Jeff Owens and Susan Vigland gave nothing away in Round Duh, sweeping the stages and picking up overall titles to wrap up SOLo Kolo…for now.
It was meant to be as decisive and dramatic as the 2004 mountain time trial up Alpe d’Huez, and for folks without racing for months, it probably was. Sure, there weren’t one million fans along the road side, but if you timed it right, the crazy Amish family that lives near the top of Hoxie may have given you a wave while checking their mail box.
One of the toughest climbs in the area, Lincoln/Hoxie served as a fitting way to cap off Round Duh, and certainly a way for both Owens and Vigland to slather on some frosting after baking a victory cake. The pair have dominated this spring’s twin competitions, and the excursion to the highest point in the area was a fitting way to punctuate their early season campaigns.
Owens set his mark early on Tuesday. A quick look at the top ten makes it easy to see that the strong tailwind was a huge help on May 19, with the seven best times set that day. Derek Graham’s old KOM toppled early, with Owens, Ryan Kennedy, Cam Owens, Patrick Cotant, Bryan Carps, Sam Holmes, and Cody Sovis all nipping ahead of it. It was likely the most important effort for Cam Owens, who used his sub-8 minute climb to safely hold off challenges from Sam Holmes and John O’Hearn to keep fourth overall. He may be left wondering, however, where he could have found the three seconds he needed to overtake third place on GC, deftly retained by Sunset Scott.
On the women’s side, Susan was the only woman to go under 10 minutes and so put her safe lead out of reach. Valerie Hyrman put in a monster effort to take back two seconds on Laura Webb, but it wasn’t enough to shake up the overall general classification picture and she settled for a hard-earned third place. Beth Collins takes fourth, and a bit of a thing for Sami Maldanado. She didn’t ride the segment completely, but since her head and heart were in the right place, we’re giving here the same time as the last rider on GC for the stage, which lets her hold onto fifth. That doesn’t change anything for Sally Black, who’ll have a little something to celebrate herself…
…and that’s because not only will Jeff and Susan pick up gift cards to Brew and Taproot, Sally Black nabs one for winning, (yes, winning) our lantern rouge, a $50 gift card to Suttons Bay Bikes!
We’re taking a week off before getting back to fake racing with something new. Working with our pal, teammate, and great thigh model Tim Bottrell, we’re honored to bring you the Trofeo Mark Dressler, presented by Less Cancer. As a fitting lead-in to the Alone But Together Bike Ride weekend on June 6-7, you’ll have all week to ride the famous Dressler 30 route and target three segments along the way. It’s simple; ride solo, think about Mark and everyone affected by cancer, hit those segments as hard or easy as you want, and finish the right. We’ll take the accumulative time of the three segments, not the whole route, so you can cruise in between.
You can sign up by registering for the Alone But Together Bike Ride here, but if you can’t swing the fee right now, don’t sweat it.
Three segments are:
You’ll have from June 1 to June 7 to get your ride in!