Working in the garden under a rainbow. Still no rain for us though.
I expected a fast race for the finals, just because it was the last chance to get a win at the speedway and most of the guys were not going to Gateway. My plan was to save myself the whole race and sprint at the end if I had anything left. I did not want to waste any energy or dig too deep. The course for this week was the layout known as "the kidney bean." From the air, it looks like a kidney bean. You start on the small oval then go onto the big oval at the end of pit road, follow the big oval back to pit road and take the chicane back to the small oval. You basically have two chicanes: one before the start/finish line, one after. It was a fast course, and was actually more difficult than I expected. You carried so much speed into the chicanes that they were tight at times in the group. There were lots of spectators for our race and we raced mostly under the lights with the reduced daylight the late summer is already bringing us. People were grilling food and eating. The smoke and smell of burgers made it feel like a big event. I loved it!
Fairgrounds Speedway Nashville
The "kidney bean" race course
Getting underway in the Pro/1/2/3 race
As for the race itself, it was fast yet again. With a less technical course, it kept things a little more together at the back, which is where I was early. There were several big moves up front, but I did not want to be part of them, so I stayed back and saved my legs. My patience was rewarded as we all came back together at 15 minutes. I started to move up, but did not get to front in time to see a big break go up the road. Initially, there were five riders off the front. They got a sizeable gap in a hurry and then the chase groups started to form. Riders in the chase group shuffled around for a few laps before two riders got between the leading break and the peloton. I wanted to stretch my legs at 30 minutes and bridged to a group that was trying to catch the two chasers. I did great on my attack, but once I got halfway across the gap I realized this was more effort than I wanted to make. But I could not back down now and put my head down to complete the bridge to the group. There were six of us up there for a few laps, then the peloton pulled us back. Our effort did little to gain on the lead break as they had over half a lap on us.
Patrick Walle
Me in all black with Josh Lewis on my outside during our short breakaway
The camera was not liking the dark tonight
Still shot from my GoPro following Shannon Williams through the first chicane on course
Things calmed down after one more attack, then four riders lapped us. They dropped one rider and he was eventually caught by our group as the pace cranked up for the finish. With the four leading riders back in the group their teams could now help them. John Carr was one of those four. He is a good friend of mine and I always try to help him whenever I can, so I worked for him the rest of the race, assisting his Treehouse Racing team. I didn't do anything major, but I did help chase back a big attack from Jason Tatum, who was also one of the four a lap up. I then put in a big pull with three laps to go to discourage any other attacks. I came off the front with just under two laps to go. I tried to hang on the back after that, but Tanner Hurst was also doing a big pull to keep the pace high and I finally popped at one to go. Tanner finished his pull on the backstretch and we soft-pedaled in together to the finish. John wound up in third behind Tim Henry and Patrick Walle.
Jason Tatum launches an attack on the right
Matt Schupp attacking
Me coming to the front
Me on the front at two laps to go. You can still see the pain face through the blur.
I ended up 23rd on the night. The result didn't matter, but I did use much more of my legs than I had planned. We averaged 26.3 mph for just over 49 minutes as they shortened us a bit tonight for some reason. I don't think we raced the full 60 minutes at any of the races I did in this series. I was feeling it after the race, mostly from the heat. It was definitely the hottest race I have done this year. My legs were tired, but not awful and my knee was less sore than the week before. The knee had me nervous for the weeks ahead. I was going to be racing hard all weekend, then riding a lot on my mountain bike with no ice packs to help with swelling. Hopefully it will hold up.
Race videos are below. The first was shot by Dina during the Pro/1/2/3 race, and the second one is highlights from my handlebar cam. I also posted a third one of the crash during the Cat. 3/4 race that took out some of the Clarksville guys that have started racing this year. Zach Solomon caught this on his onboard camera. My buddy Paul Carter went down hard and ended up with some cracked ribs and a punctured lung. Heal fast Paul!
Video: Pro/1/2/3 race clips
Video: Highlights of my race from the GoPro
Video: Nasty crash in the Cat. 3/4 race from Zach Solomon's onboard camera
Two days later, we were up early packing Shannon's car for our long trip. We had more stuff with us this year as we planned to camp for at least one week, and we had extra wheels and clothes with me racing the Gateway Cup. We've taken a vacation out west for the last few years. Usually, we come home after Gateway Cup, then leave for vacation a week or so later. But this year Labor Day fell a week later and it just made more sense to head west from St. Louis since we would be four hours into the drive already. You have to be careful with going west later in September as the snow can bring you a chilly surprise.
After a few minutes of packing, it became painfully obvious we did not have enough room. I was in the process of weeding out what we could leave behind when my Mom came by to pick up some tomatoes. She was driving their truck. I made a joke about how we needed the truck, then I got to thinking that it actually would solve our problems. After some talking and looking over the truck, we made a last-minute vehicle change. At the time we were supposed to be pulling out for St. Louis, we began unloading Shannon's car and loading up the truck. The extra space allowed for an extra bike so I could take two mountain bikes. I had been trying to decide all week which bike I would take. The Remedy is fun on the downhills and at the bike park, but I have been in XC mood lately and really wanted to take the Racer-X. I had decided on the Remedy just because I was afraid I would break the Racer-X doing something crazy, but the truck allowed me to take both!
It took a while to get packed and get on the road. We were over an hour late leaving, but still had plenty of time to get to our hotel and check in before time to head over to the Tour de Lafayette. Some bad directions on a detour and a traffic jam in Nashville, IL cost us almost another hour, making us pushed for time. We had to go to the hotel and unload the back of the truck. We had way too much stuff in there to be able to leave it on the side of the road at the race. Lafayette is not a race where you can park close to the course and keep an eye on your stuff. At one point before we reached the hotel, I thought I might miss my race. But we made it to the hotel with minutes to spare and unloaded the truck like lightning. It pays to call ahead and confirm your room. They gave us a room on ground level right next to the door which really helped with unloading.
Traffic across the river into Missouri was significantly better than our last trip to St. Louis thanks to an extra lane added to the I-55/I-44 exit. We made it to the race right on time! I was a little nervous for this race. We had a big field and it was sure to be a fast group in the Cat. 2/3 race. My legs were not great. I was still feeling Wednesday's race and knew I was lacking my form still. We had 118 riders on the start line for a race under the lights around Lafayette Square for the first of four days of racing at the Gateway Cup. The course was the same as in the past with the exception of moving the start/finish line to Park Ave. which was previously the stretch between Turns 1 and 2. The layout is a big square and we had nice, new pavement. No more potholes to deal with on the backstretch. The pavement was very new and could have been a problem had it rained, but it was a hot, dry night in STL.
Tour de Lafayette Course Map
Calling the group sketchy is an understatement. It was the worst group I have ever ridden with. Guys were making dangerous moves, weaving their way through the pack with complete disregard for others around them. Somebody chopped the inside of every corner. It didn't take long before riding like that sent people to the ground. I heard a big crash behind me coming off Turn 4 just a few laps into the race. The pit was completely full the next time we came around so I guess many riders went down in that mess.
On the start line at Lafayette.
Photo by Kyle Tiesler
Video still of the early crash starting, from Mike Bobelak's video which is posted below.
Crash getting bigger from Mike Bobelak's point of view.
There were two pinch points that proved to be a problem. We lost a lane off both Turns 2 and 4. After a few laps, you would think everyone would realize it was there. Nope. That's what caused the first crash and nearly caused several more. At one point, I saw a rider coming off Turn 2 in the pack, riding with no hands, and had his skinsuit unzipped with his head stuck inside. He ran into the barrier and nearly crashed. It was an insane night. I was surrounded by a bunch of squirrels.
To make a long, sketchy story short, I stayed upright and kept my skin. I did not have the best legs this night, but I hung in there and finished with the main group. I got up front about 20 minutes into the 55 minute race, but some of the crazy moves got me shuffled back towards the end and the pace was too high for me to ever get back into a top position. Positioning is soooo important here. The straightaways are not long enough for you to move up a lot of positions at one time in a big group like that. At five laps to go, I could tell I did not have anything left to fight with, so I dropped back to a safer spot and just got to the finish. I was actually just off the back of the main group at the end after the back of the bunch splintered the last three laps and I had a lot of gaps to close down. I finished 80th and felt terrible after the race, again due to the heat. We averaged a fast 28.3 mph for the race. It was a diverse group for a Cat. 2/3 race, with 16 of the top 20 riders coming from different states. With my legs feeling off and everybody else looking to be on, it was looking like I would have a tough weekend ahead of me. But at least my knee felt ok!
I ran my handlebar cam and the highlight video is posted below. Then there is a crash video from Mike Bobelak, one of the riders involved in the early crash.
Highlights of my race from the GoPro
Crash video from early in the race
In the Pro races, the women were flying! It was the fastest women's race I have ever seen. It was a good field with this being part of the National Criterium Calendar this year. Leah Kirchmann got the win for Optum. On the men's side, the United Healthcare train was rolling in the late stages of the race, but they were overcome by AltoVelo-Sea Sucker on the last lap as Dan Holloway was delivered to the win over Brad Huff. The top UHC rider was Luke Keough in 5th, which is rare. They are almost always in the top 3 when the blue train gets set up and usually they get the win.
Up next was the second day of the Gateway Cup at the Tour de Francis Park. More about that race coming soon!
No comments:
Post a Comment