Monday, September 24, 2007

Moving in One Gear

My day started with a 5:20 wakeup call. Threw on some clothes, loaded up the Curtlo and the Paragon and put some coffee in the travel mug. Next was a quick stop at Dunkin Donuts for some coffee and donuts for the volunteers. After a quick drive to Jackson Park it was time to get the course up and running before the first race at 10:00. We had a small, but very focused group of guys to help set up the course, and after a few minutes of discussion we set off in different directions to play connect the dots with survey flags and SRAM tape. Riders started showing up around 8:00 in the morning for registration. Big thanks have to go out to Cecile for getting registration up and running, and making sure it ran like a well oiled machine throughout the day. After a mad scramble at 9:30 the course was finalized and we were ready to go. We had over 90 riders line up for the first races (Masters and Women 1,2,3). It was awesome to see that all our hard work had paid off and people actually showed up to compete. During the first races I realized that one section had been laid out in a different design and was allowing some riders to bunnyhop a barrier. Brian Parker and I had to quickly run and get some zip ties to hopefully keep the barrier in place. Lap after lap the barrier was taking more a beating. By the end the rebar was bent, and we decided to make a change prior to the next race. After some quick decision making we scrambled to move stakes and tape to create a really fun snakey section around some shrub plantings.

After watching a bit of the Juniors/Women 4’s race it was time to get ready for my race. I did a quick change into the XXX kit; and had enough time to eat a PB&J sandwich, down a couple of bottles of water, and head out on the course for a warm-up lap. The course was super fast, and I realized we were going to do a ton of laps in our 45 minute race. I lined up at the start with fellow XXX’rs: Nico Westlund, Brian Parker, Mike Stanley, Adam Clark, and Brian Boyle. The week before the race I told this guy that I fully expected him to win, and I was right. He was off like a madman never to be seen again. The race started, and I got an OK start. After rounding the baseball diamond, I was able to pass several guys heading into the first tech section with a fast move up the outside heading into the quick right, quick left section.. I nailed the barriers, and had a good run up. After the 180 degree turn, I had difficulty clipping in. I have new pair of shoes, and still haven’t been able to “stomp and go” the way I would like. After the 180 degree turn around the thorn bushes I still wasn’t clipped in, and lost several places. Finally back in the pedals and I was off. I jumped on the back of a train with Brian P. and Nico, and couple of other riders. I was hanging on the back, as we came into the newly designed snake section. I was trying to hang on for dear life, and knew being with this group was the difference between a top 10 placing and a Top 20 placing. As we came out of the snake I was gapped. I just didn’t have that next gear that I needed to hold on. It was one of those days, when your legs can’t keep up with your lungs. I never felt redlined, but I couldn’t get the legs to push a bigger gear. I rode the next couple of laps with a Turin rider. We battled back and forth, eventually being caught by Rich Delgado of Redline Racing. A few laps later Rich proceeded to dropped us, and I was left to battle it out with the Turin rider. With 3 to go, I could tell he was slowing. I put in an effort on the backside of the course and was able to open a gap. Unfortunately with one lap to go he was able to get back up to me. I really need a moral victory, so after the snakey section I put in one more effort to get in front of him, and was able to hold it to the finish, for 16th place.

After my race I had a short cooldown, and was back at it making sure the race was running smoothly. The Pro 1/2 race went off without a snag, and it was time for the best event of the day. The Men’s 4 race is really entertaining, with people of all different abilities out on the course. With 80 riders there is no doubt that there will be some entertaining moments. The looks on some of the rider’s faces are of pure terror, while others are smiling and having a great time. We had a couple of XXX’rs in the Top 10, which was great to see.

After the 4’s race it was clean up time. With a bunch of helpful people we were able to get everything torn down quickly. After a few minutes discussing the day’s events, I loaded up the car and was home by 5:30. The day really was one speed, and that was “Go, Go, Go”. My race was also done in one speed, and I know there is a ton of room for improvement. Not sure of my plans for this next weekend. I may do the Fall Color Festival race at Kettle Moraine or head to the Wisconsin Cross Race that has a strange TT format and two events on the Saturday schedule.

2 comments:

joeyTWOwheels said...

Nice. I can't wait to see pics.

You can count on one thing – you'll never race well on the day you're running a race. Too much going one.

Anonymous said...

Greg,
Somehow I have missed your blog. Just to re-afirm, that was a great course, and for so little elevation change there were still parts of it my legs were not looking foward to with each lap. It was a great day of racing.