Michigan Racing Re-Cap

Last weekend, 3 of 4 Sammy’s riders (Dustin, Sean, and yours truly) headed to Kalamazoo MI early Saturday  morning for a Criterium held on the campus of Western Michigan University followed by a road race Sunday morning in the nearby city of Lawton MI.

I raced in these events last year as a CAT3 and good results aside I really enjoyed getting away and mixing it up with riders I didn’t know and who especially didn’t know me.

The Criterium course is rather large but straight forward, the start finish is just after a road fly over and thus is partly downhill and immediately leads you into a chicane. The first right turn of the course was a bit rough as you had to sweep way left and cut right hard in order to keep your speed and hit the raised driveway curb transition as straight on as possible.  This road transition facilitated a nasty crash at the front of the group late in the race but for the most part was navigated safely. The back stretch of the course was largely exposed to cross/ head winds sweeping off the nearby highway and caused consolidation of the group most laps. The course finished with a wide right turn again with another driveway transition (much smoother than turn #1) and quick uphill pull over the road flyover and down into the start finish.        

To the race…

At the line it was obvious that three teams had serious numbers, Priority Health, Bissell, and one other team in green kits that supposedly had a former national elite Criterium champ on it. The race starts unusually fast for an elite event but none the less as I get reacquainted with the corners I am relatively pleased with my positioning thru the first 10 laps. 35 min down and the bunch is surprisingly still together, after the leaders chased down three more escapees I noticed a slight slowdown in the pace and an opportunity to attack in hopes I could stay away long enough to collect on the midway cash prime.

From 6^th wheel I jumped out and nailed it for 15-20 seconds before I looked back to see plenty of daylight behind me. Ok great! I knew my team mates would do their best to block and I would have to settle into a sustainable pace if I was going to last more than 2 laps. After 3 times around I noticed a single rider off the front coming across to me, good for our odds of staying away but bad for the cash prime coming up in 2 laps.

After the chaser made my wheel I asked him if he wanted the cash or if he wanted to say away? He said “both” yes, it was a stupid question I know but at the time I was optimistic of our chances for the win and if we crushed each other for the prime we could kiss our break goodbye. So we agreed to split the cash and keep our pace consistent. Looking back I should have known that two nonmembers of the power house teams on a flat open course stood no chance of staying away for 45 min and I should have kept my mouth shut and destroyed the guy in the sprint, another lesson learned.

Not more than half a lap after grabbing the prime the two of us were reeled back and Dustin joined a good looking break of about 6 riders, after recovering from my effort I moved back to the front and did my best to slow things down. With a few laps left it was obvious that Priority Health was organizing a serious chase/lead out train that was pulling the break back very quickly.

With half a lap left I was sitting 20^th or so (way too far back) when we caught Dustin and the break. 

Sean managed to position himself much higher in the lead out and sprinted to 6^th place behind some seriously organized riders.

All said and done Sean and I finished in the $ and along with my prime we covered our travel expenses and dinner out at the Kalamazoo Beer Exchange, good times. 

Big shout out to Meg for letting Dusting and I crash your place!

Sunday…

After couch surfing in Kalamazoo for the night we had a short drive over the Lawton MI for the start of our p1/2 race. Our race was 30 or so riders and without surprise Bissell and Priority Health showed up in numbers.

The course was a 13 mile rolling course with 3 kicker hills of note, the P1/2 was scheduled for 6 laps 78 miles total.

The race started with a quick acceleration from the front followed by some halfhearted attacks from solo riders. This is the part of the race that I need to be more heads up, I am learning more and more how flipping important it is to see the composition of the attack before it can really establish its self because if you get left out of the move and the two strong teams have representation in the break consider yourself hosed.

A few miles into lap two 3 riders got off the font and out of sight pretty quickly. On the back side of the course I was pretty frustrated for being left out of the move and looking for a good time to attack. 

Dustin must have read my mind because he strung the field out nice and thin with yours truly in 5^th wheel. The second he started to slow I was down shifting and on the hunt. For the second time in two days I was off the front with no shadow, actually unfortunate because I could have really used another rider to rotate with in search for the 3 man break.  

I don’t know how hard the group was chasing or not but I gathered about 30-40 seconds on the group headed thru the start finish and while keeping my head down I heard the official give me the time gap to the leaders, 3 min! I didn’t give up but I certainly lost a lot of motivation to kill myself in chase since making up a 3 min gap solo on three CAT1’s was not likely in my current state of fitness.  My best bet was to wait up and see if any solo riders had started to chase me down and I could join them or just wait for the whole group and try again later.

After soft pedaling for a while and taking in some calories I was swept up by the group and back in the fold. Almost immediately a group of 6 attacked hard including Dustin that stuck, I was glad Sammy’s finally had representation in a select group. 40 miles into the race I thought my job was done and started to relax a bit in the group alongside Sean.

The chase group with Dustin was well up the road and I wasn’t too worried about the group organizing enough to bring it back. I was sitting second wheel behind a Bissell rider when he accelerated hard up one of the hills. I sat on his wheel without too much trouble and before I knew it we had a gap on the group and he was flicking me thru. At this point I was thinking that I might as well get a good workout and if anything Dustin could use a good lead out should the two of us successfully bridge to the break.

The Bissell rider and I worked together seamlessly for two laps and brought the chase group back into view, I estimated the gap about 30 seconds. It was about this time I noticed a Bissell rider heading backwards pretty fast. Unfortunately, this was the Bissell rider in the original 3 man break causing his team mates in the chase to pull hard in hopes to bring back the Priority Health rider in the now 2 man lead break. In retrospect this was our last chance to make it to the chase group and in short order the Bissell riders in the chase pulled the group out of sight within minutes.

My chase partner and I headed into our last lap knowing we would never catch the chase or the break but certainly didn’t want to be caught by the group. We rotated evenly for the rest of the lap keeping an eye on our six to make sure we remained alone. At best we would cross the finish line in the top 10 so I didn’t think we would beat each other up for the sprint too far out. Turning into the home straight I was willingly in the front and keeping a decent pace and the moment I saw him purposely drop my wheel just a tiny bit I laid into the pedals and took to the finish line first.

The two man break had stayed away with Dustin holding his own in the chase group sprint, the Bissell rider and I came in 12 and 13^th 2 min behind the chase and 3min in front of the group so not a great result but a valuable workout and learning experience.

After the short drive I was back home in time for a late lunch!

Morton Race Re-Cap and IL Cup Results

This Saturday we had the whole team together to defend and hopefully improve our 1^st 4^th and 5^th place positions in the last IL Cup Series race hosted by Proctor Cycling in Morton IL.

Early Saturday morning Sean, Dustin and I loaded up our new team van (compliments of our title sponsor Sammy’s Bike Shop in St. Charles) and headed south toward Morton,  after stopping along the way to pick up our  4^th teammate Chris we arrived at the course 90min before the start.

Going into this race I felt a bit on the ropes of the IL Cup points race, my fitness has been on a slow decline since the beginning of the season thanks to injuries and work travel. Fortunately my travel has calmed down and my ribs have healed enough for me to make a late season push for competitive form.

Headed into the last race of the series I was 11 points ahead of 2^nd place rider (Bicycle Heaven) and 12 points ahead of 3^rd (Enzo’s) followed by two team mates in 4^th and 5^th.

I fully understand that the IL Cup is not as hotly contested as say the IL Championships and there are plenty of CAT1’s and Pros in Illinois who could mop the floor with me should they have chosen to show up to each race. However, the series rewards consistency in a set schedule of events and Sammy’s road team decided at the beginning of the year that winning the IL Cup would be a good starting point for our new P1/2 team. Thus the team has made it a concerted effort to show up and do our best at these events.    

Aside from the top IL Cup riders and teams who showed up for the race I was surprised to see some very strong national CAT1 talent registered. This meant that I couldn’t afford to let my two marks get up the road with these riders knowing that the field would seriously struggle to pull them back.

I have never started a race with a defensive mind set and frankly after the fact I didn’t like it. I don’t like the idea of entering races to consolidate losses I want to enter races to win. Perhaps this is a taste of what stage racing is like and the need to keeping long term goals prioritized over singe race results.

On to the race…

42 riders rolled out at a moderate pace, I immediately trying to get my barring and find my two marks. Within two laps both of my marks are heading off the front in a decent size group and I am not with them, FAIL! Fortunately Dustin also noticed this and came to the front and pulled the group back.

This was the last I saw of the 2^nd place BH rider who ended up finishing well back in the pack and out of the cup points.

Now my target was clear, I had to make sure that the Enzo’s rider stayed in my sights. This is the part of a defensive race strategy that I HATE b/c I acted like a leach. Every move Enzo’s made I was right there with him never allowing for more than a couple bike lengths to open up. In the mean time I was happy to see a couple of my team mates go up the road which made my job two fold, protect my points advantage and block the group from pulling the break back.

The only rider left in the peloton that had the legs to bridge up to the lead group was my new best friend, who was royally pissed about his Sammy’s shadow.

20 min later…

It was around mid-race that I lost the ability to think straight and I became a single minded idiot. I would like to blame the incredible heat for my temporary retardedness but it was most likely my rookie understanding of higher level racing strategy that did me in.

Had I realized that the break with my team mate was safely up the road it would have been in my best interest if even for a short while to work with my mark and form a chase group separating ourselves from the peloton and increasing our chances of a good result and payout. Instead I refused to work and did nothing but sit on wheels as if the break was still in sight. The whole point was to stay connected to my mark and that doesn’t necessarily mean we had to stay in the peloton.

With 15 laps to go I didn’t even realize that in chasing Enzo’s down for the billionth time we had formed a small chase group of 2 other seemingly strong riders, and without knowing it I was sabotaging this group from gaining much time on the peloton. Again, I was in my own little world and after being yelled at by these three and physically pushed around a bit I was getting seriously pissed off and even less likely to cooperate and or think straight.

As there always is two sides of a story, had I been in their position I’m sure I would have been fuming mad but at the end of the day its bike racing and as long as your opponent isn’t posing a physical danger to you his strategy like it or not is his choice. On a side note, I wasn’t hiding my strategy or playing coy I straight up said what I was doing and didn’t back down.   

Back to the race…

With 10 laps to go our small 4 man chase group was brought back into a 6-7 man group that was off the front of the peloton, I think… the heat at this point was quickly reducing my level of consciousness.

I moved to the back of the group and prayed that Enzo’s was as tired as I was and luckily he stayed in the group as we rounded the last corner for the sprint, I was hoping to put up a fight for the sprint but frankly my legs had long sense gone and I pedaled in crossing the finish in 12^th place.

30 min after the race it was made official that I had done the work necessary to win the IL Cup and 

Dustin had fared well enough in the break to jump into 3^rd place! Effectively sandwiching Enzo’s in 2^nd place.

Even though I am disappointed with how I raced in this last cup race the strategy did still work and most importantly we won as a TEAM regardless of who we pissed off along the way.  

The season isn’t over but in our first year we have indeed achieved our humble but personally important goal of winning the cup and we can move onto bigger and better things next season.