Team Get A Grip Cycles Wins National Championship

Team Get A Grip continued it's summer success when Jonathan Gray won the United States National Criterium Championship held this past Sunday in the Chicago suburb of Downer's Grove, Illinois. In the final lap of the race, Charles Biro carried Gray along the outside of the field and dropped him off in second wheel at the top of the hill, halfway through the last lap. From that point on, it was up to the sprinter to finish the job.
"I think that XXX-Athletico tried to set up something at the end," said the new national champion, "but they were too slow and dumped their leadout in less than a block. I recognized my opportunity and jumped them with everything I had."

"When I came out of the final turn, I knew that I had won and was so excited that I started bouncing my front wheel and high-fiving my team mates on the sidelines." "Chip seems to win the really big races. At the beginning of the summer, he won the biggest criterium in Wisconsin and now he goes out and wins the biggest criterium in the nation," said Jon Tenney, the team director. "Charles was fantastic in the final lap, and the rest of the guys did a good job monitoring the front of the field during the prime sprints. Last year, we dictated the course of every category three race we entered; but because of injuries and upgrades, we were no longer able to operate with such strength. As a result, the team had to be a lot more intelligent and use the efforts of other teams to our advantage. We did it at the Hillsboro Roubaix at the beginning of the year and again here at the National Championships."


The riders on Team Get a Grip have had considerable success at Downers Grove. "At this race, the only thing that matters is good position over the top of the hill on the last lap. Once there, you give it all you have got to the end. It is a simple formula for victory, but it requires flawless execution. I think that members of Team Get A Grip have won this race at least three times in the past."

Although she was aware of this strategy, Lindsay Koren was unable to capitalize on the knowledge in the womens 3/4 event. "I had second wheel going into the last few turns, but I thought that it was too far to start my sprint so I drifted back to fifth wheel. Too bad I did not trust the advice of others, because that is exactly the place I finished."

It was a welcome result on a weekend that otherwise would have been disastrous. Eric Wiecek smashed his head in Saturday's premier event, Devon Haskell was caught up in at least one wipe out, and Cesar Correa and James Holten went down in Sunday's finale when another rider stuck his pedal in Correa's front wheel breaking the spokes. "The announcers saw Cesar in the medical tent bloody and with a ripped skinsuit. For some reason they thought it was funny and started ridiculing our team and calling us 'Get A Rip.' I am not sure why they did that, because crashes are never funny. Still, I was glad that Chip won. It made up for what was being said and showed the announcers that we are not a bunch of jokers."

The whole team would like to thank significant others, Get A Grip Cycles, Subaru, Cannondale, Sidi, and the spectators, young and old, for a fantastic end of the racing season.

Thanks is also extended to Peloton-pix.com for making available all of its 2008 Downers Grove Photos free of charge. Congratulations on 10,000 hits!