Superweek - Whitnall Park Road Race

Date: 7/20/2009
Race: Whitnall Park
Course: Gorgeous course through a forest and golf course with one decent climb. 35 mile race.

Lets try to break the Wisconsin Curse: Spring Prairie 36th and a Schlitz Park DNF don't bring back very good memories north of the border.

Today I decided to hang with the pack, just like I always used to do, and wait for the right moment near the end to pounce. The course went through a golf course and forest; it really reminded me of a longer Eagle Creek course. The only real noticable trait of this venue was that at the end of the lap there was one big climb...but it was far easier than it appeared.

I had two teammates who kept trying to get off in breaks. None were successful as this course was fairly easy to real in those jumping off. I relied today on everyone else pulling back breaks as I just wanted to finish today and have a decent result to boost my confidence rather than 'go-for-broke' for the win.

Everything worked as planned. The last lap came, I felt great, I followed a wheel of one my guys up front and unfortunately had to pull a little bit on the last lap. This took a few ounces of energy out of my sails and may have cost me a few spots. A breakaway of 2 was way off at this point, though they were finally in sight with around 200m to go. We hit the hill and I jumped with everything. Just like Vernon Hills, this was a move to place in the top 10, not to win. It worked. A few guys passed me on the line, but I held on for 7th, yielding me 4 upgrade points.

I now have 9 official points with several very big point awarding races on the horizon. By placing well there, I now need to merely finish in the top 10 at either the Chicago Crit, the Tour of Elk Grove, Downers Grove, or the Tour of Oak Brook in order to meet the 25 point upgrade minimum from a 3 -> 2 (as 16 points are awarded for 10th place in all of those races).

Each race throughout the year is given a prestige category between A and E. Most races throughout the year are either D or E's which mean you have to place in the top 10 or 5 to get any points respectively (Whitnall Park was a 'D' race). More prestigious races, including state and national championships are awarded points as high as 60 points for first, while awarding points all the way through 30th place! So, the bottom line is finish top 10 in one of the next 4 races (9+16=25).

Each of the 4 races coming up award points as follows:

1 - 40
2 - 35
3 - 30
4 - 28
5 - 26
6 - 24
7 - 22
8 - 20
9 - 18
10 - 16
11 - 15
12 - 14
13 - 13
14 - 12
15 - 11
16 - 10
17 - 9
18 - 8
19 - 7
20 - 6
21 - 5
22 - 4
23 - 3
24 - 2
25 - 1

Next up: Lakefront Road Race in Milwaukee. It's supposed to be a crit-like course with lots of turns...but its 70 miles long. I'm just going to use it as a training race for Sunday's Chicago Crit and simply hold onto the pack. If I exert any energy before mile marker 60 I'm toast. It's supposed to be one of the best venues in all of amatuer racing in the U.S...but I'm not looking forward to it...