ToAD - Day 7 Greenbush Road Race

So I learned something at ToAD, I prefer road races to crits. Its not that I don't enjoy riding in circles, I am just not great at it. I after ToAD I realize how important positioning is, without good positioning you can't have success. The hardest place for me to hold position is through turns. In road races there are fewer turns therefore I didn't drift back as much. Okay enough about what I leaned, and more about the race.

People kept telling me that "this year we are running the course backwards".  I didn't do this race in the previous year so that meant nothing to me. I hadn't scouted the course at all, not the elevation not where to turn. I knew the key for me today was to give max effort. I had some good prerace advice from a fellow chicago racing veteran that really helped, sorry that stays between us.

The course was a 9.8 mile loop with some nice rollers, not really steep but long. We would do 4 laps, about 40 miles. It was a 9:15 am start.

 

There were a bunch of fresh legs in the house including a strong Chicago crew including Captain Davey Jones, Gentleman John Wolthers of xXx, Sir Ted Ramos and Master Chase Negley of iron cycles as well as King Quentin Capista of Project 5, and others I have failed to mention. One of the things I like about the Chicago racing community is that when we are out of the state we seem to work together to dictate the race. I think its fair to say that in Greenbush we did just that . I would be re-missed if I failed to mention Travis Miller (Brazen Dropouts) the Leader of the overall and Dave Racine the two strongest veteran riders in the race who raced hard day after day. Not to mention the endless army of Wisconsin juniors that showed to throw down daily (there are so tiny yet so fast). So there was a strong field of 50 plus who took to the staging area.

The first lap was nerve racking with quick descents and weaving turns it was hard to anticipate what was about to happen in front of you. I tried to stick in the pack and learn the course. I felt like I was going to die, and quickly realized that I need to move up. I also noticed that there was about a three mile stretch with a strong cross wind. I noted this cross wind section would be a good place to move up if needed on the last lap. It seemed like Davey, John and Ted were all over the front during the first lap, Travis rode near the front as well. I knew this was that was the place to be.

On the second lap I used a steep hill climb right after the start finish to improve my position. I was now amongst the stronger riders. It calmed my nerve, these guys took good lines, kept the pace high and flew down the descents (max speed of 46 mph this day). And then I dropped a bottle, I cussed and thought that could be my race. I finished one bottle on lap 1 and threw it in the feed zone. So now I was down to one bottle of gatorade for the last 2 1/2 laps or more than 25 miles and it was warm. This was not ideal! I maintained my strong position throughout the lap and planned to move up and do some work on the third lap.

I need to note here that I did an excellent job of feeding throughout the race, 4 gels, one sleeve of shot blocks, a bottle of Gatorade and a 1 bottle of water. Not to mention a bunch of shot blocks on the start line.

Okay lap 3 I felt great! I was up front the whole lap, I even drove the pace for a while and at one point I looked back and saw a small gap and thought, this is the last place I want to be. I sat up and the pack rode back to my wheel and I continued my pull. At one point I draped my hands over the bars until I hit a tar strip which caused a serious pucker. As we came into the cross wind section I knew I wanted to hide out and get out of the wind. I moved back about 10 wheels and recovered. The key to this course was to recover on the back side so you could hammer it on the front side. We crossed the start finish and heard one to go.

I remained in good position going into the first right hand turn and then I started to realize how hard I had been working. I was struggling but the pace remained steady and I was okay. Then with about 6 miles to go an attack went off to the right, it was that dude from Matteson who's name escapes me at the moment. The field jumped but I couldn't. I spun as fast as I could to hold the back wheels as they flew past me. I was dangerous at this point, I rose my right hand moved to the back and rode my own pace. When I got close to the pack I rose from my saddle and attached myself to a wheel. I recovered until we hit the cross wind section, I then moved to the left and put my face in the wind. I passed about 20 guys and moved into about top 15 and latched on to King Quieten's wheel. I wanted to hold this position and move up to around top ten as we hit the final turn into the uphill finish. We flew through the bends that made up the back side of the course. We hit the base of the uphill finish as a group of about 20 or 30, we all jumped as we sprinted to the line. A group of about 15 of so crossed the line within 10 bike lengths and I crossed in 14th, by best ToAD result thus far.

I was proud of the way I raced. When I crossed the line I had nothing left, completely empty. I did a light spin with Dave Racine and we discussed just how exciting that race was. How much fun we had and how much we loved a good road race. This was racing bliss. Sure its great to win, but its also great to race.

"Non-racers. The emptiness of those lives shocks me." 
Tim Kabbe "The Rider"