Slimenundgrossen.com

Pat Bunch took home the Bronze Medal at the USAC Masters National Time Trial Championship in Louisville. Chuck Procner also raced. Both of these guys are tuning up for Senior Olympic Natz in San Francisco.

Meantime both teams are lining up at Tour Of Lawrence, Tour of Kansas City Round Two and getting really really anxious for cyclocross.

 Here's Chuck's recap of the USAC Nationals adventure:

We had a pretty good time considering.

On the way to Louisville 5 o'clock Tuesday morning the battery light came on in my van just west of Blue Springs. The alternator shot craps. Fortunately we were close to Molle Chevrolet, 5 hours later and $500 hundred lighter in the bank account we were on our way again.

Hoping to get to Louisville in time to ride the course that afternoon  we were only able to drive it. I had checked the course elevations on mapmyride.com and that indicated the course was pretty level with a short beginning/ending ascent/descent of 3 to 4 %. Not the case! The beginning was a mile long hill of about 8 to 10%. There were some short rollers in the middle around 5%. It looked much worse in the car, as it always does. We went to dinner and bed obsessing over how much harder it was going to be than we thought.

Race day morning we get to the course and there is a 2 hour delay because there were no course marshals. We got to talk to Dean Parker and Dennis Weinbeck who had ridden the course the day before and were informed it was in fact a "big ring" course all the way. We absorbed that with a major dose of salt. Turns out they were right though. Mostly because of the wind. It was probably a 10 to 15 mph tail wind out and headwind back.

When Pat finished he wasn't too confident of his result. Although he passed 4 riders and wasn't passed, the really fast guys were behind him. I, on the other hand, got passed more times than the collection plate in church. Pat is looking forward to a rematch with champ at the Senior Olympics next month.

We both came away with positives: Pat got the bronze and I wasn't last. I think we'll both be back.
Chuck

Chuck, Pat, Tyler and Teresa have been collecting a few medals at State Championships (yup, two kinds of jerseys on the podiums)....A few brave attempts thwarted by cramps and flats by others on the team: Bryan, Jeff, Matt and Mark representing.

Donna making the multisport podium at Corporate Challenge. Lots of turns by Joe, Mike and the gang at the Tues Night Crit. Gray and Wade digging the Hill Ride. Paul and Tim keeping the Scooters Ride honest. Bob, Mike M. and Russell being good shepherds on the Tienda Casa Paloma Rides.

Several of us will be going round and round at the Tours of KC and Lawrence....watch for a newbie to multisport at the KC Women's Tri in August.

Oh yeah, our club is the host of the Kansas Track Championships on August 26th.....that's Grass Velo folks!

Here's Joe and Scott looking quite stylish before the start of Syllamo's Revenge.

Road and Mountain is in full swing. S&G and Localcycling.com Team riders are representing in plenty of local and regional events. Talk of Masters Nationals in Louisville by some.

Bike Week in the KC Metro has given face time on the Telly for several. We do community as well.

Our squads lead 'no-drop' rides (recovery for us, fun for the newbies) and epic style-no prisoners pain festivals (join us Wednesdays on our Hill Ride in Shawnee).

Find out more about our neck of the woods at : Localcycling.com

It's late April and the Midwest is host to many unique "Spring Classics". David Conrad and Dylan Broyle collected hardware at the Bazaar Road Race on the 18th. Teresa Jarzemkoski doubled up at the Woo Hoo Girlies Womens' Criterium and medaled in the Masters.

Teresa and Mark are back from a little jaunt over to Belgium to fly the S&G colors at the UCI World Masters Cyclocross Championships.

Both squads are amping up for road and mountain bike events around the region. Watch for a fresh roster for the Slimenundgrossen team and some new faces on the Localcycling.com team.

With our Belgian Friend.

Yeah, road is just around the corner, a new season, and some new faces AND if you're interested in either of our active and community involved teams (as a sponsor) give us a jingle. Contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Jeff, Mark, Mark, Teresa and Ty shared a few things this weekend. They all made the podium at Boss Cross. It was sloppy, snotty, muddy, cold and kooky, but  four of the five stayed as toasty as one could under those conditions wearing those nifty fleeced special cyclocross skin suits....sure, they have last year's sponsors, but we'll overlook that for the moment. But whether you're on the Slimen side or the Localcycling crew, I think you'll get a 5 popcorn bag review of that kit for those conditions. 

The S&G/Locals were also  well represented by Bryan, Craig, Joe, Larry and Matt.

The SlimenundGrossen team has been present at all the local cross races recently and putting in a very good showing.  Scott Dunsmuir of Springfield has taken the Masters field by storm, collecting 3 wins in the last 3 races.  Joe Houston is making his presence felt in the Cat4 races and getting some attention by riding the hill at Smithville.  Too bad nobody got him on video as he was behind the lens taking this video. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOgNlOgrIao

Dave Pitt is consistently out there mixing it up with the Masters and suffered a mechanical at the line this weekend, but toughed it out in the 1/2/3 race.  Mark Thomas is an ever present fixture in the Masters races as well keeping people in check.  Kyle Bush is steadily moving up in the 1/2/3 races finishing a season best in 4th on Sunday at Smithville.  The other team members have been out to the races a couple times, but with more racing in the upcoming weeks I'm sure they will make an appearance.  Check the Photo Gallery for more cyclocross action.

Yup, until February you'll see the colors of the two fisted Team Slimenundgrossen and Team Localcycling.com out playing in the fields. Some podium spots have already been nabbed, some Belgian and Belgian style ale consumed, and some mud hosed off the bikes. Diamond BlackFan, GP Heartland, Chris Cross, Capitol Cup and Boulevard Cup are history. Kyle has checked out the turf in Chicago. Upcoming? Series60CX, DeStad Van Kansas, State, National and World Championships. Watch for us.

The Diamond Black Fan Cyclocross Challenge kicked off the local cyclocross season in the KC area.  This race was also the first of the De Stad Cyclocross van Kansas series.  High temps and big fields filled the day at the Sar Ko Par park in Lenexa.  The Slimen race team showed up 5 strong to contest the Cat 4, Cat 3/4, Masters 35+, and the Elite races.  2 podium spots were had in the Masters race by Scott and Kyle in 2nd and 3rd.  Strong performances in the other races were displayed by the other Slimen boys. 

The season continues this upcoming weekend at a new venue in Topeka at the Heartland Park dirt track on Saturday night!  That's right another night race at a cool venue so get out there and cheer em on.  The HPT race starts another series of CX in the KC area that will culminate in early January.  The Series 60 CX series hosts races within a 60 mile radius of the city center at new and familiar race venues.  Sunday brings the second race of the De Stad series at the Chris Cross CX race at Clinton Lake in Lawrence.