Ahoy!
Another recollection of another sub par performance in a bike race coming your way.
A few days ago I decided to sign up for the IL State Championship Criterium being held in Peoria, IL. I didn’t have an intention of racing this, but signed up anyway. I realized after the fact that the course was what one would call “technical”. Eight corners on a 1.0 mile loop through downtown Peoria seemed like a fun race to watch, but not necessarily participate in for someone who has limited racing experience on such a course. It was going to be a learning experience - hopefully.
I was going down with a couple of teammates and when I received a text message from Erik about a 4:30 am departure I had some second thoughts. It was a summer festival extravaganza in Chicago the day before the race, Stevie Wonder was playing at the Taste of Chicago for free (now who would want to miss that?), and then there was BAM (Belmont Arts and Music Festival) later in the evening with The Redwalls playing at 9 pm. Well, I did manage to wake up and get to his place around 4:45, and we loaded the bikes on the roof rack in the midst of a summer rain shower. Two and a half hours later, we were parked in Peoria watching the juniors warming up on the course.
We had almost 3 hours before the Cat 5 race, so I rode around the parking lot to warm up and watched some of the races. At 9:45 or so we did a practice lap and that was my first look at the corners. The roads were wiiiide no doubt about it, but there was a strong headwind in the longest open stretch of the course that headed into a slight uphill before the final stretch. I lined up and with the sound of a gun 38 of us catfivers were off. After two laps I already started losing ground on the corners as I was very hesitant to take the turns at high speeds without braking, and on the third lap I heard a loud bang ahead, going into a fast descending corner. Seconds later I see Erik getting up from the ground. It was he who crashed after his tube exploded. Instinctively, I slowed down a little to glance if he was ok and lost yet more ground. By this point, I was trying to catch the pack on the windy stretch and that was just not happening. 10-15 meters seemed impossible to bridge, and I could hear my heart thumping as my legs were crapping out.
So I lost contact but kept riding, at least I was going to practice cornering. I can’t say that I didn’t feel like pulling out of the race for a moment (you know, when you’ve realized you blew it 6 minutes into a race) but what good is that. I recovered a few minutes later and then got into a somewhat steady pace and was able to catch 3 others who got spat out from the back of the pack. I eventually got a chance to sprint against these guys but it seemed that I was the only one interested in a little competition at the end of it.
A guy from the local Proctor team ended up winning the race, while Erik jumped back on his bike after a free lap (with a borrowed Zipp wheel) to sprint for 6th. He is one tough dude. The results showed me finishing thirtyfirst. Doesn’t that number sound familiar?
I completely missed the Euro Cup final, but had 3 people text me with updates so I knew that Spain had won it (as I forecasted it, including the goal scorer Fernando Torres). Eventually, I will watch the tape of it. I prefer live viewing of such events anyway.
Another recollection of another sub par performance in a bike race coming your way.
A few days ago I decided to sign up for the IL State Championship Criterium being held in Peoria, IL. I didn’t have an intention of racing this, but signed up anyway. I realized after the fact that the course was what one would call “technical”. Eight corners on a 1.0 mile loop through downtown Peoria seemed like a fun race to watch, but not necessarily participate in for someone who has limited racing experience on such a course. It was going to be a learning experience - hopefully.
I was going down with a couple of teammates and when I received a text message from Erik about a 4:30 am departure I had some second thoughts. It was a summer festival extravaganza in Chicago the day before the race, Stevie Wonder was playing at the Taste of Chicago for free (now who would want to miss that?), and then there was BAM (Belmont Arts and Music Festival) later in the evening with The Redwalls playing at 9 pm. Well, I did manage to wake up and get to his place around 4:45, and we loaded the bikes on the roof rack in the midst of a summer rain shower. Two and a half hours later, we were parked in Peoria watching the juniors warming up on the course.
We had almost 3 hours before the Cat 5 race, so I rode around the parking lot to warm up and watched some of the races. At 9:45 or so we did a practice lap and that was my first look at the corners. The roads were wiiiide no doubt about it, but there was a strong headwind in the longest open stretch of the course that headed into a slight uphill before the final stretch. I lined up and with the sound of a gun 38 of us catfivers were off. After two laps I already started losing ground on the corners as I was very hesitant to take the turns at high speeds without braking, and on the third lap I heard a loud bang ahead, going into a fast descending corner. Seconds later I see Erik getting up from the ground. It was he who crashed after his tube exploded. Instinctively, I slowed down a little to glance if he was ok and lost yet more ground. By this point, I was trying to catch the pack on the windy stretch and that was just not happening. 10-15 meters seemed impossible to bridge, and I could hear my heart thumping as my legs were crapping out.
So I lost contact but kept riding, at least I was going to practice cornering. I can’t say that I didn’t feel like pulling out of the race for a moment (you know, when you’ve realized you blew it 6 minutes into a race) but what good is that. I recovered a few minutes later and then got into a somewhat steady pace and was able to catch 3 others who got spat out from the back of the pack. I eventually got a chance to sprint against these guys but it seemed that I was the only one interested in a little competition at the end of it.
A guy from the local Proctor team ended up winning the race, while Erik jumped back on his bike after a free lap (with a borrowed Zipp wheel) to sprint for 6th. He is one tough dude. The results showed me finishing thirtyfirst. Doesn’t that number sound familiar?
I completely missed the Euro Cup final, but had 3 people text me with updates so I knew that Spain had won it (as I forecasted it, including the goal scorer Fernando Torres). Eventually, I will watch the tape of it. I prefer live viewing of such events anyway.
