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The Eureka Road Race and 1997's District 40 Road Race Championships, originally scheduled for June 28, was not permitted to start as a USCF-sanctioned event because the chief referee had not received copies of the race permit or insurance certificate for the event.
Race promoter Jeff Rogers couldn't believe what he was hearing when Chief Referee Gary Bywater told him the race was canceled.
"When Dell Brown approached me about having the Eureka Road Race also be the District road race, he said he'd take care of all the paperwork," Rogers said the next day. "He said he'd send us the medals, which I got a couple of months ago. I accept some of the responsibility for not checking on the status of the permit. I had talked to Gary on Thursday and he said everything was OK. But this is the district championships and I think the permit was Dell's responsibility."
One hundred participants from as far away as St. George and Idaho were sent home after "Race Canceled" signs were posted on Bywater's vehicle. Many of the participants were obviously disappointed and angry about this miscommunication. Several immediately wrote letters of protest and left them with Rogers to send to the USCF.
District Representative Dell Brown could not be reached for comment on Sunday, June 29 prior to press deadline. Brown was in Idaho as official race support for the Hewlett-Packard Women's Challenge race and his telephone answering machine indicated he would not return until July 1.
Upon his return home Saturday afternoon, Rogers had received the insurance certificate in the mail. However, the correspondence was addressed to: Utah Premier, Dell Brown, 3806 Alken. Rogers address is 10 blocks north on Alden. Rogers does not receive Utah Premier mail at his address and he's amazed that the letter was even delivered. He suspects the race permit has suffered a similar fate and is bouncing around the mail service somewhere.
"Usually Eureka is in early June and Dell talked us into changing our date to accommodate Little Mountain, which had scheduling conflicts," Rogers said. "Now our club is out $1,500 on prizes and t-shirts."
Bywater advised Rogers and Utah Premier not to put on an unsanctioned race solely from fear of liability in case something happened during the race. "Gary said there were three lawsuits in Arizona now and he advised us not to do it," Rogers said.
If anything is constant, it's the unpredictability of bicycle racing. And that goes for the individual races where it all happens, the High Uintas Classic June 21-22 being a good example.
With the opening stage road race reaching the summit of 10,700 foot Bald Mountain Pass, it's difficult to predict if the road will be open. And then when the racing starts, a team's plan is in a constant state of flux needing to adapt to what happens on the road.
But this year the road was open, allowing the race to test the climbing abilities of participants. The wind was a factor, something easy to predict. But as it turned out the racing held many surprises.
Team Einstein's race plan is simple: Have at least one rider up the road and launch counter-attacks to get more riders up the road. It's a predictable offense much like the Utah Jazz's pick and roll. Everyone expects it but they keep executing it successfully.
Saturday's road race wasn't much different but how it happened was unexpected.
"Rod Smith went up the road early with Mike Fogerty," Ryan Littlefield, Einstein's team manager said. "I ended up in a small chase group that caught them and then we dropped everyone."
"It wasn't really the plan," Burke Swindlehurst said, "but we went with it. I stayed back until the climb started knowing I could probably bridge up to them. But the last 20 meters were in doubt."
Littlefield and Smith maintained a strong pace up the climb as Swindlehurst made his way through traffic backed up by the lead support vehicles. He finally joined the two as the summit came into view. The three racers crested the hill with Littlefield taking the King of the Mountain.
For those racers who think this road race favors the climbers the descent from Bald Mountain and the long, windy ride into Evanston should easily convince them otherwise.
Once down the initial descent to Mirror Lake, the road climbs once again before the final descent into the rolling foothills of the Uintas. Elevation gain is no longer an issue. Instead it is usually the wind, this day being a perfect example.
"It was windy going into Evanston," Swindlehurst recounted. "It was all over the place -- tailwind, crosswind, headwind -- it was hard especially the last 10 miles into Evanston."
The three teammates worked together to build upon their lead, finishing in Evanston nearly seven minutes up on a chase group of three riders. Littlefield took the win followed by Smith and Swindlehurst. Boise's John Foster took the 3-up sprint for fourth place followed by Einstein's Jeff Louder and Craig Catellier of Casper, Wyoming.
The early-morning hillclimb time trial is a specific event that favors the climber and Swindlehurst overcame strong, gusty winds to register the best time of 6:47. Foster was next at 6:50 followed by Louder at 6:53.
"I've always dreamed of having this much of a cushion in a race," Swindlehurst said.
That said it appeared that Einstein's was in the driver's seat for the final stage. They had the top three spots and a seven minute cushion. Nothing to lose. They could surf in the pack and get a little training in, right?
Wrong.
"We didn't have too much to lose," Littlefield said, "so we wanted to just ride aggressively."
And ride aggressively they did. Littlefield and Swindlehurst were active at the front until they got away with a Casper rider. The three racers dangled in front of the peloton until Ryan attacked to get a gap that Swindlehurst could bridge over.
"The Casper guy didn't want to work and I wasn't going to pull him to the line," Littlefield said.
Once the two were free, they quickly built up a big lead thanks in part to solid teamwork in the peloton keeping any attempts to bridge at bay.
"We were working hard up the hill," Littlefield said, "the wind was really strong. Then we rested downhill."
The Einstein's pair crossed the line together in an impressive display of teamwork. All the leaders in GC followed 30 seconds later.
Littlefield earned the win followed by Swindlehurst at 12 seconds and Smith at 49 seconds. Foster maintained his 3-second margin over Louder for fourth place.
We were talking about unpredictability earlier. The women's race would be decided by a lapse of concentration.
Clare Rude of Casper, Wyoming won the opening stage road race after riding in third up the long grind up Bald Mountain behind Carole Sharp and Marie Neville. Rude was able to close the gap to the second place rider 200 meters before the Queen of the Mountain. The three leaders then regrouped and rode together into Evanston. Rude outsprinted Sharp and Neville to take the win.
"I got into my own rhythm and caught back on before the QOM," Rude said. " I wanted to catch the girl ahead. I didn't want to use my brakes. There were streams of water across the road on the descent. But I decided if I crash I crash. I'm going for it. I'm good on the flats, it's my specialty."
The Sunday morning time trial was won by Susanne Schenk with a time of 9:09 followed by Sharp at 9:17, Elizabeth Talenfeld 9:22, Rude 9:24 and Neville 9:25.
Sharp was the race leader going into the final stage with a 3-second lead on Rude and 13 seconds on Neville. These three riders were active at the front during the criterium, not allowing anyone to get away and keeping a close eye on each other.
Then it happened. As Sharp and Neville were leading the race on the next-to-last lap, they missed the long sweeping right-hand turn coming off the hill. Overcoming her surprise, Rude put the hammer down and was all alone as she was given the bell lap.
"The leaders missed the corner at the top of the hill," Rude exclaimed, "so I started hammering as hard as I could to get enough gap."
Trailing by only 3 seconds, any gap would prove to be enough and Rude made good on her opportunity to take the race win.
"This is great," Rude said after the race, "I have 5 kids and bicycling is my release, it's my way of coping. To win this race is great."
Rude's winning margin was 22 seconds over Sharp of Aspen. Third was Neville from Lincoln, Nebraska at :25 followed by Elizabeth Talenfeld from Aspen at 10:25 and Lisa Peck at 11:03.
In stark contrast to the big gap in the Category 1-2 race, the Category 3 race couldn't have been any closer.
The Logan Race Club showed up in force with a strong team. Tom Buckley and Jamie Thomson crested Bald Mountain Pass in the lead followed by a group of four riders including Art O'Connor from Team Einstein's.
"It was a long, hard chase," O'Connor said, "We couldn't see them at all. A Logan rider decided to work with me, I guess he decided it was better to have three up the road than two."
Once the two chasers had caught the two leaders, the chess match began.
"Once we caught them, they started attacking me," O'Connor said. "I counter attacked and finally it was just me and Kirk (Eck). I was determined to win the sprint. I kept telling myself 'don't lead it out, don't lead it out.'"
O'Connor would not be denied, he won the two-up sprint for the win. Thomson rolled across one minute later followed by Buckley 8 seconds after him. A group of 10 riders followed in another 10 seconds.
O'Connor built upon his lead by winning the time trial with a time of 7:17. Buckley was next at 7:23 followed by Michael Everett 7:24, Thomson and James Honaker with 7:25.
Going into the criterium O'Connor had 21 seconds on Eck, 1:14 on Thomson and 1:20 on Buckley. But O'Connor was alone, Eck had a team to help in close the gap.
And close the gap he did. The stage was won by Australian John Brown on holiday but Eck placed third with O'Connor back in the pack. By combining his time bonus with the gap at the finish over O'Connor, Eck closed the 21-second gap to tie. Chief Referee Gary Bywater went back to the road race times and took it to hundredths of a second to determine the race winner. Eck had the edge and was awarded the race win, bumping O'Connor to second place. Thomson was third at 1:02 followed by Buckley 1:18 and Honaker at 1:32.
A noted climber, Mark Schaefer of Mi Duole proved to be head and shoulders above the rest in the Masters category. Schaefer cleared the road race summit minutes ahead of the rest of the field and maintained the gap to capture the road race win. Schaefer's teammates Dirk Cowley and Rich Vroom crossed the line nearly four minutes later for second and third respectively.
"I got away about one kilometer from the KOM," Schaefer said. "I was kind of worried about Don Armstrong. I never intended to win at that point. I punched it over top. The wind wasn't unking but I had to question my wisdom. But I had lots of teammates behind me."
"We killed ourselves in the road race," Cowley said. "We wanted to get Eric Schramm and Jerry Larson up the mountain. We motored on the flats."
Schaefer took the time trial with a clocking of 7:39. Vroom was second at 7:52 followed by Walter Wilhelm at 7:58.
"The time trial was easier for me," Schaefer said. "I had a nice cushion, I could relax. It's easier when you can relax."
Cowley capped a fine Mi Duole showing with the final stage win in the criterium. Race leader Schaefer finished in the lead pack to grab the overall win over Cowley by 3:56. Vroom was third at 4:08. Mi Duole's Jerry Larson was fourth at 5:25 ahead of Northshore's Don Armstrong at 6:11.
Promoter Chuck Collins and the Equipo Del Corazon (EDC) bicycle club worked hard to organize and spread the word about the Bruegger's LAJOR (Lance Armstrong Junior Olympic Race) Circuit Race. The LAJOR race series was established to encourage interest among junior riders in road racing.
Apparently the word got out, as a record 150 riders showed up for the event. Unfortunately, most were adults, as only 15 juniors showed up, with 12 of those being boys aged 15-18. There was one junior woman, and two junior men under 15. With this kind of turnout after the amount of publicity generated and inclusion in the LAJOR race series, it seems that there is simply little interest among juniors in road racing.
This was especially painful, as Alexi Grewal came to town on behalf of the United States Cycling Federation (USCF) because it was part of the LAJOR series. Though he had to be disappointed, he did get a good look at Utah's two hottest young talents, David Zabriskie and Jeff Louder.
Aside from the disappointing junior participation, this was a successful event. The 9-mile Herriman circuit is deceptively tough. When combined with the usual heat and wind, it becomes almost brutal, as evidenced by the fact that over 50% of those who entered abandoned during the race.
This race featured a separate "Espoir" category, promising senior racers under age 23. This group started and raced with the Pro/Category 1,2 group. After the first of 9 laps, Tom Meiser (Einstein's) initiated the first major attack. With no reaction from the field, he quickly built a sizable lead and soloed for the next 27 miles.
During lap 3, Joel Kath initiated the next major move as he rode alone off the front of the peloton where he remained for one lap. Subsequently, Dave Wood also attacked and was joined by Burke Swindlehurst (Einstein's).
Swindlehurst soon dropped Wood, and was joined from behind by teammates Jeff Louder, Bill Harris and David Zabriskie. These four then caught Kath, and this group finally joined up with Meiser. "I was getting really lonely up there. I was happy to see those guys come along," Meiser said.
Being the odd man out among five Einstein's teammates, Kath made it clear early on that he would not contest the finish if the Einstein's riders would not try to shell him off the back. With that working agreement, these six rode the remainder of the race together, with Jeff Louder being sent ahead for the win.
Technically, Louder was the winner of the Espoir category while Swindlehurst won the Pro,1,2 race.
Only four women started the Pro/Category 1-3 race, and by the top of the climb halfway through the first lap, Heather Albert (Powerbar) and Tana Stone (Northshore) were alone. Rather than beat on each other in the heat and wind, they chose to work together and sprint it out at the finish.
Albert described the finish. "It came down to that famous 'sprint finish.' I lead into it. She came around me, and then I came around her and had a pretty good gap at the line."
In the Category 4 Women's race, there was a good turnout, with 8 women at the start. Triathlon champion Jo Garruccio bested this field to take the victory.
Mac Caldwell (Chippers/Vitamen Cottage) traveled from Colorado to participate with his 13 year old son, Blake, in this event. The trip was rewarding as Mac dominated the Category 3 race and Blake, last year's national champion in the time trial, road race, and criterium in the 10-12 year old division, defeated Christopher Blaveh, his sole competitor, in the under-14 category.
The race peloton stayed together, despite numerous attacks during the first two laps. On the third lap, Caldwell broke away. "I was finally able to get a gap and just kind of kept it going. I ended up having to ride the last 5 laps by myself."
Jamie Thompson took second, Art O'Connor third, Chuck Fallon fourth, and Marc Yap fifth.
The Masters raced in two separate groups, the Category 2-3, and Category 3-5. Category 3 Masters had their choice of which group to race with.
Teammates Dirk Cowley and Mark Schaefer (Mi Duole) quickly dominated the 5 riders in the Category 2-3 race, working together till the end where Cowley and Schaefer agreed that Schaefer would take the win.
"Dirk rode really hard from the gun. We just kept riding really hard and dropped everybody," Schaefer stated. In fact, they rode hard enough to pass both the Pro,1-2 and the Category 3 men who had started ahead of them.
The Masters 3-5 had an excellent turnout, with 20 riders at the start. Bob Hunt (Utah Premier) and Clyde Done (Salt City Racing Team) eventually dropped all the competition. On the last of 5 laps, Hunt was able to shed Done on the climb and solo in to win.
Done finished second and was followed by Korlin Gillette and Ron Roy (both Utah Premier) for third and fourth and Scott Miles (Mi Duole) for fifth.
Utah racer Heather Hall-Albert, of Team PowerBar, claimed her first stage win in her fourth appearance at the International Women's Challenge race in Idaho.
In windy, 90-degree conditions, Hall-Albert time-trialled away from the peloton in pursuit of the solo breakaway of Carolyn Donnelly. Hall-Albert chased for 27 miles before catching up to Donnelly and then out sprinted her to claim the 78-mile Glenns Ferry Road Race in a time of 3:18:09. Donnelly was awarded the same time for second place.
Julie Young, of Team Saturn, placed third as a pack of five crossed the line 18 seconds later.
Hall-Albert, a 29-year-old PhD candidate in Microbiology and U.S. National Team Member from Pleasant Grove, said she went into time trial mode to catch Donnelly.
"My plan for the race was to try and get away after the second mountain spring, which is what I did," she said. "Carolyn was fried when I caught her but she gave me a run for the money on the final sprint to the finish line."
The Hewlett-Packard International Women's Challenge is an 8-day, 9-stage event with a total distance of 400 miles and 15,000 vertical climbing feet. It is recognized as one of the toughest women's cycling events in the world.
Salt Lake City professional cyclist Marty Jemison will start the Tour de France as a member of the U.S. Postal Service team that earned entry in the annual superbowl of cycling.
Jemison has been a consistent high finisher for the Postal Service in its early European race campaign. Jemison recently won the First Union Grand Prix in Atlanta.
Jemison most recently competed locally in the Cycle Salt Lake racing events in May. He was taking time off from the grueling European schedule.
Team Einstein's rider Dave Zabriskie has left the state to travel and race with the National Espoir team from June 10 through August 6.
A top rider for Team Einstein's, he won his last race in Utah in taking the overall win at Little Mountain Road Race. Little Mountain also served as the Idaho State Road Race Championships.
Zabriskie is a model teammate according to team manager Ryan Littlefield. "Just tell him what to do," Littlefield said, "and he'll go out and do it."
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