The four-race weekend began on Friday night with the Tour de Lafayette, a crit. at night around Lafayette Square. Night races always bring out the crowds and seem to cause us riders to push the pace a little more. This day was one of the hottest, muggiest days of the year, and quite possibly the hottest night all year. Temps stayed in the high 90s even after sunset. My race began at 9:15pm and it was still 95 degrees! Getting in a warm-up was miserable. It felt like you had on a wool sweater riding through the dark streets. There was no way I could ride a trainer. You had to be moving to keep from completely overheating.
The bike drama has continued since my crash at Crossroads. Sette still has not returned a single email. There's no phone number on their website either. I'm starting to think they don't want to talk to any of their customers. I guess that is what happens when you buy from a lesser-known, cheaper company. Price Point also stopped trying to help. I was lined up on Shannon's bike again for this weekend, complete with the new parts we added before Evansville. I did go back to the old stem though as it provided a little more stretch for me and put me in a more comfortable and aero position. It may be an old bike, but it really races well. I love the way it handles in the corners. It fits me really well.
Looking over at Midtown STL from our parking spot that is just off the Lafayette race course
Cat. 4 men in action
The racing was as hot as the night air. I got a great start spot near the front and stayed in the middle of the pack for the first 15-20 min. The pace was rocking. We were doing over 30 mph on every straightaway. I saw 34 mph several times from the start/finish line down through turn 2. The course here is a simple square. Four 90-degree left turns greet you on a mostly flat layout. There is a slight rise out of turn 4 to the start/finish line, but it is minimal...unless you are suffering like a dog going up it lap after lap at 32 mph!
Course map per GPS
Around the halfway mark of our 30-minute race, I began to hurt in a bad way. There were constant attacks off the front and the pack seemed set on keeping everything together. I felt like we chased constantly. Several times I was about to blow up, but then the pace would slow for a few turns and I would collect myself enough to turn off the panic switch. I drifted to the back with 20 laps to go and spent a lot of energy to move up over the next 8-10 laps. I got about halfway through the group before there was a big crash ahead of me in turn 2. That occurred at 10 to go and disrupted the whole field. A good 20 riders hit the pavement. I slid through the middle and stayed upright. I got hit from behind, but did not go down. I was the only one still standing on my side of the road. After the race, Jason Tatum said I looked like a gladiator out there. The last man standing!
It took them two laps to get everything cleaned up and then reinsert us back into the race. They put us back in near the front. It was a MUCH better position than where I was when the accident happened. I just tried to hold my spot. I was good for two laps, then the pace got really ugly. I went from comfortable in the top 25 to suffering outside the top 50. We hit 35.5 mph going into turn 2 one lap! With 2 1/2 laps to go there was a sudden slowing just before turn 3. That bunched us up tightly through the corner and caused another crash coming off the turn. This one blocked up most of the road and split the field to pieces. Again, 15-20 guys hit the deck. I was on the inside in the turn and was able to slide to the left of the crash, but the gap in front of me was huge. The last two laps were an all-out time trial. I am terrible at time trialing, especially on tired legs. I got caught and passed several times before the finish. I wound up finishing 62nd out of 128 riders. My average speed, with sitting in the pit for two laps, was a fast 28.0 mph. It was a tough, tough way to start the weekend. Hot and hard.
Tour de Lafayette Video
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