Already packed up from the night before we woke up bright and early (4:30) Tuesday morning to head back to Pennsylvania. We thought leaving by 5 would at least get us through Chicago before the morning rush hour hit, but we had no such luck. Before we knew it we were rolling slow in traffic at like 6 am! The hold up wasn't too bad however, and as we made our way across the states we probably spent close to $30 on tolls on our 14 hour trek. Arriving in Kutztown that evening, it was nice to be back in that familiar house that we had called home for the first half of the summer.
The next morning, while Oscar and Thomas slept in longer than I had ever seen them, I ran out and got coffee and prepared pancakes for the 3 of us. Soon after they woke up we got straight to work planning and packing the Volvo. It ended up that we had to ship 2 boxes of random stuff home (in addition to the TT bikes we sent to CA) so that we would have enough room in the car for everything, but it was still and incredibly tight squeeze. If it weren't for Thomas working his master packing skills like he always does, there's no way everything would have fit. The car was absolutely stuffed to the brim (remember that we brought 2 cars up here in the first place, and the only difference now was that Jafer had already headed home with his bags).
Thursday morning, again we woke up bright and early (5:30 this time) to start on the home stretch back to Atlanta. This leg of the trip lasted around 13 hours including all the bathroom and gas stops we made. Weighed down as it was, the car was not getting near as good of gas mileage as it normally did....but i was kinda ok with that because it meant we got to stop more which I always enjoyed. Having half of the back seat and sitting with all our pillows and sheets, Thomas made a nest and passed out for most of the ride after putting in his first couple hours at the wheel. We arrived home at a pretty decent time (around 7:30 pm) which gave me plenty of time to go out and catch up with friends. We've driven a total of 27 hours in the last 3 days....it was good to be home.
Friday, July 25, 2008
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Holy Hill Road Race (Monday) & more...
This was our last day of racing, and, honestly, we probably could have done without it. Oscar and I started the race which was shortened to 68 miles instead of 90 after the start got delayed. Oscar dropped out about half way through after putting in a couple good attacks, and I didn't have much of an impressive finish either. There were a couple big rollers on the course and I just never really felt good going over them.... or anywhere else on the course for that matter. It actually kind of felt like my brakes were rubbing the whole race (they weren't actually, but that's how sluggish I felt). At the finish I didn't really have room to sprint anywhere either because it just got so swarmed and crowded. I came across the line around 35th or 40th.
A good thing that happened Monday was that my cousin, Logan Biggs, who is going to school in Milwaukee came to watch the race. He drove his motorcycle out to the course and then followed us home to hang out for a while. We ended up going over to his girlfriend's loft to play some video games, eat, and just hang out for the night. It was really good to get to see him.
Tuesday morning we woke up at 4:30 am and started our 13 hour drive back to Kutztown. Now today, Wednesday, we have spent much of the day packing up and planning how we're going to fit everything in the car for tomorrow's drive home. We packed up 2 TT bikes in a box, 5 wheels in another box, and some other random stuff in another box to ship home because we won't have room in the car to carry everything (we had 2 cars to bring it all up here). We plan to leave early tomorrow morning and arrive in Atlanta in the evening. It's going to be good to get home for a while, but I can't get too settled in because we leave to go to California for nationals on August 2nd.
A good thing that happened Monday was that my cousin, Logan Biggs, who is going to school in Milwaukee came to watch the race. He drove his motorcycle out to the course and then followed us home to hang out for a while. We ended up going over to his girlfriend's loft to play some video games, eat, and just hang out for the night. It was really good to get to see him.
Tuesday morning we woke up at 4:30 am and started our 13 hour drive back to Kutztown. Now today, Wednesday, we have spent much of the day packing up and planning how we're going to fit everything in the car for tomorrow's drive home. We packed up 2 TT bikes in a box, 5 wheels in another box, and some other random stuff in another box to ship home because we won't have room in the car to carry everything (we had 2 cars to bring it all up here). We plan to leave early tomorrow morning and arrive in Atlanta in the evening. It's going to be good to get home for a while, but I can't get too settled in because we leave to go to California for nationals on August 2nd.
Evanston (Sunday)
For Sunday's criterium we headed back down to the Chicago area to the suburb of Evanston, IL. There was a huge showing for Sunday's race in both fans and riders. I'd say this was one of the biggest fields we had raced against in Superweek, and that, in combination with a couple tight turns and a nearly a dozen poorly situated man-hole covers made for a pretty sketchy race. The race was stopped twice because of bad crashes (situations where the rider(s) does not get up right away and then nobody wants him to move until the ambulance gets there...so he just lays in the street); we were first stopped for 15 or 20 min with 16 laps to go which was actually fine with me because I had just gotten caught from going off the front trying (unsuccessfully) to get a prime, so it allowed me time to recover. When that crash happened, with 17 to go, Oscar was on my wheel and I was on the wheel of the guy who wrecked.....basically, I think he took the corner too wide and might have been blinded by the bright setting sun and ended up running into the outside curb/barrier which sent his bike flying up and back out onto the road right in front of me! I kind of ducked and swerved to avoid the back half of his bike which was right at eye level in front of me, and Oscar and I both escaped alive.
The second stoppage of the race occurred after a wreck with 5 or 6 laps to go. After a long 20 min intermission we were back on the road and they had bumped the lap counter up to 10 laps to go so they would have time to finish handing out primes. I was feeling really good in the closing laps and was able to fight for and maintain position close to the front. I passed a few people in the sprint but not as many as I would have liked to or could have had it been more wide open. The next day however, when we looked at results, I was not listed..... I think it may have been because I finished on the opposite side of the road than the camera was on so I may have been blocked by other riders. By then, most of the checks had already been handed out and there wasn't much I could do about the wrong results.
Thomas was feeling pretty worn out from all the racing and didn't finish Evanston, and Oscar was in good form towards the end but just never really made it up to the front to contest the sprint or attack.
The second stoppage of the race occurred after a wreck with 5 or 6 laps to go. After a long 20 min intermission we were back on the road and they had bumped the lap counter up to 10 laps to go so they would have time to finish handing out primes. I was feeling really good in the closing laps and was able to fight for and maintain position close to the front. I passed a few people in the sprint but not as many as I would have liked to or could have had it been more wide open. The next day however, when we looked at results, I was not listed..... I think it may have been because I finished on the opposite side of the road than the camera was on so I may have been blocked by other riders. By then, most of the checks had already been handed out and there wasn't much I could do about the wrong results.
Thomas was feeling pretty worn out from all the racing and didn't finish Evanston, and Oscar was in good form towards the end but just never really made it up to the front to contest the sprint or attack.
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Lake Michigan (Saturday)
We all took another rest day today which turned out to be a good choice cause it was a nasty, wet day anyway. Instead of racing we took the opportunity to go check out Lake Michigan which is pretty close by. Down by the lake it was super foggy and made for a really cool, peaceful setting as we skipped rocks, played on the shore, and climbed out on some barrier boulders. I brought my towel cause my mind was set on swimming but as soon as I touched the water I decided otherwise. It was as cold as an ice bath, and almost the second I submerged my foot it went numb....I'll pass on the swimming.
While we were out we also stopped at this awesome bakery and picked up two homemade loaves of bread which we've been devouring ever since.
I've also come to realize how lucky we've been with host housing. We've stayed at 3 host houses in a row and every time we've been treated to our own living area in the basement of the host's house. In Chicago, the Joslyns could not have been a single bit more helpful or enjoyable to be around then they were; and this time we even have our own mini fridge and big flat screen T.V. in the basement! Everyone is so nice to host and put up with cyclists like us.
Not quite the ideal race situation....
With a big pancake/waffle lunch sitting heavy in our stomachs, we piled into the car a little after 3 pm and headed to the town of Ripon, WI for Friday's race. We knew we had 80-something miles ahead of us to get to the race and had planned to leave at 2:30, but the lunch I had prepared ran a little longer than expected...but no biggie, we'd still arrive like an hour and a half before our 6 pm start time (we thought). So around 3:45, while we were on the road, Oscar picks up this piece of paper in the back seat, looks at it for a minute, looks up at us and goes, "You know the race starts at 4:45 right?" In the front seat, all Thomas and I could say was "uuuuuuuuuuuhhhhh." We looked at our directions and an atlas and figured we still had around 50 miles to go....and about an hour before the race starts, "Well, we're almost half way there, lets just try to make it." Instead of driving 60 mph and stopping to get coffee as I had requested, we started pushing the speed limit a bit and the only stop we made was when we pulled over for 30 seconds because Oscar swore he was about to pee all over the back seat.
We got to Ripon at exactly 4:45 expecting hear the starters gun unload as soon as we pulled up, but luckily the women's race was still in progress. I don't think I've ever been happier to see a race running late. Oscar had decided to take the day off, so he ran over to registration to check in and pick up wrist bands for Thomas and me as the two of us whipped our clothes on, pumped tires, and mixed drinks and made it to the start line in about 15 min. The course had hills on 3 of the 4 straightaways so it was terribly hard to start the race with no warm up. Actually, it was worse than terrible; I immediately started doing Oscars famously funny "pain cave dance," but this time it was no joke. The first 45 min was the most I've ever struggled in the early going of a race. First of all, I started at the back of the group which meant there was a huge acceleration out of each corner and up the hills. My stomach cramped almost immediately simply because we'd just finished stuffing our faces with waffles just 2 hours prior to the start, and in addition, my legs felt pretty stiff and not "opened up" from taking that rest day the day before. Totally out of breath and suffering, I started taking the corners really sloppily, and that only added to the pain inflicted by having to sprint out of the corners even harder. Other riders that I had been so much better than in previous stages were coming flying by me on the hills and I was doing all I could just to hold on to the back, sitting almost last wheel. Only 2 laps into the race I was ready to slam on the brakes, drop out, and head home. A thousand things started swarming through my head "I'll probably feel better tomorrow, I don't have to finish today," "why am I doing this to myself?" "what's wrong with me!?!" I knew I couldn't finish the race, so now it was just a question of how long I wanted to torture myself.
It usually takes me while into a race to warm up, but I never thought I'd pull out of this one. Then, between like 70 and 65 laps to go (it was a 100 lap race) I just started feeling better and better with every lap and my attitude changed. It came as somewhat of a surprise and relief to myself when I finally got the feeling that I was gonna be able to make it. Instead of dancing with pain, I started dancing with ease up the hills each lap. Then, with 20 laps to go, it started raining..... 3of 4 corners on the course were downhill and fast. The race had already blown apart with only like 30 riders remaining, but as soon as it started raining, riders started dropping like flies; not "getting dropped" but sliding out and falling almost every lap. Most of these guys got back in however, and by the finish it seemed like about half the field now had bloody, skinned up hips. I'm pleased to say that I went yet another day retaining all my skin.
While making sure to take the corners carefully was a good thing in the closing, rainy laps of the race, it hurt me a little bit on the very last lap (by then the roads were nearly dry again). I was feeling decent and if I hadn't been a little too cautious around a couple of the last turns, I would have been able to jump past a few people on the hills, but I didn't. I pretty much just held my position on the last lap and was able to keep anyone from passing me in the sprint. I'd say I ended up placing around 15th in the bunch.
We got to Ripon at exactly 4:45 expecting hear the starters gun unload as soon as we pulled up, but luckily the women's race was still in progress. I don't think I've ever been happier to see a race running late. Oscar had decided to take the day off, so he ran over to registration to check in and pick up wrist bands for Thomas and me as the two of us whipped our clothes on, pumped tires, and mixed drinks and made it to the start line in about 15 min. The course had hills on 3 of the 4 straightaways so it was terribly hard to start the race with no warm up. Actually, it was worse than terrible; I immediately started doing Oscars famously funny "pain cave dance," but this time it was no joke. The first 45 min was the most I've ever struggled in the early going of a race. First of all, I started at the back of the group which meant there was a huge acceleration out of each corner and up the hills. My stomach cramped almost immediately simply because we'd just finished stuffing our faces with waffles just 2 hours prior to the start, and in addition, my legs felt pretty stiff and not "opened up" from taking that rest day the day before. Totally out of breath and suffering, I started taking the corners really sloppily, and that only added to the pain inflicted by having to sprint out of the corners even harder. Other riders that I had been so much better than in previous stages were coming flying by me on the hills and I was doing all I could just to hold on to the back, sitting almost last wheel. Only 2 laps into the race I was ready to slam on the brakes, drop out, and head home. A thousand things started swarming through my head "I'll probably feel better tomorrow, I don't have to finish today," "why am I doing this to myself?" "what's wrong with me!?!" I knew I couldn't finish the race, so now it was just a question of how long I wanted to torture myself.
It usually takes me while into a race to warm up, but I never thought I'd pull out of this one. Then, between like 70 and 65 laps to go (it was a 100 lap race) I just started feeling better and better with every lap and my attitude changed. It came as somewhat of a surprise and relief to myself when I finally got the feeling that I was gonna be able to make it. Instead of dancing with pain, I started dancing with ease up the hills each lap. Then, with 20 laps to go, it started raining..... 3of 4 corners on the course were downhill and fast. The race had already blown apart with only like 30 riders remaining, but as soon as it started raining, riders started dropping like flies; not "getting dropped" but sliding out and falling almost every lap. Most of these guys got back in however, and by the finish it seemed like about half the field now had bloody, skinned up hips. I'm pleased to say that I went yet another day retaining all my skin.
While making sure to take the corners carefully was a good thing in the closing, rainy laps of the race, it hurt me a little bit on the very last lap (by then the roads were nearly dry again). I was feeling decent and if I hadn't been a little too cautious around a couple of the last turns, I would have been able to jump past a few people on the hills, but I didn't. I pretty much just held my position on the last lap and was able to keep anyone from passing me in the sprint. I'd say I ended up placing around 15th in the bunch.
Shorewood = rest day for me
Thursday morning Oscar, Thomas and I loaded up the Volvo and headed North to Milwaukee where the second week of Super "Week" was to take place. Jafer departed the night before to spend a couple days in downtown Chicago with his cousin and then a couple more on a farm with his grandparents and uncles. We won't see him again until we get back to Atlanta (we're gonna be back sometime in the last few days of July), so he got to skip out on the 25 hours of driving we have to get from here to Kutztown and then back to Atlanta......lucky!
After settling in a bit at our new host house, about 2 hours from Chicago, we headed down the road to Shorewood for the kiddies to race (I was taking the day off). I almost got swept up and convinced to race by just being around all the race hub bub, but I thought better of it and decided to stick to the plan and take a rest day. Instead, I took off for a nice easy spin along the coast of Lake Michigan, mouth agape at how incredibly huge some of the lake front mansions were. I'm not sure how people can afford such huge houses on such pricey land, but it must nice to live on the water like that.
After riding I returned to the course just as the boys' race was starting and, after occupying a Starbucks bathroom for too long to fill up bottles and a jug, I headed around to the backside of the course to feed Oscar and Thomas. There was a huge field, and they were absolutely flying and super strung out each time they came through. After being helped to the front by the OC with about 3 laps to go, Thomas was sitting in a really good spot with 1 lap to go but said some really sketchy stuff happened on the last lap. Both boys rolled across the line outside of the top 30. With Kelly Benefits on the front chasing a break down for the entire race, it looked like a pretty unrelentingly fast race.
After settling in a bit at our new host house, about 2 hours from Chicago, we headed down the road to Shorewood for the kiddies to race (I was taking the day off). I almost got swept up and convinced to race by just being around all the race hub bub, but I thought better of it and decided to stick to the plan and take a rest day. Instead, I took off for a nice easy spin along the coast of Lake Michigan, mouth agape at how incredibly huge some of the lake front mansions were. I'm not sure how people can afford such huge houses on such pricey land, but it must nice to live on the water like that.
After riding I returned to the course just as the boys' race was starting and, after occupying a Starbucks bathroom for too long to fill up bottles and a jug, I headed around to the backside of the course to feed Oscar and Thomas. There was a huge field, and they were absolutely flying and super strung out each time they came through. After being helped to the front by the OC with about 3 laps to go, Thomas was sitting in a really good spot with 1 lap to go but said some really sketchy stuff happened on the last lap. Both boys rolled across the line outside of the top 30. With Kelly Benefits on the front chasing a break down for the entire race, it looked like a pretty unrelentingly fast race.
Friday, July 18, 2008
Two days of Bensenville (Tuesday & Wednesday)
Tuesday and Wednesday the crits were held on the same course, and both days the field was whittled down to a mere 40 riders by the finish. Breaks had been successful the past couple days, so both Tuesday we went in with the objective of getting in one ourselves. Tuesday saw a group of around 8 go off the front really early on (like 5 or 10 laps into the 80 lap race), and none of us were prepared or in a position where we could follow it so unfortunately they escaped without us and lapped the field. Later that day, starting with about 20 laps to go, Oscar and I moved up to hang around the front, looking for another move to go. A group of 4 or 5 got away without us, but as soon as the next person jumped, attempting to bridge, I went with him. The two of us gained a little time on the group we were chasing (which never got out of sight), but after only a couple laps we were swallowed back up again. With expert timing, as soon as Oscar saw me surrender to the charging field, he jumped off the front, and within the next lap or two he joined the group already off the front. Nearing the end, another group of around 7 caught up to Oscar's group and they all rode it out to the finish. Because there had already been a group of 8 to lap the field, Oscar's group was battling it out for 9th place through 20 something. Oscar managed to get around 10th in the sprint, securing him 19th in the race.
The next day not much happened. After making the mistake of not coming to the front until the break had already escaped the first day, I made sure to stay up in the front for maybe the first 15 or 20 laps until it was clear that Rock Racing didn't care to get in a break that day. Unlike previous days or any other teams, Rock had 7 riders on Wednesday and were just sitting on and chasing attacks. As the field got whittled down to around 30 or 40 riders again, I waited until the closing 20 laps before I came back to the front. Attacks had started once again, and I was only jumping on the sruff that had Rock guys in it. Nothing stuck except for a really awesome solo effort by a member of the Columbian National Track team who will be going to the Olympics very soon. He escaped by himself and put 45 seconds on the rest of us by the finish. I didn't set up for the sprint very well and got a little held up by a couple guys in front of me that weren't contesting. I think I ended up placing about 30th.
The next day not much happened. After making the mistake of not coming to the front until the break had already escaped the first day, I made sure to stay up in the front for maybe the first 15 or 20 laps until it was clear that Rock Racing didn't care to get in a break that day. Unlike previous days or any other teams, Rock had 7 riders on Wednesday and were just sitting on and chasing attacks. As the field got whittled down to around 30 or 40 riders again, I waited until the closing 20 laps before I came back to the front. Attacks had started once again, and I was only jumping on the sruff that had Rock guys in it. Nothing stuck except for a really awesome solo effort by a member of the Columbian National Track team who will be going to the Olympics very soon. He escaped by himself and put 45 seconds on the rest of us by the finish. I didn't set up for the sprint very well and got a little held up by a couple guys in front of me that weren't contesting. I think I ended up placing about 30th.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Richton Park Crit (Monday)
Arriving in Richton park we looked at results from the previous day and found out that Thomas had placed 16th and I 19th. We also picked up our payout from the first 2 stages and have a combined total of $230 so far...hopefully we can keep adding to the pot!
I don't know if maybe none of us were just having the best day on the bike, or if the pace was really just that much faster.....but Monday's race was hard. There were a lot of fast guys there including a few riders from teams like Kelly Benefits, Rock Racing, Team Type 1, Texas Roadhouse (who won the stage), and Bissell. We did the full 100 km distance, and it seemed to crawl by as floated back and forth in through the field, not really wanting to expend too much energy before the finish. Pretty early on, a break of 8 got up the road and ended up lapping the field just before the finish despite the efforts of many riders who tried to up the pace with about 30 laps to go. When we finally did reach 10 to go I started moving up and jumping on some last minute attacks made by other riders, but I guess having already made the mistake of letting one break slip away today, no one in the bunch wanted to let it happen again. With about 3 to go, Thomas and I were just trying to hang tough towards the front, but I was really hurting at this point; we couldn't make it up far enough to be in contention for the sprint. As Thomas whizzed by me at the finish, I had no acceleration left and we both settled for around a top 30 or 40. Fast race.
I don't know if maybe none of us were just having the best day on the bike, or if the pace was really just that much faster.....but Monday's race was hard. There were a lot of fast guys there including a few riders from teams like Kelly Benefits, Rock Racing, Team Type 1, Texas Roadhouse (who won the stage), and Bissell. We did the full 100 km distance, and it seemed to crawl by as floated back and forth in through the field, not really wanting to expend too much energy before the finish. Pretty early on, a break of 8 got up the road and ended up lapping the field just before the finish despite the efforts of many riders who tried to up the pace with about 30 laps to go. When we finally did reach 10 to go I started moving up and jumping on some last minute attacks made by other riders, but I guess having already made the mistake of letting one break slip away today, no one in the bunch wanted to let it happen again. With about 3 to go, Thomas and I were just trying to hang tough towards the front, but I was really hurting at this point; we couldn't make it up far enough to be in contention for the sprint. As Thomas whizzed by me at the finish, I had no acceleration left and we both settled for around a top 30 or 40. Fast race.
Monday, July 14, 2008
Olympia Park Crit (Sunday's race)
First off, we found out results from the previous day. In the Blue Island crit, I crossed the line in 18th, Thomas in 25th, Oscar around 45th, and Jafer in 50th.
Sunday's Olympia Park crit was a pretty interesting race. As we arrived, parked, and jumped out to go sign in and survey the course, we found ourselves more or less in the middle of a construction site. The course, which they had shortened to a crazy .45 mi, was a 4 corner circuit through one of those ugly new neighborhoods where the developer just clear cuts hundreds of acres and then builds the same house about a hundred times....the only difference was that all the houses hadn't even been built yet. This meant that in parts of the course, on either side of the street there mud pits and construction supplies stacked up very close to the edge of the road.
About 30 min before our scheduled start time, the officials called all racers up to the line to get our opinion on something. Apparently they were in a debate with one another on whether or not we should even race; on the backside of the course there was little downhill that, when paired with the tailwind on that side, made for an extremely fast 3rd corner; other than that, there was a small but potentially deadly lip running the length of the course, on both sides of the road sticking out about a foot or so from the curbs. That, on top of the short distance of the lap had the officials worried that our race may develop into a chaotic free-for-all with numerous riders lapping the field numerous times in the midst of horrific crashes in the 3rd corner. Well, I can tell you that none of that happened, and it turned into a very sane race for the amount of deliberation and worry that went on before hand. Long story short, the officials didn't actually want our input, and we kinda just sat there for about 30 minutes watching them deliberate between running 2 separate heats, splitting up the pro/1 riders from us cat 2's (which we were all for, because that would have put us in good position for the stage win), shortening the race, or canceling it all together. In the end they decided to simply shorten it to 80 laps.
Once underway, Jafer and I both got flat tires (Jafer's almost causing him to wipe out in a corner) but were back in business pretty quick after visiting the Sram neutral support pit where they suited us up with some nice Zipp 404's that they used for spares. Thomas also ended up breaking a shifting cable in the midst of the action and was graciously allowed back in after a number of free laps.
There were a few crashes along the way, most, if not all happening in that 3rd corner. Jafer came closest to hitting the deck when he started sliding out in the 3rd corner but was caught and bounced back up by the guy riding on his inside through the turn. In one especially bad episode, an Australian rider went down in the 3rd turn and didn't get up. No one wanted to move him before the ambulance arrived so the race was stopped with only 16 laps (less than 8 miles) to go! We sat there at the start line for 15 or 20 min waiting for the rider to be carted from the road, and by the time we got under way again the pain of having cooled down after a hard effort had set in as I tried to get back up to speed.
The rest of the race played out fine. When we were stopped with 16 to go there was a 4 man break up the road with a strong Bissell rider in it; those guys survived the remainder without getting caught, and as Rock Racing lead out the field in the closing laps, Thomas held on for around a 10th place finish in the field (14th in the race). I wasn't too far behind, and while we don't have any results yet, I'm pretty sure I made it into the top 25 (that's how deep prize dolla bills go).
Sunday's Olympia Park crit was a pretty interesting race. As we arrived, parked, and jumped out to go sign in and survey the course, we found ourselves more or less in the middle of a construction site. The course, which they had shortened to a crazy .45 mi, was a 4 corner circuit through one of those ugly new neighborhoods where the developer just clear cuts hundreds of acres and then builds the same house about a hundred times....the only difference was that all the houses hadn't even been built yet. This meant that in parts of the course, on either side of the street there mud pits and construction supplies stacked up very close to the edge of the road.
About 30 min before our scheduled start time, the officials called all racers up to the line to get our opinion on something. Apparently they were in a debate with one another on whether or not we should even race; on the backside of the course there was little downhill that, when paired with the tailwind on that side, made for an extremely fast 3rd corner; other than that, there was a small but potentially deadly lip running the length of the course, on both sides of the road sticking out about a foot or so from the curbs. That, on top of the short distance of the lap had the officials worried that our race may develop into a chaotic free-for-all with numerous riders lapping the field numerous times in the midst of horrific crashes in the 3rd corner. Well, I can tell you that none of that happened, and it turned into a very sane race for the amount of deliberation and worry that went on before hand. Long story short, the officials didn't actually want our input, and we kinda just sat there for about 30 minutes watching them deliberate between running 2 separate heats, splitting up the pro/1 riders from us cat 2's (which we were all for, because that would have put us in good position for the stage win), shortening the race, or canceling it all together. In the end they decided to simply shorten it to 80 laps.
Once underway, Jafer and I both got flat tires (Jafer's almost causing him to wipe out in a corner) but were back in business pretty quick after visiting the Sram neutral support pit where they suited us up with some nice Zipp 404's that they used for spares. Thomas also ended up breaking a shifting cable in the midst of the action and was graciously allowed back in after a number of free laps.
There were a few crashes along the way, most, if not all happening in that 3rd corner. Jafer came closest to hitting the deck when he started sliding out in the 3rd corner but was caught and bounced back up by the guy riding on his inside through the turn. In one especially bad episode, an Australian rider went down in the 3rd turn and didn't get up. No one wanted to move him before the ambulance arrived so the race was stopped with only 16 laps (less than 8 miles) to go! We sat there at the start line for 15 or 20 min waiting for the rider to be carted from the road, and by the time we got under way again the pain of having cooled down after a hard effort had set in as I tried to get back up to speed.
The rest of the race played out fine. When we were stopped with 16 to go there was a 4 man break up the road with a strong Bissell rider in it; those guys survived the remainder without getting caught, and as Rock Racing lead out the field in the closing laps, Thomas held on for around a 10th place finish in the field (14th in the race). I wasn't too far behind, and while we don't have any results yet, I'm pretty sure I made it into the top 25 (that's how deep prize dolla bills go).
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Superweek begins
Last night we competed in our first crit of the Superweek series. We will be racing here in Illinois through the 16th before we head up to Milwaukee for the remainder (the series goes through the 28th (i think), but we have yet to determine how many more races we will do once in Wisconsin before heading back home).
Yesterday was a simple, pan-flat crit course with 4 corners and wide city roads so with the exception of some indented man-hole covers and sizable cracks on the backside of the course, there was not much at all to slow the speed of the race. I think all 8 of our legs felt pretty good, but there was some fast (and sketchy) competition. In the closing laps we were packed into the peloton pretty tight, and Thomas and I managed to pass a few people in the long finishing stretch to both place inside the top 25.
The fans at this race were pretty incredible. The front (finishing) straight of the course was on the main street in Blue Island, and the back stretch tore through what looked like an old, rather historic neighborhood; both sides were lined with spectators, the front with the normal cheering crowd (including our host parents who had made a big green Kudzu.com sign to cheer us on), and the back was scattered with picnicking partiers. It seemed like every house the race passed had a canopy, chairs, and blankets scattering the front yard, with all the residents enjoying a dinner picnic as they screamed at us every lap. Not only this, but as soon as we pulled up and parked at the race, an older woman and two little boys (the woman and boys came separately) hurried over asking for our autographs! Not that our signatures would mean anything to them because they weren't exactly legible and I'm sure they've never heard of us before even if they could read the names we scribbled.....but it still felt really cool and motivating.
Yesterday was a simple, pan-flat crit course with 4 corners and wide city roads so with the exception of some indented man-hole covers and sizable cracks on the backside of the course, there was not much at all to slow the speed of the race. I think all 8 of our legs felt pretty good, but there was some fast (and sketchy) competition. In the closing laps we were packed into the peloton pretty tight, and Thomas and I managed to pass a few people in the long finishing stretch to both place inside the top 25.
The fans at this race were pretty incredible. The front (finishing) straight of the course was on the main street in Blue Island, and the back stretch tore through what looked like an old, rather historic neighborhood; both sides were lined with spectators, the front with the normal cheering crowd (including our host parents who had made a big green Kudzu.com sign to cheer us on), and the back was scattered with picnicking partiers. It seemed like every house the race passed had a canopy, chairs, and blankets scattering the front yard, with all the residents enjoying a dinner picnic as they screamed at us every lap. Not only this, but as soon as we pulled up and parked at the race, an older woman and two little boys (the woman and boys came separately) hurried over asking for our autographs! Not that our signatures would mean anything to them because they weren't exactly legible and I'm sure they've never heard of us before even if they could read the names we scribbled.....but it still felt really cool and motivating.
Saturday, July 12, 2008
How dat boy pedal so fast?
Fitchburg wasn't all piss and games; after Oscar finished 14th in both the time trial and the road race's mountaintop finish, the boys dominated the last two sprinters' races, Thomas winning both of those. Winning 2 stages out of 4 is really quite impressive, and the dedication, determination, and skill with which Jafer and Oscar rode to get Thomas the wins was pretty amazing in itself.
I, on the other hand, went out to put in a couple good days of training by myself. Saturday, as the other three competed in the circuit race, I went out and did some repeats of this 20 min climb nearby, and then rode to the race in time to see the closing laps of the cat 2 race and our victory. Sunday, I arrived at the crit course just a minute or two after the finish of our race, so I just missed our second win. They did real good.
I, on the other hand, went out to put in a couple good days of training by myself. Saturday, as the other three competed in the circuit race, I went out and did some repeats of this 20 min climb nearby, and then rode to the race in time to see the closing laps of the cat 2 race and our victory. Sunday, I arrived at the crit course just a minute or two after the finish of our race, so I just missed our second win. They did real good.
Piss party
My warm, clear stream steadily impacted and trickled down the bark of a pine tree across the street from the time trial start line at stage 1 of the Fitchburg Longsjo Classic. While I was fully aware of what I was pissing ON, what (or who) i was pissing OFF was another story. Apparently, as I pissed on the tree approximately 90 seconds before the start of my TT, I was being watched by a race official who, with was becoming increasingly pissed off with each additional drop of piss I added to the tree. With no knowledge of anyone's level of pissedness, I started the TT blissfully unaware of the fact that no matter how hard I pushed on the pedals, my result in the race would remain the same: DSQ. That stands for disqualified. Looking online through the results later that night, we discovered the DSQ, and Jeremy immediately called the head official to get an explanation. The official had witnessed me taking a piss, become pissed cause that was against the rules, and after arguing with him for a good long while, Jeremy became pissed at the official's stubborn manner. I, in turn, got pretty pissed at myself for pissing where the pissed official could see me. I was out of the race for the remaining 3 stages.
I'm back!!!
(Sorry for the long absence! I had a little problem at Fitchburg and didn't feel like writing, and then I was doing some hectic traveling so didn't get a chance to post, but I'll try to get everyone updated pretty soon.)
(This is something I actually posted after the Brownstown race but before Fitchburg, but I took it down to avoid Oscar the embarrassment....but sorry Oscar, I wanted to put it back up):
Shoulda been a BMXer
Our easy ride turned a bit hazardous today as Oscar and Thomas hit a sweet jump off this grass hill next to a barn on the side of the road. Sprinting off the side of the road and up over the top of this hill, Thomas was the first one to catch big air, and Oscar followed. Mike, Jackie, and I stayed safe and sound on the road to watch the two bozos in action. Right after Thomas rolled away from the jump clean, Oscar vaulted over the jump right behind him and looked to land clean himself....but not for long. The backside of the tabletop hill was really steep and Oscar landed half on it. Immediately after the landing there was a gravel driveway, and doing practically a nose-wheelie, Oscar plowed right into it and washed out, going down hard on his side. Unluckily for him the owners had decided to fill their driveway not only with gravel, but with broken bits of clam shell as well. They sliced into his skin real nice. That's his hand.
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