Chris Stuart takes Gate City Grind!

story by Rob Van Kirk

What a weekend for bicycle racing! Discovery has a bad day--you don't think Lance didn't dress those guys down afterwards??? But, he's glad to be rid of yellow for now, and it adds some drama to the TdF.

Meanwhile, the biggest stateside race was in Bend, Oregon at the Cascade Classic. Salt Lake City native Jeff Louder (Navigators) took 3rd GC in the pro-1 event, and Pocatello native and ICE member Jeff Morgan took 3rd GC in the cat 2/3 race (in his first effort as a new cat 2), followed closely by ICE rider Sam Krieg in 11th.
BUT, the biggest event and highest darama of the weekend happened right here in Pocatello! If you weren't at Holt Arena on Saturday afternoon, you missed the greatest race in the history of the Gate City Grind if not in all of bicycle racing in Pocatello!

To set the stage: former ICE member and American Falls resident Adam Steinke (RMCC/Rhodes) took an early flyer in the cat. 3 road race and made it stick for 63 miles. Logan Race Club superstar David Hatch joined Adam's break, eventually pulling away for a solo win by more than 3 minutes. Adam continued on by himself and held off a hard charging field by two seconds to take 2nd place and the 10-second time bonus. Steinke went into the time trial with a 12 second lead on ICE favorite Chris Stuart, who finished the road race with pack time.

With a west wind kicking up ahead of a cold front Saturday evening, the time trial promised to be the pivotal stage in the race. Hatch failed to show for the time trial, leaving Adam as the GC leader. The 10 km TT featured a headwind on the way out and tailwind on the way back. When the dust settled, Stuart had the fastest Cat. 3 time with 13:40, and Adam was 2nd, 8 seconds back. So, Steinke held a 4 second lead over Stuart going into the final stage on Sunday.

In a twist of luck that ended up having a great effect on the eventual race outcome, RMCC/Rhodes team director Kelly Jones and ICE rider Chuck Collins, both competing in the masters 35+ class, ended up in the category 3 race, as officials decided to combine the very small masters class with the category 3 riders. Jones set out an agressive game plan to protect Adam's lead, and his Rhodes team had an advantage in numbers over the lean ICE squad of Stuart, Collins and Jason Montgomery.

Montgomery and Collins controlled the race early on, chasing down numerous attacks by Rhodes and other teams, and letting others burn up energy chasing the numerous cash and merchandise primes. Due to their efforts, there were no riders off the front when the bell rang for the 10-second time bonus prime. Despite having Steinke glued to his wheel almost the entire race, Stuart blasted away from the field to take the time bonus prime, turning the tables on Rhodes. Steinke now sat 6 seconds down instead of 4 seconds up. Assuming a pack finish, Steinke would now have to finish at least second and Stuart no better than two places behind for Adam to take the GC win, which would be decided one way or the other on the basis of the time bonuses offered mid-race and at the finish.

Down but not out, Rhodes appeared to have one last trick in the bag. After the primes were all given out, Montgomery had given all he had in the tank, and Collins was taking a breather at the back, Rhodes sent William Jessen Dear off the front with four laps to go. The field did not respond, and Dear's gap started to grow. As Dear approached the line with two laps to go, he had a 20-second lead. The prevailing sentiment among the officials and announcers on the stage was that Dear would stay out, giving Rhodes the stage victory and allowing the rest of the Rhodes team to sit in and set up Steinke for the sprint.

With Montgomery out of the race, the burden fell on Collins to defend Stuart's lead. With two laps to go, Collins returned to his familiar position on the front of the group for one last effort. In the subsequent lap and a half, Collins reduced Dear's lead to less than 10 seconds, while Steinke and Stuart positioned themselves next in line behind Collins. A group of three, including Steinke and Stuart, jumped with about a third of a lap remaining, and it was clear that they would battle for the top spot in the field sprint. What was less clear was whether they would catch Dear in the process. If Steinke caught Dear and won the sprint and Dear managed to stay ahead of Stuart, then Rhodes would get a 1-2 finish in the stage and Steinke would take the GC win.
The announcer was screaming and the crowd was on its feet as Stuart pulled ahead of Steinke in the final corner, but Dear still held a slight lead. Stuart took the fast outside line and powered into the finish straight, passing Dear with about 20 meters to go and taking both the stage and the GC win. Rhodes had to settle for Steinke's second in GC and Dear's third place stage finish.
The sports page headline today reads, "Grind crowns local 'hero'," and the accompanying story emphasizes ICE's teamwork in engineering Stu's victory. They quote me as having said "that's as good as it get," and I couldn't agree more.

Thanks to all of you for making this Gate City Grind the best ever, and thanks especially to those of you who volunteered:

Kristie Neeser (and friend Emma)
Chris Stuart's entire family
Lynda Montgomery
Tina and Greg Mladenka
The Cano family
Rebecca Satter
Chuck Collins
Russ Speirn
Steve Pew
Cary Krusoff
Justin Kline
Troy Smith
Luther Yost
Sarah Leeds
Sheryl Hill
Eric McMurtrey