Chris Kerr Memorial Road Race Recap

Jordan and I headed to Cameron, WI Sunday for one of the fall classic road races. Normally, Shell Lake would precede Cameron on Saturday, but not this year. As a result, entries seemed a little light. However, there were plenty of fast guys there. Timmer was back after winning in 2005, but missing last years edition. Scott Flanders and Mike Johnson were present, both former winners themselves. Other notables included Pete Hanna, Mike Woell, and Gordy Paulson. The Silver Cycling and Spring Street Sports teams had good numbers, and were a strong presence during the race.

The pace was hot right from the start, with Silver, Spring Street, and Brones Bike Shop on the front. I tried to stay in the top 10, far enough up to stay out of trouble, and far enough back to respond to attacks and surges. The pace amped up for the first hill prime, and Hanna was able to distance himself from Woell to take the $50 prize. I attacked over the top of the hill to try and snap the rubber band on the back markers of our group. As we approached Dallas, Tone Coughlin and Adam Hanson were taking turns on the front, while I patiently sat in waiting for the attacks to come in the hills after Dallas.

On our way out of Dallas, a couple guys got a small gap. Gordy Paulson tried to bridge the gap, but the field closed the whole thing down as they turned into the tailwind. Scott Flanders and Mike Johnson were able to get away over the top of one of the rollers, and we were all left chasing. Those 2 can fly, so we couldn't mess around. Hanna and Timmer went hard up one of the risers, and separated themselves. I tried to follow their move, but couldn't quite match their speed. I knew it was one of those moments, so I just dug as deep as I could to get up to them. At this point, Mike and Scott were still a few hundred feet in front of us. It was Timmer, Hanna, Matt Muyers, and Me, with several others trying to get up to us. Timmer, Hanna, and Matt were working hard, but I had nothing at that point, and failed to pull through.

Scott nabbed the second $50 hill prime, as the gap narrowed to the leading 2. We were close, but others were bridging across to join us. Eventually, we caught Mike and Scott, mostly due to Timmer and Hanna's hard work. At this point, we noticed there was a small chase group not too far behind us, in fact a couple even made it across including Woell and Homme. Our pace started to lighten, so Scott called for us to keep the pressure on so we could distance ourselves for good. For the most part, everyone in our group of 9 took turns on the front. Some, including myself, sat out some of the rotations. Normally, I am willing to put everything into a break, but in this case, the odds were not in my favor. Timmer had Homme to protect him, Johnson had Bentzler, and Scott had Woell. I pulled through whenever I was in the rotation, but I stayed out of the rotation when I could.

As we rolled through the final "flat" miles, there were a few attacks, but everyone was ready. Then, as we turned north again into the final tailwind section, about 2 miles from the finish, Timmer was on the front, and gunned it through the corner. He opened a significant gap immediately, and no one reacted. Bentzler rode tempo on the front, but Timmer just pulled farther away. Finally, someone jumped and Timmer's gap stopped growing, but didn't shrink much, either. Johnson was clearly marking Hanna, and I was marking Johnson. I was in the red all the way to the finish. I'd follow an attack, it would relax, and then before I could recover, it would go again. In spite of this, Timmer was able to stay away for the win. Approaching the finish, just as Johnson had closed down another attack, Scott jumped and pulled away. I hesitated a little, then jumped around Johnson and the others. I just about got over Scott, but I waited just a second too long, and finished 3rd, with Johnson 4th.

What a great race. It was a perfect day, no crashes, and we averaged 27mph over the rolling 40 mile course. Jordan and Jake were the only 2 juniors < 14 who raced, with Jordan winning and Jake 2nd. Jordan was able to average 21mph riding the last few miles all by himself. Nice job buddy.

Official Results Posted.