in the (esta) books
robin had a friend visiting this weekend so i broke my normal code of not driving longer than i actually race and headed to milwaukee for the estabrook park wca race this weekend. i got there early and did more preview laps than normal. this was mostly due to boredom as the course wasn't all to technically challenging. lots of long straight (sometime paved) segments with nowhere to hide. when it came time to finally line up i placed myself right behind joe and maciej.
off we went and i grabbed joes wheels temporarily. through the long starting straight in good position. through the turns and 1st set of barriers and i took a bad line and came out the barriers 6th wheel. into the spiral of doom where there was bottleneck of sorts. somehow, marc's foot taco'd maciej's wheel while some collateral crotch damage was done. i got through unscathed but a gap had formed to a trio of joe, melcher and newlin. i panicked slightly and went deep to try and bridge up but just could not close the gap after 1.5 more laps. at this time, i decided to have a little faith in my fitness. it seemed like they were going too hard to start so i dialed it back a quarter turn and just tried to hold steady. mark harms came by and try as i might i could not hold his wheel for more than 15 seconds. that guy is the fastest straight line rider in our field and this course was built for him. i watched him close the gap in no time and then almost immediately start distancing himself. 1st place was decided.
a couple more guys came around me from the my wife team and i was able to latch on. it was all i could do to hold the wheel but i did and after i few laps i started feeling better. we slowly reeled in and dropped newlin. then, melcher came back and joined us to make it a group of 4. joe was coming back too and we caught him with around 2 laps to go. first time in my cx racing career that i was in a group of 5 with that little to go - it was super fun! through the run up and the start finish we all stayed together and after we came off the pavement melcher made a move. the guy between us closed the door on me when i tried to come around but the next turn after that he got hung up in the course tape and i got a gap on 4th/5th/6th that i managed to hold for the final 1/2 lap. not my best place but it was my best race of the year. even though i didn't have my best stuff physically i kept my head in the game and came out with a sneaky third step of the podium.
the rest of the weekend was spent playing with little kids (much more tiring than bike racing), riding my mountain bike at quarry ridge and even watching a little football. it was a great weekend but monday is here and making me quickly forget.
training:
m: 0:45 (run)
t: 1:10 (commute)
w: 1:10 (commute)
r: 0 (rest)
f: 1:10 (commute)
s: 2:15 (estabrook park cx)
n: 1:20 (mtb to, @, from quarry ridge)
total: 7:50
happy monday.
off we went and i grabbed joes wheels temporarily. through the long starting straight in good position. through the turns and 1st set of barriers and i took a bad line and came out the barriers 6th wheel. into the spiral of doom where there was bottleneck of sorts. somehow, marc's foot taco'd maciej's wheel while some collateral crotch damage was done. i got through unscathed but a gap had formed to a trio of joe, melcher and newlin. i panicked slightly and went deep to try and bridge up but just could not close the gap after 1.5 more laps. at this time, i decided to have a little faith in my fitness. it seemed like they were going too hard to start so i dialed it back a quarter turn and just tried to hold steady. mark harms came by and try as i might i could not hold his wheel for more than 15 seconds. that guy is the fastest straight line rider in our field and this course was built for him. i watched him close the gap in no time and then almost immediately start distancing himself. 1st place was decided.
a couple more guys came around me from the my wife team and i was able to latch on. it was all i could do to hold the wheel but i did and after i few laps i started feeling better. we slowly reeled in and dropped newlin. then, melcher came back and joined us to make it a group of 4. joe was coming back too and we caught him with around 2 laps to go. first time in my cx racing career that i was in a group of 5 with that little to go - it was super fun! through the run up and the start finish we all stayed together and after we came off the pavement melcher made a move. the guy between us closed the door on me when i tried to come around but the next turn after that he got hung up in the course tape and i got a gap on 4th/5th/6th that i managed to hold for the final 1/2 lap. not my best place but it was my best race of the year. even though i didn't have my best stuff physically i kept my head in the game and came out with a sneaky third step of the podium.
the rest of the weekend was spent playing with little kids (much more tiring than bike racing), riding my mountain bike at quarry ridge and even watching a little football. it was a great weekend but monday is here and making me quickly forget.
training:
m: 0:45 (run)
t: 1:10 (commute)
w: 1:10 (commute)
r: 0 (rest)
f: 1:10 (commute)
s: 2:15 (estabrook park cx)
n: 1:20 (mtb to, @, from quarry ridge)
total: 7:50
happy monday.
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