After the triple weekend in Indiana, my 2019 race season continued with back-to-back Wednesday night crits at the Music City Crits Series. Race #4 was the first to come along, bringing a new course layout. It was a similar layout to the orignial 180 course, featuring two 180-degree turns, but took the oval backwards in a clockwise loop. I like this better than the original 180 as the set-up to both of the 180s was a little wider and the corners flowed better. Nate Brown was in attendance tonight which had everyone on edge. Some are scared of him, others want to beat him. Those in the latter category lit up the pace early on while Nate sat near the back. The group was single-file for many of the opening laps and several riders were dropped in the first few minutes. Despite the pace and a short warm-up after fighting traffic to cross Nashville following work, I felt good and was comfortable in the line. I was a bit too far back though and ended up finding myself behind some big gaps when Nate Brown exploded to the front and then off the front 15 minutes into the race. I was behind a split and was able to bridge, but never recovered from that effort. When the next surge went, I popped off the back.The remaining riders were blown apart so I rode alone for 10 minutes until getting pulled. I finsihed in 20th so not too many left in the group after those early attacks. Not the night I wanted, but a good workout and a lot of fun on the new course. I still prefer the fast kidney bean though...
In between the two Wednesday crits, I worked on my TT effort because I am tired of not making it into the breakaway in these crits. I really need to improve my sustained power, and also the time it takes me to get going in the race. Magnus Backstedt had some of the same issues during his Pro career and solved them bystarting his rides hard, sprinting out of the driveway and riding the first hour of his ride at TT pace. If it worked for a Paris-Roubaix winner then I figure it could at least help me a little. We have an 18-mile road loop we ride often, usually for recovery. I decided to make that my opening loop for several rides, leaving the driveway like I was starting a race and running the highest power output and heart rates I could maintain for the full loop, which takes about 50 minutes to complete at that effort. The first few rides really hurt, but I learned some things about myself. I can't sustain my TT pace for as long as I want, but I do recover quickly on small descents. Until I get stronger, I can change how I pace myself and pick up some time by making sure I recover on those little opportunities and hit the next section fast.
Race #5 of the Music City Crits was back to the kidney bean course. My favorite! I did a 4 hour ride the day before at a bit higher pace than I anticipated. My legs were funky in my warm-up, but once the race got going I was fine. I was up front early and went with a couple of moves. I made one break, but the pack was chasing everything tonight. We were pulled back after just two laps of being away. By the 30-minute mark it was looking very likely this would end in a bunch sprint. I decided to sit back and save everything for the final lap.
Everything was looking good for a bunch sprint until four laps to go, when a group of four slipped away. All the main teams were represented so it stuck and we ended up sprinting for 5th. I got blocked in a bit on the backstretch, but finally got clear and ended up 5th in the sprint for 9th on the night. That final lap was the fastest I have ever taken the last chicane. I would say this was my best crit ride at the speedway in a couple of years. Thanks Tami Kuper for the awesome photos!
I had the following weekend off from racing so we got caught up on farm duties. Things keep getting busier as we keep growing with our online sales and I have started back running a farm stand on weekends home. I sure wish we could do more local sales. I love selling online, but my main goal when I started the garden was to share it with my friends and neighbors. We just can't get anybody local to give us a chance. I have tried to bring veggies to the Music City Crits races in the past with not much luck in getting people to even give them a look. I really wanted to be able to provide local riders with quality, clean produce when I started this farm thing. We met Steve Ehringer at Indy Crit and when he found out the things we grow and produce, he tried to help us out and drum up some excitement at the crits these past two weeks. We did find a new customer, but overall it was still crickets from the bike community. Thanks for trying Steve! It was so frustrating to hear on Facebook that people are interested only to not see them at the race. Many didn't follow through, others didn't want to buy when they found out it was from me. I know I'm not the most popular rider in the area, but geez that's a little harsh. I have found that people we know well seem to think people they know can't make good things. Good jam comes from big companies apparently, not people you know. It's an uphill struggle, but we keep chugging along. Give us a chance! You won't regret it!
After a few long rides to end July, it was back to racing to kick off August. I had a rough week leading into this next round of the DINO Series. I was working the farm a lot and couldn't stay on top of my hydration in the heat. I ended up resting the last couple of days before the race in a desperate attempt to get recovered. This round was at Versailles State Park, one of my favorite trails to race. Like last year, we were forced to camp at Muscatatuck Park, where we had just raced at a month before. Versailles requires two night stays to camp, so with not being able to take off on Friday or Monday we had to find a different place to stay. On the drive there we hit up a barbecue joint in Sellersburg, IN called Rubbin' Butts. The name is catchy and the food was great. Stop in if you are in the area and want some butts that have been rubbed good. If you're into seafood they have a joint venture on the side called Rubbin' Tails.
Instead of driving over to Versailles and back on Saturday for a pre-ride, we opted for staying at Muscatatuck. The trails were still in excellent shape following the race so we ripped them, set up camp and then got over to the Twin Cities Raceway Park for some Indiana dirt track racing, complete with sprint cars this year.
On Sunday, we had a smaller Elite group of just six starters, but it was a tough field. I finally had a decent start here. The long grass start has been my nemesis the last two years. I was still back in 5th entering the woods, but I didn't get gapped at all. Drew Dillman was in attendance and the heavy favorite. Apparently, the others in the group were content with just letting him go and racing for 2nd. I don't think he even attacked, they just let him go and started their own race. I wanted to see how long I could stay with him, but I was too far back to go with him. Passing is hard early on so I had to ride in line as nobody would let me by. We stayed packed up on the initial long climb, then things finally busted up on the smaller climbs after. I picked off one rider at a time, quickly crossing gaps to the next rider. I enjoyed the new singletrack climb added this year that bypasses the gravel road section I dislike so much. I used this new section to move into 2nd and set out in pursuit of Dillman. I had seen him up ahead halfway through the lap and timed the gap at one minute. I ended the lap with a time check from Shannon of 45 seconds. I had made some gains. That gap was doable if I rode well.
In the past, Dillman has put about 2 minutes on me per lap on my good days. I haven't had many good days in the last two seasons so I really did not think I could catch him, but I sure tried. If nothing else the effort was taking me away from 3rd place. He pulled away from me on lap 2, but not by much. The time check was 1:08 starting the third and final lap. Still a chance...
I could tell I was fading in the middle of the lap and finally hit my limit on the final climb. I limped it home finishing 2:52 behind Dillman. I pulled away from 3rd by about 3:30. The legs were not 100%, but they were good. I had a solid race, running the same lap time for each of the first two laps and only dropping one minute on lap 3 despite fading so bad at the end. Dillman got faster each lap. That's what you have to do to win Elite races. It was a good ride for me and I was happy to keep my streak of good races going lately after feeling like trash for the past year.
Dina had a good day and took home a nice 2nd in the Expert Women. Her experience was much nicer than last year when she arrived at Versailles having just been diagnosed with diabetes, just starting treatment with a radical diet change and having to race in glasses after years of wearing contacts.
We took the scenic route home from Versailles, heading south across southeastern Indiana. We visited Clifty Falls State Park near Madison, IN. Indiana doesn't have a lot of waterfalls, but this place holds four. It has been very dry lately so they weren't much more than a trickle. Spring and winter would definitely be more scenic with more water flowing over the ledges into Clifty Canyon. We enjoyed the short hikes to the falls though as they featured some interesting rock formations, cliffs and stairs. It felt like we weren't in Indiana there for a few minutes. I don't know why we always seem to end up on stairs after hard races, but it sure does seem to happen a lot. The park also features an old railroad tunnel that is home to bats now. It was closed during our visit due to White Nose Syndrome and its threat to the bat population.
We crossed over the Ohio River and into Kentucky as we departed. Another fun race weekend in the books!
