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.

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!

Cone Azalia Road Race

The time had come for my first Cat 4 road race as Cone Azalia, located just outside of Milan, MI.  was finally here. The race, put on by the Ann Arbor Velo Club, is a somewhat unique road race featuring around 4 miles of dirt roads within its 10.1 mile course. As a cat 4 we'd be doing 3 laps around the course in a clockwise direction for a total of right around 30.3 miles. The course was flat, but holy cow was it windy. A Strava gps track and elevation profile (which looks deceiving, but note the scale) of the course can be seen below:

The race started quickly as everyone was trying to be in a good position going into the first section of dirt road. We crossed over the railroad tracks, hit the dirt, and the race was on. The field probably resembled an amoeba rather than a neatly organized peloton as everyone worked to dodge the big potholes that could put an end to your race in an instant. Bottles were flying out of cages and littering the road, which created yet another obstacle to maneuver around. Unfortunately I lost one of my water bottles about 2 miles in, but I didn't exactly have time to stop and pick it up.

Eventually the first dirt road came to an end as we took a right onto Cone road, which was paved. We had a nice tailwind here so we were going properly quick until we reached the next dirt road and said goodbye to the pavement. After some loose dirt, a left turn, and a plethora of potholes we were back on the pavement once again heading north.

At this point I had been working quite hard to stay with the lead group, which was down to around 10-15 riders. I was keeping an eye on my heart rate and noticed that it was around 190 and not going down. My legs echoed this sentiment as they eventually made it clear to my brain that it was break time. I had to let the lead group go and wait to be caught by the next group to come through.

After a short bit two guys caught up to me and we started a rotating paceline after turning right to head eastbound (into the brisk headwind) towards the start/finish line. Shortly after crossing the line we were caught by the group behind us and came together to form a chase group of around 10ish I think.

After turning back onto the dirt Zack went to the front and started splitting the chase group apart. I just couldn't keep up and got discarded out the back with a few others. We would stay in our little group for a while until once again my legs gave up on the section heading north. The crosswind made it hard to draft well and another guy and I got left behind. The two of us worked together, taking turns into the wind as we finished the second lap. After the finish line he started accelerating and I just didn't have it, so I let him go. Time to ride by myself in a race. T'was not fun.

Eventually a group of 4 came up from behind. I grabbed onto their wheels as they passed. We shortly picked up the other guy that I had been riding with previously. After the turn onto the loose dirt we dropped one guy and were left with a group of 5 that would stick together for the rest of the race.

As we were making our way towards the finish line I was kind of hoping that we weren't going to sprint for the finish. The sprint would be for 20th, not exactly prestigious. However, as we hit 1k to go it was pretty obvious that a sprint was about to happen. No one would let the guy pulling off the front as he weaved all over the road trying to get someone to pull through. As the 200m to go sign came I saw two guys start the sprint on my left. I jumped on their wheels and started my sprint. I passed them pretty easily and ended up taking the sprint by a pretty comfortable margin. This locked me into 20th place. Results below:

 

Overall I was content with how the race ended up. Obviously I would have preferred to do better, but beating 50% of the field in my first Cat 4 race isn't too bad. That being said, I definitely have some work to do!

Ann Arbor Spring Training Series 4-28

Another Sunday meant it was time for another installment of the Ann Arbor Velo Club's Spring Training Series. The venue and course was the same as the previous week, but unfortunately the weather was not so cooperative. Rain, and lots of it, was the story of the day. On top of that it was cold, which is not exactly fun weather to race a crit in.

This week I'd be doing the cat 3/4 race followed (kind of) by the cat 1/2/3/4 race. I decided to skip out on the cat 4/5 race that I won the week prior.

The 3/4 race got started with a bang as two guys attacked right at the start of the race. I was staying with them at first, but eventually I had to let them go as my legs weren't ready for that kind of effort quite yet. The miserable weather lead to us not really warming up well enough since we didn't want to be out in the cold rain any longer than we had to.

As I let them go I thought, "Hmm, this is only the first lap. We'll catch them for sure in a few laps." Nope. They were gone and we'd never see them again for the rest of the race. With them gone, the race was now for 3rd.

A new addition for this week's races was some free stuff given to those who won the primes. Giving all of the stuff to the two guys in the break would have been boring, so they decided to make them field primes instead (yay). After a few laps the bell rang, which meant that whoever came across the finish line first on the next lap would win the prime. I decided to sprint for it and ended up getting a free roll of bar tape for my efforts. Winning stuff for racing is great.

After the prime lap the field settled back in as we slogged our way through the rain. About half way through the race I had to take off my sunglasses since they were so covered in water that I could no longer see out of them.

It was a long time until the next prime laps came. Just about as long as possible actually since there were 3 in a row, then the final lap. All of that prime madness allowed 3 more guys to get off the front. So going into the final lap there were 2 guys in the winning break, 3 guys in a "chase" group, and then the field (which I was in.)

As the final lap was ending we wound up for one last sprint to the line. It was kind of anti-climactic since the sprint was for 6th place, but oh well. I won the field sprint, got my 6th place (full results below), and started getting ready for the 1/2/3/4 race.

Well, the 1/2/3/4 race didn't last long for me. My legs were pretty tired and frankly I was about done with riding in circles in the rain. After two laps I was struggling to stay on the back of the pack so I just decided to call it a day. Another hour of hanging on for dear life in the rain didn't sound like fun, so I DNF'd and grabbed a burger courtesy of the AAVC guys. Also, shout-out to Patrick for giving Danny and I a lift home as riding home in the rain would have been a terrible experience.

Ann Arbor Spring Training Series 4-21

With the collegiate season over now its time to start focusing on the summer USAC season. The season kind of got underway this last weekend with the Ann Arbor Velo Club's Spring Training Series. I say kind of since they were more of a training race than anything official, but it was nice to race with some non-collegiate guys.  To make things better my parents came down to watch.

The course for the day's events was a 1km-ish football shaped course with a little bit of elevation change just before the finish line. Strava gps overlay shown below. We traveled the course clockwise.

 

The plan was to race twice on Sunday with a category 4/5 race immediately followed by a 3/4 race. The 4/5 race was 20 mins + 3 laps and the 3/4 race was 30 mins + 5 laps. Unfortunately there was only about a 5 minute break between the races so I was feeling pretty tired as the second race got underway.

The 4/5's race was first and got underway shortly after the race director's spiel. My gameplan was to stay towards the front of the pack without necessarily being on the front. I did a pretty good job of that, taking a few short pulls here and there. Trying to start a break was frowned upon in this training race, so the pack stayed together right up until the final sprint. I made sure I was in good position while going down the back stretch so I could be positioned well for the turn and final sprint to come.  

As we came out of the turn I was up towards the front with only a few guys in front of me. It was sprinting time with the finish line in sight just on top of the hill. I really started going hard and moved my way to the front. Eventually there was no one in front of me and it was just a matter of making it to the finish line without getting caught from behind. Eventually I crossed the line and took home my second race of the season.

  

I had a limited amount of time before the 3/4 race started so I did the best I could to recover. I didn't have long though, so I scarfed down a gel and lined up for the next race. Eventually we were off racing again.

I was feeling pretty tired as we started out so my goal was to just sit in for a while and try to get my legs back. After a while I had recovered enough to feel comfortable cruising around the course at race pace. I was feeling pretty good actually until the last lap came around. 

We kicked the pace up a bit, which I didn't think was much of a problem as I was hanging in the pack just fine. However, after we took the final turn the legs went full zub-zub. I was in decent position for the sprint, but my legs just said "NO!" as I tried to make them go. Oh well, I was satisfied with winning the 4/5 race and staying in the pack for the 3/4 race. I sat up, got passed by everyone in the main field, and crossed the line in 21st.

 

 

Marian University USAC Race

With the morning's collegiate race over with it was time to focus our efforts on getting ready for the afternoon USAC 4/5 race. The difference between collegiate and USAC is that anyone with a cycling license can race USAC while only college students can race in the collegiate races. USAC is based off 5 categories with 5 being for new folks and 1 being for those who are properly quick on the bike. Since I'm new to racing I'm currently a cat 5 rider, but I'll be cat 4 by the end of April as the upgrade requirements are only to finish 10 races. Saturday's race would consist of a conglomerate of cat 5 and cat 4 riders of all ages.

As I mentioned in the collegiate post, the USAC and collegiate races couldn't have been any more different despite sharing the same exact course.

Sun's Out Guns Out, hurray for warmth. Photo by Zack Benet

The race started just as the other had besides the fact that the USAC field was 75 people deep while the collegiate field was only 41. We got underway and all was mostly well for the first lap or so. One thing was apparent though; my legs were not as excited to race as my mind was. The big field size and my lack of focus lead to me getting boxed into a slowly moving pack at the beginning of the second lap. By the time I could get out from behind those guys the leaders had put a pretty decent chunk of road between themselves and my group. A guy from IU and I agreed to work together to catch back up to the main group. We gritted our teeth and hammered for about 3/4 of a lap to catch back on.

Just as we caught the main group word came from an official that the race had been neutralized. There had been quite a nasty crash in the finishing stretch on the first lap that required the officials to shut down that portion of the course to clean things (ie blood all over the road) up. As a result the field had to be re-routed through the parking lot to do another lap at low speed before the race would get restarted. I was quite frustrated as I had just burned a lot of the relatively low amount of strength I had left just to catch back on and it ended up being all for naught as the race was stopped. Oh well.

Eventually the race got back underway and the officials decided that we'd have two laps left. Essentially a green-white-checker finish. Not thinking, I picked a spot towards the inside on the restart and immediately got boxed in again as the leaders created a little gap. By the time I worked my way back to the outside they were gone up the road again. I worked with some other guys who were in a similar situation to try to claw our way back to the front. Along 30th Street I managed to hit a pretty sizable traffic cone head on as it was placed a little further inside than all the others. For a moment I was sure that I was about to get to know the pavement better, but the cone harmlessly slid out of the way and I was able to keep things upright.

As we crossed the line with 1 to go we still had quite a bit of work to do in order to catch up since the turns through campus strung out the field and let a gap open. I joined up with 2 other guys and we gave it our all to catch back on. At the top of the 30th Street hill the leaders were probably no more than 50 meters ahead of us, but my legs had gone zub zub and I didn't have anything left. I flicked my elbow to try to get someone to pull through and lead us back to the pack, but alas no one was there to save me. Knowing my hope at a good finish was toast I kind of relaxed through the campus turns and down through the downhill. As we hit the final stretch I passed 3-4 guys in a final sprint effort before cruising through the line. After checking the results it was determined that I came across the line in 46th out of 75 total riders and 14th out of 25 cat 5 riders. A disappointment as I know my legs are capable of much better, but a learning experience nonetheless. 

In hindsight that was probably my worst race yet as far as strategy and positioning went. My lack of focus was most likely due to resting on my laurels from a good finish in the morning and DePauw as well as my legs being tired. However, I think if I would have just positioned myself well and stuck with the lead group then my legs wouldn't have been much of an issue as I would have been drafting rather than chasing the whole race. The big field and wide range of rider abilities led to small gaps opening that I was getting stuck behind. People always say "stay at the front" and today I really learned why. A valuable lesson that I'll remember from here on out for sure.

Next up on the schedule is a pair of races in Michigan (yay!). On Saturday we'll be heading to East Lansing for Michigan State's home road race consisting of about 50% dirt roads. Sunday brings us back to Ann Arbor as we host our home criterium.