Balltown Classic
DieselDave
in DeWitt, IA,
Saturday, to participate in the 5th Balltown Classic 200 mile bike
race.
The field had to wait an hour to allow the deluge that passed through
at
5AM to wind down to a drizzle before starting. The route is quite
hilly - no terribly long climbs, but one short steep grade after
another wear the riders down, especially in the 2nd half of the event.
It was a pretty wet ride for the first 100 miles, with a mix of
drizzle and mist for most of the first half of the event. A lead group
of five - Larry Ide, Joe Mann, Tom Waterman, Bill Ford and Matt Aro
sprinted over very hilly terrain (10,000 feet of climbing for the 200
miles) to Balltown. Balltown is a small Iowa town, located a bit north
of Debuque on a spectacular bluff above the Mississippi. At Balltown
the
skies cleared and the sun made an appearance - brightening everyone's
day in more ways than one.
As the day heated up and the climbs began to take their toll, the lead
group spread out. At the end it was Bill Ford pushing to retain his
lead
over Matt - who had fallen back when he flatted near Baldwin. The
leader
and men's winner was Ford, who was able to remain in the lead despite
a
determined Aro's hammering the last 15 miles of the course. Bill Ford
finished the 200 miles in 10 hr 45 min with Aro following at 10:46.
It's not often that 200 mile races finish times are that close.
Merry Vander Linden once again won the women's class improving on her
own personal best for the event - and STILL the only woman to have
completed the Balltown Classic.
And then there was Dennis - Grelk, that is. In that yellow banana HPV
Barracuda, Dennis did 214 miles in 10 hours and 14 minutes. He went
off
course for twenty miles and beat the personnel to the 150 mile check
point - he finished the last 50 without water - and still came in a
half
hour before the rest. Impressive, especially considering that long and
steep uphill climbs are not really the terrain where HPVs excel. Fact
is, Dennis had to walk more than one of the hills.
Sorry if these stats are not formatted properly - they may b e better
viewed on the UltraMidwest site in a day or so, This was a JMC event.
Hours:Min
HPV
Dennis Grelk Donnellson IA 10:14 214 Miles
Men
Ford Bill Musactine IA 10:45
Matt Aro Superior WI 10:46
Larry Ide Monmouth IL 10:59
Joe Mann Muscatine IA 11:25
James Yost Mahomet IL 11:53
John Harrington Bettendorf 12:03
Bryce Walsh Chicago IL 12:08
Thomas Waterman Pleasant Valley IA 12:08
David Meridith Downers Grove IL 12:50
William Pitney DeKalb IL 12:56
David Thompson Quad Cities 13:04
William Nauseef Iowa City IA 13:12
Thomas Berube Chicago IL 13:12
John Their Park View IA 13:15
Terry Crompton Iowa Coty IA 13:15
Greg Zaborac Canton IL 13:17
Angel Mitevski Rochester Hills MI 13:54
Stephen Geering Blue Grass IA
Scott Swanson Silvis IL
Women
Merry Vander Linden Bloomfield Hills MI 13:28
Dave Parker
UltraMIdwest, LLC
www.ultramidwest.net