The day started like each of the days before. Got up and relaxed for a bit before prepping equipment to jump in car and head to Madison. We got there early, like each of the last few days, so I could have time play with the medics. With new bandages applied, we headed out for our warm-up ride. My legs felt pretty good and I was starting to think how I could get another good result to close out the week strong. Unfortunately, those sensations completely vanished once the race was underway. My legs just did not want to cooperate. I hung tough and stayed with the field. I tried to move up the field on the hill a few times; however, I just did not have the legs to stay up there in the front, nor did I want to get taken out on the final day of racing. We had some new riders in our field that were rather sketchy. On the run into the finish, I picked off a bunch of guys and took 28th on the day. Chris fell off the pace of our group fairly early on and finished 43rd. Following the race, I noticed that my front brake (swapped wheels earlier and did not completely check brake clearance, I guess) was rubbing slightly. Good to know that I can ride at 25.4 mph with a slight brake rub, if it was, that is.
It is over! While this was a fantastic experience (nothing more fun than riding my bike), it did have its moments of frustration and pain. I can now say that I have raced my bike 10 days in a row, a new first for me! Now I am spending the next few days trying to get my ripped skin completely healed and recover before I need to get back on the bike. Not planning on riding much again until Wednesday or so. Next race for me is the Wisconsin State Criterium Championships on July 10th.
Recap of equipment that I used throughout the series:
2 bikes
3.5 different wheelsets
3 flat tubular tires
2 derailleurs and hangers on my Cervelo
Lots of bananas, electrolyte drink mix, pb&j sandwiches, energy bars, energy cubes, italian food, cookies, and chocolate milk
Happy Racing!
Monday, June 27, 2011
Sunday, June 26, 2011
ToAD - Downer
Before the start of the race, I was talking with both Chris and Tristan that I did not believe we would be as fast as Fond du Lac (26mph avg). I thought we would be fast, but not quite that fast. I just did not see the group putting out 26mph efforts two days in a row, especially with the wicked turn 2. Boy, was I wrong or what?
The day started much like every other day during the later part of the week: body woke up at 5:30, I forced myself to sleep until 7, got up, puttered on my computer while watching Psych on Netflix, ate breakfast, got ready for the day, and waited on Chris. Once at the course, we got registered, pottied and then I went to look for the medics. As much as I love those guys, I really wanted to punch one of them yesterday. Not for any fault of his own, he did patch me up quite nicely, but because my nerve endings are finally re-growing in my hip and the application of ointment caused a searing pain rivaled by few experiences in my life. When he rubbed it in, the pain only grew. I hobbled back to the truck, cursing under my breath. If you know me, I try not to curse too much, if at all. It tends to get reserved for moments like this. I hurriedly got my stuff together at the truck, so we could head out on the warm-up ride. I figured riding my bike would help alleviate the pain. While it did not, it at least got my mind off of it enough that I could focus on the task at hand - prepping my legs for downer.
Following our warm-up, we headed over to the start line to try to get a good spot in the field. As the race began, many of the new riders that joined us quickly fell off the pace as we charged along. Glancing at our average speed from time to time, I figured that a break would not stick in our race today, so I let myself float in the back waiting until the appropriate time to move forward. Seeing Tristan trying to mix things up at the front and go for a breakaway, I started working my way forward. By the time I got up there, he had already drifted back into the pack. Now that I knew roughly how long it took for me to get to the front, I settled back in to the pack to save up for the finish. With about 4-5 laps to go, I started working my way forward. The one thing I did not factor in was that the announcers were going to give away money and stuff every lap for the last few laps. Instead of having a keen sense of the rhythm of the race, the dynamics completely changed and I was unable to get back up like I planned. I tried every lap to climb up the field. While I made some headway, I was not in contention for the top spots coming into the home stretch. I rode hard up the finishing straight, picking riders off, but I figured I was too far back to worry about points or money. I ended up 23rd and Chris finished 43rd.
The thing I was frustrated with was that I did not feel like I worked all that hard. It actually seemed like a fairly easy race and I had a gob of energy left in the tank. Chris and I have already decided to light some fireworks today in Madison, since it is the last day of ToAD. Leave everything we have on the road. With us being way out of the overall, I'm 31st and Chris is 53rd, nothing left to do than kick some tail today and help those with chances of moving up the leader board mix things up. If you're in Madison, come on down to the Capital square and watch some bike racing!
Happy Racing!
The day started much like every other day during the later part of the week: body woke up at 5:30, I forced myself to sleep until 7, got up, puttered on my computer while watching Psych on Netflix, ate breakfast, got ready for the day, and waited on Chris. Once at the course, we got registered, pottied and then I went to look for the medics. As much as I love those guys, I really wanted to punch one of them yesterday. Not for any fault of his own, he did patch me up quite nicely, but because my nerve endings are finally re-growing in my hip and the application of ointment caused a searing pain rivaled by few experiences in my life. When he rubbed it in, the pain only grew. I hobbled back to the truck, cursing under my breath. If you know me, I try not to curse too much, if at all. It tends to get reserved for moments like this. I hurriedly got my stuff together at the truck, so we could head out on the warm-up ride. I figured riding my bike would help alleviate the pain. While it did not, it at least got my mind off of it enough that I could focus on the task at hand - prepping my legs for downer.
Following our warm-up, we headed over to the start line to try to get a good spot in the field. As the race began, many of the new riders that joined us quickly fell off the pace as we charged along. Glancing at our average speed from time to time, I figured that a break would not stick in our race today, so I let myself float in the back waiting until the appropriate time to move forward. Seeing Tristan trying to mix things up at the front and go for a breakaway, I started working my way forward. By the time I got up there, he had already drifted back into the pack. Now that I knew roughly how long it took for me to get to the front, I settled back in to the pack to save up for the finish. With about 4-5 laps to go, I started working my way forward. The one thing I did not factor in was that the announcers were going to give away money and stuff every lap for the last few laps. Instead of having a keen sense of the rhythm of the race, the dynamics completely changed and I was unable to get back up like I planned. I tried every lap to climb up the field. While I made some headway, I was not in contention for the top spots coming into the home stretch. I rode hard up the finishing straight, picking riders off, but I figured I was too far back to worry about points or money. I ended up 23rd and Chris finished 43rd.
The thing I was frustrated with was that I did not feel like I worked all that hard. It actually seemed like a fairly easy race and I had a gob of energy left in the tank. Chris and I have already decided to light some fireworks today in Madison, since it is the last day of ToAD. Leave everything we have on the road. With us being way out of the overall, I'm 31st and Chris is 53rd, nothing left to do than kick some tail today and help those with chances of moving up the leader board mix things up. If you're in Madison, come on down to the Capital square and watch some bike racing!
Happy Racing!
Friday, June 24, 2011
ToAD - Fond du Lac
As I prepped to head up to Fond du Lac with Chris, I noticed that my front tire on my bontrager had a slow leak. Jamis became the stead of choice for the day. Perhaps I should keep riding the Jamis, because all of my points in this series have come on its back.
After we got there and were checked in, I went to find the medics to get new bandages on my wounds. Once I was all patched up, Chris and I went off on our warm-up ride to loosen up the legs before the race. My rear derailleur was a little off, so I took some time to adjust it while Chris was finishing getting ready. We hit the start line feeling good and both in decent position. I was sitting right behind the beast Captain Crowe. As the race went on, Chris and I floated near the back of the field. I learned fairly early in the race that I could power up to the front pretty much at will; however, I did not want to spend a whole lot of time up there. I opted to stay near the back so I could ride my own lines and avoid twitchy people. Unfortunately, at about the halfway point in the race, my water bottle bounced out of the cage. Thankfully, it was not overly warm today, so liquid was not as necessary. A few laps later, Chris found me to let me get a drink before I made my final drive up to the front. I got myself up to the front and held my position for the rest of the race. I entered the final turn in about 12th wheel and raced past a few guys to get barely nipped by the overall leader at the line. If I would have had another 50m, I would have easily taken him, but just ran out of real estate. Oh well. I am learning more about positioning in the field with each race and coming on strong with the final two days left in ToAD.
For those interested, the overall average today was 25.9 mph. I took 10th and Chris took 30th. Finally, our luck is turning around!
Tomorrow, we will be at Downer Ave in Milwaukee racing at approximately 12:30. Come out and watch the spectacle!
Happy Racing
After we got there and were checked in, I went to find the medics to get new bandages on my wounds. Once I was all patched up, Chris and I went off on our warm-up ride to loosen up the legs before the race. My rear derailleur was a little off, so I took some time to adjust it while Chris was finishing getting ready. We hit the start line feeling good and both in decent position. I was sitting right behind the beast Captain Crowe. As the race went on, Chris and I floated near the back of the field. I learned fairly early in the race that I could power up to the front pretty much at will; however, I did not want to spend a whole lot of time up there. I opted to stay near the back so I could ride my own lines and avoid twitchy people. Unfortunately, at about the halfway point in the race, my water bottle bounced out of the cage. Thankfully, it was not overly warm today, so liquid was not as necessary. A few laps later, Chris found me to let me get a drink before I made my final drive up to the front. I got myself up to the front and held my position for the rest of the race. I entered the final turn in about 12th wheel and raced past a few guys to get barely nipped by the overall leader at the line. If I would have had another 50m, I would have easily taken him, but just ran out of real estate. Oh well. I am learning more about positioning in the field with each race and coming on strong with the final two days left in ToAD.
For those interested, the overall average today was 25.9 mph. I took 10th and Chris took 30th. Finally, our luck is turning around!
Tomorrow, we will be at Downer Ave in Milwaukee racing at approximately 12:30. Come out and watch the spectacle!
Happy Racing
ToAD - Sheboygan
This was one of the wettest days I've spent on my bike. When we arrived, it was only drizzling a little bit. After checking in, I went over to the medic's to get a new wrap for my arm that was race safe. It looked pretty sweet. Very Euro!
By the time we would have gone for a warm-up ride, the sky opened up and poured on us. We decided to jump back into the truck and stay warm instead of properly warming up the legs. About 25 minutes before the start of our race, I got out to go pee and try to get my legs warm. I spent the next few minutes shivering while my body got used to the cold and wet and my big engine got warmed up. By the time I hit the start line, I was actually pretty warm. During the time we were standing on the line, many of the racers started shivering again. Knowing that all of the corners would be slippery, the field actually went a little slower than usual for the first few laps while we were figuring out the turns. About 4 laps in, I saw one of the Team Extreme guys I know, Andrew Rossa, laying on the ground in the line that I was taking in turn 1. To avoid a more serious crash, I tried to get around him by slowing down and turning. Instead of getting by him cleanly, I ended up falling near him. I checked both my bike and myself, all good, and then grabbed it and ran back to the SRAM Neutral Support guys to take my free lap. The more I race, the more I value the free lap. Once back in the race, I started working back towards the front.
During the race, I noticed a lot of guys falling and crashing. I started thinking that this would really be a race of attrition. With about 10 laps to go, I went on a solo flyer off the front and stayed off for a little over a lap before a few other guys caught me to tell me we were in a break. I moved to the back of the breakaway group to rest a bit. Within another lap the field was back together. I started trying to find some guys who were willing to try for another breakaway in the final laps. I knew that a breakaway would have a greater likelihood of survival in the conditions. I learned quickly that there were guys in the field who were scared to challenge the big dog on the front of the group, guys who just wanted to stay upright, and few willing to chance it. By 3 laps to go, I had a 2 other guys willing to take a chance. I hammered to get us off the front, but by the time the second guy rolled through, I had nothing left in the tank. The field sucked me back in and I settled in to finish with the field. I ended up 14th on the day and Chris took 34th. At some point, Chris got pulled. He thinks that the officials lost track of who was on what lap. In their defense, it was a mess out there and they were trying to grab guys off the course before too many dangerous things happened.
Today, we have Fond du Lac in what should be a dry race. It should be flat and fast.
Happy Racing!
By the time we would have gone for a warm-up ride, the sky opened up and poured on us. We decided to jump back into the truck and stay warm instead of properly warming up the legs. About 25 minutes before the start of our race, I got out to go pee and try to get my legs warm. I spent the next few minutes shivering while my body got used to the cold and wet and my big engine got warmed up. By the time I hit the start line, I was actually pretty warm. During the time we were standing on the line, many of the racers started shivering again. Knowing that all of the corners would be slippery, the field actually went a little slower than usual for the first few laps while we were figuring out the turns. About 4 laps in, I saw one of the Team Extreme guys I know, Andrew Rossa, laying on the ground in the line that I was taking in turn 1. To avoid a more serious crash, I tried to get around him by slowing down and turning. Instead of getting by him cleanly, I ended up falling near him. I checked both my bike and myself, all good, and then grabbed it and ran back to the SRAM Neutral Support guys to take my free lap. The more I race, the more I value the free lap. Once back in the race, I started working back towards the front.
During the race, I noticed a lot of guys falling and crashing. I started thinking that this would really be a race of attrition. With about 10 laps to go, I went on a solo flyer off the front and stayed off for a little over a lap before a few other guys caught me to tell me we were in a break. I moved to the back of the breakaway group to rest a bit. Within another lap the field was back together. I started trying to find some guys who were willing to try for another breakaway in the final laps. I knew that a breakaway would have a greater likelihood of survival in the conditions. I learned quickly that there were guys in the field who were scared to challenge the big dog on the front of the group, guys who just wanted to stay upright, and few willing to chance it. By 3 laps to go, I had a 2 other guys willing to take a chance. I hammered to get us off the front, but by the time the second guy rolled through, I had nothing left in the tank. The field sucked me back in and I settled in to finish with the field. I ended up 14th on the day and Chris took 34th. At some point, Chris got pulled. He thinks that the officials lost track of who was on what lap. In their defense, it was a mess out there and they were trying to grab guys off the course before too many dangerous things happened.
Today, we have Fond du Lac in what should be a dry race. It should be flat and fast.
Happy Racing!
Thursday, June 23, 2011
ToAD - Schlitz Park and Ripon
By writing the race recap in the morning following the race while relaxing before the next one, I have found that it is difficult to get one written before the 6:30 departures for the the early morning races. If you've read any of the other race recaps, you will notice that this has not been my best week of racing in my life. Things started to change for the better for me at Schlitz Park. Chris and I got there pretty early. This turned out to be rather advantageous because we had a chance to pre-ride the course a few times and get acquainted with the hill. After riding the hill a couple of times, we thought that the hill would be rather selective. Following our warm-up, we worked to get near the front at the start. Sure enough, the first lap up the hill blasted the field apart. I worked my way through the carnage of riders blowing up to latch onto a group as far forward as possible. Luckily, I found my new friend Tyler from UW-Whitewater to work with. He, being the better climber, would take the uphills and I, being the better descender, would take the flats and downhills, all in the goal of chasing back onto the leaders of the race. Unfortunately, he wrecked his chain and dropped out of our group. Then I was left with the guy in the overall leaders jersey who was willing to do some work with me and a few passengers. About 10 minutes into the race, I accidentally dropped my bottle, so I had to go the next 40 minutes without liquid on one of the hotter and more humid races. Yippee. I tried a few times to drop my companions on the downhill and flat, but they were good enough climbers and I was running out of gas due to dehydration that I could not get away for long. With a few laps to go, my posse caught and passed Chris. He looked like he was not having the best of days. He said later that he gave up on the hill a few laps in and decided to ride a training ride. On the last lap, my passengers got in front of me before hitting the downhill, which was too technical to safely pass them. With only 100 meters of flat before the finish, I ran out of real estate to get back around them. I took 14th for the day and Chris took 16th. Much better than our previous results.
Chris and I got to Ripon early enough that we were able to pre-ride the whole time trial course. This proved to be helpful in us not being able to blow up on some of the hills along the course. When it was my turn to go, I felt pretty good and started the first climb just like intended. My goal was to rock whatever gear I could maintain 90-95 rpms throughout the course. I was having the time trial of my life, flying past people and getting stronger throughout the course. With .6 miles left, there was a downhill "S"-bend. When Chris and I pre-rode it, it was dry; however, the on-and-off rain had caused this corner to be slipperier and my brakes to not catch. My rear wheel slipped out and I slid across the road on my side. I think that if I would have crossed the double yellow, I could have kept it upright, but that is technically illegal. Thankfully, I was only a little scraped up, but my rear derailleur hanger was bent. So I started the walk back down the hill to the finish line to both finish and send a medic up for the guy who was hurt way more than I was. Once I finished, I headed back to the medic tent to get patched up. I was a little pissed because, as I said a few lines up, I was having the time trial of my life. It took me 35 minutes flat to get to where I crashed, .6 mile from the finish, which with my speed would translate to a low 36 minute time trial and a top 10 finish. As a result of the crash, I finished last in 47:15. Chris crossed the line in 19th in 37:39.7.
We are planning on getting to Sheboygan a little early today, so I can have some time to visit the medic before I kit up and go for my warm-up. It will be nice to get some fresh bandages for my wounds.
Happy Racing!
Chris and I got to Ripon early enough that we were able to pre-ride the whole time trial course. This proved to be helpful in us not being able to blow up on some of the hills along the course. When it was my turn to go, I felt pretty good and started the first climb just like intended. My goal was to rock whatever gear I could maintain 90-95 rpms throughout the course. I was having the time trial of my life, flying past people and getting stronger throughout the course. With .6 miles left, there was a downhill "S"-bend. When Chris and I pre-rode it, it was dry; however, the on-and-off rain had caused this corner to be slipperier and my brakes to not catch. My rear wheel slipped out and I slid across the road on my side. I think that if I would have crossed the double yellow, I could have kept it upright, but that is technically illegal. Thankfully, I was only a little scraped up, but my rear derailleur hanger was bent. So I started the walk back down the hill to the finish line to both finish and send a medic up for the guy who was hurt way more than I was. Once I finished, I headed back to the medic tent to get patched up. I was a little pissed because, as I said a few lines up, I was having the time trial of my life. It took me 35 minutes flat to get to where I crashed, .6 mile from the finish, which with my speed would translate to a low 36 minute time trial and a top 10 finish. As a result of the crash, I finished last in 47:15. Chris crossed the line in 19th in 37:39.7.
We are planning on getting to Sheboygan a little early today, so I can have some time to visit the medic before I kit up and go for my warm-up. It will be nice to get some fresh bandages for my wounds.
Happy Racing!
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
ToAD - Waukesha and Greenbush
Since I didn't get to posting a result from Waukesha, I will just include it with my post about Greenbush. Due to my desire to let the glue dry some more on my bontragers, the torrential rains upon leaving my house and my quest to not get my expensive bike destroyed at one of the twitchy crits, I decided to race on my Jamis with my training wheels. I knew the course was flat enough that the extra weight would not be much of an issue. I was right in that regard. Chris and I rode close to each other the whole race near the back of the field. Not ideal position, but it was difficult to move up without really blowing a ton of power. We just decided to take it easy near the back and make sure we did not get gapped by someone falling off the pace in front of us. This worked pretty well until halfway through the 7th lap to go when Tyler from UW-Whitewater's team went down in front of me in turn 4. I saw a line to the outside, so I went for it. Unfortunately, so did his sliding/flipping bike and body, so I had to come to a complete stop in the gutter to not hit him or fall myself. As a result, a huge gap was created between myself and the field. Seeing that there were several other gapped people because of the crash, I tried chasing for about 1.5 laps to get back on. With no real progress made, I conceded that I was completely out of contention for the day and started taking it easy (especially around the officials, to try to get yanked). Finally, with about 2 laps to go the official signaled that I could stop, so I asked if he would still score me. Once he answered yes to this, I thanked him and got off the course. Knowing that I was out of contention for today, I did not want to completely blow my legs for Greenbush or the rest of the series. Chris finished with the main field (he was lucky enough to dive inside around the crash and did not lose too much time to the field). He was 29th and I was 44th.
I have only raced two road races prior to the road race in Greenbush. Both were hilly courses and I got gapped early spending the rest of my day chasing. No fun. I knew Greenbush would have some hills, but the big one was mostly a power climbers hill. Since I have dropped the weight, I have actually become a decent climber. Words I never figured that I would utter. My plan for the course was to ride in my little ring as much as possible. As much as possible was defined for me as still in contact with the main field. On the first lap, I was in my little ring for about 60% of the lap and I was steadily moving up the field. Perfect. For some reason, I got away from this mindset a little on lap 2 and drifted back to the back of the main field. At the start of lap 3, I decided to go back to my bread and butter play and spend as much time in the little ring as possible and climbed back to the front end of the main group. As we crossed the start/finish line receiving the sign for 1 lap to go, I was sitting about 15th wheel, feeling fantastic and ready to unleash pain upon the field (who some I could tell were starting to fade and admitted as much) once we got out of the forest. Each lap, the field would slow down exiting the forest because the roads were not overly smooth and they just finished all of the big climbs. I knew that was the time to make the move. I had spent most of the race hoping for a breakaway to form with a K/S Energy guy, a ISCorp guy and a Brazen Dropouts guy (since those were the three largest teams left in the main field and knew a break with that make-up would not likely get chased down). Now that we were on the final lap and that hadn't happened yet, I knew a better shot for a breakaway would be with whichever other solo riders were left in the main field that felt as good as I did (basically like I hadn't worked the whole race). I call myself solo because (as I found out later) Chris had a mechanical early in lap 1 and was in a chase group 10-15 minutes behind the field. After I had assembled a little posse of riders interested in turning the gas on exiting the forest, I heard that great sound of air rushing out of my tire. Flat. Well, crap! Some of the other guys expressed sorrow for me as I pulled to the side to get out of the way and look for our follow car for a spare wheel. In this road race, we had a lead car and a follow car with an official in it. As the follow car pulled up beside me, the official yelled that the neutral support was that way (pointing backwards on the course). I yelled back asking how far, but no response. So I got off to walk backwards on the course to find neutral support. I saw what I was looking for following the Masters 3/4 field. At first, he did not want to hook me up with a wheel, but we were 3-4 miles into a 10 mile lap. I needed either a wheel or a ride to get back to the start line. I told him that I knew I was not in contention any more and that I just wanted to get back to the start/finish line. He gave me a wheel and I set about my solo journey back to the finish. I saw a pack of 4 riders just up the road, so I tried to chase onto them for a little while. I realized that was probably stupid when I did not gain ground and just settled in for a nice long cool down. Once I crossed the line, I found my wheel and started looking for Chris. He crossed about 5-10 minutes after I did. I am not sure what our placement was, but we both realized that we thoroughly enjoy road races.
Now I am resting up and relaxing before the final 6-turn criterium in this race. Throughout this series, I have learned that I am strong in road races and circuit races and that my true-criterium skills need work. Hopefully my luck starts to change, since this has to be about the most unlucky stretch of racing I have ever had (2 flats in 4 races, crashes in the final laps after the free laps in the other 2 right in front of me that have taken me out of contention for anything).
Happy Racing!
I have only raced two road races prior to the road race in Greenbush. Both were hilly courses and I got gapped early spending the rest of my day chasing. No fun. I knew Greenbush would have some hills, but the big one was mostly a power climbers hill. Since I have dropped the weight, I have actually become a decent climber. Words I never figured that I would utter. My plan for the course was to ride in my little ring as much as possible. As much as possible was defined for me as still in contact with the main field. On the first lap, I was in my little ring for about 60% of the lap and I was steadily moving up the field. Perfect. For some reason, I got away from this mindset a little on lap 2 and drifted back to the back of the main field. At the start of lap 3, I decided to go back to my bread and butter play and spend as much time in the little ring as possible and climbed back to the front end of the main group. As we crossed the start/finish line receiving the sign for 1 lap to go, I was sitting about 15th wheel, feeling fantastic and ready to unleash pain upon the field (who some I could tell were starting to fade and admitted as much) once we got out of the forest. Each lap, the field would slow down exiting the forest because the roads were not overly smooth and they just finished all of the big climbs. I knew that was the time to make the move. I had spent most of the race hoping for a breakaway to form with a K/S Energy guy, a ISCorp guy and a Brazen Dropouts guy (since those were the three largest teams left in the main field and knew a break with that make-up would not likely get chased down). Now that we were on the final lap and that hadn't happened yet, I knew a better shot for a breakaway would be with whichever other solo riders were left in the main field that felt as good as I did (basically like I hadn't worked the whole race). I call myself solo because (as I found out later) Chris had a mechanical early in lap 1 and was in a chase group 10-15 minutes behind the field. After I had assembled a little posse of riders interested in turning the gas on exiting the forest, I heard that great sound of air rushing out of my tire. Flat. Well, crap! Some of the other guys expressed sorrow for me as I pulled to the side to get out of the way and look for our follow car for a spare wheel. In this road race, we had a lead car and a follow car with an official in it. As the follow car pulled up beside me, the official yelled that the neutral support was that way (pointing backwards on the course). I yelled back asking how far, but no response. So I got off to walk backwards on the course to find neutral support. I saw what I was looking for following the Masters 3/4 field. At first, he did not want to hook me up with a wheel, but we were 3-4 miles into a 10 mile lap. I needed either a wheel or a ride to get back to the start line. I told him that I knew I was not in contention any more and that I just wanted to get back to the start/finish line. He gave me a wheel and I set about my solo journey back to the finish. I saw a pack of 4 riders just up the road, so I tried to chase onto them for a little while. I realized that was probably stupid when I did not gain ground and just settled in for a nice long cool down. Once I crossed the line, I found my wheel and started looking for Chris. He crossed about 5-10 minutes after I did. I am not sure what our placement was, but we both realized that we thoroughly enjoy road races.
Now I am resting up and relaxing before the final 6-turn criterium in this race. Throughout this series, I have learned that I am strong in road races and circuit races and that my true-criterium skills need work. Hopefully my luck starts to change, since this has to be about the most unlucky stretch of racing I have ever had (2 flats in 4 races, crashes in the final laps after the free laps in the other 2 right in front of me that have taken me out of contention for anything).
Happy Racing!
Sunday, June 19, 2011
ToAD - Grafton
Chris and I arrived early enough to be able to enjoy another nice warm-up for the Giro d' Grafton. This race was not nearly as sketchy as the day prior in Thiensville, with only 1 guy going down. I started the race in much better position than the day before, right behind one of my quickly becoming favorite riders in the group Tristan from Team Mack Racing. The guy in front of us had a hard time clipping, so we lost a little placing, but that was not that big of a deal to me. I was in a place that I was comfortable with, so I was fairly happy with the start of the race.
A few laps in, I had another new experience for me, my rear tire was leaking. Yippee! It took me a couple laps to completely diagnose the issue. With each turn getting scarier, feeling like my tire was going to roll off of my rim. As I slowly lost contact with the field and felt pretty sure I had a flat, I rode to the SRAM Neutral Support to get a new wheel. They fixed me up and I was ready to go! I love those guys! Thanks to the free lap, the officials got me back in the field and I was on my way.
Following the flat, it took me a couple of laps to get comfortable bombing through the corners again. Once I had my confidence back, I started working my way forward. With six to go, I saw Tristan on the front, so I knew I needed to get up there. With four laps to go, I was on the front, but ended up in the back quickly because I was not willing to take some of the chances the guys who remained up there in the corners. It was good to see that I had the power to get up there when I needed to. Staying up there is my new challenge on the technical courses. Unfortunately, I was stuck too far back going into the sprint finish, so I had to just drop in the biggest gear I could spin at a high revolution and pick off as many as I could. I was able to climb back into 28th position, passing a bunch of guys on my way to the line, and Chris took 38th. Better results for me than Thiensville, but still not quite where I need to be.
One positive is that I have felt ready to race each day, but I did not quite have the pop at Grafton that I had at Thiensville. I tweeked my recovery last night to see if I could get my pop back for today in Waukesha. Kari will be racing the Cat 3/4 Women, Chris and I will be mixing it up in the Cat 4/5 Men and Brent will be mixing it up in the Masters Cat 1/2 Men.
Happy Racing!
A few laps in, I had another new experience for me, my rear tire was leaking. Yippee! It took me a couple laps to completely diagnose the issue. With each turn getting scarier, feeling like my tire was going to roll off of my rim. As I slowly lost contact with the field and felt pretty sure I had a flat, I rode to the SRAM Neutral Support to get a new wheel. They fixed me up and I was ready to go! I love those guys! Thanks to the free lap, the officials got me back in the field and I was on my way.
Following the flat, it took me a couple of laps to get comfortable bombing through the corners again. Once I had my confidence back, I started working my way forward. With six to go, I saw Tristan on the front, so I knew I needed to get up there. With four laps to go, I was on the front, but ended up in the back quickly because I was not willing to take some of the chances the guys who remained up there in the corners. It was good to see that I had the power to get up there when I needed to. Staying up there is my new challenge on the technical courses. Unfortunately, I was stuck too far back going into the sprint finish, so I had to just drop in the biggest gear I could spin at a high revolution and pick off as many as I could. I was able to climb back into 28th position, passing a bunch of guys on my way to the line, and Chris took 38th. Better results for me than Thiensville, but still not quite where I need to be.
One positive is that I have felt ready to race each day, but I did not quite have the pop at Grafton that I had at Thiensville. I tweeked my recovery last night to see if I could get my pop back for today in Waukesha. Kari will be racing the Cat 3/4 Women, Chris and I will be mixing it up in the Cat 4/5 Men and Brent will be mixing it up in the Masters Cat 1/2 Men.
Happy Racing!
Saturday, June 18, 2011
ToAD - Thiensville
Chris and I got to Thiensville a little earlier than expected. This actually afforded us a little longer warm-up, which is always nice to get the body ready to rock. After our warm-up, we swapped bottles and headed over to the start line. This is when I learned that I did not need to actually bring my own wheels because SRAM Neutral Support had us totally covered (I love those guys!). Lesson learned: Do not need to bring my own spare wheels! Sweet!
Unfortunately, this discovery cut into our pre-race time to ride the course. By the time we finished pre-riding the course, we were on the last line of the almost 80 Cat 4/5 riders. With this being a rather technical course, I knew it would be a challenge to climb back up (never want to stay in yo-yo land). It took a few laps, but I found a good rhythm to move up on the course. Granted, I have no desire to start near the back again. I'd rather be near the front relaxing and have the ability to challenge for something. It is also a safer place to be with all of the twitchy Cat 4/5s. We had at least 5 crashes yesterday: three behind me somewhere, one next to me and one a few riders in front of me. Unfortunately, the one in front of me was on the 2nd to last lap and forced me to go off road to stay up right. The worst part was that I was in the top 20 riders in the field and the crash took me completely out of it. I clawed back on the final lap to finish 44th with the field. Considering how sketchy the field was and that I haven't raced in a month, I was moderately happy with the results. This result may have taken me out of contention for the overall, so I am modifying my goal to chase stage wins more. I was really hoping for a top 10-20 today to help my cause for the overall.
Today, we have Grafton. Feeling pretty good and ready to rock some worlds later! Also, we have Hank joining us to mix things up today!
Happy Racing!
Unfortunately, this discovery cut into our pre-race time to ride the course. By the time we finished pre-riding the course, we were on the last line of the almost 80 Cat 4/5 riders. With this being a rather technical course, I knew it would be a challenge to climb back up (never want to stay in yo-yo land). It took a few laps, but I found a good rhythm to move up on the course. Granted, I have no desire to start near the back again. I'd rather be near the front relaxing and have the ability to challenge for something. It is also a safer place to be with all of the twitchy Cat 4/5s. We had at least 5 crashes yesterday: three behind me somewhere, one next to me and one a few riders in front of me. Unfortunately, the one in front of me was on the 2nd to last lap and forced me to go off road to stay up right. The worst part was that I was in the top 20 riders in the field and the crash took me completely out of it. I clawed back on the final lap to finish 44th with the field. Considering how sketchy the field was and that I haven't raced in a month, I was moderately happy with the results. This result may have taken me out of contention for the overall, so I am modifying my goal to chase stage wins more. I was really hoping for a top 10-20 today to help my cause for the overall.
Today, we have Grafton. Feeling pretty good and ready to rock some worlds later! Also, we have Hank joining us to mix things up today!
Happy Racing!
Friday, June 17, 2011
Tour of America's Dairyland
The big race of the season for me, ToAD, has begun with the Pro/1/2s starting in Shorewood last night and the rest of the Amateurs starting today in Thiensville.
Currently, I am sitting/laying on the floor in my apartment, contemplating the race a little, prepping body and bike, and watching a little Psych on Netflix. Yay free month trials!
Time to put all of the indoor work from the winter with Brent and the racing this spring to good use. Good luck to the whole Emerys Crew throughout the week!
If you are interested in watching some good racing, Chris and I will be racing the Cat 4/5s every day (Hank will be joining us on some of them), Brent will be racing every day of the Masters Cat 1/2s, plus the Pro/1/2 fields. I will try to post a race recap daily with some photos, if possible.
Currently, I am sitting/laying on the floor in my apartment, contemplating the race a little, prepping body and bike, and watching a little Psych on Netflix. Yay free month trials!
Time to put all of the indoor work from the winter with Brent and the racing this spring to good use. Good luck to the whole Emerys Crew throughout the week!
If you are interested in watching some good racing, Chris and I will be racing the Cat 4/5s every day (Hank will be joining us on some of them), Brent will be racing every day of the Masters Cat 1/2s, plus the Pro/1/2 fields. I will try to post a race recap daily with some photos, if possible.
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