The team and I headed out to Sedailia, MO yesterday to race this weekend. Sedailia is a great little town in Western MO, that hosts an amazing critirium in the middle of their downtown. The cat 3/4 and the Pro123 are held later in the day with the later taking place in the dark. The course is very straight forward in crit terms. .75 miles long, with 4 corners and almost no elevation change. It is a very fast course, and with good bike skills you can really enjoy yourself in the race.
We lined up Brian Smith, Eric Finks, Jason Wulff, Jason Murphy, myself, Keith Vogl, and Grant Erhard. We have been very successful this year in crits and have done some great things as a team. We came to this race though to work on some weak spots, and get things tuned in for Gateway Cup. If we didn't do so well that would teach us something that we could try to fix before the big race. But succeeding would be nice too.
The race was pretty easy in my opinion for most of the ride. We all started in the back of the pack and had to work our way to the front of the race. We all agreed that was the worst part of the race. Most of us had not gotten a great warm up after driving long hours to the race. So jumping hard early in the race sort of sucks. Once the legs have stretched out though things were pretty straight forward.
We did a great job in the race of hitting working points we had targeted. Hitting those targets made it easier to make small changes to our plan when we were short one rider near the end of the race. With 5 laps to go we lined it up on the front of the pack and started our lead-out train. This is the longest, and biggest lead-out we have ever done. We tried it once before but did not get it quite right. With some small tweaking though we were flying! I set myself in second position. I was supposed to be 4th, but like I said we needed to make some changes. We have been riding so great together though that everyone was able to make the change without too much trouble. Our first rider, Keith, in my opinion had the hardest part of the job. He took us up to speed and had to hold it for 2 laps. That doesn't seem like much compared to PRO's but we are just getting started here so 2 laps for our first guy was a lot. He did an amazing job, even accelerating for a second spirt when I thought he might be losing power. As we were coming around with 3 to go it was my turn. The rest of us were just supposed to keep the speed high enough that no one would want to try and move up. This would give our sprinter the best chance to win. As I fought with my bike trying to put out as much power as I could I kept waiting for the pack to surge around me, but they never came. And with Grant behind me barking to keep going I was able to make about 3/4 of a lap and dropped Grant with 2 turns till 2 laps to go. Grant and Murphy had the last two laps to pull to put our man in the right spot. Looking back on myself I should have gone farther and dug deeper. I think I got scared of dropping too much speed and called it too soon. Practice makes perfect though right? After I pulled off I don't really know what happened first hand. What I saw however was the field was shattered! There were only a few riders holding onto Fink's (our sprinter) wheel. I was blown away! From what I am told our lead-out dropped Eric at the perfect spot and he took the win by a bike length. It was really great to get him the win in what he considers his home town race.
Between the 3/4 and PRO 123 race we were able to meet one of our sponsors, David Garnett, the president of Hawthorn Bank in Clinton, MO. He is trying to help his own town try and bring a race like Sedalia to Clinton. It is always great to meet the people that make our racing possible.
The PRO 123 race in Sedalia is held under the street lights and car head lights of the town. In my opinion it is AWESOME! Last year I jumped in this race and made it all the way to 15 min, out of an hour......
So this year I was really hoping for a better ride, and to try and help our new team member Luke Bligh with whatever I could. The team lined up better in this race so as to not have such a hard start. It really didn't matter though, it was hard, and fast, and hard. There were two really good teams that I could see really mixing it up. Dog Fish, the juggernaut of St Louis Cat 12 racing, and Gateway Harley Davidson. Other teams with regular strong dudes were The Hub, with Devin Clark, and Off the Front with Hayden Warner. For the most part the regulars made their way into a break and they duked it out while the rest of us battled for best of the rest (9th). I was pretty smoked by the time the break was out of sight. I had made attempts to pull the pack back up to them as we had a good sprinter in the bunch. But I am quite on par with these guys, hence I am still a cat 3. My fitness must really be coming around though as I was able to recover very quickly and an uncountable amount of times. I was pretty much bouncing back and forth in the pack, jumping, or pulling, and then hanging on the back.
As we neared the end of the race Eric, Luke, Grant, and I were still in the race. As we started to line up for Luke we couldn't find Grant who was hanging on for the finish at the back. That was okay though as it was his first cat 123 race and he was going to finish great! Luke did a great job of steering Eric and I around the course in order to get him in a good spot to sprint. I actually felt bad for Luke being behind me, as Luke towers over me on the bike and I have no idea how he was getting a draft off me. So as we were starting our lead-out, and keying off Dog Fish, we got a big unlucky and ran into some traffic. Eric when one way and I went another. I had a chance to pull off the move and keep Luke going but I over cooked a turn scraping my pedal on a curb and barely keeping my bike upright. Luke made it around me and through the traffic though, a great skill he has honed over the years, and finished 3rd in our group and 11th overall.
We were all pretty pumped about the race. Everyone really seemed to have had a good time and the city of Sedalia put on a great race. I hope that they keep it going in the years to come, and the people of the community continue to embrace it as they have.
Grant, Keith, and I, were all planning on staying with Finkszilla's place in Clinton. We stayed there last year, but it is kind of a drive. This year we decided we would get a room at a hotel on the town square. Hotel Bothwell is a great old hotel that has not lost it's charm. I really like places like that, and someday I hope I get a little more time there to really check it out.
This morning the team headed over to Otterville, MO. It was only 15 min away, another small Missouri town that welcomed us cyclists to their town. The Otterville road race is a 24 mile rolling loop through the country side. There are really no real hill climbs to speak of, but the road is also rarely flat. The wind was also pretty strong. We didn't really go into the race with much of a plan. Most of us had planned to do the 123 race, but chickened out when we thought that the weather was going to get rough. So we just went in looking to get some more work done.
We were all pretty tired from the previous night's racing so we were happy to see that no one was really organized and never attacked us. There were plenty of guys who tried to get off but we felt there wasn't much use in tracking them down. We felt most of the time the race was going to just naturally bring them back. During the frist lap we actually had a little fun when Eric had a chain problem. A few of us pulled off the back to bring him back up once he had it fixed. We started to get a little nervous when Grant ended up also having a mechanical problem as well while we waited for Eric. Everything ended up fine though and we made a quick pace line back to the pack.
In the second lap we tried a few moves to see if anything would stay away, but nothing did, kind of like we had expected. So we wanted to do some more practice with our lead-out. Sometimes you learn more when you fail than when you succeed, and I think this was one of those times. Our train didn't work this time, and there were things we did not take into account for. It was close, and a good try, but like I said, we learned things, and wont make that mistake again.
In the end Grant was our best placed rider, even after having to deal with a not so good situation at the end of the race. It all turned out okay, and like I said Grant didn't give up and finished strong. For a young guy only racing about a year he looks mighty strong. All the guys look like we are going to be flying next weekend, and thats a good thing.
Sunday, August 26, 2012
Friday, August 24, 2012
Lance Armstrong
So I am pretty sad about Lance's decision to not fight anymore. I understand, and I know that he said before the charges were brought that he would no longer fight. I am a big LA fan, but that doesn't mean I have my doubts about what he did when he was racing. Everyone was doping so does it really count as cheating?
Now taking into account that you know I am a Lance fan, I agreed that the USADA prosecution seemed quite zealous and counter to what we feel is fair in the USA. Lance is that the first rider or athlete taken down by the USADA, and just about every time it seems very one sided and if you are caught in their net you are pretty F*&ked. It raises questions in my mind of oversight, and checks and balances.
I have read some blogs saying that Lance has again done a great job of spinning the outcome in his favor. At this point people not very familiar with what is going on will look at this as an admission of guilt. And WADA, and the USADA are saying that it is. But the more you look at it the more it seams like a settlement similar to what you see when a corporation settles with a plaintif. Lance has more to do in life than re-win what he had already won, and I feel he feels no one can take away what he had won. So what is the point fo fighting the past, just move forward and do more with his foundation and race in non WADA races. (there are plenty out there)
I don't think this will change anyone's mind about LA. I think us Lance lovers will still be with him, and the haters will still hate him. I was even thinking the other day, what would I do if Lance lost, or gave up? Turns out other than being bummed he gave up, it doesn't change my life.
I am heading out to western Missouri tomorrow for the Sedalia Crit and Otterville road race this weekend. This will be the last tune up before the Gateway Cup next weekend. For us road guys this is the end of the season in Missouri, and there are a lot of guys looking really good right now. We are going to use this weekend to have our stuff dialed in and ready to win.
Now taking into account that you know I am a Lance fan, I agreed that the USADA prosecution seemed quite zealous and counter to what we feel is fair in the USA. Lance is that the first rider or athlete taken down by the USADA, and just about every time it seems very one sided and if you are caught in their net you are pretty F*&ked. It raises questions in my mind of oversight, and checks and balances.
I have read some blogs saying that Lance has again done a great job of spinning the outcome in his favor. At this point people not very familiar with what is going on will look at this as an admission of guilt. And WADA, and the USADA are saying that it is. But the more you look at it the more it seams like a settlement similar to what you see when a corporation settles with a plaintif. Lance has more to do in life than re-win what he had already won, and I feel he feels no one can take away what he had won. So what is the point fo fighting the past, just move forward and do more with his foundation and race in non WADA races. (there are plenty out there)
I don't think this will change anyone's mind about LA. I think us Lance lovers will still be with him, and the haters will still hate him. I was even thinking the other day, what would I do if Lance lost, or gave up? Turns out other than being bummed he gave up, it doesn't change my life.
I am heading out to western Missouri tomorrow for the Sedalia Crit and Otterville road race this weekend. This will be the last tune up before the Gateway Cup next weekend. For us road guys this is the end of the season in Missouri, and there are a lot of guys looking really good right now. We are going to use this weekend to have our stuff dialed in and ready to win.
Monday, August 20, 2012
Hi
So I know it has been a while. I feel like I have been really busy and always tired when I had time to write. There has been a lot since the Great Egyptian Omnium.
First was my team gymnastics camp. Every year I host a camp at my gym. Since I have started it is really only my team kids that come, but maybe some day other kids will want to come too. So what I do is a hire visiting coaches to come in, work with the kids, and have a lot of fun. I have had college coaches, college gymnasts, and this year I brought in a Men's national team member, and a team member of the U of I men's gymnastics team. Now I do only coach girls, but these guys are great gymnasts and the way men's gymnastics works, most guys can coach pretty well. Paul Ruggeri and Vincent Smurro came down from the U of I and we all had a great time with them. They guys were really nice and helped the girls a lot. I tried to take them out and show them how great St Louis is and they seemed to really like it. Every year I am a bit nervous that camp wont be fun enough, but I am always pleasantly surprised that the kids love it.
After camp my bike racing team was hosting our first ever critirium in Maplewood, MO. We had been mulling over putting this race on for months, but as none of us really knew what we were doing there was not a lot of discussion until a couple weeks before the event. This made those few weeks after the great Egyptian even more stressful for me. The city of Maplewood was really very helpful and went out of their way to help. There was a point when I thought we weren't going to be able to pull things off and they talked me back into it. The race was supposed to take place in downtown Maplewood to help showcase their great town. Our first set back was the streets, which were in great need of repair were going to be repaired and it would run into our event. Our next location looked very fun but when we realized it wasn't going to work the city planners pointed out an industrial park and sent me to look. Know I now what you are thinking, borring! But this is the nicest industrial park I had ever seen. The race would go past two round-abouts through a parking lot that twisted and turned, down a wide false flat uphill neighborhood street, out onto Big Bend and back to the start. It was a HUGE success and the whole St Louis cycling community really enjoyed it. We only charged $20 for the first race and $10 for every extra race, so it was cheap! Our payout wasn't great, but the goal was to have great racing for a low price, and we accomplished that. We had a few heats with over 45 riders and that is a good number in my opinion for a race that wasn't for sure up until a week to go, almost no payout, and was local. Not that our local scene isn't amazing, it just seems like more local riders could show up to other races to help support these events. It was great to see everyone out at our event and I am so pumped to do it again next year.
The icing on the cake was I won my own race! I didn't think I would get a chance to race but I made it in, and things just worked out great. My team worked awesome and put me on the front for a great sprint. I had a grin from ear to ear!
The next week we had the MO state TT and crit championships. I had wanted to do the TT all year as I would like to get a bit better at it, and if I am ever in the hunt for MOBRA (our local race series) I will need to do well in TT's. The number one reason to go however was to get my friend and teammate Chris Connolly to go. Chris is one of the biggest diesel engines I have ever ridden with. We do have a few guys in our area that are faster than him right now, but they had better watch out. I have never done a 40k TT and I did pretty bad. But Chris won and had the 5th fastest time in the STATE out of all categories! This was on a borrowed bike, and a dude that road it maybe 5 or 6 times. Guess who needs to get a new bike?
After that win I was ready for some more QMC victories at state. Our first crit win for QMC came from Julianna Crang in the Juniors race. After that the biggest number of our team to ever race together lined up for the 30+/35+ masters race. Our rider was Bj and the plan we to get him away in a break. It took quite a while before we were able to get the field wore out enough to get it done. But Mark put in a dig and got a pretty good gap off the front. He was the first Quantum rider to get off the front without anyone going after him. I wondered at the time if it was because they knew he was not from Illinois. Mark is pretty well know so that was my assumption. After a couple laps though Bj made a big dig and made it up to Mark without anyone else on his wheel. That was all she wrote for the 30+ race. We shut the race down big time with 6 of us riding 3 wide at the front of the race at close to parade speed. With a couple laps to go we started trying to get Eric lined up for a possible 35+ win. Eric was in a great position but with all the work he had done earlier in the day he wasn't able to match the sprint of a couple other guys in the race.
We were super pumped about Bj's win we were equally excited about racing for Eric in the 3s race. The race was a little better populated than the master's race was, but we still had the biggest team in the field and we felt we could dictate what was going to happen. There were a few riders we were looking out for and had a plan to try and put them into the pain box. The cat 3 field in MO is on the rise though and many riders were ready for the punishment we dished out to the field. Every time one of our riders hit the field with an attack we were marked by a number of riders all hoping to get away with them. I made a mistake at one point trying to bridge to a break that looked good to help one of my teammates. I thought I made a very big hard jump and no one was going to be on my wheel but I was wrong and had brought 2 Mercy riders. This in turn caused the rest of the field to jump and the good looking break was brought back. With only a few laps to go I was hurting bad. I had done a lot of work in the previous race and this one. So when a strong Big Shark rider made a big attack with only a few laps to go I dug down for whatever matches I had left and buried myself. I wasn't able to finish with my teammates but they kept Eric in position and gave him a great shot at the win. Unfortunately Eric wasn't the best sprinter in the bunch sprint and couldn't hold of futur QMC rider Luke Bligh.
This last weekend was one of the biggest payout races in the area at the Edwardsville Rotary Criterium. The total payout was $10,000 with a big party happening around the race, as well as taking place at night. The course was short with 7 turns. Twice on the course the road narrows down to one lane and there is a very fast technical chicane you must navigate. Our race went off at 8:15pm, the latest race I had ever taken part in. I really liked the course and was pretty pumped to put our team plan into effect and see what happens. Less than one minute into the race I crashed washing out in the first half of the chicane. Luckily I didn't take anyone else down with me, and other than a hole in my skin suit, torn grips, and a dropped chain, everything was ok. I pulled myself together and headed back to the pit. I made it there as the pack was going through the start finish so I waited for them to come by again.
Once back in the race I started to get to work with the rest of my team. The first part of the plan was to keep the speed high and get rid of anyone not strong enough to really be there. We kept taking turns jumping off the front or pulling stretching the field out. Twice I went for preems in the race but was beaten by Korte Hammer Down's Sam Moore. He has really been getting stronger over the last few weeks and we will have to keep an eye on him for Gateway. We all tried to keep in touch with each other as we road as we tried to get organized for the finish. With something like 9 laps to go Finkszilla got on the front and started hammering. He lead the race for what seemed like 4 or 5 laps and when he finally looked like he was starting to get tired I pulled around him to try and keep the pace hot. I tried to keep it smooth through the technical parts of the course and fast everywhere else. With 2 laps to go a strong Big Shark rider decided to start pulling. I was a little confused by this but that was fine with me. I hung to the back of the pack for the last 2 laps and just tried to see what was happening at the front. In the dark it was hard to see though. I didn't know till later that we had taken 1st, 2nd, 6th, 8th, 10th, and I took 20th, the last money spot! In all it was a great day and we all had a ton of fun. We didn't get it quite right with our plan but it is a weak spot that we know we have and we are going to work it out. I am so proud of the guys and the team. We are going to have a very strong team going into Gateway Cup and we will be looking for some good results.
First was my team gymnastics camp. Every year I host a camp at my gym. Since I have started it is really only my team kids that come, but maybe some day other kids will want to come too. So what I do is a hire visiting coaches to come in, work with the kids, and have a lot of fun. I have had college coaches, college gymnasts, and this year I brought in a Men's national team member, and a team member of the U of I men's gymnastics team. Now I do only coach girls, but these guys are great gymnasts and the way men's gymnastics works, most guys can coach pretty well. Paul Ruggeri and Vincent Smurro came down from the U of I and we all had a great time with them. They guys were really nice and helped the girls a lot. I tried to take them out and show them how great St Louis is and they seemed to really like it. Every year I am a bit nervous that camp wont be fun enough, but I am always pleasantly surprised that the kids love it.
After camp my bike racing team was hosting our first ever critirium in Maplewood, MO. We had been mulling over putting this race on for months, but as none of us really knew what we were doing there was not a lot of discussion until a couple weeks before the event. This made those few weeks after the great Egyptian even more stressful for me. The city of Maplewood was really very helpful and went out of their way to help. There was a point when I thought we weren't going to be able to pull things off and they talked me back into it. The race was supposed to take place in downtown Maplewood to help showcase their great town. Our first set back was the streets, which were in great need of repair were going to be repaired and it would run into our event. Our next location looked very fun but when we realized it wasn't going to work the city planners pointed out an industrial park and sent me to look. Know I now what you are thinking, borring! But this is the nicest industrial park I had ever seen. The race would go past two round-abouts through a parking lot that twisted and turned, down a wide false flat uphill neighborhood street, out onto Big Bend and back to the start. It was a HUGE success and the whole St Louis cycling community really enjoyed it. We only charged $20 for the first race and $10 for every extra race, so it was cheap! Our payout wasn't great, but the goal was to have great racing for a low price, and we accomplished that. We had a few heats with over 45 riders and that is a good number in my opinion for a race that wasn't for sure up until a week to go, almost no payout, and was local. Not that our local scene isn't amazing, it just seems like more local riders could show up to other races to help support these events. It was great to see everyone out at our event and I am so pumped to do it again next year.
The icing on the cake was I won my own race! I didn't think I would get a chance to race but I made it in, and things just worked out great. My team worked awesome and put me on the front for a great sprint. I had a grin from ear to ear!
The next week we had the MO state TT and crit championships. I had wanted to do the TT all year as I would like to get a bit better at it, and if I am ever in the hunt for MOBRA (our local race series) I will need to do well in TT's. The number one reason to go however was to get my friend and teammate Chris Connolly to go. Chris is one of the biggest diesel engines I have ever ridden with. We do have a few guys in our area that are faster than him right now, but they had better watch out. I have never done a 40k TT and I did pretty bad. But Chris won and had the 5th fastest time in the STATE out of all categories! This was on a borrowed bike, and a dude that road it maybe 5 or 6 times. Guess who needs to get a new bike?
After that win I was ready for some more QMC victories at state. Our first crit win for QMC came from Julianna Crang in the Juniors race. After that the biggest number of our team to ever race together lined up for the 30+/35+ masters race. Our rider was Bj and the plan we to get him away in a break. It took quite a while before we were able to get the field wore out enough to get it done. But Mark put in a dig and got a pretty good gap off the front. He was the first Quantum rider to get off the front without anyone going after him. I wondered at the time if it was because they knew he was not from Illinois. Mark is pretty well know so that was my assumption. After a couple laps though Bj made a big dig and made it up to Mark without anyone else on his wheel. That was all she wrote for the 30+ race. We shut the race down big time with 6 of us riding 3 wide at the front of the race at close to parade speed. With a couple laps to go we started trying to get Eric lined up for a possible 35+ win. Eric was in a great position but with all the work he had done earlier in the day he wasn't able to match the sprint of a couple other guys in the race.
We were super pumped about Bj's win we were equally excited about racing for Eric in the 3s race. The race was a little better populated than the master's race was, but we still had the biggest team in the field and we felt we could dictate what was going to happen. There were a few riders we were looking out for and had a plan to try and put them into the pain box. The cat 3 field in MO is on the rise though and many riders were ready for the punishment we dished out to the field. Every time one of our riders hit the field with an attack we were marked by a number of riders all hoping to get away with them. I made a mistake at one point trying to bridge to a break that looked good to help one of my teammates. I thought I made a very big hard jump and no one was going to be on my wheel but I was wrong and had brought 2 Mercy riders. This in turn caused the rest of the field to jump and the good looking break was brought back. With only a few laps to go I was hurting bad. I had done a lot of work in the previous race and this one. So when a strong Big Shark rider made a big attack with only a few laps to go I dug down for whatever matches I had left and buried myself. I wasn't able to finish with my teammates but they kept Eric in position and gave him a great shot at the win. Unfortunately Eric wasn't the best sprinter in the bunch sprint and couldn't hold of futur QMC rider Luke Bligh.
This last weekend was one of the biggest payout races in the area at the Edwardsville Rotary Criterium. The total payout was $10,000 with a big party happening around the race, as well as taking place at night. The course was short with 7 turns. Twice on the course the road narrows down to one lane and there is a very fast technical chicane you must navigate. Our race went off at 8:15pm, the latest race I had ever taken part in. I really liked the course and was pretty pumped to put our team plan into effect and see what happens. Less than one minute into the race I crashed washing out in the first half of the chicane. Luckily I didn't take anyone else down with me, and other than a hole in my skin suit, torn grips, and a dropped chain, everything was ok. I pulled myself together and headed back to the pit. I made it there as the pack was going through the start finish so I waited for them to come by again.
Once back in the race I started to get to work with the rest of my team. The first part of the plan was to keep the speed high and get rid of anyone not strong enough to really be there. We kept taking turns jumping off the front or pulling stretching the field out. Twice I went for preems in the race but was beaten by Korte Hammer Down's Sam Moore. He has really been getting stronger over the last few weeks and we will have to keep an eye on him for Gateway. We all tried to keep in touch with each other as we road as we tried to get organized for the finish. With something like 9 laps to go Finkszilla got on the front and started hammering. He lead the race for what seemed like 4 or 5 laps and when he finally looked like he was starting to get tired I pulled around him to try and keep the pace hot. I tried to keep it smooth through the technical parts of the course and fast everywhere else. With 2 laps to go a strong Big Shark rider decided to start pulling. I was a little confused by this but that was fine with me. I hung to the back of the pack for the last 2 laps and just tried to see what was happening at the front. In the dark it was hard to see though. I didn't know till later that we had taken 1st, 2nd, 6th, 8th, 10th, and I took 20th, the last money spot! In all it was a great day and we all had a ton of fun. We didn't get it quite right with our plan but it is a weak spot that we know we have and we are going to work it out. I am so proud of the guys and the team. We are going to have a very strong team going into Gateway Cup and we will be looking for some good results.
Monday, July 23, 2012
Great Egyptian Omnium
This was the first weekend in a while that I had raced. After a few less than steller performances in my opinion I needed something to get me on track. I decided to start paying a coach. I have had one of my very good friends helping me for the last few years. He is a very successful businessman with a big family and he just didn't have as much time as he used to to help me. He started to use this coach earlier in the year and gave him some great reviews. I thought if this coach is good enough for my old coach then he has to be good enough for me.
So three weeks ago we started working together. It has been a lot of hard work but I think I am already seeing a lot of improvements. This weekend really helped me to see that.
The Great Egyptian Omnium is a 3 stage race over 2 days in Ciro, IL. It is an amazing race that is completely embraced by the local community. Stage one was an 80 mile road race and us lowly cat 3 racers were thrown in with the cat 1s and 2s. At first I thought this was going to suck, but it was actually pretty fun, hard, but fun. I enjoyed it because there was a lot to think about while racing for four + hours. Most of the race was just surviving. The 1s and 2s were beating up on each other, one of our guys was off the front, the rest of our team just road the waves of guys trying to take off.
The course was pretty great. It was hard enough to keep things interesting, but not hard enough that it was what was going to kick everyone's ass. There were only a couple climbs, and none were too long, nor were they too steep. The roads were great, and those people we met on the roads were so friendly.
For most of the race I tried to stay near our protected rider Keith. Early in the race we were both feeling pretty shitty. But Keith has been working so hard for so long to get ready for this weekend that I tried hard to keep his spirits up and him in the race. I kept telling him that we just had to survive the race. As long as we were there at the end we were going to do well. Keith's wife Emily came and did us both a solid with handing up our food, water, and ice during the race. Doing hand ups is not an easy thing for new people, I consider myself new at this so I was about as nervous as Emily was I think. The last time I did hand ups with a musette bag I crashed. But she was flawless, the bags were always there, full of water and ice. We also got a great spot in the feed zone so it was easy to get to her.
As the race wore on there were only 3s and a couple 2s left in the pack. Jeremy Bock from cat 2 from Dog Fish lead us around the course after his teammate went on the break with one of our cat 2s. Our cat 2 Mark was just chilling in the pack getting a few miles in his legs. Towards the last lap a couple guys in our race started to try and break away. The problem was these guys always tried at the worst times. They were always pretty easy to bring back but just kind of annoying. The one rider from Athlete Forward tried maybe 20 times to get away. I have to give it to the kid, he had heart. I heard he was from a mountain bike background and just doesn't have the feel for the road yet. He will be a guy we watch out for though as he gets a hang of it. With the miles ticking down the cramps in my legs started to multiply. It was hard to eat enough without overdoing it with the heat. I decided to error on the side of too little food, this might have lead to me not having enough minerals in my muscles but I never cramped too bad at the wrong time. As long as I was able to stay in the saddle I could work certain muscles and stay way from the tired ones. Getting closer to the finish I took a spot in the lead of the group and tried to hold a steady tempo and slowly bring up the speed. The problem was we probably didn't finish quite to Keith's strengths and he was having cramping problems like me and could not stand to sprint. He went a farther out than I thought he was going to and didn't go hard enough As we hit the final climb to the finish with 200 meters Keith blew up. I tried to hold my speed and finish as strong as I could. I ended up passing Keith getting 5th and Keith getting 7th. This wasn't the best finish we really had hoped for but Keith was still in striking distance and his strength the TT was up next.
All of us cleaned up our team stuff and Mark, Bj, and I went to get some food. Keith and his wife enjoyed the fine food in Creal, IL. They had a pretty neat set-up for the race with a bunch of people selling stuff, and even a dunk tank. I again was pretty behind not really thinking out how long it took to change over parts on my road and TT bikes. Bj was awesome and did a lot of work to help me get ready. He got my ice, filled my water, and even fixed my helmet with I ripped the straps out. I rolled up to the start with about 2 min to go which was awesome! I hate standing in line for a TT and I hate standing in the heat even more. I did't really look at the course profile nor did I drive it before hand. So I had no idea what to expect. I was surprised that we started on and uphill! Note to self, check that crap out next time! So there was some pretty good climbing for a TT in my opinion. Nothing like a pro race or anything, but I think it was more than maybe the hilly Hermann TT? I thought that doing a 7 mile TT was going to be easy, but after a hard 80 doing 7 more all out sucked A$$! Talking with my new coach before the race he gave me a target to shoot for wattage wise. This made things a bit easier when hitting the uphills allowing me to meter out my effort a bit more. When I began to catch my 2 minute man I decided that I would just try to get a bit closer by the finish and not worry about beating him. I wasn't racing for the win more of just training. It helped me to keep my speed up though as I was really hurting for some motivation. I finished the little over 7 mile course in 18:33 min with a dropped chain. This was good enough to put me in 5th place again. Keith did much better even after having to make a quick wheel change only minutes before he went off due to a flat. He came in with an 18:12 putting him into second for the TT. This also brought him up into a tie for 3rd in the GC.
The next day Mike was going to come down to help out in the cat 3 crit. As we were waiting for the race to start Bj and I watched our cat 4 teammate Rob race in the cat 4 race. He looked super strong and never in trouble. The bad thing was he never looked like he was in the correct spot of the peleton either. When he finished he was telling us how easy the race was and that he was just too far back for the sprint. After further discusion we talked him into racing the Masters race later in the day and worked out a plan for him to race with. Instead of worrying about about racing other people's weaknesses, we told him about racing to his strengths. He was able to take his considerable strength and solo'd away to a victory. It was awesome seeing him go and see that no one in the pack even had a chance!
After Rob's race the 3s were up. I said something about Keith doing something similar to what Rob did, and we talked about taking points from other riders and trying to get Keith as many points as we could. There were preem points that were being offered on 3 separate laps going out 3 places. The first preem seemed to come pretty quickly and Keith was not ready. Luckily Mike and I were at the front so Mike lead me out and I took first adding 3 points to my tally but more important taking away 3 from the guys beating Keith. Mike also stuck in there and took 3rd steeling 1 point. As we came up to the 2nd preem lap I actually made a mistake and lead it out a lap too early. But it turned out to be a happy accident as Guitar Lab also thought we were going for points and sent all 3 of their guys sprinting for nothing. Keith was paying attention this time though and yelled that it was the next lap as he flew by me. At first I thought crap I blew it, but then I though, shoot I can do that again, no problem. This time I got it right leading Keith out, again he went earlier than I thought he was going to go but after he went we never caught him again.
Mike and I started working to block the rest of the pack from chasing Keith down. For the most part it was really easy. I think most of the attempts were fake attempts to try and get others to chase Keith down. We would simply just sit on the front and ride slow. Anyone at any time could have ridden around us, but when everyone is tired no one wants to chase. While Keith was off we still raced for preems to keep his competitors from getting more points on him. Then as we neared the end of the race we actually got a little help from the Guitar Lab guys as one went to the front and tried to keep the speed up. I think he was a little tired though because we didn't quite make it all the way. This caused me to get a swamped and lose Mike's wheel. I was really mad at myself for that. I was sitting in a perfect spot 3rd wheel and now I was more than 10 guys back! I tried to keep looking for an opening to shoot to the front and it opened about 300 yards from the line. The gutter on the inside of the road all of a sudden opened and I took off. As I hit the front of the field everyone else was jumping. I had a slight stutter when I rider jumped into my line, but I was back on the gas quickly. I had a pretty good gap but I started to wain and two riders on my left started gaining on me. When we threw our bikes at the line I knew I had missed it. At first I was bummed until I saw one of the other riders was my teammate Mike! Now I was pumped! We ended up Keith 1st, Mike in 3rd, and me in 4th. So close to a podium sweep, but we were all still really happy. Keith's win ended up catapulting him into 1st place in GC. We were really looking good for the day. With such a good thing going I decided to sign up for the final race of the day, the cat 123.
Mark and Bj wanted Mike and I to just try and go with anything that tried to get off the front of the race. We were also supposed to make sure to watch for guys going for preems that they didn't keep on rolling. As we went through for our first preem we just made sure to keep the race together. A few turns later a rider from Off the Front jumped off the front. I was close so I jumped on his wheel. My job was to just sit on his wheel and get dragged around the course. He made one really long pull and then asked me to come around. I shook my head and told him I wasn't going to pull. He wasn't very happy but he kept on going. After more than a lap we were gaining time, and I started to pull through. We quickly got into a pattern of when to trade off pulls. As the laps counted off it seemed to get hotter and hotter. For a long time we were pulling away and I thought for a little bit that maybe we were gonna make it. With about 8 laps to go I started to see Gateway Harley pulling on the front. I tried to put in some hard pulls but I was hurting. I was out of water and the heat was really getting to me. With 5 laps to go we rolled through for a preem, I wasn't even trying for the preems during the race as I was not in the 1,2 GC at all. When we went through however I heard cheering quite close behind us. Then the pack was there and what little gas I had left in the tank went fast. I tried to hang on the back for a short bit but I was empty. I rolled back around to our tent and dunked my head in the ice cooler. With my break having been brought back a few other strong attacks went but were not successful. With 2 to go though a strong flyer went off the front and Mike and Bj had to put it all out there to pull the break back enough for Mark to sprint. He had a very strong go of it and came out of the bunch in 2nd place. Another great race for the team.
I had so much fun this last weekend and really look forward to going back next year. The people down in Cairo, IL were so nice and the organization putting on the race did a great job. I hope they grow over the next few years to have a huge even that brings in riders from all over.
So three weeks ago we started working together. It has been a lot of hard work but I think I am already seeing a lot of improvements. This weekend really helped me to see that.
The Great Egyptian Omnium is a 3 stage race over 2 days in Ciro, IL. It is an amazing race that is completely embraced by the local community. Stage one was an 80 mile road race and us lowly cat 3 racers were thrown in with the cat 1s and 2s. At first I thought this was going to suck, but it was actually pretty fun, hard, but fun. I enjoyed it because there was a lot to think about while racing for four + hours. Most of the race was just surviving. The 1s and 2s were beating up on each other, one of our guys was off the front, the rest of our team just road the waves of guys trying to take off.
The course was pretty great. It was hard enough to keep things interesting, but not hard enough that it was what was going to kick everyone's ass. There were only a couple climbs, and none were too long, nor were they too steep. The roads were great, and those people we met on the roads were so friendly.
For most of the race I tried to stay near our protected rider Keith. Early in the race we were both feeling pretty shitty. But Keith has been working so hard for so long to get ready for this weekend that I tried hard to keep his spirits up and him in the race. I kept telling him that we just had to survive the race. As long as we were there at the end we were going to do well. Keith's wife Emily came and did us both a solid with handing up our food, water, and ice during the race. Doing hand ups is not an easy thing for new people, I consider myself new at this so I was about as nervous as Emily was I think. The last time I did hand ups with a musette bag I crashed. But she was flawless, the bags were always there, full of water and ice. We also got a great spot in the feed zone so it was easy to get to her.
As the race wore on there were only 3s and a couple 2s left in the pack. Jeremy Bock from cat 2 from Dog Fish lead us around the course after his teammate went on the break with one of our cat 2s. Our cat 2 Mark was just chilling in the pack getting a few miles in his legs. Towards the last lap a couple guys in our race started to try and break away. The problem was these guys always tried at the worst times. They were always pretty easy to bring back but just kind of annoying. The one rider from Athlete Forward tried maybe 20 times to get away. I have to give it to the kid, he had heart. I heard he was from a mountain bike background and just doesn't have the feel for the road yet. He will be a guy we watch out for though as he gets a hang of it. With the miles ticking down the cramps in my legs started to multiply. It was hard to eat enough without overdoing it with the heat. I decided to error on the side of too little food, this might have lead to me not having enough minerals in my muscles but I never cramped too bad at the wrong time. As long as I was able to stay in the saddle I could work certain muscles and stay way from the tired ones. Getting closer to the finish I took a spot in the lead of the group and tried to hold a steady tempo and slowly bring up the speed. The problem was we probably didn't finish quite to Keith's strengths and he was having cramping problems like me and could not stand to sprint. He went a farther out than I thought he was going to and didn't go hard enough As we hit the final climb to the finish with 200 meters Keith blew up. I tried to hold my speed and finish as strong as I could. I ended up passing Keith getting 5th and Keith getting 7th. This wasn't the best finish we really had hoped for but Keith was still in striking distance and his strength the TT was up next.
All of us cleaned up our team stuff and Mark, Bj, and I went to get some food. Keith and his wife enjoyed the fine food in Creal, IL. They had a pretty neat set-up for the race with a bunch of people selling stuff, and even a dunk tank. I again was pretty behind not really thinking out how long it took to change over parts on my road and TT bikes. Bj was awesome and did a lot of work to help me get ready. He got my ice, filled my water, and even fixed my helmet with I ripped the straps out. I rolled up to the start with about 2 min to go which was awesome! I hate standing in line for a TT and I hate standing in the heat even more. I did't really look at the course profile nor did I drive it before hand. So I had no idea what to expect. I was surprised that we started on and uphill! Note to self, check that crap out next time! So there was some pretty good climbing for a TT in my opinion. Nothing like a pro race or anything, but I think it was more than maybe the hilly Hermann TT? I thought that doing a 7 mile TT was going to be easy, but after a hard 80 doing 7 more all out sucked A$$! Talking with my new coach before the race he gave me a target to shoot for wattage wise. This made things a bit easier when hitting the uphills allowing me to meter out my effort a bit more. When I began to catch my 2 minute man I decided that I would just try to get a bit closer by the finish and not worry about beating him. I wasn't racing for the win more of just training. It helped me to keep my speed up though as I was really hurting for some motivation. I finished the little over 7 mile course in 18:33 min with a dropped chain. This was good enough to put me in 5th place again. Keith did much better even after having to make a quick wheel change only minutes before he went off due to a flat. He came in with an 18:12 putting him into second for the TT. This also brought him up into a tie for 3rd in the GC.
The next day Mike was going to come down to help out in the cat 3 crit. As we were waiting for the race to start Bj and I watched our cat 4 teammate Rob race in the cat 4 race. He looked super strong and never in trouble. The bad thing was he never looked like he was in the correct spot of the peleton either. When he finished he was telling us how easy the race was and that he was just too far back for the sprint. After further discusion we talked him into racing the Masters race later in the day and worked out a plan for him to race with. Instead of worrying about about racing other people's weaknesses, we told him about racing to his strengths. He was able to take his considerable strength and solo'd away to a victory. It was awesome seeing him go and see that no one in the pack even had a chance!
After Rob's race the 3s were up. I said something about Keith doing something similar to what Rob did, and we talked about taking points from other riders and trying to get Keith as many points as we could. There were preem points that were being offered on 3 separate laps going out 3 places. The first preem seemed to come pretty quickly and Keith was not ready. Luckily Mike and I were at the front so Mike lead me out and I took first adding 3 points to my tally but more important taking away 3 from the guys beating Keith. Mike also stuck in there and took 3rd steeling 1 point. As we came up to the 2nd preem lap I actually made a mistake and lead it out a lap too early. But it turned out to be a happy accident as Guitar Lab also thought we were going for points and sent all 3 of their guys sprinting for nothing. Keith was paying attention this time though and yelled that it was the next lap as he flew by me. At first I thought crap I blew it, but then I though, shoot I can do that again, no problem. This time I got it right leading Keith out, again he went earlier than I thought he was going to go but after he went we never caught him again.
Mike and I started working to block the rest of the pack from chasing Keith down. For the most part it was really easy. I think most of the attempts were fake attempts to try and get others to chase Keith down. We would simply just sit on the front and ride slow. Anyone at any time could have ridden around us, but when everyone is tired no one wants to chase. While Keith was off we still raced for preems to keep his competitors from getting more points on him. Then as we neared the end of the race we actually got a little help from the Guitar Lab guys as one went to the front and tried to keep the speed up. I think he was a little tired though because we didn't quite make it all the way. This caused me to get a swamped and lose Mike's wheel. I was really mad at myself for that. I was sitting in a perfect spot 3rd wheel and now I was more than 10 guys back! I tried to keep looking for an opening to shoot to the front and it opened about 300 yards from the line. The gutter on the inside of the road all of a sudden opened and I took off. As I hit the front of the field everyone else was jumping. I had a slight stutter when I rider jumped into my line, but I was back on the gas quickly. I had a pretty good gap but I started to wain and two riders on my left started gaining on me. When we threw our bikes at the line I knew I had missed it. At first I was bummed until I saw one of the other riders was my teammate Mike! Now I was pumped! We ended up Keith 1st, Mike in 3rd, and me in 4th. So close to a podium sweep, but we were all still really happy. Keith's win ended up catapulting him into 1st place in GC. We were really looking good for the day. With such a good thing going I decided to sign up for the final race of the day, the cat 123.
Mark and Bj wanted Mike and I to just try and go with anything that tried to get off the front of the race. We were also supposed to make sure to watch for guys going for preems that they didn't keep on rolling. As we went through for our first preem we just made sure to keep the race together. A few turns later a rider from Off the Front jumped off the front. I was close so I jumped on his wheel. My job was to just sit on his wheel and get dragged around the course. He made one really long pull and then asked me to come around. I shook my head and told him I wasn't going to pull. He wasn't very happy but he kept on going. After more than a lap we were gaining time, and I started to pull through. We quickly got into a pattern of when to trade off pulls. As the laps counted off it seemed to get hotter and hotter. For a long time we were pulling away and I thought for a little bit that maybe we were gonna make it. With about 8 laps to go I started to see Gateway Harley pulling on the front. I tried to put in some hard pulls but I was hurting. I was out of water and the heat was really getting to me. With 5 laps to go we rolled through for a preem, I wasn't even trying for the preems during the race as I was not in the 1,2 GC at all. When we went through however I heard cheering quite close behind us. Then the pack was there and what little gas I had left in the tank went fast. I tried to hang on the back for a short bit but I was empty. I rolled back around to our tent and dunked my head in the ice cooler. With my break having been brought back a few other strong attacks went but were not successful. With 2 to go though a strong flyer went off the front and Mike and Bj had to put it all out there to pull the break back enough for Mark to sprint. He had a very strong go of it and came out of the bunch in 2nd place. Another great race for the team.
I had so much fun this last weekend and really look forward to going back next year. The people down in Cairo, IL were so nice and the organization putting on the race did a great job. I hope they grow over the next few years to have a huge even that brings in riders from all over.
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| I'm getting close! I was #370 Mike is #380. |
Thursday, July 5, 2012
Team Sky has made a mistake
Watching the Tour this week I think the the British team Sky has made a huge mistake with their team. The goal of the team was to alway be a mostly British team that won the Tour de France with a British rider within 5 years. They found that rider in Bradley Wiggins, who at the time of the team's creation was contracted with Garmin. Bradley is an amazing rider and I think will be a Tour winner at some point. I don't think this is the year though. The mistake I think they made was to have too many big goals, too many amazing riders, and no one with the balls to say "we can't do it all". There was a time when a team could dominate the Tour and win multiple jerseys. I think that time has past. There are so many good teams, and each one has one goal when they come. Some are to win the GC, some to win the green jersey, some want to win stages, and others just want to get into break aways every day. Each one is dedicated to one goal though, and all nine riders work towards that goal. Sky started the year saying they were going to race for both the Yellow and Green jerseys. These are the most prestiges jersey in the race, so there are multipel teams going for the same thing. The catch is the entire team is going for one or the other. Then as the race neared, Sky's world champion Mark Cavendish and "best sprinter in the world" said he no longer was going to target the green jersey. A jersey he had won the year before after chasing it for at least 3 years. Why would he do that? I believe that his directors realized the same thing I was saying, and they could only win one jersey. So Cav was going to be hunting stage wins, and have to do it on his own. WHAAAA!???
So now a team, who I would be large amounts of money, had promised Cav a go at the green jersey again. Was not going to allow him to do that, and if he wanted to win stages he was going to have to do it without a lead-out train. Basically they just spit in the eye of the World Champion. This is all my opinion and speculation, but this is what I think happened. Cav only came to Sky because his former team, the best team in the world, HTC Highroad/Columbia, folded last year when it's sponsors pulled out just because. While at HTC he was given all the tools needed to do nothing short of dominate the pro ranks winning no less than 20 stages in the Tour de France in the last four years. He road the greatest bike in the world, a Specialized McLaren Venge, had a lead-out train second to non, and a management team that wasn't afraid to lay it all on the line. The great thing about Cav as well, was if you took him to the line he would win 99 time out of 100. I am sure his teammates were always willing to turn themselves inside out to get him there.
So now team Sky has gone to the biggest, most important race of the year with 9 riders, 8 of which are riding to get Bradley to the race win, and Cav is on his own. Already they are at a disadvantage. Cav cannot climb well enough to help Brad in the mountains. I don't think I have ever seen Cav do much work on the front to pull a break back, I am sure he can but I have just never seen him.
Now Sky has lost a rider already due to injury, they have allowed Cav to get caught up in big crashes because he has to fight his way through the bunch, and I am guessing Cav is wondering what the hell he is doing with Sky if they don't give a shit enough to give the best sprinter in the world and world champ a lead-out.
Today Sky did try and take Cav to the line but they did not have the fire power to get him all the way and were swamped. They were built to climb, not power on the front for 25 kilometers. I know these guys are all super strong but when they are going up against a team like Loto who was built to take Greipel to the line and maybe into the green jersey, they have no chance.
I think Sky didn't think things through when they went after Cav, and maybe Cav was a little nieve to think a team could do both. But I don't see him being there for another year if things don't look like they are going to change. To me it has always seemed strange. I know that is sort of a strange thing to say when I don't personally know any of these people. But sometimes things just don't seem right. And even though Cav is a Brit, and grew up with most of these guys, he just doesn't seem to fit. What do I know though?
So now a team, who I would be large amounts of money, had promised Cav a go at the green jersey again. Was not going to allow him to do that, and if he wanted to win stages he was going to have to do it without a lead-out train. Basically they just spit in the eye of the World Champion. This is all my opinion and speculation, but this is what I think happened. Cav only came to Sky because his former team, the best team in the world, HTC Highroad/Columbia, folded last year when it's sponsors pulled out just because. While at HTC he was given all the tools needed to do nothing short of dominate the pro ranks winning no less than 20 stages in the Tour de France in the last four years. He road the greatest bike in the world, a Specialized McLaren Venge, had a lead-out train second to non, and a management team that wasn't afraid to lay it all on the line. The great thing about Cav as well, was if you took him to the line he would win 99 time out of 100. I am sure his teammates were always willing to turn themselves inside out to get him there.
So now team Sky has gone to the biggest, most important race of the year with 9 riders, 8 of which are riding to get Bradley to the race win, and Cav is on his own. Already they are at a disadvantage. Cav cannot climb well enough to help Brad in the mountains. I don't think I have ever seen Cav do much work on the front to pull a break back, I am sure he can but I have just never seen him.
Now Sky has lost a rider already due to injury, they have allowed Cav to get caught up in big crashes because he has to fight his way through the bunch, and I am guessing Cav is wondering what the hell he is doing with Sky if they don't give a shit enough to give the best sprinter in the world and world champ a lead-out.
Today Sky did try and take Cav to the line but they did not have the fire power to get him all the way and were swamped. They were built to climb, not power on the front for 25 kilometers. I know these guys are all super strong but when they are going up against a team like Loto who was built to take Greipel to the line and maybe into the green jersey, they have no chance.
I think Sky didn't think things through when they went after Cav, and maybe Cav was a little nieve to think a team could do both. But I don't see him being there for another year if things don't look like they are going to change. To me it has always seemed strange. I know that is sort of a strange thing to say when I don't personally know any of these people. But sometimes things just don't seem right. And even though Cav is a Brit, and grew up with most of these guys, he just doesn't seem to fit. What do I know though?
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| Dream team, or too many cooks? |
ToAD Schlitz Park Milwaukee WI
Schlitz park is located on the northern park of Milwaukee just south of Brewer's hill. The area is a mix of old and new as it was once the location of the Schlitz brewing company, and is now owned by a group who develops and manages the property. It has an amazing view of downtown and there are some really nice new homes mixed in with some great historic buildings.
The course is less than one mile with a steep climb every lap and a steep technical downhill to follow. The uphill section is two blocks long with the first block being the steeper section at 9 percent. The downhill section was just a bit tricky with the first left turn of course having a manhole cover in the middle of the turn as well as some choppy pavement. After that was a quick right hand turn that continued sweeping right and then a chicane of left than right, also horrible pavement, into a short 150 meter sprint to the line. The line was also only about 200 meters from the right hand turn to the uphill.
I started at the front again for this race as I knew the hill would hurt those too far back, and the downhill section would create gaps that would have to be crossed if too far back. The first time up the hill was the only time I used my small chain ring in the race. After that we were sprinting up the climb in the big ring every time. Most of the time up the hill I made sure I wasn't following anyone to make sure I didn't get stuck behind a slow rider. This also allowed me to move up in the pack at first and then sag back into a good spot on the second half of the climb.
The hill was of course the spot most of the attacks came. I think I made it easier on myself accelerating early on the hill so that I was already at a good speed when the group began chasing. I never had enough power to go with any of the attacks and was always happy to be able to hang with the group. I was mostly lucky that not much ever happened at the top of the course this year. It allowed me to get my heart rate down, sometimes move up to a better postion, and get ready for the downhill section. The downhill was where I was able to make some good passes. I am a small guy and corner very well. I know I scare some people with how I can turn, but this is just a tool in my bag that not many other people have. The best place to make up some spots was going around the long right hand turn going into the chicane before the start finish line. Most guys didn't take good lines thought the first part of the turn and then began setting up for the chicane far too early. This made it easy on most laps to pick up some spots.
With somewhere around 15 laps to go the big attack happened and we were full gas, times 10, for 3 or 4 laps and I was barely hanging on for dear life. A couple times up the hill I didn't know if I would be able hang on and once I had to use the downhill section to get back in contact. That last time when I needed the downhill the break was caught and we slowed to a more manageable speed for me. For a few laps however I was on the back of the pack, now down to maybe 20 guys.
I was getting ready for the last lap now. I knew it was going to be a huge dig up the hill and those who survived would get a chance to sprint for the finish. As we turned into the hill I hit the gas, pedal to the medal, and was able to hold my position. As we hit the second part of the climb I sagged a lot however and had to sprint again to hold the tail of the pack. I am sure most of the guys were tired at this point so we slowed a bit on top and I was able to recover, and as we hit the downhill section I was feeling stronger again. Everyone was taking to corners pretty fast now so there was no way to move up until we exited the chicane and I hit the afterburners only making up one spot though. It was still a good result for me. 17th overall and 2nd out of the cat 3s. I was really happy with the sprint too hitting around 37 miles per hour after such a hard race.
Going into the next day I was pretty pumped and feeling strong. Turns out it sucked! I crashed 3 miles into a 50 mile road race and that was it for me, day over, nothing to see here, move on. O well, that is racing.
The course is less than one mile with a steep climb every lap and a steep technical downhill to follow. The uphill section is two blocks long with the first block being the steeper section at 9 percent. The downhill section was just a bit tricky with the first left turn of course having a manhole cover in the middle of the turn as well as some choppy pavement. After that was a quick right hand turn that continued sweeping right and then a chicane of left than right, also horrible pavement, into a short 150 meter sprint to the line. The line was also only about 200 meters from the right hand turn to the uphill.
I started at the front again for this race as I knew the hill would hurt those too far back, and the downhill section would create gaps that would have to be crossed if too far back. The first time up the hill was the only time I used my small chain ring in the race. After that we were sprinting up the climb in the big ring every time. Most of the time up the hill I made sure I wasn't following anyone to make sure I didn't get stuck behind a slow rider. This also allowed me to move up in the pack at first and then sag back into a good spot on the second half of the climb.
The hill was of course the spot most of the attacks came. I think I made it easier on myself accelerating early on the hill so that I was already at a good speed when the group began chasing. I never had enough power to go with any of the attacks and was always happy to be able to hang with the group. I was mostly lucky that not much ever happened at the top of the course this year. It allowed me to get my heart rate down, sometimes move up to a better postion, and get ready for the downhill section. The downhill was where I was able to make some good passes. I am a small guy and corner very well. I know I scare some people with how I can turn, but this is just a tool in my bag that not many other people have. The best place to make up some spots was going around the long right hand turn going into the chicane before the start finish line. Most guys didn't take good lines thought the first part of the turn and then began setting up for the chicane far too early. This made it easy on most laps to pick up some spots.
With somewhere around 15 laps to go the big attack happened and we were full gas, times 10, for 3 or 4 laps and I was barely hanging on for dear life. A couple times up the hill I didn't know if I would be able hang on and once I had to use the downhill section to get back in contact. That last time when I needed the downhill the break was caught and we slowed to a more manageable speed for me. For a few laps however I was on the back of the pack, now down to maybe 20 guys.
I was getting ready for the last lap now. I knew it was going to be a huge dig up the hill and those who survived would get a chance to sprint for the finish. As we turned into the hill I hit the gas, pedal to the medal, and was able to hold my position. As we hit the second part of the climb I sagged a lot however and had to sprint again to hold the tail of the pack. I am sure most of the guys were tired at this point so we slowed a bit on top and I was able to recover, and as we hit the downhill section I was feeling stronger again. Everyone was taking to corners pretty fast now so there was no way to move up until we exited the chicane and I hit the afterburners only making up one spot though. It was still a good result for me. 17th overall and 2nd out of the cat 3s. I was really happy with the sprint too hitting around 37 miles per hour after such a hard race.
Going into the next day I was pretty pumped and feeling strong. Turns out it sucked! I crashed 3 miles into a 50 mile road race and that was it for me, day over, nothing to see here, move on. O well, that is racing.
Monday, July 2, 2012
ToAD Greenbush RR
All I figured on Greenbush was it was going to be hard. I had never raced a road race against category 2 riders, but I assumed it was going to be faster than I had done before. The course was on a 10 mile loop that from the course bible said there was no real climbing on the course. Unless you read the written description. This was my saving grace as I decided to change my gearing choice and that almost saved my race.
The course ended up having a lot of obstacles that would test just about every different type of rider. There were short climbs that taken at "normal" pace would have been fine, but taken at mach 10 like we did, they were very hard. Rolling hills, wind, rough road that seemed to act like Roubaix road. There were long sweeping downhill sections, and fast flats where we road flat out.
Most of the time I like to ride up near the front to lessen the accelerations and changes that happen in the race. But I thought I would try to ride near the back this time and try to use more draft. Boy this was a mistake! There were 80 riders in the race, the most I have ever been in a road race with. This caused the accelerations and decelerations hurt. Instead of being able to roll up rollers and take momentum into hills I would almost have to stop halfway up because of riders in front of me and then sprint to the top. Very quickly I determined my first thought of hanging at the back was not going to work so I started to move to the front. There are a few good ways to move to the front. You want to do it while using as little energy as possible. Moving up the gutters in road races is pretty normal. Guys try to do it when the pack slows for some reason or following another rider who wants to move up in as well. I have also been working on a skill that I had seen a very good sprinter do once in a youtube video. He was able to time gaps in the group and move up without ever hitting the wind. There were a few places in the race that I was able to do this. It was pretty fun but I wanted to make sure I was really careful and not too aggressive. I really didn't want to overlap someones wheel and take people down. The last way that I move up effectively is on downhill sections. Like turning, people get a little timid going down hill, and even more so going downhill with turns.
About halfway around the first lap I was able to get to the front of the group and this was a big help to me in saving some energy. As the race went on we got into a pretty predictable routine. Sprint up any uphill section, attack, attack, attack, rest a min, attack, another hill, and repeat. Being near the front helped a bit but it didn't save me from still having to do a lot of work to get up the hills, and I was never able to hold my position going up the hills. I would sag pretty well and then have to work my way back up again. On lap 4 things changed and the routine was thrown out. Riders started attacking where we had previously been resting and I was getting stretched off the back. I had to burn a big match to hold on and this was not a good thing. As we neared the part of the course where most of the climbing happened I was in a bad spot, position wise, and physically. I needed to be more towards the front so that I could sag a bit as we climbed, but I didn't have much energy left to get up the climbs let alone sprint up the side to get to the front of the group. As we flew up the first climb I dug deep to hold my position. On the way down I took a line on the side of the road and made it up to the front of the pack. That was good, the bad was we were hitting the hardest climb on the course. A two tier climb which like I said before, wasn't very long, we just hit it so fast it hurt bad. I made it up the first part of the climb okay, but as we hit the second part I was just about empty. My only hope was I stay close enough to catch on the downhill. It was long and winding, both could help me. But as I crested the top of the climb the group only got faster. My only hope was that I could get in a good tuck and catch them by the bottom. I didn't think about it quick enough but at the bottom of the hill we took a left onto a very rough road with a hard cross wind. It was like a mile of Paris-Roubaix. If I wasn't in the pack before this I could kiss the race good bye. When I finally caught I didn't realize that a rider from another race was mixed into the group and this allowed a gap to open. Once I noticed it was too late and my last match was burnt trying to grab the back of the pack. It was not to be. The race was just too fast for me, and my day was done. I rolled around to the start line and pulled the plug.
I was pretty bummed about my performance in this race. I think it was more a mental mistake and mental weakness rather than physical. I allowed myself to get too far back and instead of pushing it just a bit harder I relaxed and was dropped. With Shlitz Park coming up the next day I wasn't feeling great about how I was going to do.
The course ended up having a lot of obstacles that would test just about every different type of rider. There were short climbs that taken at "normal" pace would have been fine, but taken at mach 10 like we did, they were very hard. Rolling hills, wind, rough road that seemed to act like Roubaix road. There were long sweeping downhill sections, and fast flats where we road flat out.
Most of the time I like to ride up near the front to lessen the accelerations and changes that happen in the race. But I thought I would try to ride near the back this time and try to use more draft. Boy this was a mistake! There were 80 riders in the race, the most I have ever been in a road race with. This caused the accelerations and decelerations hurt. Instead of being able to roll up rollers and take momentum into hills I would almost have to stop halfway up because of riders in front of me and then sprint to the top. Very quickly I determined my first thought of hanging at the back was not going to work so I started to move to the front. There are a few good ways to move to the front. You want to do it while using as little energy as possible. Moving up the gutters in road races is pretty normal. Guys try to do it when the pack slows for some reason or following another rider who wants to move up in as well. I have also been working on a skill that I had seen a very good sprinter do once in a youtube video. He was able to time gaps in the group and move up without ever hitting the wind. There were a few places in the race that I was able to do this. It was pretty fun but I wanted to make sure I was really careful and not too aggressive. I really didn't want to overlap someones wheel and take people down. The last way that I move up effectively is on downhill sections. Like turning, people get a little timid going down hill, and even more so going downhill with turns.
About halfway around the first lap I was able to get to the front of the group and this was a big help to me in saving some energy. As the race went on we got into a pretty predictable routine. Sprint up any uphill section, attack, attack, attack, rest a min, attack, another hill, and repeat. Being near the front helped a bit but it didn't save me from still having to do a lot of work to get up the hills, and I was never able to hold my position going up the hills. I would sag pretty well and then have to work my way back up again. On lap 4 things changed and the routine was thrown out. Riders started attacking where we had previously been resting and I was getting stretched off the back. I had to burn a big match to hold on and this was not a good thing. As we neared the part of the course where most of the climbing happened I was in a bad spot, position wise, and physically. I needed to be more towards the front so that I could sag a bit as we climbed, but I didn't have much energy left to get up the climbs let alone sprint up the side to get to the front of the group. As we flew up the first climb I dug deep to hold my position. On the way down I took a line on the side of the road and made it up to the front of the pack. That was good, the bad was we were hitting the hardest climb on the course. A two tier climb which like I said before, wasn't very long, we just hit it so fast it hurt bad. I made it up the first part of the climb okay, but as we hit the second part I was just about empty. My only hope was I stay close enough to catch on the downhill. It was long and winding, both could help me. But as I crested the top of the climb the group only got faster. My only hope was that I could get in a good tuck and catch them by the bottom. I didn't think about it quick enough but at the bottom of the hill we took a left onto a very rough road with a hard cross wind. It was like a mile of Paris-Roubaix. If I wasn't in the pack before this I could kiss the race good bye. When I finally caught I didn't realize that a rider from another race was mixed into the group and this allowed a gap to open. Once I noticed it was too late and my last match was burnt trying to grab the back of the pack. It was not to be. The race was just too fast for me, and my day was done. I rolled around to the start line and pulled the plug.
I was pretty bummed about my performance in this race. I think it was more a mental mistake and mental weakness rather than physical. I allowed myself to get too far back and instead of pushing it just a bit harder I relaxed and was dropped. With Shlitz Park coming up the next day I wasn't feeling great about how I was going to do.
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