Last weekend Brian Alferman, Austin Allison, Nolan Froese, Terry Kennan, Tim Kakouris and I did the Tour of St. Louis and it went pretty well for us.  We knew going in to the races that we had to race for breaks because both crits were flat without many corners.  Saturday at the Carondelet Park criterium the race started fast and about 10 minutes in I put in big counter-attack and after being off for a lap guys started coming across to form a 20 man break with three THF riders in it.  With such a big break Austin, Terry and I had to stay vigilant and at the 30 minute mark a group of four with Terry in it got away.  That group of four lapped the field and around the hour mark the rest of the group got caught.  So we all worked to set Terry up but in the end we couldn’t get it right and Terry ended up second.

That afternoon in the time trial Nolan got a very good third place against some really good time trialists.

So going in to the Forest Park crit on Sunday we didn’t have much a shot at winning the overall so we raced for a break.  It was really fast with nothing going and the whole team just rode at the front marking moves and trying to get away.  About 40 minutes in I attacked and stayed out front for about five laps and when I got caught Nolan launched a perfect counter-attack that formed the winning five man move.  The rest of the team rode at the front in case Nolan’s group got caught, but it stayed away and Nolan got second on the day and ended up second overall for the weekend.  Terry got ninth on the day in the field sprint.
Brian Dziewa

Saturday April 12th

Brian Dziewa (java) takes the top step at Tilles Park.

Under cloudy skys in cool temperatures the THF Realty Cycling  team lined up 5 rider to do battle with the top riders in the St. Louis area. The race was fast from the gun and featured a impressive two man break away with Nolan in it that spent most the day off the front. While Nolan was away the Tim, Austin, Brian and Terry were able to sit back and follow moves but with the high winds and chasing pack the break came back with about 15 minutes left to race. A strong solo move by Brian gained about 20 seconds and as the laps counted down his time gap didn’t. In the end he crossed the finish line alone for the teams 5th victory of the season. As Brian crossed the line the field was in full flight with Tim driving on the front to keep the field together and setting Terry up for a 5th place finish.

We have it on video but I still can’t get it to upload so you will have to take our word for it.

Look for the winner of the raffle to be announced by Friday.

Thanks to everyone who donated.