MOUTH FULL OF DIRT : Super D's Blog: Hills and The Hill

Day 2 at Gateway Cup is always my favorite. I really enjoy the Tour de Francis Park crit. course. It's yet another big square around a park. This course, in the Francis Hills neighborhood, has a little more elevation change, with a big downhill from turn 2 to turn 3, followed by a short climb out of turn 3. There's also a slight dip and rise through the start/finish line. The downhill is very fast and the peloton always rolls fast there, making it difficult to stick a breakaway.

It was yet another ridiculously hot day. It was hot when we did our morning greenway ride near the hotel. The thermometer was reading a blazing 104 during the middle of the day when we arrived at the race. Thankfully, there was a lot of shade to be found on and around the race course. The neighborhood had also opened up a fire hydrant to provide a shower for everyone to cool off in.

Shannon about to go through a tunnel on the greenway

Greenway

Tour de Francis Park race course

Pron Women racing at Francis Park

Two-rider break leading the Women's race near the end.

The pace was a bit slower today. The heat and last night's furious pace took a lot out of everyone. We had another big field of 138 riders. I started near the front of the group and did my best to conserve energy most of the race. I actually was on the front row before call-ups. I felt horrible during warm-up and while walking around at the Farmer's Market before we came over to the race. My legs got better as the race went on and I was able to move up toward the end of the 75-minute race.

Pro/1/2 Men on the start line awaiting call-ups. I'm two riders from the left.

Trek rider on a solo break

A big field strung out

Things got ugly as we chased down breaks in the last 15 minutes and I drifted back, unable to muster up the power needed to move back up. This finish suits me well and I really wanted to be in a good position going into turn 3 on the last lap. With 2 laps to go, I gave it my all to move up and was able to get inside the top 50. Then another surge came on the last lap after turn 1. I had nothing left in the legs and plummeted back. I picked off a few riders up the hill and in the sprint to the finish, but I was way too far back to produce a good result. I finished 84th. We raced just over 88 minutes with a 27.9 mph average speed.

Pro/1/2 Men rolling into Turn 2

Me in the group

ShareCare Cycling all over the front with 1 lap to go

Tour de Francis Park video is posted below.

Tour de Francis Park video

After the race, Shannon and I raided the local grocery store, buying way too many drinks. We were so thirsty after two hot days of racing. The hotel fridge was full to capacity with water, Gatorade, root beer and Shannon's favorite, Squirt.

A big storm hit the hotel just as we got inside. The storm brought a welcomed relief from the high humidity levels and dropped the temp over 10 degrees. The relief lasted into the next day. Sunday, we attended the local LDS branch for church, then it was off to The Hill with a cooler full of drinks for the Giro della Montagna .

We were ready for the heat today, but it was not near as bad. The temp barely cracked 90 and the humidity was tolerable. It was still hot, but nothing like the previous two days. The Hill neighborhood is just a cool place. The residents are tight. Most are Italian, and many are family. I hear they do interviews when someone wants to move into the neighborhood. Your neighbors decide whether you are fit to live on The Hill or not. The smells of fresh Italian food drifts through all the streets, blanketing the race course.

The course here is simple. Go up a hill and then come back down it. The layout is a rectangle with all left-hand turns. The climb is big and comes on the backstretch. The frontstretch is downhill all the way from turn 4 to the finish line. We had a whopping 133 riders on the start line for our 70-minute race. The pace was slow early. I actually felt better today. Skipping the morning ride and focusing on hydration really helped my legs recover. At the 10-minute mark, things got fast. And they stayed fast. We were in one mega-long line around the course. The climb up the backstretch was brutal, as was the sprint out of turn 4 each lap. It may have been cooler today, but the pace had us all hurting again. Someone had installed a water sprayer at the base of the uphill and all the riders were running under it in search of some sort of relief.

The Hill course map

Cat. 3 group in Turn 4

Cat. 3s

Cat. 3s goign through the Start/Finish Line

Cat. 3s enjoying the water sprayer

By 15 minutes, gaps were everywhere. I stayed calm and closed the gaps that needed to be closed and let other people close the less important ones. It still had my heart rate tapped out by the time we reached 20 minutes. I knew I needed to get away from the group I was in. Travis Werts came by and I attempted to latch onto his wheel. After a lap, I got shuffled off his wheel and the next thing I knew I was gapped off the back. I closed two gaps, then finally blew up. They pulled me at 29 minutes, crediting me with 104th place. Travis stayed in to the finish. If I could have just held that wheel a few more laps! Average speed for my portion of the race was 27.7 mph.