ABD Fall Fling Pella Criterium, West Chicago, IL, September 24, 2011

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.

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…

Winfield ABR Championship Criterium, Winfield, IL, August 14, 2011

With yesterday’s DNF embarrassment still painful in my mind, I drove back over to Winfield for the second race of the weekend. I was worried about how today’s hill would feel after my weakness on yesterday’s incline. However, the hill on this course is quite different.

The course is a big rectangle. Shortly after leaving the start/finish there is a left turn, followed a block later by the long straightaway up the 2-step hill. There is a bit of flat before the road tilts upward, so the momentum gained along that section is almost enough to get you over the first section. Then there is a brief flat followed by the steep “kicker” at the top. Then there is a left-hand turn into a block-long downhill (with some horrible pavement, I might add), followed by one more left hand turn into the long downhill to the start/finish.

Only about 25 riders rolled to the line for the Cat 4 race, and this has been a disturbing trend all season. Turnout for many of the races over these past few months has been down from the last few years. The blogs and boards are all a-twitter with speculation as to why this is, and there appear to be no easy answers.

After the usual instructions we took off for 35 minutes plus 3 laps. I had no teammates in my field, but my brother Kev was on the sidelines cheering me on. Throughout the race he did a complete circuit of the course, so each lap I heard his encouragement at different points.

For most of the race, I felt good. I was managing the hill with few problems, and had no difficulty regaining ground any time I found myself too far back for comfort. There were some attacks on the hill, but none of them got away, and I was able to cover all of them. I always made sure to be near the front of the field, since the acceleration coming off of the hill was always intense. Before I knew it, the lap counter was already showing that we were 15 minutes in.

I shook out the legs and sipped my Gatorade every chance I could to keep the tank topped off. I kept a close eye on the lap cards, and soon we hit the 30 minute mark. I told myself that I just had to hang on for 5 more laps.

As we came across the line with 2 laps to go, I was at the very front of the field and still feeling pretty relaxed. Kev shouted his encouragement, and I was feeling good enough that I even smiled and stuck out my tongue at him. So far, so good.

Or so I thought. We had lowered the pace quite a bit, and in hindsight this was a big mistake. As we entered came out of turn two and were facing the hill, we were probably only somewhere in the low 20s. As soon as the gradient increased, several riders launched a vicious assault. When I stood up on the pedals to match their acceleration, it was as if someone hit an “off” switch somewhere deep in side of me. My heart rate redlined and my legs turned to mush. I struggled my way to the top of the hill, going in reverse of what everyone else was doing. My only hope was to be able to grab back onto the peloton on the downhill. But it wasn’t to be.

Despite my best efforts, I ended up riding the last lap alone, picking off one rider on the final downhill to snag 22nd out of 23 finishers. I was not happy to have ridden so well for 97% of the race only to have it fall completely apart during the last 3%. But I took some consolation that I had recovered a little bit of dignity after the previous day’s DNF.

And, all in all, it was a good weekend for the Bicycle Heaven crew. David Pratt won the Cat 5 races both days, and on Sunday Hal took 2nd in the 40+ Cat 4, Andy Kerr was 3rd in the 50+, Peter Kelly and Eric Christ took 7th and 8th in the Cat 3, and Andy Swims snagged 8th in the 30+.

Winfield Twilight Criterium, Winfield, IL, August 13, 2011

Today was the first of two races put on by ABD this weekend in Winfield. I hadn’t participated in this race since the 2009 edition, and faithful readers will recall that it had kicked my butt. I wish I could say that this year was different. I also wish that I was a multi-millionaire living on a private island in the San Juan Islands. But some things just aren’t in the cards…

How was the course? Well, to plagiarize my own report from 2009, it is a mile-long loop raced counter-clockwise through a residential neighborhood. As soon as you left the start/finish and rounded the first sweeping left-hand curve you were faced with a 300 meter climb that topped out at 6.2%. From there it was all downhill…at the top of the hill was a left-hand turn followed by a few technical left and right turns.

Rider turnout for the Cat 4 race was incredibly weak. Only about 22 riders rolled to the line for 30 minutes plus 3 laps, and when the whistle blew we took off at a brisk pace. Hal was my only Bicycle Heaven teammate in the field. I was near the front of the field the first time up the hill. Of course, there was mad acceleration turning off of the hill, and I found myself losing ground. The pack strung out, but bunched up again the 2nd time up the hill. Already my legs were starting to sing, and not in a good way. They were singing like Yoko Ono.

Well, the long and short of it is that at 8 minutes I was gassed, at 10 minutes in I was gapped, and at 20 minutes in I was lapped. The official didn’t pull me, and I soldiered on for another 10 minutes. At that point, the rain started up again. In hindsight I should have just sucked it up and finished the race, but I have seen too many crashes caused by miscellaneous detritus (i.e. lapped riders) on the course. Today, I was a piece of that detritus. So as I came across the line after 30 minutes, I eyeballed the official and made the throat-cutting “I’m done” motion. DNF.

I had hoped for better, but I knew that the next day would be a chance to redeem myself.

Geneva Grand Prix (Superweek), Geneva, IL, July 9, 2011

Wow, I am long overdue in writing up this report. I can’t really explain or justify the delay, since I did reasonably well in this race…at least, to a point. Do you remember that old Kellogg’s commercial where a bunch of wind-up toys are shown winding down, and Wilt Chamberlain (I think) cautions kids that the same will happen to them if they don’t eat a nutritious breakfast? Well, today I was one of those wind-up toys.

This was one of the early Superweek races, sponsored by none other than Bicycle Heaven. It was a challenging, one-mile technical 8-corner course that featured a very tight right-hand turn coming out of a brief downhill, along with several “kicker” hills along the way.

Since my team was the title sponsor, I did some volunteer work in the morning before my afternoon race. I was at the course early to help set up barricades and put cones in people’s driveways (so they wouldn’t go driving out onto the course). Then I spent some quality time as a corner marshal.

What I saw as a corner marshal wasn’t heartening. I watched the Cat 4 race get blown apart within the first 2 laps. The field absolutely shattered very early on, and it was clear that it would be critical to stay at the front of this race. The riders who could get through the tight downhill & right turn at close to full speed could just drill it while the unfortunate saps at the back would have to hammer to maintain contact.

After my corner marshaling duties were over, I headed to the parking garage to get in a good warm-up in the shade, and then it was go-time. The Masters 35+ 4/5 field had five Bicycle Heaven riders in it, and since we were sponsoring the race we got individual call-ups to the line. I even had a small cheering section…Stephanie brought Ethan over to witness his first bike race, and her parents and sister followed along.

Our field was relatively small, with fewer than 40 riders. We were scheduled for 20 laps, and as soon as the whistle blew we strung out with Bicycle Heaven leading the charge for about the first three laps. Bryan hammered away at the front, and I stayed glued to his wheel. The pace was fast, but I was feeling good. The corner after the downhill was pretty challenging…in addition to the road narrowing down, the pavement was less than stellar. You really had to hold a tight line and hope that no one pushed you into the curb.

I was feeling good for most of the race. The hills weren’t presenting too much of a challenge, and I was able to hold good position. The long start/finish straightaway was a good place to gain any ground that was lost, and I took advantage of this several times. Plus, I received some good motivation from the cheers of my adoring audience. Although I’m pretty sure that Ethan was just looking at the pretty colors.

But, as has happened far too often this season, at some point my body just decided to clam up and shut down. Today, it happened after 13 laps. There was a brief uphill leading into turn 8, and it was here that I found myself going backwards at the end of the 13th lap. I lost contact with the field, and despite a valiant effort to grab onto that last wheel, I ended up by myself for the remainder of the race.

The good news is that I was still able to push hard enough that the field never caught me. I rode out the remaining 7 laps alone, but never suffered the indignity of hearing the pace car lapping at my heels or getting whistled off the course by the officials. And when all was said and done, I took 22nd out of 28 finishers.

So, I didn’t get the results that I wanted, but I finished the day with my dignity (and skin) intact. Lots of racing still left this year…

Tour de Villas, Des Plaines, IL, July 2, 2011

Despite my dislike of all things hot and humid, I headed out in 90+ degree heat for 30 minutes of Cat 4 action at the Tour de Villas. The course is a perfect oval in a residential area of Des Plaines…think Sherman Park, but with better pavement and less crime.

Given the complete and utter lack of anything even remotely resembling a “turn,” I knew that this would be a shootout from start to finish.

I arrived at the course with plenty of time to spare, only to find out that all races were running at least 45 minutes behind. So now I really had plenty of time to spare. Super. I hooked up with fellow Bicycle Heaven teammates Bryan and Jim, and we did some easy warm-up laps on the smaller “inner oval.” We were also joined by Psimet chief Rob Curtis and some of his men. After a while, we took a break to watch Matt take 3rd in the 30+ race. Matt’s girlfriend Mara took 2nd in the women’s 4/5 race, so it was shaping up to be a great day for Bicycle Heaven.

After some more time spent warming up, we rolled to the line. 37 riders took off from the whistle, and the pace was pretty mellow, at first. After a lap spent at about 21 mph, we soon ramped it up into the 26-27 mph range. I found the tempo to be very manageable. Despite the heat, I was feeling good, but was very sure to drink every chance I got. Any time I felt that I was too far back I was easily able to move up the side of the field and insert myself back into the lead riders. Since there were no turns to speak of, there was never the whiplash/caterpillar effect. Although the race was mostly clean, there were a few profanity-inducing moments. Late in the race an unattached rider in a Hawaii triathlon jersey moved left without looking and almost took out my front wheel, bringing on a mild bout of blasphemy. A few minutes later, a Tati rider did the same thing. Please, people, look before you make a move! Criterium 101, truly.

With about 4 laps to go, I heard the sound of the moto tailing the pack, and knew that I needed to get back to the front. As we roared past the start/finish I sprinted up the left side and ducked back in right next to Bryan, announcing my presence. At one point during the next few laps I realized that I didn’t see Bryan anymore, and wondered where he went (turns out he flatted with two laps to go, ending his day).

Halfway through the final lap, I was sitting in third wheel position and hoping for a great finish. However, as is my wont, I wasn’t able to maintain position during the surge and ended up taking only 14th. A solid, but unimpressive, result.

Next up is the Geneva Grand Prix, sponsored by Bicycle Heaven and one of the first races of the phenomenon known as Superweek. 20 miles of pain and suffering through the quaint streets of Geneva…I can’t wait.

Cobb Park Criterium, Kankakee, IL, June 18, 2011

After the debacle at last week’s criterium in Galena, I sought to do a little penance at Cobb Park. I had only pre-registered for the 12:00 Masters 30+ 4/5 race, but then I received an email the night before that the 11:10 Women’s 3 race was being replaced by an open Cat 4/5 race. So, I decided to double up and do one race right after the other.

The forecast called for scattered thunderstorms at race time, and as I warmed up on the trainer the clouds thickened and the wind increased. The sun won out, however, and the weather was perfect for racing.

I had raced here two years ago, and at that time we went around the 0.70 mile course counter-clockwise. This year, however, we were doing it clockwise…which I had no problem with, since the two-block long uphill from 2009 now became a two-block long downhill. Two thumbs up to that!

Open 4/5

30 riders rolled to the line for the 30-minute Open 4/5 race. As soon as the whistle blew, one of the Tati women flew off the front. A rider bridged up to her and together they held the field at bay for a few laps as we chased them down. Immediately I knew that this wouldn’t be a repeat of last weekend. I felt relaxed, and my legs were comfortably managing the tempo. I was able to easily maintain my position in front for most of the race, sitting anywhere from 4th to 6th wheel the whole time. It felt great to go bombing through the sweeping right-hand turn into the start/finish straightaway after the long downhill without touching the brakes.

Shortly after the first attack by Team Tati, another of their women launched an attack. She didn’t stay away, but it was clear that the riders in orange had every intention to race aggressively. One prime was called about midway through the race. A few riders got a gap on the field and duked it out for whatever they were giving away, but then let themselves be absorbed back into the peloton after the sprint, rather than seeing if they could keep the gap.

It was a very clean race…from where I sat, at least. Everyone was riding smart, and for the most part we were gruppo compatto. Even the chicane in turn two didn’t cause any drama, and there were no high-speed wipeouts on the fast corner after the downhill.

When the sprint came at the end, I gave it my all and ended up finishing 14th.

Masters 30+ 4/5

After a quick cool-down lap, I had just enough time to pull of my jersey, pin on my new number, suck down some Gatorade and a hit of honey (the poor man’s Gu), and roll back to the line. This time there were 50 of us ready to do battle. I still felt pretty fresh after the last race, so I went into those one with high hopes of being able to pull off a decent finish.

We had to start off with a neutral lap to allow an ambulance onto the course. For once, though, the ambulance was responding to a house call and not to a fallen rider.

After reassembling at the line, we were whistled off for another 30 minutes of aggression. The pace was faster than the last race, and the bigger field meant that we had to negotiate the turns and the chicane anywhere from 2 to 4 riders wide. Being surrounded by greater numbers meant that there was a bit more of the whiplash slowing and accelerating through some of the turns. Whereas in the first race I was able to negotiate the final turn without hitting the brakes, I often had to feather them this time around to make some minor adjustments to my speed.

Also, because of the greater numbers and the more aggressive riding, it was more difficult to maintain my position than it had been during the previous race. However, I was mostly able to keep myself up within the front third of the peloton. If I found myself slipping back, I would use either the start/finish straightaway or the long downhill to zip up the side of the field and back into a more favorable position. I was still feeling good, ad the legs were doing everything that I asked them to do.

I didn’t have the greatest position when the final sprint came. An 11-tooth cog would have been a big help, but sadly I was maxed out on my 12. Still, I was able to outgun a South Chicago Wheelmen rider and snag an 18th place finish.

So, I ended my day with two solid, if unremarkable, finishes. I felt great, and ended up doing six times more racing than I had managed at Galena (60 minutes’ worth as opposed to 10 minutes). South Chicago Wheelmen put on a great day of racing, and I look forward to returning next year.

Tour of Galena Criterium, Galena, IL, June 12, 2011

What could make a person drive almost 5 hours, round-trip, for a 30 minute bike race? For starters, the fact that this particular bike race is in Galena…the quaint mining town that was once home to General Ulysses S. Grant, and where President Lincoln once delivered a speech from the balcony of the DeSoto House. Having grown up about an hour away from Galena, it was the destination for many family trips over the years, as well as my 8th grade class field trip (and don’t ask what year that was, thank you very much).

So it was with much excitement when the Tour of Galena omnium was announced. Although I opted to skip both the time trial (I just don’t do ‘em) and the road race (hills and I don’t get along very well), I really anticipated the chance to race the criterium in the historic downtown area.

In hindsight, I should have stayed a tourist.

The course was, for lack of a better description, an elongated 0.7 mile teardrop, with a bottleneck on the backstretch leading into a really tight hairpin left turn going into the start/finish straightaway. I knew that this would string out field and subject the poor saps at the back to a dramatic caterpillar effect as the guys at the front hammered out of the turn. As I sat at the line with about 25 other riders, I told myself to get to, and stay up at, the front.

However, sometimes there is a disconnect between making the body do what the mind is telling it that it should do. I started off with great position, but let too many guys drift around me in the early stages of lap one. Perhaps I was a bit too tentative on the brick pave to be found in the sweeping left hand turn shortly after leaving the start/finish. Whatever the cause, I soon found myself way to far back. I should have expended some extra energy early on to get back to the front. That is an easy thing to say, but a hard thing to do. Especially when I realized that my legs felt like lead. I had nothing.

Just as I expected, the riders at the front just absolutely drilled it coming out of the hairpin turn. There was a speed display at the start/finish and I noticed during the 2nd lap (when I was still tenuously with the field) that we were zipping through at 27 mph. Every time we came out of that hairpin I had to stand up and mash on the pedals as best as I could to either stay with, or catch back onto, the peloton.

Well, to make a long story short, I found myself off the back at only six minutes into the race. It is very demoralizing to have the rear moto buzz past you as you suck wind. A South Chicago Wheelman rider grabbed on to my wheel, but with as fast as the field was going on such a short-distance course, there was no chance of us being able to work together sufficiently to catch back on. Not the way I was feeling, at least. And, sure enough, as we came around to the start/finish after 10 minutes, there was the friendly official with whistle in mouth to usher us off of the course.

In a fit of pique I grabbed my wheels from the pit and headed back to the car. Although I really should have stuck around and cheered on my teammate Bryan to his 11th place finish (sorry, Bryan!), I couldn’t stomach watching the rest of the race. I changed and wandered over to the Kandy Kitchen, a family favorite over those many years, to pick up some of the best malted milk balls in the world (I swear that the chocolate surrounding the malt ball is half an inch thick).

I thought that I had done everything right. I had done an easy-to-moderate 30 mile ride on Saturday to open the legs up. I hadn’t participated in the grueling road race the day before that many of the others in the field had raced. I got to the course early and got in a good warmup. The temps were mild and the winds were moderate (although you could feel them on that backstretch).

I hadn’t involuntarily DNF’d since Glencoe last August, and it is a horrible feeling. I knew that my training this season would take a back seat to the new addition to our family, and very rightly so. Still, I have been able to put in more miles than I thought that I would, and have been posting up some decent, if unspectacular, results. Which makes it that much harder to get pulled from a race. For some insane reason, the official race results show me finishing in 25th place. But I know better. I “finished” mo more than Mozart finished his Requiem, or Gilbert Stuart his portrait of George Washington.

Hopefully I can redeem myself at Cobb Park next weekend. Stay tuned…

Monsters of the Midway Criterium, Chicago, IL, May 14, 2011

I have been a little slow in getting this race report posted. The race was, after all, over a week ago. Why the delay, you ask? Well, because the race sucked. And I really have nothing deep about which to write. But if for no other reason than to have a comprehensive record of my season, here’s how it went down…

Why did it suck? For starters, it felt more like late March than mid-May. Skies were cloudy, temps were in the high 40s, and the wind was blustery. I had carpooled into the city with my brother Kev, and while warming up on the trainers we wondered aloud many a time as to why we were putting ourselves through this. Kev has his own reasons for mistrusting this race, having walked away from it two years ago with seven stitches in his upper lip.

As I pedaled away on the trainer, going nowhere, my lungs just didn’t feel all that good. Was it the weather? Was it something in the air? I tried to put it out of my mind, knowing full well that how I feel during a warmup often has no bearing on how I feel during the race.

63 riders had registered for the race, but only 52 rolled to the line. Bryan and Don were with me representing Bicycle Heaven. Kev was the sole Wheelfast rider. As to be expected, there were lots of xXx, Beverly Bike, Spidermonkey, and Rhythm Racing. We took off into the wind for 30 minutes of suffering.

The race was fast from start, as we drilled it down the long straightaways, trying to avoid the brutal cross wind. I just hung out at the back, not able to do anything to improve my lot in life. I would try to move up here and there, but my legs and lungs just weren’t doing what I needed them to be doing, and I never got up to where I wanted to be.

Having been in the “laughing group” at the back of the peloton the whole time I really can’t address what tactics were going on at the front. A couple of prime laps were called here and there. About 3 or 4 laps in I thought that we might slow down and relax for a few laps, but no dice. The front of the field kept hammering away and I just hung on for dear life. Poor Kev got popped and was pulled about 15 minutes in. He did cheer very loudly for me every time I came by, though.

One positive aspect of the race, though, is that for once there were no crashes. In stark contrast to years past, everyone was racing smart and safely. One unattached rider almost went down solo coming out of a turn…I don’t know if he had scraped a pedal or had come unclipped, but to his credit he kept it upright and no one plowed into him.

Sadly, with a mere two laps to go, my hopes of just clinging on for a pack finish were shattered. About halfway through the lap my body firmly said “nope” and the next thing I knew I was spit out the back. The crosswinds were so bad that as soon as you lost the protection of the peloton, you could kiss it goodbye forever. So, with Kev still yelling his encouragements I rode out the remainder of the race alone, finishing about half of a lap down from the field. Which meant that I missed seeing Bryan take 4th in the sprint.

I ended up being placed 29th. The officials “placed” the riders 50 deep, although not all of them finished (as Kev, in 47th, can attest). I also know that I wasn’t DFL out of the “true” finishers, since there were apparently a few groups behind me.

So, it was a disappointing day but there is still a lot of racing to be done. Now that the ABD Wednesday Night Crits at the Pelladrome have started back up, I’ll be hitting as many of those as possible. And I just registered today for the Tour of Galena criterium on Sunday, June 12. Stay posted…

Ronald Reagan Criterium, Dixon, IL, May 7, 2011

The 3rd annual edition of the Ronald Reagan Criterium marked the first time that I had participated in this race. A large part of my prior avoidance of this race was the fact that I knew it had some hills to it. Despite 4 years of training and racing in the Bay Area of California, Stephen and hills (at least at race speeds) simply don’t mix. But after sissying out on the Leland Kermesse, I had some penance to do. So, with a spiffy, newly-redesigned team kit in hand I headed over to Dixon.

The forecast had called for showers and moderate winds at race time, but fortunately the precipitation never materialized. Also, we were relatively well sheltered from the wind in downtown Dixon. Temps were pretty warm, so for the first time this season I rode sans arm and/or leg warmers.

The course was a figure-8 around the downtown area. After making a few right-hand turns we would be faced with a 2-block grinding uphill, with a couple of other, shorter “kicker” inclines before coming around to the start/finish again.

I can honestly say that this was the first race I have been in at which the field was treated to a history lesson at the line. The announcer went on for several minutes about the life story of our 40th president before we received final instructions and were whistled off by the official.

So, with Accept’s “Balls to the Wall” bouncing around in my head (very un-Reaganesque, I might say), I rolled off of the line with 34 other riders for the Masters 30+ 4/5 race. I was the only Bicycle Heaven representative in the field, along with a good showing from Psimet, xXx, Half Acre, Flatlandia, and others.

I was surprised to find myself feeling pretty good the first time going up the hill…and the next time, and the next. I worked really hard to shut the pessimistic “yeah, but just wait until the next time…or the 10th time” thoughts out of my head. As for the rest of the course, there were some rough areas of pavement, but for the most part the corners were wide open and everyone rode pretty safely. There was not (to my knowledge, at least) a single crash in the race. I didn’t even witness any near-misses.

After only 3 or 4 laps of “counting up the time,” the officials started counting down the laps. The first announcement that I remember was “13 to go!” I started using a mental trick that I picked up from my teammate Bryan on a recent training ride of sprint repeats up Johnson’s Mound. As we approached each climb, he had announced “only 4 more times after this one” as opposed to “5 more to go.” Knocking off one number, mentally, actually made a big difference.

The hill continued to feel good, and to my great surprise I was often able to gain position during the course of those two blocks. It was too bad, then, that I would lose any gains on the downhill and on some of the turns. I am well aware that one of my shortcomings is that I am reticent to bomb through corners at full speed, which means that I tend to scrub off bits of speed, which then results in loss of position.

I don’t recall any attacks going off the front, and if they did they didn’t stay away. From my position at the back of the field, it appears that we rode gruppo compatto the whole time. Going up the hill with 2 laps to go, I moved up the left side and got myself into the front third of the peloton. Of course, I failed to hold this position, and as we came around for the bell lap I was too far back again. The last time up the hill still felt relatively OK, but I wasn’t able to gain as much position as I would have liked. And then, after turning into the downhill the big surge started and the rubber band finally snapped. I started to fall back through the field, and in the end I finished dangling by myself, coming across the line about 10 seconds after the pack. I took 20th out of 25 finishers, so I was quite happy to find out that I had not been the lantern rouge.

All told, it was a great day for Bicycle Heaven. Justin took 4th in the 3/4 race, Jim took 13th in the Cat 5 race, and Adam took two primes in a row in the Masters 30+ 1/2/3 race before Patrick took the win with a throw of his bike (before going on to take 5th in the Pro 1/2/3 race). Next weekend is the Monsters of the Midway Criterium at the Midway Plaisance of the University of Chicago. Let’s hope that there will be fewer crashes than in years past…

Sherman Park Criterium, Chicago, IL, April 9, 2011

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.

Kenosha Velosport Spring Training Criterium #1, Pleasant Prairie, WI, March 13, 2011

With temperatures in the mid to upper 30s and with winds at 8-10 mph, I ventured north of the Cheddar Curtain for the first race of the 2011 season. This was my debut race for Geneva-based Bicycle Heaven, having transferred from Wheelfast Racing in the off-season.

Our Cat 4 race was scheduled to last 35 minutes. However, there was a bad crash in the Cat 5 race (involving lost teeth, a broken jaw, and blood on the pavement) which necessitated a visit from the ambulance. I’m sure the thoughts and best wishes of every rider went out to the fallen, knowing that “there but for the grace of god go I.” The incident set the day’s schedule back by about half an hour, so after a vote at the line the officials decided to cut our race to 30 minutes. Unbeknownst to us at the time, they would end up cutting even more. But I get ahead of myself…

About 35 riders rolled to the line after the ambulance left the course and the, ahem, “moisture” had been washed off of the pavement (in the words of the ABR official). I lined up in the front row. Looking around, I saw handfuls of Team Mack, Psimet, ABD, and Spidermonkey riders.

Forget the preliminaries, let’s go! The pack gunned it right from the whistle, and we instantly strung out. I sat in 5^th wheel position for a lap or so, and then let myself drift back to 7^th wheel. I was feeling good and trying to stay as relaxed as possible. Spending 30+ minutes in the drops is always a bit of a shock to the system so early in the season, and I was focusing on keeping my upper body relaxed.

After a few laps of riding single-file, the pace dropped, but only ever so slightly. We bunched together as a peloton and followed every attack, of which there were plenty. However, most of them were solo and none of them really had any hope of staying away. A Mack rider launched a particularly wicked attack about halfway through, but the field reacted in kind and reeled him in.

Surprisingly, the race was pretty clean for it being so early in the season. Only once did I have to loudly announce “hey” to an Expo rider who started drifting into my path as we zipped along the start/finish stretch. Here and there I would announce “on the right…on your left,” but never in response to any close calls and never in anger. Not once did a single profanity cross my lips, and that is saying a lot. And there wasn’t any of the infuriating “slowing…braking!” that can often permeate a Cat 4 field.

Over halfway into the race and I was still feeling good. I never got boxed in, and any time that I found myself too close to the back I would use the ample road space to move back up near the front. My lungs were clear, and my legs were steady. I never felt gassed, and actually found myself enjoying the hard efforts…especially when we turned into the start/finish stretch and powered over the mild incline.

With only a few minutes left to go I once again found myself near the back. However, I was right behind a couple of Spidermonkey guys…knowing that their team has pulled down some good results in the past I figured that I should keep an eye on them and follow their moves.

With 3 laps to go I was still near the back, so after turn one I jumped up the left side and get back near the front. My plan was to hold position, grab a drink, and relax the legs as much as possible. I never imagined that during the course of that lap we would go through some sort of bizarre time warp, because as we came around again the lap cards were now showing 1 to go. Really? Those two minutes were really going to make-or-break the racing schedule for the rest of the day? But c’est la vie…

The field went berserk, and what ensued was pretty close to an all-out sprint. I obviously need to work on my power, because I lost too much ground. Still, I continued to fight like hell, and after we negotiated the final turn I hit the gas as much as possible. I finished 17^th out of 21 finishers…which was a pretty mediocre finish, but I like to think that I could have done better if I’d had another lap in which to get set in position.

My availability for the next few races is in considerable doubt, with my wife being due on March 21. I would love to Joliet and Burnham, but we’ll have to see. At the very least, I should be back in action for the Sherman Park crit and the agony-inducing Leland Kermesse. Stay tuned…

It's go time.

Faithful readers (all 2 or 3 of you...you know who you are) might have noticed a subtle change in the name of this blog. "Pinchy's Wheelfast Adventures" has become "Pinchy's Heavenly Adventures." No, I did not shuffle off this mortal coil and am not typing this from beyond the grave. Rather, in the off-season I made the difficult decision to leave my Wheelfast komrades and join the ranks of Bicycle Heaven. Tomorrow's season-opening criterium in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin will be my first race under the blue, black, and teal of the BH crew.

Is it race time already, you ask? Oh heavens, yes. Time to see what kind of shape I'm in after all of those hours in the basement riding to suffer-inducing training videos. Pinchy has received a thorough cleaning, and is sporting a new cassette and a chain that isn't as stretched out as Gumby. He could still use to be recabled, but we're getting there. It is time to put the rubber to the road and turn those pedals in anger.

That being said, the early part of this racing season is going to up in the air for me. This is because it is also "go" time in another important way...my wife is due with our first child on March 21. This is smack dab in the middle of all of the Pleasant Prairie crits, the Joliet Autobahn race, and the South Beloit Blackhawk Farms Speedway race. Not knowing whether the baby is going to be punctual like his father, or whether it will opt for an early or late checkout, means that I'll have to be making a lot of game-day decisions. I won't want to be hours away at a race when she needs to be heading in to the hospital! Also, being a first-time father I have no idea what the time impact and fatigue levels are going to be. Fortunately, my wife is very supportive and is encouraging me to keep riding and racing as much as possible. She still doesn't like it when I shave my legs, though.

Hopefully the baby comes more or less on time, so that things have started to settle down a bit by the time that the Sherman Park Crit and the Leland Kermesse roll around in April. Maybe it won't be pouring down rain during Sherman Park. Maybe we won't have 30 mph gusts during the Kermesse. A man can dream, right?

The legs are starting to feel somewhat strong. Pinchy is clean and tuned up. And the house is now cluttered with crib, stroller, basinette, etc. So, be it on the road or in a delivery room, it is definitely go time.