I came out of the State Crit weekend more sick than I went into it. With heavy congestion the day after the road race leading to coughing in the middle of the week, it was looking like both of my target weekends for the end of the summer were spiraling toward the ground.
It was a short week to recover with racing starting on Friday at Gateway Cup in St. Louis. I took two days off the bike, then did two very light days to get the body moving and dislodge some mucus. By the time we departed the Volunteer State for the Show Me State, the congestion was gone. A little cough still remained. Only time would tell if the cough would be aggravated by the intensity of racing.
We took the scenic route to St. Louis, rolling along the Mississippi River bank in Illinois. For once we were not in a hurry and had time to enjoy the route. Once in Missouri, we stopped at the Mastodon State Historic Site in Imperial, a sign we have looked at many times as we drove past. The site is just off I-55. It features a museum and a few trails where you can hike to the site where a mastdon skeleton was recovered in 1839 from what was known as the Kimmswick Bone Bed. The site was active several times over the years, most recently in the 1970s and early 1980s when evidence of human hunting was also found amongst the bones. The site is thought to be the first place where solid evidence of the coexistence of humans and mastodons has been found. One of the trails takes you right through the bone bed, which is mostly overgrown now and shows no signs of fossils. Still cool to walk through. The museum has many exhibits. We never learned about the time period of giant mammals in school, so it was nice to see all their displays of giant sloths and peccaries. Those giant sloths got 12 feet tall!
The race situation at Tour de Lafayette was pretty much worse-case scenario. We arrived at Lafayette Square in a downpour with lightning in the distance. A storm rolled over the venue a little over an hour before our scheduled start time and the races were halted due to lightning and torrential rains. We waited it out in the van, checking social media for updates from the race. No updates came across as we watched the gutters swell.
The storm finally lightened up enough for me to jump out of the van and run up to the registration tent for an update. Nothing. Back to the van for more waiting.
It was now just 20 minutes until our start and the rain was now light. Back to the tent and this time got a different update than expected. The races that were halted would be canceled and the schedule would pick up with our race, now less than 20 minutes away. I sprinted to the van and began throwing the bike together. I got the bike ready, spare wheels ready, clothes changed and numbers pinned in less than 10 minutes. I jumped on the bike and hopped onto the course as the rain picked up again. I got in a quick three laps before being called to the line. My warm-up was a whole 10 minutes, less than ideal on a day of having fried lungs. Oh well, time to get it on.
More than 80 riders were on the start line for the Cat. 2/3 race in a steady rain. For once, I was not nervous about riding with a bunch of squirrels on a wet course. I was nervous about my lungs after that sad little warm-up. The first lap was fast, but reasonable in the wet. Then things got scary fast. I went from chill to eyeballs hanging out from the end of lap 1 to the end of lap 2. Ouch. My heart rate was over 185, which is higher than I have seen in a long time. I had good legs, but my heart and lungs were screaming with this hard of an effort after only 10 minutes of warm-up. I started to cough after just a couple of minutes and was struggling to breath at that pace. Visibility was terrible between the spray off everyone's tires and the lights reflecting off the wet road. I hung on until a big crash happened a few laps in. That busted the group up and forced an increase in speed from those of us caught behind. That was another level I didn't have tonight and out the back I went only 11 minutes into the race. I stayed on the gas until they pulled me seven minutes later. Not the way I wanted to start the weekend. We were averaging 28.3 mph when I came off the back. Pretty fast for in the rain. It looked like the race slowed down a lap after I was pulled and was pretty tame until the finish. Errr.
I loaded up a dripping wet bike and took my soggy, coughing butt over to Saturday's course in Francis Park, where an AirBNB was waiting for us just a few feet off Turn 4. At least we wouldn't have to travel at all on Saturday. The place was pretty sweet. We could see the racing out the windows and from the front porch. I was able to verify that each of the races were starting on schedule without even leaving the house.
Saturday was absolutely beautiful weather. It was 82 degrees with plenty of sunshine. Of the four races that make up the Gateway Cup, this is the course I like the most. It's a big, fast square around Francis Park. It's almost boring, but the speed makes it so fun. I think part of the draw to this place for me is that it's so hard to win here. Without a team, you really have to have some luck in riding the right wheels to the front to put yourself close enough to have a shot in the sprint. I love the challenge, even though I have been pretty far from getting the last lap right up to this point.
The race was fast as always. I did what I usually do and sat in the pack, virtually doing nothing in the draft. I was feeling better than yesterday after a full warm-up. I had some major mucus flowing once we got racing, but coughing was minimal compared to Friday. I was biding my time, but suddenly I started to fade before the 40-minute mark. It was like I bonked even though I had eaten plenty. I had felt this bonky feeling during my couple of easy recovery rides this week just like at the road race and crit last weekend, so it seems to be related to the sickness. My body just seemed tired, which is inconvenient when there's still 15 minutes of racing to go. I dropped back as I faded and was unable to move up as the pace kicked up for the finish. Instead of sprinting like I had hoped, I just hung on the back of the main group and passed by all those who fell off in the closing laps to take 68th. Another disappointing day, but not totally unexpected with the way things have gone in recent weeks. Another day with a 28.3 mph average speed.
After a short commute back to the house of about 10 seconds, I started resting up in hopes of feeling better tomorrow on The Hill. Our walk to watch the Pro races was a mere couple dozen steps. A little custard from Ted Drewes didn't help the recovery, but did help the spirit.
We might not have been located on Sunday's race course, but it was only a couple of minutes from our place at Francis Park over to The Hill for the Giro della Montagna. This race is a classic. It's the longest running race in the city and brings the biggest crowds year after year. The course is much more challenging than the previous two days, bringing a big climb on the backstretch of a rectangular loop with a downhill run to the finish.
We parked in our usual location and unloaded on another beautiful day. The first time I pulled my rear brake the rear cable stop snapped off the frame. Two rivets and glue all failed. That put me in a predicament as I didn't have a spare bike with us this year. The brake worked but not enough to slow me down so something had to be done. I might could have pulled it off on either of the two course we already raced this weekend, but this downhill would require brakes for sure if I wanted to stay out of the wheel in front of me. I thought about it for a few minutes and came up with a zip-tie idea that would give me spongy, but working brakes...at least I hoped. Two zip-ties and a foot of electrical tape did the trick. It was working for now, but didn't seem like it would last for too long. I crossed my fingers as I rolled up to the start line.
We had about 100 riders on the start line for another 55 minutes of crit action. The pace was insane the first lap. We went up the climb like it was the final lap. Thankfully, the rest of the race was at a more reasonable pace. I stayed up front early which makes life a lot easier since this course is pretty narrow and can be harder to move up on. Legs were good again, but like yesterday, I began to have a bonking feeling again at 40 minutes. I took on a gel to try to stop the bleeding. I don't know that it helped any, but the bonk planed out so that was better than yesterday. I was too far back after taking the gel and never could move up. As I suffered I did enjoy the band playing in Turn 2. They were quite good. The crowd was rowdy all day, but one lap it was particularly loud. I looked over to the sidewalk to see a rather elderly gentleman hitting up some hopscotch to the approval of the crowd. He had clearly been partaking in the adult beverages, but still showed some pretty good coordination. Some rider named Connor was apparently out of position the entire race. I seemed to be near him so I guess I was out of position to. He was constantly being yelled at by people on the side of Turn 3 in every form of "move up!" you can think of. I never found out which rider was Connor, but I do know that his support crew does not hesitate to let him know when he is sucking.
The last five laps were not just fast, but we were literally 8-wide several rows deep from the Start/Finish line to Turn 1, which is the best passing opportunity. Even if I had the strength to move up, there was nowhere to go. I dodged not one, not two, but three crashes on the final lap to end up in 55th. We were just one corner crash away from winning at Connect 4 that final lap. I didn't cough much today which was good, but this bonk thing is going to keep me from getting any kind of good finish this weekend if I can't get it to go away. On the bright side, the brake modification worked and is intact enough to use again tomorrow.
The hardest course of the weekend would close things out on Labor Day Monday. We rolled into Benton Park on yet another sunny and cooler day. This weekend started wet, but the final three days made up for that with plenty of sunshine and cooler temperatures for a little relief from the summer heat. I went with a harder warm-up today to be ready for the fast start and to leave nothing in the tank. I wanted to be active today, even if that meant I would run out of steam at 40 minutes again. I actually went hard enough today in the warm-up that I got hot and needed an ice sock before the start.
Over 80 riders charged off on the Benton Park loop. The pace was high the opening laps, which are about double the length of the other courses. It's also much more technical with 10 turns. The pace went even higher laps 3-5. It was three laps of hell. I just clung on to the wheel ahead of me. Finally, things calmed down and I recovered. I moved up some, but then things got fast again as we approached the finish. The group went single-file and moving up further was difficult. To my surprise, no bonk today! I had some good legs left and knew I could produce a good sprint. Unfortunately, I was out of position at one to go. I did my best to move up, but there were lots of tired legs on the fourth day of racing. Gaps were everywhere. Instead of moving up, I was wasting my energy closing gaps. I never had a shot at the sprint and ended up 45th. Still, I was happy just to have felt decent in another fast race with an average speed of 27.1 mph. Too bad it was the last day. I finally felt like racing! The rear brake held up again. It was sketchy relying on tape and zip-ties on such a technical course with a scary Turn 9, but it did the trick.
It was a super fun weekend as always at Gateway Cup, but I was frustrated with how it went. That frustration doubled when I went out to the local group ride the following day and felt awesome. Great legs and no respiratory issues at all. REALLY?!!! The poor group didn't stand a chance. I took out all my frustrations on that loop. I rode away a few miles in and was joined by one rider. He wanted to wait for the group, but I just wanted to ride as hard as I could. We ended up sticking the break all the way to the end. They chased us for the first 2/3 of the loop, getting close to us at one point when we got hung at an intersection. I think they held back a little after that trying to let us sit out there and suffer, but they underestimated us. We crushed the hills at the end of the loop and ended up a couple of minutes ahead at the finish. It felt good to get some inner anger out, but man I wish I had felt like that just a day or two earlier. That's how it goes in bike racing.
