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!

Back In the Groove At the Grove

    Friday went down as a success to me. I was happy with how good I felt and how long I lasted with such a good quality field. We got back to the hotel at midnight, immediately started filling the tub with the coldest water the faucet cold put out, which wasn't very cold. So, I went across the street to the gas station for a big bag of ice to create an ice bath to help the legs recover. Luckily, we had a midday race on Saturday which gave me plenty of time to sleep in and then get ready the next morning.

     Saturday's event was the big one of the weekend, at least for the Pros. There was $15,000 up for grabs in the Pro Men's race and $7,500 for the Pro Women. That kind of hype brings out the top riders for the lower categories as well. The Pro race was Pro/1 only, so that left me racing the Cat. 2/3 race instead. The race took place in the neighborhood known as "The Grove." It's funny to me that all the neighborhoods of St. Louis are named. We don't do that at all in Tennessee. If your neighborhood has a name in Nashville it's a bad thing because only the crime-ridden neighborhoods get named.

Welcome to "The Grove"

Nice painting on the side of a building along the front stretch

     The Grove is really just a nice strip of shops surrounded by ghetto. Seriously, it was a bit sketchy on the backside of the course. Shannon even saw a drug bust on the sidewalk as she watched my race! The course is a long one at 1.7 miles. It's really more of a circuit race with a lap distance of that long, but it's still treated like a crit. We had two SRAM neutral support pits to accommodate the longer lap distance. The course really could've been cut in half and been perfectly fine for racing...except that we would've had to go directly through the ghetto at one point.

Tour de Grove course from my GPS

     The front stretch was very long and led to a right-hand turn that was sharper than 90-degrees. It was also tight coming off the turn with a nice curb awaiting anyone who strayed too wide. Another long straight followed turn 1 and went uphill ever so slightly as you crossed over I-64. Two 90-degree right turns followed before crossing back over I-64. Then came a quick right-left chicane, followed by a 90-degree left. A long straightaway then took you to a hairpin right that was nearly 180-degrees. This turn put you on the finish straight with only about 200 meters remaining before the line. The pavement was rough, full of potholes, pavement patches, grates and manholes. It was a loop that definitely kept you on your toes all the time.

Cat. 2/3 Men crammed next to the barriers as they wait for the Cat. 4/5 Men to finish so they can line up. This is the start of the race before the race.

       Our race was scheduled for 60 minutes +3 laps, but was again reduced to 55 min +3 laps because the organizers were behind on time. We had over 90 riders on the line. It made for a crowded start. The Cat. 2/3 starts are much more frantic than the Pro races. Everybody tries to move up before the first turn, whereas the Pros are much more patient. I started toward the front, but got shuffled back before the turn 1. I never got farther back than 50 or so the whole race. Still, that was too far back. Anywhere outside the top 20 made you work harder to sprint out of the corners. We were just such a huge pack that we would spread out on the straights and then have to funnel down in the corners. The first few laps we nearly came to a complete stop in turns 2 and 3. Still, we cranked out a 27.2 mph average for the first half of the race.

Me about to ride out of this shot

Cat. 2/3s spread all over the road just past the start/finish

Following a Mellow Johnny's rider just before going under the huge American flag.

Going through the Start/Finish in the group

    I tried to be patient in the group like last night, watching my heart rate and making sure to keep it low for as long as possible. After about 20 minutes, I started to work my way up. It was slow progress though. I never could get a good hole. There were just so many guys that I kept getting blocked. Nobody wanted to pull between turns 1 and 2 because there was a good headwind, so we just fanned out from curb to curb across the entire road.

Pack on the straightaway between turns 1 and 2

Riders leaving the chicane and about to enter turn 6

     The pace was fast around the 30-minute mark. We had about 5 laps in a row of single-file racing. I was struggling a bit, but so was everybody else. We lost quite a few riders during those laps. Once it slowed down again, I immediately went to the front. I finally got the hole I had been looking for and went to the lead with 2 laps to go. I didn't really want to pull the group this close to the finish, but I wanted to keep from getting blocked in. I didn't stay up front long before a few riders came around and further upped the pace.

     I stayed in the top 5 as we rounded the hairpin turn. I lost a few spots coming out of the turn as the bell lap began. I got blocked in on the left for the rest of the front stretch and dropped back to about 20th. We made it cleanly through turn 1 and the left side opened up slightly. I hit a few tree limbs as I squeezed my way up along the curb. I then swept the outside of turns 2 and 3 to move back into the top 10. A surge came up on both sides as we neared the right-left chicane. I tried to move outside and go with the surge, but I got blocked and slipped back to 15th or so as we entered the chicane. We had bottled up here many times during the race and I wasn't too sure we would make it through this time as the outside riders came down, pinching the inside riders.

     We probably could've made that work, but a rider undercut the bunch on the inside and went right into the curb. He then shot across the road, cleaning out about 15 riders in the process. It happened right in front of me, but somehow I slid through the mess. I may not have the best results from this year, but I have surely done a good job getting through crashes. I have reacted right, feathering the breaks and staying patient while the riders slide out of the way. I've been hit a few times too and stayed upright, which I attribute a lot to my mountain biking skills and balance. I slid a good ways before the bodies parted and I was able to slip through.  Here's a short video of the accident through my stem cam and a few video stills.

Last lap crash video

Crash beginning

Ouch

     A lot of riders slid by on my inside. By the time I got back up to speed, I was off the back. I chased back onto a few riders ahead only to see a gap ahead of them. I didn't do anything drastic in the final corner. It wasn't worth risking a crash when a good finish position was way up the road. I clipped off a few riders in the sprint and ended up 32nd. That was disappointing because, for the first time this year, I was ready for the finish. I think I could've at least been top 5, maybe better. I wanted to attack on the straightaway before that final hairpin, but never got the chance. Still, I am pleased to be feeling better. I coughed minimally today and actually felt stronger as the race went on.

    Here's the full race from my stem cam. Sorry about the fog. the glare of the sun got to it again and caused condensation inside the box on the lens. It's still viewable though. Race stats are as follows: We completed 27.1 miles in 59:48 with a 27.2 mph average speed. My average heart rate was 171 for the race. Max heart rate was 183 hit on the last lap just before the crash. Max speed was 35.2 mph. Not bad for a flat course!

Super D ride-along video

Heart rate and elevation profile for my race

    The Pro race was a fun one to watch. They got after it towards the end with that much money on the line. There were several crashes in both the Men's and Women's races, including a last lap incident in the Men's. Erica Allar tore up the sprint yet again to get the Women's win. She has been sprinting really well the past few weeks. United Healthcare smashed the final few laps to go 1-2 in the Men's race with Robert Forster and Hilton Clark. Pro pictures and a video of the full day is below. Click here for a CyclingNews wrap-up.

Pro Women go under the giant American flag hanging over the front stretch

Erica Allar wins the Pro Women's race

Local spectators enjoying the race

Pro Men entering turn 1

Filling the streets of "The Grove"

Single-rider crash in turn 1

Pro Men heading toward the start/finish

Creepy scarecrow in a yard along the course

Late race break

Peloton enters the chicane

Pro Men crossing the first bridge over I-64

Close-up of a Wonderful Pistachios rider in the chicane

Overhead pic

United Healthcare's blue train on the front with 1 lap to go

Pain further back in the group

Robert Forster takes the win by a big margin

Tour de Grove video

     We didn't hang around for the Street Sprints later in the evening, even though I wanted to do them. It seemed like a better idea to save my legs for Sunday's Dutchtown Classic and save a little money. Three entry fees a weekend are starting to hurt the wallet with no payout coming back in!