I took a couple days off after Joe Martin Stage Race cause I was so wiped–I tried to sleep as much as possible, lie down a lot, and eat (literally) into my calorie deficit a bit. I rode easy Wednesday but the legs weren’t feeling good enough to finish my workout Thursday. So by the time we left on Friday at about noon, I had low expectations for the weekend.

Due to a small budget deficit for the University of Minnesota Cycling Team, we camped this weekend. We arrived at Babler State Park when it was dark. I had a kind of rough night, tossed and turned a lot with my deflated sleeping pad. I woke up with a sore everything and a headache, but once I got some oatmeal and bagels into me I was feeling much better.

The course was a hilly 21 mile circuit, and we were slated to ride 4 laps with 48 P/1/2 dudes. The first half of the lap is very hilly, with a big climb followed by a steep descent, then a couple of grindy pitches into a steep ascent, which is usually ripped up and decisive. The back half of the course is a roll down to the finish.

Up the 3rd hill the first lap, a couple guys attacked over the top into a windy section. I saw that the move was threatening and tried to get up, but hung off the back for a little bit. Logan saw that the move was threatening as well and came up with me. We got a big gap pretty quickly as the group behind us floundered and didn’t get a chase or bridging group together.

After a little work, the pace settled down a little, but we found it hard to get into a smooth rotation. There were 2 Pastaria-BigShark guys who didn’t seem motivated to pull, me and Logan, 2 Marian guys (one of them being Zach Nehr, a guy who grew up in Wisconsin), Lindenwood’s superstrong Evan Hartig, and two guys without teammates. The Marian guys wouldn’t work and kept screwing with the rotation. After a lap with no cohesion I tried to clean up the rotation. One of the Pastaria-BigShark guys took a pull that no one followed and drifted away, eventually out of sight.

With a little less than a lap to go, Logan dropped off after working really hard to keep the break going, and a group of a couple Marian guys and a couple more BigShark guys bridged up. I was isolated at this point and tried to do my best to eat and to sit in.

Last lap up the first hill we went hard. Spencer Seggenbruch and one of the guys without teammates started to bridge to the leader as a chase group of 5 coalesced with me and one other guy dangling off the back. We chased hard but couldn’t make contact. The guy with me cramped hard, so I decided to just roll in the rest of the way. With 6 or 7 miles to go, he flew past me again–I had thought he had DNF’d. I caught onto his wheel and we resumed working together. I tried attacking him about a mile out, but he held my wheel and dusted me in the sprint. I ended up 9th.

I was tired, hungry and cranky after the race. We ate at a horrible, way too expensive restaurant (BIG BEAR GRILL IN GROVER, MO), took showers at the campground, and went to bed.

The next day was the crit. The crit is in Downtown St. Charles, along a brick avenue which turns along the riverfront, and then a near 180 degree turn into the finishing stretch. I told teammates Chase and Logan that my legs were bad and that I’d try to get into something early to set one of them up. A couple laps in a Marian guy ate it on the sharp turn and I ran over someone/something and had to take a free lap. I got in with no hassle, and shortly after Logan got in a little move off the front. With 12 or so laps to go, I hit a brick that had come loose on the main road which popped my tire and dented my wheel up. A Lindenwood guy loaned me his wheel.

Chase got popped around that point and Logan was caught, and came up to me telling me that he couldn’t clip in to his pedal and therefore couldn’t sprint. He offered to lead me out but I was pretty smashed at that point as well, and didn’t think I could do any damage. I rolled in with a pack finish. There was a break of 2 or 3 guys up the road that won the thing.

Shoutout to the the dashing Konynenbelt duo, with Waverly scoring a 3rd in the Women’s 3/4/5, and Jordan winning the Men’s 4/5 race with the aid of Alex ‘Wild Bill’ Turner. Proud of all of them. Also we missed Louis this weekend, who couldn’t make it down.

New team member Paul Hogan was taking pictures this weekend and I’m trying to get some of those to put up, but for now, this will have to do. I’m stoked to race THK this weekend, and for my first race that I’m promoting, the Gopher Crit! (Easter Sunday) If you’re local, I’d love to see you there!

 

Jack