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.