Saturday July 24th I raced in the Maillot Jaune road race in Fenton, MI. On tap for the day was 53 miles, or 4 laps at just over 13 miles. For a change the weather was cool and wet, it even rained during the race. While the weather was great, my body wasn't feeling so hot. Monday I had hurt my knee, it was still swollen and healing. The course featured several nice climbs, so it suited me well. The first lap of the race went off in a very lazy fashion. Nobody really wanted to take a run off the front, given the conditions and the length of the race.
The second lap things got a little more boring, our field was passed by two other fields. In the process one person slipped off the front. I didn't notice and I think most the field didn't notice. Instead of chasing the guy we all decided to just let him go. He was from Kentucky and supposedly very strong. I was in no shape to help set up a chase, my goal for the day was just to make it to the finish. So I just sat in the field doing anything to not make my knee swell. Nothing much happened on the next few laps besides a few small accidents caused by pedestrians in town. For the most part the pact made it to the final climb all intact. A few attacks were quickly launched and I was quickly falling off the back. Accelerations on a climb were just something I couldn't handle this day. I stayed my tempo and made it to the top within arms reach of the pack. So I quickly latched back on and now it was an easy downhill to the finish line. Going around the final corner I was still in the back of the pack, this was okay though because I quickly began my slingshot move towards the front. I think I topped out near 44 MPH in my sprint for the line. However I dipped out of the draft to quick and burnt up a little, but I still got 9th. I lost 8th place by a fraction of a tire width, a real photo finish. All and all it was a good day given my expectations going into the day.Maillot Jaune Full Results
Sunday July 25th I was off to Flint, MI to race Le Champion Pave. I have to admit I was a little concerned with racing in Flint. Its not really known as a very nice place. In fact, its about as scary as Detroit. However though the race was to be put on in dead center downtown running through the University of Michigan Flint campus and down the bricks of Flints main street. It was a longer circuit for a criterium, but the only thing that mattered was the bricks. They are a beast of there own to race on. Luckily carbon dampens the bone jarring vibrations some. When I arrived downtown I was quiet surprised to find the city deserted. It really is almost a snap shot from another decade. There were a few spectators, but beyond that an empty town. However I have to say I enjoyed the setup, I hope this race just gets bigger and bigger in the future. 
My fields crit was scheduled for 50 minutes plus a lap. The race started out hard, as usual with a race like this everyone wanted to attack where it hurts. That being on the stretch of bricks. I kind of knew at the start I lacked the explosiveness to do good in a sprint finish, the legs hadn't fully recovered from racing the day before. So when the attacks started and the field was being lazy with bringing them back, I quickly went to the front to do some pace work. I wanted to make sure no breaks got free this day. I even enjoyed a few turns at hammering the pace through the bricks. I'm not sure how to pin it, but it brings a smile to your face to just hammer it, then look back at the suffering you had caused. For the day it was mission accomplished for me, no breakaways succeeded and everyone was grouped for a bunch sprint finish. So I sat up and let my rested teammate contest the sprint in which he ended up with 6th. All and all it was a solid weekend of racing for me. My strength really surprised me in Flint, I had great power endurance. Fenton also gave me a lot of confidence for the races to come. It hopefully should make for a very interesting last month of the season.Le Champion Pave Full Results
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