We had 5 guys from American Equity; Paul, Lou, JJ, Carson, & myself. The time trial was a short 4.4 mile prologue of sorts... definately not my speciality, but seemed like a great way to organize the event. Everyone lays out their best effort, and then the top 10 guys get points to begin to shape the general classification (which paid back 15 spots). The big question for this event was what equipment to use. The organizers seemed to be suggesting that there was a dangerous descent and many climbs that would nullify the advantages of aero gear... This confused me, and I ended up using my road bike with some slight TT modifications... I was hoping I could even out my time during the climbing, which I am better at with my Madone.
In retrospect, a full TT set-up would have yielded the best time. Regardless, I was happy to come in 10th out of a field of 30 Cat 1,2's... Right at the points cut-off... Even better we got 4 guys in the top 10! Things were looking really good for our team.
The road race was an 85 mile affair that included 4 undulating laps. Really, this was the event I was most interested in, and feeling pretty good, since I stacked up respectably in the TT that morning. Galena is a very scenic town, and I enjoyed a little downtime with an old friend named Dean Wellman who was bartending at one of the many eclectic establishments. Then it was off to the parking lot to sleep in my car...
Thirty one guys rolled out later that afternoon. I was anxious to get the first lap completed, because I had no idea what to expect as the course kept twisting, turning, rising, descending, etc. It was a great course; never a dull moment. Ok, there was a little downtime early in the race... downtime creates nervous bladders. A couple guys kept trying to urinate while on the bike, but never could get a full evacuation. Frustrated, they convinced the field to pull off to the side of the road. What a hilarious situation, with about 15 guys peeing on the side of the road in the middle of a 85 mile road race. After that brief declaration of pee-ce, we were free to restart the battle.
There were two potentially dangerous spots (railroad tracks, hot corner, etc.), but we were warned ahead of time and only one guy ended up crashing. Due to the hills along this course you really didn't need to do much tactically; the course was keeping everyone fairly pre-occupied. At one point, a break got up the road that didn't include any American Equity guys, so we opted to rotate through to bring it back. This wasn't a great situation, because we were using energy that would be needed later in the race, but necessary all the same. Half way through the race, we were riding strong. Unfortunately Lou was having knee troubles, so it was down to four of us.
After this effort, one of the more intense climbs began, and the field really got shook up. The climbing was slowly starting to fatigue riders. I can't really say exactly how everything transpired, but ultimately two groups of two riders were able to escape over one of the climbs and a peloton of 9 guys remained. Fortunately, I was able to claw my way up into this field, despite getting unhitched at one point. I was the only one from the team in the group, so the situation was less than ideal, but I was glad to be representing at the front end of the race. The points went back 20 places, so Paul, JJ, and Carson were still riding strong hoping to pick off some guys that may get dropped from the field. (Every point can make a huge difference in a stage race).
For a variety of reasons, I sort of got worked over by the group... not to their fault, they were racing tactfully. I felt as strong as the guys I was with, but never really sure what each climb would bring in terms of fatigue. I finished with the group in 12th place overall... I was also in 12th for the omnium at this point as well, Paul and JJ were in 10th and 15th respectively.
Sunday was the criterium. This was sort of the 'necessary evil' part of the stages for me. It was a flat crit which isn't my preference, but I can say that it really only had one corner, as it was sort of a 'hot dog' crit. Paul mentioned it was shaped like a turd, and I hoped I didn't race the same way this course looked.
Not much to say about the way this race went down. If we were racing for time, I would have finished with the same time as the group, but since we were racing for position, I ended up outside of the points that spanned 15 places, so not technically a successful result. Paul ended up being the team's most consistent rider gettting points all three days. He ended up 10th in the omnium, while I ended up 13th... Not too bad, still in the money.
So, I had a rewarding weekend, and will plan on racing in Galena next year.
1 comment:
That was my first "nature break" as well. I felt so pro!
Thanks so much for joining us this weekend. Was great to race with you guys. Let's do it again sometime.
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