On August 7th, the 2010 Iowa State Road Championships will be held in West Branch, Iowa. Pro 1/2 and Cat 3 participants will be racing 4 laps totalling 108 miles (175km). I nearly soiled my chamois back in 2008 when the Iowa City Cycling Club took over this event and introduced the 108 mile distance. A lot has changed for me since then, and I am much less intimidated by this event. So, here are my thoughts regarding this year's competition.
MERCY-SPECIALIZED (Iowa City Cycling Club)
Mercy-Specialized are a crazy strong team and will have ear-marked this race as one of their goal events. They will be prepared to battle accordingly. Last year they got two guys on the podium (Jeff Barnes and Dewey Dickey), and will be dreaming of similar results. They dominated last year's race getting 4 guys into the top ten. Adam Price, Brendan Kealey, Carson Christen, Matias Perret, Joe Hetrick, Ryan Nenninger, Brian Eppen... all guys who could contribute to the team's success. They are currently leading the Iowa Cup Team competition, followed by Bikes2You, and would be happy to extend their lead.
ZEALOUS RACING
This Des Moines area team is very deep in terms of talent and strength, not to mention a good tactical sense. With so many 'cards' to play, this is their race to lose, but I wouldn't count on that. Their main threats seem to be Lane Anderson (finished 5th last year) and Jared Osterloh (7th last year), with strong support from the likes of Jerome Rewerts, Ryan French, Dave Lippold, Kurt Hantelmann, etc. I predict that they will basically engage in two plans. Plan A... get one of their strong men into an early break and see if it sticks. The rest of their guys won't have to chase, saving their legs for later in support of their protected rider, if the break is caught (Plan B). These guys are great at defending moves and creating favorable racing scenarios for themselves. They executed this move to perfection at the 2010 Clear Lake Road Race, with Jared in the early move. Eventually that move was caught, and Ryan and Jerome later took on the task of setting up Lane Anderson for the win. They should have a couple guys in the top ten, but yet to be seen if they can get on the podium to earn one of the three available state medals.
VELOSPORT RACING
This team has been consistent throughout the year with their cat 1/2 team basically consisting of Jeff Bradley, Lou Waugaman, and Paul Deninger. Jeff was the 2009 winner, and has some serious credentials that provide him with huge amounts of respect within any race he enters. Lou always finds a way to finish strong (9th last year, 4th-Clear Lake RR, 1st-Kent park, etc.). Paul Deninger has been successfully racing for over two decades, and has been a dominant Time Trialist and all-rounder. He will look to his expertise and physical strengths to create racing situations that allow for the highest probability for success.
BIKES2YOU/WORLD OF BIKES
This is a very different team from years past, with Sean Walker and Tracy Thompson absent for the 2010 racing season. Things seemed to go downhill for these guys when Tracy cut off part of his finger (aka... nubbie). Fortunately, there was a silver lining to this unfortunate loss, as Derek Cassady joined their ranks along with a couple of strong Cat 3's (Kevin Temple/Grant Headley, etc.). Bryan Moritz is in great shape and currently leading the Iowa Cup race, followed by his teammate Derek, so they are obviously having a good season. This could be the race where it all comes together with respect to showing off their team strength.
Lots of other riders should be factors (Bryan West, Clark Priebe, Cody McCollough, Jim Cochran, etc.), not too mention out-of-state and solo riders. So many variables to contend in a 108 mile road race, so who knows how this race will actually shake out.
For those who make it to the final lap, it is always a battle of wills with several groups of riders strung out throughout the course... some merely satisfied to finish, others queing up for an opportunity to be the 2010 Iowa State Road Champion... good luck to all.
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