Ok, I’m going to rant about something real quick then get on to the many positive and fun things about the day at Leland Kermasse.
First and foremost, big thank you goes to Meshberg and Flatlandia for the race and also to the officials Nikki, Dave, DeeDee, the motos, Loche, Natalie and I’m sure there are few more that I’m missing. Its tough on them too when the conditions bad.
How is it an Elite UCI cross racer (Cat Pro 1-2) allowed to enter a Cat 4-5 road race? Somebody at USAC is not doing his or her job and this clearly shows that the USAC across discipline categorization is broken. At least this guy took second and didn’t quit the race. This is not unique to our local racing scene either; I am reading more and more reports of it happening in other parts of the country.
First off, THANK YOU Lance!! One for letting me use your PT and two for working the feed zone which I was able to maximize the benefits of each lap!! I only decided to do this race last weekend so it wasn’t an A race for me, it wasn’t even on my calendar before last week. But I figured I’ve got some form and worst case it would be a good hard 100km fitness builder in the bank. In years past I haven’t done a 100k until the Easter Ride out of Governors State U.
Conditions at start: 45-48F, drizzle, wind out of west 15-20mph.
I ran my TCX fitted with 25’s, full size cranks, and a PowerTap.
This race was hard at the first gravel sector and made much harder than I expected by the mud and extremely soft gravel. Part of the first sector was dead on into the headwind too. Moving up before the gravel sector was almost impossible because of the centerline rule and narrow roads; which I did not expect would be the case. I rarely have a problem moving up or back in a crit so it didn’t really cross my mind at the start and neutral rollout. The paved roads leading to the sectors were not wide enough. I was stuck mid-pack. This was my primary mistake on the day and essentially cost me what probably would have been a top 10 after reviewing my power file.
Realizing this about half way to first sector I started making inch-by-inch moves up the field, still wasn’t able to do much though. Once we made the first right hand turn toward gravel 1, I was able to grab about 5-6 spots but it burned a little bit. It was tailwind and was a serious effort to gain positions. The second right turn before sector 1, I was able to only grab 1 or 2 more spots, that was it. I was where I was going to be for the first sector, at about 15th. Not good enough. There were basically only 2 lines of travel within the sectors that had “somewhat” solid ground to roll on. It only takes one or two guys in front of you to start slowing and you lose touch with the front. The second you deviated from the line to jump around someone you started sinking (tire selection was indifferent unless you had pure cross tires). I jumped around a couple guys right away but as soon as you get back to the solid line the guys you went around are right back with you because of all the power you just had to bust when you went off line. After a couple attempts at that I realized it was futile until we got to solid ground in general. The sectors were pretty slippy and splashy but if you just let the bike wiggle a little but under you it was ok, never any real danger of going down, for me at least.
As I watched the front slowly slip away and couldn't get to them, I decided to just settle in at a wattage that wasn’t going to DNF me or force me to drop to zone 1 halfway through the race. We have a looong way to go in less than ideal conditions. The windy hell of the cold north. Basically the race is shattered by the end of the first lap.
I start the second lap with 2 others in tow. We run a good 3-man equal share echelon through the blistering headwind and crosswind to the sectors for the second run through. I just put my watts steady where I want them when I pull careful not to blow out my two mates and get short little recoveries between, it’s only lap 2 after all.
Only 2 of us are there to start lap 3. We grind it out until we get to turn east. The guy with me, Dan, and I talk a little bit. He seemed to be struggling a little bit. I told him to just hang in and roll it out and there are going to be guys in front of us that quit so don’t stop. I said we only have to do those nasty headwind sections one more time so stay with it. He said he wished he had one more gel. I gave him one of my First Endurance Liquid Shot flasks that still had about half left since I still had another one and told him to put it in his pocket with the nipple down for a minute or two so he could get all of it out. He thanked me and we got back to the task at hand, another run through the slog. Keeping the pace steady, about half way through the long sector 1, at the Haunted Woods, I looked back to check on my friend and he was gone. I was solo now. I kept my focus on anything I could see up the road and on keeping my watts steady, still 37km to go. Each tail wind paved section I took full advantage and let it rip keeping the pressure on the pedals. Those woods really are haunted, my bike made noises that I only heard when I was over there! They just looked spooky too!
Final 25K Conditions: 35-38F, blowin 20-30mph and gusting higher out of the west.
Start the 4th lap into the looong headwind section. Take my feed from Lance, half almond butter and jelly sandwich, 1 h2o, 1 EFS, and 1 Coke (which was money!). Conditions have deteriorated quite a bit but I thought it might be my imagination. It wasn’t. Once I got through the headwind gravel sector I turned up the motor a little bit and went after what I could see. I was reeling in a group of two pretty quickly. Once I turned onto the sector I had the duo about a 100m in front of me, I could see their numbers, they were in my race. I came by them at a decent clip so I popped over to the other side of the gravel road and kept pushing! Thanks for the cheers Bryan as I went by, I didn’t realize it was you until after the race. I took it home solo and finished stronger than I thought I was going to have in me.
Dan, my otb friend, came up to me after he finished the race while I was milling around, gave me my flask back. He said good riding with you while we did, and thank you for the support out there. That made my day. Dan finished, and not last! And that’s why this is the best sport on the planet and why we do it. If we can get a result from time to time that’s a bonus. For the conditions we battled and endured at Flatlandia’s Leland Kermesse; everyone who turned laps out there on Saturday deserves a Jens badge because that’s exactly what it took. Jens Factor 4+!
Result 26/30. 11 DNF’s (27%)
Normalized Power for 3hr 44min - 224w
Normalized Power for 3hr 44min - 224w
Ave Sp 16.2
