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Here are the results for the Sedalia Historic District Criterium from August 23, 2008

Men’s Pro/Cat 1/2/3

1     Brian Jensen      Successful Living Pro
2     Jeremy Pych      Bicycle Shack
3     Ethan Froese     THF
4     Josh Johnson     Big Shark
5     Tracy Smith       Mesa Cycles
6     Zach Reed         Mercy Specialized
7     Jim Farasy          BMC
8     Nolan Froese     THF
9     John Thraser     Big Shark
10    David Hejduk     360 Racing
11    John Giles         Cycle City 
12    Tom Price          Lincoln Industries
13    Casey Saunder    DogFish
14    Todd Campbell    Epic Cycling
15    Cale McAninch    Boston Mountain Cyclists
16    Nick Coil             HRRC/Trek Stores
17    Ebby Norman       ProVelo
18    Andy Chocha       Mesa Cycles
19    Scott Stevens      Lincoln Industries
20    Douglas Davis       TOC/Gateway Cycling

Women’s Open

1    Jennifer Rhodes       Mercy Specialized
2    Molly Vetter-Smith    Mesa Cycles
3    Michelle Jensen       Mercy Specialized
4    Sharri Woiwood        Bicycle Shack
5    Emily Lightner          SKC
6    Sherri Hahn             SKC

Men’s Cat 3/4

1    Matt Pence                     Mesa Cycles
2    Garrick Valverde               Mesa Cycles
3    Eduardo Nieuwenhuyzen    Big Shark
4    Jay Hawkins                     RCRC
5    Jim Vandeven                   Get A Grip
6    Greg Payne                      GP VeloTek
7    Jerred Brackett               Boston Mountain Cyclists
8    Glen Dyson                      Bicycle Shack
9    Jan Bradford-Watts           Mesa Cycles
10    Mike Best                      TOC/Gateway Cycling
11    Bryan Ziegler                 Team Undiscovered
12    Sean McQueary              Mercy Specialized
13    Lyle Reynolds                 KCOI/Blvd
14    Kurtis Albrecht               Bicycle Shack
15    Thomas Hall                   Chamois Butter
16    Dennis Koscielski            DogFish
17    Brian Parks                    Team Undiscovered
18    Jeff Schroeder              Cycle City
19    Alex Edwards                 Mesa Cycles
20    Jonathon Schilling          Mesa Cycles

Junior’s Open

1     Zack Stein             IS Corp/Nova Cycle Sports
2     Matt Pence           Mesa Cycles
3     Luke Lininger         Bicycle Shack
4     Alex Edwards         Mesa Cycles
5     Dennis Nowak        Ozark Cycling Club
6     Kurt Tweedy          Ozark Cycling Club
7     Dillon Sapp             Mesa Cycles
8     Nathan Larson        Mesa Cycles
9     Mike Giboney         Mesa Cycles
10    Connor Estes         Ozark Cycling Club
11    Samuel Williams      Ozark Cycling Club
12    Aislin Reynolds       SKC
13    Joey Todd             Bicycle Shack
14    Erin Williams           Ozark Cycling Club
15    Hannah Reynolds    SKC
16    Joshua Heck          Bicycle Shack

Women’s Cat 4

1    Sherri Hahn        SKC
2    Emily Lightner     SKC
3    Darcey Rapp       KCOI/Blvd
4    Kat Mueller        KCOI/Blvd
5    Stacie Tindle      Mesa Cycles
6    Tanya Williams     Ozark Cycling Club
7    Hannah Wright    Buffalo River Cyclists
8    Nicole Long        —

Master’s 40-49

1    Phillip Todd          Bicycle Shack
2    Tracy Smith          Mesa Cycles
3    David Henderson    Columbia Bicycle Club
4    Douglas Davis         TOC/Gateway Cycling
5    Steve Songer         360 Racing
6    Alan Christanell      TOC/Gateway Cycling
7    Ebby Norman         ProVelo
8    Rich Bort              Blue Rivers

Master’s 50+

1    Evan Wykes           Big Shark
2    Barry Gaines         TOC/Gateway Cycling
3    Lonnie Kennedy    Mesa Cycles
4    Curt Evenson        Ozark Cycling Club
5    Michael Ludwig     Velo Force
6    Steve Hall             Team Mack
7    Tom Zoumaras       Big Shark

Men’s Cat 4/5

1    David Gray                 Big Shark
2    Jose Bugarin              DogFish
3    John Sieczkowski        GP VeloTek
4    Brett Coppage            SKC
5    Jeff Schroeder           Cycle City
6    Gregory Anderson       SKC
7    Jeff Kloha                   Ghisallo Racing
8    Kevin Garner               Velo Force
9    Craig Eaton                 Bicycle Shack
10    Darin Marlow             Big Shark
11    Jamie Galvan              SKC
12    Christopher Bognar    DogFish
13    Rick Krepps               Bicycle Shack
14    Richard Huddleston    Big Shark
15    Jeff Lively                  SKC
16    Josh Pruschen           Cycles Unlimited
17    Jacob Carter             Columbia Bicycle Club
18    David Romisch            GP VeloTek
19    Theodore Araneta      Big Shark
20    Benji Bockting           Columbia Bicycle Club

I know there are a lot of people out there that cycle everyday that maybe don’t race or are interested in racing but aren’t sure where to start.  Cycling has a lot of terms that aren’t found in common conversation and were never on any vocaulary test I had in school.

So in this post I’m going to explain what a criterium, often refered to as a “crit” is, and some of the other terms that you might here at such a race.

So what is a Criterium?

A criterim is a bicycle race that is held a short course.  The courses are typically less than 2 miles, sometimes a bit longer.  The races are often held on closed off city streets just like the Sedalia Historic District Criterium.

How far do you ride?

This is a common question that is just a bit miss guided.  See, criteriums are not set to a specific distance or number of laps.

In a criterium you race for a specific amount of time plus a set number of laps.  A typical Men’s Category 5 would be something like 30 minutes plus 5 laps.  That means that when the race starts the clock will start counting down.  When the clock hits zero the time board then starts counting laps.

So in our example, at the end of 30 minutes, the officials would change the time board to read 5 and they would announce to the riders as they go by that they have 5 laps remaining.  Then the next time by the board would read 4, then 3, and so on.  When the lap count gets to one lap to go, the officials will ring a bell as the riders come by.  This is the signal that it is the last lap.  Who ever crosses the finish line first the next time by, wins.

So how come you just don’t ride around slow until the lap count starts?

This is another common question I here.  Well, for starters, it wouldn’t be much fun.  The real reason you race hard the entire time though is that if you get lapped by the main field, the officials can pull you off the course and you don’t finish.  There can also be a lot of strategy involved.

In a Category 5 race there is usually little to no strategy but in a Category 1 race with experienced riders there will be people working together to get a breakaway and then there will be groups trying to catch the breakaway.  Its really somethinig to watch.

How fast do I have to be to win a Category 5 criterium race?

That’s really hard to say.  Criterium racing is not all about speed.  To be successful at a criterium race you have pretty good endurance but you also have to use your head. Not to mention that it will depend on the day, the weather, the course, etc.

There are a lot of quick accelerations and then the group will slow then they will accellerate again and slow back down.  If you get out front you will also have to work harder because you will be breaking the wind for everyone behind you.  If you are all the way in the back you will have to slow down a lot more than the leaders in every corner and then you will have to sprint to stay with the riders ahead of you. This is usually called the accordion effect.

Generally speaking the best place to be is in about 3rd to 10th position until the last few laps.  The idea is to stay with the leaders until the last straight to the finish and try to out sprint them.  Of course if you are a lot faster than the leaders you can try to breakout on your own and make them try to catch you.  It usually doesn’t work though.

What is a prime?

(pronounced like preem with a long e sound)

Well a prime is a lap prize.  During a criterium, to make things more exciting, there will be prizes award on random laps.  These prizes are usually cash like $20.00 or somethimes they are product prizes.

When the officials decided to give out a prime they will ring the bell and anounce to the riders that it is a prime lap.  Then the person that crosses the line first the next time by gets that prime.

This can create some really good racing.  Lots of sprinting and can really break up the back.  Some riders try to win as many of the primes as they can while others just hang out in the pack trying to save energy for the real finish.

What questions do you, the readers, have?

So nows your chance to ask anything you might want to know about criterium bicycle racing.  I’ll answer all questoins the best I can and I bet some of the other readers will be able to help as well.  Remember the only stupid question is the one you don’t ask.  Just leave your question in the comments.

There are only 22 days until the Sedalia Historic District Criterium and 23 days until the Otterville Road Race and these two evens simply couldn’t happen without our sponsors.  So this post is all about thanking them for supporting cycling.  So everyone should take a few minutes to go over to our sponsors web site and if they have a contact page, thank them for supporting cycling.  No obviously some of the sponsors are bike related so I guess you don’t have to thank them but you should check them out anyway.

If you want to race in one or both of the races head over to the race page here on BicycleFrenzy and you will find the pre-registration links.

I had several requests to post the full race results on the site and not just the finishers that were “in the money” so here are the extended results for both races. Please note that this is still not all of the finishers down to last place. I could only go as far as what the USCF Officials put on the score sheets.

• Sedalia Historic District Criterium Full Results
• Otterville Road Race Full Results

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