Soldier Field Cycling - Plus Bonus Product Review!

Ian and I decided to hit up the 4/5 race of the Soldier Field Cycling series last Wednesday evening. It had been raining all day, so there was a lot of standing water on the course when we got there (the biggest pools located just before what was already the sketchiest turn of circuit).

My race was going well for about thirty seconds, then my rear tire rolled off its rim. I went down pretty hard and thought about throwing in the towel, but was deeply disturbed by having paid $25 to race 1/3 of a lap. I hung on to the back of the lead group for a several laps, got tired, made a friend, got confused about who was on the same lap as me, remembered how to go around corners, realized that dark glasses were a poor choice, and eventually rolled across the finish line (mostly) intact.

By the way, if you find yourself with moderate road rash, you should check out a product called Tegaderm. It's magical. I know, $15 for a box of four 4"x4.75" clear plastic dressings seemed outrageous to me too, but bear in mind one will last for at least three days (longer once you've had some time to heal). Once you've cleaned the wound you just put one of these things on and you can mostly forget that you have road rash (I still wouldn't recommend sitting directly on the affected area). You can even shower with no apparent loss of stick (and complete invulnerability to the agony of shower-on-fresh road rash). The most recent thinking on abrasions suggests that you're supposed to keep them moist and "unscabby" for as long as possible, and Tegaderm seems to do a great job of this. It's not absorbent though, and you're going to "ooze" a lot in the first couple days, so if excessive fluid collects you might need to drain it. It's kind of gross, unless you're into that kind of thing.

Downers Grove Cat 5 Race

So Alex and I raced at Downers Grove on Sunday morning and Andy came down to watch. The story of the race was that two guys who looked like complete jokers broke away on the first lap and no one would work to bring them back. I realize now that there were several times when I should have attacked, but I was just trying to be conservative and assumed that someone else was going to try and bridge and I would get on their wheel...but it never happened.

The start of the race was good because Alex and I got up front on the left side:
So the race was super short, only 11 laps or so, and I stayed top 5 in the pack (or the 1st chase group b/c it was down to 12 people by the end). Here's me second wheel at the top of the hill on the second to last lap:

I had to annotate the photo because when we came into the second corner on the last lap, the guy in the orange came into the turn super hot and tried to squeeze around on the inside. When his back wheel started to slide out he straightened his bike out and rode me directly into one of those metal posts you see holding up the netting. Needless to say, I was super pissed and yelled some choice expletives at the guy. I'm a little banged up on my right side, but my bike needs some expensive attention.

Anyway, the conclusion is that I could have pwnd those guys and gotten 3rd and I should have followed the early break or attacked at some point.

Downers Grove National Criterium Championships

This past Sunday was the National Criterium Championships, held in downtown Downers Grove, IL. It seemed like a good time to finally get out to a USCF race. I raced Cat. 5 with Ian while Andy and Meredith acted as our photographers and cheering section.

Although my day started way too early and the better part of my mind was probably still wrapped up in the sheets, arriving early afforded us lots of time to ride the course. It was mountainous for a crit! The circuit was about a mile long and consisted of 8 corners. Turn 2, a narrow 90 degree left, was one of the hairiest and was the site of several crashes throughout the day. Between turns 3 and 4 there was a short, steep climb leading to a super-fast downhill section.

At 8 AM, the race began. From the gun, Ian surged out in front of the race and led us through the first two turns. I fumbled with my cleat even worse than I usually do and wound up in the back of the pack. At only a little more than 20 minutes in duration, the pace remained quick throughout the race. Ian looked strong throughout, remaining in the top 5 positions as far as I could tell from my rearward perspective. I never really found my legs and was generally too terrified by the constant cornering to venture forward in the pack. The yo-yoing took a harsh toll on me (especially turn 7, which the pack handled excessively shrewdly) and although I tried to gain position a few times by riding hard up the finishing stretch's moderate grade, I couldn't make it stick.

up the hill, somewhere in back

By the end of the race there wasn't a whole lot of snap left in my legs, but the pack was down to under 20 and it looked like Ian had a great shot at winning the field sprint. Unfortunately, on turn 2 of the final lap, Ian was crashed out by "an asshole" and sent into the barriers. In the mass panic that ensued, another rider and I became entangled, and although we both managed to stay upright, lost contact with pack. I chased hard for the rest of the lap, but following the kicker between turns 3 and 4 there wasn't much left in my legs. When I turned onto the finishing stretch, it was with one other rider that I'd been dragging since the altercation at turn 2. I tried to sprint all the way to the line, putting a gap on the other rider, but embarrassed myself when I decided that the agony I was experiencing wasn't worth it and sat up with about 25 meters to go. I wish I hadn't, 16th sounds a lot better than 17th for some reason.

oops

After a second breakfast, we watched the races for the rest of day. Notable occurences included a drama-heavy crash on turn 2 during the women's pro race. Without getting too specific, some choice accusatory words were uttered by a rider who, by all of our accounts, had crashed herself out. The finish of that same race was apparently quite exciting; too bad we didn't see it. Confused about the number of laps remaining, we merely heard the jubilant shrieks of an announcer as we blindly wandered through an alley. Will and Seth's race found itself in a monsoon. I'll let them tell the story.

mo' bike racin'

So there's been some good racing going down lately, and I've been fortunate enough to partake in some of it. Last weekend I raced in both days at Elk Grove, IL. The course featured 5 turns, with turn 1 being a 180. I was feeling good and able to race decently well on both days. On day 1, I raced aggressively, narrowly missing out on several primes, and unfortunately missed the break of the day. I spent the remainder of the race trying to bring it back so my teammates could finish well in the sprint. Well, I failed in this attempt and the break did stay away, but my teammate Mike ended up 3rd in the field sprint, netting him 8th overall and a cool 400$.

Day 2 was better, and worse. I again felt strong, and again raced aggressively, featuring in some breaks that I thought had a chance to stay away, but alas, didn't. I was able to score a 50$ and 300$ prime, so I had that going for me, which was nice. Towards the end of the race, the pace apparently took its toll, and I ended up in some strange split of what ended up consisting of roughly 20 guys. I just sat on the strong riders wheels, and none of us did much work, but the pack was content to let us ride away. I braced for what I thought would be the race winning move, and alas, it came with ~3 to go. Matt Busche of ISCorps (who's pretty darn quick on a bike) attacked and then pulled off going into turn 2. I wanted to keep the pace hot, and clipped my inside pedal, taking myself out. There were no more free laps so I ended up a DNF. Bummer, as it could have been a nice result for the team. It was also the second time in my racing career that a crash was wholly my fault, and I took another rider down, so I did feel bad about that (sorry Brian Jensen!).

This past weekend's racing was a little more low key. Saturday was my sponsor's hometown crit in Warsaw, IN. This weekend was miserably hot seemingly all across the Midwest, and Warsaw was no exception. The course had four 90 degree corners, and measured a track-like .45 miles in length. I ended up lapping the field, along with two Texas Roadhouse riders, two Nuvo riders (Adam Liebo of Marian fame among them) and one other Lot rider. A roadhouse rider attacked the field, and 6 of us (minus Liebo) again reestablished ourselves off the front of the race. It all stayed together in the break, and I was able to fairly easily lead Mike out for the win in front of the sponsors, as well as hold onto second place myself.

Today was a local race in Glencoe, IL. I didn't see any other Wildcats there, which was too bad as this was a pretty cool venue that was super close to campus. A rainstorm rolled through right before our race, which conveniently cooled down what had previously been an unbearably hot day, while not so conveniently making the last 45 degree turn much sketchier. I didn't feel so hot, but tried my hand in a few moves, and failed in a few prime attempts. Nevertheless, I followed ABD's Ryan Freund (of IIT fame) with ~9 to go, and we somehow got a (relatively) big gap, along with a Subway Pro rider and a LOT rider. Each rider was hesitant to do more than their fair share of work (especially the Subway rider), which caused us to unfortunately get swallowed up by the peloton with 1/2 a lap to go. Luckily, my teammate Mike was up front for the sprint finish as he always is, and came in a solid fourth. I stuck it out for 9th, and thus was able to contribute a little more to the winnings of the team.

So, there you have it. I'd love to hear from the rest of you about your summer adventures, so please do post to the blog when you get a chance.


-Will

Grandview Grand Prix/Tour of Lancaster County

I've done two races since my last post, both with less than desired results but hey, I'm having fun.
I did the Grandville Grand Prix with some of my teammates from Vortex (Katie, a 15 year old junior got 2nd.) The crit was a mile long loop with several sharp turns, including two 45 degree turns, that passed through a development outside of Lancaster (the home of the Pennsylvania Amish). The women started off pretty fast but I found a group to hang with for the race and they helped me with some tactics. I didn't realize that many of the women I'd be racing against in PA would be in their 30s and 40s and racing for several years, so I've got a lot to learn from riding with them.
After the race was the best. My parents are from the area so they took me to this sweet dairy with a restaurant and we got awesome food and fresh ice cream, it was delicious.

My second race was the road race from the Tour of Lancaster County. I originally intended to do the whole thing but I was glad I had changed my mind when it poured the next day for the Time Trial and Crit. Once again I got to do a race with the Amish as traffic directors and spectators. It's amusing to come flying around a turn and see a bunch of amish children sitting by the road waving. One nasty hill in the middle of the 10 mile laps torn up our field each time we went by it. I spent a great deal of time chasing a junior down. I finally caught her when the men's field passed me and I jumped in their draft for a while. Then she and I worked together for a few miles until the aforementioned hill where she flew up like a bird and left me chasing again.
This was the first race my dad attended. He previously had little to no knowledge of cycling and he found it interesting to hang around cyclists for two hours while I was out racing. My dad has a somewhat twisted view of people so our ride home was interesting as he 'dissected' the different types of people he observed.

As for now I'm done racing until the end of the month. My team sponsors a crit in an Industrial Park in Trexlertown that I will be participating in. I have a 10 day vaca with the parentals that seperate me and the race however so I'm just relaxing and not thinking too much about riding. After 7 days in the woods with my dad and 4 days at the beach with my mom, I will most likely spend all my free time on my bike, out of the house, when I return.

As you all know, I've been updating the website and also reconnecting with some incoming members of the team. I'm excited to get back to school and start riding with everyone. I'm planning on doing the Fall Fling with Axie and Will and anyone is welcome to come along, it'll be a blast. NU Cycling 09-10 is going to be awesome.