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.
Showing posts with label Road Racing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Road Racing. Show all posts
Monday, August 8, 2011
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Tour of KC
Raced day 2 and 3 of the Tour of KC last weekend. It was awesome to have a full team in the race. I think the fields were a lot smaller this year, but there were still a lot of big hitters in our race.
Saturday I tried to get into a break with some of the other big teams, but nothing was sticking. After that the heat really got to me and so I tried to hide in the group as much as possible to help out teammates at the finish. That didn't work out very well because I struggled with cramps near the end. Afterwards we had a team BBQ and had a good time.
Sunday was another hot day. My game plan was to be more conservative early. Unfortunately, the winning break went up the road early and I was totally out of position. I probably should have tried to get up to it as soon as it went, but instead just sat there. After that I took some small pulls at the front but the break was well up the road and gaining. I started to really struggle again in the heat and just tail-gunned for the rest of the race. Fortunately, my teammates did well again in the sprint.
I've just gotten a mountain bike for the first time in about 5 years, so I'm going to start riding that much more over the next couple of months. Should be fun/hilarious.
Saturday I tried to get into a break with some of the other big teams, but nothing was sticking. After that the heat really got to me and so I tried to hide in the group as much as possible to help out teammates at the finish. That didn't work out very well because I struggled with cramps near the end. Afterwards we had a team BBQ and had a good time.
Sunday was another hot day. My game plan was to be more conservative early. Unfortunately, the winning break went up the road early and I was totally out of position. I probably should have tried to get up to it as soon as it went, but instead just sat there. After that I took some small pulls at the front but the break was well up the road and gaining. I started to really struggle again in the heat and just tail-gunned for the rest of the race. Fortunately, my teammates did well again in the sprint.
I've just gotten a mountain bike for the first time in about 5 years, so I'm going to start riding that much more over the next couple of months. Should be fun/hilarious.
Monday, May 16, 2011
Tour De Grove - pt 2
The Sunday course was really cool. And it was dry at the start, so I was pretty excited to get going. Then started raining again mid race. There were wrecks three corners in a row when that happened. I was caught in the third wreck, I think that about 15 people went down in that one. I ran someone's bike over trying to get through and went down again. There were literally bodies and bikes across the whole road.
They neutralized the race, people just kept rolling into the pits from the first two wrecks too. I was in a really bad spot in the restart. I did another lap but I was at the back, and people just kept dropping out, so I had to keep leapfrogging to get back to the group, I ended up just riding along alone for a few laps till they pulled me. I'm still in one piece and I've got most of my skin, so not too bad all things considered.
They neutralized the race, people just kept rolling into the pits from the first two wrecks too. I was in a really bad spot in the restart. I did another lap but I was at the back, and people just kept dropping out, so I had to keep leapfrogging to get back to the group, I ended up just riding along alone for a few laps till they pulled me. I'm still in one piece and I've got most of my skin, so not too bad all things considered.
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Tour De Grove pt 1
Back to St. Louis for the Tour De Grove.
Forecasts called for rain all three days. Friday night we got lucky and the rain held off, but it was windy. The Midtown Alley course was a big rectangle of wide open streets, pretty straightforward. Adam, Justin and I were representing St Johns. We all put in little digs here and there, I got in a couple of moves but nothing was getting any leash or sticking at all because of the wind so we sat in for the sprint. I was hoping to lead out Adam in the sprint, but on the last lap things slowed up, I got swarmed and Adam ended up on the front in the wind. In the sprint Adam ended up 11th and I got 5th and Justin finished in the group.
Saturday the rain came and the winds stuck around. We were minus Brian who headed home but added Brian. This course was wet and had some technical corners plus lots of rough pavement and some road obstacles. I went to the front on the first lap and didn't have too much trouble sticking there for most of the race. I heard lots of crashes behind me. There were a lot of guys in the race, 107 according to the officials at the start. So even when I did feel like I was drifting back, I'd check back and see about 40 or 50 guys behind still. Kinda crazy. Anyway, with about 10 minutes left I wasn't paying attention and took a bad line into the 180 corner before the S/F ended up turning on the painted centerline and lost my front wheel, wiping out and breaking my shifter. Dumb. But I didn't get hurt or hurt anyone else so that was good. Thankfully, SRAM Neutral Race Support was on hand to replace my shifter for tomorrow: Another rainy crit.
Forecasts called for rain all three days. Friday night we got lucky and the rain held off, but it was windy. The Midtown Alley course was a big rectangle of wide open streets, pretty straightforward. Adam, Justin and I were representing St Johns. We all put in little digs here and there, I got in a couple of moves but nothing was getting any leash or sticking at all because of the wind so we sat in for the sprint. I was hoping to lead out Adam in the sprint, but on the last lap things slowed up, I got swarmed and Adam ended up on the front in the wind. In the sprint Adam ended up 11th and I got 5th and Justin finished in the group.
Saturday the rain came and the winds stuck around. We were minus Brian who headed home but added Brian. This course was wet and had some technical corners plus lots of rough pavement and some road obstacles. I went to the front on the first lap and didn't have too much trouble sticking there for most of the race. I heard lots of crashes behind me. There were a lot of guys in the race, 107 according to the officials at the start. So even when I did feel like I was drifting back, I'd check back and see about 40 or 50 guys behind still. Kinda crazy. Anyway, with about 10 minutes left I wasn't paying attention and took a bad line into the 180 corner before the S/F ended up turning on the painted centerline and lost my front wheel, wiping out and breaking my shifter. Dumb. But I didn't get hurt or hurt anyone else so that was good. Thankfully, SRAM Neutral Race Support was on hand to replace my shifter for tomorrow: Another rainy crit.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Joe Sheehan Memorial RR
JB and I went the the Joe Sheehan Memorial RR this year to battle the north winds. This race was moved back a couple of weeks from the last few years, where unpredictable April weather plagued the race.
Two years ago, we had rain, sleet, snow, and 20+ mph winds. I won in the Cat 3 race by attacking solo about 20 miles into the race. I attacked only because I was so cold in the group in that I could barely shift or brake. Last year I flatted trying to bridge to Walt Bleser's solo brakeaway, which ended up being the the winning move after Phil Gronniger bridged up.The thing about this race is that with the north winds if you can get a break going on the way out and have it stick through Atchison, it will probably stay away.
We showed up about an hour before the start and registration was a mess. The line was out the door. About 5 minutes before the start they pushed all races back by 15 minutes, whew. The other issue was our wheel vehicle was a small car that was jam packed with wheels. In fact, we were only able to put one set in.
So the race finally started and we had a nice sized group of 25 or so. My early plan was to get into a break after the initial attacks happened. Bill Marshall got away solo early. Then a chase group formed with some of my old teammates Craig Henwood and Cam Rex. I was interested in bridging to this group then jumping up to Bill, but the trouble was that Shadd Smith was in the group and I didn't really want to drag him up to Bill. Bob Cummings was in the group too and he's been riding really strong this year, so I was hoping we could get away together to get up to Bill.
It turns out that both Shadd and I were marked pretty heavily by the rest of the field. Shadd was putting in some little fake surges to keep the group from organizing, and I wanted to counter but if Shadd didn't immediately grab my wheel, someone else did.
We hit some new gravel sections, and Shadd really drove the pace through those. I got through behind him, but several people (including JB) ended up flatting here. It was kind of weird deep gravel with some really big chunks, but everyone seemed to ride it cleanly.
At this point Cam had jumped across to Bill and they were working well together and putting in alot of time to the group. I really wanted to get a whittled down chase group going but everyone was now looking at me or Bob to attack, so no one was really working. Coming out of Atchison, there is a medium length climb, so I punched it and Shadd was the only one that could hold the pace. Not ideal. But the gap to Bill and Cam was over 2 minutes at this point and growing, so it was the time to try to get up there. I just kept it rolling and trying to monitor the chase to see if they were closing the gap to us. In the meantime, I was closing the gap up to Bill and Cam, but not very quickly. In retrospect, I should have eased up a little out of Atchison to let some others come up with us and then spread the work out. As it was, I got to solo TT and drag Shadd in my attempt to catch up.
Anyway, I brought the gap down to about a minute with a couple of miles to go, but it was too little too late. Enough to keep them honest. So Bill won, Cam took 2nd, Shadd sprinted for 3rd, I got 4th. Lots of work for 4th, but money in the bank for CX season, where it's always that hard.
Two years ago, we had rain, sleet, snow, and 20+ mph winds. I won in the Cat 3 race by attacking solo about 20 miles into the race. I attacked only because I was so cold in the group in that I could barely shift or brake. Last year I flatted trying to bridge to Walt Bleser's solo brakeaway, which ended up being the the winning move after Phil Gronniger bridged up.The thing about this race is that with the north winds if you can get a break going on the way out and have it stick through Atchison, it will probably stay away.
We showed up about an hour before the start and registration was a mess. The line was out the door. About 5 minutes before the start they pushed all races back by 15 minutes, whew. The other issue was our wheel vehicle was a small car that was jam packed with wheels. In fact, we were only able to put one set in.
So the race finally started and we had a nice sized group of 25 or so. My early plan was to get into a break after the initial attacks happened. Bill Marshall got away solo early. Then a chase group formed with some of my old teammates Craig Henwood and Cam Rex. I was interested in bridging to this group then jumping up to Bill, but the trouble was that Shadd Smith was in the group and I didn't really want to drag him up to Bill. Bob Cummings was in the group too and he's been riding really strong this year, so I was hoping we could get away together to get up to Bill.
It turns out that both Shadd and I were marked pretty heavily by the rest of the field. Shadd was putting in some little fake surges to keep the group from organizing, and I wanted to counter but if Shadd didn't immediately grab my wheel, someone else did.
We hit some new gravel sections, and Shadd really drove the pace through those. I got through behind him, but several people (including JB) ended up flatting here. It was kind of weird deep gravel with some really big chunks, but everyone seemed to ride it cleanly.
At this point Cam had jumped across to Bill and they were working well together and putting in alot of time to the group. I really wanted to get a whittled down chase group going but everyone was now looking at me or Bob to attack, so no one was really working. Coming out of Atchison, there is a medium length climb, so I punched it and Shadd was the only one that could hold the pace. Not ideal. But the gap to Bill and Cam was over 2 minutes at this point and growing, so it was the time to try to get up there. I just kept it rolling and trying to monitor the chase to see if they were closing the gap to us. In the meantime, I was closing the gap up to Bill and Cam, but not very quickly. In retrospect, I should have eased up a little out of Atchison to let some others come up with us and then spread the work out. As it was, I got to solo TT and drag Shadd in my attempt to catch up.
Anyway, I brought the gap down to about a minute with a couple of miles to go, but it was too little too late. Enough to keep them honest. So Bill won, Cam took 2nd, Shadd sprinted for 3rd, I got 4th. Lots of work for 4th, but money in the bank for CX season, where it's always that hard.
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Tour Of StL Weekend
Yup, it's Thursday, so i'll keep this brief:
Went to the Tour of St. Louis last weekend with Teammate Brian. We were joined on Sat by Cale and Jim from Springfield, and JB on Sunday.
Sat:
Circuit race - cold and windy. After racing in 90+ degree tempuratures at Hermann, 45 and 20+ mph winds felt really cold. Highlights of the race: I took of at the start like it was a cross race, then I realized it wasn't a cross race. Things got all goofy, and we ended up all missing out on the first split of the group. Then there were some more splits. I ended up in the 2nd chase group racing for 13th. I pulled alot and Jim got a prime and 13th. BB got the other prime. Rough, but still in the $, so I guess that was good.
TT - Had a funky cough and some really irritated eyes from allergys. Still windy, but less cold. I got all aero and rolled to 8th place out of 16. BB was my minute man, and I totally out sprinted him meters before the finish like a real teammate.
Had an excellent team dinner.
Sun:
Had an excellent team breakfast. Then went for a nice AM spin.
Crit - Pretty straightforward course, a big rectangle with some bad pavement on the backside. A bit of wind, but much warmer than the day before. I tried to get into a few good looking moves but nothing stuck. Finally Brad Huff and Joe Schmalz started racing and rode the rest of us off of their wheels. Jim lost a contact and had to sit out a lap. Last lap and all the St. Johns guys were in it. I tried to go drive the pace to setup BB - but ended up getting him all boxed in and put myself a bike length off the front. Oops. Still ended up with 9th, 13th, 14th, 19th.
Looking forward to more in a few weeks!
Went to the Tour of St. Louis last weekend with Teammate Brian. We were joined on Sat by Cale and Jim from Springfield, and JB on Sunday.
Sat:
Circuit race - cold and windy. After racing in 90+ degree tempuratures at Hermann, 45 and 20+ mph winds felt really cold. Highlights of the race: I took of at the start like it was a cross race, then I realized it wasn't a cross race. Things got all goofy, and we ended up all missing out on the first split of the group. Then there were some more splits. I ended up in the 2nd chase group racing for 13th. I pulled alot and Jim got a prime and 13th. BB got the other prime. Rough, but still in the $, so I guess that was good.
TT - Had a funky cough and some really irritated eyes from allergys. Still windy, but less cold. I got all aero and rolled to 8th place out of 16. BB was my minute man, and I totally out sprinted him meters before the finish like a real teammate.
Had an excellent team dinner.
Sun:
Had an excellent team breakfast. Then went for a nice AM spin.
Crit - Pretty straightforward course, a big rectangle with some bad pavement on the backside. A bit of wind, but much warmer than the day before. I tried to get into a few good looking moves but nothing stuck. Finally Brad Huff and Joe Schmalz started racing and rode the rest of us off of their wheels. Jim lost a contact and had to sit out a lap. Last lap and all the St. Johns guys were in it. I tried to go drive the pace to setup BB - but ended up getting him all boxed in and put myself a bike length off the front. Oops. Still ended up with 9th, 13th, 14th, 19th.
Looking forward to more in a few weeks!
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Tour of Hermann
Went to Hermann with The Bike Shack crew and teammate Brian. The forecast called for hot conditions (90+ degrees, with wind on Sunday) Race fans may recall the last time we ventured to Hermann, the conditions were epic. This time the weather was excellent but ended up being a factor in the RR. On to the reports:
TT:
A new TT course this year. From the profile, I could tell that the course would suit me better than last year's race, as there was now some elevation change. We got into town on Friday night in time to do early packet pickup and saw promoter Jeff Yeilding who told us to go drive the course so we knew what it was like. Once we saw the course, I was really excited to race it. There were two climbs, one 10% and another 16% that we got to climb on the way out and then again on the way back (I think they were a little less steep on the back side).Overall I felt really good on the TT, I rode a little conservatively on the way out and really had some good sensations in the legs on the way back. I ended up in 3rd overall, 13 seconds back from Justin Maciekowitz and 6 seconds behind Zach Reed.
Crit:
The criterium course is very tough. One big climb, a false flat over the top, a fun, fast descent make this one of my favorites. I was planning on just sitting in for the race and seeing what the other GC guys did, but after a couple of laps Nick Coil had countered some attacks and was off the front solo. The group did not seem terribly motivated to chase so with 8 to go I put in a soft attack at the bottom of the course to try and draw out the other GC riders to pursue Nick. No one came after me so I just went on my own. A couple of laps later I found out I was closing the gap to Nick and that Zack Reed was in chase solo. I had closed the gap to Nick to under 30 seconds, but Zach had caught up to me with 3 to go. I was getting pretty cooked at this point and Zach jumped on the climb and I didn't have the legs to chase. I stayed clear from the rest of the pack but was unable to close the gap to Nick. Zach caught Nick too and jumped him for the win. Another good race for me.
RR:
After the crit I was in 2nd on GC with 6 or 7 guys that could bump me down based on the RR. I decided to play the race very conservatively and see how it went. The tempuratures were already high by the time we started at 10:30. The first lap went pretty good, though I was a little nervous how much water I was going through. I had started with 3 bottles and had one at the feed zone each time, but that didn't end up being enough. Toward the end of the second lap I was starting to feel cramps coming on with hard efforts and after the final climb out of town I was not going very good. I tried to fake it and stick with the group as long as possible, but the writing was on the wall at that point. Each climb there was a surge that put me more into the hurt. Eventually Nick Coil and I both blew up and so we rode around very slowly the rest of the lap. We both had to stop a couple of times to get some more water and abate the cramps. We had almost made it back into town and my legs seized completely. I had to get off the bike for a minute to wait for things to calm back down to make the last couple of miles back in. We both collapsed after the finish, 40+ minutes down on the day - terribly dehydrated. Nick ended up in the hospital on the way home, but is doing fine. The Bike Shack guys took great care of me, peeling me off my bike and making me drink a ton of Gatorade and water which probably helped me from needing the hospital as well.
Overall, I still managed 4th place despite missing out on the points in the RR, so that was good. the support staff for all the races was excellent and all the courses were great. Thanks to Jeff Yielding and the whole Hermann Crew for a great race!
TT:
A new TT course this year. From the profile, I could tell that the course would suit me better than last year's race, as there was now some elevation change. We got into town on Friday night in time to do early packet pickup and saw promoter Jeff Yeilding who told us to go drive the course so we knew what it was like. Once we saw the course, I was really excited to race it. There were two climbs, one 10% and another 16% that we got to climb on the way out and then again on the way back (I think they were a little less steep on the back side).Overall I felt really good on the TT, I rode a little conservatively on the way out and really had some good sensations in the legs on the way back. I ended up in 3rd overall, 13 seconds back from Justin Maciekowitz and 6 seconds behind Zach Reed.
Crit:
The criterium course is very tough. One big climb, a false flat over the top, a fun, fast descent make this one of my favorites. I was planning on just sitting in for the race and seeing what the other GC guys did, but after a couple of laps Nick Coil had countered some attacks and was off the front solo. The group did not seem terribly motivated to chase so with 8 to go I put in a soft attack at the bottom of the course to try and draw out the other GC riders to pursue Nick. No one came after me so I just went on my own. A couple of laps later I found out I was closing the gap to Nick and that Zack Reed was in chase solo. I had closed the gap to Nick to under 30 seconds, but Zach had caught up to me with 3 to go. I was getting pretty cooked at this point and Zach jumped on the climb and I didn't have the legs to chase. I stayed clear from the rest of the pack but was unable to close the gap to Nick. Zach caught Nick too and jumped him for the win. Another good race for me.
RR:
After the crit I was in 2nd on GC with 6 or 7 guys that could bump me down based on the RR. I decided to play the race very conservatively and see how it went. The tempuratures were already high by the time we started at 10:30. The first lap went pretty good, though I was a little nervous how much water I was going through. I had started with 3 bottles and had one at the feed zone each time, but that didn't end up being enough. Toward the end of the second lap I was starting to feel cramps coming on with hard efforts and after the final climb out of town I was not going very good. I tried to fake it and stick with the group as long as possible, but the writing was on the wall at that point. Each climb there was a surge that put me more into the hurt. Eventually Nick Coil and I both blew up and so we rode around very slowly the rest of the lap. We both had to stop a couple of times to get some more water and abate the cramps. We had almost made it back into town and my legs seized completely. I had to get off the bike for a minute to wait for things to calm back down to make the last couple of miles back in. We both collapsed after the finish, 40+ minutes down on the day - terribly dehydrated. Nick ended up in the hospital on the way home, but is doing fine. The Bike Shack guys took great care of me, peeling me off my bike and making me drink a ton of Gatorade and water which probably helped me from needing the hospital as well.
Overall, I still managed 4th place despite missing out on the points in the RR, so that was good. the support staff for all the races was excellent and all the courses were great. Thanks to Jeff Yielding and the whole Hermann Crew for a great race!
Monday, March 28, 2011
NWA Spring Classic
Went back to Arkansas for the NWA race. Originally, the forecast called for 60s and sun, but as the day of the race got closer, the forecast looked less and less sunny. It was 35 at start time and barely got to 40 by the end of the race. Probably the coldest i've been since the sleet of the 2009 Joe Sheehan RR.
Anyway, the race was sort of weird. There were some small attacks on the first lap, but nothing serious. On the second lap a three person break escaped early in the lap, but the Mercy team was the only team that seemed interested in bringing it back. Midway through the last lap the break had over 2 minutes, so everyone sat up and attacks started again. I tried to get into several promising moves but nothing stuck. Bob Cummings got away solo prior to the final little climb before the finish but no one even responded to that attack. Up the last climb I was a little boxed in but got onto Jason Waddle as Kris French had just attacked with Will Gault. All the major players made the move, but I didn't have the legs to go with them. Oddly, just over the top I was able to get composed again so I tried another attempt to get on the chase group, and was within a handful of seconds off, but couldn't close the gap. Just rolled in with the 3rd group on the road for 11th.
Anyway, the race was sort of weird. There were some small attacks on the first lap, but nothing serious. On the second lap a three person break escaped early in the lap, but the Mercy team was the only team that seemed interested in bringing it back. Midway through the last lap the break had over 2 minutes, so everyone sat up and attacks started again. I tried to get into several promising moves but nothing stuck. Bob Cummings got away solo prior to the final little climb before the finish but no one even responded to that attack. Up the last climb I was a little boxed in but got onto Jason Waddle as Kris French had just attacked with Will Gault. All the major players made the move, but I didn't have the legs to go with them. Oddly, just over the top I was able to get composed again so I tried another attempt to get on the chase group, and was within a handful of seconds off, but couldn't close the gap. Just rolled in with the 3rd group on the road for 11th.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Hell's Kitchen
Hell's Kitchen RR this past weekend. Super course with some good climbing. Great organizers, volunteers, and communication. I will absolutely go back for this one. I had been on the course a couple of times before, but just for training.
I don't understand why Kansas really doesn't have any spring road races - most everything around here is less than 50 miles. Since many racers are willing to travel 2-4 hours to get to races, I would imagine we would all stay in KC if there was a decent spring RR series here?
Anyway, I digress; Kent Woermann, Greg Lohr, and Eric Finks (+ Lindsey) headed down in Eric's truck with trailer on Saturday morning to pre-ride the course. Thanks Eric for driving! Kent and I did the 1/2 race while Greg and Eric racing in the 3s. The weather was awesome all weekend. Sunny and in the 70s both days.
The racing was really aggressive from the start. There were about 40 guys in the race and lots of strong riders in the field. Mercy was the largest team there and Tradewind was the most aggressive, which was not surprising. I tried to get into some breaks on the first two laps but really spent too much energy doing this. Brian Jenson, Joe Schmalz, and a Park Place rider ended up getting away on the second lap and had a pretty good gap by the end of the second lap.
I ended up cramping up on the third time up the Hell's Kitchen climb and had to fall back into a chase group. Fortunately, we were able to get back up to the main field (none of my doing) just prior to one of the big descents on the day. Everything came together shortly after and the racing started to get aggressive again. I knew the writing was on the wall but tried to just hang with the group as long as I could. Up the last climb I was in a serious world of hurt as the cramping was now in both legs. Once over the top I did catch on to the very back end of a small group and we had a nice cool down to the finish line.
I also hit 55mph on a descent which may be my new PR for top speed.
Definitely a fun time, next race is the NWA Spring Classic this weekend.
I don't understand why Kansas really doesn't have any spring road races - most everything around here is less than 50 miles. Since many racers are willing to travel 2-4 hours to get to races, I would imagine we would all stay in KC if there was a decent spring RR series here?
Anyway, I digress; Kent Woermann, Greg Lohr, and Eric Finks (+ Lindsey) headed down in Eric's truck with trailer on Saturday morning to pre-ride the course. Thanks Eric for driving! Kent and I did the 1/2 race while Greg and Eric racing in the 3s. The weather was awesome all weekend. Sunny and in the 70s both days.
The racing was really aggressive from the start. There were about 40 guys in the race and lots of strong riders in the field. Mercy was the largest team there and Tradewind was the most aggressive, which was not surprising. I tried to get into some breaks on the first two laps but really spent too much energy doing this. Brian Jenson, Joe Schmalz, and a Park Place rider ended up getting away on the second lap and had a pretty good gap by the end of the second lap.
I ended up cramping up on the third time up the Hell's Kitchen climb and had to fall back into a chase group. Fortunately, we were able to get back up to the main field (none of my doing) just prior to one of the big descents on the day. Everything came together shortly after and the racing started to get aggressive again. I knew the writing was on the wall but tried to just hang with the group as long as I could. Up the last climb I was in a serious world of hurt as the cramping was now in both legs. Once over the top I did catch on to the very back end of a small group and we had a nice cool down to the finish line.
I also hit 55mph on a descent which may be my new PR for top speed.
Definitely a fun time, next race is the NWA Spring Classic this weekend.
Monday, March 14, 2011
Frozen Waffles
Headed to Springfield for our team event the Frozen Waffle Road Race. I met up with the KC St. John's crew (Adam Miller, Brian Bradley, Jeremy Pych) and Greg Lohr in Lee's Summit in the wee hours of the morning to make the drive in the Miller-mobile (JB headed south Sat night). Arriving at the course we saw the finishing climb and also noted a good headwind along the S/F stretch. The course was great, mostly rolling with two climbs and one pretty fast descent.
Upon arrival at the course we helped set up, got a course preview from DS Sean, and came up with a game plan. Jelly Belly rider Brad Huff was in town, so we decided optimally Cale and I would try to get in a break with Brad. I also got to officially meet the rest of the St John's team. I had raced against most of them before by not really been officially introduced.
There were 21 starters and St. John's made up about a third of the field, so we definitely had the numbers to our advantage. Immediately off the start, Cale attacked, but no one went with him. So Brian Bradley bridged up and they spent the first half of the lap off the front. Brad had gone to the front of the chase, and a few more riders went up to help with the chase. About when Brian and Cale were coming back to the field, Brad put in a little surge and gapped himself from the rest of us. I immediately jumped to his wheel and Cale followed and we were clear. By the hill near the finish we were nearly out of sight.
I was not feeling very good about my chances of staying in the group at that point. My legs were feeling pretty heavy from good rides on Friday and Saturday, but I tried to contribute and eat and drink a lot early. I'm pretty sure Brad pulled for more than half of the time, and Cale and I each about 25%. We were going along pretty good. And fortunately we took the climbs pretty easy. I'm pretty sure that saved me. We were also in a very good rhythm, so that made it much easier as well. Both Cale and Brad knew the course very well so they guided us into really taking advantage of the course.
On the end of the third lap, Brad went to get another bottle in the feed zone (riding off into the grass and getting it himself) while Cale and I spun and got to eat. Then we got back to it. On the last lap, Brad put in a dig on the first climb of the lap that dropped Cale and nearly dropped me as well. I got back on and sat in till the descent, where I pulled too hard down the hill. Brad gave me some advice about not pulling too hard down the descents, because otherwise he could easily jump me and I'd be done.
After we made it through the back side of the course, there was another descent, where I again pulled too hard, so Brad jumped and that was the race. Lesson learned.
Cale came in for third and Brian took the sprint out of the reduced pack. So overall it was a great day for the team. I learned a lot from Brad during the race, so that will hopefully pay off soon. The team put on an excellent event and I'm super excited about the rest of the season. We also picked up our team Specialized gear and bikes. The bikes look pretty awesome.
Upon arrival at the course we helped set up, got a course preview from DS Sean, and came up with a game plan. Jelly Belly rider Brad Huff was in town, so we decided optimally Cale and I would try to get in a break with Brad. I also got to officially meet the rest of the St John's team. I had raced against most of them before by not really been officially introduced.
There were 21 starters and St. John's made up about a third of the field, so we definitely had the numbers to our advantage. Immediately off the start, Cale attacked, but no one went with him. So Brian Bradley bridged up and they spent the first half of the lap off the front. Brad had gone to the front of the chase, and a few more riders went up to help with the chase. About when Brian and Cale were coming back to the field, Brad put in a little surge and gapped himself from the rest of us. I immediately jumped to his wheel and Cale followed and we were clear. By the hill near the finish we were nearly out of sight.
I was not feeling very good about my chances of staying in the group at that point. My legs were feeling pretty heavy from good rides on Friday and Saturday, but I tried to contribute and eat and drink a lot early. I'm pretty sure Brad pulled for more than half of the time, and Cale and I each about 25%. We were going along pretty good. And fortunately we took the climbs pretty easy. I'm pretty sure that saved me. We were also in a very good rhythm, so that made it much easier as well. Both Cale and Brad knew the course very well so they guided us into really taking advantage of the course.
On the end of the third lap, Brad went to get another bottle in the feed zone (riding off into the grass and getting it himself) while Cale and I spun and got to eat. Then we got back to it. On the last lap, Brad put in a dig on the first climb of the lap that dropped Cale and nearly dropped me as well. I got back on and sat in till the descent, where I pulled too hard down the hill. Brad gave me some advice about not pulling too hard down the descents, because otherwise he could easily jump me and I'd be done.
After we made it through the back side of the course, there was another descent, where I again pulled too hard, so Brad jumped and that was the race. Lesson learned.
Cale came in for third and Brian took the sprint out of the reduced pack. So overall it was a great day for the team. I learned a lot from Brad during the race, so that will hopefully pay off soon. The team put on an excellent event and I'm super excited about the rest of the season. We also picked up our team Specialized gear and bikes. The bikes look pretty awesome.
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