2012 Tour of Hermann - Criterium/Road Race

Rolling strong in the crit prior to meeting
the impact zone.

CRITERIUM - Saturday
After the morning Time Trial, it was off to the Stone Hill Winery for the Pro/1/2 criterium.  This was a 19 lap event that featured a very fast and bumpy descent and a torturous uphill climb each lap.  I surveyed the course, and was discouraged to see that the course had been shortened from last year creating a very tight right hand corner.

Essentially, after dive-bombing down the descent, sort of like a jet plane during take-off, you put on your landing brakes after only a few brief seconds of being air-born.  The course last year allowed an extra block to accommodate for the speed and had a much wider right hand turn.  Ok, I was a bit concerned, especially when I heard someone mention an "impact zone" where riders would end up, if they miscalculated the corner.

Realistically, though, the uphill portion of the course is the only real factor that comes into play.  It is very steep and separated the group after about 4 laps.  This might have had to do with the fact that the first three laps included King of the Mountain points... extra motivation for those in the hunt for Omnium points.

Each time we went up that hill was indeed torturous, especially during the early laps while we were all still trying to keep connected to the group.  The first major split occurred over the top of the climb at about 5 laps in to the race.  I ended up in the second group.  Each lap created smaller and smaller groups of riders. 

I found myself in a nice group of about 6 or 7 guys.  We were in about 22nd place at that point.  It was discouraging, with respect to our chances to get any of the ominum points that went back 16 places. However,  no one was planning on giving up, as it wasn't really a surprise that the race had gotten broken up like this.  Plus, many of the guys in this group were from Iowa, so we were sort of comparing our fitness.

I was getting into a groove on the downhill portion.  I found a nice line that navigated through a majority of the bumps.  I was fearless going down the hill, but wasn't quite as sure how fast I could go through the corner in front of the impact zone. It didn't seem to be important to take risks at this point in the race, as we were far from contending  the top 5 paying spots.  From my perspective we were basically doing a series of hill repeats, with the downhill portion of the course being a great time to recover and brace for the ascent.  Jeff Barnes (from Mercy-Specialized) would end up passing me right before the corner, which worked well, as he had a better feel for the situation. 

Unfortunately, another Mercy rider named Mario wasn't as content with this process and opted to try and pass me right when we were in the apex of the corner.  This isn't technically even possible considering the physics involved.  The inside angle was simply too tight at that speed.  So, he washed out on the corner right in front of me.  I tried to tighten my line but ran right into him and then launched over the curb into the dreaded impact zone.  Surprisingly, my equipment didn't even suffer a scratch, and I only had a little bit of blood coming out of my left elbow.  A slight bit of road rash on my left shin as well.   Apparently, I had mostly landed on Mario, as he cushioned my fall. 

Mario was slow to get up as his teammates
help him.  The hay bails weren't quite
positioned within the impact zone. 

This is an upsetting circumstance.  I especially don't enjoy cracking my helmet...  brain injuries are a serious situation.  The helmet did its job, thankfully, and I was fine.  Though, I seemed to be having trouble forming coherent sentences for the next several hours.  The adrenaline was pumping and I didn't feel like I could go on, so I paced around the grass, trying to dissipate the explosion of energy coursing through my veins.  The guy that crashed behind me was very slow to get up, mentioning a possible broken collar bone.  Mario was injured as well, and had broken his handlebar... his tour was done... In some ways I was 'lucky'.

So, the walk of shame back up to the start/finish as I enviously watched the race go on.  I was most upset that I wasn't getting the training.  Essentially, it would be nice to get a result at the Tour Of Hermann, but the early season training is what really brings me down here... win or lose, you will always have a good experience, assuming you don't crash out.

ROAD RACE - Sunday
Well, that just leaves one more event, the 90 mile road race.  I was a little shook up from the crit, but optimistic that I could get in some quality mileage against some of the best riders in the Midwest.  It ended up being a cold day.  I mainly mention this because it was so hot last year.  I went through 8 bottles and still needed more.  Not the case this year, as it was only about 53 degrees.

We paraded through town, but then hit the first hill hard...at least it was hard to me.  Crap, it simply shouldn't have felt that hard.  Was someone attacking already?  The first hill didn't seem to end.  Unfortunately, it was soon followed by another and another and another.  This was only unfortunate because I wasn't as strong as I needed to be to hang on. 

The saddest feeling you can have during a race... getting dropped.

It was only a matter of time before the inevitable happened.    I had plenty of time to think about my training and areas that I needed to improve. My toes were cold, nose was running, and arms were chilled... I wouldn't have had any reservations to finish this race had it been as hot as last year, but being cold and lonely wasn't really working out. 

I occasionally road with groups of guys from my race, but mostly just rode solo.  I reminded myself that I would be doing the same thing in Iowa, so I might as well enjoy some good mileage on this very challenging terrain.  Plus,  teammate Paul Deninger was still out on the course, so I wouldn't be able to drive home until he finished.  Keeping that in mind, I completed two laps and then reluctantly called it a weekend. 

I was really impressed with the Mercy-Specialized team from Iowa.  They brought a very large team for both the men and women and enjoyed a successful tour.  In fact, Mathias Perret and Kim Eppen came in 6th and 1st in the general classification respectively.   Of course, teammate Paul Deninger was solid as ever this weekend... that guy definately knows a lot about bike racing and has the fitness to back it up.

I don't regret going to the Tour of Hermann, it is a great event... one of a kind really.  The field this year was much stronger and larger than last year and my fitness may not have been as effective.  This serves as a wake up call.  I am making some adjustments to my training and diet... I found this experience to be extremely motivating.  I love a challenge, and apparently I have a lot of work to do to get back up to the front part of the results against Cat 1's.  I am up for the fight and have targeted some mid-summer races to be back on form.  Alas, the next few races will be very tentative as I am still in recovery mode.  My confidence is in the rebuilding stages.  It will all come together at some point, and I am excited to look forward to realizing some rewarding experiences in future events.