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
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
posted by Mack Daddy at 12:34 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home