Happy New Year everyone!  We are excited to announce that this new year will bring some great changes to the team.  The biggest change will be the name switch from St John's Cycling to Mercy Kuat Cycling.  We are proud to be a part of the health system's rebranding effort, and we look forward to another great season of promoting safety and healthy lifestyles with Mercy.  With that new name comes a new logo, and a totally new look, which will be revealed in the coming weeks.  We appreciate your support and look forward to a new year and a new name.

See this link for the official release from Mercy http://www.mercy.net/springfieldmo/newsroom/2011-08-08/mercys-new-brand-identity-coming-to-a-community-near-you

Sincerely,
Mercy Kuat Cycling Team

Labor Day weekend brings the annual tradition of Gateway Cup to St Louis.  4 days of criteriums is hard to pass up, especially on a long weekend.  I took a vacation day to start my weekend early and headed up to race at Lafayette Square on Friday night and Francis Park on Saturday afternoon.  As always there was a quality field of nearly 100 riders each day.  The Friday night criterium was lively with lots of spectators and festivities, add to that the excitement of a night criterium and you have a recipe for fun.  The race was hard and fast from the start, with several teams trying to get a break to go clear.  None were successful, but these constant attacks kept the pace pretty high.  We ended up averaging 26.5 mph for the hour long race.  The bunch sprint at the end was hectic and I ended up somewhere in the middle of the pack.  

Saturday brought some more nice weather and another large field.  The course had a bit of a climb each lap, which kept the attacks to a minimum.  Part of the way through our race the wind picked up and clouds rolled in.   We finished just in time for a heavy rain shower to drench everyone around including myself.  I guess I’d prefer to get drenched after the race rather than before or during.  Missouri weather, oh well.

The road season has thus officially concluded, and it’s time to get the mountain bikes out for a few fall rides and races.  Several of us will race the upcoming BT Epic (www.BTEpic.com) mountain bike race in October, and probably another one or two ahead of it to prepare the legs and bodies.  Fall is always a great time of year to ride, so get out there and enjoy it!  Also, don’t forget the Tour de Bass is coming up on October 15th, we’ll be there, its sure to be a fun ride.

Thanks for reading,
Ryan

by Jeremy Pych
Brian Bradley and I rolled out Sunday morning for our yearly pilgrimage to Jeff City and the Missouri State Criterium Championships.  The recent change in the weather from unbearably hot to unseasonably mild was a welcome one.  We arrived just in time to see the end of the Junior race and Jack Hogan lay down a massive sprint in the final stretch to take the Jr. 17-18 title and jersey.  Congratulations Jack!!!
An hour after Jack’s win, Brian and I lined up in the Masters 40+ category.  There were about 35 starters; all of them contenders.  The pace was fast right out of the gate with everyone fighting for a spot at the front.  About ten minutes into the race, a horrific crash occurred just before turn 2, resulting in a ten minute stoppage so the ambulance could enter the course.  
After the restart several breakaways formed, but none survived for longer than a lap or two.  We were all together with three laps to go, Brian was on my wheel and it was a fight to stay within striking distance of the front.  With less than a lap to go I burned my last match and brought Brian to the front of the race.  Brian held his position through the last two turns and then promptly fired the afterburners, moved into the lead and held off all challengers for the victory.
Later in the day, Skip raced to a pack finish in the hotly contested Category 3 race.
For the final race of the day, Brian and I joined Jim and Adam in the Pro/1/2 race.  Adam rode near the front for most of the race, bridging to breaks and following moves.  Brian snagged a late-race prime.  Lap after lap of the short uphill, subsequent turns and acceleration to the finish was taking its toll on the legs.  After 60 minutes a now ragged field was still all together.  Things started ramping up for the field sprint with three laps to go.  Jim finished 9th, Adam in 12th and me in 17th.
Congratulations to our new State Champs, Jack and Brian!

Well the dog days off summer are definitely upon us.  The racing has pretty much grinded to a halt during the month of July.  Not that we haven’t wanted to race but rather the race calendar was pretty much empty unless you were willing to travel five hours one way.  So we have been in a holding pattern since the Tour of Kansas City way back in the month of June.  The team had a good showing that weekend and we were rewarded with several top ten’s.  This past weekend found us in the state of Kansas helping out our teammate Andrew Coe in his efforts so solidify the KBAR (Kansas Best All-Around Rider) jersey.  Saturday was the state criterium and Sunday was the state road race.  We were able to put a rider in the break during Saturday’s criterium which allowed Andrew to sit back and follow wheels.  In the end he finished 6th with his nearest KBAR competitor finishing 10th.  So with points in hand we lined up with Andrew for the road race.  This event was to be contested on a 23 mile circuit of which we did 3 laps on.  With Andrew in the KBAR lead and only one individual able to mathematically beat him that made our job pretty straight forward, control that one individual and let Andrew sit in till late then throw down an attack.  We did just that, controlled things for the first 46 miles and let Andrew do his thing in the last few miles to secure the KBAR jersey.  This weekend (8-13) the team travels to Jefferson City for the MO state criterium championships.  

Friday the 13th found me traveling to Mountain View Arkansas for Syllamo's Revenge.  I would contest this 50 mile mountain bike race on my rigid Specialized Rockhopper Single Speed.  The weather on the start line was perfect, 50's and overcast with no rain in the forecast.  The race starts out with a 3/4 mile climb on some double track which leads directly into some technical single track.  Positioning here is crucial and I made sure to get towards the front entering the single track.  From here the day is full of ups and downs literally and figuratively.  The trail system is a beautiful blend of tight technical single track to flowing bench cuts that act like a big pump track.  That's the literal ups and down now the figurative.  Your mind wanders in an event like this from the highs of thinking you can sustain this pace all day to the lows of screaming out loud from the pain in your arms!  Yes arms not legs, the rigid fork was coming back to haunt me from about mile 35 on.  I was having difficulty hanging on to the bars and keeping total control of my bike.  This was causing me to take the down hills at a slower pace ultimately costing me several minutes.  Back to the racing, I had good legs all day and never drifted further back than 9th and finished 7th overall, 2nd Single Speed.  In the end I would say I won this round against the Syllamo trail system.  I rode 50 miles at my pace and only had one "oh this is going to hurt" moment which actually turned out ok.  This is a well run event and the trails are second to none…I will be back next year hopefully with a suspension fork...Cale #121

Thanks to all the racers and volunteers for another great Toasty Waffles race last night!  Results are now posted on www.USACycling.org and we want to especially congratulate the new holders of the "Golden Fleece" Peter Krause in the A's and Jacob Cauble in the B's.  See you all for round 3 on JUNE 21st!!!  

Thanks to everyone who came out for the first of FOUR Toasty Waffle races last night.  We had a great turnout, perfect weather and good racing!  Congratulations to our week 1 winners, Austin Vinton in the A Race (right side) and Jared Meyer in the B race (left side).  Results are now posted at www.USACycling.org  See you next week!!