highs and lows
this is what i love about cycling. and by love, i mean eternally struggle to live with. a brief rundown of the tour de toona (check for pictures/results of the cat 4 races) followed by the events that transpired shortly thereafter:
stage 1 - friday, 20 mile circut, 2 laps
after a surprisingly great night's sleep on the most comfortable bean bag chair ever, kevin and i rolled out to martinsburg early in the am. after a relatively uneventful first 18 miles or so, the peloton got its first look ar the finishing circut consisting of about 7 or 8 90degree turns before the 200m long finishing straight. i thought to myself 'this is going to be one sketchy finish'. so i sat in the group for most of the next lap until we hit our single hill at around 10k to go. upon hitting said hill, the rider in front of me decided that i didnt need to be towards the front anymore - and proceeded to drift me off the road and into the gravel. i stayed upright but was stopped as the tail end of the peloton passed me by on the uphill. i clipped back in, started cranking, looked to my right to see the race officials in their retarded pt cruiser convertible stare at me like i was an extra-terrestrial, and tried to catch up with the group before the top of the hill. i was only able to grab a few stragglers by the top, and wound up regrouping w/ everyone again on the descent. it started to get sort of hectic on the front again with the gnarly headwind and jostling for position in the last moments before the finishing circut. i was able to get up to about 15th wheel going into the first turn. i sat on the guys ahead of me, expecting them to be better sprinters than it turned out they were. jumped around a few dudes in the straight before the last corner and then passed a few more in my sprint to claim 9th, some cash, and 7 points. i was also in 9th for the gc. keegan met up w/ us there and spent the rest of the weekend racing too.
stage 2 - saturday, 20 mile loop with 1 kom sprint on a 4 mile climb
i was super nervous for this stage. even though it was only 20 miles, i knew it was still going to be hard. i was climbing great, even put in a half hearted attack w/ a couple miles left. after getting reeled in, i was sitting in the top 10 riders in a field of maybe 40-50 dudes that was getting more and more strung out. then, towards the top of the climb where the gradient really kicked up, i shifted into my small ring and "clink-clink" my chain dropped. luckily i was able to get it back on w/o having to stop, but now i was about 25 meters behind the last guys in the group. i started to dig super hard and picked my way through the riders in the steep stuff, closed what seemed like a half dozen serious gaps on my own, and made it over the top in around the same position i was in before my chain dropped. a group of 4 got a gap over the summit and i was helping lead the chase with my group of about 10 guys. the toad was flat for the most part, and a good number of the guys werent working to bring the break back. i politely invited them to help in our pursuit, or to get the f out of the group. some did, some didn't. then i led through a hard right turn to begin the real descent. from that turn on, we were bombing down the mountain like an asteroid. hit speeds of just shy of 60mph, and seemed to be averaging close to 50mph for the majority of the plummet. however, the leading 4 were working together like butter while our group was more like margarine. we brought back a lot of time, but not enough to get them before the finish. i was beginning my recoil like a rattlesnake to strike for the sprint win for 5th when my rear derailleur decided it wasnt interested in snapping when i asked it to. after about a 10 second delay btw my 13 and 12 gears, i had already started my sprint. it finally kicked down into the 12 tooth at the first banners. i missed 5th and 6th both by about 12 inches and came away with 7th. more points and more moola followed. now i was up into 6th gc.
stage 3 - sunday 20 mile downtown crit
we woke up at around 5:30 to the end of the world. massive rain, lightning, and thunder. we seriously debated not going to the race, but the weather looked to be clearing around 6:30 so we rolled to altoona in record time thanks to me bugging keegan to keep going faster. and i was glad we decided to go, bc the course was amazing. it was such a fun loop. at one point i was leading the peloton for about a lap and a half, ballin it, not even touching my brakes going through the corners. what a rush! when it got down to 3 or 4 laps to go, i made a very smooth tactical move and grabbed the leadout wheel of one of the top sprinters. he tried to muscle and elbow me off, but i wasnt budging. for a moment i thought i might get a personal leadout for the win, but the leadout man checked behind and aptly noted that i was not his teammate. by this time i was already in about 7th wheel. i moved up one or tow more spots in the last turns and then kicked on the afterburners for the sprint finish after hitting the final right turn. i dusted everyone next to and behind me but couldnt quite make up the ground to be in contention for the win. i came away with 4th (my best finish in a race ever), more points, and a lot more cash. i also bumped myself into 5th gc overall (translate = even MORE cash and a bitchin result at one of the biggest amatuer stage races in the states). not too bad for my first stage race and not having raced since march. i am super stoked about my finish and am going to apply for my cat 3 upgrade in the next few days. anybody know about any road races this fall?
stage 1 - friday, 20 mile circut, 2 laps
after a surprisingly great night's sleep on the most comfortable bean bag chair ever, kevin and i rolled out to martinsburg early in the am. after a relatively uneventful first 18 miles or so, the peloton got its first look ar the finishing circut consisting of about 7 or 8 90degree turns before the 200m long finishing straight. i thought to myself 'this is going to be one sketchy finish'. so i sat in the group for most of the next lap until we hit our single hill at around 10k to go. upon hitting said hill, the rider in front of me decided that i didnt need to be towards the front anymore - and proceeded to drift me off the road and into the gravel. i stayed upright but was stopped as the tail end of the peloton passed me by on the uphill. i clipped back in, started cranking, looked to my right to see the race officials in their retarded pt cruiser convertible stare at me like i was an extra-terrestrial, and tried to catch up with the group before the top of the hill. i was only able to grab a few stragglers by the top, and wound up regrouping w/ everyone again on the descent. it started to get sort of hectic on the front again with the gnarly headwind and jostling for position in the last moments before the finishing circut. i was able to get up to about 15th wheel going into the first turn. i sat on the guys ahead of me, expecting them to be better sprinters than it turned out they were. jumped around a few dudes in the straight before the last corner and then passed a few more in my sprint to claim 9th, some cash, and 7 points. i was also in 9th for the gc. keegan met up w/ us there and spent the rest of the weekend racing too.
stage 2 - saturday, 20 mile loop with 1 kom sprint on a 4 mile climb
i was super nervous for this stage. even though it was only 20 miles, i knew it was still going to be hard. i was climbing great, even put in a half hearted attack w/ a couple miles left. after getting reeled in, i was sitting in the top 10 riders in a field of maybe 40-50 dudes that was getting more and more strung out. then, towards the top of the climb where the gradient really kicked up, i shifted into my small ring and "clink-clink" my chain dropped. luckily i was able to get it back on w/o having to stop, but now i was about 25 meters behind the last guys in the group. i started to dig super hard and picked my way through the riders in the steep stuff, closed what seemed like a half dozen serious gaps on my own, and made it over the top in around the same position i was in before my chain dropped. a group of 4 got a gap over the summit and i was helping lead the chase with my group of about 10 guys. the toad was flat for the most part, and a good number of the guys werent working to bring the break back. i politely invited them to help in our pursuit, or to get the f out of the group. some did, some didn't. then i led through a hard right turn to begin the real descent. from that turn on, we were bombing down the mountain like an asteroid. hit speeds of just shy of 60mph, and seemed to be averaging close to 50mph for the majority of the plummet. however, the leading 4 were working together like butter while our group was more like margarine. we brought back a lot of time, but not enough to get them before the finish. i was beginning my recoil like a rattlesnake to strike for the sprint win for 5th when my rear derailleur decided it wasnt interested in snapping when i asked it to. after about a 10 second delay btw my 13 and 12 gears, i had already started my sprint. it finally kicked down into the 12 tooth at the first banners. i missed 5th and 6th both by about 12 inches and came away with 7th. more points and more moola followed. now i was up into 6th gc.
stage 3 - sunday 20 mile downtown critwe woke up at around 5:30 to the end of the world. massive rain, lightning, and thunder. we seriously debated not going to the race, but the weather looked to be clearing around 6:30 so we rolled to altoona in record time thanks to me bugging keegan to keep going faster. and i was glad we decided to go, bc the course was amazing. it was such a fun loop. at one point i was leading the peloton for about a lap and a half, ballin it, not even touching my brakes going through the corners. what a rush! when it got down to 3 or 4 laps to go, i made a very smooth tactical move and grabbed the leadout wheel of one of the top sprinters. he tried to muscle and elbow me off, but i wasnt budging. for a moment i thought i might get a personal leadout for the win, but the leadout man checked behind and aptly noted that i was not his teammate. by this time i was already in about 7th wheel. i moved up one or tow more spots in the last turns and then kicked on the afterburners for the sprint finish after hitting the final right turn. i dusted everyone next to and behind me but couldnt quite make up the ground to be in contention for the win. i came away with 4th (my best finish in a race ever), more points, and a lot more cash. i also bumped myself into 5th gc overall (translate = even MORE cash and a bitchin result at one of the biggest amatuer stage races in the states). not too bad for my first stage race and not having raced since march. i am super stoked about my finish and am going to apply for my cat 3 upgrade in the next few days. anybody know about any road races this fall?
then sunday afternoon i decided to go on my first mtb ride w/ kevin and his friend gabe. after staying upright all day, gabe (the junior maryland state downhill champion) ironically crashed in front of me and i flipped over him. one heavily scratched up back, one minorly sprained/broken elbow and one severely sprained/broken wrist later, i am heading to the orthopedic doc today to see exactly what is wrong. thankfully my collarbone was tip top and not phased. all i know is that i am in an incredible amount of pain and am pretty upset that this happened after such an awesome weekend. but i guess thats what happens when you ride bikes. hopefully i will be up and at em soon enough and fully functional for erin's visit on the 11th.
in the meantime i will just sweat it out in my apt in the middle of what has to be the hottest/most humid summer in the history of the world. have a glass of ice water, on me. with a side of vicodin.
posted by Stava @ 6:37 AM
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