Day 3 At the Gateway Cup: Racing With the Mob

          We were over in the Italian part of town for the third race of the Gateway Cup weekend. This area is known as "The Hill." It's chock full of Italian restaurants that have the best smells drifting out of their doors. We took in church in Illinois first thing Sunday morning. Shannon and I are trying to go to an LDS church in each state. That gives me one in Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, Tennessee and South Carolina. That leaves quite a long list that I'll work on over the next few years as we travel around.

     We grabbed lunch and a nap before heading over to The Hill for another late-afternoon crit called the Giro della Montagna. Today's course was a little tougher. The first two races were on very wide courses. The Hill was very narrow. The rectangular course had all left turns again. And, as the name implies, it was on a hill. It was flat between turns 1 and 2, and between turns 3 and 4. The long straights featured no flats. On the backstretch, there was a gentle descent coming out of turn 2 that allowed you to get up some speed before the climb began. The uphill was steady and lasted about 2/3 of the backstretch. Turn 3 was the top of the climb. Then, coming out of turn 4 was a steady descent that mirrored the climb up the back. The descent bottomed out just before the finish line, then it was slightly uphill across the line and back to turn 1.

Pro Women on course

     It wasn't looking like my kind of course. Normally, a hill will blow me off the back of a group as fast as this. With the narrowness of the course, there would definintely be a lot of yo-yo going on at the back so I lined up way early to ensure I got a good starting position. My early line-up paid off with another good start spot, taking off from the second row. There were over 140 racers in the Pro/1/2 again today. We started later than expected after the early races got behind. There were no lights so the promoters were forced to cut us to 60 minutes +5 laps to get the race in before dark.

Pro Men on the start line

Video: Small break trying to escape just over 7 minutes into the race.

     The start was much faster today, with a rider going off the front the first time up the hill. I just tried to hold my position the first few laps. It was hard as we were in a full-on sprint up the hill. Then the yo-yo began to pick up. We bottled up in the narrow turns and then blasted down the straights. It was like doing sprint repeats. I drifted around the group, but never got farther back than 70th or so. We were leaning on each other a lot and I was so surprised that we only had 2 crashes before we went to laps. The group split several times. I managed to stay in the lead group the whole race. Some of the groups that fell behind would rejoin. Many riders woould be pulled from the speed we were doing up the climb. It's hard to close a gap when the wheel that's pulling away from you is moving at 34 mph up a hill.

Video: Alder Martz solo ahead of the pack

Overall leader Isaac Howe tried to get a break going

Me hanging on in the group

    Several small breaks would try their luck before a real escape formed. The break of 4 that formed would get a 20 second gap by the 40 minute mark. That's when the pack decided it was time to chase. Bissel had missed the break and tried to pull things back together for their sprinter Eric Young. The pace picked back up, but I was feeling good and able to stay in the top 50. My legs didn't fade as much as in the previous two days. We got the gap down to under 15 seconds, but then it began to creep back out. We never did catch them and ended up sprinting for 5th place.

It was strung out off turn 2

The 4-man breakaway that stole the day

It was a long, long line up the hill

The break still working well together as the laps wind down at The Hill

Video: The peloton gained on the break for a while, then they gave up the chase

     The final 10 laps were really fast. It was single-file out of turns 2 and 4 at a very hard pace. I just gritted my teeth and focused on the wheel ahead of me. I could grab positions only in the corners. The straights were just too fast. I was in the top 30 with 3 laps to go, again on the shoulder of Ivan Dominguez. I tried to follow him through the group, but I couldn't stay on his wheel as he weaved through the pack. With two laps to go, I got blocked in up the climb and dropped back to around 50th. I was bummed to have lost the wheel of Dominguez. Then I heard that awful sound of metal on pavement. There was a big crash in the front of the group in turn 2 on the final lap. I had enough time to react and dodge the carnage on the inside. I saw Dominguez lying on the pavement and suddenly losing his wheel didn't seem so bad!

Video: Riders come down the hill to begin the final lap at the Giro della Montagna

    Riders were scattered all over the backstretch. I just tried to grab a wheel and hold on up the climb. I had a good sprint left down the hill to the finish line and picked off several riders. I wound up 31st, my best result yet! That was good enough for 5th Cat. 2 finisher. We averaged 27.5 mph for 70 minutes. Hincapie Development rider Alder Martz won the race from the 4-man breakaway. Eric Young made it through the crash took the field sprint for 5th, but he did not get the leader's jersey back from Isaac Howe.

Video: Finish line camera. You can see the break of 4 sprint in, then comes the group. It's easy to see the huge gap in the main field caused by the crash.

     It was a great race to have been a part of. The Hill community was very supportive and brought out a good crowd. The course was exciting for all, even those of us out there making the laps just inches from each other. My weekend was just getting better and better. I never dreamed I would do so well and have so much fun! The speed of this race took more of a toll on me than the previous two days. I could really feel it in my legs walking back up the stairs in the hotel. I definitely dug deep today!