RR: 80 miles...8 laps of a 10 mile rolling course.
Started out pretty slow. The usual attacks here and there. 12 minutes into the race 4 guys got off....Dallas, Bennet from Marian, Will from Northwestern and Ren-Jay from IU. The field kinda just let them ride off the front. For the rest of the lap it was pretty nice and comfortable. Starting at lap two things started to get a little faster. John Meyers missed the break and seemed a little pissed about it so he got on the front and used up some of his man power to chase. 5 guys from Michigan helped with the chasing. This went on for laps 2 thru 6. The break got a max of 3 minutes and it only ever got down to just below a minute....they were working well together.
Lap 7 was slow as everyone recovered from all the chasing. Then lap 8 we rested for about 1/4 of the lap and then attack after attack went. It started to get really fast. Everything was being chased down. When we got to the bumpy Paris-Roubaix section with a tailwind, whoever was on the front was drilling it. The guy right in front of me seemed to be getting tired and losing the wheel ahead of him. I was not going to be dropped on the last 1/2 of the last lap. So I just went a little harder around him and pushed it back up to the field. I looked back and there was a 25 yard gap between the me at the back of the field that I just caught and the group I was just in. Thank god I did that....I believe many of the guys that were in that group were dropped with just a couple bridging up to the pack. I'm able to motor again! Hooray! I stayed with the field just fine till the end. I tried to move up in the sprint (which I need to work on by the way) and got up to at least the 1st half of the field. On the final climb up to the finish I was still feeling pretty good and was sprinting strong. However, one guy that was about 10th wheel or so is all of a sudden stopped right in my path. The whole field went left or right and I moved over just enough to edge past him...but I had to slow alot. And going uphill in my 53/16 was hard to get going again, but I finished in 24th. Better than last year where I didn't even finish.
TTT: 10 miles....
Wasn't my day. My legs didn't warm up properly and Bean accelerate strong right after I pulled up a hill. Didn't wait to see if I was on and was popped pretty early on in the TTT. The team still got 3rd, but I was pissed how things went down. Team...not individual people.
Crit: 75 minutes.....
Sweet jesus it was fast. I guess we averaged 27mph. Thats a pretty good click. The cratered capital square was taking wheels out left and right. I have never seen so many flats in a race ever (well in a crit...Natz last year on the dirt road was pretty ridiculous). Guys were crashing, coming to a dead stop right in the middle of the field due to flats...it was crazy. And we popped about half the field within 20 minutes.
We didn't slow down much at all. But I was hanging in there fine and didn't get a flat. Lucky! But I was almost crashed out at one point. Around corner 3 a Purdue guy right in front of me was jumping up and down on his bike checking his tyres or something...who knows. We enter the corner and BOOM! His rear tyre blows off the rim...sounds like a gunshot and he goes down face first with the sound of carbon grinding on asphalt. He's right in front of me and the only thing I'm thinking about is an image of me going right over him, face first into the ground. Shit....I slammed on the brakes just enough that when I hit him I bounced off his head and right back into the race. No idea how I kept that up...but now I had some work to do to get back up to the field. I was probably half a straight away back. I sprinted and got back on in about 2 corners. Gah...that was a close one...I guess that guy's face was fucked up pretty nicely....and I barely missed it.
The ending wasn't too eventful. Whole field sprint, I was cramping, did my best to move up, and took 30th or so. Overall it was a good weekend, but now its time to get ready for Natz. I'll be doing the TTT and the Crit. I'm hoping to give it my all in the crit and have something happen.
Other than that I'm sick right now and I'm trying to finally get ahead in my homework.
Races coming up for me:
May 3: WCA Baraboo Road Race
May 9-11: Collegiate National Road Championship
May 15-19: Tour of Arkansas
May 25: Tour de Leelanau
Time to get over this sickness and get some good training in....I'm better at Stage Races...I think they're more fun.
Ciao ciao....
Waitey
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