ICE Club New and Updates (email archive)

August 29, 2005

Seventeen ICE members traveled to Boise for the Idaho State road and
criterium championships over the weekend: Bob Marcinko, Russ Speirn, Bob
Walker, Mitch White, Ann Tottemeier, Terry Tottemeier, Cary Krusoff,
Justin Brady, Justin Rose, Jason Montgomery, Troy Smith, Karen Appleby,
Justin Kline, Rob Van Kirk, Jeff Morgan, Chris Stuart, and Sam Krieg.
I was great to see that sea of blue jerseys out there. Thanks to all of
you for coming out and representing Pocatello.

In Saturday's hot, hilly, grueling road race, Justin Rose took the state
champion's jersey with a commanding solo victory in the cat 4/5 race.
New Pocatello rider Justin Brady took the bronze medal, and Terry
Tottemeier finished 6th. Terry's wife, Ann, was 2nd in the women's 35+
race, and Karen Appleby finished 4th in the women's 1-2-3 race behind
some very strong riders, including Heather Albert and Crystal Howard.
Jason Montgomery took the silver medal in the category 3 race, narrowly
missing victory in a sprint finish. Our men's cat 1-2 team showed it
was a force to be reckoned with, as Jeff Morgam initiated the major
breakaway move of the day a mile into the race and rode over half the
race in this break with Subway pro rider Cameron Hoffman, who eventually
soloed away for the win. In the end, however, heat, hills, and a flat
tire took their toll, leaving Chris Stuart as the lone ICE rider in
contention by the end of the day. Chris rode a perfect race, ultimately
taking 5th place overall, and 4th among the amateur riders. Jeff
finished 7th, in the back of the lead group, Sam came in 9th a few
minutes later, and Rob straggled in by himself about 10 minutes later in
10th place out of 22 starters.

Sunday's criterium was a wild (and even HOTTER) affair, with numerous
breakaway groups, primes, and crashes on a fun and fast L-shaped course
in downtown Boise. After dominating most of the cat 4/5 race, Justin
Rose went down in a three-man pileup, but got back in the race to help
Terry Tottemeier, who rode a fantastic race in support of Justin during
the first half of the race and then made a great move at the end to put
himself in contention for the win. Terry had position on the field in
the last corner and led out the sprint, only to get swallowed up just
before the line. He held on for 5th, with Justin on his wheel for 6th.
Justin got his category 3 upgrade on the spot and later rode in the
category 3 race, spending much of the race in a three-man breakaway and
eventually finishing in the pack. Russ Speirn rode a great race in the
combined master men 55+, 65+ field, ultimately taking 4th in the 55+
class. Karen Appleby rode very well in the women's 1-2-3 race,
finishing 5th in a lead group of five that put several seconds on the
rest of the field in the last 300 meters!

In the men's 35+/45+ race, which was one of the largest fields of the
day, ICE had a contingent of five riders. Rob Van Kirk was very active
at the front, spending most of the first 15 minutes of the race in a
two-man break with former Pocatello resident Mike Gaertner, who now
lives in north Idaho. After this break was caught, George's rider Sean
O'Shea countered, and thanks to subsequent dawdling by the main field,
eventually built up a 40-second lead, which was beginning to look like
out-of-site-out-of-mind by the second half of the race. However, Rob
launched a hard attack, winning a prime in the process, and cutting
O'Shea's lead to 20 seconds in just two laps. Once in sight, the field,
led largely by Gaertner, caught O'Shea, setting up a field sprint, which
Gaertner himself won. Bob Walker was right up there in the mix, taking
3rd among the 45+ riders.
In the men's pro-1-2 race, which started at 3:45 p.m. in the heat of the
day, ICE again had five riders in the field, which was the largest of
the day. Justin Kline and Rob Van Kirk finished the masters race,
changed race numbers, grabbed a couple fresh bottles, and jumped right
back on the start line, as did a number of other masters riders,
including O'Shea and Gaertner. Of these riders racing back-to-back
events, only Van Kirk and O'Shea were still left in the field an hour
and 10 minutes later at the finish. The racing was fast and furious for
the entire race, made even more furious by a couple cars and jaywalking
pedestrians on the course, two crashes, and Sam's second flat tire in
two days. Sam got a wheel change and got back in the race after the
flat, which happened in a corner and forced Subway pro and Boise
resident Remi McMannus up on the sidewalk, where he dodged trees,
pedestrians and parking meters to rejoin the field a block later. All
of the riders who went down in the two separate crashes got back up and
rejoined the race. No serious injuries, fortunately. Sam rode a very
aggressive race, spending time in various breakaway groups off the
front. After his breakaway effort Saturday, Jeff had little to work
with in the criterium, but finished with the field in his first big
category 1-2 criterium. Rob had energy for only one move, which proved
to be the critical one in what had been a series of attempts to bring
back a large breakaway group midway through the race. The field had
gotten split into two nearly equal pieces, and Sam was the only ICE
rider in the front of the split. Rob's move helped bring the split back
together, after which all he could do was hang on the back as the toll
of two+ straight hours of criterium racing in 100-degree heat took their
toll.

By the end of the race, Subway pro Cameron Hoffman was safely off the
front for his second victory of the weekend, and the field sprint was
shaping up to determine the amateur state championship. Sam, Jeff and
Rob could only hang on the back at this point, leaving Chris Stuart to
go it alone up front. Stu again rode a perfect race and again took 4th
in the field sprint, for 4th among the amateurs and 5th overall. In
both races, Chris rode strategically perfectly, held position well, went
hard when it counted, and emerged from the weekend firmly among the
cream of the Idaho category 1-2 riders. Congratulations to Chris Stuart
on an outstanding weekend and a great season.

And, congratulations to all ICE riders for a great weekend.

--
Rob Van Kirk

July 11, 2005

Hey gang,

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

Rob Van Kirk