Burn Or Keep On Walking

    The Ft. Wayne race gave me a little confidence and made training every day seem that much less tedious. I love riding most days, but there are always those days when you have to drag your butt off the couch because you know that if you miss too many rides you will be watching the race finish from the wrong side of the barriers.

   I got the chance to help out a former patient a few weeks ago by volunteering with her running event. She was the new promoter of the Wilma Rudolph Road Race 5K/10K in Sango, which I raced myself two years ago. My duty was course support/first aid and I got to do it by bike. I basically kept track of all the runners, alerted the water stops of where the last runners were, and was ready to provide any first aid necessary until the EMTs could get there. For my service, Marleen let Shannon run for free. Amber was in town for the weekend and she also ran, as did Dina. So our family helped boost the numbers on the day, though they didn't really need our help with over 200 runners showing up. I rode with the GoPro on my bike and captured some video during the race, which is posted below.

10K Video

5K Video

    The day was pretty uneventful, which is good for someone working first aid. I had a few get sick on the 10K and one fall near the end of the 5K. But the most exciting part was a guy in a Batman costume passing out on the first hill during the 5K. He got a little overheated and fell out. We ended up calling a ride after he could not carry on a normal conversation with anyone when we tried to check on his condition. It was a fun day and we all had a good time. I rode 27 miles in total, which is a lot considering the courses were not even 10 miles long combined!

10K gets underway

     My biggest foe has come around again. Nothing seems to ruin me faster than work frustration. It is something I have battled off and on for the last two years. I've mentioned this before and it has reared it's ugly head yet again. I'm so tired of working. The drama, the contradictions and the deception are completely unnecessary. I've been promised a raise which hasn't come through, and been scolded in the middle of a group meeting by a boss for just sitting there listening. Apparently, I smirk when drinking from my water bottle. There seems to be no way to progress in this company and nothing I can ever do to "win" with my superiors. I'm always the bad guy no matter what. You give them your all and in return they give you heck about everything, all the time.

    Training has not been a whole lot better than work. I'm more than frustrated with group riding. The local group seems to hate me. They let me ride off the front, then when I wait for them, they slow down and ride about 50 ft behind me. They don't talk to me. Three weeks ago, they let me sit off the front, then turned a different way. I ran them down just to prove they couldn't drop me even with doing something shady like that, but I'm done riding with them. I'm, not sure what I did to piss everyone off, but I sure did it. I'm clearly not welcome there anymore.

     Not all things are bad though. I have been working hard to hit higher heart rates. My legs are still too weak to really push my heart. Cardio is definitely better than strength right now. I've had a hard time hitting the heart rates I want, but I've been setting new personal records on my favorite hills and improving my sprint speed. I even broke a record that has stood for over three years on my favorite hill near Ashland City. I've been trying so hard to get that one, getting to within 2 seconds of it several times this year. This time I knocked 2 seconds off of it. It made me feel good to see some real progress. I've worked hard on my sprints the past few weeks. They are coming along well. It's amazing how much speed I picked up after just the first 3-4 workouts. I'm back up to sprinting 33+ mph again without anyone to draft off of.

     Another good thing we have going is our garden. It's finally growing and all the hard work of digging, planting and weeding is starting to pay off. We have already been eating lettuce, spinach, kale and arugula that we grew ourselves. It's so cool to be able to make lunch, then walk outside for a fresh piece of lettuce to add to a sandwich. Mmm tasty!

Our garden from the back porch

The top tier includes peppers and tomatoes

The lower tier features the leafy veggies...and some random tomatoes that grew from the compost

My morning glories are slowly creeping their way up the lattice on the inside of this old swing frame in the backyard

     I took over a month off racing to train before catching the Cookeville Criterium in Cookeville, TN on June 30. I had planned on racing the Tennessee State Road Race Championship the prior day in Gainesboro, but opted out. I had been worried about the distance of 83 miles with some fast Pros on such a hilly, difficult course, but it was not the distance that made my final decision. It was the fat $35 entry fee with no payout. Apparently, it's the cool thing nowadays to not offer any payout simply because it is the state championship and you think everyone will come anyway. Well not this guy!

    The Cookeville Crit. had low payout and, as a result, had low turnout. Just 18 riders started the Pro/1/2 event. I felt great in warm-up and was ready to tackle one of the fastest, most fun courses in the southeast on a cloudy, but hot afternoon. I implemented my new hamstring warm-up routine that I learned at the running course in Memphis last month. It's working well so far and my hamstring pain is improving.

     The course is an L-shape, beginning on a downhill. The first two turns come close together at the bottom of the hill, both 90-degree lefts. Then comes a gradual uphill on the backstretch up to turn 3, another 90-degree left. Then the hill gets steeper, climbing for one block behind the county courthouse to turn 4. Turns 4 and 5 begin to descend slightly, taking riders to the only right turn on course. Turn  6 is the final corner and leads you onto a faster downhill for the last 250 meters to the finish line. The weather added to the speed today, with a tailwind coming up the hill and the downhill being sheltered from all the wind. It was like having a tailwind in all directions!

Cookeville Crit. course map

Cat. 3 riders on the backstretch

Cat. 3s cross the start/finish line

The two Cat. 3s that stuck the break. The leader here, Richie Slagle, took home the win in a two-man sprint

Four of the five Pro/1/2/3 Women that started today's race

    The race started fast with aggression being displayed from the gun. We busted up and then regrouped at lap 4. Then the big attacks came and I found myself missing the front group of 4. Then my group split. I got caught behind a slower rider and missed the break. It was chaos for 2 laps as riders blew up and created gaps. When it all shuffled out, there was a group of 10 up front, then 5 of us in a chase group 10 seconds back. I felt great, but could not close down the gap alone. Our chase group never worked very well together and riders began to suffer after just 2 laps of chasing. There were two Cumberland Transit riders in our chase group and they seemed to be attacking our group rather than helping with the chase. Their tactic didn't work and they both wound up blowing like cheap bottle rockets.

Pro/1/2 Men on the start line

First lap gaps

Me in the group behind a Texas Roadhouse rider

Group rolls through turn 1

     At 19 minutes I found myself alone as the chase group splintered around me. There were now 10 up front, two riders chasing at 15 seconds, and then me chasing at 20 seconds. I slowly lost ground over the next few laps, then was pulled just 21 minutes into the race. I was so disappointed and mad at the same time. Disappointed because I felt great and just missed the split. Mad because I got pulled when I wasn't lapped, nor was there enough people in the race to be pulling riders. There were only 13 of us left! How hard can it be to keep up with 13 people! The officials in Tennessee are pathetic. I mean, geez, I was just outside of the payout and still got taken out of the race. Of course, I was the last one to be pulled and they let the rest finish the race. It irritates me so much that you pay $35 to ride and then are pulled not even halfway through the race when there is no reason to pull someone other than you simply don't want to keep up with them anymore. In the past, I have had beef with TBRA events and people are still asking me why I don't like TBRA. Here's a perfect example. I will not do anymore TBRA races because they have the worst officials and do not care about the riders. All they care about is money and convenience to themselves. I'll spend my hard-earned money in some other state racing in a better atmosphere and against better competition.

Lead group after the big split

Me leading the chase behind

Lead group on the backstretch

Me on the back of the chase group

Viedo: First 20 minutes of my race shot from the GoPro attached to my stem

Video: Clips from the Masters, Cat. 3, Pro/1/2/3 Women and Pro/1/2 Men's races

    I was pretty bummed after Cookeville. That blew all of the confidence I had going in. I'm ok racing in a group, but I clearly still don't have the strength to ride with anyone one-on-one. I can't bridge even a small gap. I was questioning my will to fight on anymore. My training doesn't seem to be working and the races are not fun when the officials pull you out early. Then I was reading an article in the USA Cycling newsletter about perseverance and the story of Kiel Reijnen, a Pro for United Healthcare who hasgone through a lot to get to where he is. The story reminded me of myself, especially the part about the mystery virus. It reminded me to keep plugging along. Like Kiel says in the article, "The beautiful thing about cycling is there will always be another race next weekend." It really reminded me to let the bad races go and keep plugging along toward my goals. It is worth the sacrifice and hard work. And a better day will come. It's time like these when it's easy to look at the troubles with racing, group riding and work as Hell. It would be so easy to give up, but I refuse to let the Hell bring me down.

    I am reminded of a line from a Lamb of God song: "We're all going through Hell, it's burn or keep on walking." I still have a ways to walk to get to my cycling goals and I don't plan on burning to ash just yet.

Pick Up the Pieces With Your Broken Hands

     It was time for a rest week following Tour de Grove. I had put in some hard rides between Athens/Roswell and the Grove, mostly out of frustration. I throttled the local group ride on more than one occasion. They make me frustrated as well, but that's a completely separate issue. It seems the groups here in town are not fond of me anymore. Scratch that, I would say the main hotdogs of the group have never been fond of me. Why this is I do not know. I've never done anything worthy of upsetting someone. It's weird, someone can attack and it's so awesome. Everybody thinks he's so strong and so aggressive. Then I attack and they all get mad and say that my attacks are stupid and disrupt the group. It's like riding through high school every week. I have been using the rides just for training because they get me cranked up so I end up pushing very hard, harder than I would riding alone. I miss my old race friends from the Wednesday night group ride we did 10 years ago. Jim, Dan, Mark & Sue, you guys are sorely missed! And it seems as though I never see Keith and Adam anymore either.

     The rest week was a good time to reflect on the first part of the season. Looking back, it was easy to see where I went off track with my training. I had a good plan laid out and it was working well in April. I had a really good race at Cedar Hill and was getting much stronger. Where I messed up was when work caused me to miss a week of good training. I missed a few days, but was not completely resting. I sort of skipped my rest week the following week because I felt like I didn't do that much the week before. The stress from work and the lack of real rest caught up with me in all the races. I was tired at Anniston, Athens and St. Louis. I didn't always feel it it, but my numbers reflect it. I could not get my heart rate up to where it was going earlier in the month. It's easy to see these things now, but hard to pick it out when you are knee-deep in a training plan only a few weeks before the biggest part of your season. Now I have to pick up the pieces of my broken training plan and and stick with it this time!

     Shannon and I had the opportunity to go to another continuing education class for work recently. It was another one that really changed my way of thinking. This one introduced some new concepts to me, but most importantly it built up my confidence. I realized that I was doing things correctly with my patients. I am training my athletes right and using good techniques to get them back on the field as quick as possible. The class was taught by a well known sports performance coach and rehab specialist named Darrell "D-Lock" Locket. The dude knows a ton about training and rehab. He's a strength and conditioning specialist, an athletic trainer and a licensed massage therapist. And a heck of a good teacher. We drove down to Memphis to attend his class and it was totally worth it. Even if I did have to work extra that week. I have been wanting to dabble into training people on the side and the class really helped guide me on how to get started. I want to progress my education level beyond my PTA degree that I use at work. I want to become certified as a USA Cycling coach, a USA Triathlon coach and get my CSCS, which is the certified strength and condition specialist designation that D-Lock has. I also learned a few good dynamic warm-up techniques, one of which targets tight hamstrings, which have always been problem of mine. I will employ it over the next few weeks and see how my hamstrings and riding performance improve.

     Memorial Day weekend was a chance for us to go visit family. And a chance to race in Ft. Wayne again. The Fort4Fitness Twilight Crit. was a really fun race last year and I wanted to get back to it. We found a new driving route from Tennessee up to Indianapolis that was really nice. They have opened portions of the new I-69 which has virtually no traffic on it between Evansville, IN and Bloomington. It was a nice, relaxing drive and shaved a good 30 minutes off our drive time. We stayed the first night in Muncie at Shannon's cousin's house. We got to visit with them for a while and do a nice morning road ride on the country roads around Muncie before we went north to Ft. Wayne for the Saturday evening event.

Riding near Munice, IN with Shannon

Some rough pavement on these old backroads

     My hamstrings have been bothering  me lately, getting very tight and painful at times when I ride. This usually happens in my upper hamstrings right around the junction with the glutes. Shannon put some kinesiotape on both hamstrings to inhibit the muscle contraction and I went through D-Lock's hamstring warm-up sequence. The extra hamstring precautions helped out and I had no pain during the race. They got a little tight, but not enough to slow me down.

     The rest week refreshed me and I had good legs. We had a good group of about 50 riders in the Pro/1/2/3 race for 60 minutes on a revised course for this year. I liked this course better. It was flat the whole way around, making for a very fast six corners in 1 km. I usually do pretty well on technical courses with that many turns. The start/finish is only 50 meters from turn 1, which is a 90-degree left. You get a good straightaway between turns 1 and 2, about 2 blocks long. The straight between turns 2 and 3 is just a block long, as is the distance from turn 3 to turn 4.Turn 4 is the only right turn on the course. There's a long straightaway out of turn 4 that leads to the final two corners which are a bit tighter than the first four. You have about 200 meters from turn 6 to the finish line, making it important to get out of the last turn in front.

New course in Ft. Wayne

Riders lined up for the Pro/1/2/3 event

     I started in the back, but was able to move to the front by the end of five laps. Only problem with that was that a break of five went off the front on lap 3. I then missed the attack from one rider who ended up bridging across making it six in the break. I felt great and took a few opportunities to try to get myself across the gap. I tried and failed twice. The gap was sitting at just 8 seconds so I had to keep trying. Bissell had a team there and they had missed the break. They were willing to work with me initially to close down the gap, but after a few laps they stopped helping. I did a big pull for two laps and made a slight dent in the gap, but I had to recover. The gap then began to grow as nobody wanted to chase. It grew to 30 seconds by halfway and at that point I knew it was gone. I was feeling so good, but just couldn't get across the gap, so now the focus changed to going for the field sprint. The race payout was top 20 and for the first time this year, I felt like I could get into the money.

    I went for a prime 45 minutes into the race. It was the first time I have ever tried for a prime since moving into the Pro/1/2 group. I attacked going into turn 5 and led the group out of the final turn. I had a good sprint, but not good enough. One rider pipped me by a wheel to take the $40 prime.

     It took me a few laps to recover and just as I started feeling good again, the break lapped us. Upland Brewing had a few guys in the break and they began to do a leadout as soon as the break got to us. It was a fast final few laps. We had 40 riders still left in the main group with 3 to go. I was too far back to contend for the sprint and could not move up as the pace was just too high. We were rolling 31+ mph the last 2 laps and all I could do was hold my position. I picked off one rider in the sprint and wound up 24th, outside the money spots. I was surprised to see that I was the at the end of the group. The pace blew the field to pieces those last few laps and only 25 of us remained in the lead group. It wasn't the result I had hoped for, but I was pleased because I felt good for the first time since Cedar Hill. Maybe a little rest was all I needed. Race average speed was 27.0 mph for 57 minutes. I hit 40.3 mph at one point, which I think is really fast for such a flat course. The best number of the race was my max heart rate, which was 189. That's the highest I have seen in a while and I know I need to see the upper-180s and into the low-190s if I want to be competitive at the end of these Pro/1/2 races.

Me sitting in the Pro/1/2/3 group in Ft. Wayne

Video: Start and final two laps of the Pro/1/2/3 race

    After the race we went to Elkhart to visit Shannon's immediate family. We stayed with her Mom and Dad the next few days. They had come up to Ft. Wayne for the race, which was really cool. Rarely do I ever have family of any kind come to a race anymore. Shannon's Dad really seems to enjoy watching the races. I did some riding the day after the race and felt surprisingly good. I went after a few Strava segments, claiming the KOM on one. One thing we always seem to do on Memorial weekend is go shopping for clothes. It's about the only time I go shopping all year. I like to take advantage of the sales and get some good clothes for cheap. I didn't get a whole lot this year, but got enough to freshen up my wardrobe for work.

     I've been a bike mechanic as of late, fixing five bikes in the last few weeks. All of them have been for missionaries of the church. Three were Clarksville missionaries, two were in Elkhart. I'm glad to report that the missionaries seem to be getting good quality bikes. I worked on three Trek bikes and two Specialized bikes for them. They just needed the usual wear-and-tear things like lubed chain, new shifter cables/housing and brake pads. One had been hit by a car recently and needed some major wheel attention. I had never trued up a wheel before, only tightened spokes. It was a good learning experience for me and I actually got his wheel rolling straight. Now I guess I'm good in all areas of bike maintenance!

     After Indiana, we dog/house sat for Keith and Misty. That meant some good quality time with Lucy, Carmella, Oscar the Grouch and Vivian. Carmella was a pain in the butt all week, busting out of the kitchen when we were gone, pooping all over the house and stealing Oscar's food. She ate so much food one night that she could barely walk and breath for the next 8 hours. It was an interesting week to say the least. Lucy even figured out how to open the back door and let all the dogs back in when I put them outside. Vivian escaped when the door was open, but luckily did not go anywhere. It was a tough week, but I'm glad we could do it so Keith and Misty could go visit family.

Lucy chillin' like a villain

    I did some rides into Kentucky while we were staying at Keith's house. I mostly avoided rain showers all week. That's not always a bad thing as nature tends to treat you with good views when the weather changes.

Purple flowers lining one of the roads near Kirkwood

Rainbow in the distance near Guthrie, KY

Fight the Constant Undertow

     Following Athens/Roswell came a weekend off. We had originally planned to do the last three days of Speed Week, but with my mixed results so far this season and the high threat of another rainy weekend, we decided to save the funds and stay home. I put in some good training rides, hitting the intensity hard, mostly out of frustration. I tried to solo off on all the weekly group rides. I did some damage to the group, but never was able to stick the solo break.

     I also got to take in a concert from one of my favorite bands, Lamb Of God. They are a really heavy band and, as they say about themselves, are pure American metal! I was on the fence about going alone, but it turned out to be a good decision. I had a great time and heard some head-blasting music. It was good motivation to get my butt on my bike and ride hard.

Lamb Of God playing the song "Omerta" at Marathon Music Works in Nashville

     The next race on my agenda was the Tour de Grove weekend in St. Louis. Shannon and I really like going to St. Louis. We are learning our way around town and finding cool things to do in our down time between races. We managed to get to the Soulard Farmers Market on this trip. They had some great produce at every stand. Some of the biggest carrots and oranges I have ever seen! We spent the weekend snacking on delicious fruit. I think I had a juicy orange about every 4 hours. They had livestock as well. I tried to get Shannon to buy me a duck to serve as our race mascot, but she didn't seem to think that would be a good idea.

     The St. Louis trip kept the high-stress theme of this year. We began the weekend by getting out of work late. I worked a half-day and got way behind. It really irritates me that some of my coworkers always want help, but they are unwilling to help me, even when they know I really need to leave on time. Anyway, there was an accident on the interstate right where we normally get on, so we took backroads through a thunderstorm to Hopkinsville to get around it. We were expecting a little construction traffic around Paducah, but not the major slow-down it turned out to be. We got stuck six times total throughout Kentucky and Illinois, due to a blend of construction, accidents and heavy volume.

     I thought we were going to miss the Midtown Grand Prix race. We got there with just enough time to register and change. But today turned out to be my lucky day. The races were running behind. Yes! Finally we caught a break! I got in my full warm-up, plus had time to line up early and get a second row start spot. I almost embarrassed myself when I couldn't get my feet out of the pedals. I was right in front of the pit, in front of a ton of people and suddenly had a beginner moment. I thought I was going down and started to aim for the grass next to the sidewalk, but just as I started to fall, my foot came loose and I saved it. Whew! Dodged the embarrassment, but still took the nose of the seat straight into my right glute. That felt awesome.

Cat. 4/5 riders come through the start/finish

Participants in the "Drag" race. Yes those are men looking like ugly ladies.

Cat. 2/3 riders packed on the start line

     The race started crazy fast. We had over 120 riders in our Cat. 2/3 field and they all wanted to be up front right away. I did a good job being aggressive and staying in the top 15-20 the first 15 minutes. I made some brave moves to hold my position through the corners, leaning on guys at times. Whatever it was that had me spooked with cornering at Athens and Roswell was long gone now and I was back to good ole aggressive me. My glute hurt the first few laps, but then finally started to go away.

     The course was a figure-8, gradually climbing from turn 1 up through turn 3, then descending from turn 4 down to the final turn 8. There were some potholes right in the preferred line between turns 7 and 8 that kept us on our toes all night. The cool thing about being behind schedule is that instead of racing in the evening sun, we raced into the night and got to finish under the lights. I always like the night races. It's so fun to go fast at night. This was not the same place we raced last year. This course was in the heart of Midtown and close to St. Louis University. I like this course more so I hope we come here again next year.

Midtown Grand Prix course

Cat. 2/3 Men underway

Me peeking into the shot during the early laps

     I slipped back in the group a little after 15 minutes. I wasn't hurting, just got shuffled around. The pace got crazy high about 30 minutes in and I couldn't move up. We were strung out single-file from the front to the back. I was about 75 riders back and that put me way, way behind the front of the race. I just prayed there would be no split and hung on to the wheel ahead. Once the pace slowed, we bunched up so much that passing was difficult. I got shuffled around a lot and found myself in a bad spot with 5 to go. I was probably 90 back in the group which had been whittled down to about 100 now.

Front of the group dives into turn 7

Small break of 3 tries to ride away

Turn 2

Me (#321) way back in a long line of riders

     I punched it hard up the climb between turns 2 and 3, but couldn't move up enough by the end. I was just able to crack the top 50 by half a lap to go. There was a crash coming out of the final turn that I slipped right through and wound up finishing 43rd. I moved up a lot in those final laps. I know I have the strength to get to the front, I just can't start from so far back. We averaged a blazing 26.7 mph for 54 minutes, which is super fast on such a tight, short course with that many riders.

Video highlights from Midtown, including a crash during the finish sprint of the Cat. 4/5 race.

Shannon eating yogurt next to the Flying Cow. It's a great place for a post-race treat in Midtown. Even on a cool night.

     Saturday brought the big race of the weekend, the Tour de Grove in the Mangrove area of STL. It's not my favorite course and not my favorite area of town, but the hype of the race makes it the highlight of the weekend. The Pro payout is huge and brings in the top riders. I again did the Cat. 2/3 race, which had over 130 riders starting. The course was changed slightly this year, eliminating the back section that featured the tricky chicane that caused our big crash last year. It was basically a big, flat triangle. The front stretch was forever long. It made Roswell's front stretch seem short. Turn 1 is a bit tighter than 90 degrees and narrow compared to the front stretch. There's a short stretch then from turn 1 to turn 2. Turn 2 had a wide exit onto the long backstretch. The final turn was just shy of 180 degrees, but is plenty wide to roll through safely in a group.

Tour de Grove new course

Cat. 2/3 riders on the start line before the race

      I felt good in warm-up, but struggled in the race. I started a good 100 riders back. the pace wasn't bad early, but we were spread all over the road so I wasn't able to move up a ton. I tried to be calm and not move up too quick. Then we had a crash in the middle of the group in turn 1 about 10 minutes into the race. I got held up behind it and had to ride hard on the back stretch to get back to the group. Then there were gaps on the front stretch and a crash on the left just past the start/finish line. I had a hard time closing those gaps and was about to be shot off the back when there was yet another crash going into turn 1. Three wrecks in one lap. Yay. This one was sure to get me dropped, so instead of dodging it, I slid into it and took my free lap. I didn't go down, just kind of rolled into the wreck instead of trying to swerve through it like I normally would.

First lap of the Cat. 2/3 race

There were over 130 riders, but Shannon still found me and my black kit on the start

One rider hurting himself early

Group is packed up this lap...

...next lap things are blowing to pieces after the first two crashes.

     Many riders were in the pit and they just sent us off as soon as the pack came. I was probably 80th when the crash happened, but found myself in the top 15 after pitting. That never happens! I felt good for a few laps and stayed up front, then the pace got high again and I was shuffled back. I yo-yoed the rest of the race, moving up in the group, then fading back. I could move up every 2-3 laps, but couldn't hold the pace after making the effort to get there.

One rider off the front solo during the second half of the race

Exit of turn 3

Me squeezing into the shot, but mostly blocked by the rider in red.

2 laps to go. This would be the end of the day for me.

Highlights from my race shot on the GoPro

     I faded really bad at the 45-minute point and found myself clinging to the back. I lost the group at 4 laps to go and was pulled from the race at 2 to go. It sucked to get pulled, but I gave it my all and survived another hard day. I wound up 94th on the results. We averaged 26.3 mph for the 61 minutes I was on course, and that average includes a lap of sitting in the pits. I hit 41.6 mph one lap down the back stretch just before turn 3. Crazy!

     Below are pictures we took during the Pro races, followed by a video.

Pro Women come through the start/finish

An Optum rider

Pro Women in Turn 1

More from Turn 1

I'm hoping this sign was directing you to the building behind the dumpster, but I'm not sure...

Pro Men sprint off Turn 3

Turn 3 at The Grove

The bottleneck happens almost every lap going into Turn 3

Pro Men on the front stretch at Tour de Grove

Tour de Grove Video

     Sunday was another beautiful day of sunshine and warmth.This was the third and final race, this time in the Dutchtown South area of town for the Dutchtown Classic. We again had a huge field of well over 100 riders for the Cat. 2/3 event. Shannon and I went to church on the way over to the race and still had plenty of time to get ready. We are really learning our way around town now and don't get lost every two seconds like we did the past few years. I decided to do my warm-up on the road this time. I cruised some of the, how should I say, less attractive areas of Dutchtown. They were not the friendliest streets, but also not bad enough to make me nervous, especially with other riders out doing a warm-up with me. I turned around on one street and there was a lady standing next to the sidewalk. She muttered "You better ride that bike fast if you want to get out alive." And she smiled. I was like "What does that even mean lady?" I wasn't sure if she was kidding, if I misunderstood her or if she was going to kill me. Either way, it helped get the heart rate up on the climb back to the course.

     I felt surprisingly well at the start, especially considering how tired I was at the end of yesterday's race. The course in Dutchtown is like two crit. courses rolled into one. You make two rectangles per lap. The start/finish is located on a hill, very close to turn 1. The first turn is a 90-degree right, followed quickly by a 90-degree left. Then comes a long straightaway that gradually descends to turn 3. This turn is a sweeping 90-degree right. It's more like a yield lane than a regular turn. Some people consider it two turns. Turn 4 awaits before a long gradual climb up the first half of the backstretch. The second half of the backstretch then descends to a tighter, more off-camber turn 5. Turn 6 then ends things with a fast 90-degree right that takes you to the finish climb, which is a short, but fairly steep sprint up one city block.

Dutchtown Classic course

     The race was fast! We were strung out early on and I was at the back yet again with a poor starting spot. I got stuck behind a guy that was walking on the start. I don't know what happened, but he was off his bike walking across the road just a few feet beyond the start line. I played my cards right today though, moving up every chance I got. The back of the pack crumbled behind me. I kept working my way up, but no matter how far up I got, there always seemed to be a gap behind me.

Cat. 2/3 Men come out of turn 1 in the shadow of the nearby Catholic church

Turn 2

Me on the outside in turn 2

Long single-file line down to turn 3

One rider off the front early

     Halfway through the race I was hurting bad after a few prime laps. I was about to come off the back when the pack slowed. I guess everybody else was hurting too. The rest of the race I just concentrated on staying mid-pack of the 60 riders that were left. With 3 to go I moved up to the front, getting myself inside the top 10. I got shuffled back down the backstretch with 2 to go, but found an opening up the right side coming up the hill at the start of the final lap. I made a big effort to pass as many as I could before turn 1. It turned out to be a good move. I was on the inside and a crash happened on the outside, right next to me. I slid right by it unscathed. The only problem was that a small gap was now ahead where those riders had been. The pace was super fast and that small gap was very hard to close. I was around 20th going into turn 3. Only about 35 of us were left in the front group after the chaos of the crash.

Turn 3

The line is stretched from turn 3 all the way to turn 4

Turn 4

This rider stayed off the front for a while

The pack chases

Me sprinting to try and stay on the back of the crumbling pack

Riders were being blown out the back like this every lap

     Coming off turn 4, the group slowed and fanned out across the road. The right side had been the place to move up down the backstretch for most of the race. I wanted to stay on the right and use that to move up the second half of the backstretch, but the group blocked that side of the road initially and so I went left, following one wheel through the group. There is a very slight bend down the back that is bordered by a tall, abrupt curb. The group pinched us both off, nearly ramming us into the curb. I don't know how I missed the curb. We were doing 25 mph and I couldn't see anything but curb, but somehow I did not hit it. I had to check up the brakes and that sent me to the back with no momentum going into the descent. There was a crash on the left just before turn 5 that further strung out the group. I spent the last 2 corners and the sprint just getting back up close to the group.

Orange guy still out front alone

The slight bend in the backstretch that nearly put me on the ground the final lap

Video: My full race from the GoPro mounted on my stem. Last lap was the most exciting lap of the race.

     I wound up taking 33rd. We raced for 60 minutes with a 27.5 mph average speed. It was yet another fast race for the Cat. 2/3s. I was not happy with my placing, but I was glad to be up there fighting in the final lap. I put myself in a good position today and was aggressive the final laps, so that is some improvement. I just wish I had been a bit more patient and waited for the right side of the road to open up that last lap, because eventually it did open up like I had expected.

Bike Art from some of the local kids

The Dutchtown shop windows had pictures hanging all over them

Pro Women

Four broke away midway through the race

One rider tried to bridge to the break, but never made it across

Pro Women's peloton comes off turn 4

The break in turn 3

The bunch chases through turn 3

Race winner Theresa Cliff-Ryan just after the race

Pro/1/2 Women's podium

Pro Men on lap 2

Turn 6

Pro Men head toward the finish climb in the closing laps

Race video from the Dutchtown Classic

     So my big Spring races are in the books and it's time to sit down and evaluate it all. My results were nowhere near my goals, but I have made some progress. Now it's time to tweak the training plan and keep getting better for the round of races coming in the Summer. Can't let the undertow of disappointment bring me down.