2009 Race the Lake

Team Extreme brought out a about 7 riders for the 2009 version of Race the Lake around Lake Winnebago. The race is a 90 mile pedal smasher which features smooth roads, one touch climb at High Cliff State Park, and rolling hills on the east side of the lake. 5:45 AM was the start time for this beast of a race and the beast definitely claimed some individuals as the race progress. The first 1/3 of the race was extremely fast with an average speed over 30mph, mainly due to the wind being at our back making it easy to hold this pace and keep the heart rate fairly low. There was one monster pileup when riders crossed wheels. I took the route through the ditch in order to keep myself on the bike. Close one but made it through! Once we turned to the east at the north end of the lake everyone had to compete with the wind. There were some tricky cones scattered throughout the race also marking the center lines which everyone repeatedly forgot about; hitting the cones and causing crashes... Idiots! The race really broke up with the wind and the climb at High Cliff State Park separated the elite riders from the rest. I made my first mistake climbing the hill at my own pace; however, I was passing numerous riders but I should have sprinted to hang on to the back of the lead group as they were hammering up the top portion of the hill around 30 mph. Off the back I went and struggled for about 8 miles on my own until a group of 7 caught me. Our group worked well to catch the lead group and I settled in near the back to rest a bit. My second mistake came when I took a bottle of water from one of the support vehicles. The lead group made a surge as I was handing the bottle back and off the back I went again. This time, there was no catching the front group. I lost the front group at about mile 60 and ended up working with 2 others until mile 80. Going into the final 10 miles our group of 3 was caught by another group of 6 riders. I sat on the back resting and taking my turn on the pulls. I was fortunate to have Tom Schuler (former 7-Eleven Pro rider and now coach for Team Type I) in my group. After having a training session with him earlier in the year, I knew who's wheel to follow going into the finish. As we neared the finish I latched onto Tom's wheel as he pushed the pace for the sprint. I jumped off Tom's wheel with 50 meters to go and tipped him at the line. Unfortunately, the timing chip says I was .01 seconds behind him for 35th place. Either way, it was a great race and I sure look forward to it again in 2010. It's a great race and I recommend others to participate next year.

DNF - Mauston Road Race

It was a short race on Saturday, Aug. 15th due to a broken chain on the first major climb of the race. The Mauston race was the second stage in the Polka Dot jersey contest for the Wisport Menzel racing series. To say the least, the broken chain and finally the DNF left no chance to win the jersey in 2009. Fell short in 2008 and now again in 2009. We'll give it a go again in 2010...

Glencoe Grand Prix - First Cat 3 Race

The Glencoe Grand Prix was the site of my cat 3 debut and it was a blast. 50 minutes of hard sprinting in the sweltering heat and humidity. I wasn’t on top form due to lack of sleep (camping in the heat and rain) but I gave the race all I had. Throughout the race I moved all over the field; from the front to the back, to the front and back again. The pace was higher than I expected and we consistently sprinted to the low 30’s out of each corner. The majority of the race was nothing special… just going in circles. With 5 laps to go I moved to the front of the field and stayed there until the beginning of the final lap. A group of 10 or so riders sprinted up the left side of the field and drove the pace into the 30’s. I went from 5^th wheel to the back of the pack in a blink of the eye. I did what I could to hang on but at the high speed the field was moving it was hard to gain any positions. The outside line was the best place to be in the final corner which helped as I was able to pass 4 riders. Then it was up to the sprint and I had nothing left in the tank. Somehow I managed to pass another 2 riders to squeak out 26^th. The entire race was clean with no crashes but a lot of bumping shoulders. Someone once told me that cycling wasn’t a contact sport… Boy, they were dead wrong! I’m happy as can be with the pack finish and now have extra motivation for training rides. Next up is the Mauston Road Race for the Wisport Series on Saturday, Aug. 15th and the 90 mile Race the Lake Road Race on Sunday, Aug. 16th.

Moving Up In The World

After what I call a great season in the Cat 4's I've decided to upgrade to Cat 3. The upgrade request was sent this morning! I've been thinking about it for a couple weeks now but after the Elk Grove race I made up my mind that there's no time better than now. I figure that I will be able to use my experiences that I will get in the upcoming Cat 3 races to give me more motivation to work harder on the bike this coming winter. Whether I get shelled out the back, become pack fodder, or actually finish in the top 10 in these races, all results will be welcomed experiences... as long as I don't lose any skin that is! Can't wait, all I have to do now is find a campground in either northern IL or southern WI so that I can do the Grayslake and Glencoe criteriums this upcoming weekend.

Tour of Elk Grove Criterium

The 2009 running of the Tour of Elk Grove brought out a full field of riders at the start of the Cat 4 race on Saturday. Weather conditions were not the best with a strong west wind and light rain showers persisting throughout the race. The race started as usual with a number of attacks but nothing able to open a gap. The rain started about 3 laps in which immediately caused a number of crashes on the slick cobbled crosswalk at the 180 degree corner. My teammate Jeff G. unfortunately fell prey to these cobbles the first time around but many more followed suit. Later in the race 4 riders go into a break that I thought wouldn't stick because we were only about 15 mintues into the race. I was wrong because the winner of the race couldn't be caught, we were only able to track down 50% of the breakaway. I rode a clean race staying out of trouble until the final lap. At the 180 corner, two riders went down in front of me (story of my season) I came to a complete stop as everyone tried to navigate around the downed riders. I hammered back up to speed and found myself sitting about 20th wheel in the group. On the back stretch I sprinted up to second wheel and held the rider's wheel in front of me until about 200 meters to the finish line. I made my decisive move and went all out into the strong headwind. I was going like hell up the right side to win the field sprint and take 3rd in the race but to my dismay, two riders came screaming to my left and just got their wheels across before me. It was a disappointing set of circumstances to be caught like that right at the line but I was satisfied with my 5th place finish.

Superweek - Whitefish Bay Criterium

Team Extreme had a great showing at the finale for Superweek, the Whitefish Bay Criterium. We brought 9 riders to the starting line and really made our presence known throughout the race. 60+ riders started the race but I am unsure of how many dropped out or were lapped due the high speeds mashed out. 24.9 mph was the average speed for the 45 minute race.

I started the race not knowing how well I would be able to race because my legs felt horrible. The start wasn’t great for me either. I lined up slightly late and was in the back 1/3 of the group. Two riders in front of me couldn’t get clipped in and we were quickly passed by the remaining riders. For 6 laps I sprinted out of every corner and worked my way up to the front. There is way too much “slinky-ing” going on when you are in the back of the pack. Up front though I was able to pedal and hold speed through the corners.

A group of 4 riders, including one of my teammates, went on a break and were able to pull away quite a bit when I rider underestimated his speed into the first corner and slid out. Once the breakaway group had a good gap, myself and two other teammate sat on the front to try to slow the field down. Finally everyone else in the peloton figured it out. Attacks came left and right to try to reel in the breakaway. One of my teammates and I covered every attempt to catch the break and we managed to help keep the breakaway out on their own. Unfortunately, our teammate in the breakaway didn’t have enough gas at the end to try for the win and finished 4th. Going into the last lap I was sitting 5th wheel knowing that I would make my move just before the 2nd to last corner. A good friend of mine moved up on my left and I assumed he was going to go for the sprint early so I jumped onto his wheel. He went to the front and sat up. I couldn’t believe it because he set me up perfectly. I sprinted up the left side of the field and flew through the corner. I sprinted as hard as I could to increase the gap I had on the field. Through the final turn I hit the afterburners… Looking back with 50 meters to go I saw that I had a sizable gap on the field and sat up knowing that I had won the field sprint to finish 5th. To my dismay, the officials thought that I was a lapped rider because I was so far in front of the field. I had to protest the results to make sure I got the 5th place I’d earned.

I’m super happy with my performance and now know that when my legs feel bad, I will most likely have a phenomenal race.
Next up: Tour of Elk Grove on Saturday, August 1st. Should be fun because I will be in the Chicago area and will have my sister and brother-in-law who live down there watching the race. Can’t wait!

Superweek - Lakefront Road Race

Superweek brought out one of the best circuit courses and dusted it off for the 2009 series. The Lakefront Road Race long course has not been utilized in years but the directors decided that this year would be a great time to bring it back. It was a great course with two short but steep climbs, one technical decent, and another wicked-fast decent down Lincoln Memorial Drive. Awesome!

Typical of Superweek races, the Cat 4/5 race did not start on time, 35 minutes late to be precise. The master’s race starting just before us staged a protest that was not well received by either the directors or other racers waiting to go. The late start was due to the fact that the streets were not closed off completely until 5 to 10 minutes before the proposed starting times. No barriers were set up and it only created a mess for the organizers and riders.

Once started though it was great, even with the light rain that fell and made the roads “icy” due to the oil lifting off the tarmac. Riders repeatedly went down on the technical decent, trying to push the limit but they all paid for it. I managed to stay clear of two crashes where riders slide out in front of me. No breakaways were able to stick due to the long stretch to the finish line in which speeds easily reached 35 mph and all who were out front were pulled in like they were standing still. I felt good throughout the race but did notice on the last climb that my legs were getting a little burn-out. I’m guessing I am getting a little tired with the long season… After the final climb I was sitting about 25th and started the long stretch to the finish by moving up the left side. Tyson Beck came screaming around me and I jump to catch his wheel. As I did so, a teammate of mine (who planned with Tyson to have him give my teammate a lead-out) jumped to grab Tyson’s wheel, which in turn slammed me into the gutter. He had no clue I was there and most likely didn’t care who was on the wheel. I was pretty mad at the time being that I almost ate curb and then was hung out to dry in the wind. I pedaled into the wind with anger and managed to get into the slipstream at about 30th place. I made some aggressive moves through the field to move up positions but with 100 meters before the line when we launched out sprint, a crash went down in front of me and I had to kill the sprint and smash the breaks. Good thing I replaced the break pads two nights before! I went around the crashed rider as he was sliding across the tarmac and easy pedaled through the finish. I ended up 15th on the day and in the money so I got half of my entry fee back. Hopefully the check doesn’t bounce though! (Another Superweek problem). I wasn’t the happiest camper with the end results but that’s racing. Going to give the Whitefish Bay Criterium a shot on Sunday. It will be super-fast being that it is the last race for the Superweek series but I will have a full team of support and we will have the Blue-Train rocking it!