2014 Madone 7 Series

2014 Madone 7 Series

Monday, July 23, 2012

Double Race Weekend

Saturday's race was in Bayview held by Superweek. Course was rough but awesome. Weather was great, but there are very small fields. Our field was combined with the Pro 1,2 women. I raced very hard, chasing breaks and trying to make a break. Didn't play the sprint out right and placed 4th.
Sunday's race was in Whitefish Bay also held by Superweek. I have done this course before and I really like it. So, I thought I would give it shot again. Like Saturday's race the field was very small and again raced with the women. Two people broke off the front, 1 guy with 1 woman, I couldn't chase it down. I did have a little help, but no enough to bring them back. So, they eventually caught back up to us. I did manage to win the the field sprint and collect $20.00.
Next race isn't for a while. I will be doing Race the Lake in the middle of August. Now, I will be trying to work on longer rides along with some good intensity work outs too.

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Catching Up!

Yeah I know it has been a long while since my last post. I have been really busy and haven't really had the time to blog. Now, let me see what I can remember since it has been so long.

Downer race was very very fast for me. I started on the line a lot further back than I would have liked, making it hard to move up. I sprinting out of turn two every lap. I was caught behind a crash screwing up any momentum that I had going. After the crash it seemed that the race really got hard. I was in a group that was split off of the leading group and there were a lot of racers that didn't want to do any work. I thought that there was only like 6 of us in our group, but when I finished the race I was told there was close to 30 or so racers. If only we all could have worked together we might have been able to catch back on. Anyways, our group did get pulled with 7 laps to go, overall I didn't place that well, but I still had fun and got a really good workout.

I skipped Sundays race in Madison around the capital. I did go out for a 36 mile ride. If I recall I went out with my wife for a bit and then kept going.

July 4th I went out for a 74 mile ride w/some team mates. It was nice to get in a bit of a longer ride in.

July 7th was the State Criterium Championship. This was a great course put on by LAPT, but the Cat. 3 field was tiny, I think there were 15 racers. Travis my team mate wanted to get into a break. He did get into a break and I would like to say that part of that break was made because of me letting a gap build and making others chase. There was a 6 man break leaving me with the rest and by the end of the race there were only 2 of us. Travis finished 2nd and I finished 8th. I think I could have done a lot better if I would have been in the break, but this is how it ends up sometimes when you are trying to be a team player.

Superweek Downer race on July 14th! This was a combined Pro, 1,2,3 along with Masters, which I believe is due to lack of support from the City and community. They ran 3 races ONLY, Cat. 4/5, Womens and then the race I did. Racing was suppose to start at 6:15pm and I was suppose to start racing a 7:30pm. I believe that we didn't start till after 8PM! This was a 90 minute criterium race which was the longest criterium race I have done so far. It was very fast and I remember looking at the clock at 33 minutes and saying to myself I should just pull out. I didn't and I am really glad, I was able to finish the race, not any results but did finish. I know there were others that pulled out. Believe it or not I am really satisfied with how I raced and it was really fun racing in the dark too!

Tammy is getting a new bike, how exciting is that? I am definitely more excited than she is. It is a Trek Madone 4.5 which is outfitted w/Ultegra and 105, I did upgrade her wheels to Bontrager Carbon/Aluminum aero wheels. I can't wait to see it and ride with her.

I am planning on racing again this weekend, still Super week races, but Cat. 3 races, New Berlin Saturday and Whitefish Bay Sunday. After these races I will be putting in some longer rides and get ready for Race the Lake.