Superweek: 3 days, 3 road races
After another brief stint in Texas to pick up my rebuilt bike, race the Driveway, lead the BSS-Parmer grand opening Chipotle ride, and win the Saturday Night Fever race, I once again headed north in my truck. Destination: Superweek.
After arriving in Milwaukee Monday afternoon, I suited up for my first race at Superweek, the Day-11 Whitnall Park Road Race. The course was nice: rolling hills on a 2-point-something mile loop with a short punchy hill to finish. From the bottom corner, it’s a bit less than a kilometer to the finish. The finishing hill is steep-ish (but not as steep as cry-baby hill in Tulsa) for a few hundred meters, then flattens for 100m before a false-flat 200m rise to the line. Guys were blowing up just 5 laps in on the hill. I was quite pleased that my car legs didn’t follow me up here, and got into the first big move of the race on lap 6 of 27. The break swelled to 25 riders before we were caught several laps later. The counter-move, including Heath Blackgrove of THSJ, went almost immediately. I bridged the 150 meter gap (pretty awesomely, have to admit) on the hill solo, then a handful more made it up to us until we were 12 strong. Some riders kept disrupting the rotation, and I did more work than I probably should have to guarantee our success. But I was feeling great.
In hindsight, I wish I had raced more aggressively rather than just following moves at the end of the race. Going into the sprint, I started too far back in the group when we made the final turn; I didn’t think the turn would be so decisive that far out, and I didn’t start my full sprint in time, finishing 10th.
Oh, and I should mention that we got rained on during the race. After this year, I feel like I should be racing every time it rains!
On Tuesday, the Bucyrus International Road Race featured a course 2.8 miles long, with 20 laps. It had a single short hill before the finish, but it wasn’t significant enough to really do damage to the pack. The field was huge with lots of talent, and there was incessant attacking throughout the race. It was one of those ‘be the first guy on the wheel’ kind of races, because otherwise half the field would fly by following a move. The first half of the race I followed a few moves but nothing was getting away.
Just past the halfway point, Fly-V Australia lit it up. I was probably front third/quarter at the time, ~30 guys back and suddenly we went to single file at 35 mph with gaps opening up all over the place. I drilled it to get to the front as I saw a group of about 12 getting away. By the time I got to the front the break was very well organized and rapidly pulling away, about 10 seconds ahead already. The pack let up for half a second, so I punched it and they let me go. I was killing myself in the 12- and 11-tooth cogs, yet slowly making up ground. After a mile of chasing, I had closed them down to about 75m but they weren’t letting up at all. In another mile, I had made up no more ground. Finally I began to fade and slipped back into the pack. Not going to give up, I tried a couple more moves and had to bridge to another chase group that formed when a gap opened up in the field. We were caught with only a few miles to go. With everyone doing their best pack sprinter impersonation for 13th place, it got really sketchy. I bowed out rather than contest a sprint for $60 (not to mention I was somewhat burned up at that point). The race was fast, covering 60 miles in 2 hours. My legs were still feeling great, and I felt I would’ve done well in that break had I made it.
Wednesday brought the Lake Front Road Race, a long race of about 90 miles. With two good hills on the course, I hoped that a selection would be made to limit some of my tactical disadvantage as a solo rider. Only a few laps into the 20-mile race, an 8-man break slipped off. Taking a gamble that a move so early wouldn’t stick—and noticing that there were still many strong finishers and series leaders in the field—I didn’t bother to get up there. The field was holding the break at just over a minute gap for a long time, so I felt confident I had played the right card. A chase group got away later, and managed to bridge to the break. Too late in the race, my legs began to feel good. I was in a few chase groups, but the pack had finally decided not to let anyone else ride away. Another disappointing day, but luckily there are still 4 days of racing left! Rain is forecast for tomorrow, so I probably shouldn’t take a rest day after considering my race resume in rainy races….