Bravo Cucina/Big Bay Brewing presented by Farmers Insurance Whitefish Bay Classic 7/24/11

Wow, what a mouthful of a name. The Whitefish Bay Classic Criterium was my finale to superweek. It's the first time I've ever spent any time in Whitefish Bay or near the Bayshore mall. It's quite a pleasant location, and very welcoming to hordes of cyclists careening through their streets as well.

Sunday, July 24 was the last day of Superweek and I was ready for a full field of racers to compete against. It turned out that there were only 42 of us. Even though it wasn't at capacity, it's the largest Superweek race that I did this year. I think Superweek's numbers are hurting from the draw that Tour of America's Dairyland has produced. The Cat 4/5 field had 42 riders in total. The course had 6 corners and turns 1-4 were fairly technical with rough tarmac in turns 3 and 4. From riding the course in warm up, I knew that I would struggle a little in the early corners, but could make up lost ground on the long straightaway on the north side of the course.

***Just to clarify why I'd be losing ground in the early corners...I am a confident bike handler and I have good skills to rely on. However, I'm also a savvy enough rider that I don't trust a field of 40 amateur racers trying to cruise around 90 degree corners 3 abreast. In the 4/5 fields especially, the skill levels vary significantly so I'm always a little more cautious than some of my fellow racers. When the pace stretches the group into single file it's not so bad, but that doesn't happen quite as often as it maybe should.***

Aaaaand we're back! I had just moved to a new apartment the day before the Whitefish Bay race and was very tired going into the race after a week of packing, working and moving. I didn't feel very ready to race, but after a 20 minute warmup I was feeling a little more prepared than when I rolled out of bed that morning. On the start line I knew I'd have to follow wheels and pick carefully to make sure I'd stay safe if I wanted to keep up. The whistle blew and we rolled out for 22 laps on our 0.8 mile course. As usual the pace shot up for the first 5 laps or so while the group found its rhythm. I was pleasantly surprised to find that I could nestle in behind the main group 15-20 wheels back and ride pretty comfortably. A few people moved to the front and raised the speed, but there were enough riders with teams of 2-4 riders that nothing escaped for awhile. I was starting to wonder if we'd just keep going around in circles without any real signs of aggression when a rider in a bright yellow kit took a flyer off the front with 10 laps to go.

As the attack went, I was probably 3 or 4 wheels from the front, keeping an eye on some of the riders who I knew would be contenders. I pulled off with a couple other guys and let other people start the chasing. The one rider stayed away for a full lap or so and then a couple others started to bridge across. There wasn't a particularly organized chase and people were fighting at the front over doing any work. It was feeling a little sketchy in the back with the surge and slow pattern, especially in corners 3 and 4 where the road was a bit beaten up. With 7 laps or so remaining I found my momentum carrying me to the front of the pack on the north-side straightaway and I made the mistake of letting it bring me to the front to lead the chase. I am really one of the dumbest smart people to ever race on two wheels when it comes to this circumstance. I know the strategy I should use during almost every race, but I don't always stick to the plan very well. I wait and I wait and try to let the group do the work to bring back the break because I never have any teammates, but then it's like dangling a steak in front of a dog for too long. There comes a point where you can't help but do more than just drool over it.

Thus, I found myself on the front riding tempo fast enough to string out the group behind me. I made up my mind to ride the next two corners and then drop off. It was nice having the liberty to take the corners fast and with a perfect line without other riders cutting under me or anything like that. I came into the home stretch and pulled off far enough that the riders behind me had to pull through. A KS energies rider came to the front and rode to the next corner and pulled off. By this point the gap had closed a little, but the rest of the peloton wasn't prepared to do anything. A couple riders jumped across to the break and I got stuck in a no-man's-land of sorts waiting for more of the pack to come through without losing too much speed. The end result was me in the wind for an entire lap too close to the finish. Inevitably, I do this to myself at some point in almost every race. Just a little more patience, or a couple of friends to work with and I'd be a lot better off.

Around 5 or 6 laps to go, the break was caught and we all caught our breath. The pace stayed fairly low until 2 laps to go and then it was a wild ride to the finish. I tried to move up on the north side straight during the finishing lap, but was out of luck. I had used a bit too much energy to make significant progress and didn't want to take the risks of going kamikaze on the last two corners to try to gain position. I moved up to 25th out of 36 finishers by the time I got across the line. Not a stellar performance, but not a bad day given the pre race circumstances either. All told, we averaged 25 MPH for 45 minutes, which felt surprisingly manageable. It's a good sign, but it may be that I'm coming back to form a little too late, now that my racing is pretty much done for the summer.

It's a been a good season. It unfortunately may be my last for a little while. Next summer is my first boards exam, l so we'll see if I can squeeze any racing in between boards and the beginning of third year. But that's too far to tell. I still have three weeks off before school starts again. For now we'll focus on my upcoming weeklong adventure out West in Colorado. Can't come soon enough! This year I'm going to try and ride Big Thomson Canyon up into Estes Park. I'll be back to tell all about it. Until then, enjoy the ride.

Superweek Whitnall Park Road Race- 7/18/11

Have you ever wondered what it feels like to race your bike in a sauna?




I found out exactly what that feels like this past Monday. It was hideously hot and humid as I started the Whitnall Park Road Race at 10:00 in the morning. In my opinion weather shouldn't be unbearable before noon. On Monday, though, it was. Of course, this didn't stop any of us from coming out to race. 23 of us lined up to broast ourselves in the terrible heat for the Men's Cat 4/5 field.



Whitnall Park is where I won a race in April, so in some ways I had a home court advantage. The course on Monday was slightly different--longer actually--and in the opposite direction that I had raced at the Whitnall Park Criterium. The roads were in decent shape, but not fantastic. However, the course had only one sharp turn which was a hard left hander before heading up the finishing climb. The course was rolling and finished with a short steep section approximately 0.5 miles from the finish with a flat/slightly downhill section for the final 300 meters or so. The hill meant the finish would be difficult, but that the final sprint might actually be fairly fast if you could recover in time to give it a go. Although, there was a huge dent in the road just 30 meters or so before the finish (I don't really know what else to call it) that stretched about 70% of the way across from left to right. This meant that my plan was to give a burst of speed on the final climb and then try to stay along the right of the road through to the finish line.





We rolled out only a few minutes late (which is a pretty amazing feat for Superweek) and started our 11 lap (~23 mile) "road race." The race was operated as a road race instead of a criterium which meant no free-lap rule and there was actually a support car driving behind us. Our first couple laps of this glorified circuit race were somewhat blistering in pace as the 4/5 field always seems to like. There was a strong wind from the west, so the north side of the course was a bit difficult as we dove down from the start line and then climbed up into a headwind.

I decided to race this one with my head instead of my legs, so I mostly just sat in following wheels while I let the racers with teammates do most of the work. It paid off and I still had some energy left in the tank to race strong during the last lap. Coming through to the start/finish at one lap to go I found myself in front with a couple other riders as we all spread across the road waiting for someone to take the lead. We eased around our first corner and into the downhill, so I just let myself freewheel easy and wound up on the front. There were a couple piddly attacks as we headed into the headwind and I let myself drift back 5 or 6 places while others initiated the chases. With about a mile to go, an attack lifted the pace as we headed back towards the finish line and I was prepared to stay with them. I got onto 4th or 5th wheel and pushed hard. We hit the hard left hander uphill and I just hung on. I had a point on the hill where I wanted to go all in, but I was forced by the high pace to start my jump two or three bike lengths earlier than I wanted to. It meant that I didn't quite have the power at the peak of the hill that I wanted to, but I was still with the front runners and it stopped me from getting passed by anyone else behind me. I was on the left side of the road and with too many people to make a wild move over to the right where I wanted to be, so I just made the best of my side as I could.

Two guys were strong enough to go off the front over the top and the rest of us were in wild pursuit. Tristan Horvath from MACK racing managed another win against the KS Energies rider who finished second. Meanwhile 9 of us were stampeding towards the line in a group sprint. About 25 meters before the finish I got squinched by the rider on my right as he veered off his line and the rider on my left who was trying to move off the barriers. I sat up enough to avoid a crash and probably sacrificed a place or two in my finish, but still managed 9th. It was a good day, albeit a VERY hot one. Looking back at my heart rate monitor, I recorded yet another new Max HR. 207 this time! This racing back into shape thing isn't going so badly after all.

Next up is the Bravo Cucina Italiana Criterium in Whitefish Bay on Sunday. After that Superweek will be done I won't likely have another race until mid August. Although, I will have more adventures in Colorado to tell about in the interim. Stay tuned.

Before I go. Props to Tristan Horvath! He raced the entire race as a marked man and most of the group made him do work on the front despite being a lone rider without any teammates on Monday. He earned the win the hard way. Nice Work.

South Shore Cyclery Classic 7/14/11

Yesterday I raced in my first Superweek race of the year. I had planned to start my Superweek Stint at the Geneva Grand Prix in Geneva, IL on 7/9/11. However, as luck would have it I was severely undertrained during June and then managed to strain my knee as I began to ramp up my training miles a couple weeks before the Geneva race. Bummer, eh?

That meant that yesterday's race in the South Shore Cyclery Classic was my first race since April. That's a long stint of too little riding and too little training, especially since this is supposed to be my summer of freedom before starting M2 year next year at MCW. I guess that's just the way the cookie crumbles.

Anyhow, back to racing. I was happy to be back and ready to ride after dealing with a couple weeks of knee pain, but knew that I wasn't about to be competing for the podium. This is an important thing to figure out as close to the beginning of the race as possible. Sometimes it takes a few laps to know, but I knew it before I lined up so I set my goals accordingly. There were no primes to try for so I decided that I would try to instigate a breakaway close to the finish. I didn't entirely expect to be able to stay with a breakaway given my lack of miles in the past month but I figured it would be a good test and it would be more interesting than just sitting in the pack and going for a glorified group ride.

As I lined up, I met Ben Stengel of Team Emery's Third Coast Lifecyclists. I've read his race reports a few times while he was riding at ToAD and thought he'd be a good fella to try and align myself with after reading about his attacking style. We set out for 18 laps (19.06 miles) and after about 5 laps I found myself talking with him towards the back of the field discussing an opportune moment to make a break. He had already conferred with a few other riders and told me they were considering an attempt around 5 or 6 laps to go. I thought that sounded good and offered to help get away with them even if I couldn't stick it out all the way to the finish.

6 laps to go as we approached the start/finish line and the pace had just slowed after a surge had been brought back. I told Ben as we passed the line that if the pace was still a little sluggish on the back side of our 1 mile lap that I would hit out hard from the group to try and start a break.

That's exactly what I did, and I did it with all I had. I took off with a full bore sprint to corner #3 on the course. I glanced back and saw the whole pack spreading out across the road as they all sprinted in pursuit. I still had a gap as I made my way to corner #4 and one rider from MACK Racing bridged to me as we were coming out of the corner into the finishing straight. He took a pull and a third rider joined us crossing the start finish line. We weren't the most organized yet and I tried to figure out how to slot back into the line and recover a little bit. We rounded corner #1 and I found myself fighting to grab the wheel of a rider from Flatlandia cycling team. By the time we got back around and out of corner #2 I was back on the front and running out of steam. I pulled off and tried to hold my speed as I now had 3 breakaway compatriots, but I had been redlining for the whole lap and in the wind for about 75%. I decided to drop back to the pack, but as they came charging through in pursuit of the break I was too gassed to hang on there as well. That meant it was 4.5 laps of trying to make it to the Finish Line solo.

I kept my pace above 21 mph for most of my solo trip to the line, but never made any gains on the pack. In the end, the three other breakaway riders stayed away for the win with Tristan from MACK Racing taking it at the line while the other two rounded out the podium. I finished dead last. Yep, dead last. However, I've never had so much fun losing in my entire life. It was great. A few more training miles and I could have stayed with that breakaway (okay maybe double the training miles, but still...).

On the bright side I was able to break away from a hard charging pack and hold out around 30 MPH for almost half a mile before being joined by any other riders. AND I set a new Max HR for myself... 203! Crazy, eh?

In hindsight there were only 19 of us who finished so it might have been a better idea to stay in the pack since the prize money paid out to the top 15 finishers...but what fun would that have been? Oh well. That's bike racing!

Spring Prairie Road Race (WI State Championships) 6/5/11

A week ago last Sunday I raced in the Wisconsin State Championship Spring Prairie Road Race. It was hot and quite difficult. I didn't have my best day. And really before I get any farther let me sum up the race for you in three words:

Legs tore off.

That's the bottom line, really. I just didn't have a great day, not even a particularly good one. I have lots of reasons and perhaps excuses as to why, but we'll get to that later and let you decide whether they are valid or not. Until then, just know; legs tore off.

Sunday was a pretty pleasant day. That is if you want to sit at the beach or hang out by the pool. Unfortunately for me I was bike racing. I had just returned from a trip to the Pacific Northwest where the temperature was a mild 75 degrees with a cool dry breeze from the Ocean. I returned home to a day of heat and torture. 65% humidity with temps in the mid to high 80's (maybe higher on the tarmac). It was gross. So hot on the pavement, in fact, that the squiggly lines or tar patches on road were not only squishy but almost slippery in the corners. Tough day.

I lined up with the Cat 4/5 field for our 39 mile excursion in the hottest part of the day at 3:05pm. You can see the route here. Prior to racing I had put in about 32 miles over the past two weeks. Yeah, go back and read that again. 32 miles total in two weeks. Oof, you can already tell that I'm in for a doosy of a ride. This is what happens when Final Exams fall just a couple weeks before a race.

The big selector of the race was the finishing hill on Johnson road. It was claimed at 18%. I don't know if I'd give it that, but it was definitely steep with a capital 'S'. Probably in the 10-15% average range for about 1/3 of a mile. As tough as just about anything else you'll see in this state. The race organizers kindly gave us a neutral roll out that started below this hill, so our six lap route included 7 trips up this grade instead of 6 (note the sarcasm dripping from my keystrokes). Let's just say that the selection began even during the neutral roll out thanks to this design.

I knew from the start that I was going to be struggling just to hang on, so I made that my goal. Just hang on! I tried my best to stay out of the wind and protected in the bunch. It wasn't too difficult as I was basically at the back of the pack the whole time. The first lap was mostly uneventful. A couple small accelerations but no big surprises. There were about 40 of us with narrow lanes and a "no crossing the center line" rule, so it made it difficult to go on the attack.

Finishing the first lap, I got gapped a little bit on the Johnson road grade, but made it back with the pack before too long. Unfortunately, I could tell my selection had already been made. I stuck with the group as we tooled along but by the time we turned back east on Potter Rd I was hurting. A few of us were off the back as the front of the race started to pull away. I looked at the guys around me and did my best to organize a chase. Only two of us were really up to the challenge. We had a headwind at this point and little hope of catching the riders in front of us while on the straight, so we just tried to damage control as best as we were able.

Turning up Johnson road to finish lap 2 was tough. The rider who was with me (Ben from Brazen Dropouts) definitely had more spring in his step for the hill. He got away from me but then waited as I was able to recover some and catch up after getting over the top, but I knew that was the last time my trip up Johnson grade would even resemble racing. I rode with him the rest of lap 3 then told him before reaching our Selectinator (aka johnson), and offered him a big pull before I popped. I launched him at the bottom of the Selectinator and then just survived my third (actually fourth thanks to the roll out) trip up to the start/finish line.

The last 3 laps saw me chugging along by myself, getting passed by the 30+ Masters field which had started 5 minutes before me and finishing in 29th place. Somewhere in there I was caught and passed by two other riders in my field. I tried to work with one of them, but didn't have the legs for it and the other caught me and passed me on my second to last battle with the Selectinator.

Now for the really interesting part. It was a hot day at the race and while I managed to do fairly well with my fluid intake, I don't know that I did well with my electrolytes. I probably only used half of the Nuun that I should have and paid the price on my last trip up Johnson grade. As I approached the bottom I knew it would just be a matter of survival. Sit, stand or crawl I was going to tame this beast one last time. I started up trying to spin, but it got steep enough that I had no choice but to stand. However, when I stood my quads cramped like never before. I actually had to work to straighten them again. In fear of hurting myself or falling over, I sat down but them my hamstrings cramped. Again, hurty and stiff and confusing. I stood again, then sat again, then stood again. At this point is was mind over matter. Forcing my legs to do their work. I made it to the crest and sat back down. Still a hundred meters or so from the finish line I staggered across and coasted to where I could safely stop. (wait a second...Can you stagger on a bike?...well, I did)

I found my wife and parents-in-law who had come to watch me get my butt kicked. My lovely wife watched somewhat worriedly as I collapsed into a camp chair while my father-in-law grabbed me a cold iced tea. Perfect. My nephew then proceeded to quiz me.

"Uncle Craig, why didn't I see you with those other guys?" (aka: the rest of my field)

"Well, because I was riding behind them."

"Why were you riding behind them?"

"Because today I was slower than all of them."

A pause for a moment, a quizzical look and then the knockout punch.

"Uncle Craig, why did you ride your bike so slow today?"

Nice, eh? Nothing like the interrogation of a 4 year old to wipeout any sense of self-pity.

It wasn't my day. Like I told my nephew, I was just slower than the rest of them. That's it plain and simple. Not enough training, too much heat, allergies acting up, whatever the reason I just couldn't keep up. Some days just aren't your day and 6/5/11 was definitely not mine.

Legs---tore----off.

Team Wisconsin (Whitnall Park) Spring Classic 4/23/2011

This past Saturday was the Whitnall Park Spring Classic here in Hales Corners, WI. It's only a stone's throw from home and I couldn't pass up the chance to race on a course so close to my new stomping grounds. Granted, I usually ride to the west of Whitnall Park, but let's not get too picky. The reality is I'm a pretty recent transplant as it is, so I don't have too many claims to stake on any particular territory just yet.

The Course:

Because of it's nearness to me, I decided to go ride the course a couple times within the last several weeks to make sure I knew what it would be like, i.e. where I wanted to be during what parts of the race, what line I wanted take, what the pavement was like, etc. etc.

The route was nice other than some pretty busted up tarmac. It was a short loop (1.1 miles) with two short steep hills. One that peaked just before the start/finish line and one on the backside of the course that started after the 90 degree right turn (#2 if you look at my map) and had a small flat in the middle (at #3). Based on this, I figured that the hill on the backside would filter the field and if I could hang on to the front group over the top I'd be in good shape come finishing time. On race day, there was a stiff west wind which punched you right in the nose as you went up the second half of the backside hill, but helped a little as you finished on the north side of the loop with a subtle cross-tailwind.

It was a course that suited me and I went into it feeling that I could do well, so I set my sights on a top 5 position. I decided that I'd be happy with top 10, thrilled with top 5 and ecstatic with a win. My strategy would be to hang out in the pack close to the front, but let people with teammates do the work since I was flying solo. This is hard for me to do, because I'd rather make a break and work together with a few guys than take my chances in the whole pack, but a quick call to my coach (aka my dad) beforehand reaffirmed what I was thinking and it helped make me a bit more patient come race time. Thanks Dad!

The Race:

The weather was messing with my head all week leading into the race. Last week, after all, was mostly rainy and miserable but there were glimpses of hope and the forecast had very low chances of rain for the day of. Come race day, the weather was beautiful despite rain all night before. The sun was shining and I think the temperature almost reached 60 F. It was certainly in the mid 50's at least. Thankfully, this dried up the roads very effectively and that was one more thing I didn't have to worry about.

I quickly realized it was a good thing that I preregistered because the race was full. 75 riders is a pretty good sized Cat 4/5 field and I started to wonder if my aspirations were a little too high. I started thinking top 10 was worth more than just happy, but I didn't let it damp my ambitions too much. I knew I was a reasonably strong member of the field after the Menomonee Park Crit a couple weeks ago, so I figured I may as well just go for it. Still 75 riders is a lot, and I had the misfortune of arriving on time instead of early to the start finish line which meant I was starting at the back of the peloton. Oof. The good news, though, about starting in last is that there's nowhere to go but up.

I quickly started moving up because I knew if I didn't it would be the death of my goals. They say in criteriums that "if you're not moving up, you're moving back" and with a field as big as this it was definitely true. The race didn't start at a particularly hectic pace and the rolling nature of the course meant that the field shuffled rapidly each time we started up one of the rollers. No one really wanted to work too hard on the front, so each hill saw the riders in back moving up around the outside to the front and most of the riders who had started closer to the front suddenly closer to the back. I tried to stay on the outside edge of the group to avoid getting lost in the mix and it worked really well. I was able to ride within the front 20 wheels for most of the race without sticking my nose in the wind too often. I basically just chose a strong rider who I was near each lap and tried to hold his wheel (which is probably the same thing he was doing).

We continued on like this for awhile. If it wasn't for the naturally frenetic nature of a criterium it would have been almost boring. One or two riders occasionally pushed the pace on the front as we passed the start/finish line, but because of the wind on the backside hill meant our pace slowed too much each lap to ever spit many people off. With 6 laps to go there was a prime. It was too close to the finish for me to be interested so I let myself drift back a little ways so I would stay out of trouble. Finally the pace was enough to spread out the pack a bit. To my dismay it appeared as though the group was no smaller than when we started. I had no desire to throw it down with 74 other amateurs in a mass sprint in the finish, so I made up my mind that I had to be really close to the front at the finish or it wasn't worth the risk of getting tangled up in a messy crash.

With only 5 laps to go, I had to take action. I used the next two laps, slowly making my way forward and using the hill on the backside of the lap to make bigger leaps when possible. With 3 laps to go I was sitting back within the front 1/4 of the race again trying to hold my position. I held steady for the lap and halfway through the second to last lap. This time as we went up the hill in back our pace slowed somewhat drastically again and I found myself being passed by riders on the outside. I tried not to wind up losing too much position. As we came up the hill for the one lap to go bell, the pack was fairly spread out across the road. I was staying as far outside as I could to avoid being boxed in and saw a rider start to go off the front. I jumped to catch him and got his wheel before anyone else reacted. He gave a good burst, but then he was done so a few other riders and I passed him in the low part of the course before turning uphill again (at #2). I felt great, I was rounding the corner within 5-10 riders from the front and knew that I could hold my position if the pace increased.

Behind me I heard the scrape and crunch sound of bike frame and asphalt meeting each other for the first time and all of us who had made it ahead jumped a little extra because we knew now that we would likely stay clear. In front of me, three riders from Rhythm Racing started to get organized and I hopped on the back of their train knowing I had no teammates of my own to help me out. At this point, I wasn't too sure who was behind me, but I was sure there were people close behind me and I just wanted them to stay there. The front two Rhythm guys dropped their man off a little early on the way up the backside hill, so I stayed behind him until I knew I could come around and stay ahead. I passed him just as I crested the hill and then it was just a dip down and back up to the right for the finish.

As we cruised down from the backside peak it was the moment I had been waiting for. My sprinting point was halfway up the finishing hill and I knew it by the long horizontal patch in the pavement. Waiting was killing me. I was using enough energy to stay in front, but didn't want to go too early and get passed on the line.

Wait for it...wait for it...my spidey sense was tingling and I could feel the few guys who were with me creeping up in my peripheral vision...wait for it...GO, GO, GO!

I hit my mark and did the best I could to break the legs off the guys who thought they could go with me. My friend Nick H. was standing on the hill cheering me on (I have no idea was he was saying, but I knew he was there and it helped get me up the hill). As I crested the hill, I knew that my practice on the course had paid off because I had just enough in the tank to keep accelerating to the finish line. I wasn't about to look back and I gave it everything I had.

This is me on my way to the finish giving it everything I have.

I threw my right hand in the air as I crossed the finish line and gasped to catch my breath. It turns out I had a couple bike lengths to spare, but I wasn't about to risk it by being a doofus and sitting up or throwing my arms up to celebrate.

I won! I could hardly believe it. I was genuinely ecstatic (see above). It was a great day. Second and third places were scooped up by David Hudson of xXx Racing and Andrew Zens of Rhythm Racing, respectively. A good solid ride by all... I have to say, though, it's a bit ironic that the Team Wisconsin Spring Classic was won by a guy who recently moved here from Minnesota and the podium was rounded out by two riders from Illinois.

I finished my cool down lap and found my lovely wife who greeted me with a shout of, "You did it!" that only had a slight hint of surprise in it. I couldn't help joking with her andmy buddy Nick after the race that it was the most appropriate weekend for me to win for IC3 as it was Easter weekend and all.

The patience during the race paid off and the early season training has been well worth it. It looks like I'll get to race one more time before I have to put the bike aside for a little while and hit the books for finals (I am a medical student first and a bike racer second after all). Hopefully that means I'll have another chance for peak fitness in June or July when ToAD and Superweek come calling. That's still far enough out not to worry about, though. For now it's the Pedal for Proceeds next week and then concentrate on school.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope it was worth your time. Since you made it this far, here are some pictures to browse through. I may or may not be in them...my wife is still working on her sports photography skills.

Menomonee Park Criterium 4/9/11

The first race day of the season has come and gone again. I made it through alive and even achieved my main goals. Since you're here, how about if I tell you about it?

Being new to the Milwaukee area, I didn't know what to expect as I began searching for my 2011 race calendar. The fact that I'm also doing medical school makes things a little more complicated too, since my school comes first and my cycling season comes second. What I have found, however, has been pleasantly surprising. There are definitely plenty of races to do around here and enough that even with a tough schedule like mine I should get to race between 5 - 10 times this year. The first on my schedule and the first on the Wisconsin Cycling Association (WCA) calendar was the Menomonee Park Criterium hosted by the Velotrocadero club. The course was a very nice 1.7 mile loop in Menomonee Falls.



There some slight ups and downs, but it was basically flat and twisty. That made for a fun race, but also a little nervous with an entire peloton fresh off their trainers with a frosty bit of winter still in their legs. Thankfully, though, there was only one 90 degree turn and we had both lanes of the road to use.

The Men's Category 4/5 field started off at 10am for a 40 minute race. I expected we'd cover about 10 laps and felt like I had it in my legs to make a difference in the day. I went in with two goals. First, try to make an attack either on my own and either initiate or follow a breakaway during that move. Secondarily, finish safely with pack if there wasn't an opportunity to stay away or get in a break. The second goal was a little more ambiguous, because a safe finish looks different depending on where you are in the pack as you come closer to the finish. Especially given the fact that the only sharp turn is just longer than sprinting distance away from the finish line. With these things in mind I set off with the pack.

Our first lap was surprisingly sedate, only averaging around 20-22 mph. The whole group was still together as we started the second lap and being in the middle of a slightly unsteady pack was making me a little anxious. I decided my time to attack had arrived.

I took a run at it, but was a little too obvious. I made a gap, but didn't hold it for too long. No one came with me, so instead the entire peloton strung out single file. It wasn't a break but it was what I wanted, some space. I dropped in around 5th wheel from the front and rode within 5-10 wheels of the front for the next few laps. There was a strong University of Wisconsin Whitewater rider who was chasing down other attacks as they went, so I held his wheel and let him do the work when to close the gaps that formed from time to time until about the middle of lap 6. At this point there and been plenty of surge-and-slow cycles where a rider would try to break and the whole group would swarm to stay with him which meant that as we made contact the entire group would slow up and fill the road. There had only been a few casualties popped off the back as far as I could tell, and the group was still a little too big and a little too wide on the road, so I decided once again I had had enough of being brushed by nervous riders and made my second move of the day.

Approximately 0.7 miles into lap 7 just as the road juts up and turns back from its most easterly point I decided to give everything that I had left. I attacked from about 3/4 of the way back in the group as they were all comfortably adjusting before the turnaround. I gave it everything I could to put some daylight between me and then, hoping that one or two other riders would join me. I had chosen the perfect part of the course because I made my gap riding up the only little incline on the parcours and dashed around the corner which sent me sailing with no wind or maybe a tailwind to help hold off the chasers. No one followed. I glanced back and the pack was strung out. I had a good gap. No one was bridging, so I knew it was now or never. I dug deep into my suitcase of courage, channeled every last bit of Jens Voigt that I could find in myself and worked desperately to stay away. Unfortunately, it wasn't going to happen

If you know anything about cycling, you know that 1 man against 44 chasers on flat roads doesn't tend to succeed unless that one man is Fabian Cancellara. I did manage to hold them off for an entire mile going solo, but as my gap began closing I gave in. Back in the pack I drifted to the middle of the field and tried to recover. With a little over 1.5 laps to go I decided the best thing to do would be try to get close to the front with about a half lap left and see whether or not I could maneuver myself into a spot before the final corner that would give me a shot at contesting the finishing sprint. It turns out that everyone else had the same idea. At approximately the halfway mark on the final lap the whole field began to fill the road as they tried to move to the front. The only problem being that there is only so much road to be shared. A Winona State rider paid the penalty as he was pushed to the outside, dropped off the edge and crashed sideways in the hard grass on the right hand side of the road. That sobered me up a bit and I decided that I had achieved my first goal already, so now it was time to achieve my second goal: finish safely.

There wasn't much I could do to move up before the hard left hand turn just before the finish line, so I played it smart and finished midpack. I was a little disappointed because I felt that I still had legs enough to try and fight for a sprint, but I knew it would be better if I lived to race another day. Overall, it was a successful day and a great first race of the season. I'm happiest with the fact that I feel that I managed to animate the race. 46 riders started the day and I finished 22nd of 41 finishers according to USA Cycling results and I think I did the IC3 kit proud during my debut in the WCA racing calendar.

Thanks for making it this far. Until next time: Go fast, don't crash. And don't forget to enjoy the ride.

My first race of the 2011 season

Saturday is my first race this year. I'll be doing a criterium hosted by the Velotrocadero team in Menomonee Falls, WI. Crits always make me a bit nervous even before they begin. I can't help lining up without feeling that I'm at the start of a Surge commercial (see below). Thankfully, none of my races have been quite so haphazard. I don't know what you're doing this weekend, but I'll be tearing it up on the race circuit here in Milwaukee. Maybe I'll even throw down a cold bottle of Surge afterwards to quench my thirst...

Smart Racing Can make a World of Difference

The Montepaschi Strade Bianchi was this weekend. It's a pretty cool race. They had a stage during the Giro last year in similar area on similar roads and it was epic!

Today was good weather and good racing. The video below shows the last 15 minutes of the race, but what I think is most impressive happens in the last 2 minutes. Philippe Gilbert has been riding about 5 spots back from the front until this point and then, knowing what he has to do, comes to the front and controls the race all the way to the finish line.

What's most impressive to me here is not necessarily his show of power. He does power up the steep finishing climb, which allows him to take the position he needs, but the finishing touch comes when selects his line through the narrow roads. Even when it looks like Ballan (BMC, in red) is going to overtake him, Gilbert keeps his cool and sticks to his game plan. The result...I'll let you see for yourself.




An excellent win in excellent style, if I do say so myself.

A Bad Plan is Better Plan Than No Plan

Yep, it's that time of year again. Time to figure out what I'm going to do with my life. Don't worry, I won't wax metaphysical or anything on you here. I'm talking about my training plan for the year.

Last year was my first real year of planning for the entire cycling season. In the past--2003-2009ish--it had always looked something like this....

1) Snow Melts, Craig goes outside again and starts running or something. (Remember that's can be as late as April in Minnesota)

2) School lets out, Craig starts riding his bike and sometimes triathloning as early as one week after school ends. (those June races were never too pretty)

3) Go like crazy all summer, usually facing the danger of burn-out sometime around the 3rd week in July while the race schedule has a lull

4) Peak in mid August (usually with high aspirations for the Turtleman Triathlon)

5) Go back to school in September and let the fitness slowly fade through the cold white months of winter.

6) Repeat steps 1-5.

So what made the big difference last year, you ask? A Christmas present, I tell you. No ordinary one at that. I got a copy of The Cyclist's Training Bible, by Joe Friel. It's a fantastic read and one of the best things I learned while reading was to make goals and plans for the season. Then structure my training plan around those goals. This may seem basic, but taking the time to actually sit down and do it is something that most of us never do.

The next part is the hard part. Learning from your results of the year before. That's where I'm at now and am trying to figure out how to layout this next year. The other difficult aspect is that I've now moved to Wisconsin and don't know the race calendar around here. I think that my main goal for the year will be to peak around the second weekend in July because that's when Superweek comes to town around here. I got to race in one Superweek event in Geneva, IL last year and it was lots of fun. We'll see if I can give it a go again this summer, maybe with a race in the Tour of America's Dairyland as an appetizer.

If you've never taken the time to make long term fitness goals or plans, do it. You won't regret it. Because the plan is aimed several months out, it's important as you go to evaluate it's effectiveness and tweak it as necessary. What's the worst that could happen, you learn something about yourself? After all, the only plan worse than a bad one is no plan.

My First Taste of Superweek

Last Saturday, I got my first taste of the Point Premium Root Beer International Cycling Classic and Superweek Pro Tour (affectionately known as Superweek). I found myself in Illinois visiting the in-laws for the 4th of July and since my wife and I are now jobless vagabonds until we move to the Milwaukee area for me to start medical school I figured we may stick around through the following weekend so that I could race while we were in town.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Superweek, it is in its 42nd year of providing high quality bicycle racing for the Milwaukee area and northern Illinois. It has been raced by up and coming pros whose names you might recognize like George Hincapie, Lance Armstrong and Tyler Farrar to name a few. So when I knew I'd be around to try my luck I couldn't pass up the chance.

The race I was in was the Mill Race Cyclery Classic in downtown Geneva, IL. Downtown Geneva is a cool little town surrounded by neighborhood with a feel like Stillwater, MN (but thankfully without "the wall" that Stillwater uses in their Nature Valley Grand Prix stage).




On race day I arrived in plenty of time to warm up and rode 8 or 9 laps of the course to get a feel for it. Turn 3 at the corner of 5th and South Streets was especially treacherous because the corner was scattered with patched pavement over a couple of water main covers and banked away from the corner. Not only that but the road narrowed from a typical residential street to a single lane. Had the pavement been in better shape, it wouldn't have been too big of an issue but as it was all the riders were eyeing it carefully and picking the best lines to try and avoid any trouble.

As I lined up to start at the intersection of 3rd and Franklin I found myself in a field of 75 Cat 4/5 riders ready to push it to the limit for every one of our 25 laps. At this point in my racing career I always expect criteriums to start off at a high pace, and this race was no exception. With the draw of great racing, a wide range of riders were in the pack from first timers to the top club riders from around the area (or even out of town). I anticipated the high starting speed and did well in the pack, but as we finished 5 laps I was still too far towards the back of the pack and having to pick my way through riders who were falling off and trying to close the gaps they were leaving. I found another rider who looked as strong or stronger than me in the same situation and hopped on his wheel. He closed a few gaps for me but began to feel the pressure as well and I was on my own again trying to chew through the peloton. After 10 laps like this I was starting to wonder if I could keep this up. Still 15 laps to go and no sign of slowing. Thankfully it was just then that the field began to need a little recovery and I found myself in mid-pack able to get some water.

Then we were off again. Somewhere around this point a rider in front of me went down in the second to last corner after a flat. Thankfully, his momentum took him to the outside of the turn and the rest of us were unaffected. Around 10 laps to go I was hurting again, but knew that I could make it to the end. Two laps later after a rider in front of me tossed his chain going through the treacherous corner I was slowly fading of the back. The rider had been just a few riders in front of me on the narrow section of one lane road. It wouldn't have been too much of a problem except for that those of us behind him had to slow down before making the turn around corner 4 and going up 6th street and going up 6th street really means going up. The hill wasn't too steep but it was significant enough that it was the place to make a move or be dropped if you weren't ready. I don't know how many of us fell off at that point, but I wasn't the only one. I fought as hard as I could to close the gap, but by the end of the lap I knew I'd likely be finishing alone.

However, as luck would have it, I didn't have to finish on my own. With 6 laps to go 5 other riders pulled up alongside me just before making the final turn south onto 3rd st and told me to hop on and share the work. I sat through as the front two riders pulled and had enough recovery to do my share. We worked together for the next few laps and could see that we were slowly making up distance on the peloton. With 4 laps to go we saw them go around the bend to the right at 6th and Campbell and hope began welling up in me. We rounded the corner and were suprised to see a pile of 15 or so riders in the middle of the straight on the right side of the road. I'm not really sure what happened, but suddenly I though "we could be back in this." I moved to the front and did a long pull before trading with the rider behind me. With only 2 more laps our little group had been whittled down to just three of us.

I led our grupetto through the start/finish on the last lap planning to make a move at Turn 5 after letting another rider pull me up the hill. It worked perfectly and I opened a big gap on Campbell street. Just to make sure it would work I jumped hard one more time as I came onto the home stretch and powered home. It was good enough to beat my breakaway buddies and I then slowed to congratulate them on the good work we did together and on making the most of what had looked like it was a futile effort. In the end it was good enough for 19th. There were only 40 finishers from the starting 75. My average speed when all was said and done was around 26 MPH. A hard day indeed!

It was a pleasant surprise to jump up at least 10 places after the crash and to not have been a part of it. I'm sure I was being watched over because had I stayed with the peloton I would have certainly been in a dangerous place at the point of the accident (seeing as I was toasted enough to only have been riding on the back of the group). Even better than finishing in one piece was to have the support from my family there to cheer me on. My 3 year old twin nephews were there shouting their encouragement every time I passed and apparently were very interested in the race. Good to know that I have a couple of early converts already.

Later that night we came back to watch the men's pro race. 73 laps and 100K later 5 riders had lapped the field and three of them made another break to fight it out in a 3 way sprint finish. What a race. I didn't even really think it was possible to do that... This was only day 2 of the 16 day Superweek tour so I'm sure there are many more impressive feats to come.

Superweek, unfortunately, is in danger in Illinois. They have met a lot of resistance from the towns and vendors where their races are held which means the schedule frequently changes from year to year and at the last minute. Because of that, this race was thrown together on short notice. However, it did not affect the quality in the least and I think once all was said and done, the community was thrilled to have had Superweek visit. Hopefully the race is back again next year. Hat's off to Mill Race Cyclery for holding an excellent race on a great course.

In the US, Criterium is King

As I get myself ready for racing on Saturday I can't help think about the uniqueness of criterium racing and its predominance here in the US. Personally my bent is more towards road races than the criterium. In a road race you generally have a better sense of where the members of the field are, there is more space to maneuver on the road and a breakaway actually stands a chance of surviving. A criterium on the other hand just feels like all out chaos. I said once that racing in a crit feels like being part of a school of barracudas the way we flow on the road and dart around corners almost like we are chasing down prey and I still feel that way.



However, there is a strange serenity that comes in racing a criterium as well. In between the ebb and flow of power surges and the struggle for position in the peloton there are quiet moments too when the world seems oddly in order. You can hear yourself breathe for a split second between all out efforts or the world is suddenly silent except for the buzz of freewheels. All of these moments metered out by the furious beating of your heart are squeezed into tiny gaps between riders' attempts to push themselves to the limit.



Regardless of the criterium's reputation for being a crash-fest and the intense demands that come with this kind of riding, I find these sparse gems of peace scattered throughout it all to be rewarding and kind of beautiful. Perhaps criterium isn't king after all, but rather an opiate of the masses. The fast food of bicycle racing that all of us can enjoy. One that all of us riders can partake in and feel the rush that is bicycle racing even if we can't climb over mountains or ride repeatedly for days or even weeks.



Hopefully, I'll still feel this way after I race this weekend.

A rough night at the races...

...at least it was a good learning experience.

Now any racer worthy of their wheels already knows after reading the first sentence that last night did not go quite as I had hoped. Tonight I chalked up both my first and second DNF of the season. Oof. But I'm jumping the gun. Let me go back to the beginning.

After two weeks of no racing and mostly long slow distance, I was ready for a serious change of pace last night. My legs were feeling good and I had plenty in the tank, however, the course was a doosy. The course for the night was a T-shape with a hairpin at the base of the T. On arrival, I had already heard rumor that this hairpin was giving a few of the Cat 1/2/3 field some trouble and knew to look out for it.

I ran into a teammate and did some quick warmup. I was able to crank out a 34.3 MPH sprint and was feeling good as I cooled down and headed to the start line. For some reason I have trouble riding at the front in technical courses and so I tried to move to the front of the pack at the start line. There were 68 riders starting with the 4/5 field and I was shooting for a top 15 finish.

The whistle blew and we were off like a shot for our 30 minutes of brain-blistering speed. I managed to stay in the top 1/3 to top 1/4 as we wound our way clockwise through the course, but that still meant that I was almost 20 riders off the front. Lap two through the hairpin claimed its first casualty with a low speed tangle of just two riders. The peloton gracefully navigated around it and continued on. To me, the hardest part about racing with the Cat 5 group is that the pace is pretty sporadic which makes navigating corners a lot more difficult and pops your heart rate into the red zone a little too unexpectedly.

With 5 or 6 laps to go I was feeling pretty good and trying to move closer towards the front of the group as I had been content to sit around 15th for most of the race. I had heard a few pedals scraping on occasion as we passed through the tight hairpin corner and had my own close call as well with a 2 inch hop of the back wheel from pedaling out of the tight turn too soon. But the real trouble came with 1.5 laps to go. I had stayed safe and out of trouble too long apparently.

The first 4 turns went flawlessly on the second to last lap and then as we made our only left hand turn, the first turn after the hairpin, I brushed wheels with the racer in front of me. It was like slow motion. I looked as he started to turn the corner and didn't expect him to slow down as much as he did and the next thing I knee I was buzzing his wheel. I can handle a little wheel rub, but I hit just straight enough that it wiggled my whole bike and I clipped the rider to my left and behind me with my back wheel and left pedal. The next thing I knew I was on a tangent off the curve aimed at the side of the road--still upright--but done for. I talked to another rider after it all and he said "Oh, so you were the guy who bounced out of the pack on that corner."

I checked over my bike and everything seemed to be in working order. It appears that I had a little cosmetic damage to my wheel wall, but spokes, tire and rims were intact and ready to ride again. So that's just what I did.

With only a lap and a half to go from the finish in my first race I was bummed out, but at least I had another race to make things right, right? Last night was the first night that I raced in a 3/4 field. I was a bit wary about the possible consequences and impending pain factor, but I figured it was worth a shot. My legs still felt all right and ready for another pounding and my heart was still beating, so I lined up to start after a short break between races.

I imagined that I wouldn't manage to stick with the 3/4 field (40 minute race) for as long as I did, but after an initial burst of high speed to stretch out the pack and navigate a couple laps the peloton settled into a more reasonable rhythm with a break of 2 riders off the front. Unfortunately, I was riding off the back. The nice thing, though, is that the 3/4 field is not quite as up and down as the 4/5. It's fast (I don't think we took any corners under 25 MPH besides the hairpin) but it's more metered.

Riding off the back is hard. Especially if you're strong enough to keep up with the pack; which, as it turns out, I was for awhile at least. The hard part is that the riders who aren't strong enough to hang in there are slowly peeling off in front of you leaving you with a gap to close. Closing those gaps is a fast way to eat through too much energy. As this started to happen I did my best to move up to the main field and it worked pretty well. Then they decided to chase the breakaway and I just tried to hold on for dear life.

I got gapped a bit, but another break of 4 or 5 riders got away and I managed to catch back up to the group as they slowed albeit ever so slightly. I also was able to take the corners in a little more of a kamikaze style since I was flying solo. It was at that point that I realized why I kept having to ride at the back. When I read corners in a group my brain charts my line, but also registers that there are riders where I want to go. Instead of connecting that I can follow them it sees them as obstacles and charts a new wider (and farther/slower) line around the same corner while the other riders who I have already passed take the corner inside of me and move ahead. Not so good when you are trying to keep up. When I caught back up to the back I tried to reprogram a little and managed to hang in on the corners a little more efficiently, but at that point there were only 6 laps to go and the peloton was ready to fly.

The speed ramped up and after chasing past the drifters off the back and fighting back after being a drifter off the back my legs were toast. They slowly road away from me as I tried to recover and pursue them yet again. I found myself with another rider from the Penn Cycle team and we did our best to work together until I made another and final cornering mistake for the night.

With 3.5 laps to go I headed into the infamous hairpin turn yet again. I let the Penn rider lead through after I had pulled for half a lap and tried to follow his line. I jumped up to chase and get on his wheel and my right pedal hit the ground. My back wheel jumped more than a foot to the outside of the turn, but I managed to stay up (maybe I should try bull riding or something like that instead). I pushed on to catch up but heard a "thup, thup, thup" as my back wheel went around. I yelled "Mechanical!" to the Penn rider to let him know he was now solo and slowed to the side off the road just as my back tire went BANG! Bummer.

As it turns out I blew the sidewall of my rear tire. I can only imagine it happened in that last corner as I accidentally hopped my rear wheel into the next county. The good news is that at this point I think the tire and tube were the only casualties. A moderately thorough inspection after the race didn't reveal any other glaring abnormalities, so until proven otherwise I will continue to ride. A little humbler and a little more wary of hairpin corners, but riding still nonetheless.

In the end it would appear that I managed to flunk out of the school of hard knocks last night even after I remediated and gave it a second try. But that's racing, right? An unfortunate way to end my season here in the Twin Cities, but I will have at least two more chances to redeem myself as a visitor in Illinois and Colorado over the next month. Hopefully better luck next time.