Race the Bend

This weekend I headed out to South Bend IN. Yes, there was a race in downstate IL, but I’m a Hoosier. And let’s face it, a 5 hour drive each way was not my idea of a good time. Now a 90mi trip was ok.

I entered the Cat 4/5 race thinking the field would be small. I’ve been having a hard time this year finding my race legs, so nice easy race would be right on time. Well, I was wrong. We had 41 starters on a .6mi loop with a small hill on the back of the course.

At the start of the race I moved into 4^th wheel and decided I would try and stay in the top 5 riders to stay out of trouble. We did the first few laps at a good pace that’s when things slowed down, like way down. So I went to the front and put in a really hard effort for 2 laps. I looked back and saw 3 riders from the Spin Zone team leading the pack on my wheel. So I flicked my elbow and moved over, but none of them would pull through. So I sat up and soft peddled. That’s when someone else made a big attack. The guys from spin zone did the same thing. They shut it down than sat on the lead rider’s wheel. I told myself that’s fine I will slide into the middle of them, and let them do all the work. The only problem was they slowed way down and the pack would rush up the sides. It caused a lot of turmoil leading to several crashes. Midway into the race I got caught in one of them. 2 riders got their handle bars caught up and then freaked out. I was directly behind them and had nowhere to go. I had my front wheel hit, but was able to put a foot down and saved myself from crashing. When I tried to clip back in I was hit from behind by a group of riders off the back. I managed to get back to the wheel pit and change out the front wheel to get back into the race. I went right back to the front to reestablish my spot.

On the last lap the field got ugly again. The field rushed the inside to turn 1 and the front guys were not going fast, so the field bunched up, and down they went. This time I was sitting mid pack on the outside. I had to hit the brakes to avoid the carnage. I saw around 8 riders in front of me with a huge gap. So I hit it hard and passed few of them before the last turn. I was able to sprint past 1 more on the final straight away before the finish to take 4^th Place        

Bob  

ABD Memorial Day Weekend

I received an email from Pat saying he was headed up to the Monday’s race in Wood Dale. This is the long course, they combine the Saturday and the Sunday courses to make a long 1.6mi circuit race. I have raced the Saturday race before and I liked the course. It was wide open and fast with only one turn you couldn’t peddle through at full speed. So I figure that I need to do this race because I’m still looking for my race legs. I think they are still in the basement hiding. 

When I arrive at the race, who do I see? Paul, he’s out to do the masters 1/2/3. Looks like Pat and I weren’t the only ones looking for our legs. Paul road well but faded in the end with a lot of pressure being put on by a very strong field. It was still good to see him out racing. 

Now to the Masters 4 race. It was a 30+ rider field with some strong riders in it. I wanted to get to the front as soon as possible and try to push the tempo. In the first lap, 2 other riders and I went out fast putting 20sec gap into the field, when the guy from Tower sat up and wouldn’t pull. So the field quickly pulled us back in. I stayed in the top 3 riders for a few laps and then faded back to get some rest. That’s when they let a guy from xXx got off the front. No one wanted to try and bring him back, so I decided I would try and bridge the gap. When I talked to Pat after the race he said they were going to let me go, and that I would die in the wind. Then all of a sudden they ramped up the speed and dragged me back.  As soon as the caught me Pat tried to make a counter move. But the field quickly jumped on his wheel. By this time we only had 4 laps to go so I sat in and tried to recover. 

On the last lap the field was getting a bit crazy with everyone trying to gain position without putting their nose into the wind. That’s when a tire blew or someone touched wheels. All I saw was bikes flying through the air and one of the coming right at me. I was able to calmly avoid the carnage but huge gap opened up. So I came rolling in just behind the field.  All in all it was a good day. My race fitness is slowly coming back. As Brian and Seegs keep telling me, you have to race, to get race legs. It’s impossible to simulate the tempo of a crit race without racing. 

Bob

Coast 2 Coast 4 A Cure

Hello everyone, this is Tony. For the past five days I have been on a bike trip that will take me and a group of nine riders and four support personnel across nine states in twelve days for 2,800 miles. We have raised money through the Chicago Fire Department's charitable organization Ignite The Spirit to help fund research into pediatric cancer through the 41 and 9 foundation.

We started in Torrence, California, by dipping our bikes in the Pacific. We left that town accompanied by a police motorcycle escort. Needless to say within 30 miles debris on the road flatted both my tires. At least it happened quick in the route and hopefully won't happen again for the duration of the trip.

Since California we have been in Arizona, staying in Tulsa, through unbelievable elevations with many cat 1 climbs. In New Mexico we stayed in this haunted hotel in Maintainaire (elev 6600). We also saw Billy the Kid's grave. We were then in Texas where we have taken in our fair share of smelling cows. We are just outside of Amarillo and almost half way through our trip.

I would like to thank my sponsors for letting me use their equipment. My LAS helmet is not restricting any airflow to my head and I forgot as I was waiting my pull once that I already had it on. Also my Serfas sunglasses and my new 500 lumen light. It's pretty neat that this thing is so bright I can see it shining on the ground when the sun is still out. And of course, can't forget my horse- Giant TCR SL bike. In 6 days I look forward to dipping my bike in the Atlantic at Myrtle Beach.

Multisport Report: May Madness Triathlon

This weekend I made the trip south on I-57 to Effingham for their annual May Madness Triathlon. This is a sprint distance event, and is used mostly as early season gauge for measuring fitness. I wasn't sure what to expect since my swim and run training has been spotty at best. I have been riding consistently, but have only been able to run and swim 1-2 times per week with my current schedule.

Once again I did not listen to Seeg's advice and made adjustments to the bike two days before the race... although this time the tinkering was performed by a professional bike fitter. It felt good in the fit shop, but this would be the first time I would ride it on the road.

I also used an unprecedented swim warm-up technique that I am hesitant to share.... it will certainly be used by all the top finishers in Kona this year...

On to the race... since it was a sprint distance I wanted to get in front of the pack during the swim. I do not like swimming in close quarters with others, bumping and kicking. I was able to get towards the front, leaving the water in 3rd place, but it took going into oxygen debt to do so. Although I wasn't really able to recover fully from going out too hard in the swim, I was able to PR on the bike averaging about 24 mph and was only about a minute off where I wanted to be on the run. I finished 4th overall. It was a fun event and the weather was perfect! Big thanks to Beverly Bike and the team for supporting triathlon!

"I Love Goshen" Twilight Crit P123

The town of Goshen, Indiana has "First Friday" festivals.  They shut down the streets, and local businesses set up tents.  There's food, drink, merriment and happiness.  This month, there was a bike race.  

The vendors and crowd at the race

At first I was all like, "hey, that girl is staring at me pretty hardcore...could you be more obvious, honey?"  Then I realized she's a model who's been hired by Jules Boutique to be a human mannequin and is being paid to stare in the exact direction I was standing.   That made much more sense.

The crowd was 3 or 4 deep along the finishing straight and the first corner.

Last year I did this one and really blew it...I bridged to the winning break, and right when I was on the tail end of it I freaked out because I was crosseyed from the effort and thought I saw something in the road because it was already dark out.  I overcooked it around a turn, crashed (solo) and had to take a free lap and ended up back in the main field.  This year I was looking for a good result.    I'm in the middle of finals, which is a 2 week period where I cant ride much, so it's important to get in a good race so my legs don't turn to spaghetti.  The field was somewhat substantial and had some fast riders this year.

Basically, the pace stayed pretty high with only like 10 minutes of "slow" dispersed throughout the race.  I spent a lot of energy closing gaps down from riders that couldn't handle the pace, but a lot of guys seemed to catch back on.  Some guys just can't corner I think.  I got sort of annoyed with some team tactics people were doing, like "blocking" at the front when they're really letting a 20 rider break go (that's called being off the back, dude), and blocking, but then trying to bridge solo to the break and bringing the field up to the break.  Didn't really hurt me any but I just thought it was weird.  

A few times, promising groups split off the front.  I made it in to about half of the more dangerous splits, but nobody had the legs to take advantage by attacking once the rubberband broke so guys kept catching back on.  With 3 to go it was all together.  I moved up into the top five assuming that one of the teams would start a leadout, but these teams aren't exactly Team Sky so the field kept churning and I ended up 20 spots back.  Then a crash happened right in front of me, but I got around it (I think I was the last guy to do so).  There was a split and I was on the tail end of the lead group.  I tried to punch it a few times but somebody who is competent was at the front so I couldn't make up ground in the turns like I usually do.  So I rolled in for what was apparently 14th on the provisional results, but I could have sworn there were more guys in that group.  I definitely would have been more aggressive if I knew that was it. 

Anyway thanks again to the town of Goshen.  It really is a nice place.  I'd HIGHLY recommend Chicago riders make the 2 hour drive out.  There are lower category races with the same crowds.  Rarely do Cat 5s through 3s get to race among crowds three deep (rarely do Pro riders too come to think of it) so it's worth the experience.