Superior Bike Fest - Crit

Alright, so this isn't the update you were waiting for, but this one is by far more interesting.

This past weekend was the fricken awesome Superior Bike Fest up in Marquette. 3 days of race with a tough crit on Friday, an undulating road race on Saturday and a fast circuit race on Sunday.

The crit was an 8 turn course that is pretty much downhill from turn 1 to turn 5, then it shoots back uphill after turn 6 to the start line. It was fast, the whole time. About 35ish riders were on the start line. When the official blew his whistle there was a battle between Brett Beddow and me for control of the front of the peloton. I eventually got to the front and pulled the peloton through the second turn and nearly overshot it, keeping the bike upright in the gutter with everyone behind me doing the same. No one had taken the corner at speed to realize it was so narrow. That corner 2 laps later would be the cause of 5-6 guys crashing at the front of the peloton, including Taylor Birmann who slammed into a light post. Taylor got back up and in the race, but some of the others weren't so lucky. That same corner would later be the cause of 2 more crashes.

Because the pace was so high, we were shelling riders off the back quickly. Then when I was on the front of the peloton I heard a crash behind me and when I got to the finishing straight, I discovered Mark Bush was missing from our team. He had crashed and broken his collar bone into 3 pieces and it was almost coming through the skin. I now focused my energy to help York win the crit, because we were the only 2 MCG guys left in the small group. So I would go to the front and pull hard for a lap, drop back to recover then go right back to the front and push the pace to get rid of as many riders as possible. I have to thank teammate Colin Snyder for working back to the peloton after being dropped and helping me when I was dangling after doing my pulls.

With 2 laps to go Andrew Florian attacked on the uphill while I was at the front of the group. My options were to chase him down or go with him. I chose the later. He told me afterward that he was trying to drop me on the hill and he came close, but I just dropped my head and soldiered on. I eventually caught him and we immediately started working together. We had a huge gap, but someone in the peloton asked their teamate to expend himself to catch us, and they did. So Florian sat up and I just kept going hoping maybe I could out ride the group in the last .7 miles. I was riding as hard as I could, the croud of 2000ish people all cheering on my last effort. I looked down under my seat as I was approaching the 3rd corner, I was caught. So I took the corner wide and eased up a little. It wasn't the peloton. Kuyper had bridged up to me and I had mistaken him for the peloton. By the time I realized this, it was too late, I had screwed up and lost my podium spot. Kuyper would go on to win the crit a half mile later with Jones in 2nd and York 3rd. I finished just off the back of what remained of the peloton, behind Colin, in 10th place.

After the race I picked up Mark's equipment and took it back to my hotel. Later that night Sarah (Mark's fiance) came by to drop off the other bike so she didn't have to drive around with it on the car all weekend. She was not having a good night, that was for sure. She had to go back to the campground 30 miles away to get stuff for Mark and it was dark, she didn't know where she was going and she would have to go back to the campground to sleep and return early in the morning because the hospital wouldn't let her stay there.

Well sometimes friendship comes before racing. (Rarely I know) But I decided to go to the campground with Sarah because I know the area pretty well. We then went to the hospital to see Mark and make sure he was comfortable. Then I offered to lat Sarah stay at the hotel with me and my parents because it was 9 blocks from the hospital. It was 2am when I finally went to bed. Road Race start time: 10:25am.

Ok i lied. .called into work early. Will post tomorrow.

Check Back Tomorrow

If you check back tomorrow, I am going to post about racing in South Bend yesterday, my non-time trial and my downtown escapade today.

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.

The Cycling Gods Still Hate Me

So I got off work early to drive up to West Branch for a race anticipated to be one of the most grueling in the state. I didn't really have a place to stay yet, the original plan was to stay in my car. But both Doug and Mark offered a bedroom at the Super 8.

Doug got there first, so I stayed in his room. We woke up at 6:45am, packed up the stuff and met up with the other MCG riders for breakfast. There really wasn't much to eat...it sucked. Then it was off to the course.

Driving up the hill to the finish line was interesting because it made you realize how far away the finish line is, even thought it looked close. Not 2 minutes after arriving, Joe comes up to me and says that we don't have wheel support and wondered if Elisa would want to drive behind us. Once she got to the start area, I asked her and she agreed. We then told all the Cat 3 teams that we had a wheel vehicle and I cleared it with the race organizer.

Before long, the car was loaded up with wheels, the sun was shining and the race was about to start. The race started pretty slow. No one seemed that anxious to get off the front of our 66 mile hilly race. There were a few attempts, but they were all brought back.

At one point, I was riding Andrew Florian's wheel and we just came off of a downhill, so we were moving 30+mph and either we switched townships, or the road commission ran out of money, because the edge of the road we were riding just stopped. I was told someone pointed it out, but neither Florian or I saw it. Andrew successfully stayed on the asphalt as I did not. I went over the 1 inch or so drop and the sidewalls of my tires were rubbing with the road. I don't really remember how I did it, but I got back over the ledge, and kept my bike upright (though at one point my bars were turned about 30 degrees to my bike and I was at 35 degrees with the road). Everyone around me (Bret, Pat, Joe and Colin) was surprised and thankful that I didn't crash. It definitely scared the crap out of me. I decided to stay away from the edge from that point on.

A few miles later we turned and headed South. This section was quite hilly and had a very strong head/cross wind. This was definitely a portion of the course you did NOT want to get dropped or have a mechanical (as if there was a section of this course you WOULD want to lose contact with the group). As luck would have it, while riding in the middle of the group on smooth roads down a hill, as someone attacked, I had a front flat. Luckily we had a wheel car so I had a chance of getting back. I swapped wheels and took off for the peloton. Elisa is new to neutral support and didn't know she should have paced me back. So without the help of the wheel car, in a headwind with the peloton chasing a break, I tried to catch the group...yeah, like that's going to work.

I chased as hard as I could for about 35 minutes and just kept losing ground because I cant power through the wind. I eventually got overtaken by the Masters field and sat at the back of their group until the bottom of the final climb. I was toast. I made it up the climb but had nothing left, with 44 miles left, I dropped out of the race. I rode up and down the hill twice to get some leg work in, and as my group came around the next time, I jumped in the car and drove behind them.

I guess the first time they hit the hill, Mac Brennan put in a nice attack that made a selection of 6 riders that would go on to win the race. Mac would cross the line first, 50 seconds ahead of my teammate Adam York in 2nd place.

While chasing, I had considered quitting this sport. But I know I couldn't do that. So I will train hard and be back at the Tour of Mt. Pleasant ready to win, or help my team win. Hopefully my severe case of bad luck has passed, and lets hope that it isn't contagious.

Just checking to see if my phone updates are working. Now I can give short reports from the finish line.

Just checking to see if my phone updates are working. Now I can give short reports from the finish line.

Das Tour de Frankenmuth

So I went up on Friday night to Birch Run and shared a room at the Holiday Inn with Doug, Derek, Colin and Elisa. We had dinner at Applebees, checked in to our room, unloaded the bags and bikes then sat in the hottub for about a half hour.

6am the alarms (3 of them) went off and it was up and time to race. We loaded up the room and the bikes then made our way to the lobby for breakfast. I brought Nutella from home to put on our bread....delicious.

Once we got to Zehnders for race prep, we realized that there was no wheel support. The Cat 1/2s had a wheel car, and there was one other wheel car that serviced the other 200 riders. Great idea.

It started raining before the start and Joe and I just chilled out in my car away from the water. Luckily it let up and the temperature picked up before the start. Our race started prety slow. I was expecting some attacks from the gun, but our MCG guys and the Priority guys went to the front and set tempo for the first few miles. The corners were still wet, so we were being carfull not to crash.

Despite our best efforts there was a crash. But it was not because of a wet road. At like mile 2 someone overlapped wheels with me then ran into my wheel and went down. I thought I had caused it, but I talked to a few guys and they all said I had held my line and it was not my fault. However, I was sitting in the top 10 of the peloton at the time, so the crash took down 60% of the feild. We all sat up and waited for the group to get back together and the team capitans to take the toll on their teams. We lost Adam York and Colin Snyder to the crash. So we were down to 7 guys. About a mile later, Joe Lekovish flatted and because there was no wheel support, he was out so we were down to 6.

The rest of the frist lap was really easy and pretty laxed. A few guys tried to get away, but we all said no to most of them and pulled them back. Around mile 8 or 9 a break of two riders including Priority's Mac Brennan got away. We let it go because we had plenty of time to pull it back with 51 miles left in the race.

When we came around to the feed zone the first time, I thought I hit a stick, I heard and felt something in my rear wheel. But it stopped and looked fine, so I stayed with the peloton. As we came through the start area, we were strung out in one big line and upon the first corner of the course, I discovered that it was not a stuck. I had broken a spoke. Around the corner, It came loose and got caught in my cassette, so I could't pedal. And with no wheel support, I was out of the race and my team was down to 5 riders after starting with 9 after just one lap.

I went and hung out in the Feed Zone to help my team. Lucky I was there, because on the Cat 4s last lap, a guy in all black dove left in the middle of the peloton causing a HUGE crash. Bike in the air, people down left and right, riders in the ditch...it was bad. Darrell and I went running across the street ro help. Almost everyone was fine. There were 2 riders that were hurt bad, one guy with a broken collarbone. I called 911 to get the ambulance, then stood in the road directing traffic and racers around the rider and the ambulance once it showed up.

After the rider was taken car of, I went to the start line to watch the end of my race. Brennan and his breakaway companion never got pulled in and made it to the line with Mac taking the big W. As the peloton came through, Scott got 9th in the feild sprint and ended in 11th, Mark Bush in 14th.

From talking with other riders, it appeared that just finishing this race was an accomplishment. It is flat, there was no wind. Finishing this course should not have been a feat. But it was. There were also a LOT of mechanicals at the race, and some odd ones at that. I saw a bike missing a saddle, but the rails were still there, just missing the saddle. Alan Antonuk said his cassette fell off when riding. How does that happen? Another rider got out of the saddle while riding and his rear wheel fell out. Odd day.

After all was said and done, I went and had a word with the race organizer. Having no wheel support is not a very wise idea. He said it was becuase they had a lack of personell. Well here are my arguments:

-every feild had a lead vehicle, we dont need lead vehicles. We have course marshalls that can direct us...just like every other race in the state. Take those lead vehicles and put them BEHIND the race, you had enough drivers.

-Every feild should have a car behind the race for safety reasons. Say there is a crach in.....lets say the Cat 4 feild. Say some rider goes off into the ditch and breaks their collarbone. How is a LEAD car going to see that? A FOLLOW car would and moreso, they would have a cell phone to call 911. The rider Darrell and I helped out was lucky that he crashed in the feed zone where there were actually people around. What if he had been knocked unconcious and fell into a ditch in the middle of the course? Who would have seen him?

-"we didnt have enough volunteers" is complete BS. Tri-City cyclists were out racing yesterday. They are instant volunteers. Clubs do not put on races for themselves, they put them on for the STATE. Riders have to make sacrafices, if you are putting on a race, get your friends to volunteer or you should untill every corner is covered and every feild has a follow car.

-I think it should be a rule that every road race requires a follow vehicle for every feild. It annoys me that I paid $35 for registration, $25 for a room, gas money, work off, months of training to get a broken spoke 1 lap into a race, and the organizers are too lazy to have wheel support, so I have to drop out of the race an dont even get a chance to get back in the race.

I know I am being mean to the organizers, I know they did what they could. And I am thankful. I love this race, it is a great course. I will be back next year. But only if they have neutral support for every feild (like last year). It is not a convienience issue I am complaining about, it is a safety issue.

It's never too late to post...

Sorry all. I have been quite busy lately and as you can see I have neglected my blog.

Anyways, I finished my Sophmore year in college. All As and Bs this semester, just like the last one. I have moved out of the dorm and off campus. I now live in Ann Arbor near the Geddes Cemetary. It is a decent apartment, not amazing, but for $300/month with everything included what do you expect? This fall I will be moving back to Ypsi, but no longer on campus. I will be living in an apartment with a few guys I know from school.

Work has been SLOW lately. All the students went home. Everyone's hours got cut. I went from 40 to 27 and next week I only have 18. The biggest problem is that I have asked for Tuesday and Thursday evening's off for Crit Practice (starting this week) and Waterford Thursday Night Worlds, and they keep scheduling me for Tuesdays. So I am missing the first crit practice, maybe the second, but I'll work it out so I am there for the rest of the season.

Ok, the race reports you guys all care about:

Willow TT - Bike broke the night before, had to use a different one, bad wind, horrible time. Lets not talk about it. One of my worse days on a bike.

STS #4 - Tons of fun. Sunny skies made for great racing in the A feild. I was doing fine and holding my own in the group until my spoke broke, still no one knows how, then I had to get back into the race, which used a lot of energy. Dropped out with 10 minutes left.

Cone - Flatted 15 minutes into the race on the second gravel section. However, our support car had stopped to fix someone elses wheel and was passed by the Masters feild. So when I flatted the car was behind the Masters feild about a mile behind. So I rode a flat tire for about miles until I got it changed and chased hard to try and catch the group, but they were like 2 miles down the road and it wasnt happening. I dropped out and jumped in my car to help pick up riders on the course.

Kensington - Scott put on a great race. Our race was 64 miles long and we were riding or Mark. To make our job easier, York attacked in the opening MILE of the race. A Leadout rider went with him. His Leadout teamates did a great job blocking on the front, and the Priority riders didnt seem eager to chase. Well that breakaway got 3.5 minutes on the feild and York won the race! As I was helping Mark, I used a lot of my energy to keep him out of the wind. He then flatted and refused to take my wheel (he thought there was another teamate behind us, ended up that there wasnt). So I had to chase hard to get back on the peloton, and a lap ana half later, a serious acceleration was put down on the climb and I couldnt maintain contact. So I dropped out.

So I have done 8 races this year including the STS races and Waterford Worlds, and I have 8 DNFs. I really hope I can change that around. Frankenmuth is coming up this weekend. Lets see if we can repeat the victory.

Its never too early to start training for Cone...

So yesterday before I went to work, I jumped on the bike and get some dirt riding in. I didn't have a ton of time (just over an hour) so I went out and averaged 3 W/kg in preperation for Cone.