First Week of Superweek Recap

Unlike TofAD, I chose to only race 6 races of ICC/Superweek, instead of the full 17 days of racing. Part of this was due to time commitments I had on the major weekends of the race and part was due to not wanting to spend a gob of money on race fees only to have to spend even more money repairing my bike and myself like I did at TofAD. I'm not saying TofAD was a bad experience, but I only made $30 back and spent way more repairing my bike and patching up skin. I did learn about myself and bike racing during TofAD that I am trying to apply at each race since.

When registering for ICC/Superweek, I noticed that they had a 6 day pass, which included entry fees to 6 races, a t-shirt and a 4-pack of Point Premium Root Beer. I knew that I wanted to do at least 6 days, but I was not sure if I could do more. It sounded perfect for me!

Knowing my buddy, Tristan, was rocking out in the Illinois stages, I decided to start a day earlier with my first day being at Brown Deer Park. I got to the course about 1.5 hours early, like I do at every race, to find that I was the first person to show up. I had forgotten how much differently TofAD and ICC/Superweek were run. I started warming up while waiting to check in and get my number. Legs felt good and I was licking my lips for some serious results. Once the race got under way, I tried a few attacks, but no breaks stuck. I settled in behind Tristan for the final lap and sprinted to 3rd. I actually had to touch my brakes during the sprint because Tristan was going too slow and I was boxed in behind him. Oh well. Podium finish and good learning experience.

Once of the nice things with TofAD was that they provided recovery drink, chocolate milk. ICC/Superweek did not. By the time I got on the podium, received my check and got home to start recovery, about an hour had passed before I was able to start the recovery process. This was definitely not ideal, but it was what it was.

My second day of ICC/Superweek was at the South Shore Cyclery Classic in Cudahy, WI. My legs felt ok, but they did not feel exceptional. Tristan and I were going to try to get me a stage win and one of the stage winners jerseys. We had a break planned with a group of strong men. When it happened, my legs did not have the punch to respond and jump on. I spent the rest of the ride in the field trying to get people to work together to reel in the 3rd placed guy. Nothing worked. We had a bunch sprint for 4th on the day and my legs did not want to work, so I settled for 11th. Not good, but because ICC/Superweek paid 15 deep, I was still in the money.

Day 3 of racing occurred for me in Brookfield. The course had quite a few turns and a slight uphill and downhill. We had another tiny field (only 15 guys), so everyone was in the money as long as they crossed the finish line. I tried a few breaks and tried to organize a group to go for one. Nothing stuck and we settled for a field sprint. I came from about 10th back to take 2nd on the day, missing 1st by about 4 inches.

Currently, I am in Indiana working a couple weddings as a photographer. Here is my website, in case you ever need some photos (shamless plug). So my quest for a stage win and more upgrade points are on hold until next week when I try to wreak havoc for another 3 or more days (depending on time and how I feel). To sum up, I took 3rd, 11th and 2nd in my three days of racing, made $155 of the $208 I spent on entry fees (at about $35/day, I am ahead of schedule to make my money back). This has been a much better series for me than TofAD was in terms of results!