Monday, May 11, 2009

Finchford Roubaix 2009

Went to Cedar Falls with Bethany on Friday night for the race on Saturday. Just hung out and made some homemade Peanut Butter Cups!!!

Got up on Saturday and had pancakes, eggs, fruit :) MMMMMMM. Thank you Paula :)

Went out to the course a couple hours before and got registered. The winds were strong and only getting stronger as the race got closer. Chris Reed managed to make it up, good to have a team mate. Another team mate, Rob McKillup won the 5's after soloing the last lap in that wind, sweet!!!

50 miles, 10 laps and 20mph winds to contend with as we started with the Masters 1,2,3 at 1PM. First lap, I see Chris Reed and Brendan Keeley go into the ditch after cooking the turn. DOH!!! I lost my valuable team mate. The next lap we lost Chad Bishop due to same problem, read his blog and he will tell you everything about what went wrong. It was a shame, he is a beast!
Derek Cassidy (DICE) is the man to watch this year, well what is left of his Cat 3 experience. He is an absolute motor and pushed the pace all the time. At one point, Derek, a guy from LaCrosse, Brian West, Shrek got off the front, and I had to peg it for a good 2 miles to bring them back as I lost all help in the "pack". Luckily I was able to reel them in and make a group of 7 guys. This was on lap 5, and so for the next 25 miles it was just us. We rotated well and everyone tried to conserve energy when they could. It came down to a field sprint in the end with Derek pulling away after leading out?? Yea, strong especially into a head wind of 25mph. Rich Wince (DS 5000) got 2nd and Shrek 3rd, I came across in 4th and Brian in 5th.

Overall my legs felt pretty strong, even when I had to open them up 2 times to reel in breaks. The cat 3 field in Iowa this year is very strong and is a great group of guys to ride with. Lots of competition. I am pumped for memorial day, we have to show those Illinois, Wisconsin boys whats up!

Here is a video of the finish thanks to Pig.

Went to Old Chicago in Cedar Falls after the race and headed back to Decorah with Beth.

So anyway, made some money, had some great food. Next up is a crit in Madison this weekend(maybe) and then Memorial Day!

Last week of this block of training and a taper. Did 50 miles EN pace today and legs felt great! Tomorrow are hill intervals!

1 comment:

Chad Bishop said...

Man, I would have loved to have been in that race longer.

I agree the Iowa Cat 3 field this year has been great to race with.

Glad to see you were one of the 'survivors' of the race and got in the money.