Tour of Elk Grove Master's 35+ Cat 3/4

     In the past I have hated this course. The last time I raced here was not last year but the year before, I did this same race (35+ 3/4s), fought to hold just on to the whip the entire race and was totally spit out the back with 5 to go. The only result I have had here was as a 5 back on the original course (which I loved) and that doesn’t count in my book. The 180 has notoriously eaten me for lunch on this course, today I owned the 180. I went into this race for fitness and if I was there at the end then all the better.

     So, per team email(s) I was expecting Lance to be racing with me. With an early race time, 9 am, there is not much time to jack around when you get on site. I parked in my typical spot, went and picked up my number. At this time in the morning at Elk Grove there is not much going on. As I was rolling around getting ready, hitting the port-o-can 4 times, and warming up I never saw Lance. I was pretty certain something had happened and he was unable to come. So I just started putting my headspace into solo mode.

     I roll to the line totally at the back as the official is giving instructions, I look to the front and I see our black and red kit sitting up there. Awesome, it was Lance, I had back up. Whistle blows, I fumble my clip in, haven’t done that in 10 races, immediately jump to the left and shoot up past Lance before the 180 so he could see that I was in the race. First few laps go relatively smooth, I’m rolling near the front, taking outside and inside lines around the 180 deciding which one I liked the best and reading how the other guys were riding it. After only a couple trips around the outside it was clear that a majority of the guys were horrible at it and would totally cut off the outside line exiting it. Enough, no more outside. I stuck hard to the inside and just leaned the bike hard through it the rest of the race, was actually able to take a few positions each lap as half the guys never could figure out how to roll it. A couple guys get off the front about 8 seconds, we let them dangle, I dig a little tempo setting to help keep them in check, a xXx rider and another guy did a little bit as well to keep them in check. I wasn’t going to let happen what happened last weekend. About ½ way through the 50 minute race I decided it was time to rest a little bit. At this point I had not seen Lance yet, I didn’t know for sure if he was still attached but I didn’t see him rolling solo OTB so I assumed he was still in the group. After the 180 on the 6 to go lap as we settle in and spin toward turn 2, Lance comes rolling by me. SWEET! There’s my wheel! We had not spoken before the race but there was no need to, I knew what was up. Lance was going to hold postion up front and I was to stay on his wheel. I jumped on Lance’s wheel and he took us up to the top 10 immediately and before turn 2. It’s funny, guys will not fight you as hard for a wheel if they see that you are teammates, not saying they won’t try, they just back off a lot easier. I could sense the feeling of the guys around us after a couple laps that they knew this might be a problem when Lance and I got together and I wasn’t giving up his wheel whatsoever.

     It was soooo awesome to have a wheel to sit on up front in the closing laps. I did not have to worry about constantly grabbing wheels and fighting to hold position. All I had to do was concentrate on staying on Lance’s wheel and he would do the fighting. It was awesome!! I can’t say enough how cool that was and how appreciative I am.

     To the meat of the race: 3 to go lap, we are holding position perfectly, there’s starting to be a little jockeying for position but it’s all good. We are in the backside neighborhood stretch and the pace slows, bunches up, a couple guys bounce around off each other but no one goes down. Pace immediately goes back up, I drop one wheel off of Lance, all is fine though, I can get it right back when we hit the main stretch. We come out of last corner with the usual ramp in speed…then there’s the distinct sound of carbon, metal, and asphalt. Wheel goes in the air a few guys up in front of me while other guys go sideways. I instinctively dodge hard to the left, another wheel goes up and this time I trim a little speed and go left again this time all the way to the gutter. The thing with crashes immediately in front you is that you need to move fast and you need to move a lot farther than you think you need to in order to thread the needle. As soon as I come clear, I look back and see that Lance was rolling but totally caught behind it, he yelled at me to go. I took off to bridge to the group of about 10 up the road. I catch the group at the line and we get 2 to go. I told the guys that the road was blocked and let’s go…they were reserved to just sit and conserve; whatever. I rolled through to the front of the group and soft pedaled but still kept solid tempo. I wasn’t going to attack because I knew this was a long course, these guys were strong, and I wouldn’t be able to hold them off for the remaining distance. Bell lap we go single file through the final corner, I’m sitting about 8-10^th, can’t recall specifically. But, immediately the guys in front of me just keep the acceleration on after the corner and I hang on. It is a looong way to that line from the final corner. About 200m out the legs are starting to sputter. At 150m they are done, I simply cannot turn the pedals any harder. I guess about 4 or 5 guys go by and I can’t even grab their wheel. It’s just damage control the last 50m and try to limit more guys from coming by, which I managed to do.

     Finished 16^th of 39 finishers, 40 something starters. This was probably one of the most fun races for me this year because I had Lance with me and apart from the crash messing everything up; we were rolling as perfect as two teammates could do. 

     Lastly, I want to give a big thanks to Mike Fogerty and First Endurance for their support of Project 5 Racing all season, simply the best racing nutrition on the market today!

Glencoe Grand Prix 4s

Love this course. Very similar to Monday’s Benton Park race at the Gateway Cup in St. Louis over Labor Day weekend. Glencoe has 9 turns where Benton Park has 10 and Glencoe has a little sharper of a rise/pseudo-climb on the backside of the course. The course rises all the way from turn 5 to 7 with a false flat from 6 to 7. That’s what gets guys. The course tightens up from turn 2 to 7 with narrow roads and curbs that come up on you quicker than mold after a flood.

Glencoe was IL State Crit Championships again this year so you knew the fields would be big, and with the 4s, even bigger as always. We had 88 or 90 on the line; the officials said it was the largest field of the day at close to a 100 strong.

Knowing this, I knew the race would break up quickly due to the wide range of fitness levels in the 4s. It did. The key was going to be staying top 30 and off the floor to minimize having to close gaps from guys going backwards and out of trouble. Didn’t get the best staging position, wasn’t the worst either, mid pack. By turn two I was top 20. The rise on the backside after turn 5 had horrible pavement but nothing that made you want to switch lines half way up; some lines were just smoother than others. I ended up going up the outside gutter most laps, I could carry the most speed into the rise and it was relatively smooth. Most of the race was uneventful from my point of view. I was not planning on chasing sprint points or primes so I just stayed tucked in close when those came up. Rolled with a couple wheels that I knew were reliable. We get inside of 5 to go and I’m sitting 20^th or so and hold steady. 2 to go and the pace doesn’t lift too much but we are starting to string out a bit. We hit the bell and I see the wheel I want and start making my way toward it, I want it by the time we hit T9. We come into the “triangle”, even though it’s actually a square, and Zens and I are side by side and he hollers at me to lead into T5 so I did. I knew the first hammer spot of the final lap would be here, up the rise, into the false flat and no letting up until T7. Most of the race the pace would let up just as we would hit the false flat. I knew this would not be the case on the bell lap, it wasn’t, nor did I drop or let up whatsoever on the run to turn 7. I swing wide into the turn to carry max speed and “screeeetch….cushhhhhh…rear wheel in the air then on the ground”. Yep, man down inside of turn 7, bike sliding straight into my line. Decision time, try to gamble and thread the needle into the gutter and hope the bike stops and no one slams into it pushing it to the curb and into me OR screw it, bunny hop the curb immediately and hop down into the parking spaces and get back on the gas. I chose option 2, not taking a chance. I was gapped off the guys about 20-25m and was left fighting to catch back on the back of the sprint group into the wind solo. 2 guys and a lot of daylight were between me and the front group now. I just put my head down and hope to catch them in time to contest the race; there are only 2 turns and 2 windy straight-aways left though. I blow by those 2 guys between turn 8 and 9; and continue to chase hard. Clearing the final turn and about a 1/3^rd of the way to the line I can tell I’m not catching them, even if I do I’ve just burned the rest of my match book anyway. I give a quick head check to see what’s coming up behind and those 2 guys, not together, are still driving. So, I get out of the saddle and keep the gap to the guy behind me from getting smaller.

I hit the line solo for 14^th. A little bummed I couldn't throw down in the sprint, but, glad I didn’t get burned harder by the crash in that corner and was able to bunny hop the curb with only 2 more corners to go. The result could have been worse.