ChiCrossCup_4b

Cyclists needed for Study

Gatorade is conducting a study for which they need cyclists. If interested contact Provident Clinical Research at the numbers above. Provident is doing the initial screening process for this study. They are only taking applicants thru next week so hurry.

Bandit Cross 10.21.10 5:30pm

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Course is on other side of lake from parking lot.

Carpenter Park Cyclocross Race

Here's some photo's and vids from my race on sunday.

Video of the whoops. I roll thru at about 50 sec. in.



This is the same sequence in photos.

Why I love Galena

I spent this past weekend in Galena and this time i brought a video camera. Armed with the Flip video HD Ultra and 2 little tripod mounts i set out to make a video of my favorite road in Galena. Here is the finished product.

Cycling up S. Clark Ln - Galena, IL from Ron Cook on Vimeo.

This is the first time i've done anything like this and i learned a couple things. First don't do this in the early morning hours. The shadows are cool but it changes really fast so you see the differences between the clips. Also the Flip Ultra doesn't have image stabilization so the helmet cam shots are a little shakey. Also it does something a little weird if you zoom in. It didn't seem to focus as well. Unfortunately i didn't catch this till after the fact.

The Garmin connect file for this is here. (for some reason imbedding the garmin file doesn't work) If you play it you can see how many times i went back and forth on the hill to do this. The hill is the east side of the loop starting at the south and going till about half way up north to Wachter Rd.

After seeing the video maybe you might understand why i love Galena and would buy a place there if i could. Can anyone say spring training camp?

Superweek 2010 - Better late than never?

I've been too busy to sit down and write about my superweek races but i'm finally getting to it albeit almost 2 months late. First of all i would agree with Druber's assessment of Superweek this year. While entry fee's are as expensive as they get around these parts, especially if you don't preregister like me, but things seemed to be run a lot better this year. I did a total of 5 races and i loved every single course. The only course issue was the Willow Springs RR course. It seemed to me it was a bit too dangerous for a weekday morning. There was a lot of traffic in the oncoming lanes and then there was the Fed Ex Truck (more on that later) For the most part races were on schedule and there were good safe courses. Results were timely and it seems that payouts were good(not that i know from personal experience)

Anyway on to the racing. This year for the first time I raced the Masters 35+. I went into Superweek thinking i'd flip back and forth between the Masters and Cat 3 but after the first couple of races i decided to stick with the Masters.

Richton Park Criterium 7.12.10
I spent the most part of this race trying to cover moves and get in a break. Missed the actual break that got away and ended up paying for my efforts at the end. Tried a little move with less that 2 to go but got nowhere and ended up last in the field.

Willow Springs Road Race 7.13.10
This course was a lot of fun. Like i said before it felt pretty dangerous at times with all the oncoming traffic. The craziest bit was when a Fed Ex truck turned onto the course right in front of the 2 man breakaway and they had to swerve into oncoming traffic to avoid the truck. As the field got to turn 1 the truck was sitting there not knowing where to go. Fortunately people guided the truck around the median so it could get off the course but it was a little goofy.

As far as the race i felt good the whole race. Every time up the climb i kept having my cassette slip and couldn't figure out what the deal was. I had just replaced the rear derailer cable so i tried adjusting the tension but it just didn't seem like it was doing anything to help.

Since it seemed that i really didn't have any sprint to mention i figured i would try to get into some sort of move. I realized that on the section before turn 3 i would get a lot of momentum and figured i could try to make a move there. unfortunately for me on the last lap when i was ready to try i let myself get a little too far back and got boxed in and couldn't do it. I ended up following some wheels and being one of the first guys thru turn 1 at the bottom of the hill but i just don't have the jump to hang with these guys in a sprint yet. Finished towards the back of the field again.

Lake Geneva Criterium 7.14.10
Going into this race i was determined to do nothing but sit on wheels and wait for the sprint. I had spent the last 2 days being too excitable and so i decided to try and play it cool and see what would happen if i was fresher for the end. Plus it was in the upper 90's. Then the race started. Again this was a great course but turn 1 seemed a bit tight to me and i decided i wanted the hole shot into turn 1 for the start. When the whistle blew i had one of the fastest clip in's i've ever had and sprinted for turn 1. i made it first and by the time i got thru turn 2 there were 3 of us off the front. That turned into a 10 lap breakaway to start the race.

After we were brought back i was trashed for a while and at times was just hanging on for dear life at the back. Sometime during this point a move went off the front and the field was left fighting for 6th or 7th place. I actually recovered enough to try to shed the field with a couple of laps to go but was not successful. Finished in the field.

Whitnall Park RR 7.19.10
For real this time i was not going to do too much too early. And this time I actually stuck to it. Finally on the last lap i got off the front with a couple others and thought we just might stick it but it didn't pan out. Finished again at the back of the field.

South Milwaukee Road Race 7.20.10
This was a new course and i loved it. A couple little hills, nice sections thru a park, and a downtown start/finish. Again this time i told myself i would be a good boy and conserve for the end. This time i truly did but confirmed that i don't have a sprint this year. I got myself about 6th wheel thru the last turn before the 300m sprint to the line. I ended up in the low 20's. Some of it was positioning as i got stuck behind a couple guys but i still wasn't passing many myself.

When everything was all said and done i was actually very pleased with my 2010 superweek. I had gotten myself in the best shape that i had been in since high school and felt like i proved to myself that i could race with the Masters. I not going to be winning these anytime soon but this was going to be a great building block for the races in august and i learned a lot as well.

ABD Memorial Day Masters 30+ (day 2)

I wasn't sure how the legs would respond to the week I had. After the Gatorade sessions Monday - Thursday I took Friday off, and then did a recovery ride on sat.

Sunday I woke up feeling pretty fresh. During the morning at work I started getting that restless feeling in my legs which I'm coming to realize is a very good thing. It's the feeling that they want to do something. I still had a couple sore spots but for the most part they felt good.

As soon as work was done I flew out to my car and made it from S. Barrington to Wood Dale in 20 min flat. I had already changed into my bibs so I was kitted up and registered in no time. I'm gettin pretty efficient at the quick pre race routine.

We knew that with the firepower in the field that there would be a break and we knew which guys to follow. Although I would have liked to wait until later in the race we thought it would go earlier than later. Because of this I tried to follow moves early if they contained the right makeup of teams or riders.

This is where it was awesome to race with tim. He knows everybody a lot better than I do. I was feeling pretty good and was able to stay in the top 10 for the majority of the race.

The race was filled with constant attacks. Never a dull moment. Tim was usually sitting back a few wheels behind me and if there was an attack coming that he felt I should join I'd here, "Ronnie!" from behind me and knew that I should jump.

Unfortunately none of the moves I got in early stuck. What proved to be my undoing was about half way thru the race a group had gotten off the front. I was trying to recover from a previous move so I didn't jump initially. Groups of 2 or 3's kept jumping across and it was turning into a field split so I finally put in a big move and bridged to the group. We still had a gap when I got there but not too long after we were back together and I was now yo-yoing off the back. It must of been at this point that the group of 6 got away. Since I was at the back with my eyeballs rolling up in my head I missed it.

Verizon was blocking at the front and the pace slowed a bit so I was able to get back on and sit in a bit. I looked ahead and saw 2 riders off the front. At this point I thought I was toast. With 4 or 5 laps to go tim dropped back by me and I told him I was cooked. But then I saw 4 to go. I was recovering a bit and I figured everyone else was hurting just as bad as I was so I decided I would attack after the headwind portion with 3 to go and that's what I did. I bridged up to 1 rider and we traded pulls but I could tell I was stronger. After his pull I ramped it up again and then he yelled that if I got him to the line it was mine. Soon after I dropped him and was chasing the 2 remaining riders. I ran out of road before the finish but I held off the field for what I thought was 3rd until my dear wife told me that I was 9th or 10th.

I have to say this was a fun race. The constant attacks and the heat made it hard. One thing I was reminded of was that no matter how bad I feel at the end, remember that everybody else is hurting too. Rest up for a couple minutes then go hard!

Fox River Grove Cycling Challenge Cat 3

Well i feel like i could just copy and paste my report from 2 years ago. After getting a 1.5hr warmup in because our race was delayed i lined up at the back of the field since i missed the initial lineup. Luckly there was only a couple rows and once we started i was able to move up pretty quickly to be not too far back at the first turn. There were 29 starters this year which is the most i think i've seen in this race. My objective is always to try and play it smart and stick with the lead group as long as i can. About the 6th or 7th time up the hill i started getting gapped on the hill. I was still able to catch back on and then move to the front of the field before or after turn 5 so i was towards the front at the bottom of the hill. I'd try to get in a good rhythm for the bottom half of the hill and not lose too many spots but on the 8th lap i finally came unhitched.

For the final 4 laps it became a game of how many riders can i pick off. Of the riders being dropped it seemed i was able to catch and then gap them on the hill. I dropped an abd rider with a good kick right out of the turn at the top of the hill. Once i made the turn off of the descent he was gone. With 2 to go there was a xxx rider and then a SSC rider in front of me. I eventually caught the SSC guy on the hill and gapped him a bit but once off the descent he was back on my wheel. I went ahead and led the rest of the lap and tried to out sprint him to the line but he was able to come around and nip me right at the line.

I'm a little confused cause the results say a XXX rider placed 11th. I'm pretty sure that's wrong but who knows. Doesn't really matter. Maybe i did drop the SSC and the XXX is the one that came back. There's about 3 different XXX kits out there.

I will say that I felt pretty good about my technique for entering the bottom of the hill. I would drop it to the small ring and almost cross chain all the way to my 11. then i would literally take a pedal stroke or 2 and then shift up a couple cogs, take to more strokes and shift again. This way i was able to maintain momentum the whole time. Problem was i'd run out of cogs and couldn't match the skinny guys pace.

All in all i had a blast. I was hoping to place better since i've placed 11th the last 2 times i've raced this but i realize that the fields have gotten bigger each year and the climbers are coming out in droves.

TrainingPeaks file

Kenosha Business Park Criterium 30+

Not a lot to report. This race is always lightly attended due to the Vernon Hills race going on at the same time. Because of my work schedule and the Kenosha race schedule being compatible i was able to get up there and race.

There was only 4 of us on the start line. Kevin and I from Project 5, Robert Springer, and Aaron Hampton from Psimet. All of us were fresh except for Aaron who had raced earlier in the day.

This race was basically a chance for Kevin and I to play tactics a bit and try to come out with a win from a 4 man break. After the first few laps Kevin put in a nice little dig that dropped the Psimet rider and then there were 3 of us. We tried a couple of things to gang up on Robert but nothing worked. It ended up being a 3 man sprint which quickly turned into a 2 man sprint since i couldn't match Kevin or Robert. Kevin had the early lead but Robert was able to come around him for the win.

All in all it was an ok race. The course changed from previous years and we actually made a detour thru one of the parking lots. It created 2 extra turns that were over curbs which was a little dicey. It gave me lots of time for practicing trying to go thru those corners without touching the brakes. Something i need to get better at.

Now it's time to get ready for Fox River Grove!!

More Durand Stuff

Report from another rider in our 3/4 race here.

My favorite quote is...

"Lap 4 was epic. As we round the start finish line to begin the last lap, a big rider (unknown team) takes a flyer and the group lets him go! I don’t think that anyone felt that he was a threat, but we never would see him again. "

Pics here and here (scroll down to Durand Road Race Coverage for the links)

Finally a couple of pics from my iphone.

Durand Road Race Cat 3/4

Durand, WI is a town about 40min south of Eau Claire, WI where some family live. Every April there is a RR and I always have wanted to try and do this and finally it worked out this year.

The course is a 13.5 mile loop out in farmland. Pretty much none of the course is flat. It's all rolling hills. The long sides of the loop run east-west with the back side having 2 bigger climbs on it. Nothing super steep but by the last time up them I was glad I had my 27 tooth cog.

When I arrived at the race the first thing I noticed was the wind. It was really strong. The forcast said only 13mph but this was way stronger. It was the blow you sideways kind of wind. The wind was coming from the north so it was mostly all cross winds with a nasty headwind on the last 200m climb to the finish line.

On to the race. As i climbed the hill to the start finish I told myself this was going to be the best race ever. I lined up with about 38 other cat 3/4's. The 1/2/3 race departed before us and about 2 min later we took off. I thought that seemed kind of close and sure enough by the first turn we were catching up to the 1/2/3 field. We already had a break off the front and they caught the field but as soon as we turned into the tailwind the 1/2/3's took off and order was restored.

I went in with the mindset of saving myself for at least the first 2 laps and maybe even 3 then maybe try something. I told myself that I came here to place and get some tires. Top 3 got bontrager tires. (more on this later)

Eventually there were 3 guys off the front and our field didn't seem to anxious to reel them in. The wind was brutal and you had to be careful with the gusts. All that considered this was a really smooth race. After 2 laps to go they had a sizeable gap, enough that they were out of sight a lot. Eventually we saw that they had dropped one rider so it was now 2. Somewhere on the second lap my rear hub starts making all this noise. Sounds like it's going to fall off. Turns out my cassette lock ring has stripped the threads and the cassette is loose now but other than making a bunch of noise it was working fine. I never had any issues shifting.

As the 2nd lap is ending I'm getting the idea that right after the start finish and just before turn 1 into the crosswind would be a good place to attack. After the turn there's a nice downhill section. Sure enough at the start of lap 3 couple guys gap the field and start trying to chase so I decide to bridge. I do and there's 3 of us but after trading a few pulls the field brings us back in so at this point I go back and sit in the field and rest up for the last lap.

With 1 1/2 laps to go guys on the front are literally talking about upcoming races. I realize it seems that nobody is interested in bringing the 2 back, who for the most part we can't see anymore. We are just ambling along and I'm thinking that I will make a move at the start finish. As we approach the line to start our last lap a rider jumps so I try to get on his wheel. Moments later I hear people yelling, "not our group" so I sit up thinking great, now everybody knows my plan. No matter, after drifting back to 3rd or 4th wheel I attack just before the turn. Only 13.5 miles to go.

To my shagrin/surprise nobody went with me. Right away I had a nice little gap so I kept going. The gap grew so I kept going. I didn't let myself redline cause there was still 13 miles to go but the gap kept growing. I figured that I'd take advantage of nobody knowing who I was. Before long I was out of sight and I could see I was gaining on the 2 breakaway riders. By the time I got to turn 2 the climbs were really starting to hurt and I still had the 2 biggies left. On every climb I started yelling, "shut up legs!". I crawled up the 2 climbs and could see I still had a big gap to the field. Wasn't much chance of them catching me now.

While I was gaining on the break during the downhill and flat sections I would loose a bunch of time on the climbs. I ended up getting within 20-30 sec but couldn't close it but finished well ahead of the field in 3rd.

After waiting around for results to be posted i got my prize. 1 whole bontrager tire. guess i'll have to go buy a second to match.

Finally Racing

All I can say is I'm super excited for this weekend. At the start of this year I made it my mission to lose weight and as of Monday I have never weighed less than I do now since I started racing again in 2005. Actually it's been 15-20 years since I was this light.

This is all due to the decision to count calories this year. With all the weight I lost over the last 7 years I never counted calories. I just tried to eat better and also started riding a lot. Last season I found myself working both sat. and sun. again and I didn't know what races I would be able to do. I lost some motivation and as a result never got my weight down to where it normally gets during the summer.

After living thru 1 season of this work schedule I realized I can still race quit a bit so I've entered this season with a ton of motivation to do well. I've gotten real organized with my training and nutrition with the help of Trainingpeaks.com and have found the book "Racing Weight" to be an extremely helpful resource.

So finally after missing my first scheduled race due to the flu I'm finally racing this Sat. up in Durand, WI. Should be fun times. It's a 54 mile road race made up of 4 laps of a 13 mile rolling hills loop.

I can't wait.

Season kick off (or not)

So saturday was supposed to be the first race of my 2010 season. problem was that i woke up friday morning puking and then the rest of the day just lying around. This was really disappointing because i've been real motivated this spring to do well this year. As a result i'm already below my lowest weight of 2009 and have put in great couple of months of training and was really excited to see how that would translate to an actual race. Oh well. It's looking like my next race will be the Leland Kermesse which will be just a plain old suffer fest for me. I'm toying with the idea of maybe doing the Fraiser TT or seeing if i could sneak up to Madison to do one of the Great Dane crits but most likely the Kermesse would be the next race.

I have found what i think is a great industrial park for practicing cornering or a tuesday night practice crit series location. It's a newer park in carpenterville that i have been checking out the last couple of years. Like many new developments in the economical climate, construction has stalled and the problem in the past was that the paving of the roads wasn't completed. they had just layed down the first layer of pavement so you had the rougher surface with lips at the curbs. When i went over last week i found that the paving has since been completed. The industrial park is only about half built and it seems that a lot of the buildings that are built are still empty. Therefore traffic is light and most of the corners have good visibility so you can see if there are cars.

The loop is exactly 1k. Turns 1, 2, and 3 are sweeping turns with turn 4 being the only real turn. All i'm saying is that i'd love to see a tuesday night crit series here.