Monday, July 26, 2010
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
summer marches on
I followed up my 5-event night in K-town with a good old fashioned parking lot crit. Fortunately, the lot is in the shadow of Soldier Field (on Bastille Day, no less), and without gas money and a cross-state drive, everyone comes out a winner, even if there is pretty steep pricetag for this one. We're not doing a lot of road stuff this season, so it was rare to have a big squad out there. We daydreamed of delivering Jannette for the win, but the pace was hot and little gaps came everywhere in the field.
The legs were shattered so I wanted to add to the team cause early, laying down a hard pace. Turned out that a couple more gifted and rested (cat 1) cyclocrossers did the work for me, so I just did my best to stay near the front. I went all in for a t-shirt prime and with that, I was ready to punch the clock on my camera time. Luckily Jefferoi Perkuins was nearby and moved up to third wheel.
I knew I was to be dropped, so I let it happen slowly, over a couple trips into the wind on the back stretch. At least make a couple of legs suffer to close that gap. Max and Mike came around in one of those swarms, and they did a little soft-pedaling near the front, and with that, Jeff was In The Break.
Amazing, I tried to make a break happen 27 times last summer. Jeff races two crits a year and gets in one.
No fancy tricks, just plain old wheelsucking, and bam, he attacked with half a lap remaining, and took the win. He wouldn't post up or even write it up, but fortunately a picture means a thousand words.
Andrew followed up by killing the 'virtual' one mile climb up Mt. Ventoux in under 4 minutes, the record of the day by nearly 40 seconds. Nico's first road race. Daryl's our good luck charm, he races about three times a year, and we seem to win on the days he shows up. Sadly we'll have to relocate to keep that streak up, as he's about to move to Stockholm. Good times overall.
Fast forward to Kenosha, for my last little track tune up before the three day Allvoi Cup.
eh.
cat 4 unknown = 3 laps total. Lame. I tried out this thing I've heard about, "patience" they call it - it backfired, and I finished in shitth place.
Masters' 4/5 unknown = ONE lap. As in, blow the whistle, ring the bell. Super lame, but at least my premeditated attack looked clever and I held off for third.
Cat 4 Snowball - Brian and I got a gap and I tried to give this one to him (I wanted his help in the mini-main event), but he faded and I took top points in the laps seven and eight. Win.
Mini-main race: pfffft. I was tied for first coming into the final points lap and I screwed the pooch. I was the only one attacking, and it seems like there are a half a dozen Kenosha teens that love to sit in. Our three man break would grow back to six or so, and nobody would even take a decent pull. I should've been a bit smarter in the last couple laps, but as a wiser man once said: Racing is a battle between who you are and who you want to be.
The legs were shattered so I wanted to add to the team cause early, laying down a hard pace. Turned out that a couple more gifted and rested (cat 1) cyclocrossers did the work for me, so I just did my best to stay near the front. I went all in for a t-shirt prime and with that, I was ready to punch the clock on my camera time. Luckily Jefferoi Perkuins was nearby and moved up to third wheel.
I knew I was to be dropped, so I let it happen slowly, over a couple trips into the wind on the back stretch. At least make a couple of legs suffer to close that gap. Max and Mike came around in one of those swarms, and they did a little soft-pedaling near the front, and with that, Jeff was In The Break.
Amazing, I tried to make a break happen 27 times last summer. Jeff races two crits a year and gets in one.
No fancy tricks, just plain old wheelsucking, and bam, he attacked with half a lap remaining, and took the win. He wouldn't post up or even write it up, but fortunately a picture means a thousand words.
Andrew followed up by killing the 'virtual' one mile climb up Mt. Ventoux in under 4 minutes, the record of the day by nearly 40 seconds. Nico's first road race. Daryl's our good luck charm, he races about three times a year, and we seem to win on the days he shows up. Sadly we'll have to relocate to keep that streak up, as he's about to move to Stockholm. Good times overall.
Fast forward to Kenosha, for my last little track tune up before the three day Allvoi Cup.
eh.
cat 4 unknown = 3 laps total. Lame. I tried out this thing I've heard about, "patience" they call it - it backfired, and I finished in shitth place.
Masters' 4/5 unknown = ONE lap. As in, blow the whistle, ring the bell. Super lame, but at least my premeditated attack looked clever and I held off for third.
Cat 4 Snowball - Brian and I got a gap and I tried to give this one to him (I wanted his help in the mini-main event), but he faded and I took top points in the laps seven and eight. Win.
Mini-main race: pfffft. I was tied for first coming into the final points lap and I screwed the pooch. I was the only one attacking, and it seems like there are a half a dozen Kenosha teens that love to sit in. Our three man break would grow back to six or so, and nobody would even take a decent pull. I should've been a bit smarter in the last couple laps, but as a wiser man once said: Racing is a battle between who you are and who you want to be.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Recent Results Roundup
Cat 5s got a couple of races on Thursday night at Northbrook a couple weeks back. I was two days off my hat trick at Kenosha and was hoping to keep the streak alive. I cleaned up the 6 lap Tempo, getting top points three times and maybe a second place to seal the deal.
I wasn't crazy about my chances in the scratch, but I was in a great spot with three to go so I told Brian 'youngblood' Ellison to grab my wheel and just laid it down. Turns out he got squeezed out by the big man, mister David Jones, and with his teammates soft pedaling we had the gap. I gotta get better at watching what's behind me, as I just dragged him around for an easy win. Still, I won the 'omnium' and he's a good guy and sometimes you like to see a good guy get a win.
A week off then back to K-town for my debut as a 4. It wasn't *too* much different, but the events weren't my style. I played the Danish by ear and got third, which is exactly the best I could've hoped for, given the competition. I was feeling sluggish in the Masters' 4/5 miss n' out and it showed. I was the victim of a rotten call and got pulled early, but mostly it made me realize that I need to stop being lazy and swap cogs for that event.
I jumped into the 30+ unknown and rode at 101% MHR for half the race. Holy shit. Kinda covered about 65% of the dangerous moves, and was close to staying out with a guy at one point, but died on the vine, and naturally, there went the bell. I hung on for 6th. Turns out it's only for 3s or better. I suspected that but wanted to try it out nonetheless, and they didn't stop me.
The 4s miss n' out was two heats later and I was forgettable, pretty much telegraphing my doom a few laps in.
I had been looking forward to the mini-main, a 25 lap points race, and was feeling a little bummed to have burned so many matches already. Spencer, a Baraboo shark who schooled most of us at the Iowa state champs, was there. He pretty much rode away and only two of us could really put in a chase. I wasn't feeling great but it turned out everyone else was feeling worse by the third sprint. I somewhat-inadvertently pulled Nico into some points while I was trying to chase the leader and when he faded I jumped and rode solo into a couple sets of second place points, and finally caught Spencer. He hawked me for the prime and the final points, but that wasn't too surprising, and I was happy to come home with second. Well, sorta happy. Not to play the sandbagger card, but if you can ride solo off the front for 80% of a 4/5 race, I think you might be ready for the 3s. Not that I mind though, I think it's good to have it a little tougher for everyone.
A decent night all around. Jeff went up a lap (again!) in a hundred lap points race, Nordyke was looking healthy and strong, finishing 10th, and all the 4/5s that rode the Cuttin Cruiser hit the podium. (It should be said that my Masters race and the main event were likely a bit easier on account of some big guns being out for Superweek.)
Tonight: Soldier Field crit on Bastille Day! With five teammates! This should be interesting the day after five track events, as in HR = max, watts = lame.
I wasn't crazy about my chances in the scratch, but I was in a great spot with three to go so I told Brian 'youngblood' Ellison to grab my wheel and just laid it down. Turns out he got squeezed out by the big man, mister David Jones, and with his teammates soft pedaling we had the gap. I gotta get better at watching what's behind me, as I just dragged him around for an easy win. Still, I won the 'omnium' and he's a good guy and sometimes you like to see a good guy get a win.
A week off then back to K-town for my debut as a 4. It wasn't *too* much different, but the events weren't my style. I played the Danish by ear and got third, which is exactly the best I could've hoped for, given the competition. I was feeling sluggish in the Masters' 4/5 miss n' out and it showed. I was the victim of a rotten call and got pulled early, but mostly it made me realize that I need to stop being lazy and swap cogs for that event.
I jumped into the 30+ unknown and rode at 101% MHR for half the race. Holy shit. Kinda covered about 65% of the dangerous moves, and was close to staying out with a guy at one point, but died on the vine, and naturally, there went the bell. I hung on for 6th. Turns out it's only for 3s or better. I suspected that but wanted to try it out nonetheless, and they didn't stop me.
The 4s miss n' out was two heats later and I was forgettable, pretty much telegraphing my doom a few laps in.
I had been looking forward to the mini-main, a 25 lap points race, and was feeling a little bummed to have burned so many matches already. Spencer, a Baraboo shark who schooled most of us at the Iowa state champs, was there. He pretty much rode away and only two of us could really put in a chase. I wasn't feeling great but it turned out everyone else was feeling worse by the third sprint. I somewhat-inadvertently pulled Nico into some points while I was trying to chase the leader and when he faded I jumped and rode solo into a couple sets of second place points, and finally caught Spencer. He hawked me for the prime and the final points, but that wasn't too surprising, and I was happy to come home with second. Well, sorta happy. Not to play the sandbagger card, but if you can ride solo off the front for 80% of a 4/5 race, I think you might be ready for the 3s. Not that I mind though, I think it's good to have it a little tougher for everyone.
A decent night all around. Jeff went up a lap (again!) in a hundred lap points race, Nordyke was looking healthy and strong, finishing 10th, and all the 4/5s that rode the Cuttin Cruiser hit the podium. (It should be said that my Masters race and the main event were likely a bit easier on account of some big guns being out for Superweek.)
Tonight: Soldier Field crit on Bastille Day! With five teammates! This should be interesting the day after five track events, as in HR = max, watts = lame.
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