Race: Blue Island ProAm Criterium, Masters 4/5 30+, 75 person field (but only about 50 registered in the end). Pavement good, but with some weird bumps coming out of turn 2 and just before turn 4. 20 one mile laps, no primes.
Interesting Fact: Course was near the Burr Oak Cemetery where 3 cemetery workers were caught last week digging up around 300 bodies and reselling the graves, clearing nearly $300,000. The bodies were found stacked up like firewood.
Weather: 91 degrees, humid, tail/head wind on straights
Goals: Fitness race to see how back injury has recovered. Try to hold position in top 10 and respectable finish.
Summary: One of the best promoted races I've done. They shut down downtown Blue Island (which wasn't too great a feat). They also had a proper stage, banners, announcers, podium with flowers for the winners and registration was easy...and I keep the same numbers for the entire series. Good fan showing too.
The biggest team presence was by XXX cycling. They had about 5-6 guys. Beverly Bike was also represented with 3 riders as well as another team with a fluorescent yellow jersey (Fashion Alert!!!)
Warm-up was ridiculously hot and went through two water bottles for just 20 minutes on the trainer. Did warm-up lap and got to the start and had a position on the line. Hit first couple of laps hard to try to weed out the 5's (which we did - although they don't pull them, you just have to keep a heads up when you lap them). I held the number one position for a lap and switched off with two other guys until we decided to fall back and save some energy. Group usually surged on the back side where the tail wind and a slight downhill occurred. Pretty safe riding for the first 12 laps. There were about 5 attempts at breaks that I could see. I got into 3 of them, but we never had more than 3 riders. We couldn't hold off the group more than one lap before getting washed over on the backside. I felt comfortable fighting for wheels at the front, and contrary to my usual racing was able to win wheels to keep pushing for a top 10 position.
At lap 10 I was out of water and there was a lot more surging. The XXX riders usually had 2-3 riders at the front, but didn't string out the pack much. We kept breaking into corners too. I remember what advise Rob was given re: moving to the inside lines during the end laps of a race to avoid crashes, so I changed my position. I also found myself using a lot of energy to get to the front 10 riders, but loose position mid-pack due to the downhill/tail wind surges. I was caught between wasting energy to counter a surge or kicking up the pace and wasting energy.
Lap 8, just before turn 2, a rider, two in front of me, went down. The rider, directly in front of me fish tailed and went down. He was at my feet on my left as I came upon him and his bike, on the pavement, right in front of me. I'm thinking, "I'm going down but just going to roll on my side and make the best of it." But my front wheel went over the side of his front wheel (like a little jump) and my back wheel followed, airborne for a brief moment, came down and was able to continue through the turn. I checked my wheels...nothing bent and no punctures and my chamois was clean. I got back on the back and tried to move-up in position, so I wouldn't get caught behind another crash. The riders were cleared off the road by the time we came around again, so hopefully, no major injuries.
The peloton started complaining more about holding lines and looking before moving, etc. One guy almost lost it while trying to sprint out of the saddle while in the middle of a turn and wiggled all over. Thank God no one lost a water bottle as it would have been like a mouse running through a heard of elephants. In fairness, there was some sloppy riding.
With three laps to go in the straight away on the front side, some other guy went down on my right and I heard the crash travel from my right to my left. We pushed on. He remained on the ground and an ambulance came after the race and picked him up.
Two laps to go - we did the usual slow down and rest, which allowed people resting in the back to come to the front for the final lap. I couldn't get a wheel and made too many efforts in the race and lost out in the final sprint, finishing in the back of the pack (maybe 20 something). The guy who won the previous elite 4/5 race, won this one as well.
Lessons Learned: The fields aren't as deep as in CA, but the racing is competitive. The race also seemed more of an early season race and it was the first race of the season for some of the riders I spoke with. I will expect more crashes in coming races and need to either stay at the front or sit in on the back.
I need to pick my efforts better. I should have learned from watching the elites, that breaks on that course don't work, but I also wanted to test my fitness level, so lesson learned.
Need to bring/drink more liquids during race.
FYI - IT'S HOT HERE!!!
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