Day 9 - Downers Avenue Classic

The previous night my teammate Matt rolled into town and on race day Drew arrived via Amtrak, it was good to have teammates to race with. At our level the value of teammates has less to do with tactics and more to do with motivation. So having some friends in the pack was a welcome change. When I arrived on the east side I saw some more familiar faces. It was nice to have xXx's John Wolthers, Iron Cycle's Ted Ramos and Adam and "the Doctor" from MS in the field as well as the regulars from the week Dave, Travis, Lionel, Nate, Jared, Craft, the iscorp army etc....

The course is fairly well know, its been a superweek course for a while. I had never raced the course, but I knew it was going to be tough. I had heard about "the corner". I knew with the weekend here fresh legs would attendance. I was going to have to work hard.

The race started with a quick jump from Travis, Lionel and an Iscorp rider. I was in no position to take a pull or follow an attack yet so I slotted in and tried to take the turns clean. I saw Drew was sitting up in the top ten, I knew when I saw an opportunity I should join him. The corner was interesting, everyone took it really slow so the hardest part was sprinting out of it. Some intresting lines were being used, but it wasn't as bad as expected.

On the 3rd lap I moved up to the front to take a pull and try to bring down the gap. I thought Travis had the talent to ride away from the field and with Lionel up there two anything was possible. So I took a pull and moved back into the pack. As we hit the back stretch I saw a rider jump to the left I jumped too. If we could bridge across we might really have something. And a small group would be able to navigate the turn much smoother than the nervous chasing pack. In all reality it wouldn't have stayed away but worth a shot. As we hit the third turn we were attacking, the other rider didn't give me a clean line. I was carrying a good bit of speed and I CHERUNDOLOED the turn. I adjusted my line didn't freak out and all was good. Had I went down I would have taken a great deal of the pack with me, I couldn't have that. As we came up the front stretch the pack latched onto my wheel. I felt a hand up on my hip (when i dip we dip you dip.....) I saw the tweety bird shoes and knew it was Adam. I pulled a little longer and then moved back in the field.

With about 13 laps to go as we came into the corner the rider in front of me touched wheels, he had no chance. He slid out right into my line. I threw my ass back and grabbed a hand full of breaks and remained clam. The corner was huge so I just kept going straight narrowly avoiding the sliding rider (do your wheel touch drills gentlemen). I saw the field sprinting away from me. I knew it was gut check time. I powered the bike up to another rider who was trying to catch back on. I knew primes were being handed out like epo on the fiesta bus so the pack would sprint and then slow. If I maintained a steady tempo I would be able to catch back on after a prime, hopefully. And that's just what happened. After a smooth two lap time trial I rejoined the field. I was happy to be back. I rolled up to Drew and said "lets chill here and head up with 5 to go" I drank some water and recovered. Drew moved up to limit the sprint out of the corner. With about 3 to go I tried to move up, but I just couldn't. The chase had really ended my chances that day and the previous 8 days of racing were beginning to take their toll.

The sprint looked pretty clean from my respective. I was within 25 meters of the winner, but that a big gap in a bike race. I gave it my best effort, but it wasn't enough. I finished a respectable 23rd, Drew was 7th and Matt hit a pole.  This was probably my second favorite crit race of the week, behind the Grafton Race. It was a great racing atmosphere. Only one more day, what was I going to do Monday?

I would like to thank my parents for hosting 5 members of the chicago racing community on Saturday night with only one working shower. Have you ever tried to get 6 racers through the shower starting at 1015 on a Saturday night? The morning pre-race breakfast will be something I will remember about this series. Four different teams bunked at my parents place, I think it says something about our community (xXX, CCC, Iron Cycles, Spidermonkey)