2010 race season comes to an end........

I officially finished off the 2010 bike season yesterday in Kansas City, which could also be my new hometown. I did two races on Saturday, the Masters 35+ in the morning, and the CAT 3 in the afternoon. We drove up the night before so we wouldn't have to drive up so early, plus it gave me a chance to check out the area since I may be moving there in January. I was able to get in a warmup lap and that was about it. This being my first year doing cross, I'd have to say this course had the most to offer. A little bit of everything. The Masters race was first off in the morning. It was so freaking cold out and wasn't quite sure what to wear, but made do with just some legwarmers and an extra jacket. Could've used some warmer gloves as my fingers started to become numb, but I managed. There were only about 20 guys in this race, and not too sure who was who as to know who to mark. Getting a good spot wasn't too bad since there were only about two and a half rows of guys. My only concern was that I was right next to the tape and I was in that half row. I didn't want to get crowded and boxed in. It didn't matter that I didn't know who to mark, teammate Denny set out first and I was able to make my way pretty easily to the first couple guys. Denny stayed out in front keeping the pace. I maintained about third of fourth place right behind Bowen. As the laps ticked off the other guys started to fade and I just maintained my own pace along with Bowen until he finally faded. I could see a guy in the background making up ground on me every lap and thought he'd catch me at that rate. I was right, at this point I was in second, but there was about a 15-20 second gap behind denny. I could see he had caught Laberta so I'm sure they worked together. This guy finally made the catch and I let him do some work for a lap or two so I could catch my breath. I then proceeded to take over. There was now another lap or two left and I was sure this guy was gonna stay on my wheel until the finish and then try to outsprint me. I thought about letting him take over for a while and use those same tactics. Well, I don't normally follow Denny's all or nothing tactics, but I did. I just kept my pace high and tried to shake him. He stayed right with me until the last 1/4 mile or so until I was finally able to get rid of him. I ended up 20-30 seconds down on Denny to take 2nd.

The CAT3 race was three hours later so denny. We waited around in the cold for the awards ceremony then drove to starbucks. We got back with enough time to get dressed and do it all over again. There was around 35 guys or so for this race. They had callups for this race and after it was all done myself and denny were in the last row or somewhere near there. This race was all about survival and hopefully not dfl. The race started and I found myself able to move up a little. On the first little technical off camber 90* turn someone stumpled and everything got jammed up. Denny and myself were able to ride right around everything. I passed up Denny at some point and then he passed me for the final time. There was a St. Louis group of three that formed, a Bigshark guy, Stu, from Off the front, and myself. We rode together for a while until I bit it at one of the barriers. My foot never came out of the pedal and plastered myself right into the barrier. It caused Stu to readjust and the Bigshark guy saw it so he saw the opportunity to get on the gas and he put a gap on us. Stu and myself rode the rest of the race together until the last lap when I started to get gassed, actually, I already was at the start of the race, and he put a small gap on me. I ended up 15th, Denny was 12th. The worst part of this race was at the midpoint and I heard over the loudspeaker, "six laps to go". It really mentally demoralized me, but I pushed on.

All in all it was a good, cold day of racing. I got second in the Masters 35+, and I didn't DFL the 3's race. A good way to cap off the season.

I love cross!!!

Once again, it's been a while since I've updated this. A lot has gone on since then, pretty much since the Gateway Cup. The biggest thing thats happened to me is getting back together with my girlfriend. We were only broken up for two months, but it was the best thing to happen and now we're back together even better then ever. I also did my first cyclocross race and absolutely love it. They're pretty fun. My $200 frame is awesome matched up with my Campy Chorus group. My first cross race didn't go so well, but considering I was up all night and never slept I'd say I did alright. I've really taken to it and it suits my off road skills from mt. biking. I'm doing ok in the Pride CX series with two seconds and an eighth place, and an 11th place(in the lead group when my crankarm fell off). I also had a 12th place in a Chicago Cup race. My most recent race was last week in Bubba #7, The Seminary. I was able to manage 3rd in that race. Today is the last race in the Pride series over in Alton. It's a smaller series, but pretty fun nonethless and the fast guys are still the same guys doing the Bubbas. I was hoping to make the overall podium, but after my crankarm fell off during the race two weeks ago I went from 4th in that race all the way down to 11th. I'll have to pull off a great result today. I'd like to make more Bubbas, but the schedule just doesn't work with my work schedule since I'm up in Chicago every Sunday.

That brings me up to my next topic. I've really thought long and hard, but I've decided to transfer from Chicago to Kansas City. As it is now, I'm commuting every weekend between St. Louis and Chicago and that's almost a five hour drive, longer if I hit Chicago traffic. The commute to KC is only three and a half hours and should I decide to move there long term it's a hell of a lot cheaper to live there then Chicago. There's also other factors like traffic, congestion, and two more months of winter. Just as a comparison I'm paying $1200 for a two bedroom apartment and I can get the same size apartment in KC for under $700. I also don't see too much riding in the winter months up in Chicago.

Gateway Cup weekend.....

It's finally over. Going into this weekend I didn't have really high hopes. I thought I'd give it a decent effort and see if I could break a top 20. I was feeling pretty decent last year and broke the top 30 a couple times, so a top 20 would be an improvement on that. The fields were as normal for this weekend, easily over 90 guys in each race.

Here's a rundown of each race:

Friday night, Lafayette Square: I had just driven into town and went straight to the race. I got in a good warmup and was feeling pretty good. As the gun sounded and we were off I could tell my legs were feeling a little fatigued. It was my long work week, meaning little sleep and no riding. I did, however, have the day off before to make up for it. I also road the trainer for about an hour which is all I did for the week. It was pretty uneventful for most of the race. With this race being held in the darkness it usually causes a few wrecks. I stayed around the middle of the field for the most part. With about seven minutes to go in the race I saw a guy in the distance trying to go it alone. I really didn't know what I was thinking, but I decided to join him. We had a nice gap for a lap before we were both gassed. I still found myself hovering middle of the pack when there was a crash just a few bikes in front of me. My butthole puckered as his bike came right into my path. Then as I was about to crash into it the thing just bounced straight into the air and I gave it a karate chop out of my way. Needless to say I lost contact with the rest of the group as I almost came to a complete stop. I was looking forward to seeding it on my video camera, but do you believe it ran out of juice on the last lap?

Saturday, Tour des Hills: This was another basic four corner crit. Not much to say other then stayed about mid pack. I made a futile prime attempt. Attacked from about mid pack and already had one guy that got a good jump on everyone. Myself and another guy tried to bridge, but he did a good job to hold us off. A few other guys tried to make the bridge, but they failed too. There was one crash right in front of me. A guy tried to cut into my teammate and he just shrugged him off and then that guy went down. Maintained that position until the finish where once again there were a couple crashes.

Sunday, Giro della Montagna: The gameplan was to go after a prime. I usually do pretty good on this course on the slight uphill where I usually have no problems gaining multiple positions. That went out the window after the first lap. I got a light massage after Saturdays race and my legs just felt like crap. I guess I got them too loosened up. Now I maintained a position in the middle of the field, but it hurt a little more then it should have. I was slowly making my way up towards the front when my front spoke popped off. I shut it down, went to the pit and got a replacement. Luckily it was just prior to the five to go. Now I had to make up all those positions again. I ended up finishing in the middle of the field. This race was certainly harder then I remember it.

Monday, Benton Park: I had about four hours of sleep. The parents pull out bed and basement finally getting to me. My legs were really feeling fatigued and my whole body was really just spent. This race really left a sour taste in my mouth. I really liked the course, but with all the turns I could never find a good spot to get a little recovery in. It was pretty much on the gas after each turn, and there were 10 turns. With as bad as I was feeling I was able to stay with the main pack for the most part. Then with what I thought was about 15-20 minutes to go I gave it one last effort to stay with the main group, but dug too deep. I decided to pack it in. At that point I wasn't even the last guy, there were still another 10 guys behind me at least. I thought with the way the whole weekend was going I'd had enough. I rode back to the start/finish are only to see like 6 minutes left. Had I known that I propably would've found the extra motivation to at least stay in the race. Oh well, I still got most of the race in, but a thought I should've just finished it. There were still a lot of riders behind me formed in small groups that I could've latched onto. That'll teach me to quit a race. Next time I'll make them toss me out of the race.

Overall I was happy with the weekend. While I didn't get my top 20 it was good racing. I think the fields were as strong if not stronger then they've ever been. I got some awesome video footage of each race that'll be posting soon. Now it's time to get that cross bike built and prepare for the upcoming race.

Glencoe results.....

Saturday was the Glencoe Grand Prix. Denny and the family were coming up from St. Louis so I'd have at least one teammate here. Like usual, we signed up for both the masters 1234, and CAT 3. They were back to back races which had me wondering how I'd fair. As we were getting dressed I noticed I hadn't brought my heart rate strap. Denny had another one, but it was at his car which was parked at the beach a couple miles away. We registered and then he got on the trainer and I rode to get the strap. That was pretty much my warmup. I don't even think it was four miles.

The first race was the Masters race. There were some pretty big guns in our field. My legs were still a little heavy from a hard ride a couple days before so I was pretty nervous to see how they would do. Usually in a CAT 3 race I could get through the worst part, but now this was basically a CAT 1-2 race. Right from the start a few guys took off and the pace was pretty high. I had a decent starting position, but soon found myself drifting to mid pack. We made it up the hill, which was just a short punchy climb, not even that steep, but still did it's job. I could tell my legs were saying no. I made it three times up that hill, but on the last one my legs just weren't recovering like they needed to so I pulled out and saved my legs for the CAT 3 race. Denny stayed in the race and was with the main group until the last couple laps when he fell off the pace. He was able to stay in a group just off the back. He was the last group to stay on the lead lap. It was a good race for Denny with all the traveling he did for work and then having todrive up the night before. It was actually good I pulled the chutes when I did because when I went back to the car an officer was writing me a ticket. I guess I was parked within 30 feet of a stop sign, ok, maybe I was within two feet of it. The officer was nice and gave me a warning if I moved, which I did.

The CAT 3 race was much better. After my three lap warmup my legs were feeling a little better. The race went pretty smooth, I maintained my position somewhere in the middle. With all the corners and accelerations I just couldn't gain many positions. With the narrow roads and all the turns the pack pretty much stayed strung out. The first corner for some reason was the scene of a few crashes. It was also one of the only areas that saw the group get bunched up. There were two crashes in my race and I saw two more in other races at that same corner. In my race I know somebody tapped my back wheel and then I heard the sounds of metal hitting asphalt. I know I didn't cause it, but somebody propably just not paying attention. The next crash was on the last few laps and I don't know what happended, but I did capture part of it on video. I looked like he may have clipped a pedal, but I couldn't really tell. During the last few laps I was gaining positions, but it was only two or three at a time. On the last lap everything came apart and there were gaps everywhere. I ended up in 38th place. Once again, just happy to stay upright and finish a tough race.

This was one of the best courses I've raced on. In St. Louis it reminded me of the Soulard course and most recently the Tour de grove course. You gotta love any crit course that has more then four corners.

Glencoe Championships this weekend.......

Sitting here watching Pawnstars and laughing my ass off. Chumley is such a tool that he's so damn funny. Glencoe is this Saturday. This is the same crit championships that had been held at Downer Grove. I never did that race, but I guess now I'll be doing it, only it's in Glencoe now. I've now raced the past two weekends and hopefully my form will be coming back again. Last week I did the Grayslake crit. The plan was to do the CAT 3 and then the masters a couple hours later. I didn't have a great race. I could tell my body was a little tired from training a little too hard during the week. I only did the one race. I think I ended up somewhere in the middle of the field since they only placed the top 12. I did a good three hour tempo ride yesterday. It must've been a hard ride because I was completely useless when I got home and fell asleep on the couch. I'm still gonna get out for an hour today and then take tomorrow off before Saturdays races. I'm signed up for two races back to back so we'll see how that goes.