Kansas Cycling Association (KCA) President Chris Hess awards Kansas State ominum awards to area cyclists at the Firecracker 500 Crit this July 4th, 2004. Evan Solida, Ben Robertson, and Joe Schmalz all of GP VeloTek were on hand to receive their awards and support local racing. Joe and Ben went a step further and won the Junior and Cat 4 race respectively.

2004 Kansas Omnium Championships

Cat 1 / 2 Steve Rouff 
Cat 3 Evan Solida       
Cat 4 Ben Robertson
Cat 5 David Haines
Junior 10-12 Josh Wade
Junior 13-14 Joe Schmalz
Junior 15-16 Adam Lang
Masters 35-39 Lynn Neir
Masters 40-44 Frank Jakofcich
Masters 45-49 Bruce Tanner
Masters 50-54 Dean Parker
Women 35+ Jill Thole
Women 40+ Beth McGilley
Women 50+ Glenda Taylor
Women 1/2/3 Trina Brock
Women 4 Kim Sheldon

Joe Douglas of Free State Racing performs well at the Missouri State Senior games. Joe impresses at Firecracker 500 crit, Joe road strongly at the front of the Cat 4 pack for a third of the race before fading towards the finish. Joe's aiming for Master's Nationals in Utah this August and part of his preparation led him to the Missouri State Senior games in late June. At the senior games Joe raced against Masters athletes age 50 and up and the Columbia, Missouri cycling team was out in force. Joe placed 2nd in the road race, one mile time trial and won the 5 KM time trial later that day. Most senior games are unique in that that all 3 events are held in one day. The typical format is a 40 KM road race, 5 KM TT, and a shorter length time trial. Joe's has medaled previously at National's and is a podium threat whenever he competes Nationally.

KCA's Chris Hess presents Chris Hall (Team X) and Ben Robertson (GP VeloTek) a small gift to use towards their Tour de l'Abitibi campaign. This is Chris and Bens last year in the junior ranks and both riders have made substantial improvements in their final junior year. Chris placed 2nd at the Cat 3 Kansas State Time Trial and Ben's criterium ability has given him several top 2 finishes. Roger Harrison and Jim Whittaker have made contributions to both juniors and encourage others to do the same.

Trina Brock (River City Racing Club) win's the women's Category 1/2/3 ominum and the Firecracker 500. Trina put in an impressive performance to finish 10th in the Men's Category 4 crit at the 500. Trina's running and triathlon background has come in handy with her trademark break-aways. Trina's perhaps best known for her dominating off-the front solo win at last year's Alta-Sport Vinland Road Race.

Scott Hammack (Kansas State University Cycling) and Richard Gordon (John Howard performance) make a small donation towards the GP VeloTek Junior national's fund. Lawrence Bicycle Club (LBC) signs on to support GP VeloTek juniors and cycling venturing crew riders. GP VeloTek's juniors are currently running a SAG at this Sunday's Lizard under the skillet touring ride. The lizard is one of the best mid-summer touring rides with a strong showing and all the hot peppers you can choke down.

Time trial specialist Andy Chocha (Team X) places a close 2nd at Military National's. Cycling pundits predict power time trialer Chocha win's Military national's in 2005. Andy's improved all-around ability also netted him 1st place at the Fire Cracker 500 crit winning the sprint in a two-man break.

Alta-Sport interviews Scott Hammack to learn more about his time trialing. Scott's made some big strides in his time trial ability this year. (KS States 1st Cat 3 in 55:35 & KCOI 3rd 1/2/3)

Alta-Sport: Scott, you rode well during the Spring Fling crit series but have really come into your own in June. Your time trialing has really improved. Was this expected?

Scott Hammack: Thanks! Spring Fling was lots of fun as always. If I remember correctly, the
third Spring Fling was the first time I was able to hang on to a crit with
cat. 1/2 riders and not get dropped. The first couple times this year and
every time I raced 1/2/3 last year I got KILLED.

I did not specifically target time trialing this year. In fact, I spent most
of the winter and early spring building anaerobic capacity since that was my
biggest weakness. Last year, I was a consistent time trialer, but I usually
finished about halfway down in the cat. 3.

In hindsight, it helps that I did a short TT at the Spring Fling and also the
Lanterne Rouge TT. The TTT that we hosted was very instructional since riding
in the draft during a team time trial gives you a few moments to think about
what is happening. Time trials really take practice in order to learn good
pacing. Every time I do one I learn something. So, since I've had more
practice, I would expect to have improved a little.

Alta-Sport: Do you do specific time trial work?

I rarely ride TT position since it is a major pain to swap on aero bars,
shifters, and brakes. In the winter I did a few 10 minute intervals just below
threshold when I wasn't working on anaerobic capacity. Most of the spring I
didn't because I was racing so much on the collegiate circuit. Last month I
did intervals where I'd slowly ramp up from very easy to threshold over ten
minutes and then hold for ten minutes. I did four of these intervals each day
three times a week for all of June.

The other thing to work on is flexibility. I was very careful not to skip
stretching in the month before the state TT.

Alta-Sport: What's your favorite hard work out?

Team time trial practice with Dallas Burnum or one minute sprint intervals
with Mike Koons. Dallas really puts me on the TT pain train and Mike is a
fighter for the full 60 seconds. If you've ever seen Mike in a crit you know
why he's a good one to do sprint workouts with. They both helped me hit
wattages I didn't think I was capable of seeing.

Alta-Sport: Your 3rd at the KCOI Cat 1/2/3 Time Trial was unexpected by the community. We were all impressed. What advice do you have for the Baldwin City stage race time trial?

I was not expecting it either, which made it even sweeter. The KCOI TT is
really a tricky one in that the start is uphill and then very shortly after
that there's another uphill. I think most riders have a hard time limiting
themselves at the start of that TT and also have a very hard time riding
negative split. Everyone goes out too hard there. Those hills at the beginning
can really cause a psychological panic because you think you are riding too
slow. Then you push a little too hard and a minute later you really feel the
pain and can't maintain the intensity. That's exactly what I did last year and
Steve Rouff had made up the 30 second gap on me by the time we reached the
turnaround.

Alta-Sport: Since you use a power meter what types of wattage did you average at the Kansas State time trial? At KCOI?

At the state TT my average was 320. 315 for the first half and 325 for the
second half. At KCOI I did 356. Brian Jensen started after me and my goal was
to keep him from catching me like Steve did the year before. Having the
fastest guys chasing you is great motivation!

Alta-Sport: You recently won the Firecracker 500 Crit with a solid Cat 3 field there. Tell us more about that, what was your power?

Mark Smelser was off the front and so I hoped to bridge up to him and work
with him. That motivated me to attack and the rest is history. Average power
for the whole race was 296. For my 28 minutes of breakaway it was 328. When I
was pedaling I was trying to stay right around 350. I skipped a pedal in the
last corner and that convinced me to be more careful in the corners. Not
pedaling in the corners dropped my average down from the 350 I was maintaining
to 328.

The funny thing is that this past weekend was just like the other weekends in
which I've raced both the 3/4 and the 1/2/3. Usually I average about the same
power in both races. Now, I definitely have not won any 1/2/3 races and in fact
I've had some ugly ones, but I think it is interesting that the power required
to hang in the main fields are identical. In fact, the 3/4 is often harder
because the surges are more dramatic instead of the more steady nature of the
1/2/3. Of course breakaways in both races are a whole different story that I'm
still learning to read.

Alta-Sport: Where do you see your own cycling going?

I want to maintain my abilities as much as possible when I leave school and
continue to have a great time.

Alta-Sport: Your leadership in the KSU team has been strong and KSU has been very visible at spring races in Kansas this year. What's your long term goal for your team.

My goal is for us to establish ourselves more permanently. I want to make sure
that riders who come to KSU experience the great team oriented atmosphere of
collegiate cycling. In many ways racing on a collegiate team made me feel like
I was in a grand tour. Every rider in a collegiate race is on a team and every
team is chasing points toward nationals qualification. Tactics play out more
like a pro tour than a weekend USCF race. Finally, I hope we can recruit some
of the awesome Kansas juniors.