And so it begins....

2010 Kenosha 4's Video

Well, yesterday I looked at the weather forecast for Sunday and rain was not on the menu. I really didn't feel like riding the rollers after work on Saturday either. Then, Jerel had mentioned to me about doing the Kenosha crit. I know Kevin is a fan of these Kenosha Crits so I got to thinkin, "hey, I've been putting in some miles since Jan 21st(whos counting), might as well go ride outside and test the legs!" Jerel had a wedding shower to attend Sunday afternoon, so I figured now's as good a time as any to have a look see where the legs are at.

The sun broke through the clouds about 45 min before the start and immediately it started to feel warmer. Brother wind picked up a lot though too. Meh, I'd rather have sun and more wind than cold, no sun, some wind, and damp! Lined up with a couple familiar faces from last season and a SpiderMonkey who was at St. Louis last year. My goal here was simple, just see what the legs got! Ride the race, don't race the race, and see what's in the legs at the end.

Start went pretty standard, tucked in about 6 or 7th wheel going into the first couple turns and the wind and just settled in. I had the fitness to move around wherever I wanted throughout the race which felt good. A couple times I was shuffled through the front of the pack where I just soft peddled when we turned into the STRONG headwind and let a few guys come around and then just jump on their wheel. On the back stretch the wind hit you at about 2 o'clock. Through most of the race the guys up front would actually ride the middle of the road or right third of the road going into the wind on the back section and the wind was blowing from the front right. Provided plenty of room for a right to left echelon, thanks guys! This would not be the case when the pack stuck me out front, I made the left turn onto the back stretch head/cross wind from the right and I proceeded to immediately put it in the gutter on the left. After about 2/3'rds of the way down the stretch a couple guys decided to come around. I just giggled, grabbed a wheel and said thanks!
With about 5 to go we lapped the 5's and then it got sloppy. I stayed up near the front but in the middle of the pack. On the last lap when we hit the wind I planned on moving up through the middle, there had been plenty of space to do that all race. Well, everyone decided they were going to squeeze together this time. I was stuck for a minute. I waited until we turned away from the wind and started wiggling my way up the middle and out side. Starting ramping it up heading into the last turn on the outside, upon exiting the turn right when I about let go everything else I had left, the guy in front of me had to trim speed to keep from curbing it and I lost momentum. I was then forced to ramp it up again but not much real estate to do it. I essentially ended up sprinting to regain lost spots, which I did. I ended up finishing 10th out of maybe 30-35ish starters.

Assessment: I've got work to do but I can run with the front runners and the legs are in a good spot to start the season.

(Photo: Liz Wolfson Kimezich)
(Video Andrew @ www.spidermonkeycycling.com)