Benton Park Cycling Classic, Gateway Cup Finale

Benton Park Cycling Classic, Gateway Cup Finale

The Benton Park race on Monday turned out to be the Crown Jewel of this year’s Gateway Cup. This course was by far the toughest course of the weekend for all categories.

WARNING: This is a longer report, with reason; it was MY crown jewel of the season!

READER NOTE: I suggest looking the course map below prior to reading this report. hehe

It’s a 10-turn figure 8 on the surface. It ended up being much more than it appeared. If you didn’t bring your high speed cornering skills to this race you were dead on the start line. Those of us from Chicago are not unfamiliar with figure 8 courses. But, this was a course like no other. Length was 1.7 miles, similar to Glencoe’s long course from this season, much more technical though. It had a chicane after we came back over the freeway and right before a nasty right hand turn into a nice downslope straight away to turn 9. We crossed over I-55, went past the Bud brewery and came back across.

(looking to the South: <-turn 3, turn 2 ->)

Turn 8 wasn’t nasty as in tough but nasty as in rough with multiple non-flush manholes in yucky spots. Also, the road you turn onto from turn 8 has a lot of crown to it right there so when you came out of it you had a lot more lean angle on the tires than you think, so it was really easy to overcook. Which happened a lot throughout the day. I LOVED THIS COURSE!!

The course ate race fields for lunch! Just look at the results from USAC, especially P1/2. https://www.usacycling.org/results/index.php?year=2010&id=2873&info_id=29606

Steve Tilford also wrote up a good course description: http://stevetilford.com/?p=5978

On to the race itself:

Looking at the map, I reasoned that this race was going to split the field. I decided to break the race down in sections. First, make the field split. That would mean get a decent start position, keep the front close. No tailgunning today. We had 99 line up, I had decent position on the line, 2^nd or 3^rd row. Race time was to be 40 minutes +3. Whistle blew and we were off, I stayed near the front but not ON the front. Ran the first couple laps gauging lines and watching where the surges and bunching was coming. The chicane was no big deal since we had to slow so much to go through it. Within a lap or two gapping was starting coming out of turn 8. I just kept a heads up and went around as needed. Gaps were also beginning to develop at the S/F line up through turn 1. If you lost contact before turn 1 you were done. Again, I went around guys as needed waiting for the BIG split to come, after about 4 laps, I could feel it was coming soon. On the 5^th lap, we came down the front stretch….

toward the S/F with turn 1 up at the top and here it was! The big split was taking shape.

JD from xXx was next to me, I looked over to him and said that’s the gap we got to close now. He told me “its ok, it’ll come together at the top”. I’m thinking, naw, this is IT. I went. I never saw JD again. First section of race complete, made the field split.

Now it was on to section two:

I just sat in on this group which was about 40-50 guys I’m guessing. I trolled the back with my twitter friend Joel (@CXNut) from St. Louis that was able to race with all weekend. My legs were definitely stating to feel it and guys were starting to fall off pretty regularly on all different parts of the course in 1’s and 2’s. Before you know it, the front group is now about 30-35 guys max and the laps are not getting easier. I look down at my Garmin and we are at 34 minutes, crap! I’m starting to fade and we’re doin 40 + 3 laps. I don’t know if I’m going to make it, I told @CXNut on the straight between 9 and 10 that my legs are going south, not sure how much longer I’ll be around.  I’m just breaking it down and goaling it one lap at a time now. Just hang on! Lap times were about 4 minutes I believe.

Well, they called 3 to go that last time we crossed the line before I saw the 34 min mark on my Garmin, I didn’t know that. On the far stretch by the brewery after turn 3 I started fading off, was pretty much thinking I was cooked, 6 minutes more + 3laps. I had dropped off of @CXNut’s wheel about 50m at this point. I could hear Bart’s moto ramping up behind me, crap, I must be the absolute last one in this group. Bart (who has been a friend for several years now going back to RAGBRAI 3 years ago) pulled up next to me and said “hey dude (pointing in front of me), that’s the race right there!! Push through it!!!” I thought shit, he’s right, I’ve done a lot of work to be here and made a lot of smart decisions in this race, don’t drop the ball now! So I put my head down and started digging deep. Bart rode right next to me all the way back to the group! I grabbed the back of the whip going in to turn 4, the turn at the end of that stretch. I was back on! After turn 9 I rolled up next to @CXNut and looked over at him, he looked at me and said “YOU’RE BACK!” I couldn’t talk. Between turn 1 and 2 he looked over to me and said this is the last lap. WHAT?? I didn’t hear jack when we came across the line 10 seconds ago. I thought, GAME ON, I can suffer another lap, in fact, maybe more than a lot of these guys! I’m going to house these turns, I have no lack of confidence in my cornering ability and I’m going to use every bit of what I got right now!

The third and final section of the race: the bell lap

We make the left toward the chicane, I grab a couple spots. Nice and easy through the chicane, surge out of it, grab another positon. It’s all inside lines from here on out! Diving into the inside of turn 8, POW!, about 5-6 wheels up in front of me a guy has a blowout on the outside of the turn. Non-issue for me, no where near where I was going and my line was wide open. I throttle it up out of turn 8 down the undulation. I go into turn 9 hot, no brakes, wicked lean angle on the rivet at 30mph through the turn! (according to Garmin on post race analysis). Joel was three wheels behind me and said the guy right behind threw his hand up after the turn and quit. I rolled up inside the kid in front of me heading into turn 10, told him I was there and to make this turn cleanly! I took him on the inside and continued taking positions all the way to the line. As the line closed in the next guy in front of me was just out of reach. The money went 15 deep, I took Jerel’s one out of the money at 16th. Sean in the pit yelling me through those closing laps, Bart, and Joel were important in this. Some props have to go out to my friends on this result. They helped me like friends would, and more than they know! Tough course, best race of the season for me! Not necessarily best result wise, I’ve had some top 10’s but this race far and away blows those top 10’s out of the water. The road season “officially” closes for me with this race. Fall Fling is fun and all, but how do you mentally ramp back up 3 weeks after Gateway Cup knowing fall is here?? Who knows, don’t really care, I’ll do whatever Fall Fling events don’t interfere with work for just to get a little more road fun in before the winter.

The objective now turns to starting the 2011 season where I left off from 2010. Which is how I started the 2010 season, where I left off from the 2009 season!

On to Cross….the bike build begins!

"GIRO GIRO GIROOOOO...!!!

“THE  HILL”

The famous “Hill” is the traditional Sunday race. This year would be the 25^th anniversary of the race. It is in an awesome Italian neighborhood in St. Louis. All the residents come out and stay out all day all the way around the course, especially up the backside and pack the front side. The course itself is a stretched rectangle with one short end on the top of the hill (more like steady incline with a mild kick at the top) and the other short end at the bottom. The front stretch is a downhill that rises up through a false flat across the line. After turn 2 is a mild downhill that turns up about halfway to start the mild climb. Course length is at .9 mile per lap, we ended up doing 22 laps in the 4’s.

Last time I raced this I was a 4 and did horrible, it has been my nemesis of weekends past. I have been dropped, lapped, and/or pulled. I was nervous going into it but also knew I was coming into it this year with form that I’ve never had before as a Cat 4. I had the legs yesterday at Tour des Hills just made a tactical mistake. Blow the whistle, lets go already so I can see what I got for this course this year! Had a decent starting position and maintained moderate to tail end pack position just fine. The downhill after turn 4 is long enough you can let big gaps open up and you’ll roll right up to the back of the pack as they jam the brakes in turn 1. The pace up the hill the first 5-8 laps was brutal (for 4’s). It started easing up though and became much more manageable, easy really in the back. A lot of slowing going into turn 3 with a ramp up out of it all the way to turn 1. As the race continued, every lap up the backside more and more guys would die off. I was feeling fine and just move right up around them and never see them again. We hit the 5 to go lap and I stay put in mid pack, I stay there until we cross the line to get the 3 to go. Time to move up! This course is shorter than the day before so now was the time to go. It’s inside line through all the turns now except turn 3 and many spots were gained every corner. On the 2 to go lap, there’s a blow out in the middle of turn 2 followed by 3-4 guys going down to the outside, immediately after that there is the resulting panic crash (almost got caught in that one) right behind it. I was already lining up the inside and flowed right through the corner having to slow only a little. However, the 20-30 guys in front of the crash hit the gas when they heard it, I fully expected that when I heard the crash and watched for it! That group gapped everyone. This was it right here, I knew I had to cross the gap and catch that group before they get through turn 3. I got to them about half way up the hill. Hung on to this smaller group of about 40-45 guys. I played it safe through turns 1 & 2, once turn 2 was cleared I started ramping it up, so was everybody else. I faded just a bit up the hill and lost 4-5 spots gaining maybe 1. I knew to stay calm though and that the front usually jumps too soon on this course. That was the case today. I went flying through the last corner and into the downhill run to the line. I just used the downhill to simply ramp up speed but not go full effort yet. The mistake a lot make on this course is that guys hammer down the hill and have nothing left on the false flat to the line and die. As the speed starts to slow at the bottom of the downhill and I go into the trough, I go full bore. I pass a handful of guys to finish a respectable 24^th on the hill for the Giro della Montagna!! My best result ever on this course. I’m happy with that. I am getting stronger as the days pile on. Others are clearly fading.

Monday brings a new course and what will be the crown jewel of the Gateway Cup 2010.

Gateway Cup: St. Louis Hills

Tour De Hills, Gateway Cup, Day 2

Throughout the series we had several Chicago teams present. xXx had a couple guys, SpiderMonkey, MACK, and Rhythm Racing brought several guys. This course is similar to the day before but different, square four corners. The course has a rise up through the S/F line to the first turn and the backside is a 30+ mph downhill the length of the straight away into turn 3. This is the home stretch coming toward the pic up the rise.

Again, we are on wide roads all the way around and we had 109 on the line. We had a 100+ riders every day. All the Cat 4 Gateway Cup races were scheduled for 45min + 5 laps. The race started and went along smoothly for the most part, I rolled in the back for most of the race and went up a couple times just test out different lines and places to move up. Legs felt great and had plenty of punch. It was A LOT easier moving up on this course compared to Lafayette Square. So round and round and round we went, the rise was never really too tough for me. It was pretty easy to just sit in and get sucked along as long as you could do the brief acceleration out of turn 1, 3, and 4. The plan today was to sit in and get to the front at around 5-4 to go. Everything went as planned, on the 4 to go lap I chopped (the safe way! ;) my way right to the front. Perfect. I was in great position at 3 to go. In a typical local regular crit this would be perfect position.

BUT…..

I was thinking man I got up here too early. So (here comes the tactical error) I decided I would let myself fade just JUST a little bit and jump back up in turn 1 on the final lap. However, what I didn’t realize was going to happen because of the field size and wide roads + downhill was the re-shuffling effect. You think you know what swarming is..…then you get swarmed by a pack of a 100 on wide as all get out road with a 30+ mph downhill on the backside (38mph on last lap). 

We hit the line for 1 to go…..aaaand No Me!

I’m now in the middle of 100 something guys trying to get free. I move back up some through turn 1, a little more through turn 2, didn’t go to the inside or outside immediately after the turn and now its too late because we’re poppin down through the gears on the downhill and I’m as boxed in as you can get….3 deep to the left and 3 deep to the right nothing but stagnant wheels in front. Swarmed and engulfed like being in the eye of a hurricane. I couldn’t get out until halfway down the straight away after turn 3 towards turn 4. Too late, done. Once I was able to hit the gas, all the guys up front had already hit it and I was just matching speed but way back in the field.

I made a huge tactical mistake. That, honestly, you will not learn until you make it. Someone could tell you over and over about it but you won’t get it until you experience it and feel it on the right type of course with the number of riders in the race.

Lesson 1: If you find that you have moved up to the front too early…tough titties, you got to bite the bullet now and stay and fight wheels all the way to the end.

Lesson 2: When racing on mega wide fast roads with huge 100+ fields, time your moving up right and be xtra aware of the swarming because it happens so fast you don’t even know until its too late.

Fun race, spent most of the race riding with Steve Feerhey from SCW and a twitter friend from St. Louis. Finished 70^th of 109 starters. Bleh. You race and you learn. Some things you only learn when you race. This was one of those things.

Next Race Day 3: The famous Giro De Montagna aka “The Hill”. Notoriously my worst race course of the weekend.

Lafayette Square, Gateway Cup

Pancake flat square four corner crit with a false flat on the backside. Roads and turns wide enough to fit three 18-Wheelers side by side.

Arrive at the course around 5:00 o’clock from the 4.5-hour drive from Chicagoland and race at 6:30 for the 4’s. In the 4’s we don’t race in the dark, its almost dark when we finish though. What we do get is the setting sun straight into our face from turn 1 all the way through the apex of turn 2 for 24 of the 25 laps. Not too much to report from this race. The standard cat 4 crash came on the second lap in turn three, the slowest turn on the course. We were all asking each other how in the h*ll did that even happen?!? Whatever, there was at least one crash per day in the 4’s. Several actually on Sunday & Monday. This is relatively simple race since the roads are so wide (so you think! we will learn otherwise the next day), there’s only 4 corners, and absolutely no brakes necessary anywhere on the course.

My main objective for Friday night was to just open up the legs, punch it on the last lap, and roll it in. The X-factor on this course is the sun in your face on the second straight all the way into the 2^nd turn. You are literally riding blind and following the silhouettes in front of you until half way through the second corner, no moving anywhere on the second stretch.  Pretty much just tailgunned it. The one time I did test it and moved up the twitchy factor quadrupled.

Opened up the legs, gave a good dig on the final lap, stayed upright, crossed the line. Good deal, the Gateway Cup 2010 is officially on now!

Finished 58 or 59 of 109 starters.

On Tap:

Gateway Cup 2010 in St. Louis over Labor Day weekend, four consecutive days of fast ass crit racing....stay tuned....

http://gatewaycup.com/