Ahhhh, July, its mid summer, guaranteed warm weather, baseball is in full swing, (Go Brewers!) the All Star Game, Tour de France, VS’s coverage of the TdF pretty much 24/7, pro racers staying at the house, and the long running SuperWeek. I have decided to get in 6 races over 10 days. A few reasons for this; first is I feel my form is good and I want to test it out and see if it is true, second is I am not ready for the race season to end, and after SW not much remains, and finally I am so jacked up by watching TdF coverage I need a release or those who know me wouldn’t be able to put up with me.
I per-registered for Humboldt, Waukesha, Holy Hill, Whitnall, Kenosha, and Downer not only to save the $5 on entry fee but to commit myself to race. I am so cheap that the thought of wasting an entry fee would never occur to me.
Thursday, July 17th is Humboldt; start time is scheduled for 10:30 AM. It is not a very technical course, three turns, with one that you would pay attention too. Not flat, but I wouldn’t consider it hilly either. A small rise after turn one that will take something out of the sprint legs by the end. This is the only Master 4/5 race that I will be in, the rest will be Elite 4/5’s.
I have a fair warm up, but maybe hold back a bit as it is getting pretty warm out, with temperatures in the low 80’s. There are about 30 some of us at the start, which include my two mates, 13 Pin and Dr B. We start at a pretty casual pace, I am mid pack and have decided to sit in, plus I need a few laps to get my legs going. Right from the get go going up the hill after turn 1, two riders take off. I think way too early, it will never last. I hold my spot and don’t go to the front. Our pace remains stagnant, Dr B and 13 Pin make some efforts to quicken the pace and bring back the escapees. But they continue to pull away. It appears they are now gone and we will be racing for 3rd and 4th spots. I know my mates (sprinters for sure) won’t be happy. Plus I was really getting bored, seriously bored.
I know the race for first was over in fact third was gone too as a ride went off the front solo, so I abandon my plan of sitting in and went to the front. I do some work putting in some good efforts and then grab a wheel when someone comes around. When he gets tired I go again. And this continues for the last half of the race. As usual, I pull a big effort out of my hat for the second to last lap, which explodes any chance for a high finish. I cross the line in 21st place, but see 13 Pin take the field sprint followed by Br B.
We sit around afterward and are pretty disappointed that we let a break succeed and agree not to let it happen again.
Saturday, July 19th is Waukesha, I have a great warm up, but it is for naught, as the race is delayed due to lost truck keys and rain. The scheduled start time of 9 AM is pushed back to 11:45. 60 racers register, but only 50 go to the line. Waukesha is a very technical course, and with wet roads, an abundant of manhole covers right in the turn lines, we are sure to see some crashes. I line up at the front and look at the field; over half of the racers have the look of a deer in the headlights. I decide to blast the pace early and see if we can split up the field to maybe make the race safer. As we start I go to the front, another rider seems to have the same idea, and so I grab his wheel. I let him pull the first two laps, and hear Eck yell that he is a good wheel to be on. I take a pull on the third lap, and realize that we have split the field and we are down to just 8 of us. It is a good group, as one is the points leader and the other won Humboldt, (soon to be our new teammate), I will call him The Kidd. My HR is pegged, and see it hit the upper 180’s. Each turn we slow and then sprint.
I hear my wife, daughter and son yelling encouragement on every lap. It helps keep me going.
The Kid starts to pull away on a power move and the pace picks up leaving me behind. It was just enough to drop me. I hook up with 2 other guys as they ride up. I think I am now racing for a top 10. But after a pull, I am dropped, 3 more bridge up and we take turns pulling, I end up 14th my best placement for a SW race and I am in the money. (The Kidd wins!) My HR average was 171; I guess that is my new lactic threshold. It was a hard race, and I am glad my pre-race strategy worked as I learned after the race we had 7 crashes.
Next up was Holy Hill, Monday, July 21st – the good thing is I have had rest days in between the races, giving me some recovery time. Light spins on those off days seem to be working so far. At the start we have The Kid and Big Red (in from Iowa) representing Team Wheaton. My plan for sure on this is to sit in and stay off the front. The pace initially seems pretty good, but the pack seems to be a bit nervous. Lines are not being held and yellow lines are being crossed.
Halfway into the first of five laps there is a crash as we take a right turn and go up a small but steep hill. The Kidd is back by me around 40th out of 50+. I tell him he needs to move up and be ready for any type of break. He listens and he moves up, I do the same, but only move about 10 spots to his 20 or 25.
After 2 1/2 laps, I am suffering and am having a tough time staying with the group. As a result I lose contact going through the feed zone. Between the pace, the hills, and maybe two races in the past 4 days, I just don’t have it. I am cooked and now try to recover. After a few miles by myself, a rider joins me and starts to talk about working together and catching some riders ahead that were also dropped. I don’t have much desire, but also don’t want to ride alone. We work together, with me doing only about 40% of the work. We do catch some other, but we are not working well together.
I struggle the rest of the way and come in 37th place. I need to cross off Holy Hill from the 2009 calendar. The Kidd finishes 9th and Big Red is 20th. I head into work for the afternoon and sit at my desk totally gassed. Why didn’t I get a couch for my office?
Wednesday, July 23rd Whitnall, one of my favorite SW courses. There are 72 of us at the start line; Team Wheaton is well represented with 13 Pin, Juice, HP, and Big Red. In addition I notice a lot of the riders wearing bandages. As we rollout, we don’t even make it past the first S turn and a couple riders go down. Later still on the first lap, there is a group crash of at least 5 guys going down hard. We still have 12+ laps to go! I think that I should either go to the front and pick up the pace or pull out, as this is crazy for sure. I work my way to the front and share the load with two or three other guys. Maybe I stay on the front to long as 13 Pin yells to get off, but what I hear is “Nice job Andy”. But I do fall back a bit; in fact I lose my spot at the front and am back in the middle of the pack.
We start lapping riders, some jump in and try to stay in the top 10 to 15. When we hit the hill, one of them drops anchor and almost cause a crash or two as everyone tries to go around him. I yell for him to stay at the back and get some applause from the other riders. I am for sure suffering, and although not in a depletion mode of getting dropped, I am struggling mentally with the unsafe conditions and general fatigue.
I hang in until the end and sprint after going around the last turn safely. I finish 33rd but feel my position should be higher as I know some lapped riders were sprinting at the end. Of course we always think we finished higher up than what the results show. I call it the opposite affect; at the start line we over estimate the number of riders in the race, at the finishing sprint we underestimate the number of rider a head of us. Hmmmm, forever referred to as the Opposite Affect. 13 Pin gets 2nd and makes up for 2007. Juice, HP, and Big Red all have a strong race and finish in the pack safely.
Next up is Kenosha, July 25th one of my favorite crits, and the first race I ever stayed with the pack to the finish some 5 years ago. A good measure of how far I have come. It is another good showing for Team Wheaton with 13 Pin, UW Wiz, and Mad City Kidd. We have a real opportunity to have some top finishes today with the Wheaton boys. My plan is to get the pace going fast early and see if we can split up the 60 or so field of riders. I tell 13 Pin, who has a knack for staying in the top 5 during a race to let me in after my pulls so I don’t go to far back in the pack.
As we start I am up there for the first several laps taking my turn with about 3 other guys as we set a pretty good pace. (The picture below shows my strategy in motion.) My plan with 13 Pin works a couple of times. The course is flat and fast, and it is obvious that we are unlikely to drop many riders. I am getting gassed and there is no reason to blow myself with some 40 laps remaining. So I slide towards the back half to sit in and recover. I have a good view of UW Wiz and Mad City Kidd taking turns at the front and even going off on some solo flyers. 13 Pin sits in his usual spot at the front, and wait, hold the phone, did I just see him cover a move to keep the pack together? I might be hallucinating so I drink more liquids and pop a Clif jell to fight off the affects of dehydration.
With 13 laps remaining, I have done enough sitting in and need to start thinking about the finish. Sprints at Kenosha can get pretty scary and I have seen my share of crashes. So I know I won’t mix it up. But I can help the team by stretching it out a bit and see what the boys can pull off. I decide that on the back side of lap 7 I am going to the front and will try and set a high pace. After I am spent I will just try and finish safely. That is my role, and as long as the team gets results I am extremely pumped.
On lap 7, I move up to around 15th spot with ease. Then on the back side I put in a monster effort to put myself on the front before turn 3. I see out of the corner of my eye UW Wiz grabbing my wheel. I fly through the turns into the straight away, pedaling as fast as my legs will allow. A slight headwind makes it tough until turn 1. I dig deep and look over my shoulder for UW Wiz to lend a hand. He does and we trade pulls for a few laps. I am suffering but continue to give it all I have to stay towards the front and give a little pull and then recover and repeat. At one point all 4 of us, UW Wiz, Mad City Kidd, and 13 Pin are at the front. Mad City Kidd makes a comment that he hopes someone gets a good shot of it.
With two to go I slip back, thinking I should have waited to lap 5 or even 4 to go to the front. But as it turns out 13 Pin takes the win, Mad City Kidd takes 5th, and UW Wiz takes 6th. I finish in a respectable 24th considering my late lap efforts. It makes me wish we had done the Humboldt Elite 4/5’s instead of the Masters as we made a great team today. It was a fun race, and other than a couple moments, was relatively safe. 5 races down one to go… the infamous Downer.
Downer Ave, Saturday, July 26th the last race of my Tour de SW. In the warm-up my legs are tired, as is the rest of me. However it doesn’t mater as our noon start time is delayed 90 minutes and we end up standing at the start line for another 15. Yes, that’s good, get the legs as stiff as possible. We have the same crew as Kenosha plus The Kidd. UW Wiz doubled up, and is racing his 3rd race in 24 hours. And I thought I was tough. There are only 30 or so of us at the line, for some reason I find comfort in the low turnout.
My comfort quickly disappears, as the race starts and my legs feel like they were filled with lead. I tell myself to hang in there and give them a couple of laps to loosen up. They do, but the pace is fast, and I am having a difficult time finding a good line in turn 2. As a result I either am losing positions or having to sprint to stay with the pack. I notice The Kidd is having the same problem. So I tell him to make sure he is towards the front on the last lap so that if he does lose a couple spots he has enough time to gain it back.
I am no help to the team today; I see a lot of Wheaton jerseys at the front and staying active. The announcer mentions our name several times as a result. I am in survivor mode; the number of races over the past 9 days has finally taken its toll. With two laps to go, a gap opens and I am too tired to even try to close it.
I end up 20th (19th if you throw out the lapped rider who they put ahead of me in the results), but our team did well, Mad City Kidd was 2nd, 13 Pin 3rd, The Kidd was 9th, and UW Wiz was 14th, which makes 5 Wheaton guys in the top 20.
I am pleased with my racing over the past 10 days. Some real accomplishments for me and some great ones for the team. 13 Pin finishes 3rd overall for the Elite 4/5’s, not bad since he did less than half the races, and I don’t think he finished out of the top 3 in any race. The college boyz were strong and I look forward to seeing them move up to Cat 3’s and tear it up for Wheaton.