Tour of Elk Grove 4's - Where's my power?

Chicago residents are no strangers to traffic, but it was quite a surprise to find the Kennedy at a standstill as we headed out to Elk Grove from the city... so much for a pre-race warmup, we figured. When we arrived, it was clear that this event was as well organized as last year - 40 minutes prior to the start of the first race, barricades and cameras were in place, the finish line was striped, and not to be outdone by Da Mare, Elk Grove had a Jumbotron!

Registration was another story... Race organizers: Pre-registration benefits organizer and racer alike. One of the ways you can make everyone's life easier is to pre-fill USAC waivers on behalf of your participants so the check-in process goes much smoother. You get a legible form, we don't have to scramble to find a decent writing surface. Deal. It took almost 20 minutes to sign my form and get my numbers... and there was no line when I walked up to the table. By the time I walked away, there were at least 10 people waiting.

While changing for the race, the 5's were off and it was strung out from the beginning... I thought it was a preview lap at first, but when I saw the leaders' speeds it was apparent that the 5's were strung out from the beginning. No such luck for us. When we got to the staging area to line up, everyone was antsy - it was getting quite warm out and first race had gotten off a few minutes late. Once the pace car confirmed the course was clear of the previous race, we were told to head to the line, no preview lap. At the line, the referee announced that our race was being cut to 25 minutes + 2 instead of the prescribed 30 minutes + 1. Positioning at the line is critical in this narrow course, so I moved up as far as possible. We started fast, and the group strung out a good bit due to some poor clip-ins at the line. Having raced the 5's last year, I knew this course. Elk Grove's L-shaped course features 180 degree turns that create a nightmarish accordion crashfest if you're in the back of the pack, somewhere I planned to stay far away from... plans change. For the first several laps, I stayed in the front 10 wheels, even chasing down a few attacks on the backstretch. For a bit it seemed that a break might get away, but despite my efforts to block they weren't quite far enough out to hold. Having been off the bike for most of July due to moving, vacation, and my insane work schedule, I knew that these August races would be tough, but I hadn't anticipated having little to no power coming out of the corners. For whatever reason, I just couldn't accelerate like I used to - a serious detriment in this race. With two to go I was spit out the back with a fellow teammate. We worked together to finish strong, determined not to let a pack of ~10 or so catch us. We managed to stay away, finishing in the bottom of the results.

In all, a well organized event despite some challenges at registration. I just need to figure out where the hell my power went. If anyone finds it, let me know - I'll have you overnight it to me. I could use it.

Chicago Criterium Race Report

Between being off the bike for three weeks and this being my first proper 4's race, I knew that my result in the Chicago Criterium wouldn't be pretty, but since it was the inaugural event and the start/finish was only 6 miles from home... you just gotta race it!

This course, wow. Holy awesome. A little something for everyone - small climbs, a technical backstretch, and WIDE sprinting lanes. These are the elements that criterium dreams are made of. I'm not sure if Chicago stumbled across this throu dumb luck or if they had experts design it, but this is what a crit is suppose to be... the fact that it's almost half a mile away from the closest Burger King sits well with most riders, too. It was clear that Chicago was on display for the IOC, with banners and inflatables touting the Chicago 2016 Summer Olympics bid. In all, for the first year of the event, things seemed to be set up and staged well from a race execution perspective.

After hearing about some of the carnage in the earlier races, I decided that I didn't want to crash a third time this season so I figured I'd sit in the middle and see how things looked from there. Bad move. I should have known it was going to be a hammerfest when Dave Fowlkes announced that we were racing 30min + 2 rather than the scheduled 35+1. A minor difference, true... but throwing a wrench into things by cutting the time always seems to move a race a bit uptempo. From the get go, this was F A S T. I've ridden with a lot of these 4's when we were all 5's and/or in 4/5 combined fields... but never on a course this wide open. 25mph on the short ends, 35mph on the front and back stretch, including the Congress Parkway semicircle. I floated from the middle of the pack to the back quarter, where the accordion effect was terrible. Several times I'd try to move up, but the 119 riders in the field managed to fill the spacious course and made moving up quite the chore. I managed to hang with the group for about 20-22 minutes until I popped off the back when everyone accelerated with a prime sprint. I did get lapped with one to go, but managed to get out of the pack's way in choosing the "wrong" line through the course so they could safely pass. I'm pretty sure I was DFL, but at least I wasn't pulled.

In all, the race was smooth and safe, with only one crash that I didn't witness as I was off the back - apparently someone went down on the Michigan/Balbo corner, causing many riders to slow themselves out of contention.

I look forward to this race next year - hopefully I'll be in better shape. I was dissapointed in my result, but I still had a blast.

You did good on dis one, Da Mare.

Proctor Cycling Classic

At the start of the season, I laid out my racing schedule and placed Proctor as my last Cat 5 race, it being my 10th mass start. I ended up racing Cobb Park last week so it was actually my 11th race, but stuck to the plan upgrade-wise.

To most people’s surprise, the 5’s field didn’t fill up - my guess that’s because of the high price of gas and the the lack of a road race… makes it hard to justify the drive all the way to Peoria, especially for a ~25 minute race. Looking at the field of 35ish riders, it was clear that the guys from Wild Card Cycling (Champaign, IL) had the largest presence with 7 - the four of us would have to either work with them or try to recruit others if we wanted to work against them. I’ve been in several races with these guys and we’ve always gotten along well and “played nice” so we decided to continue that trend.

The pace started out pretty fast on the hourglass course, ~25 on the straights and ~20 on the corners, the smaller and more technical top half of the course clearly slowing the pack down - this clearly would be the place to make moves.

Had I only known that I was riding in front of Unlucky Rob.

I Crashed on turn 5, about 1/3 way through the third lap (rear flatted on a 20+mph corner), didn’t take anyone else out with me even though I was ~8th wheel. While sliding across the pavement (whee) I somehow kept my hands on the bars and managed to make myself as small as possible so I wouldn’t be run over. As soon as the majority of the peleton passed me, I knew I had to get up. I ran the 4 blocks back to the wheel pit as fast as I could, got a 404 from SRAM’s neutral support and was back in it. It took me a lap to get back on, but I contested the next prime, unknowingly leading the winner out… He could have the innertubes and socks, I was happy to be back in contention. The pack had spit out several riders at this point, no doubt my crash had created a gap attributing to that. The remainder of the race was fast and fairly smooth, with only one instance of an unattached rider breaking his line and cutting inside, almost pushing a Wild Card rider into one of the 6” curbs on turn 9 with a lap to go. At the bell, the group accelerated and lined out before regrouping on the backstretch.. I was 12th wheel on the slight uphill leading into the last corner and powered down the long sprint, picking up a bunch of spots on the sprint to finish 6th.

As usual, positioning going into the sprint is everything, but all things considered I had a great race and I’m happy with my top 10, bleeding.