2013 O'Fallon Grand Prix

The O'Fallon Grand Prix is a three day race held in O'Fallon IL. Over the last few years it has grown to be a really nice race on the calendar and has Saturday's race has been the IL state road race for quite some time now.

Last year OFGP decided to add a time trial to their weekend. It is a 13.1 mile TT with plenty of turns, rolling hills, and for a Midwest TT what can be considered a climb. They call it a prolog but it is over 20km so I think it is really a TT. This year they made the race weekend an Omnium which I was a big fan of. It is always more fun to add more levels of strategy to races. For our Cat 3 team we were going into the weekend's state road race with a two point plan to try and finally come home with a rr title. I was also going to try and work out a way to do well in the Omnium. A bit hard to do while trying to help teammates win a 70 mile road race.

The TT went really well. I have never put out more power on my TT bike and for more than half the race I we feeling really good. I need to spend a bit more time on the bike and work those muscles a bit more, but it is coming around. Too bad for me however that there are a lot of good TT guys in my category, and my teammate Keith is one of them. Keith slotted in at 3rd place I took 5th.

The IL state rr is on a really nice course that the promoters change up from year to year to keep things new. We change directions and even use different roads it seams from time to time. There is really no significant climbing and there was no hard wind, the only thing making the race hard was the heat, the road melting, and in the end, this distance. For the most part the race was slow, like really slow. There were a few larger teams in the race but for the most part their plans involved putting someone in a break and then sitting on the front. There was really no counter attacking or anything to stretch the "rubber band". Our plan #1 was to put Keith in a break away but we wanted to wait till later in the race. So all the breaks that went away too early we made it into and sat on, or we pulled back. This seemed to make a lot of other teams mad, not sure why but o well. So when it was finally time to try and make the break happen we went hard. We sent attack after attack, countering off each other. But with only 4 guys to make things happen it was very difficult. Luckily Keith had enough for one more go and it made a very large break with what looked like 2 from every team but our. This might have been a bad decision on my part but after seeing that I thought I should try to get up there to even the score with Keith. I jumped hard and had a good gap but as I was coming up on the group it looked like no one was doing anything and Keith was a few feet off the back. So after about 20+ min of trying to make the break go we switched to plan #2 which was a bunch sprint for Mike. I think this made even more people mad as now nothing was going away. The problem for me was I had to now do a lot of work. Keith was really worn out from trying the breaks, Roy was now out with cramps, and we had to keep Mike fresh for the finish. Mike ended up having to help out and he even tried to get in one or two small breaks that could have worked. He never over committed and had plenty for the finish. As we came closer to the end we were set up at the front with some strong guys right in front of us. I thought we were on the fast track to the finish line. About 1km from the finish there was a small climb and then about 700 meters to the finish. I was able to hold a very good position in spite on my thighs starting to cramp with every push on the pedals. We came over the top and there wasn't a hole lot of snap left. I was sitting second wheel with Mike right on my wheel. When it was time to jump though I had nothing in the tank, I could only just keep the power on in my seat. Mike had to jump around and opened it up. He was looking really good but looked like he went just a bit early and took 5th place. I was pretty bummed with how I finished, I was hoping to have more to give Mike.

The last day was the crit. It is held on a course with 10 turns and bad pavement. The weather was sucky with rain forecast for most the day. There were only 15 or so riders that lined up for the 3s race with QMC having the most (4) in the race. The guys were going to help me sprint for the finish. I told Keith to try and make an early break to help us keep the pressure off us. Turned out that was the move of the day as he went up the road with a Prairie Path Cycling rider. I wasn't worried about Keith as I thought he would be the stronger rider and would take the win. He got a bit unlucky with his break partner flatting and getting some time out of the race. This tired Keith out and he ended up doing more time on the front than he might have otherwise.

In the peleton, or what was left of it, Mike, Roy, and I were sitting pretty. The other four  or five riders with us were spending a lot of time trying to pull Kieth back which was great for us. With the race coming to a close Roy was right on the front to give me a great lead-out. We got a little help from a Rhythm Racing rider pulling on the front, but when I hit the front stretch I was able to get a really good jump and came around for 1st in the field sprint.

After the 3s race I jumped in with our cat 2 team for the pro 1/2/3 race. The plan was to get Grant into the break of the day as he was the highest placed rider in the GC for the team. We were going to cover moves and if Grant wasn't there, wait for him to get there. I was pretty far back at the start of the race and took me a couple laps to move up to the front. I got there just in time though as my teammates were recovering from previous moves and others were going off. I made it into a couple moves that were brought back before the final move went and a chase went after it. I was just barely able to get a hold of the chase. Hayden Warner, Casey Saunders, and I tried to catch the lead group of 4 but only got as close as 10 seconds before they started to put in more time on us and the pack. Our chase group started to put in a lot of time on the pack to so I started to work more with the group. After about 30 min though we had a bit of a mix up in the rotation and Casey dropped me. I sat up a bit for about a lap and then got to work again trying to stay out front. I didn't know if I could stay out there the rest of the race but I wanted to try. I was out for about another 15 min and once I was caught I was out the back, my race was pretty much over.

The team did a lot of good work for Grant though and he was able to sprint for 3rd in the field taking 7th in the crit and moving up to 2nd in the GC. A great result for him!

It was a really fun weekend. I am leaving for ToAD on Thursday for 11 days of racing and I am feeling pretty good about it.

Cat 123 race in the chase group.

I am first guy in the picture up the road chase down Nick Ramirez who let me catch him really. Grant was trying to go with my but ran off the road....

 

Cool pic of my sprint in the cat 3 race.

Tulsa Tough Brady Village Crit and Cry Baby Hill

I had a great time at Tulsa Tough! Other than my friend getting hurt it was a great time and I raced pretty well 2/3 days. The Brady Village crit was a 6 turn crit in an L shape with a slight uphill and downhill section. Again the race was totally full but my teammate Roy was able to get into the 3 field with a few riders not showing up I guess. I talked to Roy about how important it was going to be to be near the front. We did a great job in the race to the start line with Roy right on the line and my behind him. At the word go Roy shot off like a bat out of hell leading the field for a lap. Then coming into the start finish a rider shot up the side and Roy went to follow but a rider jumped sideways into him (happened a lot last weekend...) and into his rear wheel and derailleur cable. His cable got pulled out of whack and he had to go into the pit. He didn't get a good release back into the race and he spent most of the race trying to get back up to me. I was able to stay very near the front and went for one prime winning it by a big margin. The rest of the primes were much bigger and I wanted to go for them but I decided it would have taken too much energy to go for, hurting my chances at a good finish. The race stayed together pretty well with only a few small breaks trying to go away. Near the end of the race Roy made it up to me for a moment but was then separated from me again. All I was hoping for was to stay near the sharp end going down the last hill into the final turn. I thought I was in a good spot but looking at it now I was too far back. But being so oxygen starved isn't good for thinking clear. I was able to sprint for 15th place and took home some good money to split with Roy.

Cry baby hill on it's own isn't much of a hill really and I think if it was done as the first race of the weekend it wouldn't be as big a deal. But I put it in the same category as Snake Alley and Shlitz Park. It is a climb with a decent and go again. This climb is a big ring ordeal for about 20 seconds. The great thing about cry baby is the party on the hill. I thought snake had a good atmosphere but this was amazing. There are films all over about this thing. Like I said the hill is short but it is violent. You come off the start finish stretch and turn right up a steep ramp for about one block, then you turn right again and into the party. This thing is CRAZY!!! The sound is unreal and is the closest thing us wanna-bes will ever get to feeling like we are riding the Tour. The second half of the climb is not as steep as the first but after a while it still hurts. There is a nice downhill section right after followed by another slight uphill, although if you are following a few riders the second uphill is almost completely coast-able. Then after another right turn there is a steep downhill followed by a final right turn that is more than 90*. For most of the race I felt great and was having no problems. Then that changed and I just got pissed. Not really sure why, I just didn't want to race anymore. So I quit. I don't remember another time I just decided that fast but I really have no regret about it which is also funny since I always hate quitting. I did have a great time though, and my power numbers are saying that I am still on my way up. I am taking a couple days easy and then I race in O'Fallon IL this weekend before heading up to Wisconsin next Thursday. Things are looking bright.

Tulsa Tough Blue Dome District

Wow what a race! I had no idea how short this race lap really was going to be but we were around this thing fast! The field here was completely full with over 100 riders. I was wondering why they closed it at 100, once the race started I could see.

Eric and I got a really good spot on the course just after the final turn and about 120 meters from the start/finish. The course was a figure 8 with no real elevation to speak of. The wind was really non existent as well. I got a good warm up in really just getting my legs moving as the temp didn't require you to get the body really warm. I started to pull up to the start finish and wanted to take one lap around the course to see what it was all about and put on my gloves. When I cam back around everyone had already lined up.......CRAP! I hate starting at the back, and when there are 100 guys, and those guys are fast, and the course is small and tight, things can suck. So I just prepared myself for three to four laps of just hammering and making up ground. It turned out moving up was not a problem, I think a lot of guys were scared so there was a lot of room between riders to move around and up. I used the turns to make up a lot of ground and hold up my speed. I also quickly learned where I would be able to move later in the race. By the 4th lap I was up in the top 10 and just worked to hold in that area. There were a couple of times that I allowed myself to get swallowed in swarms and I tried a few other things to keep that from happening. They worked really well and for the rest of the race I had no problem staying where I wanted to be.

There were a few hard crashes in the race, only one was in a corner and it was only because the rider was turning at too high a speed and I would guess too high a tire pressure. I sort of have been railing on this for a while now to anyone that will listen but people just don't seem to get it. High tire pressure will not make you go faster, and you will have a harder time in the corners. If you are laying on the ground, you are not moving at all. But over and over guys are telling me they are running 110-120 psi in their tires. Not only is this dangerous to that rider but the other riders that he, or she, is going to take out when they slide out in a turn. It is really just the idea that more is better, well it's not! There are actually article out there where Pro Tour mechanics will say what they are putting in their riders tires, none are over 100 psi, and for a lot of races they are much, much lower. The really funny thing is hearing ex mountain bikers who will ride with super high psi, these guys know all about pressure but whatever.

Okay so the biggest crash of the night took out the back half of the field, it was crazy coming around to the pit to see all these guys waiting to go. The last crash was on the last lap with 3 turns to go. A guy took a flyer and washed out in the turn. As always the guys behind him grabbed a bunch of break, instead of just continuing their turns, and washed out with him. That meant I and a few others had to wind our way through and jump back on the gas. I was sitting 4th wheel chasing the 3rd place rider, with him about 10-15 feet in front of me. First place had about 20+ feet in front of the 2nd and 3rd place riders. My power meter showed I had 2 jumps over 1000 watts in the last two straightaways before the start finish, this is too much for me to have a sprint left and I lost 2 spots in that last 200 meters. It was still a good finish but I wasn't too happy about losing those places. Just one more thing to learn from, and I have to be happy I did not get in any of those crashes.

Speaking of crashes, there were a ton of them in all the races last night. My teammate Eric had a pretty bad one where I thought he had broken his collar bone. Luckily the x-rays were negative, we just had to spend a bunch of time in the ER. He is going to be super sore, but at least he will be back racing sooner than later.

We are racing again in a few hours on an L shaped course. I am sure it will be very similar to last night, so I will be trying my best to be at the front. I will let you know how it goes.

These are just the top 33 riders, there were a few more pages.

Saturday's course, Bradley Village Crit

Cool photo of Murphy coming through, he is number 299

 

 

Eric's helmet. He still had a pretty big bump on his head, but imagine if he didn't have this thing on.