Today was my 15th time racing at “The Pelladrome” during the 2011 season. Every Wednesday night From May through September, ABD puts on training criteriums at this flat, 0.80-mile, near-oval stretch of pavement next to the Pella Windows factory in West Chicago. I was able to make it out to those races 14 times this summer, and today it was “for real.”
ABD has upped the ante for the Fall Fling series this year, awarding a cool $2,000.00 to the team that scores the most number of points (based on results) during the 4-race series. Bicycle Heaven has the numbers and the talent to make us serious contenders for this windfall of cash.
So it all started today. I mixed it up in the Cat 4 race with two other Bicycle Heaven teammates, Scott and Spanish. Skies were cloudy, the rain held off, temps were moderate, and the wind was manageable. A whopping 19 riders took to the line for 40 minutes plus two laps of racing.
Allow me to go off topic for a moment. Seriously, only 19 riders? This is a great series with serious cash on the line, and the weather was just fine. I know that road racing numbers have been down this year, while CX is on the rise. But 19 riders was just sad. And it meant that only the top 10 spots would score points for the $2,000.00. Had the field had just one more person, the points would have gone 20 deep, and I actually would have contributed to the team effort. But more on that later.
I had an added incentive to avoid embarrassing myself today…right as we were rolling off of the line, my wife and awesome 6-month-old son arrived at the course to shout out their encouragement. They were joined shortly thereafter by Stephanie’s sister, and I had a nice little cheering section.
We took off at a brisk but easily manageable pace. Here and there some guys would drill the speed up a few notches to soften up the field, but the tempo always backed down shortly thereafter. There was a prime sprint early on, and I was in good position. But a couple guys really wanted that 10 dollar prize more than I did…I wound up for the sprint, but backed off when they got a small gap. I decided that I would rather keep myself fresh for the final sprint than waste myself for $10.
Shortly thereafter, a Team Mack rider took a flyer with one guy attached to his wheel. Scott was next to me and predicted “they’re not going anywhere.” Moments later, another Mack rider flew up the left side to bridge up and Scott changed his mind. “OK, now we have to go.” “Yes we do” was my reply, and we hit the gas and reeled them in.
Another prime sprint for $10 came and went. I halfheartedly hit the gas, but backed off when it became clear that I couldn’t close the gap.
About halfway through, I was up front with a xXx rider. He looked over and asked “do you have any teammates in the field?” “Yeah, I’ve got two guys.” He asked “do you want to try a breakaway?” I gamely responded “why not?” He stood up and hit the gas and I followed suit. I don’t know whether we ended up with any sort of gap, but we each took a pull before I realized that the field was nipping at our heels.
This xXx rider and I spent most of the race near the front. In fact, I don’t think that I was ever further back than 5th wheel position the whole time. At one point, xXx said lamented that “we’ve been up at the front the whole time…this probably means that we’re going to lose.” And it is true, I spent way too much time working at the front. I could have pulled off and let myself be swallowed by the bulk of the field, but on the other hand I wanted to be up at the front in case there were any breaks or primes to cover. And it was fun to hear my name called out by the announcer one time when I led the field through the start/finish. Hey, I’m easy to please.
The rest of the race passed pleasantly enough. Surges here and there, but nothing that I couldn’t cover and there were no serious threats. It was fun to see my wife and baby every time I came past, and I was feeling good enough that I was even able to smile at them a few times.
The pace went nuts with two to go, but as we came around with one to go, it settled down a bit. Guys were jockeying for position, taking a quick breather for the grand finale. On the backstretch is where things went crazy again. As we approached turn four, I was still in about 5th or position and giving it everything. I tried to shift down but quickly realized that I was already on my smallest cog. Crap. I stood up and smashed on the pedals, my face locked in a vicious rictus of pain, thinking “too many guys, I see too many guys in front of me.” I badly wanted a podium finish (top 5 would have done it), but in the end I had to settle for 12th. Which, as mentioned previously, put me just out of the points for the omnium.
The good news, however, was that Scott took 2nd and Spanish took 10th. In all, Bicycle Heaven had a great day…Patrick Fasse won the Cat 1/2, Andy Swims won the Cat 3 (in fact, we took 4 of the top 5 in the Cat 3), Rob Kelley won the Masters 40+ 1/2/3, Andy Kerr won the Masters 50+, Hal took 2nd and Mike took 4th in the Masters 40+ 4/5, and Karen Enockson made the podium in the Women’s 4. So, at the end of Stage 1 Bicycle Heaven was holding the lead in the omnium, with 104 points to ABD's 102.
ABD has upped the ante for the Fall Fling series this year, awarding a cool $2,000.00 to the team that scores the most number of points (based on results) during the 4-race series. Bicycle Heaven has the numbers and the talent to make us serious contenders for this windfall of cash.
So it all started today. I mixed it up in the Cat 4 race with two other Bicycle Heaven teammates, Scott and Spanish. Skies were cloudy, the rain held off, temps were moderate, and the wind was manageable. A whopping 19 riders took to the line for 40 minutes plus two laps of racing.
Allow me to go off topic for a moment. Seriously, only 19 riders? This is a great series with serious cash on the line, and the weather was just fine. I know that road racing numbers have been down this year, while CX is on the rise. But 19 riders was just sad. And it meant that only the top 10 spots would score points for the $2,000.00. Had the field had just one more person, the points would have gone 20 deep, and I actually would have contributed to the team effort. But more on that later.
I had an added incentive to avoid embarrassing myself today…right as we were rolling off of the line, my wife and awesome 6-month-old son arrived at the course to shout out their encouragement. They were joined shortly thereafter by Stephanie’s sister, and I had a nice little cheering section.
We took off at a brisk but easily manageable pace. Here and there some guys would drill the speed up a few notches to soften up the field, but the tempo always backed down shortly thereafter. There was a prime sprint early on, and I was in good position. But a couple guys really wanted that 10 dollar prize more than I did…I wound up for the sprint, but backed off when they got a small gap. I decided that I would rather keep myself fresh for the final sprint than waste myself for $10.
Shortly thereafter, a Team Mack rider took a flyer with one guy attached to his wheel. Scott was next to me and predicted “they’re not going anywhere.” Moments later, another Mack rider flew up the left side to bridge up and Scott changed his mind. “OK, now we have to go.” “Yes we do” was my reply, and we hit the gas and reeled them in.
Another prime sprint for $10 came and went. I halfheartedly hit the gas, but backed off when it became clear that I couldn’t close the gap.
About halfway through, I was up front with a xXx rider. He looked over and asked “do you have any teammates in the field?” “Yeah, I’ve got two guys.” He asked “do you want to try a breakaway?” I gamely responded “why not?” He stood up and hit the gas and I followed suit. I don’t know whether we ended up with any sort of gap, but we each took a pull before I realized that the field was nipping at our heels.
This xXx rider and I spent most of the race near the front. In fact, I don’t think that I was ever further back than 5th wheel position the whole time. At one point, xXx said lamented that “we’ve been up at the front the whole time…this probably means that we’re going to lose.” And it is true, I spent way too much time working at the front. I could have pulled off and let myself be swallowed by the bulk of the field, but on the other hand I wanted to be up at the front in case there were any breaks or primes to cover. And it was fun to hear my name called out by the announcer one time when I led the field through the start/finish. Hey, I’m easy to please.
The rest of the race passed pleasantly enough. Surges here and there, but nothing that I couldn’t cover and there were no serious threats. It was fun to see my wife and baby every time I came past, and I was feeling good enough that I was even able to smile at them a few times.
The pace went nuts with two to go, but as we came around with one to go, it settled down a bit. Guys were jockeying for position, taking a quick breather for the grand finale. On the backstretch is where things went crazy again. As we approached turn four, I was still in about 5th or position and giving it everything. I tried to shift down but quickly realized that I was already on my smallest cog. Crap. I stood up and smashed on the pedals, my face locked in a vicious rictus of pain, thinking “too many guys, I see too many guys in front of me.” I badly wanted a podium finish (top 5 would have done it), but in the end I had to settle for 12th. Which, as mentioned previously, put me just out of the points for the omnium.
The good news, however, was that Scott took 2nd and Spanish took 10th. In all, Bicycle Heaven had a great day…Patrick Fasse won the Cat 1/2, Andy Swims won the Cat 3 (in fact, we took 4 of the top 5 in the Cat 3), Rob Kelley won the Masters 40+ 1/2/3, Andy Kerr won the Masters 50+, Hal took 2nd and Mike took 4th in the Masters 40+ 4/5, and Karen Enockson made the podium in the Women’s 4. So, at the end of Stage 1 Bicycle Heaven was holding the lead in the omnium, with 104 points to ABD's 102.
Personally, though, it was a disappointing day. I badly wanted a podium finish, but just couldn’t make it happen. However, racing has definitely become more fun for me. There was a point in my racing career (OK, years and years and years of my racing career) where I would suffer like a dog, hoping to just hang onto the peloton and get a field finish. Hoping not to get blown off the back and pulled for being “out of contention.” But, thanks in large part to the ABD training crits, I feel like I have really improved my skills and can really feel like part of the race…mixing it up for primes, chasing down breakaways, actually being a part of the final sprint and not just dangling off the back (although that did happen a few times earlier this spring).
I can’t make tomorrow’s time trial, but will be at both the DuPage Tech Park Circuit Race next Saturday, and the grand finale in Wood Dale next Sunday. Two more races, two more chances to get points for the team. Stay tuned…
I can’t make tomorrow’s time trial, but will be at both the DuPage Tech Park Circuit Race next Saturday, and the grand finale in Wood Dale next Sunday. Two more races, two more chances to get points for the team. Stay tuned…
