After much debate a few of us finally decided we could not pass up going to Iowa City to watch World Cup # 2 at Jingle Cross. Since we were going to be down there, might as well do a race right? So "Guys Weekend" commenced on Saturday morning with a quick stop at Chick Fil A. then we started the 3 hour journey from Madison to Wisconsin. Brian, Aidan and Brandon at the wheel. This was just really an excuse to get away for the weekend. Upon arriving at the Jingle Cross course on Saturday and surveying the course we knew it would be a thick muddy battle in some places. Really we were there to watch the World Champ and Compton race. The day was filled with yelling and cheering and ended with us back at our hotel. Our hotel also had a water park, so we may have stayed up late to ride the slides. Sunday morning we were up early. Got to the course and noted the changes from the previous day. Conditions were still muddy and there were some stretches that would only be running. It was that thick mud that if you got off the path into the mud there was no coming back. After our pre-ride we got Aidan ready for his Jr's race. 16-18. There were some fatalistically talented jrs racing that day. One just happens to be Aidan. He raced hard and ended up finishing 4th out the 15 in his group. It was a great finish for him. Brian and Brandon were up next with the Masters races. There were about 250 racers on course between Cat 4 & Cat 5 fields which were also split in 35+ and Under groups. Brandon's field went about a minute before Brian's. Brandon (writing) suffering with a twisted ankle from two days prior, really struggled in the long muddy running sections. They were slightly off camber and just not working with the ankle. On one of the downhill sections on the 2nd lap my front whee slipped out from me and sent me to the deck. Thankfully I was able to jump up and out of the way before more people piled into me. It was a very close call which we have on video below. :) Brian's race went on right behind all of this and he continued to push through the challenging conditions. Brian ended up 31st in his large Masters 5 group. Brandon sat back to 52nd in the Masters 4 35+ group. We then washed the bikes off, packed the car and headed quickly back to Madison. It was overall a great quick weekend trip. We saw some amazing racing on Saturday with the Women's and Men's pro fields that just were amazing. It was awesome to have a World Cup race just a few hours from home. Our racing was fun, tough, muddy but always worth it. Photos below of Aidan's race, since Brian and I were racing the other times. Video of Aiden's race and Brandon's races/crash. -Brandon. AMR Founder. Brandon's Crash video Aidan on the starting lap Aidan's Race Footage
Trek CXC is a highly anticipated race that many of us on the Angry Monkey Racing team look forward too. Liz made her cyclocross debut at Trek CXC last year, conquering the flyover every lap, and it was Corey’s 2nd race as he was quickly getting into the craze of cyclocross. Which now he is just on fire. Brandon, Derek, Corey, Chris, Jeff and many more spent hours working on the course weeks before the event. 2016 brought on new hope and expectations for all of us. This race was also the start of a few new cx careers as it was the first race for Nicole, Storm, and Brianne. For most of us it was the first race of the season. As the course began to take shape, it was showing a more technical and fast paced course than previous years. For Saturday’s race, Liz raced first in category 4. She started off strong and took the a strong up front placing. The women rode strong laps. “Pre-riding the course always helps learn many of the favorable lines as well as taking out any jitters you may have the day of the race and having done the flyover last year, I didn’t have to worry about trying to just make it over every lap, I knew I could and was able to focus on different parts of the race.” Said Liz and she slouched in the chair, enjoying some gummy worms after a tough race. Nicole had her first race ever in the Open single speed race and it was awesome to see her having fun racing. She also learned an important lesson of not doing a pre ride loop with Mike during the time that her race is about to start. Late start, but she still did great. Brandon and Casey raced together in the SS 4/5 and 35+ 4/5 group in different categories but at the same time. The big race for the team on Saturday was the 120 size field of the cat 4/5 mens race. Corey had a great showing in this large field-“It’s been nice to really be able to have a year under my belt and get a lot of the 1st year learning blocks over and out of the way. I have been able to practice more cyclocross specific skills that really helped with my placing this weekend and sets me up for a good year.”-Corey. The rest of the crew took spots throughout and we didn’t have anyone finish dead last!! It was more of fun for most of us as the large field made it difficult to move up in positioning. Our Jr’s Aidan and Nico placed on the podiums in their fields. Congrats to them. The day ended with Casey and Brandon racing in the Fat bike race at the end of the long day of events. Wasn’t much of a “race” for some but it was fun to do. Side note, Santa realized that racing fat bikes in the heat and in costume is not a great idea, also eating “cheese-its’ and drinking beer at the top of the run up, not a good idea. Sunday we were out there again. Smaller number of racers but still having a great time. We had 6 guys in the 4/5 group. Nicole and Brianne took the sweep 1-2 for the Single Speed Women’s Open, which if you are counting, was Nicoles 2nd race ever and Brianne’s first! The JR’s again rocked the course and Jeff moved up in his placing for the afternoon race. Brandon got 4th again for the SS 4/5 race. Overall though the weekend was fantastic. Such a great event put on by some awesome crew. Thanks to Trek for opening up their doors for a race in their back yard. Lots of photos here below from a number of awesome sources, B.D.Andrews Photograhy, Jeff Kennel Photography, and lots of iphones. Be sure to look at the photos on the Facebook.com/angrymonkeysracing page and follow us on Instagram & Twitter. @angrymonkeysracing and @teamangrymonkey Saturday Results Mens SS 4/5- Brandon 4th Mens Masters 35+ 4/5 – Casey 15th Women’s Cat 4- Liz 12th Women’s Single Speed Open – Nicole with the 1st Place WIN! Mens Cat 4/5 Race- Corey in 8th, Storm 40th, Seth 49th, Dustin 60th, Brandon 80th, Mike 81st, Casey 83rd, Derek 91st, Brian 94th. JR’s Men 11-12 – Domenico 3rd place finish!! JR’s Men 17-18- Aidan 2nd place finish Mens SS Open- Corey 26th Women’s Cat 3- Laura 26th Masters 35+ Open – Chris 35th Masters 45+ Open- Jeff 18th Fat Bike Open- Casey 7th, Santa (Brandon) 9th Sunday Mens 4/5 Single Speed- Brandon 4th Again Mens Master 35+ 4/5 - Casey 11th Masters 45+ Open- Jeff 15th Women’s Single Speed Open- Nicole 1st! Brianne 2nd!! Jr’s Mens 17-18- Aidan 3rd place Jr’s Mens 11-12 – Domenico 6th place Mens 4/5 Race- Corey moved up to 5th, Brandon 68th, Casey 73rd, Mike 76th, Brian 78th, and Derek 81st. On September 11, 2016, Nick and Brett raced in Lake Geneva for the Treadfest WORS Race. Super fun and fast course and the weather was perfect. Nick finished 8th in Citizen Clydesdale and Brett was 6th in 35-39 Citizen. This puts Brett in 3rd for the overall series in his category and Nick 2nd in his overall series for his category. Photos by XTR Photos- This past weekend we had a number of racers having fun in the rain in Milwaukee. Congrats on the start of a great CX season. #crossishere Results from the Cross-Shooshko Cyclocross in Milwaukee, WI on Sep 10, 2016:
Corey 4th in CX4 Jeff 4th in Masters 45+ 1/2/3 Nico 4th in JR 9-14 Seth 10th in CX5 Liz 13th in CX4 Women Chris 12th in Master 35+ 1/2/3 Casey 15th in Masters 35+ CX4/5 Next weekend we will be at the Trek CXC CUP!! Follow us on instagram and twitter. Photos from social media outlets and Karl Hendrikse. |
Archives
April 2019
|