Iowa City's 'City Wok' Section

I entered the second edition of the Iowa Classic Spring Series over the weekend that took place near Iowa City.  It had been raining all week and continued to rain as 10 Cat 1/2/3's lined up to brave the elements.  I really was not sure what kind of bike set-up to use as the course was over mixed terrain (gravel/road).  So, I was very focused on the first lap trying to memorize the gravel course, as there were a few sinkholes that needed avoided from time to time.

I decided to entitle one of the final climbs of the gravel section the 'CITY WOK' Section, in an effort to help me remember it.  If you are familiar with Southpark, you may recall that the owner of City Wok pronounces the first part of his restaurant's name with a 'SH' sound.  Anyway, not only were there quite a few potholes, but the distinct pungent odor of cow manure pierced through the air.

Inadvertently, and most unfortunately, this name had an even more 'memorable' connotation, as toward the last couple of laps I felt like Shit and wanted to Walk... yeah, I fell off the pace and did the last couple laps solo.

This race had a pretty competitive field, and I appreciated the opportunity to get some milage and hard-core training.  This race was the wake-up call I needed.  I don't mind finishing 7th out of 10 riders in a strong Cat 1/2/3 event, however, I really am not comfortable getting dropped.  Maybe ending up in a chase group, or losing it during the final sprint, but rolling around solo is very undesirable. I hopped on the scale later that day, something I have been dreading all year, and realized I was a full 10 pounds heavier than at this same time last year. Oh, well that is not helping matters.  I guess I hit the weights a bit too hard this winter... Fortunately, this is an easy fix, and I should be in peak form just in time for some of my favorite races.

Kevin Temple of B2U/World of Bikes made an attack during the start of the 4th lap (we did 7 laps, about 44 miles).  Ultimately, I couldn't hang on.  I caught up with the winner of the event... Will Greenwood (B2U/WOB) and he summarized what happened after that...



Results - Iowa Spring Classic Series #2 - Iowa City, IA   March 12th, 2010
MenP123, 2:31:00

1st - 593 Will Greenwood
2nd - 590 Andy Cornelison
3rd - 592 Kevin Temple
4th - 591 Matias Perret
5th - X Paul Denninger
6th - 173 McNabb Gary
7th - 594 Chad Bishop
8th - 94 Grant Headley
9th - 161 Michael Edwards
10th - 176 Lee Venteicher

Women P123, 1:25:00

1st 682 Vetterline Lisa
2nd 585 Williams Robin
3rd 681 Ruhtenberg Maria

Men 4/5, 1:25:00
1st - 13pts 580 Cody Goettl
2nd - 12pts 595 Alex Libin
3rd - 11pts 579 Joshua Shough
4th - 10pts 596 Gabe Geiger
5th - 9pts 582 Austin Jones
6th - 8pts 599 Jeff Osborn
7th - 7pts 597 Scott Wilson
8th - 6pts 587 Rob McKillip
9th - 5pts 598 Jon Sulzburger
10th - 4pts 586 Paul Sueppel
11th - 3pts 581 Eric Jensen
12th - 2pts 589 Ryan Patterson
13th - 1pts 584 Surie Man