Memorial Day Weekend Racing

A late post is better than no post!  Here's the update from the Memorial Day weekend races:

Four straight days of racing equals good test prior to the Tour of America’s Dairyland.  The four races I participated in gave me some serious physical and mental testing.  Racing kicked off on Friday with the Wapello-Burlington road race which covered the 33 miles between the two cities on Hwy. 99 in southeastern Iowa.  Flat, fast and sketchy describes the entire race.  The 3’s and 4’s were mixed together making the field about 70 riders and packing them all onto half of the highway.  A nasty crash occurred mid-race (one guys broke his bike in half).  Got caught off-guard going into the sprint, made up a few places and finished 16^th on the day.  The sprint was fun though at 40.2 mph!

Saturday brought out one of the most epic races in the Midwest… Snake Alley.  Absolutely awesome course including 8 turns and the switchbacks of the Snake.  The 3’s race started off like all the rest – hammer, hammer, hammer, and hammer some more.  I entered the Snake on the first lap in about 15^th place and got cut off on the second switchback by “Mr. Sketchy McSketch”.  With momentum lost, it was a grind to the top but the adrenaline rush didn’t make it feel like much climbing was taking place.  After the climb it was all downhill and fast.  Field was already strung out and I found myself alone starting lap 2.  Through the remaining 14 laps, I managed to pick my way through the field to finish 16^th for the second day in a row.  The climb up the Snake was not as bad as I expected, but the uphill before the climb is what took its toll on most.   And did anyone mention it was freaking hot out?  Mid-90’s sure made it feel like racing in an oven!  Absolutely awesome race though on an epic course.

Suffering in the heat again on Sunday we rolled up to Muscatine, IA for the Mellon City Criterium.  Again in the mid-90’s we all suffered.  A light breeze at the top of the hill helped a bit to keep cool throughout the day.  Downhill, then uphill = the course.  Most interesting feature of the course included a speed bump (or ramp) at the bottom of the hill in which everyone got some good air off of unless bunny hopping over.   Fun stuff when flying downhill in a large group!  Going into the race, I did not get an appropriate warm-up because I was waiting in THE line.  You know what line I’m talking about.  Used the first lap as my warm-up,  felt okay but the legs were not reacting well on the climb.  Pace was high the entire race and I sat mid- to back of the pack to try to conserve energy.  Last lap I move to a good position but got boxed in on the climb as riders in front cracked.  On the final hairpin corner two riders went down in front of me and I had to come to a stop.  Once around, the sprint was launched.  Somehow managed in all the mess to finish 19^th.  Fun race getting to shoot off the ramp at the bottom of the hill 24 times but the heat was beginning to take its toll.

Memorial Day’s race was in Rock Island, IL for the Quad Cities Criterium.  The course featured 8 corners in an hour glass shape.  Race was fast from the start.  I jumped and covered a gap to a break early in the race but we were pulled back in 4 laps.  Sat in the pack the remainder of the race and struggled to move up in the field.  The pace really picked up in the last 3 laps stringing out the field.  Moving up became much easier.  Was near the front and a big pile-up occurred on turn one on the last lap.  Mr. “Win or Crash” caused another flesh-eater.  I hammered hard to stay in decent position and sprinted to a 10^th place finish.  Good finish to a hard weekend of racing!