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July 23, 2007
Tour of Granite Country
This past Saturday I raced in the 45 mile road race at the Tour of Granite Country up in Albany, MN. This was my first road race since I crashed at the Gluek race back in May. I am completely out of shape for racing and had taken the prior week off from the bike as I was on vacation. I waited until the last possible moment to decide if I was going to race and when I made the decision I figured I would try to hang for the first lap, ride on the front, and maybe block some wind for my team mates, then use the second lap as a hard training ride. The race worked out almost exactly like that!
The course was rolling with a strong head / cross wind for the first 1/2 of the course. The biggest hill luckily had very little wind on it. We had at least 9 Loons in the race and we were all feeling pretty confident. As we rolled off I sat about 1/3 of the way back from the front. As soon as I could I moved straight to the front and started taking turns setting the pace. I was not trying to do anything but keep the pace sane as the full peleton was pretty relaxed. There was a short hill that one guy attacked on and we all covered it pretty well. As we moved on toward the 1st time up the big hill, I found myself right on the front setting the pace. This was a mistake as I knew I would only have 1 match to burn for an effort in the race and by the time I realized the pace was too high for me to be sitting on the front, my match was spent.
2/3 of the way up the hill, with my heart rate around 180 and my legs crying to be cut off I moved from the middle to the right side of the road and started drifting backwards. This pissed off a couple of riders who had to make their way around me, but what could I do? I was able to recover a bit and hang with the pack, but I was suffering and the pace was picking up. As we turned onto the back side of the course with the winds at our back, the whole peleton accelerated. I need to take in some food and was having trouble getting to my Gu and staying with the group. With my legs crying in pain I drifted to the back and settled in for the "Training" ride portion. I think I was the second to pop of the group and I was shortly passed by the officials car and then the first guy that popped caught up to me and we started to work together.
Slowly you could see guys getting popped off the back and we started to pick up a few riders. With the winds at our back we pushed a pretty high-pace and a few miles later I was alone and had ridden off the two guys that were working with me. I worked hard to bridge up to a handful of riders and was just able to catch them. I was very happy to have a group of guys to ride with for the second lap as the wind would have been a big demotivator if you were all by yourself. The second lap hurt for the first part as we battled wind. We had one guy in the group who would push the pace on every hill then sit-up and wait for us. Eventually he just rode off, not sure why he insisted in pushing the pace considering none of us was battling it out for the win. The group worked well together and eventually we all caught our breadth enough to start some chatter. At one point Skibby pulled up in his car and handed over some ice-cold bottles of water. I quickly poured some over my head and was very happy from that point forward.
As we rode on to the finish, one of the guys in the group was doing the full omnium and wanted to cross the finish line first so he could earn the maximum points available to him. I had no problem with this since I was just doing the road race and jokingly said I would allow him across first for a cold beer. After the race, the guy swung by the local liquor store and picked up an ice cold Fosters and dropped it by. A cold beer never tasted so good.
I had a great time racing, came in 3rd from last which is better than last, got to know my Loon team mates a bit better and got a free beer. What more could a guy ask for.
Congrats to Hailstone for his 2nd place in the full Omnium, that guy rocks!
Posted by kermisch at 7:58 AM
July 8, 2007
Hopkins Crit
OK, So I did my first race since my crash in St. Cloud back in early May. I have always wanted to race the Hopkins Crit because it is close to home, is flat, and has four 90 degree turns. I figured there would be some Loons out there, but since I have not been riding much I was not sure who would be there. I decided to line up on the front line as I figured I would try and stay at the front of the race until I popped. I had decided to take the inside line on the turns thinking that I could hold better speed coming into and out of the turns. I was completely wrong and quickly found myself losing position. I switched to the outside line and started to slowly move up in the field. About 15 minutes into the race the first Prime bell rang and the field got a bit of a buzz in it. I was moving up well on the outside and saw that I would be at the front of the race after the next corner. Then the whole peloton slowed. I don't know if someone was trying to force a move or keep everyone together until the Start/Finish line was in sight trying to force a mass sprint. But either way I was accelerating and felt o.k. and decided to go for it. I jumped on my pedals and darted into the first corner nice and tight. I quickly switched to the inside line for the next corner and took it as tight as possible. I figured if anyone was on my wheel they would not be able to hold such a tight line and they would drift to the outside. I stood up and pushed hard to the last corner and took that in the same manner. It was just before the Start/Finish line that I looked back and saw a rider about 20 yards behind and the field just starting to take the final turn. I was about 1/4 lap up on the field and figured I would coast until the field caught back up so I could jump back on. I figured wrong. My body screamed in revolt and decided to make me suffer. My mind started to drift and I was simply spent. I let the peloton pass and tried to get back on, but could not hold a wheel. Then I was in no-man's-land and quickly started losing time. I sat up and switched my mindset to simply wanting to finish.
Before the race began...
Giving it my all for the first prime... $10 bucks in my pocket :-)
Totally spent after the prime and got caught by the pack.
Posted by kermisch at 3:34 PM
July 2, 2007
T - 5 Days to Tour de France
O.K. so there are only 5 days until the London kick-off of the 2007 Tour de France. This time last year, Operation Puerto was just starting to break and its impact on the sport has been felt for the past 12 months. More riders (current and past) have admitted to doping than I can recall from any previous doping scandal. I am half waiting for another Puerto like disruption to this years edition...
So just to get out there and lay it on the line, I am putting forth my predictions for the Podium/Jersey chase for this years Tour:
Yellow: Vinokourov
2nd Place: Kloden
3rd Place: Leipheimer
4th Place: Valverde
5th Place: Sastre
Green Jersey: Thor Hushovd
Polka Dot Jersey: Michael Rasmussen
White Jersey: Thomas Dekker
Posted by kermisch at 3:29 PM