Tour of KC - Power and Light Crit

Sunday 6/28/09:
Power and light crit. short, rectangle, half uphill, half down.
This course suited me well. The climbs broke up the field quick, if you don't climb you'll likely get pulled on such a short course - easy as that. I had great position from the start which allowed me to get in the groove before I put in any big efforts. Turned out I really didn't need to put in any effort until they called last lap. Heading up the first hill I saw a bike shack racer who i know is strong begin to move up to the lead position, I matched his move on the opposite side of the group and wound up right on his wheel. Sat in 2nd position down the backside of the course. One rider snuck in on the inside at turn 3 to take the lead and as we hit turn 4 someone came on my outside. All we had left was an uphill sprint to the finish and I was currently sitting 4th. None of those positions changed in the sprint and I wound up taking 4th. Fairly happy with that result but you can't help but think if I was the first to jump would I have kept hold of 1st? - Maybe I'll start taking more risk and jumping first instead of waiting for others to go.

Still for the weekend brought home $80 with some road rash and deep gash on my hip. - it's all good.

Hydrogen Peroxide, Butterfly bandage, new skin, superglue (in that order)

Downtown Lee's Summit Criterium, Rain. Nuf said.
It was probably 4th or 5th lap, came through the final turn going into the start/finish and hit the ground like a ton of bricks. Wasn't sure if it was my front or rear wheel that slid out but I was on the ground sliding towards the curb. Layed on the grass for a minute to collect myself and asses the damage. Small bit of road rash on my right hip, right knee scuffed up, but my right hip split on the pavement from the contact. there was some fat tissue sticking out from gash. Pretty interesting because the skin broke on contact between my hip and left my bib shorts intact. Was contemplating getting stitches which I probably need but my handy skills have it under control.

We'll see how it feels tomorrow. hopefully I'll be back racing after i fix my der hanger.

Tour of KC - Longview Criterium

This race was hot. Disgusting hot. Started at the back of the group thinking I'd be able to work my way up with no problem. This was a huge mistake. There were too many riders who couldn't take corners with speed and brake checked every turn causing huge slow downs and resulted in the whole field being stretched out. The people who could ride and were near the front had an open line through the corners and began to open up a gap.
I started picking my way through the field, passing riders who were blowing up 2-3 laps into the race (why do you show up to the race if you have zero fitness?) Started getting frustrated and began to fly through the corners, cutting in on people, squeezing inside, taking flyers on the outside - probably pissed some people off and made it a bit dangerous but I didn't want to chase the whole race either. Finally got connected with the front group of about 15. I was suffering - had to bridge a decent gap near the end of my chase and I was cooked right there. Way too hot outside to be putting in tough efforts. As soon as I was connected with the group they called a prime lap. This is where a few bike shack racers took a small gap. The people I was with didn't feel the urgency to close this small gap after the prime and I didn't have the lungs or legs at that moment. this stayed as a 10 sec gap for about 2 laps, eventually they just slowly pulled away. Should have never happened - of course this will be the last time I ever line up near the back if I can help it.
So 3 Bike Shack off the front, I was riding with a group of maybe 8 riders chasing. David N. was with me after bridging up and Dan O. caught on too. Dan took off on a prime, stayed away and won the prime - although subsequently fell off after that, but who wouldn't in that weather. I was just trying to stay upright and not die in our group. Was considering pulling out until we rolled through and they announced 6 laps to go. Figured I could hang on.
Came in on the last lap nearly dead but put in a sprint that landed me in 6th place overall....and killed me. I needed to cool down fast, I was disoriented, dizzy, got to my car after riding the wrong way on the course for a brief moment, grabbed some water and stumbled to some shade under a tree. Took me nearly 25 minutes to feeling normal again.
Saturday's race is at 7:30, the sun will be lower, hopefully gone, and temps cooler. But I will not put myself through that again. Luckily sunday is only calling for a high in the mid 80's.

The summer heat is what I hate most about Missouri. If the summer's were cooler I would consider staying in this state after I graduate, but this shit is rediculous.

MO State RR Champs

David Neidinger - Team Colavita/Parisi : MO Cat 4 RR champion - props.

Made the decision friday to race on sunday. Left saturday eve for Sainte Genevieve, crashed in the hotel, registered and rolled out at about 9:15 on Sunday. It was myself and fellow teammate David N in the 4's, britton and matt in the 3's, and lone 5 rider phillip w. 2 laps of a 33.5 mile course. 67 miles total.
Pace was fairly calm for the majority of the race, no one really tried to hammer it in the flats. The large number of hills though served to break up the field quite nicely. Going into this race I was thinking "sweet, hilly course, I should do well." Was managing the course just fine, sticking it on the climbs, and hanging on downhill and in the flats. David and I spent the majority of the race near the front. We came up to this long climb where they had the KOM set up and it was a long, sustained climb, quick descent with another climb right away. this part ate me up. I was off the back of our elite group of 10-15 riders. Caught a nice wheel though and got back on quickly. It was frustrating falling off like that though. It's been awhile since something like that has happened and I knew next time around I probably wouldn't have the legs to hang on again. All the hills inbetween there were short enough that I could manage. Entered the second lap and I was stuffing gu and water, trying to keep my energy up. Rolled up to that hill again and got shelled off again, though not as bad as the first time. there were maybe 2-3 miles until the finish and I could not bridge that gap. The lead group stayed off by maybe 100-200 meters the whole time. I just didn't have any power left.
Rolled into the finishing road which had some rollers and a small climb and I was toast. Sat up for the most part and limped the last 1k to the line. I could see the lead group finishing in the distance and David N. sprinted to a 2nd place overall, 1st missouri finisher: MO state champ.

I finished 14th out of just under 50 starters. 2 guys passed me in the last 300 as I was soft pedaling.
Good race, tough competition, nice course.

I'll take this next week hard and get a week of rest before Tour of KC and then Tour of Lawrence July 4th weekend. I can already feel that after this week of training a week off is in order.

Matt P. took 2nd place in the 3's race. Britton placed somewhere near the top 15. Phillip was in the top 20 in the 5's.

5 Colavita racers, 1 MO Champ, 2 podiums, all top 20 finisher - not bad.

Kansas State Championship

Jane and I rolled down to pittsburg, KS friday evening for the Kansas state road race and crit championship. got lucky because Jane's sister lives in Pitt so we had a place to stay for free...very nice - thank you Matt and Sheryl. Woke up early for Jane's 8 am rollout of her 42 mile road race. 3 laps of fairly flat terrain, high winds, and a moderate climb 1k from the finish. After a few mishaps on the course she took 3rd place....out of 3 riders. Whatever, she still got to collect $25 on a $15 entry fee.
I rolled out with a plethera of teammates at about 10:30. Steve V, Joe Anderson, David N., and Brad Williams. Not bad company. We did 4 laps of the course for about 55 miles total. first lap around was spent making my way to the front and getting settled in. Wasn't really sure if it was the first or second time through the start finish line, but some people up front decided to hammer it. Got caught on a slow wheel and had to bridge a small gap in a mean headwind, recovered alright and ended up in a nice 12 man breakaway with 2 other teammates, David and Brad.
Things were looking good. Started to feel pretty nice and was contemplating on how use the hill near the finish - Brad, David and I are all pretty decent climbers. Approached the final hill and under my normal output found myself on the front with a solo breakaway rider 50 meters in front. I wasn't going to chase him down, that would have killed me for the final and only would have dragged 10 more riders with me. A bike shack racer rolled around me and I just sat on his wheel. 400m to go and people started jumping. Caught a wheel and sprinted around a few riders into 4 th place, started to fade and David, who had my wheel jumped around me and got past one more for second place. I ended up in 5th. Pretty happy with that race, you get tired towards the end and are ready for it to be over, but I was still feeling strong.
this was also my first payout. Oh yeah......$35 in the bank (minus my $25 entry).
There was a crash at the end also, brad got mixed up in that and rode out into a ditch. He was alright but nothing to claim for the race.

Was feeling decent for Sunday's crit on Pitt State's campus. conditions were windy and hot, with a crazy 100 degree corner near the end. This one got going fast and we had a another 10-12 man break from the start. Put in some hard laps from the beginning before we settled in. they had 4 cash primes which I was a bit disappointed I didn't get in on. Although on the $2o prime I was ready to break for, my teammate David jumped before me and got away so I sat in and gave a bit a block but no one was in the mood to chase. Laps were winding down and I was out of water, and in a perfect position to sprint. One guy jumped, I covered him, another jumped and passed us both. I tried to get off the wheel I was on but he was slowing down and had a good wheel rub before I was able to overtake him. By that time there were 2 in front followed by David and then myself. I tried to get to David's wheel but was cooked. The rest of the group was pretty split up and took 4th uncontested. David managed 3rd.
Got another payout. Racing is pretty fun when you can win money. A couple weeks from now is Tour of KC part 1 and then the Tour of Lawrence. These two races are going to be the real test for me. So many people are gearing up for Lawrence. The fields are going to be huge, the payouts are big and it's going to be fast. Should be an awesome weekend for racing.