Do you think it is a bit wet out there?
Ken Woods is always a favorite of mine. The course is aggressive and the weather is always a factor. This year was no different. Driving down to the course, the rain was falling hard and the winds were getting stronger and stronger from the south east… This left the course wet and full of cross-wind. The finishing hill/straight was into the wind, making the last few K’s, hard and mentally draining.
The weather kept the field small, around 25 or, but bigger than last year when we had only 12. From the first corner, there were some attacks, with myself initiating one of the earlier moves. This was a great change of pace, because usually the Cat 3 races unfold gradually, vs. hard from the start. I like the aggressive racing and we definitely started to hurt the field early.
As we were coming up the finishing climb for the 1st of 3x, Jordan Cullen accelerated bringing two riders with him. We organized a chase group and worked hard for 3 – 5 miles to catch them. We ended up widling down the field to just 4 of us, plus the 3 in the breakaway. As we caught on to the break, we regrouped and pushed hard. The break was comprised of Mariusz Czarnomski, Joe Hamlin, Jeffrey Anderson, Jonathan Toftoy, Tyler Olson, and Jordan Cullen. Mariusz and Joe pretty much sat on while the rest of of pushed hard to keep the break alive. At the end of the day, we had a very large margin over the field and we probably could have backed down a bit.
Coming up the climb for the second time, the 5 of us that were working well together tried some short accelerations to drop Mariusz and Joe. We were unable to shake them. We struggled to regroup through the rolling head wind section and then tried to gutter Joe and Mariusz as we hit the cross section. About 1/2 through that section, Jordan did a massive acceleration and as I was coming around to grab Joe’s wheel, he accelerated and I was popped. Jeff, popped as well, but he was trying hard to chase back on. We were riding about 1/4 mile apart from each other.
As we got close to the second turn where the wind would be at our backs, two riders from the main group caught me, Tim Smith and Garrett Ping. I tried to grab their wheels and was successful for a bit, but they were flying and I was simply spent. So I trudged along solo for awhile. Jeff also tried to hang on their wheels, but was dropped as well. As we entered the back stretch of road Jeff and I hooked up and rode to the finish.
While I was hoping for a top 5 finish today, I definitely put more effort into this race than any race I have done. I worked hard, attacked, and organized well in the break. It is disappointing to be dropped out of the break, but I know my fitness is good and I will continue to see Top 10’s in the Road Races. The weather was just epic and it was one of the most fun races I have had in a long time. Below is the top 9 finishers. Jeff and I were just over 2 minutes behind the leaders, and the 10th place finishier was over 3 minutes back. So I know we worked hard!
1 Jonathan Toftoy 233166 Synergy
2 Mariusz Czarnomski 272490 University of North Dakota
3 Joseph Hamlin 225985 St Paul Bicycle Racing Club
4 Tim Smith 241621 Flat City Cycling Club Inc.
5 Tyler Olson 294937Garrett Ping Unattached
6 Jordan Cullen 229280 Minneapolis Bicycle Racing Club
7 Garrett Ping 246489 River Valley Cycling Club- RVCC
8 Jeffrey Anderson 279956 Loon State Cyclists
9 Marc Kermisch 80629 Loon State Cyclists
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