T-E-A-M Victory at Fox River Grove Criterium

Team Get A Grip Cycles had a fantastic day at the Fox River Grove criterium in Illinois, organized by a very professional, top-notch organization in RDS Cycling.

Steven Vandeven, Eric Wiecek, Chip Gray, Lee Heaton, and Seth Meyer, fresh off the Tour of Ohio, lined up to take on the field on the 1.2-mile circuit that included one very steep and difficult climb. From the gun, TGAGC made the pace high, making sure that the hill would take its toll on the pack in the short, intense event. On the third lap, attacks really began, with Vandeven being the one eventually breaking the elastic going off solo.

With four dedicated teammates in the pack disrupting all forms of a chase, Vandeven's gap grew larger and larger, to a maximum of one minute—solo, no less! About halfway through the race, the field's anxiousness grew unbearable and multiple bridge attempts flew off the front. After some attack-counter-attack games, it was Jason Knauff of Team ClifBar Midwest making the move that stuck, and Meyer latched onto his wheel to do his duty for the team.

At this point, Vandeven was off the front, with a motoring Knauff in between with a resting Meyer in a great strategic position just sitting on the wheel, and Wiecek, Heaton, and Gray still keeping a grip on the field. With two to go, it was time to utilize these numbers and circumstances, as Meyer attacked Knauff in efforts to create a TGAGC duo up front.

Meyer bridged up to Vandeven and paced him up the climb the last lap, followed by the two exchanging pulls until the finishing straight, where they crossed hand-in-hand as 1st and 2nd place! Knauff did a fantastic ride to stay off for third, but, just behind, it was Wiecek fighting it out on the line in the field, ultimately taking second in that finishing group and 5th overall, with Heaton just behind in 7th and Gray in 9th.

Photos of the race and this domination are coming soon. Team Get A Grip Cycles used all of its strong members to perfection today, racing with precision and guts for a breath-taking 1-2.

Check back for next weekend's racing in Proctor. An even larger, even stronger TGAGC contingent will be out for these IL state championship races (sans Meyer, who is off for a rest after the first half of his season and shall return as a full-time elite Pro/1/2 competitior). TGAGC will be looking to keep up its dominance in the elite fields of the region. Stay tuned!

Tour of Ohio Stage 6: A First Last Day

Well, Seth's first stage race is all over. And, for the third day in a row, the peloton stayed together for a bunch sprint. I'm a little discontent with that fact, that the race was decided in the early stages. The way it went was that the second day was the day to lose it if you had mishaps or nerves or crashes or flats in the rain, and the third day was the day to win it (the queen stage). Everything else was just very minor sorting out. I wish there would have been one more difficult stage like the third one on the fifth or sixth day, but, alas, that's how it went.

The positive side of losing time on the second day is that it gave me more courage and reason to attack on the third day, and the time, attention, credit, and experience that that gave me was all more than I could have asked for in my first stage race experience. The even greater positive is that, being in that break with Swain, especially when Hekman bridged, I got to really learn a new level of suffering that I probably could not have otherwise found (certainly not on my own), and that alone makes me feel like a stronger rider, not to mention the fitness six days of racing will give you.

So results ended up like this: I was 62nd overall out of 129 riders (so top half, which is all right for my first Pro/1/2/3 stage race, I think), 18th in the collegiate rider classification, and then, most importantly, 6th for the King of the Mountains Jersey and 5th for the White Jersey. I guess that basically means I'm young, I'm gutsy, and I go uphill fast. So let's hope I stay on the upswing there.

Thanks so much for reading about the experience this week. I'm looking forward to the second half of the season with Team Get A Grip Cycles!

Tour of Ohio Stage 5: Another Day

Seth here, from the Tour of Ohio's final [what was supposed to be] selective day.

Well, I tried my little heart out, but, quite honestly, today's profile just wasn't difficult enough. There was only one hill on the 11-mile loop, and it was a short big-ringer that wasn't difficult enough to cause a split in the field.

Early on, I was active trying to get in a small group if one would be let off. Scholzen and I were actually in three separate little moves together in the first two circuits, but it soon became obvious this was to be a bunch sprint. Since the hill was a smallish power climb (1/3 of a mile, not crazy steep, as advertised), it wasn't my terrain for a sprint for climber's points either, and I was stagnant in that competition.

We'll see official results later, but, due to this, I may have dropped in the KOM competition. That's too bad, since the KOMs were like just slightly uphill sprints today. Things are pretty much set too, as tomorrow is just a short, little twilight criterium to close things out. So long as I don't crash, I think I'll be 67th in GC, 6th in KOM, 5th in White Jersey, and gutsiest friggin' 21-year-old out there (who else went on a 55-mile break with Hekman and Swain on the queen stage)?

Thanks for support, reading. Final report and results tomorrow from my first pro-am stage race!

Tour of Ohio Stage 4: An Easier Day

Easier is a relative term. This stage was by no means easy, but thank goodness it was not want-to-get-off-and-walk difficult. It was a circuit race in a residential area, 33 laps and 33 times up a big-ring climb. Luckily, the field was obviously staying together for a bunch sprint so I could rest assured in the middle of the pack that all would be okay if I just stayed upright and conserved.

Tha's exactly what I did, finishing smack dab in the middle in 58th today, hopefully doing the legs some good by avoiding hard efforts. I'll have to be ready to go on the attack again in Stage 5 if I want more KOM points (the last day they're offered)!

Team Get A Grip Cycles all over cyclingnews.com

Just below Tour de Suisse and Nature Valley is the Tour of Ohio on cyclingnews.com, where Tim Swain (A&F) and Seth Meyer (TGAGC) were given massive props on their antics in the breakaway all day long in the queen stage, Stage 3. Read on! http://www.cyclingnews.com/road.php?id=road/2007/jun07/tourofohio07/tourofohio073

In other news, after official results, Meyer is sitting 5th in the KOM classification, 5th in the white jersey, and 67th overall. And it turns out Dickey (Mercy) did inch past Hekman (A&F) on the line yesterday. So Abercrombie will be out to get that jersey back this week. In the meantime, Meyer will keep shooting for his!

Tour of Ohio Stage 3: A Big, Big Day

Seth reporting from Ohio again, the Team Get A Grip Cycles member on a composite squad for the elite Pro/1/2/3 stage race: I wasn't necessarily looking for redemption today, nor the breakaway, but you don't say no when opportunity jumps up right in front of your face!

After some really tough attacks in the first few miles, I rode a good wheel (Brian Sheedy, Priority Health pro team) up to the first few positions of the main field, wanting to stay attentive in the case of a split in the group due to all of these accelerations. I then moved over to a Mercy rider's wheel who starts rolling. A minute later, he turns around and says, "You know we have a gap right?" What? I look back, sure enough, we're all of the sudden in the breakaway.

I can't see how or why, I guess I was just in the right combination at the right time, but, after three more guys bridging up, we were given a bit of a leash, and we rode away from the main field. Great. All we had to do was 60 more miles of very hilly terrain, 5 KOM (King of the Mountains) classifications, all under the very hot, midday sun. Yes...yikes! That was bound to be tough.

I have never had my legs burn so much before. I have never had four gels and so many bottles and all the energy-saving and economical breakaway riding in the world still leave me dying out there, but I was honestly on the verge of tears nearing the end of the stage. The breakaway actually reformed, as A&F sent another guy, Mark Hekman (current leader of the nation's professional criteriums series and now GC leader of Tour of Ohio), Dewey Dickey (Mercy) came up, and the Time Pro Development Team and Colavita had solid riders help out too. In the end, we were twelve in front of the field of 129. Holy cramp!

Hekman, Dickey, and two others had the strength to attack in the end. I, just buried in this move, was passed by one elite group and ended up somewhere around 40th and 4 minutes down on the day, but it was ahead of a ton of people and a ton of people who lost a ton of time. What's more is that I gained a number of KOM points and am now Top 10 on that classification, am on the podium for Best Cat 3 (my teammate on the combination team here, Matt Waite, currently has the white jersey), and I'm making my way toward the top half of the GC after yesterday's fluke disappointment.

What's even more is that, today, skinny little Seth Meyer mixed it up in a P-R-O breakaway for 55 miles. It's a shame I couldn't stick out the last few, but the advantage and recognition it gave me already was much more than I could have expected. This is a big comeback for me during the tour. Let's hope I can recover well and stay on the upward pattern for the last three stages.

'til next time!

P.S. We're keeping a video diary for the Tour of Ohio at http://www.seth-meyer.com/page4.html

Team Get A Grip Cycles' Rider To Race With The Elite

From June 20th to the 24th, Devon Haskell will be racing the Nature Valley Grand Prix as part of the Ryan Collegiate All Stars composite team. Team members will be posting daily updates on the team website.

The management of the Nature Valley Grand Prix has put together a video preview of what Haskell will have to face over the course of five days. Video Preview

Tour of Ohio Stage 2: A Bad Day

Hi everyone, Seth reporting again from the Tour of Ohio: Not going to lie now, I was a scaredy-cat today. It was raining during the second stage, and, despite a great starting position, the opening descent and first few miles took my nerve from the get-go. Where I started, in between 20th and 30th place, must have been the place to be because multiple crashes, flats, people bumping and flying off the road were all on either side of me.

As opposed to staying tough and letting courage keep me up front, I braked my way behind the chaos and, before I knew it, I was on the back. Gaps kept opening up there, for whatever reasons, and, all of the sudden, I was dropped. To add insult to injury, the chase group I joined got very frustrated with me, keeping the pace a bit unsteady. I guess I was just so desperate to get back to the lead (and I had a lot of strength to use to do so!), but it was ultimately the unwise move, and I settled into the line after my second big mistake of the day, accepting that my mental second-guessing around a few rain-slicked corners had kept me away from the front pack.

We rode all right together, ultimately finishing somewhere between 6 and 8 minutes down. Still, this is very disappointing, and I'll have to A) hope for good weather tomorrow, and B) regardless, get some nerve to stick in the front pack. The speed is there to stay in it, and, with tomorrow's summit finish, it would be a good day to try to crack the top twenty places. Here's hoping for better...thanks for reading.

Tour of Ohio Stage 1: A Flawless Beginning

Hi, everyone. Seth Meyer here, reporting daily from the Pro/1/2/3 Bikesource Tour of Ohio this entire week (June 18th-23rd).

Today's first stage was an hourglass-shaped criterium course, offering time bonuses to the first three across the line in the finale, establishing a podium for the jersey wearers for the week. Seeing as the stages I am eyeing are the hillier, later ones, where I'll need all my strength and where the time gaps will really appear, today's goal was simple: Stay safe and stay in the main group.

A lot of factors could have hindered that--it was in the 90s all day, the wind was blowing hard, and the road surface was not fantastic. However, I found, in the end, that there was no need to be nervous, as there were a lot of places to hide from the conditions in a 120-some-person field, and the ones that couldn't be hidden from...well...everyone needed to deal with them anyway.

In any case, during this 68-lap, constantly turning hourglass-race (68x8 means we turned 544 times within an hour and change), I managed to stay tucked in the middle of the field, also staying in the saddle nearly the entire time, conserving as much as possible for the later days. Mission accomplished: I finished just in the top half, around 50th position (results are not online yet; I'll post them with tomorrow's recap).

As the field finished in a bunch sprint, there are no time gaps except for the bonuses for the sprinters, which one would hope will be erased once we head into the mountains. So it was a great first day. Tomorrow is a 10-mile circuit with two 7% climbs that we will do a number of times, perhaps a day for small classification changes, but I will stay try to stay conservative and just in the lead pack without doing any unnecessary work, waiting for Wednesday's summit finish.

Until tomorrow!

Great Results in Grafton

Team Get A Grip Cycles brought a 6-man entourage for the Cat 3 Men's Twilight Criterium in Grafton, WI this past Saturday. A first-year event, its interesting, 6-corner downtown course lined with many supportive, local spectators, it meet all expectations and then some, offering a great venue for crit racing.

Active in the major moves of the day, Eric Wiecek, Chip Gray, Steve Vandeven, Seth Meyer, James Holton, and Jon Tenney tried to make the breakaway happen. With three laps to go, it was looking good as Meyer bridged to Brazen Dropouts riders Matt Waite and Dallas Fowler, and the three held a respectable gap.

Alas, the field came back to the threesome, but it wasn't time for TGAGC to go down yet, as Wiecek took advantage of the moment of confusion in the last lap and jumped up to second position, with a bit of a gap on the field, coming into the final corner. From that spot, he sprinted nicely into third place, and, charging out of the field, Vandeven and Holton nabbed 8th and 11th, respectively.

Meyer, after his efforts rolled through for 22nd, with Tenney and Gray, also active during the day, coming in with the main bunch as well. All these efforts for three, top-15 money spots was definitely worth it for the entire squad!

Later on, Devon Haskell, preparing for Nature Valley this coming week (six stages from June 20-24) entered the Women's Pro/1/2/3 race. Conserving energy very well the entire day, she sprinted out of the field behind a solo breakaway for 5th place overall, another great result for Team Get A Grip Cycles.

Even more success: While most of the men's squad was at Grafton, Lee Heaton made his way to Carroll County for an ABR road race Saturday, taking a convincing win and giving TGAGC yet another W. Congratulations to Heaton, stepping onto the top spot of the podium for the first time this season!

A Good Day in Spring Prairie

Team Get A Grip Cycles riders made it up to Spring Prairie for Wisconsin's challenging state road race, a 6.5-mile loop with rolling hills and one very steep hill to about 100m to go to the finish.

Early in the day, Emily Hutchins picked up right where she left off in the Women Cat 4 field and took her second win in as many races. One more fantastic finish from her and she may be moving up to race with the elite women already!

Apropos, elite women, Devon Haskell was out looking for good training and results again ahead of her debut at the Nature Valley Grand Prix with the collegiate all-stars (June 20-24). She was 4th in the Women's Pro/1/2/3 race.

As for the Cat 3 men, Seth Meyer, Eric Wiecek, and Steve Vandeven finished with the field behind the one remnant of a late-race breakaway who took the race solo (all his companions, however, were caught thanks to a fast final lap—Steve and Eric's pacemaking along with some cooperation in the bunch). Although a bit out of position for the sprint, the three still came in 4th, 13th, and 14th, respectively. Not too shabby!

Like Haskell, Meyer will also be moving up in the ranks for a pro stage race just around the corner. He'll be updating daily from the Pro/1/2/3 Tour of Ohio (June 18-23) next week, his last race as a Category 3 targeting that white jersey classification, and coming back as an Elite 2.

Team Get A Grip Cycles Descends on Winfield, Podiums, Podiums, and Podiums (and Wins a National Championship).

Those of us who race in Illinois are blessed with American Bicycle Racing, a rapidly expanding cycle-racing organization with roots in Illinois and Wisconsin. Their races are fun and affordable, and their administrative staff and officials seem free of politics and posturing. Their races are also safer than most with proof coming in the form of decreasing insurance rates over the years (that means less cost to you, the riders).

Among all of the great ABR venues, the Winfield Criterium Weekend, hosted by Athletes by Design, is certainly the best. With one national championship jersey up for grabs, and knowing that Winfield is the home town of someone dear to our sponsor; the entirety of Team Get A Grip Cycles descended on the town like a green and black wave.


Winfield Twilight Criterium: Too many passengers can't stop the little engine that could.

We did not plan it, but the team's performance at this race served as an early summer warning shot across the bow of the local scene. The one mile loop was simple and entertaining: you go up a hill, wind down the hill through the lovely local neighborhood, and cross the finish line, and repeat for just under an hour.

We do not mind going around and around on the flat crits; but when the road tilts up even a little, and the strong men must come to the fore, all of Team Get A Grip Cycles plan on being there to turn the screws. Somewhere during the race, our attacks led to the formation of a small group which grew to a break of twelve with four of our riders making the cut. It was a sloppy and generally unmotivated group, and it never would have stayed away had Seth Meyer not pulled all of its passengers up the hill every time and sometimes doing lap after lap on the front (with assistance by a very strong Mike Jones of Met Cycling). In the final run-in to the finish, the team netted 3rd (Vandeven), 5th (Wiecek), and 11th (Meyer) in the break, and went 1-2 (and nearly 3) in the field sprint.

The women all placed in the top-10 in a somewhat confusing race that saw them catching and mixing with the master's men. Wong and Myrick did excellent work controlling the field when Haskell made a move with Susan Peithman (ABD Cycling). Alas, Haskell did not have the oomph to follow Peithman near the end of the race and was left pulling a master's rider around on her wheel like a lamprey.


Men's Cat 2/3 - TGAGC Photos - link courtesy of Luke Seemann



ABR National Criterium Championships: A national championship followed by the laziest race known to mankind.


Sunday's race was the premier event of the weekend, with a national championship up for grabs for the female squad, and pride and prestige for the cat 3 males. Held next to a lovely park in the center of Winfield, the square course featured one unselective hill and a long, bumpy, decline to the finish.

Partway through the women's open, Myrick called it a day and decided that it would be more fun to spends hours cooling down in the rain. Haskell stayed in the race and snagged the championship and an enormous stars and striped jersey (size men's large).

The men did their best to establish a race-winning break, but the long downhill and the seeming lack of interest in teams other than TGAGC and TCBM in establishing a breakaway, doomed the field to the usual long and crowded sprint finish. Confusion and poor choices disrupted most of the team during the last lap, but it was the big-ring speed of Angelo DiGiovine, flown-in special for this event, that salvaged the team's efforts with a second place.


Special Note: Team Personal Trainer Emily Hutchins, in her first bicycle race, won the category 4 women's race. Congratulations Emily!

Two Get A Grip riders rode the Pro/1/2 race right after finishing the 3s. Jon Tenney, the old-man that he is, lasted only a few laps before feeling dizzy; but Seth Meyer hung tough for a solid placing in the final sprint.

Photos courtesy of Lisa Heaton, Angelo DiGiovine, and the always lovely Lola Chavez.