5/12-14 Collegiate National Championships Lawrence, KS
Sakonnet riders shone with no less than five podium placings in last weekends Collegiate Nationals in Lawrence, Kansas. The boys proved that the team has one of the best young squads in the country!
To kick things off on Friday Johnny Hayes and Chris Kuhl became Division 1 Team Time Trial Collegiate National Champions as members of the Ft. Lewis College squad. The Sky Hawk team made up of 4 riders crushed the second place team, University of Colorado, by 38 seconds and defended its 2005 win by clocking a winning time of 33 minutes, 4.2 seconds. Johnny was quoted on USA Cycling’s website as saying “I think we didn’t want to start to fast and kill our legs, so we didn’t just throw it out and go from the gun. We started easy, but then you’ve got a lot of headwind through the rest of the course and we just ramped it up through there.”
The next day in the Division 1 Road Race another Sakonnet rider stepped up to the plate. This time it was Jonathan Swain (Marian College) who took 2nd Place out of 169 starters. According to Jon there was a break up the road for most of the day and it contained SKNT teammate Johnny in it. Jon bridged across with a few others and the break ballooned to 12 men. “On the last lap the break split and split again due to the constant attacking and I found myself with 2 other guys going to the line. One of them wasn’t working and looked like a spent force. Apparently he was sandbagging and while I was marking the other rider he attacked at the right moment. He stole the win and I beat the other guy at the line” said Swain. Johnny held off the field and finished a strong 10th place after being up the road all day.
The last event of the weekend was the Criterium and two more Sakonnet riders took the opportunity to steal the limelight. This time it was David Wiswell (Columbia University) and Chris Ruhl (Penn State University). According to David it was a fast race with lots of attacking but in the end it came down to a field sprint. “I was in great position but then I locked bars with a rider from Wisconsin with two corners to go, somehow I got out of that one without crashing and then I sprinted from about 19th back up to close to 8th before the last corner and then into 4th Place by the line” said Wiswell. David says he never saw Sakonnet teammate Chris Ruhl in the finish but Ruhl was close by and finished right behind David for 5th Place.
To round out the weekend Johnny Hayes was in 13th Place and Jon Swain was on the podium in 5th Place in the Individual Omnium Overall for the event!
Congratulations to all the boys. Pictures to follow soon.
5/13 Sterling Road Race 35+ Sterling, MA
Sakonnet assistant manager Stephan Badger went “Back to the Future” by winning the Sterling RR in the 35+ category ten years after winning the same event in the category 3’s. Badger had a regal day, attacking and attacking again until he established a break away that he liked. Going to the line they had just 20 seconds on the field but Badger’s sprint wasn’t to be denied and he the took the “W”. Note, Steve’s Dad was there to watch his boy.
5/14 Bear Mountain Classic Harriman State Park, NY
New Sakonnet rider Mike Margarite continued his strong riding in yesterdays CRCA promoted BMC a Hors Category event in the Northeast. Joined by U25 teammate Alex Ferrero the two SKNT riders faced some stiff competition. Despite “having the worst legs ever” according to Mike he still managed a very nice top 20 by taking 19th Place. Alex who’s just coming back from a tough spring after contracting mono finished the race in 41st Place. Mike’s placing was a sign of things to come and also garnered the team Club bragging rights for having the highest placed CRCA rider in the event two years running.
4/15 Battenkill-Roubaix 35+ RR Salem, NY
Sakonnet managers Moutsopoulos and Badger lined up for this super fun road race in up state New York. The course features one big 60-mile lap with over 12 miles of offroad sections and short steep climbs. The locals weren’t talking and the big climb of the day was expected to be 20 miles in but in fact it was just 8 miles into the race. Moutsopoulos was unceremoniously dropped on the climb but fought back to the first group and immediately attacked a-la Vladimir Gusev (Discovery Channel) in the real Paris-Roubaix. He solo’d by himself for close to 10 miles before reinforcements arrived. At mile 35 his day was done and his lack of fitness caught up with him. No matter as Badger was saving his legs in the field and broke away for a great 3rd Place.
5/15 Bicycling Magazine July Issue World Wide
West coast assistant manager/part time model/part time actor/all around good guy with two first names, Bob/Bruce Weyman graces the cover of July’s Bicycling Magazine. No air brushing needed!
For more information visit: www.skntcycling.com
