Michael Chauner '04: West Chester Resident to Race in Criterium

WEST CHESTER - Michael Chauner rarely wastes a lot of time dreaming about potential triumphs and has always tried to focus on being prepared for every cycling race he enters. But that mindset was severely tested in the weeks leading up to today's Iron Hill Twilight Criterium.

Not just a West Chester resident, Chauner also runs a business in the borough, and from the doorway, he can see the start-finish line of the .8 mile circuit that will host about 120 competitors for this evening's main competition, the Pro-Men's event.

"I can look out the window all day and see where everything is going to happen," said Chauner, 24. "This is about as close to home as you can get."

A professional cyclist with more than 10 years of competitive experience, Chauner will be making his fourth start of the 48 miles race through the streets of his hometown. And unlike the previous three, Chauner has developed into a legitimate contender, spurred on by a new coach, a new training regimen, and bolstered by recent successes.

"I am going for the victory," Chauner said. "I have been racing well, especially the last couple weeks, and have been preparing specifically for this race. I will be disappointed if I am outside the top-15."

Chauner admits that in his first Twilight Criterium in 2007, he "was just hanging on for dear life, really." A year later, he finished 29th, but never seriously challenged the frontrunners. He missed the '09 event due to illness and then failed to finish last year's competition.

"It was a bad patch in the season and I was feeling real tired," Chauner said, thinking back a year ago. "I was frustrated with the results I was having, but that was actually the turning point to my season."

A few weeks after the Iron Hill event, Chauner found a new coach in Mattias Reck, who is also an exercise physiologist, and his strength and power began to improve dramatically. Chauner finished the season impressively, and it carried over to the 2011 season.

This winter, Chauner made his annual trek to Europe for training and experience purposes, and promptly won his first event, the Brugge-Dudzele GP in Belgium. He later won the Grant's Tomb Criterium in New York and placed second overall in Coatesville Classic. But the most thrilling outcome came at the TD Bank International Championship in Philadelphia, an event that his father - U.S. Bicycling Hall of Famer David Chauner - started in the mid-1980's. A first-time participant, Chauner was the 11th American to finish, and was 39th overall.