Superweek Homewood

4/5’s

I know I said I was only going to do Evanston, I changed my mind on Saturday ;-)

Homewood is a south suburb near 294/I80. They also had their annual street fest going on just north of the course. The course is sort of short fat “L” shaped. Turn one was onto 183, a busy road which they had half blocked off so we had the full 2 west bound lanes. Interesting was that they used those big plastic water filled barriers to separate us from the local traffic, these leak water slowly. This created little trickle streams across the road all day. It actually altered turn 2 because your tires are wet going into T2 and there were two manholes in it, one normal size and one small. So you had keep this in mind in T2. Temp was pretty warm but not too bad. The second race was much hotter and more humid at 1 o'clock. 

Race started pretty smoothly, not too fast but fast enough to thin it out just a bit. Not ToAD fast, which is what I had prepared myself for mentally. Field size was about 50, some familiar faces and some new ones, there’s always new ones in the 4’s. Relatively uneventful most of the race, A TATI guy goes right across the manhole while turning, ummm ya, wet tires and hit a manhole with a lean angle, you’re gonna slide dude! He slides the rear across the cover, it catches on the asphalt, pops him upright, he doesn’t eat it, thankfully. But jarred it hard enough to drop the chain, off to the side he goes. A xXx and Mack guy took off early. They each had a teammate on the front blocking for a couple laps and I was slotted right in behind them. I was solo so I wasn’t chasing anything down. And like 98.9% of 4s races, they died after while and came back to the group. A couple more attacks went here and there, I just let them go and they came back. With 2 or 3 to go the fight for front positions picked up, I just kept grabbing the next wheel that came by and held pack position. A weird reshuffle hit on the home stretch as we got the bell. I moved up a couple times and after we cleared turn 2 and 3, the most technical and mentally demanding corners the torch was lit. We cleared the final corner single file, I was probably 15^th coming out. We pointed it towards the line, into a headwind, and gave it everything. I faded a little bit at the line. I went a little sooner than I should have, but not much. Took 12^th, in the money.

Next race the 35+ in two hours…

35+

It was HOT at race time of 1:00 pm, this was my 2^nd crit of the day. We had 45 at the line. A few had raced earlier in the day with me, only a couple though. So I knew there would be some fresh legs and I made sure I was ready at the whistle for whatever may come. Quite a few guys I knew and a couple I would come to know, several friends from SCW. Big advantage of already having raced earlier, you know the lines and you have the course dialed in already. Disadvantage, the legs have been used a little already; you can make up for some of that by knowing the course and lines though.

Race started off smooth, once we got a couple laps in the pace picked up. Road still has trickle water streams across it between T1 & T2. There were some moves here and there, MACK had numbers as well as SCW but there wasn’t much organization it seemed. I sat in about 10-15^th wheel, just far enough back where I wasn’t having to effort the surges too much and up far enough that I was out of the true accordian effect. Basically, its where I consider the “sweet spot” of the pack to be. I ended up on the point a couple times, no biggie, just made sure to stay soft on the pedals. There were a few hard accelerations here and there coming out of the last turn into the homestretch headwind, I just marked them and tucked in.

At two and three to go the pace elevates as expected, we line out up front. On 2 to go, I sit and maintain about 10^th wheel, right with the same wheels I have been with most of the race. It was kind of tricky the last few laps because we had to keep negotiating the same lapped riders some of whom were REALLY slow and didn’t get pulled like they were supposed to. But, that’s Superweek for you. Fortunately a big crash didn’t happen. It was close though and if would have happened I guarantee you the officials would have heard about it from me. It will be mentioned the next time I race with this officiating crew.

Bell Lap: 

Pace jumps just before we hit the line and we go single files through 1 & 2, then it eases just a touch, I set up for my inside line through the 2^nd of the two sketchy corners (turn 2 & 3). Once we hit 3-5 to go I started taking the inside lines. Right as I follow my wheel through the inside of 3 and we’re right about at the apex, kerPOW, a MACK rider blows a rear and drifts to the outside. He along with another one or two guys go over the curb and out of bounds. A small handful of guys had to grab a lot of brake I’m sure. Those of us on the inside immediately throw a little coal on the fire; we still had a little ways to go so it wasn’t full throttle yet. We line through the next turn and I hear guys go off the road behind me. That’s it, 2^nd crash on the bell lap, I know the gloves have to come off and go WFO NOW! I’ve no idea how many guys are on the good side of the crashes with me now. There is one guy about 5 car lengths off the front going into turn 5, I have about 4 or 5 guys in front me, that’s it. I hear someone yell from behind “go get him go get him.” I stayed within myself a little bit longer but full gas. I have done the whole go too early and die coming out of the final corner to passed by 15 guys on the final stretch. I wasn’t letting that happen to me today. I come out of the final turn with 2 guys right in front of me and the one guy up the road a bit. I carry full speed through that final turn taking the inside of those 2 guys on the exit of the turn. I stay seated and patient just a touch longer and then my internal timer went off and I jumped with what I had left; 2 gear shifts through the sprint. 1^st place (VEE-PAK) was gone and Aaron Hampton (PSIMET) came by me pretty fast in the last 50m for 2^nd place. I took 3^rd!! P5 gets a SuperWeek podium!!! I just missed a jersey in that last 50m, I had no idea. Aaron came by pretty fast though, not sure I would of held him off anyway.

Its the only one I have right now and I was goofing around at this point! My friends were making faces at me! lol

 

4th of July Race Weekend Wrap-up

Tour de Villas 30+ Open

Photo: S. Keeton

After we did our duties for the morning and got shifts changed over for wherever we needed Tim, Greg, Kevin, Aaron, and I lined up for this one. It was pretty cool to have 5 Project 5’s on the line and I think this was the first time the 5 of us have raced together. The temp at race time was pretty high and humidity was in full effect. I carried one ½ bottle just for my head. That’s always money when it’s hot and humid. Its feels like a turbo boost when you’re getting hot. Aaron and Kevin raced the race before this one (I believe). Tim, Greg, and I spoke for a sec about what could play out and what to watch for. Aaron rolled up to the front line and parked next to Tim and I. Then I could hear Tim say “ya, do it, ya, do it” to Aaron. I put 2 and 2 together pretty much knew what was up. Aaron lifts the pace from the gun for a 2-3 laps and strings it out. Everything settles after a bit. Greg shakes free off the front either bridging up to some dude or vice versa. Either way, I jumped to the front and soft pedaled front and center, it worked for maybe half a lap, Greg and his friend didn’t have much time to get it together because Boba wasn’t buying my in-the-drops soft pedal very long and quickly jumped around.

A few laps later, someone or two get a little gap, I was feeling decent so I pulled it about halfway back over the course of a lap and sat up. No one really wanted to pull through but the pack did maintain the pace I set. That move was soon finished.

I bungled the last lap. I clearly heard the bell and “1togo1togo”, but, for some reason I’m rolling along saying to myself “ok, 2 more laps”. We get about half way down the backstretch and someone lit the fire, I responded just fine. However, properly maintaining my “brainfartedness”, I’m thinking, "awe mang! This is gonna hurt for a whole lap and half!" We clear the final bend and headed toward the line and then I see 5 or 6 guys on the very front get out of the saddle……F%*&#! THIS IS IT! I dig with what I have left. 16^th/35?
Ave Sp - 25.5

ABR State Crit Wood Dale, 4s and 1/2/3s

4s

I went in with hopes of snagging a jersey, wasn’t to be. Close but no dice. 1^st, you have to have the fitness to play the game, 2^nd, you have to have the smarts to be in the right spot when its go time, and 3^rd, you need a little luck on your side some days. Today I had everything but the luck. I rolled up front the first 30 minutes, laid down an attack about 3 laps in to string it out a little bit and put the hurt on a couple guys that were riding like idiots. Riding up front was just stupid in this race, the front 5-10 guys were surging wayyy harder than necessary up the hill every lap. I was on the verge of popping after about 30 minutes decided to I had enough of that unnecessarily wearing myself out following these dumb surges up the rise. Put it this way, I went to the back and dropped 200w off the peak of the surge up the hill each lap. They call out 2 togo, I’m the last one across the line. Not a problem because this pack drops major anchor on the backside when they hit the wind. We hit the line to get the bell; I’m now sitting 10^th wheel approx. We have to negotiate a lapped rider on the backstretch who’s just putting along, in the wrong gutter! Fine, whatever, I go into the turn at the bottom of the hill 5^th wheel, we’re cruising up the hill and I’m locked on the wheel in front of me, we dive into to last turn and the front cut hard to the inside to reveal another lapped rider going the turn RIGHT in the middle! I had to make the split decision to dive inside and potentially chop everyone behind me or fade to the outside, stay on the gas, and hope I can carry enough speed. Downhill tailwind sprint, the guys behind me went inside and that was it, the inside line cut off too much ground to be able to make up. 11^th/30
Ave Sp - 25.0

Can you tell when I got tired of the unnecessary surges on the front and went to the back... -->

1/2/3s

Jumped in this race immediately after my 4s race. Was pretty stoked because I get to race with some of my Cat 1/2 buddies for the first time. I had pre-set goal of at least 30min in this race and then a gut check. I rolled it pretty well, actually feeling decent. Erik Tomlinson, Scott Pearson, Todd Metz, and several other names I knew were pretty fast were all in the race.

This race was actually easier than the 4’s, 900x’s smoother too. These guys don’t unnecessarily wear themselves out doing stupid meaningless surges. The other nice thing is they don’t start the race with first 2 laps like they’re the last 2 laps.

About 10 minutes in I see Erik (WDT) roll of the front and he’s got one with him. They call a $25 prime the next lap. We’re almost to the set-up for the turn before the hill and I see Sean jump to the front inside. I knew immediately what was up so I figured I would help him and Erik a little. I jumped on the outside straight to the front and went soft but appeared efforting up the hill. The field knew there was no chance for them to pull in the still very small gap and get the prime. I soft-pedaled the entire lap all the way back to the top of the hill and the gap to the break had absolutely blown sky-high on that lap. Sean got his prime and Erik had a nice gap from the field. While I was sifting to the field Tim Speciale (PSIMET Elite) actually bridged up, he knew what was happening and also might have thought that I knew Sean and Erik. Soon I started hearing a clicking come from the rear wheel, I pulled to the side for a quick diagnosis as I floated back….stop pedaling, still clicking….hmm, not the derailleur. I stop at the wheel pit next time around before something blows up on me. Switch rear wheels and noise disappeared. Then I got pushed back in a 7 man chase group and not the field, ya, that lasted about 2 laps before I fell off, I drifted back to the main pack and did a handful more laps back there and then decided to pull the plug, legs were fading fast.  Erik and a few lapped the field and Erik went on to win!
Ave Sp - 26.1