KissCross results- Manhatten Park

The Founder's Ale/Alger racing team fielded 10 members in the KissCross event at Manhatten Park in East Grand Rapids Sunday, Nov 15th.

During the C-race event Jeff Jacobi and Brian Krause raced on a tandem in the three laps of the course placing 12th in a field of 41. Brenden Murphy finished at 10th place in the 41 pack of C-racers.

In the eight lap B race, Nicola Fester completed the event in 41st on a singlespeed bike in a field of 53.

The B-masters were represented by Brad Bacon and Dennis Murphy in the eight lap race. Brad set a blistering pace to garner 13 position in the 38 racer group and Dennis Murphy finished up in 28th of 38.

The team's A racers, in a pack of 24 cyclists, were represented by Joe Kedrowski at 6th place, followed by Shawn Davison in 11th, Wade Bagnal in 16th and Steve Bartzen finishing the event at 24th

Good job to all! Next up, the final Kisscross on Nov 29th in Holland.

Iceman Update

The Founders/Alger Team headed north for the annual season finale, Iceman.

The weather was anything but icy. Record temps greeted us on Saturday morning with lows only in the upper forties and by race end temps reached the mid sixties! The course was fast and dry but with just the perfect amount of moisture in the sand to make things very firm. The race had a new start location in downtown Kalkaska that provided an additional 1.5 paved road miles to the course. Many classes had large crashes on this very fast roll out of town. All the Founders/Alger riders survived any pile ups.

Team members that attended with their respective times and overall and place in class appear below. Congrats to everyone!

Joe Slonecki/ Pro 1:43:37 Overall 44/ In Class 39

Joe Kedrowski/ SS 1:49:45 Overall 125/ In Class 8

Shawn Davison/ Pro 1:50:33 Overall 135/ In Class 60

Wade Bagnell/ Exp 1:51:35 Overall 153/ In Class 14

Tim Curtis/ Pro 1:57:05 Overall 262/ In Class 65

Jeff Jacobi&Ryan Olthouse/Tandem Overall 1:58:00 301/ In Class 2

Rick Plite/ Exp 2:03:52 Overall 490/ In Class 21

Ralf Scharnowski/ Cyde 2:12:02 Overall 826/ In Class 23

Nicola Fester/ Pro 2:13:05 Overall 866/ In Class 23

Martin Hall/ Master SS 2:15:34 Overall 969/ In Class 53

Ernie Stafford/ Cyde 2:23:07 Overall 1285/ In Class 46

Cathy Plite/ Spt/Exp Women 2:43:09 Overall 2121/ In Class 27

Up next? two more Kisscross races!!!

Founders Alger Racing updates

The annual Peak-to-Peak Mountainbike race was held on Saturday Oct 17th north of Manistee Michigan. Two team racers competed. Joe Slonecki placed 11th in a field of 17 in the Elite category. Shawn Davison raced to a 2nd place finish in Expert Men 30-39- great job!

Rick Plite race cyclocross in the first ever "Mad Anthony" cyclocross event in old Fort Detroit Saturday

Kisscross participants on Sunday Oct 18th included Nicola Fester, who took 2nd in the B-women's race. In the A-men's event, Jeff Jacobi captured 7th and Wade Bagnall garnered a 14th place.

KissCross- Founders Alger participation Oct 3

The skys were full of grey clouds threatening inclement weather today as the third KissCross race got underway at Highland Park in the city of Grand Rapids. Located within eyesight of I-196, drivers passing by must have wondered what was going on when they glimpsed flowing rows of colorfully clad cyclists race around the park.

The nearly 30 "C" racers had an uneventful race for their five laps, starting at 11am and finishing in 30 minutes.

There were approximately 80 "B" and "B-Master" (those of us over 40 years of age) churning around the one mile course for their eight lap competition. The Team had no "B" racers, but three racers participated in the "B-Master" group of 38 cyclists.

The first half of the event was without rain, but a steady light rain (and perceived temperature drop) occurred and pretty much maintained for the last half of the 45 minute event. Tim Curtis raced to the finish in 9th place. He was followed shortly by Brad Bacon in 12 position. Dennis Murphy completed the team master group in 21st position as the course now began to get slippery on the corners.

The team had four racers competing in a total field of 17 "A" competitors and had the benefit of a break in the weather and no rain. Joe Slonecki, at one point in second place, kept racing hard to hold onto a 5th place location on his mountain bike against most of his competitors cross-bikes. Nate Versluis, racing with a video camera perched on his helmet, cranked in for a 10th place finish followed closely by trick rider Jeff Jacoby in 11th. Shawn Davison rounded out the team's participation today, (and a team sequential finish) with a 12th place finish.

Great Job to all

Pando CrossCountry Race

Sunday, Sept 27 was a great day for a race. Pando Ski Area was the venue with a great 4.2 mile course. The weather started out hazy and cloudy, but by noon, the sun had burned away any chance of precipitation and the sky was blue. The temperatures were not too high.

The Founders Ale/Alger team had a strong turn-out at this last Fun Promotions /MMBA CPS event of the season.

The team had four participants in a field of 15 elite men racers competing in the 7 lap event. Nate Versluis led our team with a 5th place finish. The team filled out finishes in the elite category with Shawn Davison at 12th, Tim Curtis at 13th and Joe Slonecki rounding up the group at 15th.

Steve Bartzen competed in the Advanced SingleSpeed category and captured a 2nd place of six racers. CORRECTION- Steve was in FIRST place... my bad!

Dennis Murphy, in the Expert Men category, finished six laps for a 7th place finish.

Nicola Fester compted against three other elite woman, and in rare change from her usual singlespeed ride, rode a geared mountainbike to grab a 3rd place finish!

Sport racers started at 1230pm and Ernie Stafford was the lone racer in this time slot grabbing a 3rd place of nine competitors in Sport clydesdale!

Brenden Murphy, starting with the sport/beginner singlespeeds, held on for a 3rd place finish in the later race set of the day.

Martin Hall, not able to race this day, was the team's trail cheer support, showing up at various locations in the course to boost spirits and carry the team enthusiasm! Congratulations to all.

Results here

Cyclocross racing begins!

Well, cyclocross season has begun!!

The first event of the season kicked off under stadium lights at Cannonsburg Ski Area- the first of a double header. The KissCross series started with a Friday night event and concluded this afternoon as the second part of the double-header.

Nine Founder's Ale/Alger Cyclery racers in various race categories Friday night.

Friday night results for the B-category, eight lap 45-minute race start with the B-category women. Nicola Fester raced the 8 lap category and garnered a first place finish in a field of four.

The male categories were divided into B and B-Master (age 40+).
Brenden Murphy as the only B racer and took a 38th place finish in that large field.

Ralf Sharnowski, Dennis Murphy and Martin Hall competed in the field of 36 B-Masters.
Ralf kept a pace to capture 21st place, Dennis Murphy finished at 27th with Martin Hall filling out the team finishes at 28th.

The pace picked up with the A-category racers and four team members competed for the eleven lap one-hour course.

Joe Kedrowski grabbed 3rd place in the field of 26 racers. Shawn Davison and Jeff Jacobi kept pace to follow up with 9th and 10th respectively. Nate Versluis suffered a mechanical but recovered to complete the event in 15th place.

Saturday races had smaller fields.

The B-Masters had four team racers competing among 19 racers.

Wade Bagnall took 4th place in the 8-lap event. Ralf Sharnowski grabbed12th, Rick Plite finished his own course at 14th place followed by Dennis Murphy in 15th place.

Jeff Jacobi was the only A-cat racers from the team competing in the smaller field of six racers and garnered a 5th place- which included creek crossings each lap and copious wheelies.

Great Job Team- Next up- CPS race Addison Oaks on Sunday Sept 13th.

Copper Harbor Fat Tire Festival

The team had two racers make the trek to the horn of Michigan's upper peninusla to compete in the Copper Harbor Fat Tire Festival last weekend (Sept 6).

The event has a 24 mile and a 14 mile version and both Joes raced the full 24 mile event.

In the 25-29 Age Group with 14 other competitors, Joe Slonecki to THIRD place with a time of 2hr/9min and an average speed of 10.7mph

The other Joe- Joe Kedrowski- competed in a field of 12 singlespeeders to capture 4th place with a time of 2hr/10min and an average speed of 10.5mph.

Considering we know how fast both these guys are- with average speeds of only 10-1/2mph, it must have been a gnarly technical course!
Good job Joes

Next up for many team members: KissCross begins Sept 11-12th