The Way Back Machine

Sherman...young lad the year is 2005,  

The Star Wars continued, kids were ripping around with wheels in there heels..the Lance effect was rolling..and it seemed as though everyone from your Cat3 buddy, to the chap at the liquor store had a yellow band around there wrist. Yes sir year we were living large.

Oh boy Mr Peabody ! That’s rad..But what was happening in Michigan? Did we have some cool stuff to do?

We sure did..and if you were a bike racer you had some hard things to do as well! 

Tell me more Mr Peabody..Sherm, long before things started to get stale, the enthusiasm waned, and the money dried up, the Michiganscene had a tendency to put on events that brought out the hard man in every category. 

So it wasn’t just race car tracks and rectangles?

Well we had those as well...but Sherm The scene always had that one course that strikes fear or gives the rider the sweaty palms. And during the 2005 season and a for a few years this would probably be the The Rockford Michigan crit course. 

Tell me more...

Beautiful posh little town, just outside of Grand Rapids, ample parking, and a course carved neatly into a hillside neighborhood. This one was always a fun course if you like climbing up the first half and descending the second. Yes Sherm 8 corners of sheer fun, the first half of the course would feel more like a cross race than a crit, heart rates would be maxed at the half way point as the course climbed its way up to the highest part  with the hill peaking out at 12%..then descending down into the neighborhood where the promoters thought of how the riders would be anaerobically starved of oxygen and would carefully cover all trees, and fire plugs with mattress and other forms of thick padding. This proved to be a life saver as most of the lower category's were victims of clipped pedals, and run ins with the curb. pavement was good, and the roads were wide enough

NEATO!!

But Sherm it wasn't just the course that separated the men from the boys. This was the home of one of the original hard men of the Michigan modern era. Brian Sheedy. And yes he showed up to wreak havoc on the local talent. The 1/2 field never stayed together and would always end in the break away lapping the crippled field, Graham Howard, and his bros Sven, Derek Graham , Greg Power-monger Christian, and Ben Renkema where just a few of the court holders during its reign. But Sherm that was then and this now, the closest we have scene to a course like death would be the long standing Death Crit. 

Brian Sheedy, Brent Bookwalter, Vince Roberge

Mr Peabody rumor has it that this is the particular race where the Black-Ace earned his nic name by three post punk teenagers yelling look.its the BLACK ACE!!! 

Yes Sherman..your correct!!!

who knows Mr Peabody, maybe 2021 will see a change?

maybe Sherm..maybe Sherm..