Monday, May 4, 2009

LaCrosse Criterium

Sunday morning, we left Baraboo at 8 in order to get to LaCrosse for Sarge's Cat 4 race. When we got there, it was surely to be a great day, nice weather, right on the Mississippi River. Sarge got ready and lined up, and finished 2nd in his race, getting him the points he needs for the upgrade. He is very strong and will make an impact right away in 3's.

Our race wasn't until 3:30, so we hung out, watched some races and walked around downtown LaCrosse for the afternoon, stopping in a CoOp, an outdoor store. When it was time to get ready, I could see that GMac's team Wheaton Fransiscain had shown up in force with 6 guys, and a couple other teams were rolling around. We pulled up to the start line and saw there were probably 40 guys or so. Going to be fun!

Right away, into the 45 min race, the pace was really fast and found it hard to move up quickly. A break of 4 got up the road with 3 major teams in it, CRAP! They quickly built a lead and their respective teams did a great job of blocking. I tried in vain a couple times to either get across or to help bring it back, but was shut down by the teams. Settled in after a while accepting that I missed the win. The All9 Boys of Doug Klahson, Robo Brothers and Gumm also tried hard to bring the group back. Only Iowa riders seemed to wanna work yesterday, even though other teams didn't have riders up the road....

Well anyway, a prime lap came up and I decided what the heck, why not. So came out of the final turn and opened up, a little early I thought but I held on and won a multi-tool! SWEET......

Eventually got caught by the pack and the pace really picked up for the leadout for these 4. Got in the front, not where I wanted and sprinted to probably 8th in field sprint, but maybe top 10 overall. I ended up with 8th place.

After this race, the Cat 1,2,3 started and I decided to start it quick. So with a 1/4 bottle of water and a GU, I started the 60min race. It started off really fast with men like Matt Brandt(racing for Italian team), ISCorp, Bianchi and Grandstay all wanting men off the front. I hung on and was able to move up throughout the race. Sean Walker, Will G, Bryan M and Lee V all made it up from Iowa to race for B2U. Anyway, I was able to make it the whole race and I think the only 3 to finish that started from the previous 3's race. Finished mid pack. I ended up in 25th spot, ahead of a majority of the riders! It was a great time.

Total about 1.45 hours of crit racing, 2.5 total riding and 55miles of speed work in the legs!!

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