It has been about 2 months since my last post, so I figured I would quickly sum up the rest of my road season, briefly talk about my short track season and then finish off with a little recap of the Boilerman.
First off, ICC/Superweek went fantastic! I ended up racing 8 out of the 16 days, which was more than I anticipated. With ToAD not going entirely to plan in terms of upgrade points and watching my buddy Tristan tearing up the fields at Superweek, I tried to jump into every Superweek race that I could. I had way more luck during Superweek than ToAD and ended up taking 4th overall in the Cat 4s. My results from the week plus all of the racing this season earned me enough to upgrade to Cat 3! I was stoked! My goal for the season was to earn my upgrade from Cat 4 to Cat 3 and I did it! With a little gas left in the legs after a long season, I decided to go race the NEW Wheeling Weekend up north as a Cat 3, so I knew what I would need to work on in the Winter to be competitive as a 3 for next year. While I did not do as well as I would have liked, I was able to sit in the field and mix it up a little in the sprint. Not bad for a first couple races as a Cat 3!
Over the last few weeks of the season, different people suggested that I race the track to really up my game on the road. Once I learned I could use my own geared bike on Monday nights for practice and then borrow a bike for Tuesdays, I went down as much as possible. Great learning experiences and great people. I will definitely be spending more time at the track next year!
Now, onto the Boilerman. The Boilerman is an Olympic/International distance triathlon (1.5km swim/40km bike/10km run). Kari really wanted to do an Olympic this year to see her progression as a triathlete, so we selected this race partly because it is relatively inexpensive, I was the Race Director for the '04 edition, and it is at the end of season not conflicting with my road season. We decided on this race in June (I believe) and I set Kari's training plan over July 4th weekend with the goal of her doing the race in 2:28:00. It was ambitious, but I thought if she stuck to the plan that it was very achievable. Unfortunately, time did not work out like we were anticipating for her, so we backed off her goal to 2:45:00 and modified the training plan.
With road racing taking the priority for me this Summer, I did not start my triathlon training until my road season was winding down. Thus I only spent about 8 weeks prepping for the swim and 6 weeks prepping for the run. Not ideal, but I knew that my cardio system was good to go thanks to my weekly average of about 200 miles riding per week. I just had to cut my riding down a bit and add in some swims and runs each week, focusing on speed, to remember how to swim and run and do it fast.
Training went pretty close to schedule with some of my runs and swims surprising me with how fast I was able to go at moderate distance. Unfortunately, I was unable to really prepare for it like I would have liked by doing all of the distances at speed without rushing things; however, that was not in the cards, so I just had to rely on my ability to suffer to get me through.
We got to the hotel around midnight Friday night and quickly tried to get some sleep before the alarm went off in the morning. Due to hang-ups involving breakfast and getting ready to go, we got to the race course about 40 minutes later than I wanted to, so no warm-ups for us. We only had time to check in, set up our transition spots (we chose to be next to each other), get body marked and walk to the swim start. I ran into an old friend who was on the Purdue Tri team with me when we were both students, so that was great catching up briefly. For the swim, I was in wave 1 and Kari was in wave 2. One of the really cool things about the Boilerman is that it draws a lot of the best collegiate racers from around the Midwest, so the competition, while small, is usually pretty stiff. The start opened much like I expected with a lot of guys ripping on fast swims. I tried to follow feet whenever I could; however. this was not always possible. While there were a lot of fast swimmers, many of them were unable to swim straight lines. I was swam into (head perpendicularly into my chest) several times. It was bizarre. I finally settled into a groove and set about the task at hand. I exited the water in 10th place with a time of 22:42.6. My goal for the swim was 25, so I was well ahead of my goal (not that I knew this because I don't carry a timing device on my person during the race). The run from the water to T1 is a rather long uphill jaunt through fairly tall grass. I could tell that the lack of warm-up was affecting me and I took one of the longest T1s of my life to get wetsuit off and out on bike. Once on the bike, I had to spend the next 5-10 miles to get my legs to be willing to suffer and do some work. After that, I settled into a nice groove and got to work trying to turn around the performance of the first few miles. I was thinking how nice a warm-up would've been. Oh well, nothing I can do about it now, but power through and make the best of the situation. I exited the bike in 16th with a time of 1:05:18.4. My goal for the bike was 1:05:00, so still on track despite feeling like crap for most of the day. I had another slow transition to throw on some socks for the run. Normally, I race triathlons without socks and end up with some bloody feet as a result on the longer races. I wanted to avoid that today. I felt like it was a good decision. I left for the run trying to keep my pace in check. The last thing I wanted was to run too fast the first mile or so and pay for it later, since I haven't run longer than a 5km at speed in a long, long time. The first 4 miles of the run snake through a neighborhood which the changing scenery kept me fairly interested. When I hit the grass by transition to start my final 2 miles or so of running, I was feeling pretty good and started picking up the pace. I do enjoy running on dirt for some reason, lots of fun. On the final uphill into the finish, I could see the clock for the first time all day. The number read 2:16:00. I started cheering because I knew I was only about 100 yards away and about to demolish my PR at this distance (2:56:00) and goal. My goal for the race was 2:18:00, but I knew that if everything went well (warm-up, weather, etc) that I could challenge 2:10:00. With how the morning went, I thought I would be lucky to break 2:20:00. I ended up crossing the line in 2:16:31.2 with a 45:12.9 10km (my fastest 10km ever and only 12s off my goal time of 45 min)! I was stoked!
My dad came to watch Kari and I race, so after I finished I went to find him and look for Kari. It was great seeing him there as I entered and exited transition and for the last stretch of the run. I could not see Kari's bike as I ran past transition and was starting to wonder if she was having a really crappy day. After I grabbed a slice of pizza, a banana and some drink mix, my dad informed me that she was about to finish the 4 mile loop and could see her coming up the road. We cheered her through transition as she went off for her last 2 miles. I spent some time catching up with Chase (he took 4th on the day) while we waited for Kari to finish. As she made the final uphill kick, the time on the clock read 2:39:00 and she crossed the line in 2:39:47.2 (plus she got to subtract the 3 minutes between waves). Thus she crushed her goal of 2:45:00 with a finish time of 2:36:47.2! Fantastic for her first ever Olympic distance race and she smashed my previous PR by 20 minutes! Holy crap! She did awesome!
I took 25th out of 177 overall and 8/25 in my age group, and Kari took 76th overall and 5/15 in her age group. She was very happy with her results until they were posted later and she learned that she was the 13th fastest woman and 9th place was less than 1 minute ahead of her (she was delayed on course by a truck for a little bit). Still, I think she did great! Definitely a great way to cap off the season!
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Updated Results
Results finally updated from May! Let me know if I missed anyone or anything! Congrats on a great season everyone!
Saturday, July 16, 2011
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!
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!
Monday, June 27, 2011
ToAD - Madison
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!
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!
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!
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