Kent Park 2008

Yee haw! It was time to unofficially kick off the 2008 racing season with the Kent Park Spring Classic. This year's race saw 123 participants line up on a cold, but bearable, Sunday Morning, to race 6 laps (just under 4miles/lap) around the rolling hills of Kent Park near Tiffin, IA.

This race marks my 3rd year anniversary of competitive cycling. I entered this race in 2005, with less than a hundred miles of training, and was forever captivated by the challenge of bettering myself as an athlete.

I rode up in the stylin' red Harper's Racing Team Truck, with Bill Ford and Greg Harper. I wasn't able to recruit any team 'Pin-Up Girls' as of yet, so it was just the three of us. For future events, it is my hope that we can have a female entourage ride up to races with us, helping out with such duties as 'pinning-up' the race numbers, offering water hand-ups, cheering us on at check points, post-race massages, etc. I suppose a guy could do all of these duties, but that just isn't how I roll. Applications for these positions are now being accepted.

Ok, I know I am in dreamland with that concept, so on to the race report...

I lined up front in center in the Category 4 grouping, in the 4th tier to start. The referee started each race a few seconds apart, however, most of the racers who aspired to high placings (not just to finish) initiated a full-on sprint to catch up to the main group. So, it was. I sprinted all out, with two other cat 4 racers ahead of me (mike edwards was one of them), until we caught the peleton.
I am not sure how many of the 26 cat 4 racers made it to the main group, but it seemed like almost everyone did, though only 10 of us hung on for the entire race. I caught my breath and prayed that the group didn't accelerate until I had recovered... they didn't.

Wow, here I was, actually in the main group for the first time at Kent Park, I could see the front of the race. I got excited because I felt that one of the most important parts of the race had been accomplished. I celebrated by singing Snoop Dogg's "Ain't nothing but a G-Thang". I pictured the team pin-up girls and me rolling up to the next race in a silver cadillac escalade, champagne glasses filled with Gatorade, chopped up lines of whey protein chillin on a mirror, supplement pills spilling out of our jerseys, GU stained fingers... ahh yeah (ain't nothing but a GU thang?)

The first two laps were a little sketchy for me. Mainly feeling out the race and reminding myself how to best navigate the Kent Park route to achieve the fastest speeds with the least amout of energy used. I eventually found a nice spot near the front of the main group, so the rest of the race was much more comfortable (until the very end of course).

Three, maybe four people had escaped. Looking at the results, it seems like the breakaway had members of each of the larger teams. This is an obvious sign that some team tactics were in play.
Being a category 4 rider, I didn't line up thinking about winning, or even the top 10, so I wasn't really concerened with who was up ahead. I did, however want to try and follow any subsequent attacks, because my odds of finishing well improved with each rider that got dropped due to accelerations (assuming I wasn't one of them).

This course finishes on a steep hill, and each lap this hill got more and more intimidating. The other hills allowed for momentum from the prior downhill to carry riders up portions of the ascent, but this one yielded no such mercy.

I hung well at the front each time across the white line of this hill. Looking behing me, though, the group never seemed to get any smaller. I later learned that there were about 36 riders in this main group for the second half of the race.

Things picked up on the last lap, as expected, and some new faces emerged at the front. Unfortunately for me, I recognized some of the faces as fellow cat 4 racers. I switched my focus from the overall race, to trying to be the first or second cat 4 rider across the line.

This may have been a mistake, because I lost my position at the front as we rolled down the final hill, across the lake and into the uphill sprint. I was so focused on positioning with respect to these Cat 4 riders, that I didn't realize that the racers passing me (though not technically racing against me) would later be obstacles as I climbed the final sprint.

The race came down to position at the bottom of the hill for the 36 riders in this group. Though I had lots of power left, most of it went unspent, as I was navigating my way around those ahead of me that weren't accelarating at the same rate. This isn't an excuse, actually it is what I love about racing bikes. It isn't just fitness, strength, intelligence, tactics, experience, wisdom, endurace, post-race massages, shaven legs, saddle sore maintenance, etc.... it is all these things combined. So I wasn't where I needed to be on the final sprint, my fault... lesson learned.

Midway up the hill I saw team mate Bill Ford. He seemed to be in perfect position for a great finish. I later learned that his chain broke just seconds later, so he had to walk across the line. Even with that he ended up 40th out of 124 and 6th out of 10 Master 40+ racers. Great job.

I ended up taking an outside line, on the far side from the judge. This meant I had to travel extra distance, but it was the only line available, as everyone was agressively charging up the hill. I barreled across the line, knowing that at least 2 cat 4 riders were ahead of me (it ended up being 4).

I came in 5th out of 26 Cat 4 riders, and 17th overall. This is a good result for me, at least considering year's past. It was a blast to race with Cat 1,2 and Master 40/50+ riders. Good experience and confidence for the future.

Thanks to Greg Harper (who came in 2nd in the Master's 40+ race!, awesome) for driving and supporting racing in Muscatine.

Okay, now time to take a week off to recover... Yeah right, it is full-on in april and may, so time to turn it up a notch!