The 2009 and 2010 editions of this race had featured pouring rain but relatively few crashes. Unfortunately, 2011 saw the reverse…the weather was dry as a bone, but a new crash occurred every few minutes.
This race had previously been held in June, but this year it was bumped up by two months to accommodate a new racing series in Galena. As a result, the City of Chicago had apparently not had a chance to clear up and patch the road circling Sherman Park. The course was nothing but rough pavement and potholes. Untold numbers of cans of orange spray paint gave their lives to mark the rough spots.
I raced Masters 30+ Cat 4/5, and this was my 2nd race riding for Bicycle Heaven. Joining me at the line were Bryan and Scott. Mike had crashed hard in the Cat 4 race and left by ambulance. Best wishes go to him for a speedy recovery. A total of 76 riders rolled to the line for 35 minutes of racing. My brother, and former Wheelfast Racing teammate, had been waitlisted and ended up cheering for me from the sidelines.
The whistle blew and we flew off the line. 1/3 of the way through the first lap and I heard someone by me yell out “you’re flat!” I didn’t know who he was referring to, even though I had just ridden over a very rough patch of road. Within a few seconds, though, I started getting “that feeling.” I looked down and saw my rear tire mushroomed out. Great…a puncture on the very first lap. I threw up my arm and let the pack ride by me. As I gingerly rode back to the pit a corner marshal thought I had already been shelled off the back and shouted an encouraging “get up there!” I smiled and shouted back “I’m flat!”
I rolled to the start/finish, grabbed my spare rear wheel, and the helpful folks in the pit tossed it on for me. I clipped in and waited for the official to announce “the pack is coming…start rolling and merge in.” I inserted myself into the right side of the field and joined up with Bryan.
From that point forward, it was nothing more than a fight for survival. Over the course of the race there were at least four crashes. Only one of them occurred right in front of me, but fortunately the fallen riders were parting to the left and the right like the Red Sea and I was able to ride through the middle and sprint back up to the field. I found out after the race that Scott had been crashed early on but was able to rejoin the field, and that Bryan had to ride off into the grass after getting caught behind a crash.
Early on, after one of the first crashes, a xXx rider came tearing up the left side of the field, just past the start/finish, swearing like…well, much like I do during crashes or near-miss situations. I don’t know if he had been involved in the crash or was just venting at the general squirrelyness of the field. Either way, his displeasure was apparent.
Overall, I was feeling good, but I found myself tensing up just waiting for the next crash to happen. Despite the pre-race instructions to just ride straight over the rough patches instead of swerving to avoid them, I think that a lot of the wrecks were due to people disregarding that very advice and making very nervous, twitchy moves without looking.
As with previous years, I had problems keeping position on this course. It is so flat, wide, and oval that the pack is almost always five or six riders across. It is very easy to get boxed in for extended periods of time, and very difficult to extricate yourself from the masses.
At about 17 minutes in I was starting to feel a little tired. It wasn’t the “oh my god I’m about to blow up” kind of tired, but just a general sense of fatigue. I just tried to relax, grab a drink, and try to stay as fresh as possible for the finish.
With 5 laps to go I knew that I needed to move up. I was sitting midfield, but it wasn’t where I wanted to be. I was able to escape up the side and make my way closer to the front. And that is about the time when the “Red Sea” crash occurred. The front of the field accelerated like mad at the first sound of scraping metal, and I had to expend a bit more energy than I wished to catch up with them.
With one lap to go I found myself boxed in along the left side of the peloton. I could see Bryan up at the front and I wanted to get up there with him. Unfortunately, I was unable to escape and had to settle for a pack finish, but glad that I was still upright and with all of my skin intact. However, as I came across the line I heard the announcer say “and that was Bryan Fuller!” For the win! Scott had also been in great position with a few turns to go until a xXx rider swept across his front without looking, almost taking out his wheel.
My official placing was 20th, which was better than last year (38th) but worse than my 8th place finish in 2009. Of the 76 riders that started, only 48 finished. Quite the attrition rate, and my guess is that a lot of it was due to the crashes (as opposed to riders just getting shelled off and pulled by the officials as "out of contention").
Next up…the hell that is the Flatlandia Kermesse.
