Criterium: kr -t r  -um, n.  A bicycle race held by racing laps on a short closed course at high, intense speed.  – v.i.  To deliberately place one’s self in an intensely hypoxic state, generally while ripping off one’s own legs.

Fresh off the previous day’s tough road race, the Hagerty Cycling Team again did battle at the West Branch Criterium on Sunday May 23, 2010, and do we have some really amazing things to tell you about the Hagerty women.  

 First, let’s talk about the women’s Cat 1/2/3 race:

 Ponder, for a moment, the word “overwhelm.”  Consult a thesaurus, and you’ll see the word “overwhelm” has many synonyms: “bewilder”, “bury”, “blow out of the water”, “bowl over”, “confound”, “confuse”, “conquer”, “crush”, “defeat”, “deluge”, “demoralize”, “destroy”, “do in”, “drub”, “dumfound”, “inundate”, “kill”, “massacre”, “overpower”, “run circles around”, “shatter”, “shock”, “smother”, “steamroller”, “stun”, “swamp”, “thrash”, “upset”, “whip”, “wreck”, and (our personal favorite) “win”.  Well, after the women’s pro crit race on Sunday May 23, there’s a new synonym for “overwhelm” and its “JOHANNA SCHMIDT.”

 Its not just that Johanna won.  Its not just that she won decisively.  Its that she won after racing ahead of the peloton on only the second lap in a 45 minute race.  Its that she rode wire to wire, solo.  Its that she increased her lead on every lap but one.  Its that she forced the field to accept a little scooter as their replacement pace car ‘cause she was riding away with the first one.  Its that she almost lapped the entire field.  

 Meanwhile, Susan Vigland and Lauri Brockmiller played loyal teammates and displayed brilliant team strategy by sitting in and slowing the pack as much as they could, forcing the rest of the peloton to give chase and standing ready to pounce with fresh legs if Johanna was ever caught.  Not that there was any risk of that.  Johanna had hit the afterburners, punched through the sound barrier, and was quite possibly flirting with the speed of light.  She was going so fast, she actually traveled back in time.

Throughout this absolute and irrefutable stomping of the women’s pro field Johanna was supported by Team Schmidt as husband Ty (also a Hagerty racer) and their kids cheered her on with big lungs and cow bells.   

 After Johanna crossed the finish line, the rest of the women’s field held a bunch sprint; Susan Vigland came in 3rd overall and second in the Cat 1 / 2 race by literally _ of a wheel to Priority Health rider Tony Musto, and Lauri Brockmiller snagged 3rd in the women’s Cat 3 race.  

Earlier, In the women’s Cat 4 race, new Hagerty member Melissa Fritz put in a great race and came in second place.  Meaning, every single Hagerty woman who entered this race was on the podium.  Now, that’s not too shabby.   Well done, ladies.  Well done.

(Melissa’s second place in the crit came after her strong 5th place finish in the tough road race the day before.  Melissa is a new team member and this is her first season road racing, and she’s been putting in some impressive performances.  And we hear she’s kinda okay at mountain biking, too.  The efforts to bring more women racers like Melissa to the sport are really showing promise, and we hope to see it continue).

 Meanwhile, the Hagerty men had a few races too.

 In the Men’s Masters 45+ field Myles Weitzman, Steve Andriese, Hal BeVier, Dan Hofstra, and Norm Licht fought hard as the field set a pace second only to the men’s pro field.  (In fact, the Masters 45+ field had set the second-fastest pace during the road race the day before, too).  Dan Hofstra ultimately had to pull out with a broken steering tube. Steve Andriese secured a 4th place finish – and congratulations are in order for Steve, that’s four top 10 finishes for him in four races. Meanwhile, Peter Worden was blown out the back of the pack so fast he landed in Roscommon.

And after the finish Norm Licht, Steve Andriese, and Hal BeVier turned right around and participated in the Masters 35+ race.  So for these guys, that’s one day on one of the toughest road race courses in the state, followed the next day by two criteriums . . . outstanding.

 New Hagerty Team member Brad Winkler beat back the gremlins and kept his tires inflated today, riding strong in the men’s Cat 5 race.

 The Men’s Cat 3 field again featured a large talented group, which is great to see because it says good things about the strong health of our sport here in Michigan.  Their race was electrifying as Priority Health’s Alexey Vermeulen and a teammate bolted off the front of the group early.  Hagerty’s Tim Barrons and Jason Whittaker were racing and Jason later reported that for the rest of the race his heart rate never went below 180.  Tim selflessly sacrificed himself to get a chase going, and while ultimately Alexey could not be caught – and here we tip our Hagerty cap to him for putting in a really impressive performance two days in a row, and Alexey, please be assured we’re all hoping you cat up real soon SO YOU CAN STOP KICKING OUR REARS IN CAT 3 – Jason Whittaker put in a strong performance in the sprint at the end for a 6th place finish.

Congratulations to all the races at the West Branch races, and to the race organizers and sponsors for putting on such an excellent event. Next up for Team Hagerty: beers, brats, and lederhosen at Das Tour de Frankenmuth on Saturday, May 29, 2010!