sheboygan wors

More than 600 mountain bike riders took part in Sunday's annual Wigwam Mountain Bike Challenge, held at Evergreen Park in Sheboygan Wisconsin.  The day started below zero but warmed up upon the sunlight hitting the first race of the day.  Of which GEAR GRINDER Riley Kustman took 2nd place in the days inaugural race.  Heading into the Sport race there was sightings of the Mequon road Mafia in which Scott Mullins, Tom Felton and Pete Epperson made the trip North to tackle the Wigwam course.  Pete took home the bragging rights with a 3rd place but was riding against local hero of Brian Christenson who won the overall in the class.  In the woman Sport race, Lindsey Kriete raced to a second place upon her return from injury earlier in the year. 

Going into the Elite class Billy Street needed to pull off a fare well performance to win his yearly bet with the MTB management.  He did so by taking a 4th place overall in the race.  We wish Bill the best of luck with his new race endeavors..  Anner Matter, needed a strong performance in front of the home crowd and pulled it off over the fierce competition taking 4th overall and thus placing her into the elites top 5 overall for the season.  Brian Matter while not in attendance for the days race was able to hold onto the overall series win for the 2009 Elite Champion.

Heding into November we have the last leg of the Triple crown to go.  Of which Brian Matter is holding two of the jewels…..  Be ready….Brian maybe king again? http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/lifestyle/60001892.html

Matter takes second chequamegon

Brian Matter (Gear Grinder) captured up his second Chequamegon 40 win with a vicious attack two miles to go in the 40-mile race, setting a course record of 2:02:55.7 in the process.  His attack dropped Cole House (BMC), who taking risks on the final downhill corner, nearly caught Matter at the line and finished less than a second behind Matter.  Steve Tilford of Topeka, Kan., who initially went with Matter's final move, finished third.

   In the women's Chequamegon 40, Jenna Rinehart (Specialized) also won her second race in 2:19:31.3.  Her time was five seconds slower than Lea Davison's record time in 2008.  Rinehart won in 2007 and finished second last year.  She beat former champions Kyia Anderson (Hidden Bay/Cannondale) and Catherine Walberg (Team Kenda). 

   House of Oneida, Wis. initially blew the race wide open in the early stages of the race, whittling a lead group of 40 riders down to eight 16 miles into the race.  These eight were later joined by another seven riders pulled along by Mark and Jesse Lalonde.  Mark eventually placed fourth, over a minute down on Matter.  Matter made his first move when the course entered the rolling Birkie hills with nine miles to go, and only House and Tilford could respond. 

"I got on the gas with two miles to go in the last section of singletrack," said Matter of Sheboygan, Wis.  House, whose legs were cramping, stayed in the saddle and tried to maintain Matter's pace up the final climb.  "I took a big chance on the last corner and railed it as hard as I could," House said, but it wasn’t enough to catch Matter, who was a member of last year’s US World Championship cyclocross team. 

   Rinehart won the women's race teaming up with the men racing around her.  "I got in a good group of guys and just focused on their rear wheels," she said.  "The scariest part of the race was on the pavement.  If you can survive that …."  Rinehart rode the last few miles of the race alone, but by then she had established a comfortable seven minute lead on second-place Anderson.

   Jake Richards of Calloway, Minn. won the 16-mile Short and Fat race in 51:57.4, beating Tom Meyer of Seeley, Wis. by six seconds.  Meyer was riding a singlespeed.  Former Chequamegon 40 champion Cindy Bijold grabbed the women’s Short and Fat title.  Brian and Kim Eppen (Mercy/Specialized) of Iowa City, Iowa, won the tandem race, placing 38th overall in 2:12:51.1 despite breaking a chain.

Matter win first leg of triple crown!

Just under two and a half hours after he started, Team GEARGRINDER Rider, Brian Matter crossed the finish line to take first place in the men's Hard Rock 48-mile race, with a winning time of 2:28:17.2.
Matter said that it was a different race than it's been in the past, as 2008 winner Mike Simonson wasn't racing.  "The defending champ wasn't in the mix, which was weird," Matter said.  After being in a big group until the first major climb, Matter and small group broke free about eight miles into the race, and eventually Matter found himself trailing Mike Anderson.  "He had maybe a 20 second gap, and once I bridged up to him it was the
two of us the rest of the race," Matter said.  Matter said he and Anderson worked together, and he was just able to get him in the end.
Anderson, from Alpena, finished second in 2:28:19.1, while Doug Swanson of Minnetonka, Minn., was third (2:33:10.3), Mike Phillips from Stevens Point, Wis., was fourth (2:33:15.4), and Greg Kuhn of Sterling Heights (2:33:38.1) rounded out the top five.
Matter, who won the Hard Rock in 2004, said it felt great to be back on top, and that the conditions were perfect.  "Last night's rain made the course really good and fast," he said.
Anner Matter had a strong showing with her return elite field with a top
ten overall taking 8th.

Matter take wors #6

Heading into July one would expect the heat and humidity to be upon us in Wisconsin. However with temps in the 70's the hottest action was displayed at WORS #6 at Sunburst Ski hill. Brian Matter continued his successful season taking the overall win, placing his record up to 4 and 0 for the year. Heading into the last lap Brian was able to bridge up to the ladies Category 1 riders and ride the last lap with his wife who took 5th upon the day in the women pro field. Next up will be the triple crown race of Ore to Shore for the Matters.
 

matter & LUKAS TAKE MICHIGAN PODIUM

Andrea Matter and Sara Lukas took the Overall women's podium in first and
third place, respectively, at the Adventure Mine in Greenland, Michigan this
Sunday, July 12. Steep climbs, rolling singletrack, fun descents, and riding
with bats!  With the 5 mile lap partially in an abandon mine, lights were
required in the 1/4 mile tunnel because of the total darkness.  Headlamps,
a must!  In total, long course was 20 miles.  Check out photos and video
here.

matter takes overall at subaru cup stage race (4th, 1st, and 1st on stages)

Brian Matter of TEAM GEARGRINDER has won the overall stage race of the Subaru Cup.  Brain started the race off with Tristan Schouten, Travis Woodruff and Jesse Lalonde setting a torrid pace in the 80 degree and high Wisconsin humid weather.  Upon the last circuit of the race Brian new he was in heading into trouble with cramping and had to retreat from the lead pack and thus finishing in 4th overall but just down 1.3 minutes.  Leading into Sundays racing Brian had to come from behind and score time or at a minimum win bonuses to have a chance to take the overall title in both the Super D and the Short Track events.  In both events Brian captured the win and thus vaulted himself into the overall victory of the race weekend.  Now at 4 and 0 for the year Brain will laying his undefeated record on the line while heading to the Tour Of America's Dairyland race held on his training grounds of Greenbush Wisconsin.

Video of race course, and race result listing.
http://tjharron.smugmug.com/gallery/8640762_kMxT7/1/570197048_GQ9cY
http://www.wors.org/results/index.php?year=2009&race=4&event=Subaru+Cup

brian's x 3

Over the weekend WORS #3 took place in Wausau Wisconsin.  In the elite field Brian Matter continued his "streak" of consecutive overall wins to equal 3 for the year.  While not racing as much or as early as years past the rest is proving to be as important as the efforts quoted Brian on his 2009/10 training.  Heading into Brain's yearly goal will be to race the World Championship in CX but it's always nice to come away with a hard fought win while getting ready for the big ones ahead.  Don't be surprised to see Brian hitting a few road races at the Tour of America's Dairyland   by the end of the month to complement his training. 

Now, onto Brian #2 and #3.  Brian Christensen took home a 1st place in Sport and Brian Schwaller took home 2nd in Comp at WORS #3. 

3rd race, third win and three Brains on the podium.  Must be KARMA………

Family Matter - 1st and 3rd from WORS #2 May 31st‏

Brain Matter has come out of hibernation from his winter cyclocross campaign to capture race #2 of the Wisconsin off Road Series.  After settling on not racing WORS #1 due to training purposes (WEMS) Brian has come out with a very convincing win for the 2009 race year against some of the nations best racers.  Jesse Lalonde and Brain created a gap of 5 minutes to 3rd place rider of Ted Hanes.  For added information from Brian

In the Woman Elite Andrea Matter continued her comeback to the elite field with a third place overall podium.  Andrea has been attending school and over the past 4 years and has decided to place some focus on the family side job of bike racing for 2009.  We welcome her back to the bike and to TEAM GEARGRINDER and look forward to continued success.

Other top 5 showings were:

Brain Schwaller  - 2nd in Comp
Riley Kunstman  - 4th in JR

Stay entertained during the off season with Brian's blog or Sarah's blog.