Parkside Criterium #3 - Masters 30+

I've actually been doing the 40+ and the 30+ back to back each week but haven't been filing reports on the 30+ races. This is due mainly to the fact that I'm so gassed from the 40+ races that I just sit in for the first half of the 30+ trying to recover from the training load of the 40+. It has been real tough doing these crit's back to back with no recovery lull between races but I've done them this way intentionally to put on a heavy training load in race conditions and speeds to get myself ready for Hillsboro Roubaix on March 31st.

The fields have been largest each week for the 30+ races with 48 riders in week 1 (I finished 15th) , 52 riders in week 2 (I finished 12th) and there are 62 in the field today.

The wind has gotten even uglier since the start of the 40+ and now there is a swirl of turbulence as you approach turn one that feels like it will knock you right off of your bike.

Today, the majority of the Met Life Elite 1/2 squad has shown up for the 30+ so this should be a suffer-fest (again). Tim decided to take a pass after his two man time trial in the 40+ so Dan and I will be riding with a few of the Mack Cat 4's. I know I won't be pulling any heroics for at least the first third of this race. The trick is to stay close enough to the front so it doesn't take the whole second half of the race trying to get to the front after I do get my legs back...IF I get my legs back.

The pace is blistering from the gun with the Met Life, XXX, Get a Grip, Hayes guys stringing the field out in single file. By 15 minutes I'm actually feeling like I can put watts into the pedals again and I find a good path toward the front. By the half way point I arrive at the front of the field to see that there are six guys up the road. My legs feel better, but not that much better. I'm not the least bit interested in a bridge attempt in 25-30 mph winds. Dan, however, decides to make a jump and draws out a group to go with him. Good, now I can suffer here and wait for someone else to attack. For the last 20 minutes I jumped on attacks that went nowhere and kept an internal dialog going that went something like this: "Ya know, this realy hurts. Maybe I've had enough training for one day and can just go sit and watch the rest of the race from the sidelines." I don't know why I do this because I always talk myself into staying and suffering 'til the bitter end. It's when you're suffering the most that the effort is doing your body the most good as far as training is concerned.

With two laps to go we can see that the 11 riders up the road are all in a single group now and they are playing chess with one another and slowing considerably. Great, now we have to try and real them in. Perfect. "Waiter, one more big heaping platter of suffering, please!" The field is strung out 50 strong. I'm sitting in the front five. How on earth did I get here? By the time we hit the line for the bell we're within 100 meters of the break and it looks like we might actually have a full field sprint. My legs are now screaming "Stop! Please! Stop!" but my brain keeps sending the impulses to crank with all I've got. As we reach the rise into turn two, Billy Ochowicz attacks from right in front of me so I match his jump and follow his wheel up the rise and into the back stretch with Rob Springer following on my wheel. I'm thinking "I sure hope the rest of the field appreciates this" when I look over my shoulder and am absolutely stunned to see that NOBODY followed us.

So here we are coming out of turn three, 900 meters from the finish, 50 meters behind the eleven break riders, three exhausted guys (two of us in our late forties) chasing down eleven. Since I know that we're not towing the entire field up to Dan in the break, I pull through past Billy and give it a 35 mph pull to try and close the gap but right about this time the break hits 400 meters to go and opens up their sprint. So close but no chance now. I sat up and let Billy and Rob do as they wished. We had put such a huge gap on the field with that final attack that I practically coasted in the last 250 meters and still beat the field sprint across the line by a good 50 meters.

Dan didn't have much left by the end and came across 9th in the lead group of 11. Rob and Billy picked up 12th and 13th with me coasting in 14th ahead of the field sprint for 15th.

So another March of Parkside Training Crits in the books. I think I'm just about there. My sprint has improved more than three mph since week one. I know that six blistering early season crits have hardened me up a bit. Next week, the famous Illinois Spring Classic, Hillsboro Roubaix. I'm as ready as I can be. Should be a fun one.

Stats: 18.95 miles / 47:10 / 24.1 ave mph / 36 max mph / 162 ave HR / 186 max HR

Parkside Criterium #3 - March 25 - Masters 40+

Summer showed up in the Midwest today with sunshine and temperatures in the high 70's. The only negative was that thing that usually accompanies unusually warm weather this time of year, a strong wind out of the south at 20 mph gusting to 30 mph.

The great weather brought out the largest fields yet for Parkside and we had 44 in the Masters 40+ today with some power that I don't usually see until late April. The IS Corp guys were at almost full force today with Team President and jester Billy Ochowicz and former US National Teamer, Lowell Kellogg. John Van Susteren from LAPT put in an early season appearance along with National Masters Track Champ Randy Warren of XXX Racing. One of our own, Tim LeRoy showed up today so there will be three Mackers.

Strategically speaking, we need to make sure that when (not if) Ochowicz, Van Susteren and Warren go up the road one of us is with the move. Tim says he's going to sit in for at least the first half of the race. I just laughed and told Dan "fifteen minutes tops and he'll be attacking." He's a flyer, it's what Timmy does.

The field was strung out in single file from the start and the head wind between turns one and two took your breath away. The Pedal Morraine boys were aggressive early with attacks one after the other but the field reeled each one in. At the start of lap 5, just as we rolled out of turn one and into that head wind, Tim attacked (see, I told you) and strategically, it was a beautiful thing. Only Met Life's time trialist Mike Jones responded and the two were away and by turn two they had fallen into rotation and were working together, pulling away. Dan, I and Mike's teammate Ansgar Graw moved to the front and put the controls on the front of the field to give Tim and Mike an opportunity to stretch it out.

A few laps later, Tim and Mike had a strong 600 meter gap and were stretching it out when Warren, Ochowicz and one of the Morraine guys decided to try a bridge. Dan, Ansgar and I let it go figuring that if they got across, they'd help the break succeed because with that wind, a two man break was a tall order today. Right away, the counters started with more riders trying to go across to the three. We matched every attack and kept the front of the field together for the next five laps until John Van Susteren put in one of his high powered accelerations and got off the front alone. We figured he was off into no man's land because there was no way he was going to catch those up the road on his own.

At about the 40 minute mark, we caught the Morraine guy. He had apparently blown and he came back fast. So that means there are five up the road. Van Susteren has been hanging out there at about 400 meters stubbornly hanging on. If we don't catch him in the final laps, the field will be sprinting for sixth. There are a guys whom I won't name (rhymes with 'gruber') that philosophize against sprinting for positions once the podium has been decided. Personally, I don't agree. True, there is no money at stake and no hardware beyond fifth place but, this is Parkside! It's a beautiful day! This is spring training! We need the intervals and the jumps to gain our legs for the coming season. Most important is the fact that this is a points series and everyone in the top 20 receives series points toward 'Tour of Illinois and Wisconsin' as well as 'Rider of the Year' so sprint we will!

After almost an entire race at the front of the field covering every jump, Dan and I are pretty gassed but all of the hard efforts of the past weeks are starting to take hold and the fitness is starting to solidify. We're ready to make the last lap move. Ansgar has been up here with us as well and likewise, he's been in the thick of the action each week so we know he'll be ready to go as well. Now it's time to watch for the inevitable moves by the 'sit-in's' as we get the bell for one lap to go. What's left of the Morraine gang moves forward to give it a go. No Richard Adamczyk this week so that's one less to watch.

As we cross the back side of the course, Dan pulls along side and taps his hip for me to get on his wheel. I move to my right to wait for Dan's acceleration when one of Dan's former Red Line teammates dives in and prevents me from hopping on. Just then Dan puts in one of his huge accelerations with Red Line behind him and me on Red Line. Unfortunately, Mr. Red Line has no acceleration and Dan has now gapped him and I'm now sprinting around him to try and get on Dan's wheel as we charge toward the final corner with Ansgar hot on my wheel. One of our notorious 'sit-ins' whom shall remain nameless had charged up the inside while I was trying to manuever around Red Line and he was on Dan's wheel around turn four. I decided to play a little poker with Ansgar as we rounded turn four and stopped pedaling to see if he'd come around and give me a leadout across the gap that we had found ourselves in. I knew Mr. Sit-in wouldn't have the gas to out-sprint Dan and I knew if Ansgar got a leadout from me, he just might catch Dan. Amazing what piece of strategy you can calculate while in oxygen debt, eh? Ansgar took the bait and came around towing a line of others but I had enough gas to match his acceleration and grabbed his wheel for the sprint out of turn four and the final 250 meters home. We topped 37 mph sprinting up the false flat toward the finish line and caught Mr. Sit-in in the last 20 meters. Ansgar went right, I went left and we followed Dan across the line with Ansgar edging me for the second week in a row.

Mike and Tim had stayed away from their chasers the entire way. Mike outsprinted Tim for the win. Billy Ochowicz picked up third, Randy Warren was fourth and John Van Susteren soloed out in no-man's-land for fifth. Dan won the field sprint for 6th and I picked up 8th by way of my third in the field sprint.

Whoo, am I tired. Now we get a cool down lap and then line up to start the Masters 30+. Should be glorious agony.

Stats: 17.9 miles / 45:20 / 23.69 mph ave. / 37 mph max (sprint) / 160 ave HR / 190 max HR

Parkside Criterium Series - Week 2 - March 18 - Masters 40+

This day was almost a break with tradition at Parkside. Typically, we have beautiful weather for the first week's "practice crits" then the subsequent weeks are cold, grey and sometimes wet. Today we have bright sunshine again. The down side is that the temps are 15 degrees to the south of last week and the wind is pretty stiff off of Lake Michigan almost straight out of the east. I estimate that the cold and wind will drop the speed a bit from last week but the effort will be higher.

Teammate, Dan Verner and I will be the only Team Mack riders in the 40+ today since Mike Zellman is probably off on some exotic junket for his day job with SRAM. Hey Mike, Dan and I got the new racing frames last week. Sure would be nice to get that Force Group so we can build them up! Hey, If you can't gripe to your own teammate about sponsor gear, who can you gripe to?

Right from the starters whistle, last weeks solo break winner Dave Schimp was on the attack but since we all saw what kind of early season fitness Dave has, we kept him on a short leash. The occasional lulls in tempo would cause mushrooming from the back of the 38 rider field and every time the back of the field folded over and moved on to the front the pace would drop 3-5 mph. While the recovery can work to your advantage, it also works to the advantage of all the weaker riders so you want to keep the pace consistently high to string out the field and thin out the ranks by spitting riders off of the back. This is tougher to do on windy days because those sitting in will gain more of an advantage in the draft than in calmer conditions.

Below is a shot of Dan, myself and Met Life's Ansgar Graw on the front cranking up the pace early on.

As the race progressed, the attacks, counter-attacks, mushrooming kept repeating but nothing got off the front for more than a one mile lap or two. With three to go, the marking process started at the front with everybody watching everybody else and the back of the field folded over the front as we came out of turn one. The traffic was stiffling and I hate being boxed in like that. As we rounded turn two and headed straight into the headwind on the back side of the course, I literally dropped to dead last in order to get out of that mob and look for an open route forward. I found it along the inside and sprinted forward. By the time we came across the line for two to go, I was back at the front about 5th in line and the teams with riders to burn came forward and started the leadout train for their sprinters. Great, this will keep the field strung out and only those able to keep pace will be able to stay out front.

As we came around for the bell and one to go, the usual too early attack from one of the perenial back sitters was off the front with a couple of other's in tow by about 40 meters but going nowhere. We caught them on the uphill approach to turn two and the strongest 10-12 riders accelerated across the back stretch toward turn three. I pulled to the inside of LOT Airline's Richard Adamczyk as we entered turn three to bait him into a block so that I could use him as a leadout from turn three to turn four. Richard took the bait but then he made an aggressive move up the curb with about 600 meters to go that was the norm for Richard but certifiably nuts in my book so I decided not to stay on his wheel and I waited for the hole to open up a bit. A second later the field snaked right and I had my hole but Richard was 25 meters up the road and jumping on teammate Dan Verner's wheel into turn four. I followed Dave Schimp and Ansgar Graw into and out of turn four and the three of us picked off several sprinters on the 250 meter rise up to the finish line. Neither Ansgar or I could match Schimps final 100 meter kick at this point in the season and he accelerated away from us at the end.

My instincts about Richard had been right because he had drafted Dan all the way to the last 50 meters and pulled around for the win. Schimp caught and passed a gassed Dan just before the line to pick up second. Below is a shot of Dan coming across the line third with Ansgar Graw and myself fighting for fourth. The angle makes it look like I had the advantage but Ansgar actually had me by a few inches as we approached the line. I ended up fifth.

All in all, a successful early season race with Dan and I both making the podium. I picked up my first hardware of the season and improved my sprint and finishing position by three places over last week.

Stats: 18 miles / 46:45 / 23.1 ave mph / 34.4 max mph (sprint) / 156 ave HR / 184 max HR

Parkside Criterium Series - Week 1 - March 11 - Masters 40+

Beautiful day for racing. Sunny, 50 degrees, slight wind from the west. With everybody eager to get out and turn their pedals in anger, the great day brought out a huge turnout.

Today, I'm not expecting a lot as far as personal results go. I've been dealing with some medical issues since January that have me about 800 training miles behind schedule and my race readiness is suspect. My sprint usually doesn't show up until after I've got a month's worth of race paced efforts in me so I'll probably be watching teammate Dan Verner's back since he's cranking out huge watts these days and was dominant at the indoor time trials. Dan and I will be joined today by new 40+ Mike Zellman (happy birthday, Mike). Mike is a great time trialist so he's also a threat to go up the road.

The 40+ field today is 40 riders strong with a lot of fast regional talent. Jeff Littman is back after a one year hiatus to recover from a near fatal encounter with a 4 x 4 sign post at the final crit of '05. Welcome back, Jeff. You're looking good.

The early laps saw more attacks than usual for the first crit of the year but nothing got away until about the 15 minute mark when LAPT time trialist, Dave Schimp got away and built a good gap. After a few counter attacks that Dan, Mike and I covered, Dan went with a move with three others that got away. Mike and I immediately covered the front of the field and eased the pace as best we could while covering counter attacks to give Dan and his three break partners a chance to build a gap.

Below is a shot of myself (lead) and Mike (4th) controlling the front of the field.

With a few laps to go one of Dan's break mates had a mechanical and after his pit stop he fell back to the main field so if we don't catch the break, the field will be sprinting for 5th place.

As we came down to the last two laps the usual Parkside shenanigans of "I'll sit on the back for 40 minutes and then move to the front at the end of the race" started. Mike went to the front and began to time trial to pick up the pace and keep the rabble rousers in check. I did my best to pick up Mike's wheel but Jeff Littman was having none of it so I pulled in behind Jeff as we got the bell for one lap to go.

I don't know why but I managed to get mentally sidetracked (winter rustyness, I guess) and as we came out of turn three what I knew would happen did and I was caught napping when Chris Dial and Richard Adamczyk attacked off the back coming down the slope out of turn three and I didn't respond quickly enough.

Mike managed to grab their wheels with a quick acceleration but I had to come around Littman on the outside and ended up sprinting across the gap to Mike and pretty much used up what little sprint I've got this time of year before we even got to turn four.

Mike pulled off a great sprint for a time trialist and won the field sprint for 5th place. I caught Adamczyk and Dial on the approach to the line but ran out of road before the finish line and ended up 8th. Dan won the sprint in his break group for 2nd since they never did catch Schimp who soloed for the win.

I'll take an 8th for the first race knowing if I'd been a bit smarter it could have been 5th or 6th. All three Team Mack riders in the top 8 in a field of 40 riders is a great start to the year.

Stats: 15.9 miles / 40:20 / 23.65 mph ave / 32.4 mph max / 158 ave HR / 182 max HR