It has been a very hot July and August so far. The last few weeks riding has been in the upper 90's and well over 100 in the sun in the evenings. I had not been feeling well in the heat until the last week or so and I hadn't raced in over a month so I was completely unsure of my form coming into the State Championship races. Forecasts suggested highs around 105 both days, so managing the heat was going to be a factor for everyone.
I did have some pressure to compete well as I came into the races leading the KBAR series with a 1 point lead over Bob Cummings and about 15 points over Craig Henwood. I wanted to extend this Saturday to give me some breathing room on Sunday.
We had a good group for the crit, about 15 starters and 5 St. Johns guys. Brian and Jeremy had already raced the masters in the morning, so they were out to help out as long as they could and then planned to drop out. The field was all strong riders, so the race was much more interesting then last year. I told the guys I didn't want to have to spend a ton of energy early because I needed to save something for the RR. Early on there was a 5 person break with Cale in it, then some bridge attempts. I stayed relaxed in what was left of the group and BB, Jeremy, and Jim kept things under control. I marked Bob who was forced to keep attacking. At about 40 minutes in the lead group was down to 4 and Ryan Heydenrych was chasing but in no man's land, so I countered Bob and got across solo to Ryan while Jim kept Bob in check. We worked the lead back to the chasers out to over a minute and were able to relax a bit, but then the break lapped Bob's group and had picked up some other lapped riders, so we had to go again. I ended up leading out the sprint but hoped I could still get it, but just missed out and ended up 6th. I ended up gaining 16 points in KBAR. I was suprized how good I felt considering the heat and was very proud of how the team raced. The only bummer was that someone stole Jim and Cale's cooler full of their food/bottles/beer! I've never heard of that at a race before.
The road race was another hot affair. I brought a bag full of ice to wear under my jersey and skipped the warmup. Another strong group, the same guys as the crit and a few more strong guys. The first lap was pretty mellow and uneventful. One guy went solo for about half the lap but then came back just before the feed zone. Ryan and his teammate attacked in the feed zone, but we brought them back. In the second lap another group of 4 got away, but there were no Kansas guys in the move, so most of us just watched each other. There were lots of little attacks, but I don't think anyone wanted to commit to riding in the heat solo for over an hour, plus Jim and Cale kept things mostly together through the feed zone, where Ryan attacked again. Things came back together over the top, but Jim and Cale were blown up.
Ryan got away again on the later on the last lap, and no-one was interested in giving chase. Everyone was looking at me, but I didn't want to drag them up only to have Ryan's teammate jump us. Unfortunately, Ryan's rear break got loose and started to slow him down, so he had to come back to the group. The last lap was pretty much constant attacks and surges followed by coasting. I was feeling ok, but not great and the temp on my computer was reading 108. About 6 miles from the finish Bob had a blowout, but we all sat up to let him get back on. That actually let some others latch on as well. Just before the final climb, the cat 3 leaders passed us. I led it into the climb was ready for people to start jumping and just followed wheels to the top then punched it hard. When I checked back everyone was just looking at each other so I just kept going. I caught up to the cat 3 leaders who were starting to look at each other, but had enough gap that I didn't need get in the way of their sprint. So I ended up 4th overall and took the Kansas title as well as the KBAR title. It was alos great to finally be able to deliver in a RR, which has been elusive this year. Great way to go out for road and now ready to think about cross all the time.
