The second installment of the Coldsprints series once again was a successful fundraiser for the Second Harvest Heartland food shelf with close to $500 being raised by racers and spectators who ventured to the Downtown Grumpy’s to watch an exciting night of racing. Organizers also made some slight improvements to the software to allow for a more streamlined event which allowed for even more racers to partake in the stationary roller racing. The eventual champions Maria Stewart (Velo Bella) and Ted Schmid (Loon State), were among the first time racers.
There seems to be a strange phenomenon in the bike racing community. No it’s not the unabashed smarminess, the haters, or fixed gear fever. Oh, this virus is more prevalent than deep dish carbon rims. It’s the prolific lying. The lying I’m talking about focuses on performance related lies. Sure, call it stretching the truth or avoiding full disclosure but it’s lying nonetheless.
Bike Throw has just learned from Kevin Schaeffer (Loon State), the newly elected president of the MCF, that the State Criterium Championship is moving its date to July 27th. This change means that the “championship weekend” experiment of the 2007 season was short lived after feedback from participants was to avoid having these two important dates on the same weekend.
2008 marks the 20th anniversary for the Loon State Cyclists Bicycle Racing Club. The team was formed by a couple young employees at BJ’s Bike and Ski in Brooklyn Park, MN. The founding members were Chris Smith, Mike Noer, and Al Lindberg.
After coming off a wildly successful first night of racing, the Coldsprints Roller Race series continues with its second night of competition at the downtown Grumpy’s this Friday, the 28th of December. Over 60 racers, including 18 women, took to the rollers to throw down a qualifying time that whittled the field down to the top 16 men and 8 women who battled head to head to crown the first ever ColdSprints Champions. In the end it was Linsey Hamilton and Jake Helmbrecht, both of Grumpy’s/LGR, that came out on top of the crowded field.
Due to the bitterly cold temps and snowy entry into the winter season many dedicated cyclists in these parts have already begun to relegate themselves to doing the bulk of their riding on the trainer. The training tips are being scoured for that one element missing from their training plans, the basement cycling station is being pulled together, the rollers are down, pro cycling DVDs and tapes are at the ready, and The Cyclist’s Training Bible is being studied. All in anticipation of the long, pathetic, arduous hours that will be spent training indoors until winter releases its hold.
Mike Lalla was onsite for BikeThrow.com at Cross Nationals in Kansas City to get up close and personal with two of Minnesota’s stars, Bjorn Selander and David Hackworthy.
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