Luck is Changing

So this past weekend was the Tour de Mt. Pleasant put on by the Chamber of Commerce. First off I want to say that this was an AMAZING event. Really really well organized and thought out. Tons of volunteers, no traffic issues and a really fun atmosphere. I will be back again next year for sure!

So as the title suggests, I finished both races this weekend. So for mass start races, I am 2 for 6 so I am shooting a 33% finishing rate. Anyways, the crit was fast. 6 corners over .8 miles. The roads were pretty wide for the most part. Turn 5 however was very tight as it went from about 4 lanes wide to a 1 lane boulevard. The boulevard also had asphalt patches, tar patches and a pothole. It was impossible to go more than two-wide into this corner, evident when Scott got pinched out, jumped the curb, rode the sidewalk and jumped back in the race without losing his position.



The first several laps were really fast with attack after attack going down the road. We had 10 guys in the race (of a 30 person peloton) so we were represented in every break. Eventually Mike Jones(Priority) and my teammate Adam York(MCG) got down the road and stayed out for about 1/3rd of the race. With 4 laps to go, we pulled them back in and Andrew Florian(Priority) attacked and I was in a position to go with him, so I did. For about a lap both of us thought we might be able to win the crit. We were exchanging pulls at 400-500 watts and I was having difficulty holding Florian's wheel but I stuck it out. With just over a lap left, the peloton pulled us in and our 3 lap break was no more. At that point we had expended way too much energy to tack back on the peloton so we rode the final lap slowly and talked about the race. Coming up to the finish line I eased up and let Andrew cross first, it was only the difference between like 25th and 26th but it was a gesture because he worked harder in the break than I did.



Mike Jones and Taylor Birman attacked as Andrew and I got pulled in and they went on to beat the peloton where Mark Bush 2nd in the feild sprint for 4th place. After the race the team talked about what we did right and wrong. We decided that we need to be more aggressive and never let a rider down the road without one of us when we have that many people. My stats for the crit: Averaged 220W for an hour with and average HR of 180.

I then watched the Cat 4 race and cheered on Alexey. With 200m to go with the pack sprint, Alexey crashed hard. He hit the ground at 30+mph and skidded 10-12m on his back. His bike was fine and he seemed alright, just mad.

The following morning was the 33 mile road race. The peloton was smaller, but we still had 10 riders. It started off fairly slow. I took the first pull through town and as I pulled off, Colin attacked letting the MCG boys rest. Eventually he was pulled back in and over the next 5 miles attack after attack went down the road. Every one had an MCG rider with it. I did some pulling at the front and eventually got myself into a break with Birman, Florian and my teammate Todd Hoover. We thought that might have stuck but the Wolverines weren't going to have any of that. Finally the winning break was formed. Scott and Todd (MCG), Mike Jones (Priority), Patt Robb (Wolverines) and the CMU guy. With the three major teams represented, there were only 4 guys in the peloton without a teamate down the road. So the Wolverines worked with us and we blocked at the front to give the break more time. It worked because they won, Jones winning the sprint, Todd 2nd and Scott 5th.



Meanwhile back in the peloton we were talking about going to get Dairy Queen. Which almost everyone was in agreement for. While we were discussing ice cream and women, Tony and the Max Edge guy decided to make a break for it, so we let them go. Shortly thereafter we were passed by the masters field. With about 5 miles to go, we decided the break had plenty of time and we ramped it up to help Mark win the field sprint. It was picture perfect with 8 MCG guys lined up at the front of the peloton. Eventually Taylor decided to attack and Mark and York went with him. They would eventually catch Tony and beat us to the line with Mark taking 6th and York 9th. On our approach to the line Brett Beddow (Wolverine) attacked and Florian(Priority) went with him so I went too. Brett sat up and Florian took off again so again I went with him. Then Florian sat up and I made an attempt to get 10th place. I dropped my head and hammered. The group caught me with about 150m to go. The bright side was that the Wolverines chased me and lead my team out so Joe took 10th place.

(Posing for Kroske)

I finished behind the peloton both days, but I finished! And it wasn't a bad day for us with 2nd, 5th, 6th, 9th and 10th place. We even ended up with Todd taking 3rd overall on GC behind Priority's Jones and Birman. All in all it was a great weekend.

Photos by Scott Kroske Trea Bott and Sarah Ritter. Video and more images coming soon.