With powerhouse teams at the start line at the huge Giro d’ Grafton it is easy to get a little nervous. Josh Carter from ABD, the Bissell team, even Jittery Joe's had racers there. But when it came down to the finishing sprint number six was our very own Steve Holeczy making back his entry fee and them some.

The speeds were wicked fast and since the field stayed together for most of the race and it ended in a bunch sprint it all worked to Steve's favor. All we can say is "Way To Go Steve " and thanks for helping to get the name North Branch noticed by some of the pros!!

North Branch's Cat 4 squad journeyed west for the Great Carroll County Road Race and were a dominant force over the 58 mile course.

North Branch's Skip Fotland in his first race in more than three years showed he still has game by taking second place. He was supported in the final decisive group by Rob Dongoski who took fifth and John Dunat who took tenth.

Team tactics were important after the initial selection in the hills. Attacking in the last five miles John Dunat and Rob Dongoski stretched the group out. The finish line was difficult to see as there was not a sign or banner over the road so timing the sprint was challenging. Skip jumped with the early sprint and was still accelerating as he crossed the line. Congratulations Skip!

The entire North Branch squad completed the race with Rob Roop taking 15th, Greg Poulsen 20th, Skot Waldron 21st and Justin Pierson 23rd.

Carroll County Road Race Results

Thanks to Rob Dongoski for submitting this race report.

Nice little course there in lovely Wood Dale, Illinois.

Mr. John Dunat and I lined up for the Masters 4 race with about 50 or so of our closest friends (including 10 from Alberto's). John says before the race, "I have two goals. First, avoid all crashes and second, finish with the pack. If my legs feel good at the end, then I am going to go all out and instigate." Well, Sir Johnny boy was 2 for 3.

About a third of the way through the race, a Team Mack rider was riding at the front. One of his gracious teammates rides up next to him to offer some relief, they exchange pleasantries, then I see him take out his own teammate...so much for teamwork!

I was right behind the fallen comrade and was in the process of picking either body or bike to run over when Moses appeared, said something biblical and the waves parted (actually it was the bike and Team Mack rider) so I rode right through the opening. After a few Hail Marys, I looked back and saw more carnage happening on the other side of the road. This is where John ended up along with several other riders, including one hospital-bound (broken hip maybe?).

Hats off to John for getting to the pits, changing his wheel and kicking it back into the race. I rode next to him and he said he was fine. We cruised the loop several more times before the 3 laps to go warning and the pace began to pick up. I stayed at the front and with 2 laps to go, here comes John zooming past the field. For all of us that have ridden behind John before, you know he can pull like a mofo so the peloton tried to hang with John. He powered for an entire lap. I stayed on the front reminding myself that I wanted to stay on the inside for the final turn. Well, I got pushed to an outside line and sprinted to a 4th place finish, good enough for $30. I didn't stick around for payout so I am not sure what happens to the dough.

For John, he finished with the pack, went all out with 2 to go and almost missed the crashes. Hey, major leaguers are considered great if they go 1 for 3...I give it to John for going 2 for 3.

Gargoyles & Grotesques

Chicago has its collection of time honored traditions- Taste of Chicago, the Air & Water show, Cubs blowing the playoffs (did I mention that I’m a die-hard NY Mets fan), and Monsters of the Midway. This year’s MOM was even better than previous editions since the race didn’t conflict with Mom’s day, so Dads throughout the course weren’t trying to convince their wives that Mother’s Day was best spent watching lycra-clad bike geeks racing around sporting shaved legs. This year’s edition featured Jes “I’ve been published. I’ve been published” Cisneros, Johnny “Dunat Limit Yourself to 1 Race” Dunat, Darin “Give a Hoot, Don’t Pollute” Minter, Ed “Teammates? Bueller? Bueller?” Hernández, and Justin “is it like the Pier or the Pear” ???, and Rob “Call me Da’ Mayor of Platteville” Roop.

First off was Johnny, who rolled out for his first race of the year in the Masters 40+ field. Impressive showing for the fella, as he finished within the field after looking like the elastic was going to snap on that young man. Good start to a double race day for Mr. Dunat. Next up was yours truly as the solo rep in the Cat 3 field.

Most of the crits have been decided by a small breakaway, so my strategy was to position myself towards the front and try to make the selection via the winning break. Now, how would I know the winning break from a failed attempt? Not sure about that one, but here was the scenario about 15min into the 45min race….

“Okay, I’m third in line. Good. Wait. There are 4 riders off the front- dang! Wait. These two riders in front of me are on the same team. I guess they’re blocking for one of those guys up front, but the jerseys don’t match up. Wait. These two guys are wearing skin suits and one of those guys up front is wearing the straight up jersey with slightly different graphics. I much prefer the skin suit design. I need to look into buying a skin suit of my own… STOP IT AND FOCUS, YOU IDIOT. THEY’RE BLOCKING. GO GO GO!!!”

I decided to sprint to the right and make an attempt to bridge to the breakaway. Problem was that everyone else responded to my attempt and I merely succeeded in towing the field to the break (mental note: need to work on that explosive sprint). No worries. At least, the field was back together again. Of course, the killer became recovering sufficiently to contest the final sprint. (The heartrate monitor would later show that I pegged at 193bpm during that brief effort- my lactic acid threshold occurs at 184bpm). Two laps later, I was 100% recovered and moving back up through the field. The final 5-7 minutes of the race were a complete blur as I pegged the heartrate at or above LAT to maintain the pace. Problem was that I kept exiting turns behind riders who had tossed in the towels, so I had to burn a few matches to come around them. That final drag race was an amazing rush, and I figured that I finished somewhere in the top 15 for a good day’s work. For all those Cat 4 working on the upgrade- this was the first race EVER that I did not hear “Hold Your Line” or “Inside Line” at any point in the entire race. The field was fluid, smooth, and safe (except for that one guy whose wheels slid out following an aggressive line around turn 4). Fellas, this was bike racing as it was meant to be enjoyed, so keep accumulating those points towards the upgrade.

The North Branch “show of force” focused on the Cat 4 field, which had to be the largest field of the day. Darin was a constant presence towards the front of the field for the first half of the race. Perhaps, his novel commute to the race- Bike to the Metra, Metra to the City, Bike to the Race Course- was not appreciated by the Cycling Gods on this particular day. On the other hand, Justino did an amazing job moving up through the pack and showed promise for the remainder of the season. Jes and Rob had a solid showing, choosing to peak for the upcoming Carroll County road race. Johnny was Mr. Consistency as he rode well within the pack throughout the race full of ‘em young whipper snappers. Speaking of “young whipper snappers”, Justino came around Johnny at the finish to claim the top NB placing in the Cat 4 race.

Mojito Intervals in South Beach

The life of a full-time suburban dad, full-time marketer of luxury wines & spirits, and part-time cyclist is an absolute balancing act that has become very challenging the last few months. Travel has risen faster than gas prices and two weeks ago, I found myself in South Beach, Florida miles and miles away from my bike. Instead of LAT intervals, I ended up doing M&CC intervals (that’s mojitos and Café Cubanos for those that have relished in South Beach’s tropical climate). Would the Cycling Gods forgive such insolence?

I decided to travel up to Muskego Park to find out if I was in good graces with the Cycling Gods. Dang, those all-knowing Cycling Gods were really pissed off at me!!! First off, I got lost on the way up to the race venue (who would have thought that signs were necessary to mark the turn for out-of-towners). Then, I couldn’t find the registration area (again, who would have thought that “the cabin by the beach” wouldn’t suffice for out-of-towners). I was beginning to think that the vague directions were just a ploy to weigh the balance in favor of the Wisconsin riders. So, I ended up rolling to the line with about 30sec of a warm-up in my legs. Didn’t even have enough time to flush out the M&CC from the muscles before we gunned it on the 1.1 crit course with ~100 ft of “climbing” per lap.

This course was different from Whitnall in that the “climbing” was focused on one stretch of the course instead of a 3 step staircase at Whitnall. The relatively drawn out climb started to take its toll on the legs, especially that final pitch from the finish line to the crest. Figures that those 30 yards would be my penance at the hands of the Cycling Gods.

Left leg went pop. Right leg went pop. Cycling Gods had their revenge. I managed to hit the red zone each remaining trip up the climb, but the field was long gone (as was my top 10 finish). Oh well. Those mojitos and Café Cubanos were damn good and well worth the pain (I hope that Cycling Gods weren’t listening). Now, it’s off to Monsters of the Midway!!!!

The City of Chicago has come onto the cycling promotion scene with a show of force. How's this for a crit course profile??? Start/finish in the shadow of Buckingham Fountain. Back stretch takes place on Michigan Ave.

This will likely also be a very family friendly course with the fountain and mall areas within the perimeter of the race course.

When planning the 2008 racing season, don't forget our neighbors to the North. Cheez Heads beware, the North Branch blue is coming to you!!! Here is the listing of the WI road races, crits and TT's for '08.

Three day event. Jumbotron. Richest payout for any 3 day event in the world. Reworked crit schedules. Skip may actually race in '08 instead of watching in '07!!! The Tour of Elk Grove is expanding big time in 2008. Luke Seeman recently interviewed the mayor of Elk Grove Village and got the inside scoop on the '08 evolution of this race.

- Saturday's road race from Schaumburg to Elk Grove Village will only apply to the Pro field

- Cat 1/2 men crits have been expanded to two days featuring a total purse of $35K with results based on overall time

- Cat 3 men get their own 60min crit next year

- Cat 4 men race for 25min (hey, that's 20% longer than the '07 race)

- Cat 5 men gets a 3rd heat (fantastic news for the growth of the sport in the Chicagoland area)

- Junior races have unfortunately been scrapped

- Women races have all been consolidated into one "Open" field

- Master men's races are seeing some changes, as well

Let's start working on those training plans to set up for North Branch success at this premier race.

One lonngggggg road season came to an end today in Lombard with the fourth event of the Fall Fling series. Nathaniel, Jim, Boston Rob, Steve ("el Capo"), Ed, and Darren all lined up in August-like weather to wrap up the road season for North Branch. When the final sprint was done, Ed emerged victorious in the Cat 4 field with a long, drawn out sprint. Here's the inside scoop...



Ed Hernandez of North Branch Cycling Taking First At The Fall Fling


One of the Turin boys (and I mean boys) soloed for the victory at the same course last week. Well, the same guy tried to breakaway from the field about 30min into the 40min + 2 lap race. This time, the series leader (Ryan Cooper of ABD) was all over the break and the field was quick to response. At the successful catch, the field backed off the pace significantly, which played into Jim's plan. He launched an attack of his own, which drew out a LOT rider (Voytek) and Cooper. Bell lap on the final climb with ~300m to go and the field is back together. Cooper is now on the front with me on his wheel. His shoulders were rocking big time, so I figured that he was running out of steam. I hadn't planned on starting the sprint quite that early, but my goal was to race more aggressively today, so here we goooooo...............

Amazing how everything slows down at the moment of truth. I jumped out of the saddle with ~200m to go. Everything went silent. I kept trying to look for shadows of incoming riders to the left and the right, but there wasn't anyone there. I couldn't even hear the crowd during the sprint. All I kept thinking about is how that finish line was taking its sweet time in coming up to me. Finally, I burst through the finish line, threw my arms in the air, and realized that I had just won the first race of my riding career.

The Cat 4 field averaged 26.6mph, which makes this my fastest crit this year. This sprint win was a sweet payoff for a season that started last November with the start of the indoor training sessions. More things in life should be as gratifying as this race...

Cat 3's here I come....

Already planning for the 2008 season? Well, word on the street is that the TofEG will be expanded to include a road race on a 15m course. No mention on which categories will be offered the RR, but here's one lyrca-clad racer who hopes that they show some love to the amateurs.

Here's the news from the Daily Herald: "The night before Elk Grove Village’s 2007 Tour of Elk Grove bicycle race, Mayor Craig Johnson was already planning for 2008.

The 2007 Tour of Elk Grove carries the biggest cycling purse in North America and has been so successful that it will be expanded in 2008 to an internationally sanctioned three-day event, Johnson announced Friday.

The 2008 race will include a time trial, a road stage and a final criterion, which is a multi-lap event on a smaller course, Johnson said."