Indian Lakes Cyclocross Race Report

Since South Chicago Wheelmen decided to deviate from the ChiCrossCup formula and host the Indian Lakes race on a Saturday, I was able to sleep in and generally have a lazy Saturday morning - something that hasn't happened in several years. It was great! Pancakes, Awful TV, Newspaper, Coffee. Yes.

It was already 62F outside when I packed up the car to head out to Bloomingdale, and once there it was indeed a perfect day. I forgot the camera so no pictures, sorry. After pre-riding the course a couple of times and watching the 3's, Juniors/Women, and 1/2/3's race, I'd decided that heckling was far too much fun to miss the hecklespectacle of the 4b's race and went to registration to up my category to 4a.

Right off the bat, I was in a bad spot - 4th row before callups. Ugh. As we scooted forward from the holding pen to the start line, I was able to gain a row, but that wasn't of much comfort. This course didn't have much of a hole shot unfortunately, the first 100m or so were just a straight on sprint into a quick and technical 90 degree right, 180, 90 degree right section, followed by another fast 100m before a barrier and the run-up. With the tape staying wide throughout all of this, the first few minutes of the race were a battle to keep your wheels away from others while staying upright and making sure you weren't behind a bad wheel.

I ran the hill the first time because there just wasn't enough space to remount the bike... probably should have run it every lap. After descending and a quick loop around to the back side, there was another barrier and another trip up the hill, albeit the steeper side. The race was a little more strung out at this point so I found my rhythm and settled in. The first sand pit was rideable on the first lap, but I couldn't ride the last meter or so on subsequent laps - I ran the second sand pit every time. On the third(I think) lap, I got to my fateful last meter of the first sand pit, stalled, and attempted to dismount. In my haste, I felt my shoe make contact with something hard - helmet, perhaps? I looked back and saw there had been a guy on my wheel, and I'd just kicked him in the head. After a winded, brief exchange and apology we were off once again.

Pacing is difficult for me in Cyclocross because it requires a pretty immense effort for me to just make the bike move, but I was able to make some progress in this race. With 2 laps to go, I backed off just enough to only let 2 people pass me - this let me get some recovery time in for the last lap, where I drilled it as hard as I could. Coming in on the back stretch, there was a fairly long grass/pavement section where I dialed it up to about 30mph and passed 5 or 6 riders. I wasn't entirely sure that my brakes would slow me down in time for the 180 around the tree that followed, but I was able to bleed enough speed to negotiate that turn without problem.

In picking those guys up, I finished 48th out of about 70 starters. Not in the points or cash, but respectable enough for me.

In all - a great race hosted by the South Chicago Wheelmen. I'm hoping the ChiCrossCup can return here next year, especially since the amenities at this race were the best out of the entire series (Hot Tubs and a Heated Locker Room!).

Oh yeah, and I didn't break a thing, despite numerous heckles encouraging me to "destroy that bike!"

Bartlett Chicrosscup

Why do I look pissed, angry at the world? Not because I've managed to isolate the source of my lower back pains and have resolved it, not because I just got passed... because I totally screwed up the sprint for the hole shot by not clipping in quick enough and not being as aggressive as I should be.

As seems to be the case, I was slowly and steadily picked up and dropped by several riders through the three laps in my 4b's race, which wouldn't have bothered me if I hadn't been 20th+ at the first corner. I almost puked three different times, and every time I looked down at my Garmin, it further confirmed that I was "doing it right", with an average 183bpm on the course.

I finished in the top half, 37th our of 73 starters. 7 places away from points that would have helped the team's overall standings, but it was still a fun race. I've found my ability to corner at speed while staying off the brakes, and seem to have figured out what kind of tire pressure I can run in order to keep the tire on the rim. Those two combined to give me some pretty good efficiency through the technical sections - I was making ground on people and felt really good about the race. The "heckle hill" run-up was a different story - A knobbier rear would have helped as I was spinning out 3/4 of the way up the hill pretty much every time. I'll definitely be throwing my other set of tires in the trunk just in case the St. Charles race is similarly muddy.


Looking at me next to the other guys out there, it's safe to say that I'm the biggest guy in the race. Sure, I've got surplus kilos on me, but don't we all this time of year? Right after I finished and was dry heaving, a Bicycle Heaven rider dismounted and laid in the grass next to his buddies. As he's laying there, panting...

Rider: "Man, I couldn't catch that big xXx dude..."
Buddy: "Which one?"
Rider: "The fat fucker, on the Yellow Trek, man - I just couldn't get him!"
Me: "Uh, are you talking about me?"
Buddy: "Dude, he's right over there."
Rider (Rolls over to see me standing 15 feet away): "Oh yeah - dude, I couldn't catch you! Good riding"

I can only imagine where that conversation would have gone without my interjection. All I have to say about the situation is that if I had the body mass of that guy, there's a lot more people who wouldn't have been able to catch "the big xXx dude...on the yellow trek".

In other news, I didn't break anything!

Soldier Field Cycling

Soldier Field Cycling #1



I had no idea what to expect when I arrived at the south parking lot last night. The http://www.soldierfieldcycling.com/ site was well put together and showed a lot of promise, but designing a website is quite different from designing a race course and playing host to a bunch of twitchy roadies with calories to burn.

When we rolled up, I was impressed by the inflatable start/finish archway courtesy of SRAM as well as the Kozy's Cyclery and Pepsi Max presence. There was a good amount of signage around the start/finish that indicated financial support from other businesses such as Chipotle. For a group who hadn't promoted and hosted a bicycle race before, they seemed to be way ahead of what some well-established teams manage to coordinate.

The registration table was a breeze since I had pre-registered, though the USAC waivers weren't already filled out with my information. (Race Organizers take note - you can make your lives and ours easier if you pre-fill the waivers for preregistered riders!) I whipped out one of my handy pre-filled forms, added the race name and date, signed and recieved my number. With the Women's race down to 5 laps to go, I pinned up and noticed that there sure seemed to be a lot of people warming up - it was later confirmed that the 4/5 race had indeed sold out via pre-registration.

Soldier Field Cycling's course was well marked with cones, barricades, and fencing - and the appropriate medium was in the appropriate place- rather than barriers in tight corners, cones or snow fencing was used to minimize injuries in the event of a crash. Well thought out, Soldier Field Cycling. Recognizing that race organizers can only go so far in preparing a course, I can't complain about the parking lot's surface too much... except for the huge hole in between two of the hairiest turns on the course. I'm convinced this hole is what kept the race so strung out. Between turns 3 & 4 was a 5 foot long, two foot wide gash in the pavement that was filled with water. I'm hoping that Chicago Park District is able to get out and patch this thing before the next race on July 1st.

Racing went well. Being a brand new course and a 4/5 race at the same time, the first two laps seemed rather tenative as people seemed to be sizing up the competition. I started out about 10th wheel and quickly decided that I wanted to use this race as an opportunity to work on things I struggle with and to try something I've never done before... I started with the latter and decided to take a flyer.

With a strong xXx presence doing quite a lot of work at the front, I moved from about 20th wheel to the front at which point I realized that I was going about 5mph faster than my teammates and I'd have to hit the brakes to settle in with them. Rather than letting friction undo my hard work, I shifted, stood, and rocketed off the front to see what would happen. Having watched many, many of these unsuccessful efforts in the past, I expected to be chased down rather quickly. To my surprise, I managed to stay off for an entire lap while a chase effort was put together by the field, no thanks to my blocking teammates I'm sure. I managed to get about 1/3 of a lap on the field at one point, but after passing the time clock with 18 minutes to go, I knew I couldn't time trial my way to victory and soft pedaled until I was caught.

The remainder of the race I shifted from hanging off the back to mid-pack and with single digit laps to go I seemed to find myself on the wheel of the next guy being dropped... I'd realize what was happening and have to sprint to make up not only the rubberband but also make up the gap that had formed between the pack and the dropped rider. Each time I managed to catch the pack, but I also towed a fair number of riders back up with me, who showed their gratitude by accelerating around me as soon as we caught back on.

I had a blast at the inaugural Soldier Field Cycling race last night and I'm very much looking forward to the remainder of the series. It was sketchy at times, but no more so than most 75-rider 4/5 criteriums.

Many thanks to the folks at Soldier Field Cycling and all of the sponsors who helped make it happen. Here's to a Chipotle burrito prime next time!

Wonder Lake Criterium

I'd waited until the last minute to decide to race Wonder Lake, and I'm very glad that I made the drive out there for the race. The course was easy to find, the weather couldn't have been more perfect.

When we arrived, I wasn't surprised that the course went through a residential area, though the mailboxes lining every street were a little disconcerting. No attacking in the gutter on this one! I took a preview lap of the course - smooth pavement, no sealant-filled cracks to get your tire stuck in, and a nice little downhill immediately before the finish. Despite all of these positive characteristics, I couldn't help but think that this course was quite narrow for the advertised field sizes. With the road as narrow as twelve feet(a guesS) between turns 1 and 2 I'm not sure what the officials would have done had the 4's field reached the limit of 100 riders - no way you could get that many out here without some carnage. With 24 starting riders, we still had a few issues but overall the 4's kept things safe.

In the past, I've had problems in staying at the front and have always been dropped. I knew that I'd be able to move around in the field since it was so small, so I allowed myself to move back and forth a few times. My track experience suits me well because I'm more comfortable in tight situations than I ever have been, but I found myself braking into turns several times and having to put considerable efforts in to make up for it. Backing off the brakes in lap four I found it much easier to keep my speed even and was grateful to keep my position through every turn.

Throughout the beginning of the race, I managed to stay in the top 10 wheels despite being on the brakes, but had been slowly drifting back. Around 10 minutes into the race, we came across the start/finish and a kid on a BMX bike cut across the course only feet from the lead rider. This really freaked a bunch of people out since we'd been coming through around 28-30mph, and many riders sat up. Capitalizing on this, a few people attacked, entirely mixing the field up. Within the next few laps, we came around turn 4 and got another "present" - someone had backed a white minivan out of a driveway and was sitting in the middle of the course as we came down the hill at 30mph right before the finish line. A rider yelled "we need to cool it a bit guys this is too much" and the race did seem to slow a bit.

Despite the general slowing, I wasn't interested in the probing attacks being thrown off the front by Bob, Dave and Tom so I allowed myself to drift back. The rubberband effect was noticeable but wasn't so bad because of the small field, but it was there. With the pace slowed, I moved up a wheel or two each lap to make sure I was placed well. Positioned in the middle, I noticed that people were starting to jockey for position, including the rider that decided to move up on my outside right before turn one. I felt handlebars in my hip, and noticed a mailbox coming up on my left so I took a quick glance - I heard a wheel rub and saw a flash of blue heading through someone's front yard. I pedaled HARD through turn one to distance myself from that lunacy.

With three to go and a predictable pattern of slowing/accelerating, I carefully chose my efforts to maximize positioning on the last five laps. Many props to the teamwork shown by Dave Dokko, pulling the entire field HARD and stringing things out for two or three solid laps. Sitting near the middle with with one to go, I made my move up the inside between turns one and two, then up the outside between turns two and three. I didn't make it up as far as I'd have liked on that last effort, but seeing four teammates ahead of me I knew that we'd have some good results on the day. Coming around the LONG outside of a sweeping turn four I put the hammer down, pushing my Tiburzi into a 38mph sprint and netting 10th place. Tom Briney closed a decent gap to take the top of the Podium, with Bob taking a respectable 6th place finish.

I'm hoping that Wonder Lake will be on the calendar for next year, but with some field size limitations and some additional staff to marshal the course. It's a fantastic area with great scenery, but isn't suitable for large fields.

2009 Hillsboro-Roubaix Race Report

Going into this race, I had no plans to win - I've come to terms with the fact that I don't stand a chance in races with climbs. My goal: stay with the pack for the first lap, at least through feed zone hill. The race started out as expected, the "neutral" rollout from town being anything but neutral. With fields this size and a centerline rule in effect (more on that later) people were taking any chance they had to move closer to the front. I was about halfway back at the start but was trying to make space for teammates to move up and lost about 20 spots through the first 20 or so miles.

As we wound our way through the Illinois countryside, it became pretty obvious that people weren't too concerned about the centerline rule. Numerous times I'd be riding "too close for comfort" when a rider or two would move past me. At one point, the Commisaire was on the course and stood out into the road, yelling "GET OVER, ALL OF YOUSE!", slowing the field down considerably. For the next half mile or so we tightened up, but then it was shitshow as usual once the officials weren't around. As we started to turn south into the roller-esque section, the speed modulation started... in awful fashion. At one point I became the cheese of a wheel rub sandwich, but we all kept the rubber side down, though I'm sure the everyone's heart rates spiked as a result. I managed to keep my wits about me and stay in a decent echelon draft through most of the crosswinds, though I found myself on the "wrong side" several times as the result of a quick series of turns.

As we hit the feed zone my arch nemesis Gravity started to tug at my seatpost, pulling me further and further back within the group.

I felt like I was riding one of these.

By the time I hit the bottom of the second climb, the leaders were at the bricks and the back of the group had already crested... my race was over, yet far from over. At the top of the second climb, I noticed that riders were strung out, casualties of the attack between the climbs. As we bounced our way through town on the bricks, I started calling out to the far-flung riders that we'd need to work together if we had any hope of surviving the this race with any kind of dignity. We were 3 men strong as we rolled past the start/finish. As we rolled out of town, I saw a photographer on the side of the road and decided that a downnhill sprint was in order... at least look good while you're losing, right? The group sensed an attack and followed, so we caught a few more as we crested the first climb out of town, when a Ghisallo rider attacked. We all agreed that we didn't want any part of it, so we let him go.

As we turned into the first crosswind, I polled the group to see if they knew how to rotate through an echelon draft. 2 of us did, so I put myself on the other side of the rotation from him and we got it going smoothly. As we'd make turns into variying wind directions, I'd command "straight line!", "echelon right!", "echelon left!" etc, and we made some seriously good time, picking up 5 or 6 more riders in the first 8-10 miles out of town. It felt great to be able to organize the group like that, and a few riders thanked me for directing the group.

Once on the back stretch, we picked up another group of 5ish riders and it quickly became clear that they were looking for wheels to suck. At one point, a rider pulled off and started digging through his jersey pockets for something... to my surprise he pulled out... a completely sealed Clif Bar. In a Race. His fully open vest flapping in the wind, I ask him, "dude are you seriously eating a bar?" His response: "I'mstarvinghaven'teatenanything". Since we were 1:20 into the race at that point, I said "Welcome to bonktown", took a pull, and we dropped him.

The remaining 10 miles back to town, the original group and one or two of the newly caught riders would pull through the Echelon, but the rest were there for the ride. As we approached feed zone hill, the Ghisallo rider who had taken that early 2nd lap flyer attacked, and I chased along with a guy from Wheel Fast. About 3/4 of the way up the hill, my legs were cooked... I looked down at the powertap to see 800 something Watts and 194bpm. I looked behind me and didn't see any shoulder numbers starting with a '4' so I settled in and started to recover. I tried to bridge up to Wheel Fast and Ghisallo on the bricks, but they had too much space on me and finished about 150m ahead - I came in 62nd. After the race, Wheel Fast rolled over and told me that he'd gotten the Ghisallo rider at the line, he was intent on doing so because "that guy sucked wheel for the last half and never took a pull", which I hadn't noticed from my obstructed view cheap seats in the pain cave.

In all, it was a successful Hillsboro - I didn't get pushed into the gutter like last year, and I was able to stay with the group to the point that I had set out to. I'm also quite satisfied that I was able to lead my group through some pretty tricky draft formation changes despite not knowing any of them from Adam. Until next year, Hillsboro... maybe I'll figure out how to climb and it'll be a different story.

Compton Destructocross

This week's ChiCrossCup race was in St. Charles and the course was set up wonderfully - kudos to the organizers! I made the pilgrimage out to Kane county with two teammates for the 4b's race - we didn't have a chance to pre-ride the course due to lack of time, but I figured that my lack of fitness would outweigh any advantage that the pre-ride might afford me.

I'd been to Randy's to get this bike fitted to me, and we changed the whole cockpit around, so I was really looking forward to how I'd feel on the bike for this race. That said, I had my first DNF ever... and it certainly wasn't for lack of spirit or trying. The bike fit felt pretty good though.

I was in a good spot at the start - managed to stay top 20 for the first half of lap 1 when... BANG. Front tire blowout. I didn't know it at the time, but it seems that the bead on my front tire decided to give up the ghost. Whee.

can you even GET wire-bead cross tires?

Right after finishing at Carpentersville, I had noticed that my front tire was behaving strangely - the bead was atop the rim rather than hooked inside it. I quickly deflated the tire and popped it back onto the rim... I suppose I should have been more diligent and checked the condition of the bead.

The bang was loud enough that several teammates ran over and asked me if I had wheels in the pit... I responded that I didn't, and they yelled back that they'd meet me in the pit with a wheel - since this course's pit was right at the start/finish and was single sided, that meant I got to run the second half of the course rolling my bike aside me. As I passed the officials, I commented "it's a lot more fun when you can ride the bike" to which Dave Fowkes replied "i'm with ya on that one".

I grabbed the new wheel and set off again - the majority of the field had passed me just after I flatted so I knew that I had pretty much no chance of catching on - this had become a workout. When I came back through the chicane where most of the spectators were, my hero Mike Seguin was there with the beer handup. SWEET. I certainly wasn't expecting it, so I was moving too fast and crushed the cup, sending most of the beer into my glove, but I did get a good bit of it in my mouth. With a delicious right hand, I powered through the remainder of the lap - this was my only full lap of the course.

I was passed by the race leader after the first barricade - this served as a motivator. I cleared the sand pit and went into the backside's off-camber chicane when I was passed by #2. Atop the hill, I could see that most of the riders were opposite my position on the course, so I stood a decent chance of catching one or two of them if I'd just get my ass into gear. I powered through the spectator area and was approaching the last barricade when the chain gods saw fit to punish me... POP. Since i'm now a chain-breaking veteran I managed to keep the bike upright, thought I'm pretty sure that my knee hit my bars, it's pretty pissed off at me right now.

Since I had a SRAM chain on this bike, I figured I'd see if the break was close to the powerlink and I might be able to piece things together... no luck - the pin that snapped did so leaving only the outer plates so I knew my race was over. I then walked back to the officials area and let them know that I was DNF for a mechanical, then went back to the spectator area for some brats and a beer while watching the end of the race.

the day's casaulties.

I suppose I'm now in the market for another chain, does anyone have any suggestions? I've popped three PC-971's in 2008... there's gotta be a better solution for a clydesdale drivetrain. I snapped a KMC 1/8" track chain earlier this year - that's how I found out about the heavy duty Izumi chains. Is there a road equivalent?

Although I only rode one full lap at Compton, I am quite proud that my lap included a successful beer handup. When you've got race priorities like these, cyclocross is WAY more fun.

Jackson Park Cyclocross Race Report

See the race on MotionBased: http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/6817646

after 30 minutes of pain

xXx's Cyclocross offering in Jackson Park kicked off the Chicago Cross Cup for 2008. I arrived plenty early so I could watch the hour-long Pro/1/2 race - I wanted to see how experienced cross racers would ride the course - what lines they took approaching barricades, etc.

Heeding Randy's advice from the previous week, I pre-rode the ~1.25mi course twice. Generally flat, it provided some rather technical off-camber turns into barricades, 180 degree turns transitioning pavement to grass, and long straightaways allowing for passing. The course was generally narrow enough to make passing difficult outside of the straightaways, so I knew that positioning at the start would be critical to avoiding the inevitable traffic jam as the peleton headed into the first narrow section.

I managed to line up on the second row, inside at the start - at the time it seemed like the 4a group was big when I watched the start of that race, but now it seemed like there were MORE guys in the 4b race.

Dave Fowkes gave us our pre-race speech and started us off. The rider ahead of me clipped in properly and was off like a rocket - I was able to do the same and followed his wheel out of the start/finish area. I charged hard into the first narrow section, somewhere around 8th wheel. As I wound through, I caught the jam-up in my peripheral vision and charged ahead. I approached the off-camber-dismount-into-a-barricade and popped off the bike perfectly, somehow. I suitcased the bike up to the next barricade instead of rolling it (was yelled at for this), cleared the second barricade and remounted, clipped in, and was off again. Never had I so cleanly mounted/dismounted before. I was about 10th wheel when I came to the third barricade and dropped my chain... tried being uber-PRO and shift it back on, but it wasn't happening. I grabbed the chain, pitched it onto the small ring, and got back on the bike. I dropped my chain on that same spot 2 laps later... not sure what I was doing wrong. After the first chain drop I knew I was mid-pack and that it was unlikely I'd catch up, so I settled into a tempo and rode, trying to keep from being passed any further.

On the last lap, the intensity caught up with me and I just had no gas left in the tank but I pushed it out as hard as I could. On the back half, Guy Graves yelled "MOVE YOUR ASS ITS THE LAST LAP" which found me with more energy, somehow... knowing that there was a decent pavement section before the finish, I shifted into my 53x24 and stood on it, sprinting like there was no tomorrow - I hit the pavement and worked through the gears, hitting the grass again around 22-23mph and passing 2 or 3 riders in disbelief. I almost puked about 15 seconds after that last effort but held it back. Puke smell doesn't come out of bar tape, so I'm told.

My goal for the race was to survive, finishing without breaking anything. The bike's ok, I'm ok, and it was fun.

Before I raced, I wasn't sure if I'd like cyclocross. I found that answer in Jackson Park. :)

Luke's Race Photos




crossposted at: http://www.xxxracing.org/index.php?/site/reports/jackson_park_cyclocross/

Chicago Triathlon Race Report

2008 Chicago Triathlon Race Report - Aug 24 2008

Going into this race, I knew that I hadn't put the effort into it this year like I had in the year prior - my training schedule in 2007 was entirely focused on this race, with bike races as secondary. When planning this year out, I really thought that I'd be able to "do it all", mixing triathlons in with a full schedule of road races and crits... not so much. Over the winter I became much more comfortable in the water - a requirement for a race like Escape from Alcatraz. I hadn't been on a strict training regimen since June, so I knew that I would be "coasting" on residual swimming fitness since I'd only been in the pool a max of once a week for the last few months.

Tracy arrived just in time for me to hand off my flip flops and get lined up - I had tucked a GU into the ankle of my wetsuit but by the time I zipped up it was nowhere to be found. Great. Looking around, I noticed that the wave was MUCH bigger than it had been in years past... all Men's Clydesdales were starting in Wave 27. Great. We started getting into the water and I positioned myself in the middle, only having to tread water for about 30 seconds before we were off. I started my Garmin and flattened out into the water.

oblivious me.

For as many guys as there were in the wave, the beginning of the swim wasn't too bad. I quickly made my way up to the front third of the wave, only having to swim over the top of two or three people to get there. About 300 yards out my goggles fogged to the point where I couldn't see a thing, so I moved over to the seawall where I could lick the lenses - this did the trick and I was fine for the remainder of the swim. We were at the Shedd Aquarium before I knew it, while turning around the buoy I peeked back and realized that I was pulling most of the group - there weren't too many pink caps ahead of me! I stuck it out for another 200-300 yards and started feigning fatigue - no point in letting these suckers draft me for the entire swim - it was their turn to do some work. It only took a few "soft" strokes in the water to be passed, at which time I promptly jumped into the leader's wake and matched his rhythm. With 100yd to go, I kicked into high gear and oxygen debt, even managing to breathe bilaterally in order to get out of the water as quickly as possible.

The run from the water always sucks. My first year I did it without stashing shoes. Mistake. I had my shoes in a good spot this year, so I stopped to put them on, along with my xXx jersey that I had laid on top of them. I fiddled with getting my Garmin onto my wrist, something I shouldn't have wasted time with since it was going to be clipped onto the bike anyways... but who's thinking logically during T1 anyways? Tracy was right there to lend support - I don't know if she was talking to me, yelling, screaming, or had signs - I knew she was there but was so "in the zone" that the world was on mute.

this run always sucks.

I got to transition and my bike with ease - I had prewalked it and knew exactly where I was going. Not many of my wave's bikes were gone and for that I was thrilled and thankful... I've not had that happen before since my swim has always sucked. I put on my socks and shoes, donned my helmet and rolled out, putting my gloves on while maneuvering the bike with the other hand (that's really hard to do, by the way).

Starting out onto the bike course I knew my legs just weren't in prime shape - they felt sluggish even when I passed through the Oak Street Chicane. Sunday's headwind certainly wasn't helping, I could barely maintain 19 mph regardless of how I positioned myself. Encouraged by the spaceship sounds of my borrowed Zipp 606's (thanks, Mission Bay!) I tried my best to put the hammer down and get myself up to Foster Ave for the turn back south, figuring I could make up the lost time on the southbound stretches. Once turned south, I found that the pavement was somehow in WORSE condition than it was for Bike the Drive. Great. Tanks to Da Mare for dat won. Hizzoner could have had CDOT put some effort into Lake Shore Drive, especially since this will likely be the Olympic Triathlon course if/when Chicago 2016 happens and the IOC was likely watching this event. Potholes, cracks, rough patches... and a BIG ASS HOLE FULL OF SAND awaited us on the southbound stretch. I managed to recognize the inconsistent pavement far enough in advance to avoid most of it, but it was hard to find a rhythm when constantly swerving to avoid people/holes/aero drink sponges/water bottles. Southbound, the wind helped a great deal but it just wasn't enough for me to average the 40km/h I needed to come in at an hour for the bike leg. As I passed Chicago Ave on the way to T2 I ate another GU to prepare for the run. While coming down the suicide ramp before dismount, I heard a bunch of people yell out for me - I presumed these were xXxers who saw me coming down the ramp (I had my team jersey on).

"suicide" u-turn onto lower randolph

Transition still wasn't terribly busy... and there were few bikes on my wave's rack. I still wasn't going to celebrate too much as the run is BY FAR my weakest event. I took off my helmet, threw on my shoes and grabbed my crack pack (Enervitene) as I was already feeling that I'd need it just to get through the run. I headed out with apprehension - on last year's run I experienced some of the worst foot pain I've ever had... it felt like a needle being shoved through the ball of my foot... pretty sweet. Around Mile 2 the pain kicked in, both feet this time but the left foot being far worse than the right. As last year, if I alternated between running and walking and stayed in the gravel/grass I knew I'd make it. Keeping in mind that I was targeting 2:45, I had started on pace to hit that number but having to walk some would prevent me from achieving that goal - the pain was sufficient that I didnt' care. I found another guy who I had started the race with while running, he was having problems with chest congestion and just couldn't get enough air. We leapfrogged each other doing the walk/run drill until around mile 3 we started to encourage one another to get moving. I knew that I had to beat last year's time... I had a fever, and the only prescription was to HTFU and more cowbell. Someone was ringing it, because I came out of the LSD tunnel with some energy for the last 200m and finished strong.

Overall, I managed to place three full minutes faster than last year at 2:56, also first in my Division - Men 250+ Lb Under 39y/o. I'll take that.

first in my division. didn't know it at the time.

Here's my splits from the past 3 years (click to embiggen).

2008 Chicago Triathlon, FTW!

I won my division. Holy kick ass sweet.



The guy who came in behind me was 4 minutes faster in the swim, but I was 4 minutes faster on the bike... he was 50 seconds faster than me on the run. He lost the race in transition. My T1 was 2:47 faster, T2 was 13 seconds faster.

It totally pays to roll your socks off so you can get them back onto wet feet faster :)

Full race report pending.

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.