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!
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