A few of the guys are down at the Tour de Champaign in Illinois.
Sean is a gracious host for putting them up. Thanks pal!
As soon as I hear reports from the guys, you will have it here.
How 'bout that LA time trial?

After a week of rumors and tasteless heckling by one spectator at the state fair crit, the facts of Dewey Dickey's situation are coming out. My interactions with Dewey have been nothing but pleasant, but since I have not been on the scene long at all, I found this article lays out part of the story of Dewey's journey....
http://www.mspmag.com/features/features/35548.asp
Read Steve Tilford's blog for the story on what is going on now.
My support goes out to Dewey in this difficult time.
-Grant

Step right up kids, see if you can conquer the state fair crit

Sunday's State Fair Criterium netted a 2nd place for our very own Bryan Moritz, which pending further confirmation, puts him in the lead for the Iowa Cup. Dewey Dickey was the victor of the day, far off the front he even had energy to advise Will on the smoothest line up the climb as he lapped him. Lee was doing lieutenant duties, settling into the group chasing Dewey after being lapped, and lending me encouragement to stay in contact despite the lung searing climb.
It was a hard course, a steep climb to the top of the fair grounds swooping down to a hairpin and up to the finish line. The hairpin is what took me out for the day which is too bad because I was really loving the race. It tested many different abilities throughout its .75 mile lap.
Big ups to Bryan for his 2nd place and all the guys as we head into Memorial Day weekend.

Joe Martin Day 2

Thursday afternoon we emerged from our digs at the Travelodge after sleeping off the long drive the night before. The scenery is awesome down here, big green rolling hills that look like mountains, coming from Iowa. We arrived at Devil's Den State Park for Andrew and Will "Willadillo" to contest the PRO 1/2 climb trial. As we waited to descend the course in the vehicle, we saw the PROs cross the finish line on top of the climb. As these hardened mercenaries were whimpering and fighting for air at the top, I hoped when my time came that I could invite the hurt in as these guys had.
Andrew was the first of our team to out of the gate. He would later say that he had no idea what time he got as his computer and his head were "all over the place." As Will correctly pointed out, when Andrew says that, it can mean that he did well. Andrew pulled in a strong time of 10:14 for the 680ft of climbing concentrated in 2.5miles.
Will went later for another good time of 10:30. Their thoughts on the stage "it sucked but that is how a time trial is supposed to feel."
Since my racing does not begin until Saturday, I was able to ride around the "mountain passes" of the area just enjoying the day and getting dialed in on my new Giant. This area is seriously beautiful and the roads are awesome.



After a good night's sleep we got up for road race #1. This race began in the Wal-Mart parking lot in Fayetteville. It was pretty cool to see everyday people take a few minutes out of their day to cheer on the start of the race before they went about their business at Wal-Mart. Iowa has a good cadre of representation down here at Joe Martin. In addition to us from WOB/B2U, Jeff Bradley, Lou Waugman, Paul Deninger, Carson Cristian, and Dewey Dickey were all showing up for the Iowa teams.


Today's stage was a 110mile loop through the hills around Fayetteville. It was one big loop with rolling enclosures, very cool since most of our races are multiple laps of the same courses.
As the race came in there was a few minutes between a group of about 20 and then a large remainder of the race came in. I looked up from my spot on the uphill finish to see Andrew charging up towards the finish with the others biting at his heels.
They guys looked pretty slammed when I caught up to them at the finish. They said that the pace was relentless the whole day and that the wind in addition to the long climbs took a toll. As I am writing this, Will is having periodic conniptions about not making the decisive break, but the truth of the matter is, it was a hard day.



On tap for tomorrow is my first day of racing with the climb TT and then the road race and Will and Andrew have another road race. I'll fill y'all in then.

Start of Joe Martin

Welcome to the Natural State

Andrew in the back seat, Will ridin’ shotty, and the author in the cockpit, we departed Iowa City remarkably on schedule.

Six hundred miles lay ahead to reach Fayetteville, Arkansas for the Joe Martin Stage Race. The wind in

Iowa as we set out was not so nice, as our new Giant TCRs were exposed to the elements on the roof. But nothing to fear, no doubt

their “beefy” bottom bracket and massive head tubes kept them firmly intact.

Darkness fell and the night driving began. The guys dozed off and I clicked through my CD collection. Can’t believe some of my CD’s are over 10 years old, like Dr. Dre’s Chronic 2001. There were a few periods when we were the only ones on the road as the semis pulled off the road for the night. The number of semis made it evident we were traveling along a major artery of American commerce, and yes we were headed straight to the home of Walmart

The miles clicked by and the terrain turned from flat to rock cliffs on the side of US71 South. And then there it was, the sign said “Welcome to the Natural State.” I feel it y’all, this is going to be a fine trip. Oh yeah racing tomorrow, stay tuned.

First Race of the Year

The morning was calm and bright upon arriving at the race site in Grinnell. After getting my bike ready I rolled over to the sign in booth where Brett Griggs was running the show. When I got my race number in my hand, I instinctively crumpled it up, this being among my favorite pre-race rituals. That is when I realized how happy and excited I was to have arrived at the first race of the season after a horrendous winter. I was excited to find out if my foray into Nordic skiing would pay dividends or leave me needing a bailout. As the rest of the team arrived and each man went through their pre-race ritual, there was good vibe as the antics and “…that’s what she said” cracks kept rolling. Andrew Fagerston emerged from the car after getting in his kit and I was blinded by a radioactive flame that was coming out of his head in the shape of a bleached blonde mullet. That is a fast haircut! As was the mullet’s owner.

After Bart went through the standard pep talk before the race, the group was rolling. It was great to see people chatting as the group eased into the first miles. Will Greenwood pedaled a bit ahead of the group in what appeared to be a joke attack. The group bombed down the paved descent and around a right turn and onto the gravel. The pace picked up as riders wanted to stay near the front as the group got comfortable on the gravel. The Bikes to You/World of Bikes team (this author included) was looking good. Lee Venteicher, Kevin Tempel, and Will were setting a strong pace on the front end of the main field. It was good to be racing! As Kevin and I were racing our first Cat 3 race, the Lee’s veteran perspective calmed the nerves and gave us good advice. The gravel and the rolling hills made for an interesting course with a series of upward pitches mixed with descents on the front part of the course to allow good recovery. The exposed section on the back stretch was tough with the cross-wind and jarring stones but relented to the smooth high speed of the paved run-in to the start/finish line. We were all together going up the long paved climb and swinging onto the gravel for lap two. On the second series of rollers, Andrew flew up the road and steadily opened up a gap despite efforts of other riders to keep the pace high. As the group would crest each hill after he initiated his breakaway, Andrew would appear farther away and as Bart reported the time gap each lap, it grew to a maximum of seven minutes with three laps to go. In addition to Andrew’s phenomenal breakaway, the team did a great job staying together despite efforts of others to gutter our team in the cross wind section, and pretty much controlled the race behind Andrew to secure the remaining good results.

With a lap and a half remaining, the relentless defense of B2U/WOB, left only AJ Turner against Will and Kevin. The author was dropped from this final selection once the attacks started thus the exciting race for the remaining podium spots does not have the same quality reporting as the preceding events. I was bonking and cramping but I put my head down and made it to the finish line. Yeah! I finished and held on for 5th and my teammates did fantastic. Ouch! My back is wrenched from three hours rumbling on gravel. This was a fun race to kick off the 2010 season and an early indication of the great things to come.

---- Grant Headley

A Long Year...

It has been a long year, but the boyz have gotten some experience. I've spent the morning looking at their results for the year and realized everyone has ridden well over thirty races this year that have been active. Though I know that it has been a frustrating year for all of them, the all have earned their place in Iowa's category I/II peleton. Bryan Moritz has had 10 second place finishes in his first year as a category two cyclist as well as two collegiate wins. Will Greenwood has won a race at State Center in June and contributed to many team finishes... Andrew Fagersten had an extremely frustrating year due to an injury after mountain bike accident which was further aggrevated by his determination to finish the Joe Martin stage race. He is a horse and has come back to form in the last month finishing third in our team Criterium and the Iowa Games road race both the same weekend. Finn Kohlsrud capitalized on his ability to finish fast by finishing third at the Clear Lake road race this year. Last but certainly not least of the riders is Tim Campbell who has not only logged the most races (including his man collegiate events) this year is our tough guy for the year. He is always willing to attack and once he's reeled in he's ready to attack again. One of these days he's going to stick the long solo break and nobody will be able to stop him. He almost did it at Clear Lake Road Race. Keep your eyes open our for these guys next year. They will be the new guard of Iowa Cycling... the forty plus age group riders days are numbered. I for one am grateful to have been able to work with these guys and be their friend. My hope for Iowa Cycling's future is bright and will be driving back to the state frequently next year to watch them continue to grow as riders and men. Thanks guys... you are no longer boyz!

P.S. Craig and I are looking forward to adding more young riders to the team next year!