Those folks at BP down in the Gulf of Mexico could learn a thing or two from the first-year members of the Hagerty Cycling Team, who had no trouble at all down in the Isabella County oil patch during the 2nd Annual Le Tour de Mount Pleasant.  The Hagerty “beginners” were prominent in both Saturday’s Criterium, held in downtown Mount Pleasant, and Sunday’s 46 mile road race.

 

On Saturday, Barb Beauregard, already one of Michigan’s fastest women on skis, proved she is also pretty darn fast on a bike as she claimed second in the women’s Cat 4 race.  The following day, not to be outdone, teammate Melissa Fritz sprinted to a second place finish in the women’s Cat 4 road race.  The only down side was they then had to figure out how to fit the two enormous trophies into their car along with bikes and luggage.  Barb, Fern Spence, and Bridgett Widrig also rounded out the Hagerty team for the women’s Cat 4s.

 

Hagerty’s Chris Kushman achieved an impressive 3rd place finish in Sunday’s men’s Cat 5 race, in which Alex Yockey also participated.  Alex, it should be noted, was also blistering Saturday’s criterium course when he suffered the Hagerty Curse in the last lap: a flat tire.  Better luck next time, Alex!  By the way the men’s Cat 5 road race had to be split into two groups because so many beginner racers signed up, which is a great sign for the health and future of our sport.

 

Meanwhile, Hagerty’s Sean Brownell snagged 5th place in the Juniors ages 14-16 race, while Ian Durand made his racing debut in the Juniors ages 10-12 race (ages 10 to 12!  Yikes, I feel old).

 

So hat’s off to the Hagerty freshmen for a job well done! 

 

Meanwhile, in the “veteran’s” races, Saturday’s criterium featured a scary moment in the men’s Cat 3 race when a crash took out Hagerty’s Jason Whittaker and Tim Barrons.  Jason later swore he was merely subjecting the new team jersey to a coefficient of friction test (apparently, it failed) and demonstrated that it is in fact quite possible to use one’s heart rate monitor as a boogie board; its just not advisable to do it on asphalt.  At any rate, apart from some bumps, bruises, and sprains, and having to leave some DNA on the streets of Mount Pleasant, both are fine and are planning to get right back into racing.

 

And in the Masters road races, there was a veritable Clash of the Titans as the Hagerty men did battle with several evenly matched teams in a nonstop, brutal series of attacks and counter-attacks during the combined 45+ / 55+ races.  In the end no one got away and there was a bunch sprint, but the group put in a fast pace as a result of all the attacking, eventually overtaking and passing the Masters 35+ group.

 

Next up: over the straits and on to Marquette, Michigan for the Superior Bike Fest and the Michigan State Road Championships!