After some unfortunate weather last week in Ohio, SLU cycling got to kick off the season by taking a trip to Greencastle, IN for a road race and criterium to be hosted by Depauw University. We had several new racers this weekend, all of whom I believe enjoyed themselves after diving into the fray that is bike racing.
Saturday: The course was an 8-mile or so circuit with rolling hills and a fair amount of twists and turns. The men’s c race ended up doing 3 laps/25 miles and contained a field of 57 starters. We had a fairly big group in the race; 5 total. The first lap was fairly civil until an Indiana rider attacked from the group. No one seemed to be worried about the move (me included), yet Cam decided to spice things up and go after the attacker. After a short time, both were eaten up by the peloton and Cam had now cemented a position on the front. Props to him for working his butt off all day up front as I sat within the first 20 wheels for the first couple of laps just enjoying myself.
After a relatively uneventful first 2 laps, things started to get more serious on the last lap. Unfortunately for me, I realized a little too late that both Ben and I were at the tail end of the group without even realizing it. Cam was still drilling it up front. Ben and I both knew we had to move up to put ourselves in decent position for the finish by this time. Moving up became harder and harder with a fairly tight course and lots of turns. After a small crash and a ramping up of speed in the last few miles, I found myself a little bit further towards the front. I still wasn’t quite where I needed to be and that would lead to bad positioning when the sprint opened up. In the final 1k or so, Michigan State hit the gas at the front and the sprint was on. After grabbing a couple of wheels, I found myself passing a couple of riders here and there. My legs said no to getting out of the saddle at this point. I rolled in for 11th overall, just outside of my goal of top 10 for the day. Cam and Ben ended up 24th and 27th respectively. As for the other guys, Carleton dropped his chain on the first climb of the day and Andy wasn’t feeling so hot throughout the weekend, ending his race early.
Congrats to everyone else who battled through on Saturday…especially those first time racers.
Sunday: The crit course was flat, long, and windy. Nothing technical about it, just a test of staying out of the wind because it was harsh at certain points on the course. The field was smaller than the previous day. There were probably between 35 and 40 riders that started. The first couple of laps were fairly boring and I again found myself way too far back in the pack, something I knew I needed to correct. I was able to fly up the side of the strung out peloton on the front of the course and I jumped in the first 10-15 riders. Ben had grabbed my wheel and was following me by this time as well. Before I knew it, 2 Indiana kids had gone off the front and a 3rd one was quickly behind them. Even though Cam had made a point of telling me he wasn’t going to be as aggressive as he was in the road race to preserve some energy for the finish, he was quickly flying out of the pack to join the 3 IU riders. Because there were 3 guys from the same team up the up the road, I expected some of the bigger teams to cover the break as quickly as possible. For some reason, no one decided to close the gap. I soon saw the break gaining some time on the field and had made my way within the first 10 wheels of the main group. I wasn’t too worried about the break at this point considering we had Cam up the road and I was confident that the peloton would get its act together as the race went on.
Cam’s move allowed me to stay at the very front of the group without actually doing any work. I kept skipping pulls and felt very little fatigue. Cam’s effort eventually faded though and he drifted back to the field. At this point, I was realizing that the break had a very good chance of sticking, meaning the group would have to get serious and organize a good chase. Both Cam and I put in several efforts on the front, but it seemed that very few other riders wanted to do much of anything. I was riding off the front at one point, looking back to see if anyone was interested in really picking up the pace to get the break. Again, there was no sense of urgency. With 3 laps to go, I had conceded the first 3 places to IU and tried to sit in a little bit more to save myself for the field sprint. The main field had been whittled down to about 12 riders at this point and I couldn’t tell you why. Cam lead me out on the final lap, only for him to come in one place ahead of me. He ended up 5th overall and I got 6th. Not bad results, but I was still in awe at the fact that none of the big teams were remotely interested in bringing back a break with 3 riders from the same team. Weird stuff happens sometimes. For the record, Ben didn’t have the legs today yet still rolled in and finished. Carleton and Andy were in the same sort of boat, but didn’t quite last till the end. We all have our rough days.
Again, awesome job to all of the first time racers in the crit.
Overall, it was a successful first weekend. I think we all had a lot of good fun (I was the victim of a few good jokes) and we were able to get that first race weekend out of the way. Next week is a road race at Mizzou and a crit at Lindenwood University. See you out on the road!
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