The first 42 minutes of this race were a blast. The last two minutes…not so much.
The course is a 0.70 mile loop, roughly in the shape of Nevada (for lack of a better description). Shortly after leaving the start/finish, there was a sweeping left hand turn (into both a headwind and a slight uphill), then a narrow 90-degree turn onto a divided boulevard, a quick right/left jog, then another 90-degree turn past the “party house” (more on that later), and lastly a sweeping turn back onto the long start/finish stretch along the Kankakee River. Temps were in the mid-80s with 10 mph winds and 50% humidity.
Today officially marked Kev’s return to racing after his crash at the Monsters of the Midway Criterium. We had decided to race the Masters 30+ 4/5 race. We got in a good, albeit sweaty, warm-up on the trainers before rolling over to the course to pedal around as we watched the last few laps of the women’s 1/2/3 race. Kev’s wife Kim had come to cheer us on and take pictures, and was positioned along the scenic start/finish straightaway across from the river.
About 40 riders rolled to the line, with good representation from South Chicago Wheelmen and xXx, along with Beverly Bike/Vee Pak and Proctor. Immediately after taking off, a rider took a flier off the front. Shouts of “let him dangle” echoed around the field. I started midway through the field and was subject to some unnecessarily hard braking through the turns and the jog…the dreaded “caterpillar” effect. As we came around to the start/finish stretch, I used the wide road to move up along the left side of the peloton, hitting 34 mph in the process. I firmly insert myself into the very front of the field. I lost track of Kev, but hoped that he was somewhere right behind me.
The course is a 0.70 mile loop, roughly in the shape of Nevada (for lack of a better description). Shortly after leaving the start/finish, there was a sweeping left hand turn (into both a headwind and a slight uphill), then a narrow 90-degree turn onto a divided boulevard, a quick right/left jog, then another 90-degree turn past the “party house” (more on that later), and lastly a sweeping turn back onto the long start/finish stretch along the Kankakee River. Temps were in the mid-80s with 10 mph winds and 50% humidity.
Today officially marked Kev’s return to racing after his crash at the Monsters of the Midway Criterium. We had decided to race the Masters 30+ 4/5 race. We got in a good, albeit sweaty, warm-up on the trainers before rolling over to the course to pedal around as we watched the last few laps of the women’s 1/2/3 race. Kev’s wife Kim had come to cheer us on and take pictures, and was positioned along the scenic start/finish straightaway across from the river.
About 40 riders rolled to the line, with good representation from South Chicago Wheelmen and xXx, along with Beverly Bike/Vee Pak and Proctor. Immediately after taking off, a rider took a flier off the front. Shouts of “let him dangle” echoed around the field. I started midway through the field and was subject to some unnecessarily hard braking through the turns and the jog…the dreaded “caterpillar” effect. As we came around to the start/finish stretch, I used the wide road to move up along the left side of the peloton, hitting 34 mph in the process. I firmly insert myself into the very front of the field. I lost track of Kev, but hoped that he was somewhere right behind me.
The “party house” was at the corner of Turn 3. There was a large group of residents gathered in one yard to watch the race and cheer on all the riders. Unlike at the Winfield Twilight Crit a few weeks ago, there was no tantalizing aroma of grilling brats to tantalize me. Still, the party atmosphere and loud cheering was a great psychological boost every lap.
The race only had one prime lap (for a $100 gift certificate to a local bed & breakfast), which was called five minutes in. I lost some position by letting those who wished to contest the sprint move around me. Afterwards, I moved myself back up to the front and, for the most part, stayed there for the rest of the race. There were a few solo breakaway attempts that didn’t get anywhere. At one point two riders got a bit of a gap on the field, but were quickly reeled in.
About 20 minutes in, as we hauled it up the slight incline, I saw Kev stopped off to the left on a cross-street. It turns out that he had already been lapped and had moved aside to let the field zip by before continuing a valiant solo effort. He loudly cheered me on every time we came around him. Coupled with Kim’s encouragement, I had nice cheering sections at two parts of the course.
The scariest moment came at 31 minutes in. This was definitely the warmest race of the year, and although I had thought I was well-hydrated at the start, and had made the effort to drink whenever possible, it apparently was not enough. Despite the heat, I suddenly realized that I felt a bit chilly. On the start/finish stretch I reached for the bottle to take a big gulp of Cyto. No sooner had I raised the bottle to my mouth when a xXx rider to my right started to drift left toward me. I had to slam the bottle back into the cage and return both hands to the bars for better stability in case he were to make contact. Fortunately he didn’t and we continued on our way. However, it wasn’t until we came around again to the start/finish stretch that I was able to grab a drink. I felt much better a few minutes later.
At 36 minutes in, I heard the announcement that there were four laps to go. I knew that I only had to hang on for another 10 minutes, and tried to relax the legs as much as possible for the final push. As this point, I was still feeling good and optimistic about my chances for a good finish. With three laps to go, as I negotiated the narrow turn onto the boulevard, I had to move a bit to the left to avoid a rider drifting into me. As a result, I felt my left foot clip one of the safety cones, and hoped that I hadn’t knocked it down and into the path of other riders.
As we came around for the 25th and final lap, I was still holding my position at the front of the field. But then it happened…as we swept left into the wind and uphill, I blew up spectacularly. Despite pushing as hard as I could (and maxing my heart rate at 191), I couldn’t generate any power and could only watch as waves of riders passed me by. By this time Kev was watching the race with Kim. Looking back across the course, he could see my bright yellow and blue jersey moving backward through the field…not what he was hoping to see. Fortunately, after the next turn I was able to regain a bit of ground. Still, for the final sprint all I could do was try to maintain whatever position I could. I put in an undistinguished finish somewhere in the 20s. I didn’t bother sticking around to wait for the results.
All in all, the race was pretty clean...one of the advantages of racing in the “masters” class. There was a bit of unnecessary “squirreliness” negotiating narrow Turn 2 and the right/left jog, but there were no crashes…always a good thing. I took heart that I put in a really good effort, felt pretty relaxed throughout most of the race, and was able to hang at the front almost the whole time. Although my heart rate averaged 179 (quite a bit faster than last week’s average of 162), I never felt like I was “dying” until that horrible moment halfway through the last lap.
Next up are some more Tuesday night crits in Matteson, and then SuperWeek!
[PHOTOS COURTESY OF KIM BUTLER]
STATS:
Race time: 43:35
Distance: 17.75
Average pace: 2:27/mile
Average speed: 24.4 mph
Max speed: 34.1 mph
Average HR: 179 bpm
Max HR: 191 bpm
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