MOUTH FULL OF DIRT : Super D's Blog: The Loop

It was another short week and I loved it! I was born to ride and forced to work. Racing three days out of the week is great. This week I did have to work on Friday, but I cut out a couple of hours early so we could make the drive northwest to St. Louis. It's the first time this year that we have driven west for a race. The first of the three races in STL took place Friday night under the lights of the area of town known simply as "The Loop." The Loop de Loop Grand Prix attracted quite a few top Pros since the following day's Tour de Grove is the region's highest-paying one day race with $15,000 in the Pro Men's purse alone.

With last week's performances and the respiratory issues still hanging on, I had really wanted to do the Cat. 2/3 race, but it was early in the evening and it would be pushing it for us to make the drive in time. It's a good thing I chose the Pro/1/2 race at 9:15. We got stuck in traffic in Illinois for a while. It took us 45 minutes to roll through 4 miles of construction on I-64.

I was tired from working and driving when we finally got to the race. It was almost my bed time when I was climbing on the trainer for my warm-up! There really is nothing like sitting on a dark street in the middle of a city you barely know and riding your bike really hard in place for longer than you will probably race on the actual course. I wasn't very motivated at first, but then I heard that we had reached the field limit of 150 riders and, of those 150, 80 were Pro. It was going to be a very hurtful night indeed! I found good legs while on the trainer and was able to sustain a heart rate of higher than I have seen in a few months. I was definitely recovered from Speed Week and ready to go! The coughing was minimal during warm-up so that was nice too.

I lined up early and started the race before the race for that oh-so-important starting position. I didn't get up as far as I wanted, but I was still in the middle of the group, which meant there were plenty of riders behind me to come by and give me a draft if I got into difficulty early. With Jelly Belly, Competitive Cyclist, Kenda/5-Hour Energy, Exergy, Mountain Khakis/SmartStop and Jamis/Sutter Home all bringing full teams, I was expecting a brutal pace from the gun.

Looking down the front stretch from turn 1 just before the Pro/1/2 Men started

The course was a rectangle of left turns. The start/finish was located halfway up the front stretch. The front gradually climbed up following the start/finish line and continued to climb all the way to turn 2. Turn 1 was a gradual turn, far less tight than 90-degrees. It was almost like two small turns rolled into one. Turn 2 was a 90 that then began the gradual descent that went all the way down the backstretch to a tight 90-degree turn 3. This turn had a small dip of a drain in the middle of the corner. It was the most narrow corner, featuring a curb on the outside and several large trees very near the road that made things a little hairy if you were taking the outside line. There really was nowhere to go in the event of an accident. A short, flat stretch then led to turn 4, which was a wider, 90-degree turn that took you onto the front stretch where it was flat to the start/finish before starting the climb again. The climb wasn't at all steep, but it was long and we were sure to hit it fast.

Loop de Loop course from the Garmin 305

Video still shot from the GoPro as we await the start of the Pro/1/2 race

The pace wasn't awful the first few laps, but it was still scary. I hadn't taken a lap on the course before the race. That's the problem with these big races. There's never a chance to get in a lap before the race unless you want to start in the back. The backstretch had two dark spots where you couldn't see anything. There were some big holes in the road back there too. I thought my handlebars were going to get jerked out of my hands several times during the night. We hammered the hill the first few laps, but the descent was almost total rest with that many guys punching a huge hole in the wind.

Packed up on The Loop

The pace steadily picked up and it turned into a really hard first 15 minutes. Guys were getting dropped already on lap 3 and there were some gaps already forming. We were running 32-33 mph down the hill and then a consistent 33 up the hill. Only the tight turn 3 was slowing us down. I tried to race smarter and be patient early on. Just because I had a good run or there was a slight slowing in a turn didn't mean I sprinted to gain a few spots. I took my time moving up when the openings appeared, mainly moving up by taking the outside line through the turns. I tried to keep my heart rate as low as possible for as long as possible.

Rolling through turn 3 with the group

My shadow sprinting up the front stretch

Riders under the lights in turn 2. #61 is Patrick Harkins

There was finally a slight slow down after 15 minutes and the group bunched up for a half-lap. I took advantage and moved up about 20 spots without killing myself, still taking advantage of the slow-down to recover. There were many attacks at the front, at least that's what the announcer was saying. I rarely even got a glimpse of the front. We were single-file for most of the race and many times the front of the line had already gone around the next corner. Patrick Harkins was in the race and we got to chat about lines through the corner. He is a former Nashville resident that I raced with for a few years. He has since moved around the country and has now landed in St. Louis. We decided the outside was definitely the place to be if you wanted to move up and hold momentum. I followed him for a few laps and we kept creeping up through the group. I got to glance back about 30 minutes into the 60-minute race to see there were still a lot of riders behind us. My goal was to stay off the back!

The darkness on the backstretch. The camera did not screw this up. It really was this dark in two spots.

I was hoping to last 30 minutes so I was thrilled when that point passed. I was doing fine with the pace, but my legs were starting to burn a little now. It was a dead sprint off turn 4 all the way up the hill each lap. That starts to take a toll on you after a while. Apparently, other guys were hurting too as gaps started to open by 35 minutes. It was kind of ridiculous, with 3 and 4 gaps opening on each straightaway as people sat up. I got hung out after 2 riders sat up in front of me in turn 2. I had to chase the entire backstretch and dive-bomb turns 3 and 4 to get back on. Then we sprinted the hill probably the fastest of the whole night. I stayed on, but there were even more gaps on the backside and I was forced to hammer it again, getting no recovery. Coming off turn 4 the next lap, I popped. My heart rate was high and my legs were screaming. I tried to stay on, but they just pulled away. There were only three riders left behind me. Shannon said I was on the edge of a crumbling bridge. Every time I moved up, the riders behind me got dropped so I was always on the back those last few laps. I had a 27.9 mph average speed when I came off the back.

Big gap ahead after riders sat up off turn 2. Had to work hard for a half lap, but I did close this one down.

I hammered 2 laps by myself before they pulled me at 43 minutes. I finished 87th. Not bad since there were 150 riders and 80 were Pro. I was pleased with how I raced. I am improving. I didn't cough at all in the race, but did go into a little coughing fit afterwards as my heart rate came back down. I averaged 172 bpm for the race and maxxed out at 183. I hit 183 twice, both times during the first 10 minutes of the race. I was running 178-180 bpm the last few laps before getting dropped. Average speed for my full race was 27.2 mph. I used the helmet cam again. It did well with the change from light to dark on the backstretch, but the glare causes heat to build up around the lens and eventually it begins to fog. I knew this happened with sun glare, but it looks like street lights can do it as well. Helmet cam video of my full race and also video of clips taken by Shannon during the race are posted below.