Grandview

This past weekend brought my favorite race all year, the Tour de Grandview. The race was formerly known as the Wendy’s International Cycling Classic, but following Wendy’s withdraw from the sport, the city of Grandview did a lot to keep the race on its feet. This year was a two day event, with a cool four corner criterium (lap) race on Saturday, and the classic Sunday course the day after. Saturday brought lots of rain, just pop up showers throughout the day. The womens’ race was posponed for about an hour an shortened by just a few laps, but everyone was glad they still got to race. The race winner was Christy Keely, a young and upcoming cyclist riding out of Michigan. I met her at a race in Michigan a few weeks ago, when I headed up there with my good friend Jon Moore to do a simple set up for Tenspeeds. We took some flyers on a hunch thinking we could lure a few riders. We were sucessful, as Christy’s team, Priority Health, brought a huge squad of women. The point of all this is the finish. It was decided by inches. I will post a picture up here shortly, but I cannot describe in words how close it was. She won because she gave her bike on last “throw” at the line. She was coming from behind and that extra ounce of effort won her the race. Needless to say, it was incredible to watch, and just goes to show how exciting these bike races get. She took third on Sunday, not bad for a race she found out about by a somewhat chance encounter.
Sunday, as always, was fantastic. Good weather, and a great race to boot. In the mens race, Hayden Godfrey won, and we couldn’t have asked for a better guy to win. He is a New Zealander, and also a World Champion. Promoters always dream of having an international rider win their race. It looks great to the fans, the press eats it up, and everyone gets to hear their cool accents during the post-race interview. The women’s race was equally impressive. Standout junior Samantha Schneider took the win. She is 18, and beat women with 3 and 4 times her experience. Just goes to show that a bike race is ANYONE’S game. Its cool to see juniors, especially women, winning in races.
I’ll wrap up my unofficial race report. I’m going to hunt down the picture of Christy Keely’s finish. I leave on the 9th for Superweek, 17 days of racing around Chicago and throughout Wisconsin. Should be fun, with plenty of great stories to come. Go watch a bike race!