Day 2 At the Gateway Cup: 31 Laps Around Francis Park

     We had an interesting first night at the KOA. I had trouble sleeping. I kept waking up with my back itching. I was sleeping on my side and thought maybe we had left the door to the cabin open and some mosquitos had gotten in. I got a little sick during the night and after returning to bed, I was itching even more. This time I was lying on my back and my back still felt that it was being bitten. I kept telling Shannon something was in the bed, but she didn't feel anything and thought I was nuts. Finally, I got up and turnd on the light. To our horror, there were at least 20 bedbugs crawling on our sheets. I had never seen a bedbug, but I knew right away what it was. We grabbed the laptop and googled a picture to verify. Yep, bedbugs indeed. We captured a few for evidence so we could get a refund the next morning when the office opened. I was pissed because that meant they could be infesting our stuff and I sure as hell didn't want to take them back home. We ended up sleeping the rest of the night in the car. I got a grand total of 3 hours of sleep, and 2 of those hours were curled up in a weird position in the seat of the car.

    With a plastic baggy full of bugs, it was easy to get a refund. It was a good thing we caught a few because they are nocturnal creatures and were nowhere to be seen in the morning. We got our money back which is good, but we now had no place to stay. And we had bags of clothing that were possibly full of bedbugs. The only sure way to eliminate bedbugs is to get them really hot. Seven minutes at 115 degrees will do the trick. We secured us a hotel room at the next exit in Pontoon Beach, IL, then headed straight for a laundromat. We did everything but torch our clothes. We emptied our bags into the driers and tossed in the bags themselves. After the first load, we changed clothes to ensure none were hiding in the clothes we had on. Every piece of clothing got at least 14 minutes at 150 degrees. That should've been plenty, but I wasn't sure. I wanted to sleep the next few nights right next to my bag to see if any came out during the night. I'd rather get attacked in the hotel than transport them home.

     So our day was spent at the laundromat. Thankfully, the race was in the late afternoon and we didn't have to rush too much. My biggest concern was that it was hot again and I had not hydrated well. After the night of little sleep and a day full of work, I was expecting a bad day on the bike. And quite frankly, I didn't care. I had already achieved my goal of finishing a race. Anything else I could muster up was icing on the cake.

     The course was a little more difficult today. The layout was another 4-corner, square-shaped course. All were left turns. It featured a slight rise after the start/finish line to turn 1, followed by a flat straight to turn 2. Then came a fast downhill to turn 3. The third turn was rough with several bumps in the pavement and a pair of manhole covers sticking up into the good line. Out of turn 3 was the main climb that took up half of the next straightaway. The second half of the straight was flat to turn 4. There was then a gradual descent as you worked your way toward the finish line. The final 150 meters began to turn slightly uphill again as you ended the lap.

St. Louis Hills Francis Park Criterium race course

A church along the course

Pro Women roll through turn 4

The pace picks up near the end of the Pro Women's race and strings out the field.

Pro Women are down to laps

     The hot weather had caused a few pop-up thunderstorms to creep across the area. One hit the course during the Cat. 3 race and soaked the racers. The course dried up during the Pro Women's race and was perfect by the time we started.

      I got a better starting spot today. I was top 30 when we began the 75 min. race. It was a larger group today with over 140 starters. The pace again was toned-down early on. To my surprise, I was actually feeling good and stayed midpack for the first 30 minutes. My legs kept feeling better and better. I started to moved up and next thing I know I'm at the front again and itching to bridge across to a break that is dangling up ahead. But this time I kept myself under control and decided it was best to save my legs for the end.

Awaiting the start

Pro/1/2 Men start with the yellow jersey of Eric Young out front

     The clouds would come back and bring us a light drizzle. Weird thing was it only fell on top of the hill, which was from turn 4 down the finish straight and through turn 1. It made for two slick corners, but the rest of the course was dry. The rain stopped with 5 laps to go and the course dried out in a matter of minutes.

A break of 9 tried to get away, but the peloton said "not today!"

Video: Group fans out between turns 1 and 2

Brad Huff jumps out to the side of the group as they come down the hill between turns 2 and 3

Photo by Matt James

     The finish was fast again and it was difficult to stay up front. It was so cool when I looked to my left and noticed that Ivan Dominguez was next to me with 3 laps to go. That's when you know you are in a good position. I tried to follow him as he moved through the group, but he went after an attack and the acceleration was too much for me to follow. At one point, I was on the wheel of yesterday's winner Eric Young, but he too had too much acceleration for me to follow.

The pace is getting fast near the end of the Pro/1/2 Men's race at Francis Park

One rider tries it solo with a few laps to go

Video: A rider hits the barrier as the group passes by Shannon near the end of the race

     I sat top 50 coming to 1 lap to go. I had room to move up on the outside, but I didn't want to waste too much energy with a full lap to go. I didn't think my legs could hold the pace if I jumped that early. I definitely didn't want to drop like a rock through the pack at the finish.

Video: One lap to go!

     A big surge came between turns 1 and 2. I got blocked in a dropped way back. That left me to scramble down the hill and take the outside through turn 3. The guy on my inside clipped a manhole cover and nailed me, but I stayed upright and we continued on. That left a gap to the main group and it took all I had to cross that gap. I got there coming out of turn 4 and managed to pick off a few riders before the line to take 40th. It was another race finished and another great result. I felt great that final lap and think that maybe I underestimated my strength. Next time I won't waste that chance to move up. I was the 9th Cat. 2 finisher.

Video: Pro/1/2 finish

     Isaac Howe of Kenda/5 Hour Energy won the day and took over the leader's jersey from Young. We made 31 laps around the park for a total of 41.94 miles. Our average speed for the 89-minute race was 28.3 mph. We had 117 finishers of the 141 starters. I loved the way the officials were doing the finishes here. They used the true way of timing crits. When it says 75 minutes +5 laps, you aren't supposed to be done at 75 minutes. You are supposed to see 5 laps to go once you have gone 75 full minutes. We came through at 74 minutes and they didn't put us to laps until the next lap. That's how it's supposed to be. That's why we ended up racing for 88 minutes and 51 seconds.

    We got back to the hotel and went straight to bed. Both Shannon and I were worn out. The best part about that night was no itching and no bedbugs. Not only did I sleep well, but that meant the trip to the laundromat had taken care of them. I think the whole day just made me more grateful for the opportunities I get and the determination I have. It would've been easy to just write off this race, but I hung in there and bettered myself from the previous day. And there were still two more days to go.