Lindenwood Crit

With the struggle that was the road race out of the way it was time to focus on my bread and butter, the crit. The weather took a turn for the worse as it hung around the mid 30's with TONS of wind, but the precipitation held off and left us with safe racing conditions.

Lindenwood's crit course was set in downtown St Charles, MO and featured a bunch of cobbles. Even better, there were plenty of coffee shops and restaurants along the course that we could hop into and watch the races without having to be out in the cold and wind.  Course shown below:

The course had 3 corners. The two at the bottom of the screen were nice and fast while the top one was usually much slower as everyone was tired of slogging through the headwind featuring 20+ mph gusts.

The race started pretty uneventfully with everyone just kind of hanging out. Marian quickly grew tired of this and sent two guys up the road. Sadly without teammates I had to just watch them go and hope that someone would work to pull them back. Meanwhile Marian's other riders went to the front to sit up and try to disrupt the chase.
Eventually Lindenwood countered this attack by sending 2 of their guys up the road to chase. Again I just had to watch this go. I got tired of this and put in a little attack coming down the home stretch one lap to bridge up to them. Of course, as soon as I caught them one of their guys sat up and the other attacked again. Good teamwork on their part. So now there were just 3 guys up the road.

Photo by Harvey Elliot

The solo Lindenwood rider eventually blew up and it became apparent that the Marian guys were gone. With less than 10 to go it looked like it was going to end in a field sprint for 3rd. With a few laps to go I started trying to decide who's wheel I was going to try to grab to set up the sprint. I didn't have teammates, so I'd have to try to snatch a leadout from someone else.

I heard some Minnesota guys conspiring so I figured that they'd try to get organized. Coming down the backstretch with 1 to go I gently stole the Minnesota wheel from a Nebraska guy and put myself 3rd wheel. The Minnesota leadout guy hit the backstretch and pulled hard. Things were looking promising at first as no one was coming around, but sadly he blew up before he could get us to the last turn. In hindsight I probably should have seen this coming. He sat up and of course drifted right back into me, getting me boxed in with like 50m to the last corner.

I was able to get myself free and into open air coming around the last corner, but the damage had been done since I was probably in around 12th place exiting the corner. I unleashed my trademark sprint and managed to pass a bunch of guys, but it wasn't enough to catch the Notre Dame and Minnesota guys that would end up 3-4. I crossed the line in 5th. As I was getting ready to cross the line I heard a BANG and then the sound of carbon and pavement. Unfortunately there was a crash back in the field, but luckily I was able to avoid it.

Coming into the finish. Note the mess on the right of the screen in the field.
Photo by Harvey Elliot

Crits are always fun and this was no exception. We grabbed a bite to eat before hitting the road back towards Ann Arbor. Next up is a pair of crits (one collegiate and one USAC) at Case Western in Cleveland!

Lindenwood Road Race

It had seemed like forever since we raced at Lindsey Wilson, so we were eager to get back out there and race at Lindenwood. After a long drive late into the night we finally made it to St Charles, Missouri.

The race had a reputation for being hilly, and the guys in the c/d races confirmed this as I was warming up. I still didn't know the extent of "hilly" but oh boy was I about to find out. 

The B race was slated to be 3 laps of the 21 mile course for a total of about 63 miles. The course map and elevation chart is shown below. You'll probably notice that the finish and start don't match up, but that's a bridge we'll cross a bit later.

The race started off gentle enough with everyone kinda just hanging out until the first climb. This proved to be the calm before the storm. The climb was way steep (avg 8%, but kicked up higher than that) and seemed to go on forever. The leaders opened up a bit of a gap on me, but I was able to catch them quickly after the terrain leveled out. After a bit of meandering through flat land we hit the descent. It was a fun and fast one, but unfortunately I had to ride the brakes all the way down since I was in the field.

After a smaller intermediate climb everyone started preparing for the big one at around 10 miles in. This one was another beast. Unfortunately I wasn't able to hang onto the field and got shelled out the back about half way up the climb. I kept pushing up the climb and eventually it finally ended, but I had some work to do.

I teamed up with a guy from Minnesota and we traded pulls in an effort to catch back on. At first I thought our effort was hopeless, but then a group of 2 came into view up the road. I dropped the Minnesota guy on a descent and bridged up to the Notre Dame and Lindenwood guys that we had seen earlier. Now we formed a group of 3 and kept pushing on, sharing pulls at the front. Eventually another group of 3 became visible up the road and they became our new target. 

A few minutes later we caught the group and formed a group of 6. And alas, the main field was in sight! We had about 2 miles left in the first lap so we inserted ourselves back into the field and accepted the draft. At the finish we discarded our empty bottles and grabbed new ones from our teammates before embarking on the 2nd lap.

The 2nd lap started much like the first with everyone loafing it towards the first climb. About a mile before the first climb I clipped a big rock sitting in the middle of the road. After hitting it I thought, "oh great, that'll probably be a pinch flat." But the climb was coming so I set my mind towards getting over that. I put myself towards the front of the field so I could fall back as we climbed, but it wasn't enough as I quickly got spat out the back with the other big guys. I grouped up with a few Minnesota guys as we suffered towards the top. We finally made it and I sat down. Uh, oh. I felt the rim hit the road. Sure enough, the pinch flat happened. I didn't bring anything to fix a flat so I just sat there till the broom wagon took me back to the start.

All in all I wasn't really too upset. I was probably going to DNF after the 2nd lap anyway since I was out the back and wanted to save some of my legs for the crit. Apparently a bunch of guys thought the same as 14 guys DNF'd out of a total of 34. Over 40% of the field didn't finish the race. Dang.

Oh well, the crit was always going to be the focus of my weekend. We headed back to the hotel before heading out to St Louis to get some frozen custard and check out the arch.

Michigan Cycling - Album Cover Edition.
Photo by Harvey Elliot

Lindsey Wilson Crit

The road race on Saturday was fun and it was great to race again, but I'd known all winter that the crit was going to be my target for the weekend. This lead to some weird emotions as we were lining up. Saturday I had no expectations or pressure since I knew the climbs would get to me eventually, but Sunday I knew I wanted to win and believed this was a reasonable expectation.

Lindsey Wilson's crit course made for some pretty fast racing. It was really only 3 corners, with none of them being incredibly sharp. The only real things of note were a steep little kicker hill going through the 3rd corner and heading back towards the finish and some cross winds. Course map below:

No, I didn't ride through the grass, just some gps drift.

As a whole the crit was pretty uneventful for the first 40 or so minutes. The guy that won in a solo break Saturday went off the front again. A group of 3 tried to get away as well, but the field organized and brought them back. With 5 or so laps to go it became pretty apparent that the guy in the break was going to win and make it a double win weekend, both in solo breaks. Me thinks its time for someone to upgrade.....

Coming up the little hill in the 3rd corner.

Anyway, with about 2 laps to go we got ourselves organized and made a nice little Michigan train. Danny was up front, then Stephen, then me. Stephen was going to be my leadout guy, meaning that he was going to turn himself inside out in order for me to be positioned well for the final sprint. This little plan went better than we could have ever expected, and then some.

With 1 to go our train was locked and loaded. However, the pack unexpectedly sat up on the back stretch when it hit the crosswind. Everyone was trying to play cat and mouse for the sprint and no one wanted to work on the front. A gap opened on the left and I yelled, "Just go around it all!" to Stephen. We were way further from the line than we ideally wanted to be, but the move presented itself and we couldn't turn it down. Stephen blasted around everyone with me right on his wheel and we were sitting in 2nd and 3rd with about half a lap to go. Being on the front allowed us to chose our own lines and hit that 3rd corner hill at full gas, losing no momentum and not having to touch the brakes. 

The final sprint! The gap was more decisive than it looks from this angle.

After cresting the hill we accelerated again for the final drag race to the finish. I looked under my arm to see who I'd be sprinting against and found a nice surprise. No one was there. Stephen's leadout had opened up a pretty sizeable gap on the field. I yelled to him to keep going to the finish and then kicked around him to start my sprint. I knew I pretty much had 2nd in the bag barring a Cavendish like sprint from someone in the field, but I couldn't let up.

Eventually the finish line came. I crossed 2nd, Stephen managed to stay on for 3rd, and Danny was able to see our move and latch on to snag 4th. Teamwork at its finest. Results from top 20 below:

Such teamwork. Wow.

The women's B team had a great crit too as Cat and Kayla grabbed 2nd and 3rd respectively. So we managed to grab 4/6 collegiate B podiums spots. Not bad. 

Overall it was definitely a successful weekend for the team. I can't remember grabbing so many podiums and top 5's in a race weekend like that last year, especially in the upper categories. Sadly it was time to say goodbye to the warm weather, load up the vans, and head back to Michigan.

Go team!

Lindsey Wilson Road Race

AHHH BIKE RACING!!!!!

Its finally here! We got our collegiate season underway Feb 22 with the first road race of the year down at Lindsey Wilson College in Columbia, KY. After everyone got out of class we hopped in the vans and made the trek down to our cabins near the course. After getting settled, opening up our new kits (and coming up with as many puns as possible), we hit the hay to get ready for the racing in the morning. The TTT was ridiculously expensive, so we skipped that and set our sites towards the road race.

I was somehow convinced to upgrade to the collegiate B category for this season, so I'd be doing 50 miles on a fairly hilly course. GPS/elevation data below:

The course. Click to enlarge to readable size. 

The race started off pretty mildly with no one really wanting to take up the work at the front of the field, which was partly due to the fact that the first climb was coming up at mile 4-ish. On the way to the first climb we had a twisty, gravel strewn downhill that saw an Indiana guy blow the corner and ride through a field. To his credit it was a nice save and he made it back to the field.

Start of the RR - Photo cred to the folks at Murray State

The first few climbs were pretty uneventful, but a few guys snuck away form the field. We let them go because we figured they were "stupid solo break away guy" and kept it at a smooth pace. After all, the final climb of each lap was going to be a bear.

As we grew closer to the big climb you could feel the tension in the field. Luckily Danny eased this tension by "breaking wind" and subsequently getting called out on it by another team. Before too long we hit the bottom of the big climb and things got real.

I was never really expecting to make it over the climb with the field, and this was somewhat true as a small group of 10 or so put a good sized gap into us on the climb. About a mile and 300 feet of climbing later the suffering wasn't over as we had some work to do in order to catch back up. Stephen and I worked together to bridge up to the main field, and eventually we made it! We were a mix of surprised and incredibly happy that we'd made it and not gotten dropped. But our work was not done.

Those "stupid solo breakaway guys" were still up the road and no one seemed interested in pulling them back. Danny is our climber extraordinaire, so we wanted to catch these guys to give Danny a chance to win it on the final climb. Accordingly, Stephen and I went to the front and pulled the field along as fast as we could. We were hoping one of the other teams without a guy up the road would help us (I'm looking at you IU), but alas no one wanted to. We got a bit of help from a Lindenwood guy, but not nearly enough.

About 40 miles in we hit the 3rd climb of the 2nd lap and my legs said no more. I sat up, let the field go, and accepted that my race was essentially done. All that was left to do was putt towards the finish with Stephen and hope that we had done enough to allow Danny to catch the guys in the break.

Unfortunately he wasn't able to as no one wanted to work after we got off the front. He did win the race from the main group though and ended up taking home 3rd on the day. A great result, and just a bit of foreshadowing for the rest of the weekend.

Introducing: Acinonyx

My previous steed treated me the best she could, but it was time that Gravitas Libertas and I went our separate ways. I had been lusting for carbon for a while and finally let myself use the old bike's badly bent rear triangle to justify the purchase.

After a somewhat sketchy feeling transaction with the folks over at Dengfu and some not so patient waiting my new frame finally arrived.

Here she is on her first day out of the box:

She's a FM098 in size 58cm and a matte 3k finish. Went with the BSA bottom bracket. I didn't really know what to expect ordering direct from China, but I'm more than pleased with the way it looks (and rides). I named her Acinonyx, which is the genus name of the cheetah. I think sprinters are pretty comparable to cheetahs as we can go way fast for a short burst, but expect a long effort out of us and we're toast.

She arrived in the middle of trainer season, so I was in no hurry to get it built up. Plus, I was waiting on new cables, bartape, and the like. Additionally, I had ordered some custom decals from Marco in Brazil that I was still waiting on.

Eventually the time came and I sat down to build it up. Everything went fairly smoothly, although the internal cable routing was a pain. I had hoped to get some solid outdoor miles on it before our first race at Lindsey Wilson, but the weather had other plans. I ended up only being able to put 13 miles on it before we headed down to Kentucky.

So needless to say I was a little nervous when I lined up for our 50 mile road race. The frame didn't explode into a billion carbon shards and passed the crit with flying colors as well. I don't want to give too much away though since those race recaps will be coming soon!

Well this Looks Interesting

Present from the Postman

The mailman brought a present today!

My CX State Champ jersey finally came! The event took place back on Dec 8th at Addison Oaks. Since then I've been patiently waiting for the jersey to get printed and shipped to me, but it came today. 

I don't really know the proper context to wear a jersey like this, but its definitely cool to have and will be a nice keepsake of my first year racing cx. Congrats as well to Danny and Phil, the two other UM students who took home a State of Michigan CX Championship. Once everyone gets their jerseys in the mail we'll have to get a nice little team pic. 

Worst Day of the Year Ride

It was cold and windy last Sunday, which actually was quite appropriate weather for the annual Worst Day of the Year Ride. It was scheduled to be a 40 miler, but the amount of fresh snow and poor road conditions lead to the organizers cutting it down to the dirt hammer route. GPS route from Strava below:

We got underway with quite a large group heading out. Within this group was Frankie Andreu, a former Olympian as well as Tour de France and Giro d'Italia finisher. It was neat to get to ride with such a high level cyclist.

Photo by Jesse Gould at the first regrouping.

As the ride went on the number of riders in the front group steadily decreased until we were left with a group of 7 about half way through the ride. After the ride we got to head into Arbor Brewing Company for some free chili and bread. After being out in the cold it was just what we needed.

I took my GoPro with me out on the ride and managed to catch some footage and put together this video.

What is This?

Uh oh.

Look at Me All Certified and Stuff

Well, I just finished the incredibly burdensome Collegiate Level C Race Director exam and I passed!

Boom. Certified.

I guess this means I'm officially qualified to be planning this whole crit thing.

So It Was Kind of Windy Out There

On Saturday Tim (on his fixie), Danny, and I took our cyclocross bikes out for a nice, although super cold, ride on the roads south of town. We didn't really end up needing the cross bikes as the roads were great and more or less clear of snow. Following this successful ride Tim organized another one for Sunday, but this time on road bikes since we expected the roads to be in great condition again.

Holy cow were we in for a surprise.

GPS route of Sunday's ride

The forecast was calling for some wind, but we weren't expecting it to be quite that windy! We encountered a wicked west-southwest wind that was unrelenting. According to the Weather Channel the average wind speed was 24 mph with gusts up to 33 mph. This made the first half of our ride a brutal slog through crazy winds. Oh, and it wasn't exactly warm with highs in the upper 20's.

We had a pretty good sized group to help fight the wind, but that could only help so much when facing a 30+ mph cross/headwind. We fought back against the wind the best we could and ended up averaging a blistering (/sarcasm) 14.8 mph  over the first 26 miles. It's pretty safe to say that that's probably the hardest any of us have ever worked to go less than 15 mph. To make things worse, the wind had thrown the snow back onto the road and created some pretty sizeable drifts. No one went down, but they commanded some extra care. Clay managed to snap a picture of the snow flying over the road, but it really doesn't do it justice.

Fighting the wind

Eventually we finished our death march and it was time to turn into the tailwind. After much rejoicing and a quick gas station stop we set off back towards Ann Arbor, this time with the wind at our back. And oh how glorious it was. At times we were gliding along at around 25 mph without putting much effort at all in. I noted to Tim that "This must be what it feels like to be Tony Martin all the time."

Eventually we were back to Ann Arbor Saline Rd and all that separated us from home (warmth and food) was the climb up Wagner. On paper it's not a terrible climb by any means, but its position at the end of a hard ride makes it a tough little bugger. And to make things worse, my shifter cables had gotten covered in snow from the road, froze, and became quite dysfunctional. Since they were frozen they couldn't really let out much cable tension, so I got to climb Wagner on tired legs in the big ring. Fun.

Overall it ended up being a fun, yet tough, ride. I've definitely never ridden in winds quite that extreme, especially combined with the snow. It was also great to get out there with a bunch of guys from the team. Just over a month until Lindsey Wilson!

2013 Cyclocross Season Wrap Up

With the road season over it was time to mount my new steed and embark on another discipline of cycling. Over the summer I plopped down some cash to get myself a cyclocross bike. A cyclocross bike is more or less a road bike modified to handle riding off road, including features like knobby tires, different gearing ratios, and either disc or cantilever brakes.  Mine's a Fuji Cross 1.3 and I dubbed her Crossmaster General.

Crossmaster General on her maiden voyage.

First up were a few practice races put on by AAVC and their friends at Two Wheel Tango. Appropriately named CXPreX, these practice races were my first taste of cyclocross.  These races were hard and the first one ended with me getting DFL in the A's race. I learned some things and did better in the next one, but I was still left feeling relatively apprehensive going into my first real cross race at Ithaca. I would be racing in the Cat 4 field, just as I did on the road.

Ithaca Grand Prix of Cyclocross - September 7
The first cross race of the season was finally upon us. The field was quite large with 50+ riders between the old and young guys divisions, so they ended up doing call ups based on who registered first. I registered fairly late, but was able to snag a spot that wasn't too far back in the field. The whistle blew and we were underway. Being the first race of the year, I got to see some pretty spectacular crashes in the first few laps. Highlights were a guy in the front failing to bunny hop some small barriers and another going full endo into the sand pit. The leaders quickly left me in the dust and my race became a fight against the riders coming up from behind (and survival.) The race ended in a cheeky little sprint for 15th, which I ended up winning. I finished in the top 1/2 of the field in my first cross race, so I was somewhat satisfied.

Waterford Hills Cyclocross - Day One - September 21
Back to my summer stomping grounds. This weekend of cross racing was held in the same venue as the Wednesday night race series that I frequented in the summer. It made for a fun course, but day one of the weekend ended with some disappointment. For whatever reason I was just not feeling it this day and matters were made worse by my back randomly getting tight during the race (a problem that hadn't happened before and hasn't happened since). It wasn't all bad though as I managed to snag my first ever beer handup that propelled me through my last few laps. I ended up finishing 13th of 25 racers. It was also nice to see Danny take home his first of many crushing victories.

Mounting a bike at speed is an interesting task
Photo by Zack Benet

Waterford Hills Cyclocross - Day Two - September 22
A new day brought a new race. They flipped the course around from the first day and changed a few little sections to add a little new flavor. These changes, along with the course getting more smoothed out by riders, made for a much faster race than the previous day. This suited me a lot better, and the results showed. After all was said and done I managed to grab my first top 10 finish of the year as I crossed the line 8th of 28.

Barriers. #Cyclocross
Photo by Zack Benet

Lower Huron Cyclocross - October 6

After a top 10 at Waterford Day 2 I was feeling pretty good going into the race at Lower Huron Metropark. Rain was in the forecast and the course was pretty slick, which of course made it that much more fun. I made an effort to get a good place on the start line and really put a lot into getting to the first corner in a good position. I managed to hit the first corner in the top 3 and stay there for much of the first lap. The leaders opened up a little gap on the 2nd lap, but I was still top 10 and feeling good. That was, until I crashed when my tires slid out in a corner. I didn't have time to brace myself (which was probably good for my wrists and collarbone) so I plopped right down onto the ground. In the process of falling I managed to hit my shin on my top tube pretty hard. I got back up and into the race after straightening my shifters, but I had a sharp pain in my shin every pedal stroke and eventually decided to call it a day after about another 1/3 of a lap. Everything ended up being fine, but alas I had my first DNF of the CX season.

The start line at Lower Huron. This would be the happiest I was all day.
Photo by Harvey Elliott

Lansing CX Fest - October 12

The Lansing CX Fest would be my only departure from the Tailwinds Racing series during the fall. I was home visiting my parents for the weekend and Lansing was just a quick drive away, so I figured I'd get some racing in. The course was laid out on an old abandoned golf course, which was kind of neat. However, the star feature of the course was a very nasty run up that took us right up the side of a sledding hill. This thing would be the bane of my existence every single lap. I was excited for the race and ended up taking the holeshot. This was my biggest mistake of the day. I went out way too hard and ended up running out of steam just 1 lap into what would be a 4 lap race. After the first lap I was in survival mode and hoping to get passed by as few riders as possible. The field here was small, but really strong as most of the top guys came out to race. I ended up finishing 8th of 12, which was somewhat disappointing, but given the top heavy nature of the field I wasn't too upset. 

Mad Anthony - October 19

Probably the most unique race on the schedule was Mad Anthony held at historic Fort Wayne in Detroit. The race takes part inside an old fort and included a tunnel and plenty of steep run ups and descents. Just an overall really cool setting for a race. And it was rainy/muddy, which made it even better. This ended up being a pretty solid race for me. The field was pretty big with 40 guys battling it out. I managed to get myself right to the front of the race on the first lap by running rather than trying to ride the steepest hill on the course. From here it was a battle of going fast, yet staying upright. When it was all said and done I managed to pull away from the pack I was with on the last lap and cross the line in a respectable 10th place. 

On the start line at Mad Anthony
Photo by Bob Bruce

Veterans Memorial Park Cyclocross - November 10

A race right in Ann Arbor! Sleeping in! Free bratwursts, Zingerman's, and beer! Beer handups that I was too far in the red to take! This race had it all. As I mentioned, this race took place just a few miles from my apartment at one of Ann Arbor's parks. The course here featured a couple of sizeable climbs, some technical bits, as well as some power sections. The climby bits really hurt, but I was able to put my mountain bike skills to use in the technical sections to make up for lost time. This ended up being a very solid finish as I crossed the line in 6th of 29 racers. 

One of Veteran's Park's turns.
Photo by Patrick Barron

Bloomer Park Cyclocross - Day One - November 23

Next up on the schedule was a weekend of racing at Lake Ori.....no, Bloomer Park. The weekend was originally supposed to take place at Lake Orion High School, but a scheduling conflict with a football game left the Tailwinds crew scrambling. They threw together an awesome course in super limited notice at Bloomer Park and everything was good to go. Its too bad they couldn't fix the weather too as the race ended up being super cold. It wasn't that bad once you got racing, but standing around watching the rest of the races made for a chilly day.  The course suited me well as it had some extensive single track sections. I do more cx bike singletrack riding than your average bear, so I was really glad to see that. However, there was also a climb up a sledding hill that killed me every lap. The course also got really muddy in spots due to some snow and thawing ground. I ended up grabbing my second consecutive 6th place finish, this time out of 20 racers.

One of the many muddy turns at Bloomer
Photo by Harvey Elliott

Bloomer Park Cyclocross - Day 2 - November 24

We were back at it for day 2 at Bloomer. The Tailwinds crew changed up the course a bit by adding in some more switchback turns and such. Unfortunately that darn sledding hill was still on the course, but fortunately on this day the ground was much more frozen which actually led to some more traction. The frozen ground made for some faster racing. For the first time all year I still had the leader in my sights going into the last lap. I couldn't catch him, but I did manage to hang with a group that was fighting for 4th. I came out of the last turn and onto the pavement in 6th, but I was able to put the roadie sprinter in me to use to come around both of the guys ahead of me before the line. For the first time all year I was standing on the podium (well technically next to it since I got 4th) and even got a little medal for my efforts. It was great to finally break through onto the podium, and even better to be doing it in the last race before the state championships. 

I survived the corner, but the guy in front of me wasn't so lucky.
Photo by Harvey Elliott

Addison Oaks State Championship - December 8

Well, it all came down to this: the State Championships. Jerseys were on the line as everyone made their way out to Addison Oaks to get their race on. This would be another course that would suit me pretty well as it was really flat. I didn't really have much hope that I'd be winning a state championship, but on the start line the official announced that they'd also be crowning a champion of the 19-29 age group. A quick survey of the riders that usually beat me found that they were all over 30. There were a few young guns like me in the field, but my chances of taking home a state champs jersey went from nearly 0 to quite plausible. I wasn't going to settle for just beating the under 30 crowd though as there was still a race against my usual foes to be had. As the race started we went out quite hard. I grabbed 2nd wheel going into the first corner and held on for dear life through the first lap. Eventually my legs and lungs started putting up a fight and the leaders had a few seconds on me midway through the second lap, but I still had them within reach. Slowly they pulled away from me, but the race wasn't over since I still had to stay in front of anyone in my age group. I finally crossed the finish line quite sure that I was the top 19-29 rider, but I couldn't be sure until they made the announcement. The time finally came and sure enough I had done it! It was a good day for the University of Michigan crew as my teammates Danny and Phil also grabbed champs jerseys in their races.

Frozen lake in the background; it was cold
Photo by Bob Bruce

State Champ!
Photo courtesy of Tailwind Racing

When the season started I never thought that it would finish with me standing on top of a state championship podium. Those first few CXPreX races were really rough and had me questioning whether or not I'd even be able to compete in cyclocross. Luckily I stuck with it and the season got more and more fun as the races went on. I'm definitely glad I picked up this new discipline of cycling and I'm really looking forward to next season!

All in all 2013 was all I could have hoped for and more on the bike. It had its ups and downs, but I thoroughly enjoyed all of it. Definitely looking forward to getting back out there and pinning a number on again. The countdown has begun to the first race of the year at Lindsey Wilson!

A season of numbers and medals (plus a few old mtb ones, but shhhh)

New GoPro - Giving it a Test Run

So the holidays brought me a little surprise in the form of a GoPro camera. After patiently waiting for the UPS man to deliver me a memory card and K-Edge handlebar mount, it was finally time to give it a test run. 

I recorded the whole ride, but riding solo is pretty uninteresting to watch so I just grabbed the video of the ascent up Sunset and the descent down Newport. It was a little wet out there, so as the ride went on more and more dirt and water collected on the lens. And a firmware update right before I left ended up changing my settings so it didn't record in full HD, but I'm still really happy with the way it turned out. Should be a lot of fun for singletrack/cx/crit practices/taking on the road for away races.

2013 Road Season Wrap Up

So as the season went along I kind of fell away from updating my blog here. With the 2014 season quickly approaching, and a new camera and GoPro being added to my arsenal, I've decided that I want to get this thing rolling again. In doing so I wanted to provide a brief wrap up of my first road season. Brevity is the goal here, so the race recaps won't be nearly as detailed as previous ones.

Waterford Hills Wednesday Night Race Series - May 8

This would be my first of many trips over to Waterford to race on the Waterford Hills Road Racing track. This little series is pretty neat as the races take part on an auto racing track. As a Cat 4 I took part in the B races here which consisted of an hour around the track. I ended up taking 5th as the race came down to a final bunch sprint at the end. I kicked way too late and wasn't able to catch the leaders. 

Das Tour de Frankenmuth - May 25

A road race in and around the Bavarian themed city of Frankenmuth. The topography was pretty darn flat during our race of 3 laps around a ~16 mile course. The race was pretty uneventful with the guys at the front keeping a pace high enough to discourage any big attacks. Eventually a guy got away in a solo break, but the field caught him a few miles from the finish. I ended up getting boxed in with around a mile to go, so I was only able to finish in 15th. 

Waterford Hills Wednesday Night Race Series - June 5

Back at it for another night of racing at Waterford. This race went a bit better as I was more comfortable with the format of racing on the track. Again it came down to a bunch sprint and I grabbed 2nd. Plus I got paid $55 for my efforts, which was my first time ever winning cash for a bike race.

Le Tour de Mont Pleasant Road Race - June 8

The course suited me quite well as it was pancake flat, but sadly I never got to see the finish line. I ended up flatting 25 miles in and had to wait on the side of the road for the broom wagon to come pick me up and take me back to the finish line since I didn't have a set of spare wheels in the follow car. Even if I did have wheels, I probably wouldn't have been able to get back up to the group as they were laying down an average pace just shy of 25 mph. From what I've heard the final sprint was somewhat of a disaster, so maybe its for the best that I flatted out.

Le Tour de Mont Pleasant Crit - June 9

My first Cat 4 crit. Ouch. The pace was high and I got shuffled to the back after getting to the line a bit late. It quickly became a struggle just to hang on as I had to sprint out of every corner to compensate for the accordion effect going through the field as we averaged 25.5 mph. I blew up on the last lap and ended up just mailing it in and crossing the line way back in 26th. Overall a really disappointing weekend.

A photo my cousin snapped while waiting to line up.

Cherry Roubaix Time Trial - June 14

My first individual time trial! This weekend of racing would take place up in Traverse City, MI. I didn't really know what to expect (besides pain), but it ended up being a highly enjoyable experience and I'll definitely do more TT's in the future. It was a bit intimidating rolling up and seeing everyone decked out in full TT gear from head to toe with TT helmets, skinsuits, shoe covers, and of course TT bikes. My expectations weren't very high since long efforts aren't my strong suit and the course featured 2 pretty good climbs, which are even less of a strong point for me. I ended up crossing the line with an average speed just shy of 23 mph and a 10th place finish. It was fun though!

Cherry Roubaix Crit - June 15

Well, it was bound to happen at some point. My first crash. I was doing a decent job keeping myself positioned in the field, but all of that went down the drain in one corner. I was trying to take the corner quickly to carry as much momentum as possible, but that sure came back to bite me. Strava says I was doing right around 24 mph when my tires went out from under me and I slid across the road. I ended up destroying a pair of bibs and my rear derailleur in the process. Luckily I had packed 2 pair of bibs and there was a bike shop within riding distance so I was able to get my bike fixed up and ready for the road race on Sunday. 

Cherry Roubaix Road Race - June 16

I had known all along that this race was not going to be a fun one for me due to its hilly course, but all of the road rash from the previous day made it an even worse time. I ended up getting dropped about 2/3 of the way through the first lap and really really wanted to DNF at the end of the first lap, but I figured that I paid for the race and might as well finish it. I spent a long while riding by myself through the scenic Traverse City countryside before getting passed by the Cat 5 field and eventually by some other Cat 4's that had gotten shelled out the back. Eventually the race was finally over and I crossed the line in 39th. 

Waterford Hills Wednesday Night Race Series - June 19

I was a bit hesitant to make the drive over to Waterford since I was all covered in bandages and holding the handlebars was still pretty painful, but boy am I glad I made the trip. I decided to be more active in the race than usual, following breaks and what not, so that was pretty fun. The prime sprint was great as 3 of us finished within a bike length. Sadly I was 3rd in that group, but it ended up helping me strategically as I was able to identify the other sprinters out there. This came in handy for the final sprint as I now knew who's wheels I should be looking for. I kicked hard out of the final corner and was able to hold off everyone else and take the win. This was a massive moral boost coming from the disappointing weekends at Mt Pleasant and Cherry Roubaix.

 

Winner winner chicken dinner.

Waterford Hills Wednesday Night Race Series - July 3

Holy cow it was hot out there. I decided to go with one bottle as a bottle per hour usually works for me, but today it wasn't enough. I won the prime and gave Tim the gas card since he drove and lead me out perfectly, but that's where the successes ended. I started cramping up with 15 minutes to go, but managed to hold it all together going into the final lap. Tim pulled me to the front for the final sprint, but my legs went zub zub. I managed to get about 2 or 3 pedal strokes in before I cramped up hard. I had to sit up and had to settle for 25th.

Milford Criterium - July 28

July was a busy month as I was working my normal job during the day and as a camp counselor at night. This left me without much time to ride and even less for racing. I was finally able to get back out there and racing at the Milford Crit. I more or less just sat in the whole time and got overly complacent. Before I knew it I was sitting on the back of the field. Zack made a huge move on the final lap and pulled me with him right up into the top 10. However, this move proved to be too much as I suddenly got light headed and even let out a dry heave or two. After this I had no desire to push it any further and sat up, crossing the line in an embarrassing 30th. 

And that's it for races I really participated in. I did make one additional trip over to Waterford for the last race of the summer, but flatted on the start line and only ended up riding 0.6 miles. 

Keep an eye out for my 2013 Cyclocross Season Wrap Up, which should be coming soon!