the race, before we get to the gravel I'm talking to Larson. He drops back behind me to get a better draft and then I the sound of metal and carbon I pavement. I turn around to say, "hey Larson, did you see who crashed?," but I see no more Larson. Damn, taken out by a pot hole.

In the first gravel section, I'm not in great position in the group but I'm on Russ's wheel. I know that even if we get gapped here we can work together to move up. Next thing I know, a XXXer crashes for no apparent reason other than sliding a little and takes out Russ. I swerve into the ditch and save myself. This race is so chaotic. Where are my teamates at?

It seems like the group stayed together after the first gravel section. I move to the front and sit on Ben Popper and Mike Hemme's wheel. Sounds pretty weak, but this was my race strategy. I figured they would get anxious and go soon. Once we got to the gravel sections with a tailwind they went and I went with them hitting speeds over 35 mph. We exit the gravel and look back, there are just five of us left. I can't believe everybody got popped that easily, but the guys in the break are exactly the guys I expected to be in the break, Mike (CXer), Ben(CXer), John(CXer), and Patryk(Rookie).

John is the captain of the break and he organizes us into a paceline and we go to work putting time into the field. The first two laps were so hard I thought I could blow up at any time. Hemme fell off the pace and then Ben. Two laps to go and it is just the 3 of us. A chase group was no where in sight.

Knowing Ben and Mike are behind us I know they could catch a second wind if they can get some recovery when a chase group catches them, so I keep drilling it everytime I take a pull. Patryk flats about 2 miles from the finish and then it is just John and I as we make the last turn and cruise in to town.

It's a gentlemany sprint where John rides next to me and says that he doesn't want to sit on my wheel and then go around me at the end. I tell him it's all good, and do what you gotta do. I gauge the crosswind and go to the right side gutter and start riding hard leading out. John comes around me and I hope to get a nice draft on his right hip. It would have been a good strategy if I had anything left in the legs, but I get nipped by a wheel and take second.

It was a pretty good day for IC. Russ was 9th and Jordan was 10th. Tim was 10th in the 1/2/3 and Katie was 5th in the 4's.

I wish there were more road races like this. Big thanks to the Flatlandia crew for hosting such a great event.