Willow Metro Park played host for the kick off of the 2005 Michigan Challenge Point Series. The first event of the series was a race against the clock. An individual time trial of 14 miles around the park setting. The course is flat and features one 90 degree corner. All other corners are sweeping and can be taken at speed. The course was run in a clockwise fashion. Mother nature did cooperate despite forecasts of rain. Cloudy, dry and 50 degrees were the conditions for this time trial event.

Masters Women 35-44 event: The team was represented by one of our sponsors in this category. Dr. Lisa Meils blazed her way around the park to capture a podium position in her first event of the season! As a proven force in the race against the clock, we will be tempting Dr. Lisa to attend some upcoming criteriums and perhaps even a road race event. Excellent job Dr. Lisa and thank you for your support to the team!

Series leader Bruce Rivera was NOT on the starting line for this event due to illness. The team lined up with strategy "B" in place and here is how it played out. The peloton remained together for the early portion of the race. Tom Kachelmeyer rode some strong tempo on front and flexed his muscles midway into the race to pull back a dangerous break that was forming up the road. As Kachelmeyer shut the breaks down, David Mullins launched his own attack and rode off the front of the field. Mullins spent several laps solo before being joined by another racer. The break eventually fizzled and the field was together again. Last lap of action saw Paul Winocur leap off the front into overdrive and rapidly put distance between himself and the chasing field. As Winocur sprinted the longest 0.70 mile of his life, the field was locked on and driving hard. Paul was just pipped at the line by two other racers, just missing his first win of the season by inches! Congratulations to Paul Winocur and the great team work of Kachelmeyer and Mullins.

Action in the "B" race saw Paul Rivera force and ride several breaks from the field that never established. The big fun came when a break did finally materialize that Rivera was not part of. He hunkered down, deep in the drops and dragged the field for four laps up to the break! Last lap action saw Paul Rivera move to the front and crank it up, although he was swarmed before the line, he had achieved his training goals for the day.

The pace was hot from the start with many riders taking their best shots at fragmenting the race field. Approximately 18 laps into the 40 lap event, Bruce Rivera stretched the elastic until it finally snapped. Bruce managed to roll off the front of the field and was joined shortly by another rider who cleanly bridged the gap without dragging the field up to Bruce. A few laps later, a third rider joined them and with the added horsepower, it looked like this could be the winning move. The field was being controlled by the posse of David Mullins, Thomas Kachelmeyer and Paul Winocur. The team was forced to ride some aggressive tempo on the front to deter any other team organizing and launching moves that would take the field up the road and swallow the break that Rivera was commanding. Much like he did to initiate the original selection, Bruce Rivera simply rode away from his competition and sprinted to the top step of the podium.

It was another stellar weekend of racing for the Essex Brass Cycling Team! Several top placings and TWO WINS! Total domination of both events, capped off with great team work by all team members. Bruce Rivera continues to roll.........that would be (2) second place finishes and (2) wins in the past two weekends. Great job to all team members.

The team was in full force including club member and USCF Chief Official Steve Westerfield who was running the show for this slugfest. From the starting whistle, it was Paul Rivera (two Riveras are always better than one) and Jeff Gray leaping off the front to string the field out into a long, thin line. The field bunched back up and then it was Scott McLarty's turn. Paul Winocur had a run at it, as did Tom Kachelmeyer. Bill Gilboe enjoyed some time putting the hurt to a couple riders following his wheel up the road. Joe Matthews went up the road to form a two man break about the middle of the race, but was gathered back by the field. As the attacks and chases became more serious, finally the field split and the Essex Brass Cycling Team had placed five men in the front group and five men in the second group. The last eight laps saw a variety of action. Bruce Rivera had forced another selection at the very front. Paul Winocur was soloing in between the front and the group he had attacked. David Mullins and Tom Kachelmeyer were riding tempo waiting to see if Winocur would make the bridge. The balance of the field was being smothered by Ed Reid, Matthews, P. Rivera, McLarty and Gray. On the last lap, Bruce Rivera attacked and rode solo to the finish line for the race win and the series title. It was a beautiful demonstration of team strategy. Excellent efforts by each team member.

The pack took off from the start and into the wind eagerly waiting to wind it up to 36mph on the backside and break this race apart. It did not take but one lap before the pace and contributing winds had this race shattered. Bruce Rivera was one of the driving forces at the front of this race and was eager to keep a 10 man group away. By lap 15, the break was now a selection of five and this elite group of racers had already lapped the field twice! Two laps later a racer slipped away off the front. The other four were betting that he could not solo the last five laps in these windy conditions. As it became apparent that he was going to stay away the foursome chased, but it was too late. Good news though for the Essex Brass Cycling Team. Bruce Rivera ripped the legs off the other three racers and cut through the wind on his Trek Madone 5.9 to captured 2nd place. Super job Bruce. It was a field finish for David Mullins. Good job to all team members who rode in support.

It was a great week end of racing for Bruce Rivera. The team is building some early season confidence and is eager to return to Waterford Hills Raceway this weekend and deliver Bruce to a podium finish.