State Line RR

The inaugural State Line Road Race was this last Saturday. Put on by our team, the road race was somewhere between a RR and a circuit. The venue was great - only 25 minutes away from my house and rolling through some pretty countryside in Stilwell, KS. The race was pre-registration only, and I was worried about the small number of people who were signed up a week before the race. Luckily, fields started growing as the week went on and we ended up with 52 in the cat 4 race.

I got to the race about an hour before it started. I didn't really feel like riding a full loop of the course since I rode it with teammates last weekend, but I did want to ride the tricky 120 degree uphill corner on the last corner of the course. I rode the 3 miles out to the corner, but as soon as I got out there I noticed my back tire was going flat. Luckily, a teammate was putting up cones in that area and I was able to throw my bike onto his car and ride back to the parking lot with him. I made it back to my car with 15 minutes before the race started and quickly began changing the tube. I was feeling lazy the night before and decided not to pull the 10sp cassette off my other wheelset (my road bike is still 9sp), so I didn't have an extra wheelset with me. Pulled out the flat tube, found the shard of glass the caused the leak, and put the new tube in. However, the new tube wouldn't hold air either. So with around 10 minutes before the race starts, I run back to where all the racers are checking in and manage to find someone with an extra tube. This one holds air and I make it to the start of the race with about 2 minutes to spare.

Our 7 lap race starts and the pace is pretty slow for the first 1.5 laps. I'm glad, as I never had time to warm up between all the tube/tire issues. With primes on the 2nd and 3rd laps (thank you, Boulevard), I decided to go for the 2nd lap prime and used it as a mid-ride warm-up and chance to test the legs. I won the prime and settled into the pack for the rest of the race.

Since the course was on country roads with the center line rule being enforced, it was hard to move up through the pack. I knew I wanted to be top 5 coming into the last tricky 120 degree uphill corner, since quite a few riders were having a hard time with that corner and following hill. I battled for position most of the last lap and found myself around 7th or 8th place going into the corner. I passed 3 people up the hill, putting me in 4th place. Right then, the 1st place rider took off. I hesitated, hoping 2nd and 3rd place would follow him, but they didn't. I decided to pull through, but by then he had a decent gap already. I launched my sprint at the bottom of the finish line hill and was gaining on 1st place, but could also tell 3rd place was gaining on me. I was passed right before the finish line, so I ended up 3rd overall.


I retrospect, I should have launched as soon as 1st place guy did but I'm definitely still happy with the outcome of the race This is my last road event this year (and likely my last race as a cat 4 on the road), so now it's time to start thinking about CX!

Sorry I don't have any pictures from the race. I'll add some to the post when I get them.