Monsters of the Midway 30+

Yesterday was the Monsters of the Midway Criterium held on the campus of The University of Chicago. It's actually on the Midway Plaisance a few blocks west of the Museum of Science & Industry. It's a flat 1.1 mile, long rectangle loop. For the most part nice smooth pavement and wide turns.

I entered the Masters 30+ race since it was early and I could get back home and still have some sort of mothers day celebration at home. After having 80 degree days this week yesterday at race time the temps seemed to still be in the 50's and overcast.

The race itself was good. Lot's of attacks which kept it interesting. It was also very smooth like a 30+ should be. Nobody paniking, just good clean racing. I went in with the goal of riding smart, staying in the field and waiting for a move at the end or the final sprint. For the most part I accomplised all these goals. As much as I could I stayed nicely tucked in the field and tried not to jump on attacks like i tend to do.

About 3/4 of the way thru the race there was an attack that drew at least 8 or 9 guys out. Since I was towards the front and saw everybody jumping I went as well. I made the group and we had a little gap but it died out and we were all back together. Now I was just sitting in for the sprint.

3 riders got away with 2 or 3 laps to go and it looked like they might hold us off but they were caught on the last half of the last lap. I tried to get into good position for the sprint but ended up back further than I wanted to. I ended up finishing 25th.

The one thing that i noticed thruout the whole race is i don't have the initial power burst yet. After every turn when you're toward the back of the field you have to jump to get back on. Almost every time I would lose the wheel infront of me and have to work to get it back. I can't say that i'm not that surprised by this because I haven't done any work on that yet with my training. The good thing about the race was fitness wise i felt really good. I had no problems finishing the race and felt pretty good afterwards.

Bottom line I'm really happy with how it went. I feel like my form is right on track for where I am in my training this year. Hopefully I can get some of that kick back in the next couple of weeks for Winfield.