June 25th through 27th I was on vacation in Marquette, MI. Well, not so much a vacation but participating in Superior Bike Fest. Which also is the official state road racing championship for 2010. Marquette is about 8 hours from Detroit and is part of Michigan's upper peninsula. Superior Bike Fest consisted of 3 races, a downtown criterium, a road race, and a circuit race.
Friday was the criterium, it was a very stormy day so I decided I was going to race my new Damocles if I decided to enter the race. Rain poored down most of the day and wrecking the Noah was not a risk I wanted to take. So I departed the hotel on bike to the race. Quickly, I found out that something was not right with my new bike. Turns out later I would find I put my headset together wrong. Needless to say with the crappy weather I decided to just sit on the sidelines and watch the race. Smart idea I thought.
Saturday was the state road race championship. The course was a 55 mile out and back. At about mile 2 you had to climb Marquette Mountain, which is a punishing hill. After that the course is mostly rolling hills, a few of them fairly tough. The weather was cool, damp, misty and very foggy. Nice weather for a race in my opinion. My day started a little slow up the first hill, but after I was warmed up I took no time in trying to make a move off the front. After a mile or two I was brought back in. I patiently waited in the field for a time to make a second move. Then there was an attack, and one of my team mates went with it. So I played it cool, and sat in the pack. Turns out 8 riders went off the front, with most teams represented the race was basically over. However there was still a chance the break away could fall apart so I kept on trucking. However at mile 25 for some reason the support vehicle with all our spare wheels left for the break...against policy. Turns out lucky me got a flat a few miles later, so with no replacement tire I spent the next few hours sitting on the side of the road freezing waiting for a sag vehicle. Luckily for me this old lady felt bad for me and gave me a blanket to keep warm. So after an extra 2.5 hours I finally made it to the finish line...cold and very angry. I just walked away, no good would have come from me blowing up in the race directors face. Bad luck I guess, always next year.
Sunday was the final race, a quick but challenging circuit race. With the race being only less then 20 minutes it was going to be a hard effort. The circuit was a small loop around this park on a small peninsula outside of Marquette. The race was only 4 laps. The course consisted of a very narrow road with a nasty hill and a technical decent. To win this race you needed to be able to climb, so I thought I had a decent shot. As the race started the first 2 laps for me were hard, my body just wasn't warmed up enough. Lap 3 proved to be much better and I started to work my way back into the race. Lap 4 was all or nothing, I gunned it up the hill moving into the top 15, maybe to hard though cause I blew up a little. Coming down the hill I slipped to 17th place. I figure if the race would have been 2-4 laps longer I could have worked myself up into the top 5. Oh well, a somewhat disappointing racing weekend. I had a good time up north and I guess that's what matters the most. Now becomes the fun part of sending some nasty emails trying to get my money refunded for the race! By no means what happened in the road race was acceptable, there should have been a car to give me a wheel...bottom line.
June 25th through 27th I was on vacation in Marquette, MI. Well, not so much a vacation but participating in Superior Bike Fest. Which also is the official state road racing championship for 2010. Marquette is about 8 hours from Detroit and is part of Michigan's upper peninsula. Superior Bike Fest consisted of 3 races, a downtown criterium, a road race, and a circuit race. 
Friday was the criterium, it was a very stormy day so I decided I was going to race my new Damocles if I decided to enter the race. Rain poored down most of the day and wrecking the Noah was not a risk I wanted to take. So I departed the hotel on bike to the race. Quickly, I found out that something was not right with my new bike. Turns out later I would find I put my headset together wrong. Needless to say with the crappy weather I decided to just sit on the sidelines and watch the race. Smart idea I thought.
Saturday was the state road race championship. The course was a 55 mile out and back. At about mile 2 you had to climb Marquette Mountain, which is a punishing hill. After that the course is mostly rolling hills, a few of them fairly tough. The weather was cool, damp, misty and very foggy. Nice weather for a race in my opinion. My day started a little slow up the first hill, but after I was warmed up I took no time in trying to make a move off the front. After a mile or two I was brought back in. I patiently waited in the field for a time to make a second move. Then there was an attack, and one of my team mates went with it. So I played it cool, and sat in the pack. Turns out 8 riders went off the front, with most teams represented the race was basically over. However there was still a chance the break away could fall apart so I kept on trucking. However at mile 25 for some reason the support vehicle with all our spare wheels left for the break...against policy. Turns out lucky me got a flat a few miles later, so with no replacement tire I spent the next few hours sitting on the side of the road freezing waiting for a sag vehicle. Luckily for me this old lady felt bad for me and gave me a blanket to keep warm. So after an extra 2.5 hours I finally made it to the finish line...cold and very angry. I just walked away, no good would have come from me blowing up in the race directors face. Bad luck I guess, always next year.
Sunday was the final race, a quick but challenging circuit race. With the race being only less then 20 minutes it was going to be a hard effort. The circuit was a small loop around this park on a small peninsula outside of Marquette. The race was only 4 laps. The course consisted of a very narrow road with a nasty hill and a technical decent. To win this race you needed to be able to climb, so I thought I had a decent shot. As the race started the first 2 laps for me were hard, my body just wasn't warmed up enough. Lap 3 proved to be much better and I started to work my way back into the race. Lap 4 was all or nothing, I gunned it up the hill moving into the top 15, maybe to hard though cause I blew up a little. Coming down the hill I slipped to 17th place. I figure if the race would have been 2-4 laps longer I could have worked myself up into the top 5. Oh well, a somewhat disappointing racing weekend. I had a good time up north and I guess that's what matters the most. Now becomes the fun part of sending some nasty emails trying to get my money refunded for the race! By no means what happened in the road race was acceptable, there should have been a car to give me a wheel...bottom line.
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