We're 32!

On February 9th, 1987, the Brazen Dropouts officially registered as a member club of USA Cycling - we’re 32 years old! Here are some pictures from members, past and present, that were shared for a quick look into some moments from over the years.

It's been awhile...

We’ve been busy! Since our last post, we’ve hosted the New Glarus Road Race, the Sun Prairie Cup Cyclocross Race, and just wrapped up the 28th Annual Bike Swap, held at the Alliant Energy Center on January 12th. If you missed any of these, stay tuned for the next time we host each one! We had over 125 unique registered vendors and approximately 1000 general attendees at the Swap - the highest attendance in the last 5 year. We hope to continue building Bike Swap attendance with continued marketing and advertising to the local Madison community and beyond. Our members make these events possible for the cycling community year after year, with months of preparation and volunteer hours.

Check out the Swap page to see just a few images from the Swap!

We’ve got a lot on tap for 2019 - the team is busy building base fitness indoors at Wisconsin Indoor Cycling, and working with Machinery Row Bicycles to make sure we’re all set with the right gear for the upcoming race season. A spring training trip is in the works, and fun social events are planned to get together off our bikes, too. We also plan to support Free Bikes 4 Kidz - Madison with a couple volunteer mechanic days to help them give away over 1000 bikes to kids in the local communities. If you’re close to the WCA racing community, you may have also noticed we’re on the schedule to host the WI State Road Championships! We plan to continue to utilize the wonderful roads near New Glarus, WI to test riders on make-or-break climbs, fast descents, and always-present cross-winds. The Brazen Dropouts plan to host four “Practice Crits” at Madison International Speedway like we did in 2018, and are also working on making our road race clinics more public for folks to learn from our more experienced racers in a relaxed setting. Stay tuned for this and more! We continue to stay active on our Facebook page, and now an Instagram page!

Happy training.

Top 10's at the 10th ToAD

As competitive Wisconsin cyclists, many of us look forward to the last couple weeks of June for the Tour of America's Dairyland.  We are very fortunate to have 11 straight days of pro-level race experiences right at our next-door neighbors (shout out to all the greater Milwaukee-area communities and Janesville for hosting!).  Whether you race or cheer the racers on as a spectator, the event leaves everyone with some great memories, and continues to bring the excitement of cycling to everyone. 

Throughout the event, our racers represented BD and our sponsors very well across four primary categories.  As our values state, we take racing seriously, but not too seriously. This is exemplified continuously by all of our racers as we put team camaraderie and support before the pressure to win.  ToAD brings some of the best riders from the Midwest and beyond, producing the largest fields we'll see this year.  Cracking the top 10 in any ToAD race is definitely an achievement for our riders.  A few racers got involved in some crashes, but we're thankful everyone walked away with minimal scrapes/bruises and bike damage.

Here are some of the highlights for the Brazen Dropouts from the 2018 Tour of America's Dairyland.  Another big shout-out to our sponsors for supporting us all year!

Jamani Bergh   |   Juniors 17-18   |   Omnium: 2nd
Port Washington - 1st (4th overall in 4/5)
Downer - 1st (3rd overall in 4/5)
Bayview - 2nd (5th overall in 4/5)
West Bend - 3rd (10th overall in 4/5)

Kaitlyn Agnew   |   Category 3 Women
Waukesha - 1st
Grafton - 6th
Downer - 6th

Craig Billings   |   Master's 3/4
Kenosha - 8th

Derek Landwehr   |   Category 3 Men
Downer - 2nd
East Tosa - 5th

Ben Grabow   |   Category 3 Men
Waukesha - 3rd
Downer - 10th

Peter Armstrong   |   Category 3 Men
Shorewood - 9th

Photo Credits:
Jonathan Ninmer - https://jpninmer.smugmug.com/2018-Tour-of-Americas-Dairyland
and members of BD.

Bikes, Bikes, Bikes

The last month has been a whirlwind of racing and rides for many members!

Horribly Hilly Hundreds - June 16th

• Snake Alley and Melon City Criteriums in Iowa
• Tulsa Tough Criteriums
• WCA road races and crits hosted by LAPT, Velocause, and GDVC
• Horribly Hilly Hundreds
• Madison Practice Crits hosted by BD
• 4x WORS MTB races across Wisconsin
• ...and countless training rides

Madison Practice Crits at Madison International Speedway

There's plenty of racing left through June, July, and August for road and mountain. Riding won't quit as long as the weather is good! Most of us would probably appreciate some weekends where it's not 95F and 90% humidity, though.

We post all of our race and ride highlights on our Facebook page, so give it a 'Like' to stay up to date. The BD road race is in it's permitting stages, but it's tentatively scheduled for August 18th in New Glarus, WI - mark your calendar for one for one of the best road race courses around!

90 mile Memorial Day ride to Devil's Lake

WCA Standings - BD's are looking good!

The first release of WCA road standings came out earlier this week after four race weekends (Whitnall, Muskego, La Crosse, NEW) and BD's are on top of the women's standings and third overall! We've had attendance at each of these races, and have several podium finishes so far. We hope to keep up this momentum through the rest of the season!

Muskego Park Race Recap

The 2018 WCA season officially kicked-off last weekend at the Team Wisconsin/MOSH Whitnall Park Criterium after a few weekends of cancelled races due to lingering winter weather. With a few podiums already in the books for BDs at the Beloit Spring Crit and at Whitnall, the team was anxious to get the season into full swing at the Hampshire Cycling Club (HCC) Muskego Park Race. Over the course of each 1.2 mile lap, riders climb and descend 100 feet, making for a challenging finishing area and fast backstretch. The course is known to sever fields, and this year was no different. In total, 14 team members entered races with four podium finishes. Here are some highlights:

Juniors 15-18: The field of 13 broke up early with the main group fending off several attacks. A late solo breakaway in the 25 minute race appeared to be holding until BD Jamani Bergh single-handedly chased it down on the last lap, with a final attack on the finish hill to open up a sizable gap to take the win! Jamani is in his second year with the Junior Dropouts program, and his serious off-season training is paying off early in the season. Look for him to be a podium contender in every Juniors race this season.

Jamani Bergh patiently waiting to make his move in the Juniors 15-18 race (Photo: Rachel Bergh).

Kaitlyn Agnew soloing to 1st in the Women's 4/5 race (Photo: Ethan Cayko).

Cat 3/4: Several teams had strong contingents in this race so team tactics were sure to play a role. Around the 15 minute mark, Derek Landwehr and a Team WI/MOSH rider held a strong effort up and over the hill. The two worked well together, continuing to push the pace with hard pulls, and with the help of teammates in the pack, the gap grew from seconds to minutes. Any attacks from non-break teams or unattached riders were kept at bay thanks to BD's Lee Prouty, Kevin Sparks, Craig Billings, and other Team WI/MOSH riders. Thirty minutes later, with just one lap to go, the two-man breakaway caught the field, with Derek taking 2nd place in the end.

Women Cat 4/5: After last week's 2nd place by only inches, first-year BD Kaitlyn Agnew was aggressive to make sure it didn't happen again. With six racers, there wasn't much space to hide from the wind, so what better way to shake things up? Her solo break held and she rolled to her first win!

Derek Landwehr in the two-man break in the 3/4 race (Photo: Paul Vassalotti IG @vassman11)

Masters 35+ 4/5 podium. (Photo: Team Belgianwerkx)

Masters 35+ 4/5: Matt Bruss hitched a ride with two very strong riders from Belgianwerkx and Diablo Cycling, creating a three-man break mid-way through the race. While Matt couldn't keep pace with the break, he held on for a very respectable third in the strung-out 28 rider field.

Other notable finishes:
Gabriel Skalsky & Jordan Miller: 9th and 10th in Juniors 9-14
Thomas Chaltry & Byrne Dobrient: 6th and 7th in Juniors 15-18
Kevin Sparks: 8th in Cat 4/5
Jason Bentley: 7th in Masters 35+ 4/5

Full results can be found here.

Next race: La Crosse Omnium (May 4th through 6th)

First race, first podiums!

While there's currently snow on the ground in Wisconsin, a few BD's made it down to the Spring Super Criterium in South Beloit, IL on April 8th. In the Cat 4/5 women, Olivia Cope and Kaitlyn Agnew took 1st and 2nd! Olivia recently spent a week training in North Carolina with the UW-Madison Cycling Team, putting her in prime shape for the season ahead.  It was Kaitlyn's first race ever, but her dedication to off-season training and attending the team training trip really showed.

In the Cat 3 race, Ben Grabow rode smart to a solid 3rd place. In three appearances at this race since 2014, he's 2 for 3 for podiums so it's apparent he really knows the course and what to expect for the early season.  

Check out our new Pearl Izumi kits/racesuits!

Next up: the Whitnall Park Spring Classic Criterium (WCA) in Milwaukee!

Spring Break 2018!

March 28th through April 1st, eight members made the trip down to Nashville, Indiana (about 45 minutes east of Bloomington) to get in five solid days of training. Brown County Park brought the best climbing, and with Nashville sitting in a valley, every route had some great variety in terrain. Despite some rough road conditions from the winter and scattered rain storms, the team rode every day of the trip, with total mileage at 250 miles for some of our riders. Staying in a cabin and doing community-style meals really helped distribute costs to make this trip attainable for everyone. This was our second year doing a team trip, and no doubt, we'll continue to do them. 

Check out some of our photos on our Facebook page, and hit us up if you're interested in learning more about riding in the Nashville area (there's also great mountain biking). We're definitely excited and prepared for the season ahead!

We've been busy!

It's been a hectic last few months with the Sun Prairie Cyclocross race in October, lots of CX racing through December, the BD Bike Swap in January and a bunch of planning for the upcoming year!

Cyclocross - BD's made it known we're just as serious about cyclocross as we are road. We had podiums in every category at one point or another during the season and ended up in the top 5 for team standings when it was all said and done.  We had a blast hosting the Sun Prairie Cyclocross race that brought nearly 300 racers to a challenging and unique course.

Bike Swap - We hosted the 27th annual BD Bike Swap on January 13th at the Alliant Energy Center - New Holland Pavilion. This event brings in over 125 vendors and over 700 general attendees every year, and 2018 was no exception. While the purpose of the event is to bring people together to buy/sell bikes, clothes, parts, whatever, it really brings together a community of folks that have a passion for bikes and the friends that this brings. Keep an eye out for announcements for the 2019 Swap!

Wisconsin Women's Fund Award - BD was recently announced as the winner in the 'Bike Club' category for the Wisconsin Women's Fund Fostering Change Award! We've focused on growing our women's contingent over the last few years and have emphasized an inclusive environment for girls and women to grow as individual cyclists and as a team, and it hasn't gone unnoticed. We'll be in attendance at the awards ceremony on March 15. More info on the group and awards can be found here.

Other Team Updates - Team leadership has been hard at work in the background to make 2018 even better than 2017.

• We will now be representing BD with Pearl Izumi custom clothing
• We're working with our awesome sponsor Machinery Row Bicycles to have some of the best bikes, components, helmets and sunglasses around
• We've partnered with Wisconsin Indoor Cycling (WIC) and Klinke Cleaners as two new sponsors for 2018
• The team is currently planning a training trip in March, permitting for a revamped Madison practice crits series, and are focusing on improving our member experience with indoor training at WIC, a more consistent outdoor ride schedule once weather improves, and being a more organized team with race and other event attendance/travel/teamwork. 

Our first clothing order was just submitted, but if you're interested in joining BD for 2018, contact us to get in touch with our membership coordinator!  The next few months will have several great opportunities to get to know us through our indoor rides, outdoor rides when the weather improves, and our team meetings.

WCA Road Final Standings!

We're proud to announce that BD earned 3rd place overall in team standings for the 2017 WCA Road Series! We were 1 of 2 teams to score points in every WCA race this season.  This is a testament to our strong membership numbers across men's, women's, and junior race categories, and the dedication of our members to developing and challenging themselves as racers. A few highlights:

Olivia Cope - 1st overall, Cat 3/4 Women

Adler Kennedy - 1st overall, Juniors 17-18

Sam Naggatz - 2nd overall, Juniors 17-18

Peter Armstrong - 2nd overall, Master's 35+ 3/4

Ben Grabow - 2nd overall, Cat 3 Men

Caitlin Neuman - 3rd overall, Cat 1/2/3 Women

Craig Billings - 4th overall, Cat 4 Men

Dennis Smith - 4th overall, Juniors 17-18

Jamani Bergh - 5th overall, Juniors 15-16

5 of the top 10 Cat 3 Men were BDs (Ben, Derek Landwehr, Kyle Russ, Josh Fangman, Eric Staats)

Well done, BDs! Let's keep it going into cyclocross!