Omaha Race Weekend

Just a short 3 hour drive from KC, it was hard to pass up the Omaha cycling weekend. Matt P. and I left Saturday morning and picked up fellow teammate David N. in St. Joe on the way up. I spent much of the previous week not riding as I attempted a bit of recovery from Lawrence. I did however, join up for a lovely 50 mile scorcher wednesday night in lawrence known as the wescoe ride. I was interested to see how I'd rebound after blowing up after the KU circuit race the previous Sunday.

Made it to Omaha with plenty of time to warm up for saturday's Papillion Twilight Criterium. There was a time trial that morning but we opted out and slept in instead. The course was alright...lots of turns, with a few slight uphills, small downhill, back up a steep but short section, into a long fast descent, sweeping turn and 90 degree into the finish. Thought maybe beforehand I had a good chance on this course with the climbing.
Lined up near the back with teammate David and we were off. Pace got hot fairly quick and struggled through traffic. The turns combined with quick accelerations ate me up. I was suffering and being stuck midpack couldn't recover. David meanwhile was able to move through the garbage and settle near the front. Racers were all over the place and although I fell from the front group and got passed by more in the last 7 laps they still scored me as 16th out of 40 something. Not sure that was entirely correct....maybe 20th - who knows. Either way I felt like crap and I was trying to comprehend why I couldn't stick it. Fatigued?...race just too fast?..do I need more rest? During those last few laps I rode solo every thought went through my mind and I was settling on the idea that I shouldn't race the road race on sunday. However, after talking with David and Matt after the race I snapped out of it and got my shit together. David ended up taking 4th in the crit. there were lots of strong riders and it was a great result.

Sunday we had the Babcook Road Race. 52 miles, 7 laps, one moderate climb per lap. Was just lining up and going to see what I could do to not get shelled off the back like yesterday. Had a nice 3 mile neutral rollout came upon the first climb. first time up was tough, seemed like some were attacking but it does take me awhile to get the legs proper. I was struggling to recover and doing everything to maintain a top ten spot out of the wind...(I'm great at not riding in the wind). Got in the groove and the rest of the climbs came and went fairly easy. People attacked but nothing ever stuck, bridged a few small gaps that formed, riding well....started to get really windy, and the rain began to move in. On the second to last lap David and another rider who ended up winning shot off the front. I thought david was attacking so I didn't follow. As a train of riders blew by me to catch I couldn't jump on the back. Luckily got back on a few minutes later with a group of 4 - that was almost the end of my day though. Turned out the one rider thought it was last lap so he was attacking hard for the win.
Last lap was slow up the climb and as we got in the final 3 miles speeds slowly ramped up. there were about 15 of us riding into the finish looking for the win. A rider launched off the front on a downhill with 700 to go, I jumped david's wheel in 4th position. The 4 of us on the front cranked it the following hill up and crested with 500 to go. All 4 of us were sprinting in a single file line. 50 meters to go I looked back and saw a mass of riders getting ready to pass us. Stood on the pedals one last time and one person jumped me for 4th. Actually got passed for 6th place but threw my bike ahead to take back 5th. David wound up 3rd. Good day overall. Money in the bank.