Going into this race, I knew that it would be miserable. The forecast for my 8:15 am race projected strong winds and temps in the high 20s. Had I not already preregistered, I very well may have stayed in bed. In hindsight, though, with the 3rd Kenosha Velosport Spring Training Criterium being cancelled on Sunday, I was glad that I didn’t. At least I got one race out of this weekend…and a pretty epic one it was.
It was not part of my race-day plan, but I was wide awake by 4:00 am, with my mind already in race-mode. I give up on sleep and get up at 4:15. I pull together the gear that I hadn’t already prepped the night before, stretched, got dressed, and had my ritual pre-race breakfast (Grape Nuts and raisins in vanilla-flavored soy milk, in case you were curious). I head out the door into the cold and dark at 5:45.
I’m at the Blackhawk Farms Raceway in South Beloit by 7:00. Registration is already up and running, and the process is quick and easy. The facilities are wonderful…registration is not in a tent, but rather in a nice, warm building. And in a dramatic departure from most race-day facilities, the restrooms are in their own building...and they are warm, very clean, and have showers/changing rooms.
After pinning my number, I pull the bike onto the trainer and start warming up. I have on two pairs of socks, leg warmers, a t-shirt, a short-sleeve jersey, arm warmers, a vest, and my long-sleeve jersey. I cover as much of my face as possible with a balaclava. As I warm up, I keep my fleece pullover on…and I am still cold! I warm up for a bit, then run my spares over to the wheel pit. Then it is back to the trainer to finish my warm-up and down a Clif Bar. OK, let’s get this over with!
The course is a 1.9 mile loop, roughly in the shape of a “C.” Since it is an auto/motorcycle racing speedway, the course is wide open with very smooth pavement and lots of fun twists and turns. We race clockwise around the loop, facing a brutal headwind coming into the long start/finish stretch.
I roll to the line a few minutes before 8:15 with about 40 other riders. Tower Racing has a huge presence (about 10 riders), as does xXx (about 7 riders). I am the only Wheel Fast representative, which feels very lonely after the great presence that we have had the past few weekends in Pleasant Prairie.
After the usual instructions, the whistle blows and we get off to a really slow start. We’re soft-pedaling at about 18 MPH, and I’m thinking that everyone is going to use this first lap to feel out the course and get an idea of how the wind affects the various parts of the loop. Wrong! After ¼ of a lap, a Purdue University rider jumps, and is joined by a rider each from Tower Racing and xXx. A four-man chase group forms after a few seconds, so I move to the front and hit the gas to bridge up to this group. I expend a lot of energy, cranking up to about 32 MPH to join them, but fortunately I am able to grab onto a wheel. I am realizing that my legs aren’t feeling too good at this point, and am hoping like hell that they come around. A quick peek under my arm tells me that I have hauled a few riders from the field with me, but I can’t tell how many. At some point we are joined by the rest of the peloton. The break stays away, however, and eventually develops a 45-second gap.
A xXx rider moves up toward the front, right about where I am sitting, and says “are we going to let that get away?” Well, hell no! He jumps, I grab onto his wheel, and we are joined by another xXx rider and a few Tower riders. We crank up the pace, and at one point we hear a spectator yell “they’ve got 20 seconds on you.” I take a very painful turn at the front of the paceline, then drift off for my rest. But suddenly the paceline disintegrates, then reforms, and I find myself in second position again. The lead xXx rider pulls off, so with almost no chance to recover, I find myself at the front of the line yet again. Argh. At this point, though, the field has caught up to our chase group. I let myself fall back into the safety of the pack, being careful, though, to keep myself in the front 1/3 of the field.
The scariest moment of the race comes about 20 minutes in. I am sitting on the left side of the field when a Tower rider comes up along the left and without even looking decides to squeeze in right next to me, pushing me into the rider on my right. The three of us are bumping elbows, there is the ugly sound of metal connecting with metal, and we jostle around for a few seconds. My mouth gets the best of me and I shout “don’t pinch me, [expletive deleted]!” We finally distance ourselves from each other, Tower apologizes, and I respond (a bit more calmly) with “just hold onto your line.”
We’re really cooking now. The field tops out at almost 34 MPH as we come around to the start/finish with about 8 miles of racing under us. A spectator yells out that that the 3-man break is disintegrating. Sure enough, I look up the road to see the three individual riders with distance in between each other. There are various accelerations by both xXx and Tower, and I make sure to cover all of them and keep myself toward the front. I’m really suffering now, to the point that I don’t even notice when we absorb the riders who had been in the break.
The legs are screaming at me, but as we come around with 2 laps to go I know that I’ll be able to finish this thing. As we come around with one to go, the gruppo compatto eases off on the gas. I look down at the computer to see that we are barely doing 18 MPH. I’m not complaining…it is a nice chance to shake out the legs and grab a quick drink before the madness of the final sprint. The jockeying for position really starts in earnest on the straightaway before the turn into the finish. I am too far back for my liking, so I jump up the left side and insert myself into the front 10 riders. As we make the 90-degree right hand turn, the games begin. I manage to hold my position better than I have in previous weeks. In fact, I am ecstatic to see that I am actually passing riders! I make the mistake, however, of standing up too early to mash on the pedals, and I fry the legs just a bit too quickly. That effect of that error was compounded by the Tower rider who decided that halfway to the finish would be the perfect time to just sit up and pack it in. What the hell? I have to dive to the right to avoid running straight into him, and fortunately there was no one right next to me. At this point, the best I can do is to sit down and crank as hard as possible to the line. As I eyeball the field ahead of me, I estimate that I’m finishing somewhere in the top 15.
After a cool-down lap I roll back to the car. As I take off my shoes, I am disturbed to discover that I can barely feel my toes. I throw the bike into the car, grab my wheels from the pit, and then change into my street clothes in the warmth of the bathroom. After a few minutes in the car with the heat cranked at my feet, I wander back into the warmth of registration to wait for the results. They only post to 12th place, and unfortunately I am not part of that group. So I’ll just have to wait until the full results get posted online.
I drive away pretty happy with the results. I fought through brutal cold and wind, bridged up to a chase group, covered all the various moves, almost got taken down, and through it all finished pretty strong. All in all, it was a great, well-organized race, and the course was awesome. I highly recommend that everyone keep in mind to put it on their calendars for next year.
STATS:
Race time: 38:59
Distance: 15.15
Average pace: 2:34/mile
Average speed: 23.3
Max speed: 33.9
Average HR: 166Max HR: 181
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