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::::::::IMPORTANT NOTICE:::::::::
TO ALL RIDERS PLEASE TAKE NOTE
AS OF THURSDAY JAN. 7TH 2010
ONE OF THE TWO VELODYNE MACHINES WE HAVE BEEN USING IS BROKEN
WE ARE WORKING ON A FIX FOR THE MACHINE HOWEVER IT MAY TAKE SOME TIME.
THIS LIMITS THE FLEXIBILITY IN THE SCHEDULE SLIGHTLY AND DOES NOT ALLOW US TO RUN 2 RACERS AT A TIME .  UPDATES WILL BE POSTED ON THIS MATER

     Hello and welcome to the 6th edition of the Break-Away Bicycle Clubs indoor winter race, known prior as the Tour de Schwinn, now called the Tour de SchWINnTER. As you likely know this event is held at Kokomo Cycling and Fitness on a Velodyne indoor trainer. The man behind the curtain is Mike once again. This week we have the Prologue, one of the shorter courses at 4.6 miles and features a short climb of 8%. This is a warm up for the rest of the tour for later on the hills will get much nastier.  By the way Happy New Years and welcome to the Club's 25th Year!!! Yes way back in Jan of 1986 the Break-Away Bicycle Club was formed.

    This year's Tour may at first look a lot like the 2008 edition since all the courses are the same, and there are several returning rider from that year. There are however some notable names missing from this year's addition. Charlie Skoog could not make this year's race nor could Todd Brandenburg, Clark Griffin, Ron Moore, Roxane Burrous, Greg Tackett or Tom Linn and Rick Weaver. All great riders who will be missed in the peleton. There are also several rookies this year, Ryan Rossiter, Steve Brewer, Scott Gill and Rob Land. Plus we have for the first time a father and son tour, although we did have Keith and Dean Crail both ride in a tour but they did not race in the same year. This year we have both Markus Naegeli returning to the race and his son Kaleb in his first tour. The question at this point is are they going to be going head to head or will they be on the same team. That as always will not be known until after the prologue which is used to determine the teams.

        The race as mentioned is a 4.6 mile course with a hump in the middle. The prologue will be run like a time trial and there may be a few time checks given but not likely this year riders times will be reported in the order they do the ride so first off this year will be Stephen Sehr, Stephen is in his second tour. His Rookie year he finished the prologue in 7th place and ended his Tour in 9th place overall. Stephen is out of the gate and on his way. The racing has started!!!  Next up will be Kaleb Naegeli, there maybe some rivalry between these two young riders for Stephen is going to Purdue(wearing the Purdue jersey as he rides) and Kaleb is a student at IU(and is wearing the IU jersey).  As Stephen gets over the second of the smaller Climbs Kaleb gets the start of his ride. Kaleb looks to be more of a climber being of slight build and weighing in under 150lbs, the question will be how is that going to help him during the tour.

    Stephen has finished his ride and as we get his time let me remind you that the times posted here will then be adjusted later with the handicapping system we use to level the field out and give everyone a fighting chance. Ok time is in and it looks like a good one for Stephen at 14:01, that's 3 seconds faster then his 2008 time on the same course. And as Kaleb continues to do his ride it looks like he has some support from his father for Markus has stopped by to watch his son in his first race of the Tour. I wonder what tips he may have passed along to this young rider. Kaleb looks smooth on the bike but he does have the familiar Naegeli open mouth riding style though we have not seen his tongue hanging out quite yet. Kaleb seems to have some problems breathing after climbing up the 8% grade, maybe he attacked the climb a bit hard, the team doctor is up next to him talking to him. Seems to be some concerns but Kaleb gives the thumbs up after a few moments and darts off. Ok while that was going on another Tour Rookie has shown up for his ride, Rob Land, this 28 year old is new to the racing seen but trained with Larry Barnhart this past summer and even learned a few things from Lee Flasche I hear. Rob looks to be a powerful rider but I am not sure how we will fair with so little race experience. Rob gets his start as Kaleb makes it to the finishing line. Kaleb has putting in a very good time and knocks Stephen out of the number one spot with a time of 13:44. That time may hold up until some of the race favorites show up, riders like Markus Naegeli, Jeff Bell and of course returning winner Francis Manfred. Francis will likely take the win of the prologue seeing how he has won every one so far in tour history.   Rob Land seems to be enjoying his ride so far, don't often see a lot of smiling from the riders but so far Rob seems cheery.

    When asked about his first ride Kaleb said that it was harder then he expected but he liked it. We will have to ask him again later in the race series. Ok Rob is done with his ride with a time of 18:31, looks like he was enjoying the ride a bit too much. Next up is our oldest rider in the race Stan Shuey, Stan did your 2008 edition so he has some idea what to expect today. As Stan takes off it looks like both Ryan Rossiter and Tom McMahan have rolled up and are getting warmed up for their race today. Stan is about half way done as Ryan gets his start, Ryan is new to the race so we will have to wait and see how he holds up to the event. A few minutes later Tom gets his start. Stan comes to the line with a 22:37 which does not beat Kaleb's first place  time though we expect it to be bested by the end. Ryan Rossiter rides in with a 15:37 putting him 3rd so far. Tom McMahan looks to be having some problems with the course today for he is a bit off the pace we expected from him. His time ends up as 18:09.

    Next up Steve Brewer who is another of this year's rookies. Steve looks a little nervous as he waits for the start. And warming up behind Steve is Kokomo Cycling and Fitness owner and our 2007 TdS winner Larry  Barnhart. Steve is underway!!  Larry moves up into the start house and in the distance I can see another of our tour vets approaching, Shawn Leonard rolls up on his classic, ok relic, Specialized Bike. Looking out on the course I see Steve has gotten to one of the lesser hills of today and I can't say that he seems to be enjoying the climb.  Meanwhile Larry gets the go ahead to start his ride and is blazing off into the distance, he then comes back and starts the race. We don't know why he left the area nor do we really care all that matters is he is now riding hard.  Steve Brewer has now gotten to the big climb of the day and looks like he is enjoying this climb even less. Larry on the other hand is zipping up one of the smaller climbs looking rather comfy.

    Shawn rolls out of the start house and seems to remember how much he likes this course, which does not appear to be very well by the look on his face: when you can see it. Shawn rides with his head down more then most rider, aerodynamics maybe. We are now watching Steve Brewer finish his prologue with the time of 17:35, how that stacks up is yet  to be seen. And speaking of up, that's exactly where Larry is now, on his way up the big climb of the day. He looks to have a good rhythm as he powers up this hill, he looks to the back of his bike as he shifts to a smaller cog. I think he forgot he had that smaller gear left in reserve. Back at the start house we see another rookie lining up for his start as Scott Gill is there. Scott may do well here today since he does not seem to know that ride season was over when the snow started falling. Scott did the New Year's Day Polar Bear Run (ride) and has been seen out on the roads since. Some people just don't want to stop riding I guess. Ok Scott is off and trying to get up to speed. Ah look Larry Barnhart is now coming to the line at the finish with the time of 16:09. I think I'll make a list of times now to give some clue as to how people are doing. While I work on that let me remind everyone that the times reported here are actual times which will be adjusted later. And that this will be one of the few occasions that real times will be reported in the commentary. So now to that list, the top five so far are:

1st : Kaleb Naegeli 13:44
2nd Stephen Sehr   14:01
3rd  Ryan Rossiter  15:37
4th  Larry Barnhart  16:09
5th Steve  Brewer 17:35

    Shawn Leonard will want to at least break into the top 5 at this point I'm sure. Shawn is looking fast on the last section of the course as he comes up to the line. He has done good enough for 4th place so far with a 15:43. That might be good enough to keep him in the top ten by the end of the prologue. Sue Barnhart has also gotten off on her ride. Scott has put in an impressive ride today as he finishes in 14:53. The field is shaping up nicely and here comes one of our top riders, Markus Naegeli. Markus is one of the few riders that has finished everyone of these Tours dating back to 2004. Markus does not spend long in the start house before he gets underway, it will be interesting to see how he does against his son, Kaleb, who has the best time so far. We next have Lance showing up at the start line, no not that Lance , its Lee "Lance" Flasche. Lee was the winner of the Taylor Award a couple years ago for toughing out a stage while riding with cracked ribs. Though he later abandoned the race it was an impressive effort on his part to ride through such discomfort. Lee has gotten his final instruction and rolls away for his ride.

    Our only lady rider this year, Sue Barnhart, has just finished her ride with a 20:39. She seems to be having problems getting her left foot disconnected to the pedal, the mechanics are there and finally free her from her bike. Hmm seems to be some question as  to why that happened and fingers are being pointed back and forth. Well while they get that settled let's see how Markus is doing. Report are saying he was behind Kaleb at the first two time checks but just barely, the 3rd time check puts him into the lead by 13 seconds but did he keep it? We are about to find out as here he is at the finish with a  time of ......13:23, yes he has done it he is 21 seconds faster then Kaleb.  So experience beats out youth here today. And speaking of experience Francis Manfred has just gotten underway, we expect him to have the fastest time once again, and why not he has won the prologue every year so far. Next to get the start will be our 2004 tour winner none other then Andrew Maibaum, not known for putting in one of he best times in the prologue Andrew will be likely just looking to keep the time he looses today down to a minimum. So we think he will come in about mid field.

    Lee Flasche crosses the line with a time of 16:35 for 8th best so far with only a few riders left to go. This important announcement just in the teams that are going to be in this tour have been decided upon though who is going to be on those teams has not been finalized just yet. KCF will have a team once again, that's the Kokomo Cycling and Fitness team which will be captained by Larry Barnhart once again. The Majestic Moose will ride along with the Time Lords and The Big Ring Wraiths.  Lastly we will have the Flying Squirrels team. This means that the American Flyers team which won the team event in 2007 and 2008 will not be represented here this year. When asked about this tour officials refused to commit, a team spokesman could not be found for commit. Ok while I was chatting about that Jeff Bell has gotten underway as well as Ryan Hulce. Switching from the start line to the finish line we see that Francis Manfred has once again put in the best time on the day, at least so far. Francis' time was 11:35, an average speed of 23.8 mph. I believe that will be good enough to stay on top. This just in we have another Gill entering the race this year, for  Scott's son Lantz has joined the ranks of the Tour. That gives us 2 father and son groups in this year's addition, which is a first. Though we have had other father and son  groups in the tour: Keith and Dean Crail who both did a tour however not in the same year. Then there were Greg and Tony Landrum who both were in the 2007 tour. The tour has had it share of relations in the tour; there have been 2 brothers, 3 sets of husband and wife, 2 cousins and now 4 sets of father and son. (Kent and Kasey Bickel were the brothers; Ron/Geana Moore, Roxane/ Jim Burrous, Sue/Larry Barnhart made up the married couples; Ryan Hulce/Adam Cloud are the cousins). If I have failed to mention any other relations its purely by mistake. Back to the race now.

    Andrew has finished with a decent time of 17:00 one of his best times on this course so I think he will be happy with that today.  Shortly after Andrew got done Jeff Bell came through with a 14:27 Jeff is one of our more colorful riders, in a lot of ways however I was referring to his outfits which can be a bit bright at time. And speaking of colorful it seems that we missed Mitch Reeves' start for here he comes in ahead of Ryan with the time of 15:26.  Ryan also has finished his first ride in 16:11. Leaving us with Lantz and Jim Glover  out on the course yet to finish today. This is a good time to remind everyone that the times reported here are the actual times ridden and that this will be likely the last time that real times will be reported in the commentary. Why? cause that's how we do it here so with that said our last two riders have just finished ; Lantz Gill with a respectable time of 19:03 not bad for a beginner.  Jim looking a bit tired after putting in the time of  18:00.

    Ok with all the results in the teams have been created and they look like this;

                                               
Well there you have it race fans and racers things are set for this year's Tour de Schwinnter!!!
  I would like to thank all the racers for joining the race.   

Go to the results page for the full results.

RESULTS              

  Stage 2 - The Wall