The end of the road racing season

This past Monday the road racing season finally ended for me.   My last two criteriums were somewhat bittersweet, but gave me a lot to feel good about going into next year.   I will start first with the previous weekend where I raced in downtown Birmingham for the first time.   This event was new for 2011 and set up on a 6 turn .52 mile loop.    I don't normally have fun in crits, but this course was technical, fun and fast.  For a change the weather was in the 70's and perfect.    My race was scheduled to run for about 45 minutes.  Which ended up being 34 laps.   The only downside of the race was the Cat 3 field was to race with the Cat 4 field.  I thought this would be a bad thing, but to be honest the course was such it weeded out the weak links in the first few laps.  

Off the line I didn't feel great, I hadn't raced on the road in some time.  The first 15 minutes I had to fight hard to stay with it.  The only thing that kept me in it was my ability to rail corners, a new confidence that has grown recently with all my trail riding.   After I finally settled down I took to taking it easy riding near the back.  I knew I could use the corners to my advantage to move up later in the race.  With four to go things started to get a bit more serious and the pace picked up.  With one to go I started to push up hard on the outside to gain spots.  Unfortunately that was where the only crash would be going down the front stretch.   I had absolutely no where to go but lockup the brakes and wait to go around...race over.   Despite that part the event was awesome and for a rare turn I actually felt good in a race.

This past Monday was the season finale in Auburn Hills.  Dabaets Devos had a new course layout, making it a giant long loop at 1.5 miles long.    Unfortunately the weather was crappy, 56° with a little mist and a lot of wind.  I wasn't really to motivated to race, mentally the road season had already ended for me and the focus was on the trails.   Once the race got going though I perked up.  Throughout the race I took a few pokes at making a break or going for a prime.  With the conditions though it was going to come down to a sprint.  I tried to focus a lot on positioning after the last races debacle.  With 4 laps to go I had a solid spot in the front, however holding that was another thing.   The windy back stretch left the race wide open.  Sure enough any move I made was countered by another line of riders coming back to the front.  With one to go I found my side of the pack was failing so I went to the back to make a surge up the other side.  This move allowed my to get back to mid pack, about where I wanted to be for the sprint.  Unfortunately once again I got hosed, the guy in front of me with two corners just kind of took the corner half pace.  The other 3 lines surged up my inside and instantly 10 spots where gone.  To make matters worse I had to start my sprint early to get back in the swarm going to the line.  That little bit was enough to kill me and I couldn't make up spots and crossed 21st.  

Still though it was another solid race for me, next year once I get the leg back to 100% and can train like normal again things will be much better.  Just being competitive with the lack of training I was doing is great.   Next up a couple days of rest and a change of focus.  I've got 2 months to prep for Iceman, this year I will do it by doing 4-5 MTB races instead of one.  Also since I am not burned out like last year I got a little bit more motivation to train hard and get revenge on the grudge I hold with Iceman.  Should be fun.

Maybury Time Trial

Today I raced the Maybury Time Trial, my third mountain bike race ever and the very first of the time trial discipline.   Maybury State Park I have a bit of a love hate relationship with.  When I first started mountain biking two years ago it was the location of a very nasty crash I had.  Leaving me with bruises all over along with both sides of both knees bruised.  I didn't ride there again till last year, I broke my chain before my ride barely got going.   Living so close by I should be hitting this trail once a week, its nice.  There are plenty of nice hiking trails also.  However I refused to go back till this year.  Frustrated with my road racing season a little over a week ago at Hometown Bicycles they had the Maybury race website up on the computer.  A few of us there talked about it and decided we should do that race since it is so close.  So with only a week to prep I needed to put the demons aside and learn to conquer this beast of a trail.

Maybury can best be summed up as a short, ~6.5 mile or so trail.   It is very technical with lots of twists and lots of trees waiting to knock you off your bike.  Twisty has never been my thing, so I did some serious upgrades to my mountain bike to improve handling.  Man did they pay off, when I took to the trail I really enjoyed it for a change.  With it being so close to my office why had I avoided this place like a plague.  Anyways I rode into today with three days of practice there totaling 6 laps.  Enough to at least understand it.

I signed up to race Sport 19-29, being only my third race I wasn't quite ready to sign up as Expert.  Even more so since this trail did not suit my ability well.   For the time trail they added a few extra sections, mostly for passing.  Also to add a few hills to make it a bit harder, so the race route was about 8.5-9 miles I heard.  Lucky for me I was set off to be the first one off the line in sport class.  I would have a clear trail with no traffic.

I started off in a blaze using my road legs to my advantage quickly tearing through the connectors leading to the trail head.   I started to hard maybe because my heart rate was pegged.  When I finally reached the single track I was breathing hard.  On the first hill of the regular trail I picked a bad line on the erosion and drifted into the bushes.  Unfortunately I got a branch stuck in my front wheel and had to get off the bike.  I yanked my bike out of the shrubbery and sprinted to the top of the hill to get back on my bike.  I really thought I had blew the race,  we started with only 30 second time gaps.   Lucky for me though I started so fast I was still clear ahead and had my clear trail.  I quickly composed myself and relaxed.   I pushed my bike and tires hard through the single track.   I had several near misses almost losing control in corners.

However I just got in my groove and made up ground on the straight sections and hills.   Surprisingly I made it to the end of the single track still on my own.  I could hear second chasing me, but knew I was putting ground on him.  However I was out of the single track and on the paved bike path for .75 miles of pure speed.  I used that and the final single track connector to push my gap to 23 seconds on the guy chasing me.  I sprinted like mad across the line, then let the waiting game begin.  Turns out my time held to be number one in my class and 14th overall in sport division.  Getting the 1st class win under the belt felt amazing, also confirms I might be ready to race Expert.  I know I probably lost a good chunk of time on my incident, otherwise I would have been in the top 10.  I will take that though since I am a newbie when it comes to mountain bike racing, especially on a tight twisty technical trail.  Next up are a couple more crit races and then 3 more MTB races to get me in tip top shape to take my revenge on Iceman.  If I am not on the podium there for my age group I will be disappointed.  The leg is still touch and go, but the fitness is finally getting closer to on track.  Hopefully the end of the season will contain a few more podiums like today.  Its a huge relief and monkey off my back with all the heath and injury crap I have had to deal with this year.

Results

Hines Drive Time Trial

Time trialing has always been a favorite of mine.  This year however it has been a big challenge for several reasons.  Firstly being the ongoing tendon issues, and secondly I sold my Ridley Noah.   While I was suppose to have my new TT frame by now the bike gods struck down on me and said no.   I will have the bike ready this winter though!   So once again like the state time trial I had my team mates bike to use.  The one improvement to the 20k out and back course this year was new pavement in the start finish area, other then that it was still the same evil course with the head wind finish.  While the weather was good for a race, I was not.  The previous night I had been in a wedding...enough said.  I was just doing this race for kicks and to snag some points.  I will not go into to much detail but the time trail went good.  I clocked in a 30:30, about 90 seconds slower then last year.  Not to bad considering my shape.  That time was good enough for 9th.

The bad out of the day/week was my tendon.  I tried my hardest to ramp up training for the state road race, however it backfired.  The Wednesday before the time trial my tendonitis had kicked in full fledged.  For a bit I was worried I had hurt it again.  So I took the 3 days leading into the time trial off.  Sunday when it was time to get on the bike things felt good.  However at the end of the event the tendon was angry again.  After the race I made a decision, the road racing season is basically over for me.  I will still do two more crits locally for fun, but I do not have the desire to train through swelling anymore.  I can't really get more then 6-7 hours a week of training before I have issues.  That amount is not enough to get me back up to speed for the level I compete at. So I decided to take my riding off the road, to often riding on the road I get caught up in the spirit of racing and hammer it to hard.  I am sick and tired of popping ibuprofen like candy and icing my ankle.

So until the winter months I will spend my time riding trails for fun.  Resting and slowing down the reconditioning of my leg.  I will probably do up to 5 mountain bike races for kicks and hopefully have a good Iceman.  It has been a disappointing road season for me so I just want to put it behind me.  Hopefully by spring next year the body will be healthy and ready to fire at 100% again and the leg issues will all be behind me.

Milford Criterium

State championship races are always interesting, and this year the Milford criterium didn't disappoint.  In the week prior my sprinting legs really felt strong, so I was really looking forward to racing.  The loop in downtown Milford is fast and moderately technical.  There is enough elevation change and a super tight hairpin that make field position critical.  My race was scheduled to go on for 45 minutes, short and painful.  The only issue was it started at 2:45 when the temperature was in the mid nineties with some nice humidity to make the heat index on the road feel like 110°.   As a bonus there were 20 open spots for riders to be sponsored by local businesses.  With the perk of winning extra money yourself and winning money for charity.  I was selected to be 1 of the 20 in my field and was racing to represent The Hometown Connection Magazine.  This incentive gave me a little extra energy to race. 

While everything went good prior to the race, the actual race was garbage for me.   Off the line I was immediately stuck fighting for position.  The pace opened super hard and brought the whole field to single file.  Since my focus was power sprinting this hard pace so early in the race caught me off guard and put me in a lot of difficulty.  I hung on though but let myself slip towards the end of the line.  That's were the trouble began though since I had lost my positioning.  Sure enough people started crashing, and when that happened I was left with big gaps to get back up to the main field.  

Attrition was high in this race and I think about 10 riders all DNF'ed because of the log jam that happened when two or three guys went down in the hairpin.  I was one of them. While I made it back to the field, my heart rate was too high and I was cooked.  I popped off on the next acceleration and that was it.  20 minutes in and I was sitting on the sideline really bummed.   I hate getting dropped, and I hate it even more when its due to crashes and my bad positioning.  However though I got to give props to the guys at the front driving the pace.  They accomplished there goal of decimating the field and making sure most the sprinters got shelled out of the race.  Next year will be better, especially when I get over my nagging leg issues.

Maillot Jaune and Le Champion Pave

Maillot Jaune, located in Fenton, MI was set to be my first real test in a road race.  The race being 4 laps totaling about 53 miles was going to be hard for me.  To make matters worse there was about 3 hills you had to climb per lap.  Last year this race was very good to me and I had some success in the sprint finish.  This year it was all about survival.  My training and ability to climb hills for this distance was in serious question,  but with any sport you just have to suffer some to get that fitness. 

So the race started out fairly easy, well until the first set of hills.  A few people attempted to make moves off the front of the pack on the hills, but all the moves would fizzle on the flats.  For the most part we held a conservative pace, with the exception of smashing the hills.  That helped me a ton.  As the race progressed into the third lap I felt my legs evaporating beneath me.  I started to get dropped on the hills and then had to bridge back to the pack.  Finally on the last hill of the third lap the generators died.  My diesels stopped working so I limped back to the start finish line and called it a day.  So I made it 40 miles with the field, a big positive in my book considering its been a long road recovering from my leg injury.  Now hopefully by August 14th I can get some more endurance to handle 62 miles at the State Championship road race.

Sunday was Le Champion Pave,  despite cracking the day before my legs were ready to churn out a 60 minute criterium.  This was another race I had really liked the previous year.  Set up in downtown Flint, MI with a short paperclip style loop with a section of bricks going down the front stretch. 

The objective of the day for me was to race aggressive, this race would be my last test before the Criterium state championship the following weekend.  As things got going I started in my usual fashion, using the first ten minutes to settle into the race and hang out in the back.  After 10 minutes it was time to take the gloves off and try some moves.  My strategy was much the same as last year, put in several semi hard attacks on the brick section to push the peleton and make them suffer a bit.  Unfortunately a byproduct of this ended up to me doing a lot more pace setting then I would have liked.  I tried my front stretch attack twice and deemed it could have a small chance of success for the finish. 

Coming out of the last corner there was a short section of asphalt before the brick starts.  Just before the brick starts the road would divide with a concrete curb.  My practice move would always be to barrel down the right side at the last second while the peleton took the left.  Leaving no chance for anyone to follow my wheel or attack.  So I waited and conserved my energy for the finish.  Going into the last lap I sized up my move.  Part of my element would be surprise, so I used the last bottleneck hairpin as my spring point.  I lagged back going into the corner so I could drive it hard through the apex and slingshot the field on the exit.  That is what I did, then I managed to just to the opposite side of the road at the last second and uncork my sprint.  I had open road and no wheel suckers.  However...not the legs.  I managed to get to the last 250 meters first, but by 100 meters to go I popped.  I went from 1st to 17th by the time I crossed the line.  It didn't work out for me for the day, but I accomplished my goals of being aggressive and finding my limits going into the state championship race. 

Kalamazoo Race Weekend

About to win my Prime!

Kalamazoo race weekend was suppose to start out with a short vacation in Paw Paw,  however that got derailed by a massive thunder storm on Monday. On Wednesday I was suppose to meet up with some friends from Chicago and stay with them through the weekend.  Unfortunately the house they had rented was damaged in the storm.  Luckily a new location was found in Fennville.   So Wednesday I started my vacation, which was good because I was still run down from the previous weekend.   Thursday I got do a nice ride around the small towns bordering the lake.  All and all a very relaxing weekend.  As far as racing goes I did manage to show up to the BTR criterium, and I was actually feeling mostly good for a change.  It was another blazing hot day though, so that would not be in my favor.  My race was scheduled to go off in the heat of the day and run for 75 minutes,  it was in the mid 90's.   For me the race started out slow, I just sat at the back taking it easy.  I also had realized that going near 75 mins in this heat would be hard for me since I am still behind on fitness.   So, I used this to my advantage.  I decided to race the day for Prime's (Intermediate Sprint Prizes).  So three or four laps into the race I went off the front solo since the pace was slow.  I quickly built myself a nice gap, but one guy bridged to me.  Regardless I took the first sprint for cash and went back to the field.  When I got back to the field I got run off a curb and then dropped.  I made a mistake though, I should have just crashed to take a free lap.  Oh well, I still had money in hand so I just decided to call it a day.  My fitness is improving, it will just take time though.  It wasn't a bad day though, I got to test where I am at and also win some cash.  Back to the curb incident though, I am a little disappointed with how this went down.   There was no reason for the field to block me like they did, 4 different riders refused to give me room to cut in line heading into a corner.  The last rider in which cut me off in the Apex of a corner sending me on the rounded curb scrubbing all my speed.  Rather then crashing several people I rode the curb/ grass.  Needless to say it was uncalled for and an unsafe move for the rider to my left to run me on the curb, he is lucky I can bike handle otherwise there would have been carnage.  As to why I got dropped, my panic/surprise/bike handling caused my heart rate to spike so I didn't have much room to recover and hop back onto the field at high pace.  Hopefully by next weekend I will find some form to race with some strength and go after finishing with a top 10.  

Food Poisoning!

While the weekend of July 9th, 10th was suppose to be my return to racing...Taco Bell said otherwise.  In the wee hours Saturday morning before I was suppose to race my body went into shutdown and expel mode.   I had manage to come down with a good old violent case of food poisoning.   Just when I thought my bad luck was over something just had to happen.   I wasn't about to let that keep me down though, I still went to participate and support the weekend races.  Up first was a brand new event, a Criterium in downtown Detroit.  The circuit was set up next to the Tigers baseball stadium.  The event was really great, however it was also super hot.  Even though I had no energy I suited up and did 3 laps, retiring on the third.  By no means should I have been racing, however I had already paid and registered weeks prior and just by being at the start I was just a number in the field.  Which is good for the future of the race.  I spent most the day in the shade trying to keep fluid down.   All and all I hope the event returns for next year, its also nice having races located close by.

I'm hanging on in the back...about to puke

Sunday I was feeling a bit better, I had managed to get some food down.  Once again my strategy was the same.  I had already paid and registered so I showed up to be another number in the field.  The race was part of the Midwest Charity Race Series and very much needed riders to show up.   So I started and almost made it the full lap of 3.2 miles before I got dropped.  Once I finished my lap though I went straight to the tent to hide in the shade and drink fluids.  While I was hoping for a much better weekend I still managed to at least have a little fun and go watch other people race.  Next up is Kalamazoo race weekend, hopefully I can get well before then.