Stage 1: St. Paul Lowertown Criterium

(by Jennifer Reither, aka Jenn X)

Weather played a significant role at the St. Paul criterium tonight for the men and women’s races. Officials decided to shorten the women’s race from 40 laps to 30 laps, given the news that a significant “storm cell” was on its way. As the women lined up for call ups, the clouds open up and rain poured on the women making for a soggy start when the gun fired. Kristen Armstrong (Cervelo-Lifeforce) wasted no time immediately launching an attack and gaining 15 seconds on chase rider, Joanne Kiesanowski (Tibco) with a small pack including Brooke Miller (Tibco), Lauren Franges (Tibco) and Racheal Lloyd (Proman) about 45 seconds behind Armstrong. From a spectator's view, the race was complete chaos, as Armstrong lapped fields, riders were pulled and Kiesanowki was in no mans land, between chase groups. It was not until the race was finished when the crowd actually knew who was 2nd through 4th place. But the winner in the women’s race was clearly Kristen Armstrong whose strength and savvy this evening put her in the sprinter’s jersey, climber’s jersey and the leader’s jersey.

The men’s race started off with ominous skies and wet streets. Kirk O’Bee (HealthNet) made a great attack on lap two with Aaron Olsen (Bissell) glued to his wheel. The two riders gained a significant gap until Andrew Bajadali (Kelly Benefits) and Rory Sutherland (HealthNet) made a great bridge to O’Bee and Olsen. Unfortunately 20 laps into the race a significant crash caused the peloton to sit up and reevaluate the safety of the race. Officials called the race and the peloton agreed that tomorrow’s stage in Cannon Falls would be stage 1. Danny Van Haute (Director Sportif of Jelly Belly) suggested giving tonight’s stage money to the Children’s Hospital. The peloton and crowd cheered for the donation as the Children were the real winners tonight.

Final Recap Women St Paul Criterium

1st Kristen Armstrong Cervelo Lifeforce

2nd Joanne Kiesanowski Tibco

3rd Brook Miller Tibco



Final Recap Men’s race

No result, the stage is a wash. Stage 1 will be tomorrow in Cannon Falls.

Emile Abraham on the Fixed Gear Classic

(by Emile Abraham, Team Type 1)
2004 (Monex Pro Cycling Team): 2nd on Stage 4, Red Wing Road Race

After leaving Atlanta where the weather was 100 degrees and sunny it was nice to be racing in somewhat cooler weather. This was my first time racing on a wooden outdoor track and I absolutely loved it! Initially I thought my weekend would be a disaster as my bike did not arrive in Minneapolis just hours before I was schedule to race the first event. Luckily for me it was sent on the next flight from Atlanta which I received at 5:15pm and racing started at 6pm. A close call but very happy of the outcome…. There was a small reunion as I had not seen a few riders since the track World Cups and raced with Roberto Chiappa at my local West Indies vs the World cycling series in Trinidad and Tobago.

Not being a pure sprinter I was told I needed to start every event in order to be in the running for the omnium. This weekend was my first flying 200TT in many years and recorded 11.732 seconds which was a personal best for me. I had motivation from there on and told Chiappa to watch out! LOL

By the end of the night I was leading the omnium by a mere 2 points over Ben Barczewski and Reberto. Then it was off to the wrong side of the track for what was the icing on the cake for the weekend, a cook out with some really cool people who like to have a good time…. For me that’s right up my ally! I was able to go to bed well relaxed after a great evening of racing and liming (hanging out).

Day 2

Now I have made new friends and excited to compete again looking to defend my overall omnium placing. I knew all I needed was 11 points to secure my position in the omnium, with no stress the atmosphere was very relaxed…. By now I had fans in the crowed cheering for me and what more can an athlete ask for than people in the stands yelling their name? The answer…. More people yelling their name….haha

Winning the miss and out event would have most of the points I need to secure the omnium, but not having the position in the group where I would normally race the miss and out had me punching other riders tickets from the back bringing it down to a match sprint. The crowd cheering for me gave me that extra to pull of the win, now I need at least a fourth in the kerin. My legs were tired so I knew that a smart race would be a necessity and BAMM!!!! I pulled it off and was very happy. This surely made the fact that I was not riding Philly all good. The MN Fixed Gear Classic is probably the most fun I have had racing for the year.

Special thanks to everyone who made the race possible and went out off their way to ensure that the out of state riders were comfortable and had everything they needed. I would definitely come back….

Thanks for reading,
Emile Abraham

MN based Kelly Benefits' Jonny Sundt on crit racing

Good read on the Pezcyclingnews.com site. Jonny Sundt will be part of a full 8 man contingent representing Kelly Benefit Strategies/Medifast at the Nature Valley Grand Prix.

Keeping up with the competition

Can’t make it out to all the races of the Great River Energy Bike Festival?

Well don’t worry because we’ve got you covered with webcasts and live updates via twitter.

Webcast Schedule:
June 7 6:30 PM CST MN Fixed Gear Classic www.myfox9.com
June 8 1:00 PM CST MN Fixed Gear Classic www.nscsports.org/velo
June 13 6:45 PM CST Nature Valley Grand Prix www.myfox9.com
June 15 12:00 PM CST Nature Valley Grand Prix www.myfox9.com

Twitter:
https://twitter.com/grebikefestival

June Podcast and More

Don't forget to check out the new June Podcast over at our website and while you're there you can also listen to racer interviews from the KDOG Morning Show in Mankato, site of our Queen Stage.

The June podcast takes you inside the Nature Valley Grand Prix peloton with Jeff Corbett, former team director. Find out if there's a connection between the Nature Valley Grand Prix and the Giro d'Italia - in our trivia segment much more from Super Rookie and Company.

Emile Abraham on the Stillwater Criterium

(by Emile Abraham, Team Type 1)
2004 (Monex Pro Cycling Team): 2nd on Stage 4, Red Wing Road Race

Emile Abraham is one of Team Type 1’s top sprinters. He has competed in the Nature Valley Grand Prix several times, scoring a number of top 10 finishes – including runner-up on the inaugural edition of the 80-mile Red Wing Road race in 2004 (won by Dave McCook). His memories of the race, though, are overshadowed by a single stage: the Stillwater Criterium.

When someone asks me about the Nature Valley Grand Prix, I think of it as one of the great races on the circuit. It’s a hard race, but certainly not one that is out of my reach. The race has traditionally had some really good courses – with one exception. The last stage – the Stillwater Criterium – is just too hard for me.

If you are not familiar with the Stillwater Criterium, it is perennially the final stage of the race. And it is billed as one of the hardest criteriums in the country. For a guy like me, it’s not even a “criterium,” because it is certainly not a traditional four or six-corner race around streets that are as flat as a pancake.

Instead, the Stillwater Criterium features a long climb and an even longer false flat section just before a raging fast descent that dumps into an off-camber final corner. Then the climbing starts all over again. I’ll say this: The climb is steep, to the tune of 20+ percent grade.

So being a “traditional” sprinter, this race is a really hard circuit. I’ll be the first to tell you that it’s just a little bit much for me. Actually, it’s ridiculously hard. I don’t look forward to it, but at the same time, there’s a real sense of accomplishment when it’s over – regardless of whether you win or just finish.

Don’t take this as sour grapes, though. I love the Nature Valley Grand Prix. But when it comes to the last stage – I really don’t like. So if you want to see me smiling – or even winning in my specialty – head on over to the criterium in downtown Minneapolis. It’s got a great course (flat!), huge crowds and a tremendous atmosphere. I hope to see you there this year.

Armstrong vs. Aaron’s

(by Meredith Miller, Aaron's Cycling Team)

The 2008 cycling season has finally started to roll with the women’s peloton fighting it out at the Amgen Tour of California Women’s Criterium and the Sequoia Classic. The season has yet to shift into high gear as there are still quite a few gaps between race weekends, but it was clearly obvious at these last races that the women are ready to rock and roll.

For me personally, I am excited to be racing with a new team this year, the Aaron’s Women’s Pro Cycling Team. With a bigger, stronger team this year we expect to have much success on the road, as was evident when the team placed 4 out of 4 riders in the top 10 at Sequoia’s 40km individual time trial. We were elated to have done so well, especially after having saddled up on our brand-spanking new Specialized Transition TT bikes for the 1st time just the day before the TT. But, yet, there was one woman racing who almost made us want to pack up and go home. Not because this woman is a terrible person, just the opposite really, but because she is former World Time Trial Champion, Kristin Armstrong – a woman who is so remarkably powerful and dominating she stamps her name on any TT she enters like no one’s business. Clearly, when she beat 2nd place by roughly 4 minutes she’s on track for Beijing.

Now, why do I bring up Kristin’s name? It’s because she and I were teammates during the previous 2 years on Team Lipton, and now times have changed, I have to look at her as stiff competition, the “enemy”. In Sequoia, it was the first race in a long time that I had entered in which I was actually discouraged to see her name on the start list – “damn, why is SHE here?”. In years past, it was exciting to see her win race after race, TT after TT, but now it’s different because I have new teammates that I want to see win. Although Kristin will be racing primarily in Europe this year, she and her Euro team will still be around, particularly at the Nature Valley Grand Prix, a race that Kristin has dominated by riding away from the field at both the Mankato RR and the Stillwater Criterium sealing her overall victory in 2006 and 2007.

As a teammate I was thrilled to be part of these victories, but now I will be playing a largely different role, that of making sure it’s Aaron’s on the top of the podium. How will we contain this woman, a woman who has made the NVGP “her” race? Ah, well, those are the kind of secrets that I can’t share, but you can bet that Aaron’s will be playing every card we’ve got to keep Kristin under control.

Rock Racing coming to the NVGP

The always colorful Rock Racing squad is confirmed for the NVGP. Look for Rahsaan Bahati, David Clinger, Michael Creed, Kayle Leogrande and more to stir things up this year! They'll be joining some other new teams as well as established powerhouses. Stay tuned for more news !

Coming back to the NVGP

by Jeff Corbett
[Former Team Director, Health Net Pro Cycling Team]

Yeah, I’ve been to a few bike races in my days. How many? Probably well over 1000 in the last twenty years. But I’ve never been asked to write about why a certain event appeals to me, until now. As you can imagine after attending so many races I have found some that I enjoy and some that I would rather not remember. The Nature Valley Grand Prix is special to me. It is one of only a handful of races I can honestly say I will truly miss now that I am retired from racing and directing.

Why Nature Valley? What makes it so special? Well I would be lying if I didn’t admit that some of my affection for the event comes from my success there. You always tend to enjoy the events that your team does well at. And my teams have given me plenty to smile about having won the event overall in 2005 and 2006, as well as winning 12 of the last 26 stages over a five year run. But it isn’t the victories that keep me coming back every year; it’s the magical combination of good people, good courses, good competition, great fans, and relaxed atmosphere that mark any exceptional event.

When I say good people, I’m speaking of those involved with putting on and sponsoring the event. First on that list has to be Nature Valley and Great River Energy, without whom, I wouldn’t even be writing this right now. These companies have embraced the event not because it brings them a huge media impact or a ideal marketing platform for new products, but rather because they know that it’s events like this that make a place come alive. They know that these types of events help people build pride in their hometowns and enjoy it as more than a place to rest their heads or send their kids to school. These are important things, they’re the things that break the pattern of work and sleep that we all fall into. Much like concerts in the park or company softball, events like the Nature Valley Grand Prix help bring interesting and exciting activities to Minnesota cities both large and small. Maybe I shouldn’t be telling you all this… as a person who makes his living off cycling I should be saying that cycling is a marketing bargain and a great way to market your product and service and people love cycling. Well, all those are true but it doesn’t change the fact that most people who come out and watch a bike race in this country can’t name a single pro cyclist. So why do they come out?

Well I’ll tell you. They come for the entertainment. They come for the show. And the show is more than just the pro race, it’s all the ancillary events attached to a race. It’s the expo and the kids race, it’s the bands and the food, it’s the chance to yell and cheer for something even if you don’t understand it. The folks that sponsor the Nature Valley Grand Prix know this, and so do the folks who put on the event. That’s why they are a success.

There are many other ingredients that make the Nature Valley Grand Prix a success and I’ll be speaking about all of them in the months leading up to the 2008 edition. Stop back to read more about what makes this event a success and to hear some of my favorite tales from my years at the event. I may even be giving out a few tips on how to win the event and who to watch in this year’s edition.

[picture courtesy Pezcyclingnews]

Cole's Race

By Teresa Moriarty

The Nature Valley Grand Prix is a prestigious bike race that assists families in need at Children’s Hospital and Clinics. For the past nine years, The Nature Valley Grand Prix has been summoning professional racers from across the globe, while making a positive impact on those who are with Children’s Hospital and Clinics. In the year 2000 there was no wavering from this race’s influence.

Back in the 2000-2001 school year, I had another amazing group of sixth-graders that I had worked with as an elementary teacher. Each student was unique with their own talents, all eager to break away from their lower school years so that they could set new life goals, and use their tangible talents to achieve them. However, one of my students was given a different path, a far greater challenge than five days of hard bike racing in Minnesota. His was the race against time, a goal to have a longer life. This beloved student was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer.

Within two days of his diagnosis, Children’s Hospital in Saint Paul became his second home and classroom where lessons on life, health, and perseverance were administered by those who came to his bedside. But who was the real teacher? Cole was the educator, this eleven-year old sixth-grader. He taught others what it really means to push onward, to stay alive and fight cancer. This was Cole’s toughest race.

And where did his support come from? It came from his wonderful parents and younger brother. It also came from an amazing team of physicians, nurses, and from those who make things possible at Saint Paul’s Children‘s Hospital. The medical team tried so many new treatments for Cole, which we all know takes money, time, and dedicated people to understand about this disease. They never gave up on helping Cole to fight for his possible win.

As 2001 lead the way in our new millennium, that year gave me a new reason as to why I race in the Nature Valley Grand Prix. I race for Cole! You see, Cole will never be able to take his own bike outside again in the backyard where he made a BMX track course to have races against his brother and friends. Cole lost his race against cancer. So now, I race for Cole.

Thank you to all of the individuals who make the Nature Valley Grand Prix what it is: a prestigious bike race that assists families in need at Children’s Hospital and Clinics.

From my favorite stage in my final NVGP '05

by John Lieswyn

The following is excerpted from my Cyclingnews.com diaries and describes a stage in which I raced the day after losing yellow in a massive nighttime criterium crash. I thought I had just pulled some muscles but I was later to learn that I had actually broken my pelvis...

Epic!
Red Wing Road Race, 163km with six hilly finishing circuits 7km each. The course includes two dirt road sections, many rolling hills, strong winds and occasional rain.
EPIC! Now THIS is bike racing. Unfortunately for me, I spent most of the day groveling and hanging on. Receiving pain rather than dishing it out.
We began quite slowly today. Perhaps everyone had seen the wind on the drive in, or tired legs needed warming up. I was glad for it. Riding with a groin pull and touchy knee meant that I couldn't find a comfortable position on the saddle. Hard accelerations are out of the question. At 30km we're over the first KOM (I'm wearing the climber jersey but contesting it today isn't possible when I don't know if I can even finish the stage) and headed towards a right turn into a strong crosswind. Gord and I have got ourselves in position at the head of the field, while Tyler and Greg chance getting a flat to charge up the gravel shoulder. Jelly Belly is also ready for a jam session. Within twenty minutes we've broken the field into 8 echelons, with just a dozen in front. Milne, Baldwin (Navs), Menzies and a teammate (AB/E), Brice Jones, Matty Rice, Mariano, Dave McCook, Patey (Jelly Belly), Jonathan Page (Colavita) and four of us Health Net pb Maxxis guys. High powered split! We go out to 1:40 lead before Milne stops pulling. A Jelly Belly guy flats, they quit pulling… the JB is back on and Greg absolutely rivets us all over a small climb. McCook and Rice go OTB (out the back)…there's a lot of arguing and gapping off of each other between Navs and us…and we're losing our hard earned gap rapidly. A period of rain coincides with the second sprint. Milne pumps me again and widens his lead by another 3 seconds. Teams McGuire Realty and Webcor Builders are hard at work in the second group welding the race back together.
Over the dirt roads now, and Greg has hit the wall. He's bonking (out of fuel) and I'm close to it as well. The groups are constantly reshuffling…not much is said as we all focus on figuratively holding the wheel of the guy ahead. A Penn Cycles local team mountain biker ringer, whose name I have forgotten but deserves mention, absolutely drills it over a 1500m dirt section and singlehandedly brings the group I'm struggling to hold on to in contact with a split I'd missed.
For the middle hour of the race I wonder how much damage I'm doing to my body; it's screaming at me and I'm really unable to hold the wheel in front. I call into my radio for ibuprofen anti-inflammatories, and our soigneur Debbie crushes 400mg into a bottle for me. Hope this works. The bottle goes down with a nasty taste. That feed zone precedes the finishing circuits by just a few km… good! Gord has gone up the road with powerhouses Menzies and Pate. Now I really have a reason to "sit" (not assist in pulling at the front).
Onto the circuits and Milne is running out of guys to control the race. Attacks from Brian Jensen, Aaron Olsen (Colavita), and Jonathan Page (Colavita) blow the remaining Navigator workers off the front, and the men in red pull away from us quickly. Milne tries to recruit me to help, since Page will overtake my 2nd on GC before threatening Milne's yellow jersey. I suggest Milne try attacking as the best defense. And he does, in a perfectly timed, powerful surge. As the one who suggested it, I'm well placed to follow. Nobody else can or will respond, and we're clear! Milne closes half the thirty second lead to Page, and I finish it off. We've now got 5 riders clear and 3 laps of the residential circuit to go.
It's great to go from total suffering just to hold a wheel on flat ground to feeling like a factor again. The muscles are still all out of balance but I can now manage the pain and with each successive lap I'm closer to getting a bottle of liquids at the finish. All five of us are totally dry, and there is no feed zone on this circuit. Each time past the finish line I'm looking jealously at the bottles an illegal feeder is handing up to a competing team, but I'm not so bad off as to risk a penalty.
Last lap. In the break Pate has attacked and established a ten bike length lead over Menzies and a further couple lengths to Fraser. It was definitely possible that the three could have rejoined one another, but the issue was settled for Pate definitively as a car following a lapped group decides to stop right in front of the Jelly Belly powerhouse on a descent. Gord said Pate was fully sideways and unclipped from his pedal, executing a full emergency evasive maneuver. After that Pate tried unsuccessfully to go solo on the last hill. Game over, chalk up another race win for The Gord.
I'm not interested in the minor placings but with the strange timekeeping we're experiencing here I ride 90 percent in the sprint. Page has jumped us but doesn't get clear; Jensen comes around to take 4th on the stage. He's so excited that he pumps a fist in the air…it would be silly for a pro rider but I'm happy for Jensen. It's a big result for him!
Young Milne has done a great job containing me today. He's kept the leader's jersey on one of the most epic race days of the year. Tomorrow I have one more chance to take it back… I'm hoping my injuries heal up enough to get some real power down on one of my favorite tough-man criterium courses of the year. If Milne can stay with me, he truly deserves the overall win. Until tomorrow, then!