For those who may not know what the Gateway Cup is, it’s a 4 day racing series held in historic neighbors around St. Louis, MO on Labor Day weekend consisting of 3 criteriums and a circuit race. This entry will be a quick replay of the experiences I encountered along the way. Okay, maybe not so quick…
Friday, Sep. 3rd – Lafayette Square Criterium – 7:30PM:
That’s right, a night race. In a world in which criterium racing can be inherently risky, the removal of daylight and a slight addition of a few street lights plus portable corner lights made this race not only risky, but extremely FUN! Talk about an adrenaline rush… The race started like all cat 3 races I’ve ever been in: hammer, hammer, and hammer some more. As expected, the pace never ceased to be intense. Sprinting out of each corner to speeds of 30+, then jamming the brakes because 3 separate individuals all try to cut each other off on the inside of each corner. Seriously, figure it out guys. Stay in line and pedal smoothly through the corners and everyone is happy, and safe. This race was on in which there was no way to hold a position within the pack, if you’re not moving up, you’re moving backward.
Going back to that racing at night thing, when you only have street lights, there are many shadows following and passing you throughout the event. The instance in which your shadows smoothly slides past you is one which caught be looking over my shoulder a number of times because each time, I thought I had someone coming up on my left to pass. That wasn’t the case, just that pesky shadow. Another anomaly that I experience was the little neon LED blinky lights that racers put on the spokes of their wheels. Yes, you read that right. The racers had them on their wheels. This insanely quick flash accompanied with constant whirling around the wheel almost gave me a seizure as I followed directly behind. Yikes, nothing like going cross-eyed at 30+ on dark streets in a pack of 100.
All in all, this race went smoothly until the last lap. A number of crashes occurred which resulted in splits in the field. My result ended up to be burning legs and lungs and finishing with the main pack in 28th place. Average speed for the race was 27.6 mph.
Saturday, Sep. 4th – Tour des Hills Criterium – 2:00PM:
Whoo! Daylight, back to the basics. Wide open, 4 corner course with decent pavement and slight incline on the start/finish stretch and the final stretch before turn 4. This was another great race with a large field. Pace was fast again and relentless throughout. My plan for the day was to sit in a safe area of the pack and wait for the last few laps to make a move. All went to plan. Nothing exciting occurred throughout the race until the last 3 laps. Pace whipped up even higher and I moved from the back of the field up to about 20th wheel. Once there, it was battle to stay there. Again, everyone tried to jam the inside of the corners and as a result a nasty crash occurred mid-field on turn 3 of the final lap. I stayed in front of the mess and was able to make it to turn 4 but then the fella in front of me over-cooked the corners, lost his balance and went down on his own. HA! Anyway, it was a field sprint from there, finished 19th. Average speed for the race was 26.8 mph.
Sunday, Sep. 5th – Giro de la Montagne – 3:00PM:
Italian district here we come! Another 4 corner course with a long front and back stretch each presenting 50/50 split with half the straight being a descent and the other half an uphill battle. Wide corners? Nope. The corners of this race were drastically different from those of the previous two races. 100% concentration was needed on these tight and bumpy left-handers. Turn 1 seemed to cause the most problems, but only for specific individuals who pushed the limits too far and found themselves having a make out session with the pavement. Ouch! Surprisingly though, there were no instances of crashes that I was aware of in the 3’s race. No one lost concentration and actually held their lines and speed though the corners. I worked hard throughout this race to stay near the front of the field. I was determined to finish higher than the previous day’s results. On the final lap I was sitting 15th wheel going down the back stretch. I moved up a few positions but quickly got swallowed up by the field sprinting up the sides. Whoops! They blew their load early allowing the rest of us to really ramp up the pace in to the final corner and down the long straight to the finish. I had a sprint and threw it down as best I could, passing about 8 prior to the finish. 11th was the result of the hard work put in. Getting stronger each day! Average speed for the race was 25.7 mph.
Monday, Sep. 6th – Benton Park Criterium – 1:00PM:
Sweet! A race that includes 10 corners, two overpasses and rolls in front of Anheuser-Busch. Yeah, no so much. The race I’m sure was truly a blast but I didn’t participate. To my dismay I plagued with a flu-like virus and was forced to miss the final “points” worthy race of the year. A crummy way to end the series, but on the bright side, it was a good and long racing season in 2010. Also, I made the front page of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch paper. Just a photo, but still pretty cool.
USAC points races for the road are now wrapped up for the year. One “fun” race remains for tomorrow and then it’s some time off the bike. But not too much, I am determined this year to not lose all of my fitness. This therefore means that I’ll most likely be riding on the weekends (weather permitting) for those long base miles before the snow flies.
Finally, good luck to all of those participating in cyclocross races this fall! Later...
