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RACE ALERT! July 3rd, 2009
The Twilight Bike Race for youth and adults is back for the 8th year in a row. The super smooth paved course is one of the smoothest criterium courses around with 3 corners on the .5 mile course on the Haskell Indian Nations University Campus. Races start at 7 pm and finish up around 9:30 pm under the street lights. All three race category’s race three times per night and race distance vary from 3 miles to 10 miles per race. Racers will experience races like the miss-n-out, win-n-out, scratch race, and points races. These races are modeled after track racing and put a premium on bike handling ability, aggressiveness, and of course sprint power. Not a sprinter? No worries, with a little creative thinking plenty of ways to get off the front as well. A slight incline on the course allows the non-sprinters plenty of opportunity to jump away.
Bring the kids and family and hang out on the hill as the action unfolds, many new racers have honed their criterium skills on the Twilight Course. An added bonus is that it has never rained during a race in seven years! The free kid’s race is for kids 1 year old up to 14 years old, just be sure to have a helmet and a bicycle or trike. Everyone is a winner and receives a first place award and recognition of their hard work.
More info and race flyer to post next week and races will start later in July. Here's a few media posts from the years and photos.
http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2004/aug/06/kids_of_the/
http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2003/jun/06/series_gaining_speed/
http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2002/aug/04/outspoken_for_kids/
Doyle Excels at Prologue
 This past weekend’s Prologue drew a strong crowd of local and regional racers. The Spring Fling 2.5 KM Prologue is short but at a perfect distance to maximize rider suffering. Only two riders dropped into the 3:30 range. Jeffrey Livery (SKC) with a 3:39 and the big man David Doyle (Sante Fe Trail Bike & Coffee Shop) at 3:35 which are great times for Cat 3’s, except that David and Jeffrey are Cat 4’s. The ability to blitz a short time trial doesn’t always translate to mass start racing success but David is known for his last lap trademark hail Mary attack which resulted in his 3rd place over all finish at the March 7th Spring Fling. Revolution Racing remembers David from racing the fling a few years ago and he’s back. We asked him a few questions about his interest in racing and his background
Your birth place? I was born at West Point, NY. My dad was a professor at the Military Academy at the time.
Your occupation? I am an active duty Infantry officer serving in the Army assigned to the School of Advanced Military Studies at Fort Leavenworth, KS.
Your favorite quote? My favorite quote is from the Bible – “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be required.” (Luke 12:48b)
Why do you race? I race because it gives me a chance to stay involved in a competitive activity, helps me focus my training, and enjoy the excitement. Cycling is an amazingly complex sport and yet it springs from such a simple activity – riding a bike!
What tips can you give a new racer? I wouldn’t have too much to offer a new racer except to ride with people stronger than you are, ask lots of questions, and get a training plan. Don’t flail around on your own, plenty of people want to help. That’s what’s worked for me.
What are your long term athletic goals? My goal this year is to train up for and hammer at the Kansas State TT. It would also be cool to see Santa Fe Trails Cycling Team rack up points in lots of categories at several events. We have a lot of brand new racers with lots of potential.
What do you like best about rev racing events? The Revolution Racing events support all levels of cyclists. I remember showing up as a brand new cyclist in 2004 and 2005 and finding a less intimidating environment than I had expected. The Revolution Racing events balance fun and solid competition. The web site is impressive as well, with great competition tips, incredible photos, and a terrific format.
Saturday VeloTek GP Race Update
I promised GC results at 9pm but that was before Mother Nature gave us another kick in the pants. After a spring full of snow impacted races… Mother nature laughed again. A strong thunderstorm with potential for a tornado moved from Clinton Lake through Lawrence after the race Saturday afternoon. Your promoter rolled out of Campground #1 with tornado siren blaring but none sighted, Race Judge and computer whiz Margareta De Vries huddled in her basement to ride out the storm. We dodged the bullet and it didn’t rain during the races today. Ahhh. Spring racing in Kansas, never dull. With strong winds predicted for Sunday’s Lake Perry road course the race is bound to be challenging.
The Prologue went off without a hitch with some surprisingly fast times considering the 10 to 15 mph south/southwest wind. We were pleased to see a strong 160+ race turn out with 55 Cat 4’s and 47 Cat 3’s racing and 18 women in the women’s field. With 14 ties in the 3’s and 4’s which were settled with the 100’s of s second and one true tie in one category delayed results posting a bit. If you haven’t noticed time based stage races are labor intensive and unfortunately a rarity in most races. Omninums are easier to score and more people can attend. But could you imagine the Tour De France being a points based omnium?
Crit racing was fast but not as hard as the large fields delivered everyone to the finish line. Sprinting Ace’s Jay Hawkins (Specs), Brian Bradley (Bike Shack), John Cisco (GP VeloTek) and Beth McGilly (unattached) all sprint well. A fair amount of race GC shuffling accured and Sunday would no doubt offer more excitement.
Riders you must check in Sunday before the Road Race and you may protest your GC results before the Road Race.
  
PRELIMINARY Criterium Results
Men Cat 3
Men Cat 4
Men Cat 5
Women 3/4
Juniors 10-12
Juniors 13-14
Juniors 15-16
Youth
Pithy Tips For Your First Race
Here are the thoughts that flow from Jim, when you ask him how to get off to a good start at your first race.
- Focus on the tools of winning — if you focus on winning too much, you'll forget the basics.
- Pack your race bag the night before, and make sure you've got your helmet, shoes, license, and (oh yeah!) the bike.
- Eat a good breakfast, 3 hours before your crit.
- Leave early, in case you get lost or have a mechanical. Arrive 2 hours before your race start.
- Have a 200 calorie booster snack with an hour to go.
- Warm up one hour!
- 20 minutes of it should be hard and make you sweat!
- Bring a bunch of clothes to layer — the weather is always different!
- Bring your trainer.
- Stay positive.
- Bring water and 100 calories for your 45 minute race.
- Don't focus on negative goals! "My goal is not to crash or get dropped."
Duh, you get what you ask for! "My goal is to ride swiftly and effortless with a high level of skill." — positive affirmations worked for Lance, and they'll work for you. Lance was dreaming about wearing yellow during his chemotherapy, talk about positive thinking!
Before the gun goes off (race start):
- Don't use giant ski gloves, cuz you won't be able to shift.
- Pin your number on the right side, not THE right side, but the correct side, and not upside down!
- Start in your big chain ring with an easy gear in back.
- Start in the top 1/3 of the pack.
- Keep your head up.
- Don't use your brakes too much.
- Stay positive.
- Never quit.
- Oh, and did I mention to never quit? Even if you're dead last — the loser is the guy on the couch at home!
- Hammer until it hurts, and then hammer some more. Trust me, it may get easier and you will get faster. Well maybe not, you'll just hurt faster.
- Don't white knuckle the bars — keep a light grip and save your energy for turning the pedals.
- Stay even more positive, smile and have fun, and remember it is your choice to race.
- Smile and be thankful that you are healthy enough to feel that much discomfort, and even if you are dropped, keep hammering. Off the front or off the back, your body has no clue, only your mind does.
For every 10 dropped races you hammer to finish, you'll win 1 race off the front because of it. Want higher odds? Email me for professional coaching. Remember it takes 5 years to get good, 80% of racers quit in 3 to 5 years.
After the Race:
- Smile and be thankful.
- Talk to your teamates and have fun.
- Spin easy for 30 minute to lower lactate levels, spend 20 minutes stretching.
- Eat 400 calories of carbs and protein, First Endurance products rock!
- Change into your dry street clothes, wipe down with diaper wipes, get out of your clammy chamois, enjoy the rest of the day and help a cold and stressed out race promoter.
- Talk to a fellow athlete who isn't smiling. Tell 'em a bad day on the bike is better than a hole-n-one on the greens anyday.
- Eat a real meal within 2 to 3 hours of the finish.
- Make mental notes of what went well and what you want to change.
- Tell yourself that no matter how good or bad, it was YOUR choice to race and you loved every bloody minute of it.
Stay positive, focus and visualize on your best performance ever. You get what you go looking for... Remember it's your choice to race, and yeah, cycling just might be the hardest sport in the world. But it's your sport, and your choice.
-Jim Whittaker, www.velotekperformance.com
Bodyfuel Inc., our Official Nutrition Consulting Partner
 Revolution Racing is excited to present Bodyfuel Inc as our official Nutrition consulting partner. We value Bodyfuel’s support of the 14th annual Spring Fling and recognize the importance of quality sports nutrition. Sally Brown is big on growing local grass roots sports in the Kansas City area. Our coaching partner VeloTek Performance has this to say about Sally. “Sally is a high energy asset in your quest to optimize your cycling performance, I’ve always told my client’s that food is fuel and now we have a master tactician in increasing your cycling performance. They say knowledge is power and with Sally brown knowledge is power on your bike!” Jim Whittaker, Director of Athlete Performance, VeloTek Performance.
 Sally Berry Brown is the president of Bodyfuel Inc., a nutrition and wellness consultation service. She received her master’s degree in Human Development from the University of Kansas and is a registered / licensed dietitian certified in sports nutrition. She works with individual clients in private practice and with groups in community business and sport wellness programs. She is also an adjunct assistant professor at Johnson County Community College. She is a speaker and consultant for cyclists, runners, triathletes, swimmers, skaters, bikers and other athletes. She presently writes for Master Pieces Magazines and other local media sources and is a board member for the Body Balance Coalition. Much of her nutrition counseling is with sports, weight, wellness, diabetes, and disordered eating issues. Sally enjoys the sport of running, swimming, biking, and yoga for fun.
Brown utilizes a positive, wellness oriented, integrated (whole person), non-diet nutrition approach to counseling. Her goal is to provide simple obtainable nutrition solutions to improve body composition and performance without severe restriction or deprivation.
Background:
After years of working for other companies, Sally ventured into her own business in 2002. She decided to focus Bodyfuel, Inc on her passion - sports and wellness nutrition. Because of her enjoyment of fitness, she knew she could help others with her unique combination of counseling skills, exercise and nutritional education. Her nutrition focus is wellness-based on a non-diet healthy eating plan and good body composition for life. She wanted to prevent the restrictive unhealthy patterns of some nutritional information and show people that they can feel the difference and get back the control through nutrition. As a a long time runner, cyclist, and swimmer and new member of triathlete training, Sally knows the commitment and the energy necessary for this sport. She also is working towards a few cycling time trials to round out her ability.
As an educator, business owner, parent, and athlete, Sally understands the complexity of life and the difficulties to make time for taking care of self, working out and eating right. She also believes the need to make a plan for nutrition which is critical to feeling good, preventing injury and increasing athletic performance. It is important to simplify the nutrition message and make sense of the incredible amounts of information in this multi-million dollar industry. That is exactly what she tries to do … keep it simple but also put the effort into taking care of yourself through what you eat to “fuel your body for life.”
Fuel Your Body … For Life!
Sally Berry Brown M.A., R.D., C.S.S.D
www.ebodyfuel.com
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13-648-2568
14th Annual Spring Fling Series
 Click here for 2009 Spring Fling Flier
Criterium : Google
Maps | Google
Earth kmz | Garmin
TCX
As the historical opening road event of the Kansas and KC Metro area road schedule here’s our call to arms.
From the Spring Fling’s humble beginnings in 1994 when there was only 2 race categories. An A race and a B race where daily ridership was 20 to 30 total riders. In the early years with the dirth of quality officials Jim Whittaker was the MC, Chief Official, Judge, Scorer, Promoter, Racer, and Coach. Besides producing a few gray hairs from doing too much work it was a blast. The Spring Fling Crit Series race exploded in 2003 and surged to over 100 racers per event and now floats around 150 participants. The 14th Annual spring fling is one of the longest running crit series in America and the longest in the Midwest. The fling was the brain child of coach, racer, promoter, entrepreneur Jim Whittaker. Much like Jim’s athleticism he may not be the fastest but he will be out there no matter what. Jim started the Spring Fling because he was tired of driving out of state to find races, in the early 1990’s the KC Metro area race scene was underdeveloped.
Over the years the Spring Fling has made a sizable contribution to the Clinton Lake Handicap Access Fund which builds trail access for everyone. The Fling as we call it also offers free junior racing in the junior class, and free Super B (youth) racing where everyone wins and no one is scored. We were also one of the first races to focus on Beginner and Intermediate level women’s cycling. Last year the largest Women’s cat 4 race included 15+ women which is fantastic. Revolution Racing is proud to help grow the sport.
The Spring Fling continues to evolve, grow, and mature. One of the big changes for the 2009 version is the addition of an Open Masters 40+ race category and the temporary retirement of the Cat 1/2/3 race. As the KC metro area ridership continues to age many riders are over age 40 and race masters exclusively. As the younger cat ½’s have changed priorities or raced out side this area for new challenges those race fields have become smaller. In the 2008 spring fling there were an average of three Cat 1 and Cat 2 racers that participated at each event. Combining higher category races drastically change the race and outcome for the lower category racers. We look forward to bringing the cat 1/2/3 race back in the future.
I challenge the KC Metro area cycling community to develop more Cat 1 and Cat 2 riders. How do you improve the elite side of a sport? By focusing on the base of the pyramid that supports us all. More Juniors, more women, more families, more mentors, more free loaner bikes, and more experienced riders giving up a Saturday afternoon to work with new riders. In fact the health of any sport is directly proportional to the number of youth and families involved. Look at swimming, soccer, football, little league baseball, need I say more? Big Prizes lists and Pro races all excite our imagination and allow the journeyman Cat 1 and Cat 2 a chance to “live the dream” but it’s the weekend warrior events that are safe and run with a development focus that drive everything. Because cycling is so competitive with arbitrary categories it tends to divide us instead of unite us. Everyone starts as a beginner but only 1 out of a 100 Category 5 (beginner) cyclists will be a Category 1 (elite), heck cycling is so hard only a handful will be racing 5 years later… But that’s why you love to race but not everyone shares that view.
Furthermore Revolution Racing challenges every rider to befriend, mentor, coach, annoy, someone onto the bike, then their local group ride, and maybe even a free race at a Revolution Racing event. The spring fling is a fun, safe, and well run event that is beginner friendly. We clap for everyone off the front or off the back. As a professional coach I remind riders that last place is at home on the couch. I challenge an experienced racer to drop off the back of a local group ride to welcome the new rider who just fell off the pace. Put your contact info on a card and slip into their jersey pocket and tell them to contact you for a ride. Revolution Racing needs YOU to grow the sport ONE rider at a time.
Revolution Racing is proud to grow the sport one rider at a time since 1994. We honor our customers, cycling teams, community partners, and the countless volunteers that have made the Spring Fling such a special event. And of course thank you Clinton Lake State Park for being the epicenter of Spring Kansas and KC Metro area racing. A special shout out to our locally owned Bike Shops that are usually the first contact with the cycling world by a true beginner. Buy local = Race local.
See ya at the Fling.
Jim Whittaker,
Owner Revolution Racing, LLC
Spring Fling Race Director
913.269.VELO
Click here for 2009 Spring Fling Flier
Presenting a New Sponsor of our Women's Race, Chrysalis Therapy
  Chrysalis LLC psychotherapy and counseling services to support Spring Fling Crit Series. Chrysalis is the 2009 Spring Fling Crit Series presenting sponsor of women's cycling events. Chrysalis offers many psychotherapy services for adults and adolescents; individuals, couples and families. http://chrysalistherapy.org/
2009
Velotek Grand Prix Stage Race - Course Preview
The
Velotek Grand Prix will be returning for it's 6th annual running this
April 25th and 26th, 2009. The race flyer and complete
technical guide are still in the works but just to get you looking
forward to the race here is a preview of the courses.
The technical guide will contain these maps as well. New this year you
will find complete altitude profiles in the pdf map versions of the courses. Also, Google
Maps and Google Earth versions as well as Garmin TCX versions of the courses are provided.
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