Sunday, we had several racers race the Epic Cycle Cross in Kansas City. Mark Ramsden placed seventh in the 40+, Carl Fischer placed thirteenth in the 50+, Gene Lamb was 9th in the men’s category 4s, and Alex Ardussi was third in the men’s category 5s.

Saturday afternoon we drove to Heartland Park in Topeka for the Heartland Park Grand Prix Cyclo Cross Race. This race is an annual event put on by Jeff Unruh from the Sunflower State Games. This is truly a unique event. A bicycle race at an auto race track. The track is not cement, but dirt The entire route was illuminated for a night time race. The course was fast, but challenging. Riders rode the track, to the infield. Multiple turns in the infield were followed back to the track and around the perimeter of the stands. One run up was so extreme many of the racers were forced to walk it. The course included two sets of stairs the riders had to dismount and run. It also included a set of barriers. This was a carnival atmosphere. Francis Sheehan raced juniors placing 4th. Brendan Sheehan raced masters 40+ taking 18th. Gene Lamb raced men’s category 4 placing 19th. Great job by all who raced. The next race we will go to is in two weeks Lost Trail Cross in Louisburg, Kansas.

Saturday was another beautiful fall day. Temperatures were cool when we left Leavenworth, but warmed up quickly. Boss Cross was located in Waldron, Missouri. Just across the river. The course was located on the bluffs just east of the Waldron Road. It was an amazing course. Filled with climbs, descents, difficult corners, a sand pit and a barrier section.

Santa Fe Trails had a great turn …out! Alex Ardussi, Brent Irish and Mike Miller turned out for their first cross races. These gentlemen rode well on a very difficult course. In fact, there was a crash in the first 300 meters of the race. Mike remarked that he was happy to start in the back and avoid the crash! They rode the men’s category 4/5 race. Alex was 18th, Brent 21st, and Mike Miller was 27th. Great job by these new cross racers.

In the master’s 40+ Mark Ramsden rode his new Specialized Crux Elite Evo Rival Disc. This bike is full carbon with hydraulic disc brakes. Mark’s bike has a gear configuration for gravel road racing. I offered Mark an opportunity to start in front of me, however, he declined. It wasn’t long before he passed me on the course though. Mark finished very well in a field of category 2 and 3 racers, he took 5th place. I finished 9th.

Wow! Beautiful day on Saturday for a Time Trial! We had 12 racers. The course was flat. 10 KM long - out and back. Roger Harrison was at the turn around.

It was a little chilly at the start, but it warmed up quickly. Winds were out of the north. Great job by all who raced!

The Men’s Category 4s were the first to start.

2nd Mark Ramsden 14:38
3rd Carl Fischer 14:40
7th Brendan Sheehan 15:28

Next was the Men’s Category 5s

5th Joshua Mendoza 15:52
13th Gene Lamb 17:49
16th John Schmidtke 19:07
17th Mike Miller 19:17

Next was the Women’s Category 4s

6. Amanda Muller 19:05
7. Amber Schmidtke 20:40

Master’s 40 +
3. Mark Ramsden 14:43
4. Brendan Sheehan 15:22

Master’s 50 +
4. Carl Fischer 14:57

Juniors were last
Boys

5. John Finnigan 20:18
6. Francis Sheehan 24:16

Girls

1. Elizabeth Finnigan 28:00

Wow! Leavenworth had a terrific weekend of cycling! Over 250 riders participated in the Buffalo century and criterium this weekend. The weather was beautiful!

Leavenworth Bicycle Club did a great job on the Buffalo Bill Century. With over 170 riders, all accounted for after the ride completion. Excellent course marking and superlative SAGs. Great job especially by Paula Cole in the complete organization of this event. Paula planned from the beginning and stayed until the end of the ride to account for every rider. Special thanks to the Leavenworth Triathlon Club, the Leavenworth County Humane Society, Pioneer Animal Hospital, State Farm Ally Zeck, Sis Sweets, Cafe Chillingo for their terrific SAG support!

Santa Fe Trails Bicycle Racing Team put on the Buffalo Bill Criterium on Sunday. Over 80 riders raced on Sunday. Again, big thanks to Paula Cole. Amazing coordination with the City of Leavenworth, Leavenworth Police Department, USA Cycling, KCA Cycling, Leavenworth Parks and Recreation, and many more. Paula made it all happen. Registration was superb thanks to Barb Sheehan our veteran registration person. I cannot say enough about our TERRIFIC volunteers. BIG thanks to Bob Garvin and the Leavenworth Triathlon Club. Thanks to the Leavenworth Bicycle Club. Thanks to all our racers who took time out of their schedule to step forward and take a road guard position. You folks were awesome! Our volunteers shut down 11 city blocks in 30 minutes flat. That includes “gently encouraging” drivers of parked cars to leave the course. Thanks to Roger Harrison for his excellent work with signage, music and course set up. Riders remarked over and over about how nice the course was; great job folks! Thanks to Kirstin Carl for running everything around the course. Kirstin used our new TREK Transport to carry sandwiches, bottled water, ice, race reports, start sheets, etc. Thanks to Leavenworth Street Department and Leavenworth Parks and Recreation for their great support as well. Thanks to Joel Hadfield of Edward Jones for his support.

Our team did well in the races. Carl Fischer placed 5th (in the money) in the Masters 50+. That’s a day after he rode 111 miles! Abby Olsen placed first and Elizabeth Finnegan placed second in the junior females. John Finnegan placed second in the junior males. Mark Ramsden did a terrific job in the men’s category 4 - 8th place in a super fast field. Alex Ardussi also raced the category 4s finishing 12th. In the men’s category 5s Mark Barnes finished 11th and Daniel Sheehan finished 12th. Collin Guy finished 16th in the men’s category 5s in his first criterium ever!

Our next race is this Saturday - Manion’s Cross in Kansas City Kansas.

Race Results

Paul Bolduan races at the Cathedral Criterium!

Last night, July 25th was our final Late Night Under the Lights Bicycle Race at the Warren Middle School in Leavenworth. It was great! We had 68 children race. We had 6 juniors and 12 adults. Superb turn out!

Racing started at 6:45 pm. A little late, but we had great numbers turning up to register so we waited. The children’s races went very well. We gave out medals for last night’s race and trophies for the summer series. It was very exciting. In the 11 - 12 year old category, we had a tie for first place. A call for run off was made. The two boys raced in the first race to determine who would take the first and second place trophies. It was very exciting. We estimated their sprinting speeds to be about 24 mph! All the kids rode well. You could see they were winded as they finished each race. Some children sprinted, some waved their hands, all were smiling. The temperatures were mild - only 80 degrees.

We learned a couple new things about junior racing last night. First a rider may not swerve into the path of a following rider. Racers can file a protest with the head official. If the protest is approved the rider committing the offense could be relegated to last place or disqualified from the race. Next, junior racers are required to conduct a “Roll Out” after each official USCF race. In a roll out, racers are required to place the bike in it’s largest possible gear. The official would then roll out the bike, If the crank arm does not complete one full revolution in 26 feet, the bike and rider are disqualified. No roll out was conducted last night; however they will be conducted in all our future events.

As the adult race started the sunlight was dropping low. For the first time, we were truly late night under the lights. It was an electric atmosphere. Riders were cruising the course at high speeds. The weather was cool. The high volume of the kid’s races was replaced by a quiet calm. The racers were able to hear the announcements as the cruised by the start finish line.

Huge thanks to Roger Harrison, Joe Porter, Paula Cole, Barb Sheehan, Julie Anderson, and Lynea Finnigan for their help in running the race. Thanks to our terrific sponsors: Leavenworth Bicycle Club, Leavenworth Parks and Recreation, Kramer and Associates Accounting, Pam Hall, Harbor Lights, Sis Sweets, Mr. Good Cents of Leavenworth, Lansing Pizza Hut, and Santa Fe Trails Bicycle Shop.

Photos by www.lanternerougekansas.com