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.