Reports Now at ABDreports.blogspot.com

May 18, 2008 – 2:40 pm
After a handful of bugs and sluggish responses with our current blog set-up we've moved the ABD News Blog to http://abdreports.blogspot.com . Being located back at the Google servers means quicker updating and better formatting for a variety of devices. (You can also pick up the RSS feed there) The ABD News Blog has  also moved to the Google servers at http://abdcycling.blogspot.com Sorry for any inconvenience. 

Prinner Report: Vernon Hills Grand Prix

May 10, 2008 – 1:16 pm
Hello Everybody, I was a little crestfallen to not be able to make it to the Baraboo Sharks RR on Saturday, so I instead turned my sights to the Vernon Hills Grand Prix on Sunday. Indeed, it was a grand race. 40 percent of the field consisted of just Alberto riders. Now, I know what you’re all thinking. "Gosh, that sure is an unfair advantage!", you might say. Well then, let’s rephrase the statement; there were two Alberto’s ladies. Yeah, you don’t even have to do the math. Anyway, the race started out tricky seeing as though the road was wall to wall with cyclists. Sue and I sat on the back of the pack, but we didn’t worry because we knew we had the super-awesome bike-handling skills and experience required to move up when we deemed necessary. A lady in blue (a.k.a 20 percent of the field) pulled us around for about ...

ABD/GEARGRINDER Report: USA Crit Series

April 30, 2008 – 3:42 pm
well we were in GA on thur-sat and are now in S.C. and haveing a great time racing with the PRO's...we finished 26th and 30th and 35th on Sat. and that was out of over 180 riders and only just over 40 finished and our coach was there and was really impressed with our job in the race...we averaged 31mph for just over two hr in the fastest crit in the world...u wouldn't understand on how cool it was to finish the race...you were like a god to all the fans...but on the other hand if you dropped out they had other things to say about or to you...the reporters mentioned in the newspaper that it was a crash fest witch a few i just missed by the turn of the wheel that looked like they may hurt a little...but there were a few that were to far back in ...

Keeley Report: Whitnall Park

April 30, 2008 – 3:41 pm
Jay Corgiat and I headed up to Milwaukee Saturday for the Whitnall Park for the hilly crit. It is a never-flat course that has you either going up or down with generally wide turns and a slight downhill finish that comes about 50 meters after the crest of a slight kicker of a hill. It is quite a nice little course. Jay raced the masters 4/5 race with about 10 mins of warm up (we left later than we wanted to head north and the 294 contruction/45 mph work zones greatly reduced our ability to make good time). Jay and Mike McCoy took to the line and raced well. Both were in the top 10 everytime they went by. I did not get a look at the final results of the race. ...

Keeley Reports: Hillsboro, SuperCrit & Great Dane #2

April 24, 2008 – 9:16 am
Hillsboro Report: Sorry for the delay, I have been struggling with whether to report on races where I do not perform as well as I should so as to avoid the incessant "woulda, shoulda, coulda," "this chump blocked my wheel" and other negative things that race through your mind as you look to pin your poor performance or lack of fitness on anyone on two wheels that was within a mile said race. So, instead I will happily report that ABD was represented well in the 3/4 race. Jason Addante, Ben DeMong, Chris Karsten, (new CAT 3 squad member and rockstar) Gabe Looker and self took to the line. Weather was nice, wind was not fierce, but would still be a factor. I ended up at the rear at the start and stayed there for the first lap. Bad idea, I paid heavily with several huge ...

Jim Lund Report: Sugar Grove TT

April 24, 2008 – 9:14 am
Yesiree. After getting only about 4 hours of sleep and waking late, I left my house and hooked up with Rob Kosman. Together we rode over to registration. I was hoping to do the loop once for additional warm up, but by the time I finished buying a USCF license, and crossed route 47 over to the start/finish line in the industrial park where the start/ finish was, it was just about time for me to go. I figured I could warm up a bit more for the first few miles of the TT since it was 30K. Heading out of the start finish, we faced North/West, into the wind, but quickly rounded left through the advertised "sweeping" 180 degree turn and heading South with a slight downhill ( and through some glass )toward the first right hand turn that takes you out of the industrial park and onto Westbound ...

Alumni Report: Sarah Tillotson from China

April 24, 2008 – 9:12 am
Ni Hao! (What's up in Chinese) Alright, so as many of you know I am visiting China right now with a bike team doing the Tour of Chongming Island. We have been in over here since Sunday staying in Hong Kong before flying into Shanghai. As with any new travel experience the first few days are such a sensory overload. From sun up to bedtime every minute of the day is full of new sights, sounds and tastes. The older you get (and I just turned another year older while being here) the more fun the foreign is. Just when you think you have the world all figured out try immersing yourself in a totally new culture to totally baffle you. Better yet, try traveling in intimate quarters with a bunch of total strangers while everyone deals with the challenges and delights of a foreign country. Trust ...

LaRue Report: Paris Roubaix Tour

April 16, 2008 – 12:34 pm
Hello, Nancy and I got back from Roubaix. Man what an experience. We rode the last 115k of the course. We left from the hotel in Valenciennes and rode 5 miles to the famous pavê section Arenberg forest. This is rated as a 5 star (the highest rating). It felt more like a 9.9 on the Richter scale. We then rode several other sections of Pavê until we reached section 5 which was about 8k of cobbles another section of 5 star. I got about halfway th rough and wanted to start crying. I had to look down at my arms because I thought they were on fire and ready to shake off. I know everyone thinks that they should go to the Tour de France but this was the neatest tour we have done. If you get a chance this would be worth doing. I would make it a week of classics starting ...

Gina Kenny Report: Hillsboro Roubaix

April 2, 2008 – 10:54 am
Wow. Not only has Jessi's riding improved, bringining her to "prominent name" status, her race reports have improved as well. Thanks for the entertaining read! = ) As for the Women's 4's race-- We actually had nearly 50 starters. Pretty unbelievable. Pretty soon into the race, there was a crash -- I heard some loose gravel but didn't see it. I just all of a sudden saw girls going down everywhere. I was far enough back that I was able to break before adding to the pile but was right smack in the middle of a row and couldn't get to either the left or right. I couldn't latch back on to the group. I passed some girls and worked with some others for most of the race. I'm still slow as heck on the hills but do seem to be improving -- even passing a few girls! = ) Dawn was able ...

Jessi Prinner Reports from Hillsboro-Roubaix

April 2, 2008 – 10:34 am
My trip down to Hillsboro indeed brought back many interesting memories. I could again envision myself age thirteen laying by the side of the road getting a back rub from my mother just 10 miles from the finish line, crying tears of pain as all the cat 4 women I had worked so hard to drop slowly passed me again. Another image, a year later, of a dark, dreary, freezing wet day shivering at the start line with 20 other juniors (I was the lone girl of course) and riding by myself for hour after hour after being popped from the pack.All these past memories of the hilly road race only left me in a quandary at what today’s fresh, new Hillsboro experience might bring.The day started at chilly low temperatures, and after circling the small loop in town twice I was forced to resort to jumping jacks as a ...