By Mike Krywanski and Jon Morgan, Team OAM Now Master’s Men Team Captains
Ed Note: After an amazing 2014 season, including 3 riders in the MBRA top ten season long point series, the Master’s Men’s Cycling team is looking to return in 2015, stronger and better. We spoke with Co-Captains Mike Krywanski and Jon Morgan to get a preview of what we can expect in the upcoming year.
Returning Members
Loren Simons
Peter O’Brien
Dave Stebbins
Glenn Dik
Mike Krywanski
Jonathan Morgan
Chris Abston
Terry Ritter
Mike Wyczalek
Richard Landgraff
New Teammates
Leonard VanDrunen
Steve Buccella
Larry Strayhorn
2015 is shaping up as an interesting year for the Team OAM Now Masters 55+ . New teammates squad Leonard VanDrunen, Steve Buccella, and Larry Strayhorn, are all moving up from the Elite Club team. While short on racing experience, they are all fit, enthusiastic and willing to learn. They will be instrumental to our success in our 2015 racing campaign.
Meanwhile, 2014 was a breakout year for the Masters 45+ Team. After rebuilding the roster after the losses of some core riders in 2013, the team built fantastic synergy and placed 2 riders in the Top Ten in nearly every race with more than 12 podiums total. We were also recognized as the most professional among teams and were complimented by other teams for consistent aggressive riding while maintaining a positive presence in the highly competitive masters peloton.
The team makes specific plans and is adept at executing those plans, although it did take us several races to gel completely and start vying for podiums and wins. Eventually, we were able to exert a lot of control over the outcome of races and our strong long rider, Chris Abston, was able to win the final race of the season. Our greatest strength is probably the fact that we’re all very experienced, love to race, and each rider is willing to sacrifice for the plan or the rider in best position to deliver the best team result. We also have 2 dedicated workers in 2014 (Wyzalek and Ritter) who set up the rest of the team for the podiums and results. Riders like this are hard to come by!
Mentoring our rookie group in the 55+ category, will be veteran racers Loren Simons, Peter O’Brien, Dave Stebbins, Glenn Dik, and Mike Krywanski who, between them, have literally thousands of races under their belts. Career highlights from this group include North American and ABR National Road Championships, numerous USAC National Masters podium finishes in all three diciplines, a National 24 hour overall championship, dozens of MBRA State Championships in road, criterium and time trial as well as race wins all over the U.S. In 2014 alone, this group garnered four state age category championships along with top placings at races such as Barry Roubaix, The Lowell 50, Hellkaat Hundie, The National 24 Hour Challenge, Michigan Mountain Mayhem and many others. Loren Simons participated in the Masters National Championships in Ogden Utah where a late crash kept him from a potential podium finish in the criterium.
We are all eagerly looking forward to the upcoming racing season and the blue and orange of Team OAM Now should be well represented, and a force to be reckoned with, at the front of many races, particularly as our new racers gain experience.
