Superweek - Kenosha Race Report

First off, I would like to say that I hope all of you and your friends and families stayed safe during the storms that rolled through last night. We were fortunate enough to not have any flooding here at my house. Hallelujah!

Ok, on to the report! This morning, knowing that it was going to be storming/raining all race, I woke up and began prepping my Jamis. It has been a very sturdy and trusty stead; however, he does not get much time to play outdoors with the Cervelo living the in the stall next door. You may be asking, "why would you ever ride the Jamis when you have the Cervelo". That is a rather simple answer. When conditions are gross and potentially treacherous, I choose the Jamis. It is not safer than the Cervelo, but it is a lot cheaper than the Cervelo, incase the worst should happen.

Once I got to the course, the rain was still coming down fairly solid as I walked to check-in. Then, I got back to my car to pin up my numbers and set up my trainer. Thankfully, I left my jersey in the car and kept my jacket on to try to stay warm while warming up. After about 20 minutes of riding on my trainer, I packed things up, slipped on my jersey, ate some food, and headed to the course to finish my warm up. While riding around the course before the race, I was able to see how the corners were going to be with all the rain and wetness. Turn 2 was definitely the most dangerous, but luckily, there was not much paint on the roads to increase the slipperiness.

Due to the inclement conditions, only 22 riders lined up for the start of the Cat 4/5 race. The race also started slower than normal while everyone was working out the nerves and testing the corners at speed. After a few laps of the race, I was slowed in Turn 2 by a guy in front of me not knowing how to corner well. This caused enough of a gap that a few riders slipped off the front. Without taking too many chances on the turns, the chase group worked well together to try to latch back on. The weather was not helping our case, since the conditions favored a breakaway over a group. The spray and corners were making it difficult to work well together in a pack. With a few laps to go, the pack reformed, and I was split off again by following a guy who did not know how to corner in Turn 2. I was about out of gas, so I eventually conceded and rode the rest of the way solo.

Now for the results, I ended up 16, so one position out of the money. Oh well. My legs have not felt that good during a race in a while. I am looking forward to my races in August and see what firepower I can bring to them. Brent also did great. He has tightened his grip on his overall lead for the Masters 35+ 1/2/3 and took third in today's race by winning the bunch sprint.

Chris has a tri this coming Sunday out in Eagle, WI, so be sure to send some "Dream Crushing" vibes his way. Brent also has two more races in Superweek before he can claim the winner's jersey for Masters 35+ 1/2/3! Happy riding!