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Druber Receives A Gift To Close The Season And The 2007 Druber Awards The Priority Health Classic is a new race that I was alerted to back in August by former team mate Derek Witte. Derek told me that Grand Rapids, MI would be hosting a large dollar crit on a cool down town course that included brick pavement. I was hooked at "large dollar" but when Derek mentioned the bricks, I was reeled in. Some good friends of mine who did time in Champaign, Tony and Joyce Roth now reside not too far from Grand Rapids in Kalamazoo, MI. I dropped an email to Tony to see if he knew anything about the race and he directed me to the race web site. We made plans to do the race, after which I would spend the night in the 'Zoo and possibly drink some Bells beer - which is brewed in Kalamazoo and is one of the finest micro brews in the nation. I'm a fan in particular of Bells Two Hearted Ale - a most excellent hoppy India Pale Ale. I pre-registered for the 40+ race and at the venue I filled out the waiver for the Pro 1,2 race. I had heard that Kirk Obee, Karl Menzie and Frank Pipp from Health Net showed to challenge the home town Priority Health Pro and Elite squads. The intention was to do the old guy race then hop in and see if I could ride the draft of the afore mentioned fast guys for 90 additional minutes and possibly make some money. The 40+ race was fast from the start as the Pope had his full contingent of team mates and several other strong riders sought to break the race apart. Added to the attacks were cash primes every other lap - one of which I was able to snag in a sprint believe it or not. Despite the high pace the race remained together as the bell rang for a prime with about 7 laps to go. I followed the sprinters toward the brick paved finish line, and as they crossed ahead of me I took a peek under my arm and saw a gap between me and the field. I decided it was a good time to make an attack as the two sprinters ahead of me sat up. By the time I finished the next lap I had about 20 seconds, and the announcer rang the bell for another prime. Knowing this would excite the field, I turned up the volume to stay ahead of the field. I took that prime solo and my lead built up to as much as a minute according to the guys drinking in the trendy bar on the inside of turn 3. Over the last two laps I started to really suffer but the sizable crowd of fans kept me motivated. I crossed the line with enough time to zip up and blow kisses to the crowd. It was a good final photo op for Delta Faucet as our out going sponsor (they've been super for the past 3 years). After a cool down lap, the announcer called me up along with the 2nd and 3rd place finishers (Dave Hietikko and Jim Bruce) for flowers and a podium shot. I received a cool trophy - a paving brick with a chain ring epoxied into it and an etched plexiglass plaque in the chain ring that reads "Priority Health Classic 40+ Champion". We were interviewed on the podium in front of the enthusiastic crowd. It was a first class event.
Wow. I'd always thought soliloquy of that sort was reserved for American Football coaches.
The
Druber Award for Time Trial Performance of the Year goes to
The Smart Guys You all may be asking yourselves how I can ignore Levi Leipheimer's epic ride in the Tour de France's final time trial or David Zabriske's second National Championship and tab The Smart Guys with TT performance of the year. I'll tell you...First some background…"The Smart Guys" is a think tank of engineers and rocket scientist who like to ride bikes, or more specifically do Time Trials. The event intrigues them because the TT allows for the use of esoteric mathematical equations involving symbols rather than simple numbers due to factors such as drag coefficient and rolling resistance coming into play. The Smart Guys collectively have developed theories through scientific research (daily bike rides are research or experiments not training) and this year they nominated one of their members to put the theories to test at the Masters National and World Time Trials. The Smart Guys representative finished just outside of the top 10 at Masters Nationals (45-49) and then went on to finish just outside of the top 20 at Masters Worlds in Austria. Why is this worthy of a coveted Druber Award? I'll tell you…The Smart Guys' performance has opened the door to being relatively competitive in grand stage TTs for riders that don't produce mega watts. Their cutting edge research and dedication to aerodynamic efficiency has produced usable data on drag reduction, rolling resistance and equipment choices that can almost compensate for a lack of natural power production. Their studies have just about leveled the playing field, allowing riders who produce at times over 2 watts/kg less than fast guys to nearly compete with riders genetically endowed with more cottage wattage and who use inferior aero positioning and equipment. I must warn the reader however, that the radical positioning developed by The Smart Guys may not be UCI and USCF legal in 2008 depending on how the new rules governing the positioning of aero extensions and fore arms is interpreted. So mimic this position at your own risk, unless you plan to race only local non-sanctioned events. In which case you are free to slice through the wind like a hot knife through butter to your heart's content. I must admit to being loath to publicly laud The Smart Guys however, because in doing so, there might be a fast guy or two who gains access to new information and makes some changes in positioning and equipment and the playing field won't be just about level any longer. Thankfully, not many people read The (Feed)Zone and especially fast guys, so the secrets will be well guarded. Smart Guys…Thanks for your efforts! Rumor has it that there are actually a couple of Fast Guys who are also Smart Guys - Frances, is that true? The Druber Award for Best New Race goes to The Priority Health Classic in Grand Rapids, MI. What a great course! The event was staged in down town Grand Rapids on a challenging but safe 6 corner 1.2 kilometer course with two stretches of brick pavement. Large dollars purses were given, abundant cash primes kept the racing interesting, the fields were strong and the spectators were many and enthusiastic. Organization by the promoters was second to none. This new event has the makings of a must do event. Even if I had completely flailed at this event I would have enjoyed the race. The Award for Best Re-Make goes to the Elgin Cycling Classic. Due to road construction in down town Elgin, the committee who promotes this race was forced to scramble and create a new course. They hit a home run with the new course. Anyone who did the 2007 Elgin Cycling Classic can attest to the fact that the new track tops the previously used down town course by a wide margin. Both challenging and much safer, the new course was able to accommodate the large fields that showed up to race while producing tough racing that favored strong well rounded riders. The Award for Best Road Race once again goes to Hillsboro-Roubaix. It just keeps getting better every year. What other early season low payout race in the middle of nowhere could attract the best Elite and trade team riders from Ohio to Kansas, Minnesota to Tennessee? Well done Rich Pierce! The Druber Award for Rider of the Year goes to Paul Martin - Texas Roadhouse. Pau has won races for many years as an elite amateur and professional. Paul being good is nothing new. However, during a 10 day span in July, Paul turned good into spectacular. Check this out…
The Druber Award for Masters Rider of the Year is extremely difficult to sort out. Of course you have Paul Martin for the reasons above, you have Thurlow who won both the road race and time trial for the eleventieth time at Masters Nationals, you have Steve Tilford who continues to be able to sprint at his advanced age; placed 4th at the Elite Crit and had several top 10's in the Pro 1,2 races at Superweek. However, with the exception of Master Nationals (which Tilford doesn't do) these guys still consider themselves to be Pro 1,2 and predominantly race at that level. So, sticking with riders who do the majority of their races with the old guys, you have Mike Hegney of PYOP who won the overall and several races at Superweek 30+ and the Downers Grove 30+; Chris Halverson who finished 5th at the 45-49 Masters Natz road race in PA and then won the 40+ Superweek overall for the 3rd straight year despite having a giant target on his back and very little team support; and then there is this year's winner (drum roll) my team mate Stone Pony who started the season with a win at Hillsboro and proceeded to either win or finish second in nearly every masters race he did. He won both the 40+ criterium and road race at IL Districts on successive days, won at Soulard, and then took a huge second place at the Elk Grove Village 30+ masters blast. Great Season Stone Pony! The Druber Award for Top Elite Amateur Team goes to Priority Health out of Grand Rapids, MI. When I did the Kensington Valley Stage race in May, I saw these guys put on a clinic. They dominated the state of Michigan and when they ventured out, the team did extremely well as evidenced by Steven Howard's huge win at the Tour of Elk Grove Cat 1,2 race. Well done fellas. The Druber Award for Good Sports goes to The sMACKs. I lampoon these guys nearly every chance I get and they generally take it all in good humor. The sMACKs are a large team with numbers across the board who genuinely like racing. In my opinion, there are just too many of them to race cohesively, because they all want to do their part, which is just fine. They get to race and their sheer numbers and lack of communication lead to silly tactical blunders which provides ample fodder for The (Feed)Zone. It's the circle of life. Here's to you sMACKs…Don't change a thing! Please, or I'm out of a job. The Award for Young Guy to Keep an Eye On goes to my protégé John Meyers. John has the tools (wattage and desire) to really be good. Remember that name. If he keeps working at this stuff, he's going to get noticed. The Award for Best Team to Race Against is a tie between the Papa John's Pizza delivery boys from Louisville, KY and the Zipp Factory workers out of Speedway, IN. The past two years I've gone against these guys (generally hopelessly out numbered) and they have waxed me but good. However, they're always gracious winners who while acknowledging their numerical advantage never gloat about the way they destroyed me in the race. Fellas, it's a pleasure to get my ass handed to me by the likes of you. With that, I've run out of awards. Not sure when the next foray into The Feed (Zone) will be made, but I appreciate all of the comments, compliments and rebuttals this year. Thanks! Druber
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