The Hagerty Cycling Team again made its presence known at the West Branch Road Race on Saturday, May 22, 2010.  Hats off to the organizers for putting on a fantastic race.  West Branch is a VERY challenging hilly course, featuring over 1,100 feet of climbing on every 22 mile lap with numerous climbs of one-half to three-quarter mile at a 3-5% grade.  One particular brute of a hill at the end of each lap, and thus leading up to the finish, is 1.25 miles long at a 6% grade with the last 700 meters at 8 to 11% (we checked) .  Reminiscent of the famous Mur de Huy hill finish at La Fléche Wallone, a professional race in Belgium and one of the classics of our sport, it is already been dubbed the “Mur de Westé Bränchewas.”

The Hagerty women’s teams were out in force and achieved some impressive results.  In their beginner’s Cat 4 race, Bridgett Widreg came in 2nd and Melissa Fritz came in 5th, with able assists from Barb Beauregard and Fern Spence (who, we hear, talked the other teams into submission). 

Meanwhile the Women’s Cat 1/2/3 race featured as much excitement as anything  you can find on Versus.  Lauri Brockmiller, Rachel Decker, and Arianne Whittaker rode in support of Johanna Schmidt and Susan Vigland, who came in, respectively, 2nd and 4th in their Cat 1 / 2 race; Lauri went on to secure 3rd place in her Cat 3 race.  (Why this didn’t secure Lauri better wait service at lunch is beyond us).  Johanna, it turns out, was just getting warmed up; see our next report on the next days criterium race for details.

After the race the Hagerty women participated in a women’s race clinic, and congratulations are in order for Susan Vigland and many others who are working to bring more women into the sport.

The Hagerty Men’s Cat 3's were out in force; this time around, Tim Barrons and Scott Howard were joined by Scott Diment, Brian Hofstra, Tim Jenema, Jason Whittaker, and Ty Schmidt.  Despite a number of attacks and counter-attacks, their large field largely stayed together to the final climb.  The men played their team tactics, and while their plan ultimately did not snag a spot on the podium thanks to an untimely flat tire, Brian Hofstra came in at an impressive 7th against a very deep and talented field.

Chris Kushman and Brad Winkler, in their first race for Hagerty, participated in the Men’s Cat 5 race.  Chris came in at 9th; Brad, however, was derailed by a flat tire (what is it with these Hagerty guys and flat tires?).  Meanwhile Hagerty junior Sean Brownell rode strong in his second race of the season.

Steve Andriese, Hal BeVier, Don Fedrigon, Dan Hofstra, Norm Licht, Craig Webb, Myles Weitzman, and Peter Worden rode as the Men’s Masters 45+ team, which continued to employ its usual “shock and awe” tactics by launching multiple attacks until a three-man break was established with Dan Hofstra and Steve Andriese in it.  For a three-man break to stay away from this field as long as it did was no mean accomplishment, but in the end the break was heartbreakingly caught just at the final climb to the finish.  Despite being exhausted from having been in the break so long, Dan Hofstra somehow summoned the strength to hit the after burners and sprinted to a 2nd place finish.  Craig Webb secured 5th, and Steve Andriese 10th.  (So far this season, Steve, Dan, and Craig have not been out of the top 10 in their races; we can’t figure out if it’s the oatmeal or the compression socks, but something seems to be working well for them).  So once again, team tactics secured a podium position for the Masters.

And in the Masters 55+ race, Lars Welton again rode strong, coming in to a podium position in third place.