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.
Monday, July 16, 2012
Monday, July 2, 2012
Decided to start a blog...
I've finally decided to start a blog. After one season of cyclocross and nearly one road season under my belt, I've found that races in my memory have already started running together. Hopefully blogging about these races (and other ramblings that come to the top of my head) will be a good way to recap races and stay in touch with the cycling community.
Might as well start with a few recaps from the last two weekends...
Tour of KC
Longview cat 4 crit on Saturday was hot (high 90s). This was my first "real" crit with a big field (ignoring one TNW and Spring Fling 2 back in March when I was pretty out of shape), so I was pretty nervous leading up to the race. Hearing horror stories about crashes in previous years and pre-riding two of the technical corners didn't help the nerves either.
However, once the whistle blew my nerves were gone immediately. The first few laps were pretty quick, but eventually the tempo settles down a bit and I tried to stick around the top 5-10 riders, as I really didn't want to caught in a crash. I'm glad I did, as 4 laps from the end a KCBC rider went down and they had to neutralize the race. Luckily, the KCBC rider was fine after a trip to the hospital to make sure. After sitting around for 10 minutes waiting for the race to start up again, we started up for the final four laps. Coming into the last lap, I was sitting 3rd wheel around the last two corners and stayed there to the finish. There was a crash on the 2nd to last corner a few riders behind me; I couldn't tell what happened but apparently someone was trying to attack through the rough corner and went down into the curb.
Downtown crit on Sunday was also hot (102 degrees). This course was much less technical and luckily there were also fewer serious crashes. Once again, my goal was to stay towards the front of the field. With about 4 laps to go, I decided to attack and see if anyone would go with me. No one did, so I sat up after half a lap and tucked back into the field. Unfortunately, I tucked too far back into the field and couldn't make it back up to the front as well as I wanted to. I didn't have much of a sprint left, but still managed to take 8th place. Mental note: If you're going to take a flyer off the front, do it in a smart manner and make sure you're dedicated to it... Not like I did in this race.
Tour of Lawrence
KU campus circuit race on Saturday has been one of my goal races; I feel like I can go uphill pretty well and the circuit race has plenty of hills (around 400ft of climbing every lap, and 5 total laps). With quite a few out of state riders, I wasn't sure what to expect in terms of competition but I was still really excited. Did I mentioned this race was also hot? 101 degrees hot. First 3 laps were pretty tame. I pulled up the big hill on two of the laps, but didn't make any big moves as it was obvious that it was going to come down to the final lap on the big hill leading into the start/finish.
Fifth and final lap came around and I hit the bottom of the last hill at the front of the pack. Pushing it much harder up the hill this lap, I attacked half-way up the hill and rounded the corner into the finish stretch in 1st place with a bit of gap on the two guys behind me. Unfortunately, I hardly had anything left for a sprint, and one guy came around me before the finish. I'd love to see a photo of the finish, as I bet I held off the 3rd place rider by less then 6 inches at the finish.
In retrospect, I think if I would have attacked the hill earlier I could have held off for the win. I'm still completely stoked to get 2nd place at a major regional race like this though!
Downtown Crit on Sunday was a lot of fun. This race also doubled as the KS State Crit Championships. Luckily, this race was much cooler (only 96 degrees)! Largest field I've ever been in (76 riders), a fast fun course, and tons of spectators make for a great race. It was much harder to stay towards the front of the pack in this race since the field was so large, but I worked hard to stay in the top 20 or so riders. With one lap to go I was sitting 2nd wheel, but with half a lap to go I somehow found myself sitting around 15th. I managed to move up through the back section to 10th and I passed one rider on the final sprint, putting me in 9th place at the finish.
Apparently there were quite a few out of state riders in the top 10, as I was the 3rd place rider from Kansas. What a day - managed to get some unexpected hardware along with the great cash payouts from the weekend!
Might as well start with a few recaps from the last two weekends...
Tour of KC
Longview cat 4 crit on Saturday was hot (high 90s). This was my first "real" crit with a big field (ignoring one TNW and Spring Fling 2 back in March when I was pretty out of shape), so I was pretty nervous leading up to the race. Hearing horror stories about crashes in previous years and pre-riding two of the technical corners didn't help the nerves either.
However, once the whistle blew my nerves were gone immediately. The first few laps were pretty quick, but eventually the tempo settles down a bit and I tried to stick around the top 5-10 riders, as I really didn't want to caught in a crash. I'm glad I did, as 4 laps from the end a KCBC rider went down and they had to neutralize the race. Luckily, the KCBC rider was fine after a trip to the hospital to make sure. After sitting around for 10 minutes waiting for the race to start up again, we started up for the final four laps. Coming into the last lap, I was sitting 3rd wheel around the last two corners and stayed there to the finish. There was a crash on the 2nd to last corner a few riders behind me; I couldn't tell what happened but apparently someone was trying to attack through the rough corner and went down into the curb.
Downtown crit on Sunday was also hot (102 degrees). This course was much less technical and luckily there were also fewer serious crashes. Once again, my goal was to stay towards the front of the field. With about 4 laps to go, I decided to attack and see if anyone would go with me. No one did, so I sat up after half a lap and tucked back into the field. Unfortunately, I tucked too far back into the field and couldn't make it back up to the front as well as I wanted to. I didn't have much of a sprint left, but still managed to take 8th place. Mental note: If you're going to take a flyer off the front, do it in a smart manner and make sure you're dedicated to it... Not like I did in this race.
Tour of Lawrence
KU campus circuit race on Saturday has been one of my goal races; I feel like I can go uphill pretty well and the circuit race has plenty of hills (around 400ft of climbing every lap, and 5 total laps). With quite a few out of state riders, I wasn't sure what to expect in terms of competition but I was still really excited. Did I mentioned this race was also hot? 101 degrees hot. First 3 laps were pretty tame. I pulled up the big hill on two of the laps, but didn't make any big moves as it was obvious that it was going to come down to the final lap on the big hill leading into the start/finish.
Fifth and final lap came around and I hit the bottom of the last hill at the front of the pack. Pushing it much harder up the hill this lap, I attacked half-way up the hill and rounded the corner into the finish stretch in 1st place with a bit of gap on the two guys behind me. Unfortunately, I hardly had anything left for a sprint, and one guy came around me before the finish. I'd love to see a photo of the finish, as I bet I held off the 3rd place rider by less then 6 inches at the finish.
In retrospect, I think if I would have attacked the hill earlier I could have held off for the win. I'm still completely stoked to get 2nd place at a major regional race like this though!
Downtown Crit on Sunday was a lot of fun. This race also doubled as the KS State Crit Championships. Luckily, this race was much cooler (only 96 degrees)! Largest field I've ever been in (76 riders), a fast fun course, and tons of spectators make for a great race. It was much harder to stay towards the front of the pack in this race since the field was so large, but I worked hard to stay in the top 20 or so riders. With one lap to go I was sitting 2nd wheel, but with half a lap to go I somehow found myself sitting around 15th. I managed to move up through the back section to 10th and I passed one rider on the final sprint, putting me in 9th place at the finish.
Apparently there were quite a few out of state riders in the top 10, as I was the 3rd place rider from Kansas. What a day - managed to get some unexpected hardware along with the great cash payouts from the weekend!
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| Stole this photo from Keith Guilford. His wife managed to capture the photo right as I was trying to decide if two raised hands or one raised hand would be more appropriate. Instead, it just looks like I'm going for a quality butt grab. |
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| On a completely unrelated note... Is it CX season yet? Just bought a set of Challenge Fango tubs that I'll be gluing up to the Zipps next week. 2 months to go... 2 months to go... |
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