Rounding The Final Corner

It’s been exactly 5 months since the beginning of the 2010 road racing season and we’re headed around the final corner prior to the sprint for the finish line.  That final corner for the 2010 season ended up to be the double-header race weekend in Fond du Lac in which on Saturday was the Attitude Sports Criterium and Sunday was the 90-mile Race the Lake.

The Attitude Sports Criterium was held in Lakeside Park on a flat but interesting 4.5 turn course.  A quick right-left turn shortly after the start finished accounts for the ½ turn prior to the initial tight left-hand corner 1.  Another tight right-hander for corner two which leads down a long back straight to the “wheel buster” turn 3.  Finally, turn 4 rounds out the course with a super tight 70 degree corner which is the make it or break it point of the final sprint.

The field for the 3’s race was quite small with only 22 riders toeing the line for a chance at the win.  I believe that the ISCorp team had to have nearly half the field themselves, somehow having a large contingent of juniors freshly moved up from the 4’s.  Some of the names I’ve never even recognized so I am still unsure of how they upgraded.  Nonetheless, these ISCorp junior put the hammer down throughout the race and really made their presence known.  I have to give them an A+ for the tactics utilized.  About mid-way through the race, ISCorp sent a rider off the front.  Once caught by the field, another would attack.  While members of the field tried to cover the gaps, there was always another ISCorp rider on their wheel.  It was inevitable that either an ISCorp rider would solo to victory or it would come down to a field sprint.  A field sprint is what I had in mind so I hammered multiple times to cover the gap up to the break rider.  I had a lot of help from my teammate throughout the race who threw down some massive efforts to keep in contact with the break riders.

Eventually it came down to the last lap with the field together.  Little did I know that it was the last lap because as we were passing the start/finish I looked up to see 1 to go and heard the bell ring.  Well, I was already out of position sitting on the back of the field getting a breather.  With one massive effort, I moved to 4^th wheel going through the ½ turn on the front straight.  That was the make it or break it.  The field strung out.  Going through turn 3 I cornered smoothly and found myself on the front of the field.  No problem though, I sat up and maintained pace with the riders coming up the inside.  Turn 4…  middle line, plenty of room. Jumped on J. Jacobo’s wheel.  Jacobo has a huge sprint and I knew he’d be a good leadout.  Sure enough, there he went.  I followed, moved to the inside and scooted past.  Bike throw!!!  To my dismay, an ISCorp rider was able to toss his tire just slightly further than I could…  What I thought was my first Cat 3 win, turning into yet another close 2^nd.  I believe I’ve got the close 2^nd thing down pat so far this year.

So with the Attitude Sports Criterium wrapped up, the WCA series comes to a close; however the racing is not finished just yet.  Sunday morning brought about the 3^rd annual Race the Lake event which this year featured a number of pro teams vying for the coveted $20k prime for the winner of the race, should he finish with a high average speed than the previous year.

An early 2:45AM wake-up time got the day started.  A good breakfast prepared by the best wives in the world (a big thanks to Amy and Jeramey’s wife Tammy) got myself and my teammate well fed for what was to be the longest road race of the year for both of us.  Our early start got us up to Fondy early allowing for ample time to suit up, roll around and get to the start line early.

5:50AM snuck up quick on us and we were off being led out by Team Aerocat and Team Kenda p/b Geargrinder.  The pace was fast, as expected but being in the middle of the field and having the draft made it easy to keep up.  The first 20 miles or so were pretty uneventful until we were taking a right-hander out of Oshkosh.  Of course, some moron takes the corner too wide, slams into one of the cones marking the center line and tosses it at me.  The cone smashes into my front wheel and catches my right foot hard.  Luckily, I kept it upright and there was no collateral damage to the bike.  Back rolling, blood pressure elevated…  To make matters a bit worse, bottles were being jarred out of everyone’s holders in very rough sections throughout Oshkosh and Appleton.  One of my bottles also became MIA when I smashed a pot hold.  Down to 3 bottles… fail.

Again, the race continued on fairly smoothly.  No crashes!  Next up, High Cliff State Park, the point of the race where it is guaranteed that the race will break up.  And go figure, it did.  The park marks the $500 King of the Hill prime.  The pros went hard.  So did I, but I was being taught a lesson on hill accelerations.  Unfortunately, a teammate of mine had an ill-timed mechanical that took him out of the race.  He was sure to finish highly if that didn’t happen.  While I was tossed off the back of the field on the climb, I was in good company.  A group of about 12 strong riders including a former Olympic silver medalist rotated a ridiculously fast pace line over the course of 7 miles at 33+ mph to catch back onto the main field.

Boo-yah!  I’m back.  Well sort of.  After consuming two of my three remaining bottles, the one I had left for the last 45 miles wasn’t enough.  With 15 miles to go, I was out of water and no feed zones to pick more up.  The leg cramping set in and I knew I was in trouble.  Hiding in the field I was able to keep with the lead peloton and make it back into Fondy.  The pace really ramped up through town as the lead-out trains for the pro teams began to work their magic.  Again, no crashes through the tight city streets lined with cars and tight corners.  No sprint for this guy!  I tucked in and hammered the pedals to the point just before cramping sets in.  Rolled across the finish line in 47^th place with a time of 3:13:47 and an average speed of 27.4 mph.  27.4 mph!  That’s the fastest I’ve ever covered the ground on any race and quite an increase over the previous year’s average speed.

A number of my teammates also had great showings increasing their average speeds from the previous year!  Well done Team Extreme! 

And so, that wraps up the double-header weekend of racing which metaphorically stands as the last corner of the race until the sprint.  The racing season sprint comes in the form of the Gateway Cup in St. Louis, MO on Labor Day weekend.  The Cup includes 4 days of criteriums around historic neighborhoods.  It is sure to be a blast and a great way to round out a solid year of racing.  Thanks for reading this novel!

Glencoe Recap

Poor training is exactly how to describe my preparation for the Glencoe Grand Prix which occurred on Saturday, August 14^th in Glencoe, IL.  With one day on the bike between the previous weekend of racing and the Glencoe race, my racing legs were left at home and I paid for it.  Entering the race I was pretty amped up to be racing on a new course, very technical with 10 turns and a bit of a hill that took its toll on everyone over the course of the race.

Even while positioning well throughout the race, the ability to hang in there with the massive accelerations on the last was non-existent.  There would be no sprint and just leg burning agony of hammering across the line to just finish.  Finished 22^nd.  While being unhappy with the performance, I was able to reflect on the progression of the race and where I may have made some mistakes.  First mistake was obviously the lack of preparation the week prior and the second mistake came when trying to bridge a gap to the two in the break.  While knowing the legs were in poor shape, I still made the attempt to cover the gap.   Should have listened to how my legs felt and just sat in until the sprint.  Lesson learned the hard way.  But on the bright side, the finishing result of this year was 4 places better than the previous year, so there was some improvement there even while feeling horrible.

Lesson of the week: train and train smart.  You have to be on the bike spinning the legs daily to keep them fresh, even on recovery weeks.  Definitely won’t make that mistake again.

Next upcoming racing include the WCA finale at Fond du Lac for the Attitude Sport Criterium on Saturday, August 21^st followed up by the Race the Lake (Winnebago) on the morning of Sunday, August 22^nd.

Neutralized

There's not too many times in criteriums in which the race is neutralized, especially within the last 5 laps of the race.  This situation however came to fruition today at the Grayslake Cycling Classic in Grayslake, IL.

The location couldn't have been better and the course was spectacular.  Wide open corners with a chicane added in the middle of the lap which added to the technical aspect of the course.  Pavement was smooth and so was the rider's handling.

Field being strung out

The race started off quick and strung the field out for the entire race.  The goal for every rider was to get to the front and stay on the front.  Many attacks were thrown down from the Bloomington Cycling team since they had nearly 10 riders showing up for the day.  Attack after attack.  Each time the field gave the break enough rope to hang themselves with.  Finally, with 5 laps to go a few of us had a good break established.  We increased our gap on the field to about 7 seconds and were increasing the time through each corner.  As we passed the start/finish line with 3 laps remaining the officials neutralized the race due to a crash on the backside of the course.  WTF!  Neutralizing the race with 3 to go?  As we rolled around the course, all the bodies involved in the crash were cleared off the course and no major injuries.  So we expected to at least get our gap that we had on the field back when we started.  NOPE!  The officials started everyone together.  Idiots!  

Establishing the break!

The final 3 laps were excruciatingly fast.  Everyone was rested up and those of us who had been working so hard to establish the break were paying for it.  No one crashed through the final corners and the sprint was on.  I sprinted and threw the bike for 7th place.  And... I was given 8th.  I couldn't believe it, but the dip-$*^# officials had the camera facing the wrong way!  So, in order to figure out what place we finished, the officials asked us to report to them where we believe we finished.  I explained that I finished 7th on the bike throw, but the official said the guy standing next to me said he finished 7th and she placed me as 8th.  Really?  Sure... give it to the Illinois guy.  He needs the points for the ICA series and I don't. 

The sprint... for 7th, or 8th.

Don't get me wrong on this...  the race was great and I will do it again next year; however, these officials really messed it up today.  I understand the need for safety on the course, but when we're over a half lap away and there are no serious injuries, there's no need to neutralize a race.  I've seen plenty of races with crashes and they support staff make the field aware of the crash.  Never seen a problem come of a situation like that.  At least give our break the time we worked so hard for when restarting. And for goodness sake, have the camera facing the right direction!  Who's the fool that turned that around?

So, I left the race with a bit of a bad taste left in my mouth, but I'm sure happy to have still finished in the top 10.  Next up is a week of long, moderately paced rides and then the Glencoe Grand Prix on Saturday, 8/14.

Tour of Elk Grove

July 31st was the Tour of Elk Grove which is always one of the biggest races of the year in the Chicago area.  Elk Grove Village annually brings in great racers from each category right up to the Pros.  With large crowds, large fields, and Pro level racing comes big payouts.  This year for Cat 3's $2,500 was doled out to the top 20 finishers.  Biggest payouts of the year so far!

The Cat 3 race was business as usual.  Many attacks early, nothing sticking.  My legs were feeling great and I made the field work a number of times as I tried to pop a few riders off the back.  Always good fun putting the hurt on!  The race remained smooth throughout with only two mishaps in which individuals caught their pedals on turn 3 and went down.  Final laps were blistering.  I didn't position the best and was boxed in going into the sprint.  Lots of legs left, no where to go.  Finished 10th.  Can't go wrong with a top 10 at Elk Grove!

The "Epic" Race

Epic is defined as something that is heroic, majestic, or impressively great.  The Mt. Evans Hill Climb race is all of these.  An heroic effort is needed to make it to the top of the 14,265 foot mountain.  The mountain and the scenery on the narrow, bumpy, and broken road is nothing less than majestic.  The mountain and the race in itself are impressively great.  Each year hundreds of cycling enthusiasts from around the country ranging from the casual rider to riders from the elite pro peloton ranks drag their bikes and bodies up the 27.4 mile course passing two pristine lakes that take your breath away quicker than your burning muscles require of your already oxygen deprived lungs.  

The Mt. Evans Hill Climb has been going up Mt. Evans for the past 45 years as an organized race.  In 1962, a group of bicycle racers decided to challenge the 14,264 foot Mt. Evans by racing to its summit.  Started by just a handful of riders, the race quickly became an annual event celebrated by the hardiest athletes, at a time when bicycle racings was considered and oddity at best.*  The race was only cancelled three time since 1962, twice due to snow and once due to the race directors participation as a worker at the 1986 summer Olympics.  In 1981 the race was renamed to the Bob Cook Memorial Mt. Evans Hill Climb in honor of the 5-time winner of the race who passed away because of cancer at the age of 23.  

The course of this epic race starts at the base of the mountain in Idaho Springs, CO at an elevation of 7,540 feet and winds and twists its way up to the summit 6,724 feet above.  The temperature difference from bottom to top ranges around 15 degrees which on a day when the temps at the start is only upper 50’s to low 60’s, the summit starts to sound like early spring in Wisconsin…  low to mid-40’s.  In all honesty, when finished with the race, 40’s never felt so good!

The Cat 3 race rolled off exactly at 8:35AM MDT.  It was like we were shot out of a canon.  An quick, steep downhill onto Hwy 103 brought speeds up to the mid-20’s.  Hwy 103 immediately pitches upwards so speeds came down slightly, but the leaders were still hammering out 18 mph on the 5% grade.  Speeds remained about the same until the first of the many switchbacks hit shortly after the 5 mile mark.  At around 8 miles in, “pop” off the back I went as the main group motored up the steep road at 14 plus.  There I was, alone in No Man’s Land crushing the pedals at an 11 mph pace.  The goal of the day was not to stay with the fast group, the goal was to finish.  And finish I did.  After winding through the first half of the race, my legs found the sweet spot and I began to quickly pass riders up the final 14 miles of the race.  Slight inclines began to feel flat and my speed kick up near the 20’s.  Pace on the steep climbs picked up to 13-14.  All was going well.  Then the last two miles hit.  All switchbacks.  You look up above you and all you see is stairs of riders taking in all of the oxygen you wish to claim for yourself.  Corner after corner, the finish looked like it was never going to be there.  Finally, after the last switchback, the finish line was in sight.  Sprint!  Nope, there would be none of that today.  Burning, dead legs ground out the final 100 meters ending with a resounding sigh of relief and feeling of absolute joy knowing that I’ve completed the hardest race I’ve ever done, and will ever do again.  Until next time…

2 hours and 20 minutes was my finishing time and placed 30^th overall for Cat 3’s.  Awesome finishing time for me being that I thought I would average more around 9 mph and finish well beyond the 2hr 40min mark.  Unbelievably, the winner of the Cat 3 race was a whole 10 minutes behind the winning time of the Pros.  Wow, these guys know how to climb.  Must be nice when these guys live at high altitudes all year round… stinking mountain goats! 

Speaking of mountain goats, one of these shaggy mountain animals though that a yellow Madone 6.9 looked like it would be something good to eat.  I return from relieving myself and sure enough, the little white goat is standing next to my bike and sniffing the rear wheel.  After sternly scolding the mountain goat to not chew on the rear tire, I was able to bring my prized possession back from apparent destruction.  Dang mountain goats!

After killing the road for over 2 hours, I had the privilege, which was well earned, to ride back down the mountain.  There’s nothing like an hour of exhilarating descending down a mountain.  Being a novice and descending mountains, I got passed by two on a tandem bike so quickly I thought I was standing on the side of the road.  Wow!  Looked like the lady on the back was white-knuckling the handlebars!  A little over an hour later I was back where I started.  Painful but fun, the Bob Cook Memorial Mt. Evans Hill Climb was the most “epic” race I’ve ever competed in.  Hopefully I will get a second crack at the mountain again in the future and hopefully without any mountain goats trying to steal my bike for lunch.

Capitol Reef Classic

After beginning my vacation over a week ago, I've arrived in Breckenridge ready for some high-altitude training.  The previous week brought me some good rides in eastern Wyoming and Yellowstone National Park.  Those rides helped to get my lungs ready for the Capitol Reef Classic (CRC) stage race in Utah.

First off, this was the third year of the CRC in which participation has been growing each year.  The CRC consists of an 8.1 mile time trial, 52 mile circuit race, and an 81 mile road race all completed in two days.  The weather was mild (or at least that's what they said compared to last year) with temps ranging from upper 80's to low 100's, but it's a dry heat and I learned quickly that it is much better than 90 degrees and 90% humidity we receive in the Midwest.

The time trial on Friday morning started off okay for me but as the miles ticked by the lack of oxygen started to burn up my lungs.  I hammered through the remaining miles after being passed by the fella that started 30 seconds behind me.  When being passed in a TT, motivation really bottoms out!  I finished with a time of 18 minutes, 19 seconds; good enough for 17th place.  17th was better than expected because it wasn't a DFL!

Friday afternoon rolled around and it was time to suit up again and give the 52 mile circuit race a go.  Partly cloudy and hot we rolled out of Teasdale, UT for 3 laps of a 17.3 mile loop.  The circuit race reminded me greatly of the LaRue-Denzer race back in Wisco; however, this race was much worse.  Climbs were just as long, but these were much steeper; and did I mention, these guys can climb...  I hung on with the front runners until the final 8% grade climb and pop I went off the back.  Rolled in for 12th place with a time of 2:21:21 after a long day in the saddle.

Speaking of a long day in the saddle, Saturday's 81 mile road race over a mountain pass and around Fish Lake was a really, really long day in the saddle.  We rolled off early at 8 AM and began what was to be the hardest race I've ever competed in.  Up and down for the first 13 miles and then we called a "natural" (early on, but well needed).  All long mileage road races should have these, they're worth a million bucks!  Shortly after, we hit the first major climb, a 5 mile steep killer of a climb.  The field was decimated and 10 riders danced on the pedals away from the rest of us.  3 of us managed to catch back onto the main field on the downhill just before feed zone 1 but after digging hard on the downhill to catch up, we didn't have enough to hang with that group on the second major climb.  This second climb was about 8 miles long and averaged 8 to 10% grade.  After getting into a rhythm I was able to motor past the other chasers up the hill.  After the second major climb, there were only steep rollers left for the remaining 42 miles.  Altitude was again beating on my lungs as we climbed up from about 6,200 ft to nearly 10,000 ft.  I hung on the back of the chase group the rest of the race until being dropped on the final climb.  Finished 17th with a time of 4:08:48.

The road race was absolutely phenominal!  It hurt like hell but was absolutely awesome when bombing down the mountain side at 50+ mph.  If we didn't use brakes because of some of the turns, I'm sure we would have easily been in the 60 mph range.  Absolutely awesome!!!

When all said and done, I finished 15th in the overall GC standings with a total time of 6:48:28.  Not bad for the first time racing in the mountains!

As mentioned earlier, Breckenridge is the destination of choice for the rest of my vacation for some relaxation and some high altitude training.  Hopefully I'll be able to bring some big lungs home to rip it up on the Wisco tarmac.  I'll be back in a week!

ToAD Summary

Long time, no post…  June was a turbulent month with lots of travel for work and a good bit of racing at the end of the month which caused for my delay in updating this blog.  Now that June is past and things have begun to slow down, I’ve been able to reflect on the racing that took place as part of the Tour of America’s Dairyland.   

First and foremost, results were anything but stellar, but right on par for my season (6^th overall).  The results (as seen on the left side of the blog) were decent by all means, but not the results that would lead to my season’s goal of winning the overall.  That goal was essentially tossed out after the Road America road race.  That race was going well until the final sprint climb.  A bonehead rider from the Brones team deliberately threw his handlebars into mine resulting in a loss of balance and momentum.  Race over.  Rolled it across for a disappointing 20 something place, and watch my goal ride away with those at the front.  That result allowed me to have more fun during the rest of the stages.

All went well for the next few criteriums and then again on the Greenbush road race, things didn’t go to plan.  I blew up after a counter attack into the headwind just before the finishing climb.  Didn’t have enough gas in the tank and I detonated.  No big deal because the next day we were rolling into Fond du Lac, my favorite crit course.  Flat, short and fast 4 corner course that allowed you to get good gaps on others in the corners.  That race was almost an exact replica of the previous year’s race in the Cat 4s, only with different riders in the break.  I missed getting that cow jersey with 20 meters to go.  I need to work on my sprinting!  Downer Ave and Waukesha rounded out the tour and I was able to get some of my entry fees back by taking two of the primes at Waukesha.

In the end, the Tour was again a great time and well organized event.  Costing a total of $54 in entry fees after recouping much of that from race winnings/primes, one can’t go wrong with paying $5.40 per race.  We’ll give the 2011 ToAD series a go again with hopefully a podium finish overall.

Next report will be coming from somewhere west of the Mississippi.  It’s vacation time!