Menomonee Park Criteriums

The Menomonee Park criterium opened the WCA racing schedule with a full day of racing.  The weather was decent and I was looking forward to participating in the first criteriums of the year.  I decided to double-up and compete in the 3’s and 1/2/3’s race to get a good quality workout in.  Doubling-up on races will be a theme for me early on this year to reap the benefits of the harder racing with the 1/2/3’s.  

The Cat 3 race was dominated by the ISCorp team who put about 15 or so riders on the line, far surpassing the numbers of any other team participating.  For that matter, it may have been more than everyone else.  I knew what their plan would be from the start.  And sure enough, right from the start they went.  Attack, get caught, attack again.  This is the theme they ran with and most likely will continue throughout 2011.  No problems there though, Cat 3’s are all about chasing down breaks.  I sat in the majority of the race and decided about 3/4’s the way into the race to liven things up a bit and attack.  I jumped hard coming out of the final corner and opened up a good gap on the field.  Peaking under my arm I saw large chase group coming up quickly.  Knowing I was trying to stay away, I sat up.  Damn, shouldn’t have done that.  Three riders flew past me as the field caught up.  ISCorp was all about attacking but they’ve got no interest in chasing down breaks.  The three man break stayed away until the final corner of the race where it became a field sprint.  I didn’t have much of a sprint and managed to pull off 7^th.

I wasn’t the happiest with myself after the race because I knew if I would have kept the power on during my little escapade I most likely would have been able to help the break stay away and have a great chance of winning.  Whoops.  My mood immediately changed though when I saw my wife and son pulling into the parking lot just before the 1/2/3’s race.  This was William’s first time at a bike race.  Of course he had no clue what was going on, but I went from being upset about the previous race to enthusiastic about the next racing in less than a half a second.  It was great having my wife and son at the race.

I wasn’t expecting to do anything but sit in during the 1/2/3’s race and just move throughout the field to get a feel for racing with the 1’s and 2’s.  The race had a high pace throughout but was very smooth.  My legs were feeling a lot better than they did in the 3’s and I decided to make a go of the race and see how high I’d be able to finish.  Nothing spectacular happened during the race until the last 3 laps when the pace escalated to a point the lungs began burning.  I moved from the middle of the field up to the top 20-25.  On the final lap ISCorp drove a wicked speed and strung the field out.  I jumped at an opportunity to get in the slipstream of the lead riders and dug in for what was sure to be an interesting finish.  Going into the last few roller hills and final corner I was feeling good, sprinted out of the corner and passed 2.  I managed 14^th place for my first attempt at a 1/2/3 race of the year.  Happy with the result, my motivation peaked.  And peaked just in time for… no races until May 7^th.

The next race will most likely be at the criterium in Muskego Park, early May.  There are races over the course of the rest of April but I’ll be diligently training and spending time with family that my wife and I haven’t seen in almost 3 years over Easter.

Next update may be in a week or maybe even two.  In the meantime, keep hammering into the wind.  Or if you prefer, keep the wind to your back.

Hillsboro Roubaix Recap

Saturday, April 2^nd marked the beginning of my 2011 racing season, getting kicked-off with a “classics” type race that featured a bit of paver-block roads in Hillsboro, IL.  The Hillsboro-Roubaix was the race, a 58 mile road race that consisted of small rollers for hills, paver-block, and pot hole stricken roads.  Three friends and I loaded up the van and road-tripped it down to Hillsboro on Friday evening, making the journey in about 5 ½ hours.  After a good night’s sleep we arrived at the course welcomed by clear skies and warm temperatures.  70’s!  Sure felt good when compared to the upper 30’s and low 40’s we are used to here in Wisco this time of the year.

The Cat 3’s race started at 11:10AM.  Brian, Jeramey and I warmed up by rolling through town on the pavers, testing the roads prior to our speedy passes through town during the race.  We decided to roll up to the start line 10 minutes early thinking we’d get a good starting position, but to our dismay everyone was already lined up.  So, we already gave ourselves quite a challenge before the race even started.  The only thing I could think the whole time was, “how am I going to pass over 100 riders jammed into one lane of a two lane highway to make it to the front?”  That question stayed with me for the first 15 miles when I couldn’t find any room to move up.  I made the decision shortly thereafter to go up the right gutter, in the gravel, to pass the majority of the riders.  No guts, no glory!  I managed to negotiate my way multiple times through the loose gravel to eventually make it into the top 30 riders.  The pace closer to the front resembled more of what you’d expect in a race, steady...  That was not the case near the rear end of the field as most were surging repeatedly after having to slam on the brakes because of mushrooming in the field.

As the first lap came to a close, a short but steep kicker of a hill just before the pavers caused some gaps to open within the field.  I was gapped off the main pack with about 6 riders working to chase back on.  After about 2 miles of all out chasing with panic, I caught the lead group as they were beginning to throw down a vicious pace up a hill.  Continuing to use the momentum I built up chasing the group I was able to maintain my speed to match that in which they were going up the hill.  I got lucky that I didn’t soft pedal coming up to the group otherwise I could have waved goodbye to the field for the remainder of the race.

The second lap was an all out suffer-fest.  Continuous attacks came from those up front.  I again made my way through the gravel to move up to mid-pack.  The attacks became more prevalent but I was able to hang onto the back of the main field.  With 5 miles to go, I began cramping and was out of water.  Staying out of the wind I conserved my remaining energy until the final little kicker of a hill into town.  The field attacked immediately as the road pitched upward, I surged along with them and passed 10-15 up the hill.  Going into the third-to-last corner, I changed my line hard to avoid t-boning a rider that over cooked the corner and was re-entering the street.  Not knowing someone was hot on my rear wheel, when I changed lines to save myself, I took the person behind me out.  My apologies to that individual, but that’s racing.  The pavers through town took more casualties as the lead group bombed through town.  Bikes and bodies were littered over the pavers as either the riders lost control of their bikes at 35 mph or an equipment failure caused them to have a face-off with the rough road.  Dodging the road furniture, I latched onto another rider’s wheel that passed me around the 2^nd to last corner.  I sat there, out of the wind, waiting for the spot to launch my final attempt to pick up a few spots.  Around the final corner and onto the straight I opened up my pathetic sprint with 300 meters to go passing 3 or 4 before the throw at the line.  I was relieved to have survived this race.  It was nothing short of tough for me being only my 6^th ride outside for the year.  Happy with finishing, I was even more elated to find out I finished 25^th.  Good enough for who it’s for!  Can’t complain at this point of the year considering where I am at with training and only better results are to come in the future.

Back to the chilly riding here in Wisco and hoping to have some decent weather this next weekend for the Menomonee Park criterium.   These should be good races, barring any accidents that usually are accompanied with this course.  If only the race organizers would switch the direction of the race and take out the hazardous final 90 degree corner that most of us call “the meat grinder”.  I guess as the saying goes, “no guts, no glory!”