Ault Park #1

47 starters to the 2008 Ault Park Series B Race, among them, 3 Darkhorses. Brett, Tank, and myself started the night with slightly different game plans but mostly accomplished what we intended to do. On the gun, one rider took off like he was on fire but was put out within a couple of laps. We then settled in and prepared for the first sprint on lap 5. I had not intention of contesting it, the gameplan was to save myself for the double point sprints. In hindsight, I was in good enough position and the sprint looked mellow enough that I should have at least given it a try, but I stuck with my plan.
There were plenty of wobbles and almost crashes and plain bad riding but everyone stayed upright and we got ready for the middle sprint. I was in the top 8 or so as we rounded the back side and several guys went at the bottom of the hill, including Geoff Reynolds, who I believe won the B's last year. I started my sprint a little late (as usual) and had to squeeze between 2 guys which kind of slowed my down. I kept gaining and passed everyone except Reynolds who beat me by a hair. Not bad, 6 points with 10 laps to go.
The next few laps were uneventful as I drifted toward the back to recover a little. With 2 laps to go, I tried to move up on the inside which had worked before but was blocked in this time. As we started the last lap, I was probably 15 - 20 wheels back, not a good spot. I saw Tank several wheels up and yelled for a little help. He swung to the outside and I moved up to his wheel. Tank then turned the turbo on and we proceeded to pass everyone in the field. I yelled at him to slow down as we were still on the back side, I slowed just enough that someone got on his wheel and I jumped on his. Tank then flew around the whole back and bottom side, providing a beautiful lead out. Just as we started the uphill, several riders came underneath us so Tank swung right to get out of the way. I jumped on another wheel and wound it up. One rider had gotten a pretty good jump and managed to stay ahead but I came through for another second.
12 points was good enough for 3rd overall for the night, not a bad way to start the series. Huge thanks to Tank for the selfless leadout. Way to be a great teammate, I couldn't have done it without you!

Rt. 8 is Great!

5 of us set out this morning at 0630 from Tower Park in Ft. Thomas for a 47 miler on some beautiful roads, a great route provided byMatt Bell. Down the monster hill (which unfortunately had to be ascended on the return) and east bound on Rt. 8 for some nice tempo riding. We hit some nice hills, including Christmas Tree, Painter Rd. and a few others I'll need to find later so I can go back and pick up my legs, (glad to see Dan's heavy new bike isn't slowing him down).

Good time all around including some Starbucks afterwards, thanks Nick!!

Downtown Lexingtion Crit

Nick and I journeyed south of the border for what turned out to be a beautiful but rather windy day of crit racing in downtown Lexington Kentucky. The crit was the first for the both of us this year and I was hoping it would prove to be a fitness barometer, of sorts. Kudos to the race organizers, who did a very good job with the course lay out and design. It was a classic figure eight, with wide and well maintained roads. The corners were smooth and fast and allowed for pedalling through turns. Road marshaling was respectable and the course was about as safe one could hope for.

At the start line, there were about 40 to 50 Cat 3's and 4's. Only a few familiar faces; Cory St. Clair from Turner was present, as well as familiar Olimpis riders. I exchanged pleasantries with a dude who had just raced the Master's race and was covered in road rash. He was going to give it another try and it didn't instill a lot of confidence in me.

Well, as crits go, it was all about the start with this one and things were strung out immediately. I had a flash back of my earlier attempts at the Hyde Park Blast Crit. From the start, the pace was unexpectedly fast and it quickly took me to a place I like to refer as, "I'm-in-too-much-pain-to-talk" place. I spoke to a fellow afterwards, who said his average was 25mph (Nick and I were both too nervous to remember to reset our computers, after our warm-up).

Anyway, Nick had respectable placement and he was, what seemed like an eternity in front of me. I would see specs of Process Blue go through a turn, as I was just finishing the turn before. I felt decent but was never able to move through the pack at will. Gains were only made in small increments and I struggled to join Nick, who was near the front.

At some point, Nick and I had somehow switched spots and I barely recall us passing each other. I found it strangely difficult to estimate where I was, in relation to the rest of the pack. The whole time, I felt like I was on the precipice of a cliff; the last rider, dangling at end. Nick and I estimated there were about 5 crashes total (in the mere 30 minutes of racing) and I can say there was only one close call for me: when I swerved around a bicycle that was absent a rider. At least two of the five crashes occurred on the same lap, which really put me in the pain box, as large gaps were formed and riders struggled to rejoin the lead group. I thought I was never going to bridge when a group of 6 or 7 riders where able to bridge to me and I was able to find a wheel. Thankfully, they managed to rejoin the lead field, with me in tow. A break had been established and two guys were 10 seconds off the front. I do not know if they were every caught but the pace never really backed off.

With four laps to go, I was fortunate to be in the top 15 to 20 riders (minus the two man breakaway?). The earlier shenanigans seemed to be over and I was feeling okay, but I didn't have a lot of matches left to burn. With one lap to go, I was giddy. I had decent positioning but was still wishing I had just a little but more umpf...if you know what I mean. The finish line was only about 25 to 30 meters after a turn and slightly up hill but thankfully no cross or headwind at the finish. I'm guessing I finished somewhere between 15 and 20th place...maybe better..who knows. All and all, I feel pretty good about things, considering it to be mid May. It was a fun day with Nick and we both managed to finish unscathed.

History lesson...

From days gone by (2003 Hueston Woods Spring Series Race).  Heads of State, O.B., Dave S., Ralph H., Glen S., Pete Bauer.

Adam

Adam, you will be sorely missed by all.  Thank you for being a great team mate and a great person!  Safe journeys my friend...

Team mates that love to climb...

Mike More and Steve Brown with their game faces on during the hill climb up to Fort Thomas, KY. (May 5, 2008) Wacky ride, tons of laughable moments highlighted by a woman walking a miniature horse on the sidewalk!  Nutty!

Spring Valley cat 3: 5th place

Late report as I've been busy. I'll use some pictures to spice it up.

I said after last race that I was hoping to blow things up this Sunday. The course looked good for it: a 1 minute power climb leading into a false flat, then some windy criss-crossing roads. My plan was to stay near the front on the climb then hit the gas just over the top. At my weight, making a separation on a climb is difficult, to say the least. But a false flat and a crosswind play to my strengths. So hopefully the climb would leave guys a little gassed, then I could string it out on the false flat and the elastic would snap when we hit the crosswinds, leaving me and a few strong guys to form a break.

The race started off with a bang, as big Dan Waite from Saturn went to the front and roared through the crosswind section. Chip said, "Where's the fire?" Knowing Dan and his teammate Rodney Sauser, my guess was that Dan was trying to weaken some legs and set up Rodney for an attack first time up the climb. Sounded good to me -- I like working with Rodney.

We hit the top of the climb and I start my attack (all photos (c) Jeff Jakucyk):

No luck. Pace wasn't high enough on the climb and I blew the surprise by attacking in the little ring, stopping to shift (which is why I'm on the hoods in the photo), then attacking again.

But where was Rodney on the climb? It wasn't like him to sit in when there was carnage to inflict. Coming around the backside, I had my answer, as I saw Rodney waiting for us on the side of the road. A minute later he rolled up next to me.

"Rodney, you off the back?"
"Nah, got a flat."
"Damn, bad luck."
"I figure I'll just get in a hard training ride now. Want to attack?"

Ah, that's Rodney. So the second time up the climb I had some help at the top:

This time we were a little more successful, as more people went off the back, including Rodney's teammate, Dan Waite. As we came through the crosswind section, riders were sprinting to close gaps:

Soooo close .. but again, we didn't get the big separation. Down the backside of the course, Rodney and I traded attacks. He'd go off, get caught, then I'd counter. I don't know why I didn't sit in for an attack then try and go with him -- stupid. Near the bottom of the course I got to motor past the 1/2/3 pack solo as they shouted encouragement. Shortly after that two riders bridged up to me and we worked it for a while, but eventually they brought us back too. Darn those selfless riders working for their teammates in the pack!

Third time up the climb and I was paying for the attacks. I couldn't hang with the front row and had to drift back a few wheels. There would be no attacking this time:

Out of the picture above is young Cory St. Clair from Turner Logistics, who took off on the climb and had several seconds by the top. As we hit the top, everyone looked around for Echelon to start the chase, as they had been all race. But no -- the climbs were taking it out of the flatlanders. Except for their strongest riders, the Echelon train had been neutralized. Good news.

But with no padron in the pack, it took a while for the chase to get organized. Cory's lead grew. He looked good, and this was getting dangerous. The chase finally got underway ... but just then the 1/2/3 pace car came past us. Having just come up to speed, the front riders kept the gas on. Next thing we knew, Kirk Albers was in the middle of the cat 3 pack dropping spittle and F-bombs all over us. If I could make out Kirk's message between the swear words, he felt we should neutralize and slow down to let the 1/2/3s by. Last week, a screwup with the pace cars had left the pack neutralized for several minutes while an enterprising Turner rider went up the road, so the pack wasn't too receptive to Kirk's idea. Finally, the front riders slowed down not so much to let the 1/2/3s by as to curse back. As soon as the 1/2/3s got in front of us, they sat up. Great. We waited a few minutes then said, F this and started the chase again. In the end, Cory blew up, and just as we caught the 1/2/3s they caught him. So we let him drift back into us, let the 1/2/3s get a few hundred meters up the road and started racing again.

Bell lap, and at this point I figure it's coming down to the final climb, so I drift back into the pack to recover. Again, I blew an opportunity to work with Rodney -- since he couldn't contest the finish, Rodney started attacking like a madman at the front. Halfway through the lap he got away and started building up a very nice lead. He still had it at the climb, too, but he gentlemanly sat up so as not to confuse the finish. He told me afterwards that he'd have been happy to tow anyone who went with him to the climb, since he was out of the placings anyway. Opportunity lost.

So the final climb. Bike races are funny -- sports movies and Versus TdF coverage tell us that the last mile should be action packed with riders screaming in suffering. In my experience, it's nothing like that. You get to the last climb, and you go as fast as you can. It's either/or: either you can go faster than the other guys or you can't. This may be strange to say, but there's no sensation of pain. The wheels are coming towards you or they're going away. That is all.

In this case, I could go faster than the others, then I couldn't. I was about eighth at the bottom, then I was even with the front, then I was ahead of them. But about 3/4ths of the way up, Kyle Lyman from Team Dayton and Michael Whitlock from COBC attacked and gapped me. Like a big, dumb, pain-deadened animal, I kept chugging away, hoping to catch them. Now we were over the top and I'm still huffing after them. I glance under my arms and see wheels -- crap, looks like I'm leading out the pack sprint. We get to 150m to go and I try and open it up ... then close back down. 550 watts was all I had in me for the sprint, compared to 1000+ most pack finishes. So first Isaiah goes, then Cory gets his wheel in front of mine. 5th place.

Photo's not so good -- that's Isaiah in the blue Echelon gear taking 3rd, Cory on the right in 4th, and me hidden by Isaiah in 5th. You can see my wheels under Isaiah. I barely held off the Olympus rider.

Had I been smarter, I suppose I would have let off and looked for someone else to lead out. But I hate sitting in and letting the win go up the road. With two riders ahead of me, I kept the gas on. Knowing now that I couldn't close the gap, that was a tactical mistake, but so be it. I beat Blair by 3 spots, but it makes no difference on the GC since he's got that wrapped. I beat the current 2nd place, Joe Hall, by 2 spots, which still leaves me 15 points down.

Next week, Bull Run. Big packs and big money. We'll see how it goes and if I can pass Joe in the GC.