Tour of Hermann.....

Well, the weekend is over so that mean the Tour of Hermann is over too. It was a long, fun weekend of racing. Saturday was my first road time trial. I was scheduled to go off at 3:21 and arrived in time to pick up my registration and get about 15 minutes on the trainer. Conditions were still somewhat fall-like, and a little windy. I felt a little out of place as I didn't have any aero bars or fancy deep dish wheels, but nonetheless, I don't claim to be a time trialist. I run what I brung!!! Although, that's not to say I won't have a makeshift tt bike for my next race. I've got a couple things in the works and an extra frame just screaming tt. First though, is to build up my new dogfish CAAD9 frame without parting out my current bike since that will be my training bike.

Getting back to the TT, the plan was simple, go balls to the wall without blowing up and hope to have something left for Sundays road race. It's funny, the guy lined up right in front of me has a tt bike setup using the same frame I've got in my closet!!! It's time for me to go, all ready for action. Heading out I notice it's windy, but not as bad as most people are talking about. I do notice that I could've propably used some clip-on aero bars at the very least. I'm out and back in a time of 25:34, not a great time, but within a minute of most of the other CAT 3's. I was satisfied with that time.

Sunday rolls around for the road race. I'm not sure my legs are quite up to it, I'm really skeptical about what the day has in store for me. We have Matt D, Denny, and Casey in the race joining me. I don't get in much of a warm-up in as I use the first couple of miles for my warm-up. The race starts and we cruise around town before hitting some of the first climbs of the day. They come early and often on this hilly course. Great!!!!! Right on the first steep climb my chain starts to skip in the largest 3 cogs, the ones I'm going to need!!!! The one thing I failed to check out before the race was to make sure it was shifting perfectly. I have no barrel adjusters on my bars, only on my rear derailleur so I'm screwed. I'm not about to stop. I'll have to put an adjuster on now after this race. Well, after the first few climbs, even with the shifting problems I now find myself towards the front. My legs feel like shit, yet I seem to be able to stay towards the front. As we end lap one and head into town we pass the feedzone and hit "the wall", something like 18% grade, and I'm still around top 10 grinding my gears all the way up. I tried to soft pedal up, but that just wasn't happening. I wasn't about to power up it and make my legs suffer, so grind on I went. At the very least, it gave me a wide berth for some unobstructed climbing. I guess the guys didn't like what they were hearing!!!! To be honest, that climb was not too hard for me, it was the next couple gradual climbs right after that that I hated. After that first climb out of town we put a gap on some of the other racers. Casey was with us as he came along side me. I passed Denny on the way up and I had no idea where he was at. I looked around and did not see him. After a few more miles I notice my buddy Ron from ABD, and Denny. I guess they had to bridge the gap, but now they are able to get on. Denny said it hurt, but they did it.

Now on our second lap the Mesa kids are all up front, they push the pace a bit. Everybody is waiting for Shawn O'neal to go. He tries a few times, but he's covered and nothing ever develops. Finally, about mid lap, three guys go, including a Mesa kid. Nobody covers that attack and allows it to get up the road. I don't know if nobody thought it would stick or what, but we truck on. A couple minutes later, Dave, from Cycleworx, goes, but nobody follows. A couple minutes later, grasshopper Casey goes, once again nobody covers and he's allowed to get up the road. The group starts slowing and nobody seems to be concerned about the guys up the road. At this point there are five guys up the road.

We are now in the feedzone, I'm good and I don't grab anything, ready for lap three. As we hit "the wall" once again, my chain starts skipping, but I make it up with the our group. We drop a few people and unfortuneately Denny is one of the culprits. He was pretty beat up by that climb and didn't have anybody strong enough to help him bridge. It's now just me in our group of about 10-15 guys, including Shawn, and Jim V from Get a Grip. I'm waiting for them to make a move, I'm thinking they will not let that group stay off the front, but nothing ever comes. At one point some guy yells at us to paceline and catch the lead group. The Mesa kids aren't about to go, I'm not about to go either, so we just go at our own pace for a few more miles. Finally Jim V starts to make his moves, but are all covered. He's a one man wrecking crew with his accelerations, I'm sure we must've dropped a few more guys. Needless to say, our pace starts to pick up. Several other guys start to attack, but all are covered. We go through the town of Berger and I'm about fourth or fifth wheel, I'm hoping to stay in this spot to the end and fight for a top 10. Our group is now down to about 10. Two or three mesa kids, Shawn(Ghisallo), Jim(Get a Grip), Ron(ABD) a Trek guy, a Gateway guy, and a few others that I can't remember. As we hit the last KOM about half way up somemore attacks start. My legs start to lock up so I can't follow, I'm just off the lead guys over the KOM. I try my hardest and pass one guy on the descent. There is one guy drafting me and we now have three guys going into town. The lead group are only about 50m's in front of us, but we're not making up any ground. I end up finishing 14th. Casey got an awesome third place finish for Dogfish and Denny came in a few minutes later for 21st.

This is now my favorite race edging out Dogwood. I didn't stay in town, but it's an awesome venue and gotta give credit to Jeff for a well run event. I guess there was a problem with the officiating in the p1,2 race, but that's no reflection on Jeff or the weekend. This weekend is the Tour of St. Louis, but I think I'll just be doing the Saturday race. Now, off for a ride.