Dutchtown

     The Dutchtown Classic ended the weekend of racing in St. Louis with another long course crit. I was happy to ride the trainer and find that my legs had recovered fairly well from two days of hard racing and that I wasn't coughing! Again today, the Pro race was Pro/1 only so I was doing the Cat. 2/3 race. We had a later race again, giving Shannon and I time to sleep in a little and catch a church service on the way over to the course. The neighborhood surrounding the course was a bit sketchy again. At least the pavement was better today.

MoPro Start/Finish banner at Dutchtown

     The course was over a mile again today. It was like two rectangle courses put together. They really seem to like the bigger courses up here. The start/finish was near the top of a small climb. You started on the hill about 50 meters from the top. At the top was a 90-degree right turn followed 50 meters later by a 90-degree left. Then there was a long straightaway that gradually descended to two very fast right turns that sent you back up a slight climb on a very long straightaway. The slight uphill topped out halfway down the straightaway and then began to descend gradually. There was another pair of 90-degree right turns at the bottom, the first of which was tight on the exit. After the last corner came a flat 200 meters before the climb began about 200 meters form the line. It was a difficult sprint to judge because the climb wasn't really steep or long, but it still sapped away your speed and strength.

Course Map for the Dutchtown Classic

     We were scheduled for 60 minutes +3 laps, but...you guessed it...they cut us to 50 minutes +4 laps. Why the change to +4 I don't know, but that's what they did. I actually got to see the course today before the race started. I didn't actually get out on the course, but I did ride around the sidewalk so I could at least see what was going on.

2 laps to go for the Cat. 4/5 Men

Cat. 4/5 Men

     We had a big group again of about 80 riders. I didn't get the starting spot I wanted, lining up in the back 1/3 of the group. The start wasn't quite as frantic today and I took advantage of it to try and move up early. I was too far back and having to work too hard coming out of the corners. It was a tough sprint out of turns 2, 4 and 6. The turn 6 sprint was especially draining because you had the hill to deal with as soon as the sprint ended.

Cat. 2/3 Men on the start line

Cat. 2/3 group passing in the shadow of a large church

     I moved up the first two laps, then nearly got taken out in turn 4 on lap 3. The guy on my inside twitched like he was about to hit the curb, but he wasn't even close to it. His wiggle sent him wide and he took me all the way to the outside curb. Again, I reacted well, bunnyhopping the curb up onto the sidewalk. I sprinted up the sidewalk and then looked back to make sure I didn't run into anybody when I jumped the curb back into the road. Several guys came by and told me good save afterwards. It was definitely a sphincter-clinching moment.

Rider on my inside pushes me wide...

...up onto the sidewalk

Video of me taking to the sidewalk to avoid crashing

     I dropped back a little with the incident and had a hard time getting up to the front. The entire race was a struggle to gain ground in the group. Much like yesterday, the holes just weren't opening up very often. There was a cross-wind coming from the right on the backstretch. I stuck my nose out there a few times to move up, but I had to really earn it out there. It took a lot out of me to drive that hard into the wind just to gain a few spots.

Turn 2

Me hammering and suffering

The group comes up the backstretch with one rider dangling off the front

Rolling by a young spectator in turn 6

Cornering in the bunch in turn 2

     The pace really picked up near the end. I got shuffled back after overdoing it a bit trying to move up. I kind of got myself into trouble with my heart rate and paid the price. With 6 laps to go, I was thinking that maybe just hanging onto the group was going to be a challenge. I was hurting bad, nearly getting gapped up the hill with 4 to go. I never once looked back in the race to see how many were behind me. Shannon told me that with just a few minutes left int he race, I was about 5 from the back of the group. It wasn't because I slipped back. It was because everybody behind me was getting dropped.

The bunch comes off turn 6

It was a long line up the hill with a few laps to go

About to squeeze under a low tree as I attempt to work my way up near the end of the race

     Then things changed. I don't know if I got better or if the pace slowed. I started moving back up, taking the outside through the corners and getting into the top 30 with one lap to go. I swept the outside in turn 3, but didn't pass as many as the lap before. They closed up my hole and we went single-file into turn 4, chasing 5 riders who were off the front.

Five off the front with one lap to go

    Some guy cut under me in the middle of turn 4 and hit me coming off the turn. He hit me in the side, right across my seatstay and chainstay, knocking my rear wheel to the left. I saved it, but lost all my momentum and plummeted through the pack. It was a tough sprint up the back hill to catch back on. By the time I got there, the group was spread all over the road and there was nowhere to go to move up. My race was done as I went into the last corner in 57th. There was a crash just after the final corner, but it happened way ahead of me. I easily slipped through the carnage and then opened up my sprint. I was feeling too good not to finish it off hard, especially since it was an uphill sprint. You can never get too much practice on uphill sprints. I picked off 13 riders before the line and ended up finishing way back in 42nd. I was hoping for top 5 and again got caught up in something not of my own making. It's kind of frustrating racing the Cat. 2/3s. There's a lot of stupid things that happen in that group. I think you have to be a beast and ride on the front the last 3 laps just to stay out of trouble.

Team Type 1 rider going off the front with a few laps to go in the Cat. 2/.3 race

Crash coming off the final turn

Weaving my way through the group in the uphill sprint

Cat. 2/3 finish

Me just pipping a Mellow Johnny's rider for a position

     We completed 26.5 miles in 58:07 with a 27.3 mph average speed. My average heart rate was 169 and max was 179, which a I hit twice in the first half of the race. It was nice not to cough today. I think I coughed on the second lap and that was it. Maybe this nasty respiratory problem is behind me now! I ran the GoPro on my stem again, this time with anti-fog on the lens. It worked, making for a good image of my full race.

Full race video from my stem

The weekend featured handcycle races as well

     The Pro races were fun to watch. Vanderkitten rider, Jennifer Reither, soloed to the Women's win. The Men had a few crashes and dodged a near disaster when a car got out on the course traveling in the opposite direction. The police officer leading the group got hit on his motorcycle in one of the early races by a car that went around the barriers. He was now driving a utility vehicle and nearly got hit by this lady that was running from the course marshals. They were allowing traffic to cross the course in places, but this lady turned right after being told she could only go across, and then floored it when we yelled at her. She met the lead motos in turn 4, nearly taking one of the officials out. They reacted quick and got her up onto the sidewalk before the peloton came. A break ended up stealing the show, with Christian Helmig of ELBOWZ Racing snagging the win by jumping away from the break on the backstretch. There's Pro pictures and some video posted below.

Jennifer Reither wins the Pro Women's race solo

Pro Men start

Looking down on the lead riders in turn 3

Pro Men in turn 4

Close-up of a Kenda rider in turn 6

The break that got away

Pro Men going up the climb

Christian Helmig wins

Dutchtown Classic video

      We were parked next to the Exergy van and got to hear a little of their pre-race talks and strategy. It was cool to see how it actually is being on a Pro team. Their riders are from all over the country, Canada and Columbia. Our drive home was another fun one, at least in the early part. I missed the I-64 East exit in downtown and we ended up at the arch, just in time to get stuck in traffic as the St. Louis Cardinals baseball game let out. That cost us some time, then we got stuck in traffic behind a crash just a few miles into Illinois. After that though, it was a smooth drive through the middle of nowhere in Illinois and Kentucky. I was grateful to not have traffic. We let it roll and made up a lot of time, getting home in time to get in a few solid hours of sleep before going back to the real world Monday morning. I-24 through Illinois and Kentucky isn't the most exciting stretch of road, but it was a welcome change from driving through the southeast for several weeks in a row.

    I am not racing next weekend. I had originally planned to race the XTERRA Southeast Championship Off-Road Triathlon in Birmingham, but I haven't swam since September or run since getting sick in March, so I will be skipping out. I'll take a few days off to recover from all the racing lately, and then start training again. I'll be including running and swimming again to get ready for my first triathlon which will be near the end of June in Indiana. I'm still going to try to qualify for the USA Championships in Ogden, UT in September. We'll see how it goes!