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.