Lakefront Road Race

Race: Altolab Lakefront Road Race
Where: Milwaukee, WI
Length: 75 miles
Course: 4.5 mile loop with 2 decent climbs

The last race I did of this length was Spring Prairie. And that one flat out sucked.

But today I felt stronger, faster, and more confident than 2 months ago, but still launching into a breakaway in a 75 mile race with hills would be suicide. The plan was to just hang around, mentally act like I'm riding a long weekend ride with friends and see if I felt good at the end to make a move.

I played my plan to a 'T'.

The race started and immediately there was a decent hill. Like always, I climbed it faster than most of my peers leaving me with less 'catch-up' work to do after the hill. The breakaway guys (typically non-sprinters) like to attack up the climbs, so theres usually always some sort of catch-up work needing to be done. That 'catch-up' work is what destroyed me at Spring Prairie. The hardest part of any road race in my eyes, is the 200 meters after a climb. Mentally, you check out at that point thinking"you made it over the climb, time to relax" when in reality the guys up front aren't letting up and you have to get back in your racing groove at a heart rate of 175 instead of 125.

The race continued through residential areas and through a feed zone where I recognized a fellow rider who opted not to race today, but rather get piss drunk and hand out bottles/food to select riders. It was a much needed laugh to start a 3.5 hour race as he was shirtless and hollering every time around the loop. We continued on the course to a fast snake-like descent that we certainly reached speeds in the 40mph range while curving. The first few times down I was rather hesistant with thoughts of Jens Voigt's crash in the TdF the day before in my mind, but gained a lot of comfort in the laps following.

After the descent was one of the more trying parts of the course as the leaders hammered it knowing there was a massive crosswind as we were now almost flush with the lakefront. The pack was always completely strung out for that quarter mile section before everyone gathered up and got ready for the second climb. This climb was much tougher than the first. It was longer with a touch of steepness at the end; still not much to write home about. Immediately following the climb, we actually raced over well paved sidewalk through a park which was rather interesting going 2 and 3 wide through. The rest of the course was fast. Very fast. And straight. Certainly my favorite part as we rarely dipped below 30mph on this false flat descent with a tailwind all the way through the start/finish line.

The race continued, the usual breaks got off and were immediately reeled in. That is, until a seemingly hopeless break of 2 shot off, and the P/1/2 race decided to pass us at that moment neutralizing the peloton of our race, giving the breakaway quickly a 90 second lead without thought. No one was ready to give a huge effort at the front, so the race for the win was already over. A few more guys were able to get off in small efforts to bridge the gap as no one really cared to chase them down either.

The last lap straightaway came, I positioned myself poorly, stuck on the inside with little room out, so I slowed up to the back of the peloton and gunned it to the front, literally taking first wheel. I looked around to see when the first guy to start his sprint would launch. Off to the right I saw somebody begin to wind up and BOOM! Off went the field. I gunned it instandly and felt amazing. Every stroke was as powerful as the last all the way to the line. No one came close to coming around me. Sure it was for 9th place, but had the pack come back together, there's no way I would have lost today. It was a great finish to a race that I had low expectations for and was primarily using as a tune-up for the Chicago Crit.

Stuck to the plan today, felt good, and gave it a go. Next up: Chicago Criterium.