Fox River Grove Cycling Challenge

Well, not too much to say, this will be short. The course has a nice steep climb that rises around a 100 vertical feet and then it's full bore 33+ mph 90 degree turns to the bottom. The decent was well worth the pain of the climb!

I had a horrible start, I was on the front row of a field of 66, couldn't get clipped into my left pedal for about 25m which immediately put me 30 spots back at the base of the climb...not good.

I was climbing decently, it was definitely getting more difficult each lap but I was recovering better as the laps wore on. As I looked at my data graphs post race at home, they reflected this.

I have come to realize that my descending skills are very very good!! Probably better than 98% of my class. That's probably due to many years racing mountain bikes at a high level I guess. On one lap, I went into the last turn catching onto the wheel of a Cuttin Crew rider just before the entrance into it and then nearly slammed into his rear wheel hard because he grabbed the brakes in the apex, which was not necessary, I have been taking it much faster already the previous laps. I yelled out "WOW DUDE!!" "You don't need that much brake man!" He was good guy though, he apologized, I just told him no worries and proceeded to go around.

The last lap before I got pulled I was actually picking guys off, so I was a little pissed! The front group was less than half a lap up the road. To top it off, there were two guys that came up to my wheel at the top of the and they just sat on my wheel as we started the downhill, the hung on for the first of 6 turns but by the time we were at the bottom I was at least a 150m off the front of them and I wasn't even trying to drop them!

As I'm about 300m from the line I see the head " I prematurely pull riders" official motioned for my to shut it down....the lead group was less than half a lap up the road!!! Then, to further my aggravation, the two riders I just left behind weren't waved off!!! WTF dude!!

Just as I was starting pick guys off, I got pulled. It'll be interesting to see how many guys got pulled. I wouldn't be surprised if half the field got yanked!

That's it, day over! Fox River Grove 1 Shawn 0

Proctor Cycling Classic next weekend!

A different breed....

I went and watched my first triathlon this weekend. It was interesting, there is definitely a different mindset of competitiveness when it comes to tri-athletes. Granted, in this womens only Tri 50% of the participants were 1st timers so it was interesting to say the least. The Triathlon type of race definitely creates a different type of competitive mindset, there are really no tactics involved between competitors, its more your own tactics handling the course, your suffering, and transitions. You really don't have anything to do with or affected by the other racers, which in my eyes created a lower competitive intensity as compared to racing bikes. It was more like a XC Mtn bike race in that everyone was pretty much on their own racing the course faster than the other racers. Cool and different, I rather prefer the intensity of road racing, but that's just me. My competitive observations are based on the legit triathletes that I watched, not the chics on mtn bikes with fat tires and rear grocery rack!

As for my racing this weekend, I didn't. Saturday was Sherman Park, as much as I would like to support local race teams and their events. It was not happening, the Masters race at 10:30 filled up during Pre-reg, the other racing option was at 8:30...I think maybe. Well, the weather outlook wasn't so good for the morning, I would just sit tight and see. Woke up at 6 am and looked at the radar....giant storm over us stretching back to Iowa, I'm out! I really didn't feel like dealing with the rain again this weekend. Good choice, after reading the reports from my teammates morning races....it was pretty miserable out there!

Sunday I did a nice 2 hr+ solo tempo ride in 72-75 deg, low breeze, perfect riding weather. Thought about riding longer but was getting hungry!

We went to 5 Guys in Naperville. It just opened, one awesome burger and they have Cajun Fries!! Seasoned with crawfish seasonings...yummmmm! Every time I eat there it reminds me of home!

Rain rain rain.....

Well, I had plans on riding this morning with J and then doing the Thurs night throwdown tonight with the Plainfield/Joliet crew but it doesn't look like that is going to happen. I'm not a big fan of trashing my bike in a wet training ride! I don't mind if it starts raining AFTER I started riding, but not when its been raining all day.
I have some minor work that needs to be done to the bike so it looks like today will be the day to get that done so all is not lost due to the rainy day.

Looks like the plan for this weekend will be to go to Sherman Park and get another training race in, Masters this time. Hopefully xXx will have enough of their club riders scattered around the course to prevent the wonderful local "spectators" from throwing crap onto the road during races! Like chunks of concrete!

Next weekend is Grafton, which is in Wisconsin and is one of the best run local level races of the season and pretty fun, well worth the drive!! The locals really support the race and always turn out in numbers.

Winfield Twilight Crit

The day started off kind of funny, we live literally 15 min away from the race course. I loaded the car in shorts and a T-shirt and was damn near sweating by the time I finished. So the thought of bringing arm warmers and even a jacket to wear later on never even crossed my mind….it was 66 degrees!

We get out of the car in Winfield and walk to registration to see how late I could register since the rain was iffy….and I was flippin FREAZING!! It was 2:15 and the race was at 3:30. So I told Jerel, there are two options here:

1) sit in the car until the absolute latest possible, race, and STILL not have warm clothes for the rest of the day seeing as we usually stay because we have quite a few buddies that are 1’s

2) Haul a** home get arm warmers and a jacket and haul it back again and reg and kit up

We opted for #2, got back to the course with 40 min to spare, my adrenaline is up a little bit now.

On to the race, Greg and I were sitting by ourselves about 4 houses back from the start line and we said to each other “Dude, I don’t think they’re getting a free lap!!!” So we were at the back….alllll the way at the back.

I wasn’t worried about Greg because I know he can move back and forth in the pack at will. Myself, on the other hand was a little worried, I wanted to at least be on the tail end of the split….and I was….the second tail end!! That was on the second or third lap, I dunno…I looked behind me at the top of the hill when we made the left and it looked like a bunch of Lego’s thrown down the stairs, so I knew I wasn’t last….whew! Ok, focus on the dudes on front of you!

So, I said to myself, ok, chill back here and recover…I was redlined! By the way, this was lap 3. Maybe I’ll just coast down and drop the HR, uh huh, HR isn’t dropping because I’m constantly hitting the brakes, and off…FULL ON GAS…woow…off (more brakes)! I could have coasted by 3 or 4 guys but they would have been clipped in the apex of the next turn, I won’t do that unless you have p00ped on me prior. All it takes is ONE to hit the brakes and fear SCREAMS backwards like a wave. We go through the 2^nd downhill turn at 27mph feathering the brakes…with more effort spent on trying to prevent someone else from going down as a result me nailing them from behind because they’re braking! I’m thinking this blows and I know the guys up front aren’t dealing with this…but I can’t get there. And in the back of my mind I’m thinking, I’m not climbing well right now so don’t move up because I know I’ll drop anchor on the climb this time around. And I did, I’m hurtin. I look down and see we are 12 min into the race. SOB! I’m housed!

Next modes, drive on, ride, don’t let up inside yourself and do everything that you have learned to do well over the years.

I’m by myself now, just like those guys you see with all the cars weaving around them going up the mountain in the Le Tour, I’m now I’m one of those Lego pieces on the carpet. Not slowing my roll though! I dig, refuse that smaller front ring (I’ll break my chain right now crosschaining before I switch up front!!)

I’m climbing almost to the fake 30 yard flat on the climb, I hear the pace car!!! WERD!! If roll my pace right he’ll get me at the top….he did! I reintegrated….brake fest again going down on the back…I had already had so much fun by myself at 31 mph through the turns (same flagman almost hit me twice because I was using the full benefit of the road!) that I knew I wasn’t going to help Greg and Matt, I wanted to hang with they’re group because even though I was a lap down, if I re-integrated I could help them without penalty, just not the sprint.

I got dropped. Ok, I go into roll it out mode. At this point you have no idea where you are in the field so just go! Guys were going backwards and forwards on every climb!!!

I finished the race thinking I was dead last, even though I was drilling it… (for me)! I felt better in this race than any yet. Racing Melon City really helped me here. At minute 12 I was ready to stop, at minute 20 I was ready to punish! Just too far back at that point. 29^th out of 48. Good boost to my confidence, I knew my form was getting better! And this race showed me my work so far has not been in vain!

On a side note, Mitch and I were at his car talking after the race and an cool ABD guy, whom I had met earlier in the day, came up and told Mitch he was trying to work with me on a climb and I left him and rode off….I needed that! Never knew he was there, sorry.