It’s finally nice again in Chicago. Warm weather, sunny skies, and lake paths filled with people, bikes, and roller blades. It makes going outside so much easier.
Anyways, hit up a Laketrail TT this morning with Tim Daugherty. This wasn’t as pure of a TT as last year as I had the help of Tim pulling every now and then. Got a good hard effort in, clocked at 43:15, 2 seconds off my best time last year, which sounds like I’m just about where I was hoping to be at this time. I didn’t feel great or really even good at any point until the last 5 minutes of the ride, so I’m thinking next weeks time should absolutely dip below the 43 minute mark and probably even lower.
Tim, Kuikman, and I also suited up with radios on an evening ride last night. Felt very P-R-O. They should work very well on the Chicago-Bloomington ride (which we’re still trying to figure out the official name of). I also threw new tires on the machine, rode in my new kit, and actually configured a cyclometer that works on my bike (cateye > polar). Now its just a matter of getting rid of those leg hairs that are oh so cumbersome to cyclists and I’ll actually feel like a real rider again.
Anyways, some more hard efforts Thursday, Friday, and Saturday and then a few days off as I’m starting a ‘crash cycle’ per Joe Friel’s book ‘The Cyclist Training Bible’, basically in an effort to prepare myself in the event I do go down to the Joe Martin Stage Race in early May. The training is pretty much go super hard for two weeks straight and then recover for a week. Repeat the process and you should see some decent gains in performance.
Anyways, looking forward to being active outside this week! So nice out.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Kenosha Velosport Criterium
I was bored today, so I decided to race.
Kenosha's only about an hour north of Chicago and traffic was pretty light so getting their and back was no big deal. The bigger deal was that I had worked absolutely zero intensity workouts in up to this point. Its been two months of base mileage and riding as much as I can without ever going into the red. Also, this was my first race back since the Elk Grove crash, so I guess if there were any skeletons left in the closet, I'd shake them out today as I rode the exact same bike setup and wore the exact same outfit (still with blood stains on it) as I did back on that rainy August afternoon.
Anyways, I remembered racing being harder. I don't think I ever hit the red zone save for the sprint, and I was rarely ever even uncomfortable. I sat in the whole race as I was the only xXx guy in the race and there were several other more full teams intact, so pulling just never really made sense. Several breaks went off and I was waiting for one with the right composition to go before I bridged (one with someone from each of the major teams represented). Quickly, every break was reeled back in. However, one guy got off the front and it seemed like all the other teams just quit trying to pull him back. His lead kept stretching and stretching out and before you knew it, he was gone. Just one of those helpless feelings, but again, this was really just a workout for me not an attempt to win.
The last lap came, I swooped up near the front, passed 5 or so guys at the line and placed 7th. Best finish I suppose I've ever had in a P/1/2 race. Pretty happy with it considering I hadn't really put in any effort-based rides in this year. Maybe I'm just better without training (see results early last year).
I felt good today, but then again, I've felt great all Spring. I don't think I've ever been as good as I am right now in mid-March and thats saying something as I used to peak around now for Little 500 preparations. Maybe its me being fresh, maybe I'm just way better after having a full Chicago racing season under my belt. Probably the latter.
This season's going to be a little different being as that I want to be healthy and alive for my Wedding and Honeymoon in July and August. That means no road racing those months. I'm going to focus on track all year and focus on a few road races this Spring. in addition I'm going to do some touring rides. In June I'm eyeing the TOMRV ride with a group of friends as well as a Chicago-Bloomington one day ride with Tim Daugherty and Matt Kuikman (235.4 miles). In addition we're piece-mealing a group of guys together to participate in the Indana Coast 2 Coast 2 day tag-team stage race on August 1st which should be a blast. So a lot of safe riding on the schedule.
Anyways, here's my full tentative cycling schedule for the year (always over-ambitious). Again, less racing, more touring. Also, there will be track racing every Thursday or Friday.
3/21 Kenosha Velosport Criterium
4/17 Leland-Kermesse?
4/24 Little 500 Alumni Race (that's right)
5/6-5/9 Joe Martin Stage Race
5/15 Larue-Denzer Larue? or Monsters of the Midway?
6/6 Spring Prairie Road Race?
6/12-6/13 TOMRV
6/26 Chicago-Bloomington 2010
7/31-8/1 Indiana Coast 2 Coast Stage Race
Kenosha's only about an hour north of Chicago and traffic was pretty light so getting their and back was no big deal. The bigger deal was that I had worked absolutely zero intensity workouts in up to this point. Its been two months of base mileage and riding as much as I can without ever going into the red. Also, this was my first race back since the Elk Grove crash, so I guess if there were any skeletons left in the closet, I'd shake them out today as I rode the exact same bike setup and wore the exact same outfit (still with blood stains on it) as I did back on that rainy August afternoon.
Anyways, I remembered racing being harder. I don't think I ever hit the red zone save for the sprint, and I was rarely ever even uncomfortable. I sat in the whole race as I was the only xXx guy in the race and there were several other more full teams intact, so pulling just never really made sense. Several breaks went off and I was waiting for one with the right composition to go before I bridged (one with someone from each of the major teams represented). Quickly, every break was reeled back in. However, one guy got off the front and it seemed like all the other teams just quit trying to pull him back. His lead kept stretching and stretching out and before you knew it, he was gone. Just one of those helpless feelings, but again, this was really just a workout for me not an attempt to win.
The last lap came, I swooped up near the front, passed 5 or so guys at the line and placed 7th. Best finish I suppose I've ever had in a P/1/2 race. Pretty happy with it considering I hadn't really put in any effort-based rides in this year. Maybe I'm just better without training (see results early last year).
I felt good today, but then again, I've felt great all Spring. I don't think I've ever been as good as I am right now in mid-March and thats saying something as I used to peak around now for Little 500 preparations. Maybe its me being fresh, maybe I'm just way better after having a full Chicago racing season under my belt. Probably the latter.
This season's going to be a little different being as that I want to be healthy and alive for my Wedding and Honeymoon in July and August. That means no road racing those months. I'm going to focus on track all year and focus on a few road races this Spring. in addition I'm going to do some touring rides. In June I'm eyeing the TOMRV ride with a group of friends as well as a Chicago-Bloomington one day ride with Tim Daugherty and Matt Kuikman (235.4 miles). In addition we're piece-mealing a group of guys together to participate in the Indana Coast 2 Coast 2 day tag-team stage race on August 1st which should be a blast. So a lot of safe riding on the schedule.
Anyways, here's my full tentative cycling schedule for the year (always over-ambitious). Again, less racing, more touring. Also, there will be track racing every Thursday or Friday.
3/21 Kenosha Velosport Criterium
4/17 Leland-Kermesse?
4/24 Little 500 Alumni Race (that's right)
5/6-5/9 Joe Martin Stage Race
5/15 Larue-Denzer Larue? or Monsters of the Midway?
6/6 Spring Prairie Road Race?
6/12-6/13 TOMRV
6/26 Chicago-Bloomington 2010
7/31-8/1 Indiana Coast 2 Coast Stage Race
Monday, July 27, 2009
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.
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.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
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:
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...
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...
Superweek - Schlitz Park
Date: 7/18/2009
Race: Schlitz Park Crit
Course: 44 laps with a good hill on a .8 mile course.
This race sucked.
If you weren't going uphill, you were flying downhill, or going 25 into a turn, or advancing position, or getting jacked up by the 1000's of bumps in the road.
I can climb faster than 95% of the guys out there, but I concede at this point, without proper training, at around hill repeat 25 my legs begin to haphazardly lock up quicker than most.
Bottom line of this race: I saw a group of 10 attack. They were stronger than the rest of the field. I tried to bridge (ride by myself trying to advance from one group to the next) for around a mile. I connected at the top of the hill with that group and severely tightened up. Race over. To make matters worse one of the bumps jarred my glasses off. I went back to find them, and someone had already taken them.
Leg strength will be priority #1 in one month.
Race: Schlitz Park Crit
Course: 44 laps with a good hill on a .8 mile course.
This race sucked.
If you weren't going uphill, you were flying downhill, or going 25 into a turn, or advancing position, or getting jacked up by the 1000's of bumps in the road.
I can climb faster than 95% of the guys out there, but I concede at this point, without proper training, at around hill repeat 25 my legs begin to haphazardly lock up quicker than most.
Bottom line of this race: I saw a group of 10 attack. They were stronger than the rest of the field. I tried to bridge (ride by myself trying to advance from one group to the next) for around a mile. I connected at the top of the hill with that group and severely tightened up. Race over. To make matters worse one of the bumps jarred my glasses off. I went back to find them, and someone had already taken them.
Leg strength will be priority #1 in one month.
Soldier Field Criterium #3
Date: 7/15/2009
Race: Soldier Field Crit #3
2 crashes in 3 races leaves the confidence with something to gain…
So, let’s try this again...only with one arm that’s fully functioning…
I arrived to the race and focused on nothing but cornering in my pre-race ride; I literally just spun in circles trying to get a feel for the bike. Quickly, I noticed that my gears were jumping around from gear to gear without me even shifting. I thought I’d try my hand at utilizing that SRAM Neutral support tent (why else would they be there?) and within 30 seconds my bike was in pristine shape. Some mechanics can just blow your mind with their skills.
Anyways, in pre-race Christian Vande Velde’s dad, John Vande Velde (a two-time Olympian himself) spoke in support of Chicago’s 2016 bid. Very cool to bring out someone like that during the Tour. His speaking style is just like Christians, pretty quick and in short bursts. This whole Olympics thing is working out really well for Chicago cyclists: first the Chicago Criterium, now the Soldier Field Cycling Series, next a new Velodrome in the city?
I positioned myself on the start/finish line in front of the field as I wanted to be at or near the front of the pack so that I didn’t get extremely burned out by the start/stop nature of being in the back end of a crit. Teammate Seth Meyer was quick to point out the 2 pros in the field. I had never raced against pros before. The race started out fairly quickly with Seth doing some heavy pulls and I quickly drifted back from the front to the middle of the field.
Every turn I gained more confidence, gingerly entering them and exploding out of each to make up for the time loss.
Each lap went by and I was quickly running out of steam. These guys were fast. By lap 15 (of around 50), I coughed and up came some food I ate an hour and a half ago. By this point half the field had been dropped. I focused on trying to maintain solid position. Every time I looked at the race clock, I was more discouraged as the clock hardly seemed to tick towards 0:00...so I stopped looking...and buried my focus on nothing but the back wheel of the guy in front of me, sometimes to the extreme of, "If this guy gets dropped, I'm getting dropped" banking on his ability to hold onto the leaders. This was the first crit I've done where there really wasn't an accordian effect. It was strung out single file the entire race.
At one point the pro drifted back and I jumped onto his wheel. You could just see how fast, smooth, and calm he was in the pack. That boosted the adrenaline a little bit. I remembered quickly back to my days of Little 5, and whenever I was riding one-on-one with the studs of the field, I always found that little extra. You forget about the pain and finally begin racing. We were under full lights by this point as the sun had gone down. The crowds around the start finish line had begun to gather. This was a 1/2/3 race. People cared about this race. Our team cared about this race as many teammates from other catagories stuck around to watch.
And I was still there.
With 5 laps to go I gained some energy and moved towards the front of the pack. One falty move can lose you 15 spots as I had found out earlier in the race, so I made sure to stick to the wheel in front of me. The last lap came and Tom Brinney, one of our guys, attacked and I let him go hoping he could stick it out for a 2nd place finish (as the first place guy was long gone). A chase ensued within 10 seconds, but by that point Tom himself was gone. The pace of the race flew and I was decently positioned. I negotiated the last corner 50 meters from the finish and thought "My god, I'm going to finish this thing". I started my all out sprint, gained some room on the guy ahead of me and crossed the line in 9th.
I was happy to finish.
Ecstatic to finish in the top 10.
I found out later that I had actually crossed the finish line in front of one of the pros. Not that if he wanted to, he couldn't beat me, but it felt good regardless, especially since I thought I was going to have to pull over 20 minutes into the race.
Something that happened in that race was the reason I train, the reason I still want to do something competitive. I don't know if it was the lights, the crowd, competing against the best..whatever it was, there was something there that was incredible. On the way home the Wednesday night fireworks at Navy Pier went off. It was one of those surreal moments of exhaustion coupled with complete satisfaction. I just sat on my bike and watched. What an evening.
Superweek - Elgin Cycling Classic
Date: 7/12/2009
Where: Elgin, Illinois
What: Elgin Cycling Classic (50 mile road race)
Course: Gorgeous course, a few big ring climbs, negotiable turns, one 180 degree turn
The race started and I positioned myself up front as immediately a 180 degree turn occurred where Katie and I saw several riders take spills in previous races (one of the reasons I stayed up front). Surprisingly, the turn wasn't difficult at all, but seeing as the race split up within one lap of it starting, I'd argue being in the back exiting that turn must have buried some guys who had to deal with the accordion effect.
There were a few long straights, a few long fast descents, and 2 decent big ring climbs and I felt great, scratch that, amazing the entire time. An attack shot off comprised of about 5 guys and one of ours was in it. Again, this reduced my role to helping let the breakaway last.
Lap goes by.
Lap goes by.
Unorganized chase occurs.
Nothing happens.
Last lap.
Wait, who's that up the road? F#$&! It's our guy! He popped and got dropped from the break. The speed at which we passed him and another dropped rider was like passing a cyclist in a car. All of the sudden xXx and a few other cyclists made their way to the front and started hammering, but it was too late and within a few short minutes of effort, the pack destined itself with a sprint for 4th. I positioned myself near the front, but this effort was crazy. Everyone was trying to outposition the field and by the time you found your spot, someone else was whizzing by, dropping your slot back. I found a spot about 7th wheel back entering the last sequence of turns. Negotiated the first well, maintain speed. Negotiated the second well, maintain speed. Negotiated the thi....my wheel slips, I catch.
At this point I'm going 25 miles an hour. I can either try my best to turn...thought over. BAM! Curb. Down.
The bike was fine. My arm and wrist really hurt, but they were fine. It just sucked again, because I was set up very well for a good run at another top 10 finish and lost it. Oh well. There are bigger fish to fry.
Where: Elgin, Illinois
What: Elgin Cycling Classic (50 mile road race)
Course: Gorgeous course, a few big ring climbs, negotiable turns, one 180 degree turn
The race started and I positioned myself up front as immediately a 180 degree turn occurred where Katie and I saw several riders take spills in previous races (one of the reasons I stayed up front). Surprisingly, the turn wasn't difficult at all, but seeing as the race split up within one lap of it starting, I'd argue being in the back exiting that turn must have buried some guys who had to deal with the accordion effect.
There were a few long straights, a few long fast descents, and 2 decent big ring climbs and I felt great, scratch that, amazing the entire time. An attack shot off comprised of about 5 guys and one of ours was in it. Again, this reduced my role to helping let the breakaway last.
Lap goes by.
Lap goes by.
Unorganized chase occurs.
Nothing happens.
Last lap.
Wait, who's that up the road? F#$&! It's our guy! He popped and got dropped from the break. The speed at which we passed him and another dropped rider was like passing a cyclist in a car. All of the sudden xXx and a few other cyclists made their way to the front and started hammering, but it was too late and within a few short minutes of effort, the pack destined itself with a sprint for 4th. I positioned myself near the front, but this effort was crazy. Everyone was trying to outposition the field and by the time you found your spot, someone else was whizzing by, dropping your slot back. I found a spot about 7th wheel back entering the last sequence of turns. Negotiated the first well, maintain speed. Negotiated the second well, maintain speed. Negotiated the thi....my wheel slips, I catch.
At this point I'm going 25 miles an hour. I can either try my best to turn...thought over. BAM! Curb. Down.
The bike was fine. My arm and wrist really hurt, but they were fine. It just sucked again, because I was set up very well for a good run at another top 10 finish and lost it. Oh well. There are bigger fish to fry.
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