Burnham Race-South Beloit 3-27-10

The Burnham race in South Beloit was 55minutes, which is longest circuit race that I have ever done. I have done longer road races, but not circuit races. The weather was mostly cloudy and cool with temperatures in the mid 40's with probably 5-10 mile per hour winds.

I did a warm up lap and then they told me while I was in the staging area that I couldn't use my Catlike helmet and that it wasn't USAC certified. WTF? I don't get it, the pros are using them so why can't I? This didn't start me off on a good mood.

I had two team mates Brian and Travis, we had no plans for the race. This was Travis's first race of the year. He is looking very strong. There were a lot of breaks with a lot of chasing.

This race was held at Black Hawk Raceway, which is a race track and that was neat. I felt like the racers weren't riding very smooth. You had to constantly paying attention to who was around you. There was a lot of bunching up in the corners when the pace would slow down. The pace seemed to slow down more in the back section and then when we would get to the tailwind the pace would ramp up.

I did a no no! Travis was in a group with about 12 racers and I bridged my way up, but was pulling the whole field. I shouldn't have done that. I was catching that group at a good clip and then Travis went in the front to pull and he made me work really hard to bridge the gap. When I finally made it across I felt like pucking. It took me a while to recover from that. Sorry, Travis, I should have let it go and saw what would have happened.

Alright with 3 laps to go I was towards the back of the pack and needed to get my ass towards the front. I kept moving forward and on the last lap, I heard a guy talking to his team mate and he looked as if he was a strong sprinter. I stayed on his wheel, but he didn't have any help from his team mates, so just before the last corner he was done. Then there were other riders that came blasting around and I didn't chase at all. I simply gave up and sat up through the start line. By the way the finishing straight was over 500 meters, that is a long finishing straight. The season is long and it is still very early. The WCA cup series starts in two weeks and I will hopefully be able to do better. Travis finished in 6th, Brian 25th, and myself 27th.

Kenosha Crit. #2, March 21-10

Ah, number 2 race for me for the new season. I seem much better getting that first one out of the way last week. Organized that is, I went out the night before with one of my team mates and had a few brews. I was out later than normal, and had to sleep by myself. My wife went out with her sister and stayed the night by her.

Anyways lets get to the race. I was feeling a bit tired, not well rested and had put in a lot more miles and rides this past week. I had two team mates with me at this race Rick, and Brian. Rick's first race of the year on a new bike.

The plan was to sit in and hopefully have a finished field sprint. Rick mentioned while warming up that he may do something stupid, like go for a solo break but not really go for it. Just to keep the legs warm was his theory. Race started pretty mellow for a lap and then a solo man went on a break. He stayed in sight and never went anywhere. At this point Brian was pulling in the head wind and a low tempo and then I would pull in the tail wind. Just for fun I started to ramp it way up, looking as if I was going for a break away. I would just blast a little while get a gap and then sit up. I did that for two laps, on the second lap of doing that a Wheel & Sprocket rider (Jeff) looked at me and said do you want to go and I said no. He kept going and then shortly after one of my team mates (Rick) went after him and caught him, but then had 5 seconds on us or so. Brian and I stayed at the front controlling the pace. There were a couple of bridge attempts made by others but Brian and I would stick with it and wait for it to slow up and then get in front and tempo it again. We did let solo men go for it just not any groups.

Three laps to go I found myself in the front again and I didn't want to be their. Someone passed my with two laps to go and I stayed on his wheel for that lap. Then on the bell lap Brian came around and I went on his wheel and he ramped it up stringing out the field. He was flying, and I was loving it, but when he went through the last corner he pinched me off into the curb and I had to hesitate a bit which stopped any momentum and managed to get 10th. Brian finished 13th, and Rick finished 3rd. A job well done!

Next weekend will be at Blackhawk farms in South Beloit with some more team mates. See once what we can't do their. Later!

Kenosha Crit. #1-3-14-10

Well, the first race of the year has come and gone. I raced cat. 3 class and I had one other team mate with me. The weather was very windy, but the sun did come out in time for the race (at least my race).

It was a small field of about twenty racers. The race started out a bit fast, and jumped my heart rate up where it hasn't been in a long time. When I finally was comfortable with a steady high heart rate I felt pretty good. I wouldn't say that I felt really strong, but felt good.

There was a break early in the race, but that didn't last long. Brian and I were in the front of the group. Brian was leading (don't remember what lap) in the head wind and when we reached the cross wind before the tail wind I went in front of him and we ramped it up and was able to get off of the front. I think it started with just us two, but somebody might have been hiding out behind us. I think there was also another guy that bridged up to us and at one point we had four in the break. I would like to give big props to Brian for pulling into the head wind lap after lap. One of the guys in the break pulled with a tail wind and pulled so hard that it just killed me and Brian. We probably stayed away for about ten minutes and were eventually caught.

After we were caught Brian and I were still leading the group. This felt just like a M4/5 race with Extreme getting some press! What the heck! There was a one man break that Brian and I were not chasing down. I was hoping some other men would come to the front and do some work. With three laps to go there was a nasty crash, and I hope that everyone is okay. After the crash I ramped it up just a little bit and started getting a cramp in my left hamstring. I new my race was not going to finish very strong, but with two laps to go I found myself in front AGAIN, but I wasn't doing any work. I slowed the pace down to about thirteen to fifteen miles per hour hoping that someone else would come to the front, but no such luck. On the last lap like always it ramped way up and I could feel my hamstring on the edge of locking up, so I couldn't give it my all.

The one man break was able to stay away and win the race and on the last lap I stayed tucked in behind Brian's calves. I am glad I use these races for training and is a good kick start for the season. Brian placed 8th and I was 9th, I need to figure out why I am cramping! Good job to all the other team mates that raced in the juniors and 4/5 races. They did a great job. Team Extreme is going to be a force to reckon with again this year, hopefully in three classes (cat.4/5, M4/5, cat.3, M3/4).

Early outside group ride

Saturday March 6th there was a group ride in Cedarburg that I attended. I normally like to ride to Cedarburg and then ride with the group and then back home. But, this time I new being early season and a beautiful day I knew that the pace was going to be fast. I did see the planned route and there were a lot of decent hills that we had to climb. So, I drove and met the group of about 17, which I thought that there would have been more. As we headed out the pace was very mild and when we were climbing the hills there were people blasting up them. No king of the mountain points for me. I really need to work on my climbing. I was never the first one up any of the hills, come to think of it I don't think I was even in the top five. As we headed back and the route getting more flat the lead outs and the sprints were picking up. I worked on doing some lead outs, which seem to work, I managed to stretch the group out. Towards the end of the ride I was starting the get the muscle twitch that you get before a muscle cramp. I took a gel and that seem to help. I wanted to contest for the last sprint, which I was able to get a huge lead out starting with one of my team mates and then to tri guys that were flying. I snuck around the last try guy right by the sign. I have been feeling so so with my training, but I do feel that my form is coming back.

Sunday I met with one of my team mates in Cedarburg who was putting together a group ride, but nobody showed up. Very surprising considering the weather was perfect. Anyways I was on a time crunch so we rode light tempo and talked on the way towards Holly Hill and then when it was time to come back we kicked the tempo up a bit. We worked on our two man pace line and I felt pretty strong. We made great time back and I was able to make it home early.

This week we are not having such nice weather, a bit gloomy and wet. Saturday we are planning on doing a crit. practice and hopefully the weather will cooperate. Sunday is my first race down in Kenosha if the weather is okay. I will be blogging about my races for sure.

Northern Kettle Ride

Well before I get to writing about by Northern Kettles ride which I did on Sunday, Saturday I went to the shop and rode indoors because outside the roads were covered with a light heavy snow and the roads where very slippy, at least for a road bike.

Sunday while my wife was at the gym running 16 miles, I went for a ride. The wind was coming out of the NNE so I headed from my house to the norther Kettles. I played my ipod and went alone. I forgot that listening to music and riding by yourself can actually be enjoyable.

When I left the roads were dry for the most part and as I kept going north they were getting more damp along with some light flurries. The roads were very safe not icy at all. I rode up to Mauthe Lake and then went around Long Lake. The site seeing was good and saw a bunch of people ice fishing on Long Lake. The roads by Long Lake were completly wet and I was getting wet on the outside by staying dry on the inside except for the swet that I have produced.

When I started heading south with the wind to my back was awsome. I was able to kick my speeds up quite a bit and climb the hills better. My route for the most part was an out and back route, but went around Long Lake and took a little different way into West Bend to avoid some hills due to I was running out of time and had to get home by a certain time. All in all I felt I had a great ride still keeping my intensity down a little. Well thats all for now and we are only two weeks away till the first race (wheather permitting).