We got to the Crit course and I was a little stunned by how hard the course looked. The first thing you notice is the climb. A good 25 second steep uphill kicker right before the start/finish line loomed - to make it harder it was sandwiched in-between two false flat sections that would end up taking their toll on the field. However, at the time I was much more concerned that what goes up, must come down - and on a 2.5 minute course, the descent/speed/corning combination on the backside of the course would have to be intense. I wasn't able to preview the course, so I was a little timid entering the 'recovery' part of the crit.
Anyways, it was clear that positioning on this course was going to be hard to come by. The pro race was immediately in front of our race and so everyone lined up on both sides of the fencing ready to pounce towards the start/finish line as soon as the race was over. The main pack of the pro race finished up and everyone was getting twitchy to line up. After a few seconds someone was ballsy enough to pull the trigger causing everyone to pull the trigger on racing up to line-up. A few straglers of the pro-race came through complaining (rightfully so) and the chief judge told everyone to take a lap. I rolled through the line and immediatley got off the course and rolled back right before the start/finish line until the officials actually called us up. This gave me decent positioning for the start.
The race went off and my timidness on the backside of the course showed a little as I let a few people go by through the turns while I gained comfort moving through them (which came quickly). The hill came and was tough - I think by the 2nd or 3rd lap I was already thinking about how long I'd be able to solo off the back without getting pulled, but I ended up doing a really good job of finding recovery points throughout the course - especially mentally - whenever I felt like I wasn't going all out, I was reassuring myself that I was relaxing and recovering. The first time I looked down at my Garmin was the 25 minute mark (halfway). This was signficant because 1) it meant half the race had already gone by and 2) it meant that I had officially not been time-cut from the race as you would be scored even if you didn't finish. My main goal for the week had be complete, however, I knew that if I could somehow stay with the pack and score the leaders time, I'd likely move up onto the first page on General Classification. The officials finally gave the call - '7 laps to go'. The next 5 laps or so were fast. At one point a split in the field about 4 guys ahead of me occured - luckily I felt ok enough at this point to but in a big turn of speed and leapfrog him back onto the main pack, but I'm pretty sure a split in the field occurred at that point. Soon enough we were on the last lap and it was all bonus at this point. I kicked as hard as I could up the hill and ended up 20th on the day. Taylor finished well again securing his top 10 in GC. O'Boyle finished the day after a tough wreck yesterday in the lead pack. Only 35 of the 100 starters would finish with the lead group. Flashing back to Schlitz Park (similair hill type crit) or the Tour of Galena (tough but not as well represented stage race), I figured it'd be tough to actually finish this thing - if not impossible. Not only did I finish the race, but I only lost 2:03 to first place and made my way up onto the first page of GC results (33rd). Had I lost half of what I did on the TT I would have finished in the Top 15 of the race. Couldn't be happier with how it went and again, a really nice affirmation of the hard work I've been putting in. Looking forward to where this helps put me for the rest of the year. I'll certainly be going back to Joe Martin in the future as it was an incredibly well put on event and the caliber of racing was outstanding.
Until next time...
Wednesday, April 29, 2015
JMSR Saturday Road Race
The Saturday road race was a three lap circuit that totaled 86 miles and contained a good short climb each time. The route had more elevation gain than the 110 mile road race and certainly proved to be a more difficult course - as one of my teammates put it 'it's a course that feels like you're always going up'. Climbing is not something I generally have done well.
After yesterday, my hopes were a little higher that I could potentially hold on, but I still was going to approach it with the same mindset - don't get time cut and hold on as long as possible. The group hit the first climb together and it was certainly tough, but doable. We hit the feedzone at the top of the first peak of the climb (the climb was a good steep climb, crest w/ feed zone, slight descent, and then longer steadier climb for a little while until it crested) and everyone, per usual, seemed to start ramping the pace up making getting a feed chaotic. After my experience yesterday and at Boulder-Roubaix at feeds, I was done getting caught out at this point and made a point to make sure I was moving up through the feeds. I heard a lot of people had to do some chasing to catch back on, so yeah...
The 2nd lap climb came and all of the sudden it seemed like people were hurting (as was I). One of my former teammates who was there (and is really strong) was moving up the left side. I quickly sprung on his wheel and just tried to relax while ascending it - mentally, I was just trying to act like it's just me and him on a group ride (not in a 1-2 national level race going up a hill - a place I don't have much business being). He cruised up the hill, and with me in tow, we ended up passing dozens of people which certainly gave me some confidence. This was a point where many people ended up getting popped and where even a few riders who I expected to be far stronger than me actually pulled out of the race. I made it to the top again and focused on trying to recover for the next 15 miles.
The 3rd lap climb came and it seemed a little neutral at the beginning and then the attacks came. Even with a slow start we ended up ascending the climb much faster than the other laps. Uneventfully, I made it to the top.
There was a break that went off earlier in the day that was a minute forty up the road. This would have shattered our GC man's (Taylor's) hopes of a good overall finish. Although gassed after the climbs, we needed to organize a chase and inject a little pace into the race in hopes of bringing the group back. O'Boyle came by me yelling that we organize a chase. We found Austin as well and moved our way up front for some digs. After a few rotations, the Hincapie team were lined up on our wheels putting in some good pulls and helping bring back the chase. Eventually we had the breakaway in sight and reeled them in with 10 miles or so to go.
With 6 to go there was a big wreck, I hadn't seen O'Boyle much after that so I assumed he got collected.
I was trying to figure out where the finish was, but was mostly happy to know that I was going to certainly finish with the leaders time again today as there was nothing else challenging about the route towards the finish. We made a right hand turn and low-and-behold, the finish line was 200 meters away. Completely unaware that the finish was so close I launched a sprint and ended up finishing 18th on the day. Another complete shocker of a result. We ended up with 3 top 20 finishes on the day as a team which was incredible. Just as shocking was how hard the course was on the field. Many riders who I expected to make it through the day had a lot of time put into them. It still seems like I shouldn't have been in that group, but it's nice to know the massive amount of training is certainly paying off. O'Boyle ended up being in the wreck and rolled through the line 5 minutes after the leaders did, ruining his chances of a good GC finish - at this point we were just hoping he and his bike were okay for the next day.
Anyways, it was another good day on the bike that moved me from the 60's into the 40's on GC, still 2:03 back of the leader.
After yesterday, my hopes were a little higher that I could potentially hold on, but I still was going to approach it with the same mindset - don't get time cut and hold on as long as possible. The group hit the first climb together and it was certainly tough, but doable. We hit the feedzone at the top of the first peak of the climb (the climb was a good steep climb, crest w/ feed zone, slight descent, and then longer steadier climb for a little while until it crested) and everyone, per usual, seemed to start ramping the pace up making getting a feed chaotic. After my experience yesterday and at Boulder-Roubaix at feeds, I was done getting caught out at this point and made a point to make sure I was moving up through the feeds. I heard a lot of people had to do some chasing to catch back on, so yeah...
The 2nd lap climb came and all of the sudden it seemed like people were hurting (as was I). One of my former teammates who was there (and is really strong) was moving up the left side. I quickly sprung on his wheel and just tried to relax while ascending it - mentally, I was just trying to act like it's just me and him on a group ride (not in a 1-2 national level race going up a hill - a place I don't have much business being). He cruised up the hill, and with me in tow, we ended up passing dozens of people which certainly gave me some confidence. This was a point where many people ended up getting popped and where even a few riders who I expected to be far stronger than me actually pulled out of the race. I made it to the top again and focused on trying to recover for the next 15 miles.
The 3rd lap climb came and it seemed a little neutral at the beginning and then the attacks came. Even with a slow start we ended up ascending the climb much faster than the other laps. Uneventfully, I made it to the top.
There was a break that went off earlier in the day that was a minute forty up the road. This would have shattered our GC man's (Taylor's) hopes of a good overall finish. Although gassed after the climbs, we needed to organize a chase and inject a little pace into the race in hopes of bringing the group back. O'Boyle came by me yelling that we organize a chase. We found Austin as well and moved our way up front for some digs. After a few rotations, the Hincapie team were lined up on our wheels putting in some good pulls and helping bring back the chase. Eventually we had the breakaway in sight and reeled them in with 10 miles or so to go.
With 6 to go there was a big wreck, I hadn't seen O'Boyle much after that so I assumed he got collected.
I was trying to figure out where the finish was, but was mostly happy to know that I was going to certainly finish with the leaders time again today as there was nothing else challenging about the route towards the finish. We made a right hand turn and low-and-behold, the finish line was 200 meters away. Completely unaware that the finish was so close I launched a sprint and ended up finishing 18th on the day. Another complete shocker of a result. We ended up with 3 top 20 finishes on the day as a team which was incredible. Just as shocking was how hard the course was on the field. Many riders who I expected to make it through the day had a lot of time put into them. It still seems like I shouldn't have been in that group, but it's nice to know the massive amount of training is certainly paying off. O'Boyle ended up being in the wreck and rolled through the line 5 minutes after the leaders did, ruining his chances of a good GC finish - at this point we were just hoping he and his bike were okay for the next day.
Anyways, it was another good day on the bike that moved me from the 60's into the 40's on GC, still 2:03 back of the leader.
Friday, April 24, 2015
JMSR Friday Road Race
Well - that went a bit better than expected. The first two pre Mount Gaylor climbs ended up being certainly effort-inducing but not fatal. The only hiccup was dropping my chain on the second one early in the climb when shifting from my big to small ring causing me to fall off the back, fix it, and chase back on - not the worst effort in the world, but an effort nonetheless. The miles went by quickly and soon enough we were at the base of Mount Gaylor which was a seven to nineish mile climb which I assumed I'd get popped on. My race was a success at that point given that I knew I wouldn't be time cut as I'd have roughly 40 miles to not lose a full hour to the lead group - which would be pretty easy. So my only objective at that point was to see how long I'd stay on. The climb wasn't straight up but instead it rather rolled up, so it'd go up and then flatten out a bit, and repeat like that all the way to the top. The draft was rather immense through this section with nice wide and paved roads, so sitting midpack really helped mitigate its difficulty. Mile by mile rolled by and I was still within my limits and I started having the thought that I could make it over this thing intact - which would be huge, because the remaining 30 miles would be all slightly downhill, which would almost be a full recovery ride to the finish line. Some of the front guys kept trying to get away, but the pack seemed fresh enough and attentive enough to not let anything go, which effectively made the back half of the climb a little easier than it probably should have been with some of the stronger guys beaten up and/or discouraged from trying to get away. Finally I saw the feed zone which indicated the top of the climb and it was all downhill from there. I was a little amped at this point and started being a little overly active at the front, trying to pull back the breakaway group and even momentarily seeing if I could get into a chase move. Eventually, I pumped the brakes and tried to save what I had left for the finish. The finish ended up being a bit more technical given the rain (which it was doing for half the ride), than expected. It also had several decent kickers in it, which were also a bit unexpected. I positioned myself relatively well entering the technical section with roughly 1k to go. Immediately the rider in front of me dumped it, which put me into a full brake mode as I was able to cut to the inside of him and carry on. The final corner approached, I thought I baby'd it a bit too much in the turn but saw the rider's wheel in front of me slip out (he saved it) - which caused me to feather the brakes again as a few guys whipped by me for the sprint. I kicked as hard as I could just trying to see how far up I could place. I hit the line - and just found out the result - 22nd. Blew my expectations out of the water. Moved me from 97th to 67th in the standings, a little over 2 minutes behind the leader. Really fun day.
Tomorrow is a hillier 86 mile circuit race. My expectations are low again, but we'll just take it a mile at a time like today and see what happens. Until then...
Tomorrow is a hillier 86 mile circuit race. My expectations are low again, but we'll just take it a mile at a time like today and see what happens. Until then...
Thursday, April 23, 2015
JMSR TT
TT went fine. An uphill time trial is far from a strong suit of mine - ended up 97th of 123 guys. It's something I can work on in the future if it ever becomes a goal to get good at these things, but its not on the radar currently. My foot didn't act up at all during it which was great and a good sign for tomorrow - which is the real test. The plan is to try to make it to the base of Gaylor Mtn with the group (70 miles in), hold on as long as possible and then try to organize a 40 mile team time trial with whoever is around me at the top to make sure we don't get time cut. That's all. Helping out our two GC guys would be outstanding and my primary responsibility, but it'd also be nice to be able to race into the weekend.
Wednesday, April 22, 2015
JMSR Pre-Race
Here at Joe Martin! Our hotel room smells like smoke and feels like a sweaty sauna room, but I suppose that's 'pro'. A 2.7 mile uphill time trial on tap for tomorrow. Any nerves I possibly could have had have been nullified by a foot cramp that hasn't gone away in three days - really hoping it works itself out or it could be a quick trip. There's a loose rumor going around that Chris Horner, a recent Vuelta winner, is here which would be neat - it'd be fun to see if I can stay within...2 minutes of his time tomorrow. Drive wasn't too terrible - especially for those few who were unconscious for half the trip.
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Until tomorrow...
Tuesday, April 21, 2015
Joe Martin Stage Race Looming...
The final week of a nice three week training block is here, and included in that is a nice trip down to Fayetteville, Arkansas to race the Joe Martin Stage Race. Weather's looking like rain and thunderstorms for the long Friday Road Race which could make for a rather interesting day. The Men's 1-2 race consists of a short uphill time trial on Thursday, a 110 mile road race on Friday, an 86 mile road race on Saturday, and a 50 minute crit with a little hill on Sunday. Certainly not things in my wheelhouse, but should provide a nice fitness boost. We leave tomorrow morning early with a team of seven of us looking to work for one or two guys that have a chance of doing something big in the overall.
The past two weeks have provided some nice training. Boulder ended up being a 380 mile week with significant elevation, and last week ended up right around 350 miles - all my rides are generally listed here on Strava. So, Joe Martin Thursday-Sunday and then back to Chicago for a rest week I'm very much looking forward to. Should be a nice time to relax, get everything in order, and book up the rest of my racing trips this year. But yeah, first up is focusing up on not getting time cut at Joe Martin and if I'm successful there, helping out our team leaders throughout as much of the race as I can. I'd be lying if I said I was looking forward to the challenge, but I'm really looking forward to having the experience and what it should do for the rest of my season.
The past two weeks have provided some nice training. Boulder ended up being a 380 mile week with significant elevation, and last week ended up right around 350 miles - all my rides are generally listed here on Strava. So, Joe Martin Thursday-Sunday and then back to Chicago for a rest week I'm very much looking forward to. Should be a nice time to relax, get everything in order, and book up the rest of my racing trips this year. But yeah, first up is focusing up on not getting time cut at Joe Martin and if I'm successful there, helping out our team leaders throughout as much of the race as I can. I'd be lying if I said I was looking forward to the challenge, but I'm really looking forward to having the experience and what it should do for the rest of my season.
Tuesday, April 14, 2015
Boulder-Roubaix
Saturday was the Boulder-Roubaix which is a 75 mile half gravel, half pavement road race where road bikes are still the weapon of choice. Given the week of training and the altitude adjustment on my end, I was happy with how I felt during it, but unfortunately got a puncture at almost the halfway point of the race which ended my hopes of finishing with the group. I just decided to finish up the last few laps and get a good workout in for the day as it was my last opportunity to ride in Boulder.
The race had a decent pace throughout, certainly fast, but not insane. Guys in the back had a bit of tailwhip issues through the corners and as well through the long gravel sections as several times some of the pro CX'ers in the field hit those sections hard. Splits seemed to be occurring, but nothing that wasn't impossible to close back up. Early on there were a few classic water bottle mine-fields caused by some bumpy sections and riders not having there bottles secure-enough in their cages and there were about three significant wrecks nearby that I was more than happy to avoid.
Anyways, great experience racing with those guys. Here's my full race below.
The race had a decent pace throughout, certainly fast, but not insane. Guys in the back had a bit of tailwhip issues through the corners and as well through the long gravel sections as several times some of the pro CX'ers in the field hit those sections hard. Splits seemed to be occurring, but nothing that wasn't impossible to close back up. Early on there were a few classic water bottle mine-fields caused by some bumpy sections and riders not having there bottles secure-enough in their cages and there were about three significant wrecks nearby that I was more than happy to avoid.
Anyways, great experience racing with those guys. Here's my full race below.
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