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!!