Superior Bike Fest - Road Race

So after getting 7 hours of sleep I woke up and got ready for our 55 mile road race that was not flat. Unlike the previous day, the weather was overcast, cooler and threatening to rain. With Mark in the hospital, he said I could use his bike if I wanted to. So I did. Tipping the scales at just under 14 lbs and outfitted with American Classic carbon wheels and SRAM Red, it was a great bike for the undulating day.

The cool thing is that Mark and I have the same pedals and inseam, so I can just jump on his bike and go without adjusting it. I got kitted up and rode up to a bagel shop to have breakfast with my mom, dad, brother and his wife. After I finished my super nutritious breakfast of a sausage egg and cheese bagel accompanied by hot chocolate, I made my way down to the staging area about a mile away.

At the start some people were giving me crap about riding Mark's bike saying that it is crash prone. I didn't care, if Mark couldn't be racing, then his bike was. There were about 35 guys on the start line and we went 8 minutes after the Cat 1/2s. The first 2 miles of the race were a neutral roll out. The lead car (corvette) drove about 18 mph and we just talked in the group. At the official race start the car took off, but the peloton didn't want to play. We all sat there and just kept our nice light tempo. As we approached Marquette Mountain about 2 miles later the attacks and racing started. York took off up the 1.5 mile long climb and the group followed. It was obvious no one was getting away on the climb, so we rode it steadily as a group dropping 3-4 guys by the top.

Once over the top, it was about 10 miles of flat, smooth, HEADWIND roads. I capitalize headwind because it had to be an 18-20mph wind in our face. I stayed tucked in the group with York as Colin went on a breakaway that eventually got pulled in. Teams were keeping the pace pretty steady and we hit the turn as one group. This section of road was about 3 miles long before we were headed back in the direction of Marquette. There were several attacks in this area that had the peloton strung out, but on an uphill section after the next turn, Jones dropped his chain, only for 3-4 seconds, but that's all that was needed. York, Birmann and Kuyper all went flying off the front because York attacked knowing Jones couldn't go with him.

Over the next 30 miles the peloton averaged like 25mph. We were just flying because the other teams wanted to pull the break back. I have to give a lot of credit to the Leadout guys, Mike Jones, Andrew Florian, Joe Lekovish and Colin Snyder. With all of us blocking we allowed the break to stay out front. At one point the break was about 5 seconds in front. By the finish, they were about a minute out. For some unknown reason, as the peloton entered the two house village of Palmer, we sat up and rode slowly. I wasn't complaining, but no one knew why.

As we came back down Marquette Mountain, it started to rain a little. We knew at this point the break was sure to win so it was time to think about positioning for the sprint. Jones and I were near the front without being on the front as we came into the urban area. Interesting little bit: There was a pickup truck driving in the middle of the road in the same direction we were headed. But they were driving at 15 mph. The guys at the front of the group didn't know what to do, and next thing you know, Florian, Jones and I had flown around the truck and were on the front of the group. A police officer stopped the car but we were already mostly around it.

Anyways....the final 2 miles were fun as guys had their teammates drilling the front. I was trying to pick out my spot for the last corner and decided 4th wheel was best. So I rode around a few guys and literally elbowed my way into the spot I wanted. As we rounded the last corner I thought to myself "Yes this was the perfect spot" but then I also thought to myself "Crap, I'm not a sprinter". Went around the corner 7th (remember breakaway of 3 already finished) and ended up 12th. Kuyper won again with York in 2nd. Birmann 3rd, Jones 6th and Colin 11th. The overall now had me tied for 9th, Colin in 8th and the podium of Kuper, York and Jones.

With a super fast circuit race in the morning it was time to get some rest and catch up on lost sleep.