Tour of Lawrence

Was looking forward to this race weekend for a long time. I had it in the books as an "A" priority race so much of my last month was spent towards this race series. Saturday had the downtown crit. My parents came up to visit and got their first dose of bike racing watching this race. Was feeling good prior to the race - until I realized I forgot my road shoes at home in KC. Drove back to get them and made it in time to see part of Jane's race in the 3/4 women.
Jane did well. Hung with the group and finished 5th of all the cat 4 women. Her first payout ever! $25.

Got a decent warm up in, and made sure I had good position on the line for the start. Big field, over 50 riders with a lot of teammates. My plan was to keep it near front and watch for certain riders attempting breaks - something I was prepared to do if the right people went. The team did a great job putting in a bunch of attacks - Thomas got in on some after recently finding some long lost fitness. David grabbed a prime and Dan hammered on the front for awhile. I stayed out of trouble and was waiting for the laps to wind down - felt good for the majority of the race. With about 3 laps to go, people started getting jumpy and attempted to move up. Saw some strong riders make their way to the front, I followed and settled in at about 4th-5th wheel. Last lap and some young looking guy jumped. I hadn't seen him the whole race and didn't follow. Finally a SKC rider launched on the downhill and I worked my way to his wheel, took the last 2 turns with some good speed and it was a sprint for 2nd place. That kid who attacked early had the juice and was far enough away for 1st. I was closing on the SKC guy but came up short and took 3rd. I'm not sure but I think there was some space before the 4th place rider.

My first podium in the 4's and in a good race too. Was really happy with the result and felt that I raced a smart race and for the most part did everything I could do (except jump the wheel of the 1st place finisher) - the $130 wasn't too bad either.


Sunday was a different story. The KU campus circuit race was a really hilly 4.5 mile loop. 5 laps and nearly 2500 feet of climbing. Prior to the race I was alright. Legs were definetly stiff - a few hours on my feet after the race on saturday didn't help either. Rolled out and settled in near the front. First lap was tough, took a few hills before I really found my legs. On the second lap near the last climb, the road narrows to a driveway entry and some boulevard racer a few bikes in front of me rode straight into a haybale and held up the rest of the field. After a brief pause, we made our way through, riding between the gates, his bike, and him. This caused a bit of a gap to form. I began to bridge and made it about halfway before my teammate David N. picked me up and dragged me and a few other riders back up. So on this 3rd lap we started hitting the hills again and I just couldn't recover. Didn't have power I had on the first two laps and was breathing hard. right there I knew I was done. Mentally I was fading too.
So with some tired legs, a bridge attempt that I couldn't recover from and just a tough course I was OTB. Crap. Just blew up right there. Took me nearly the whole next lap to recover fully and got passed by about 7-8 riders including all my teammates except david N. who was still hanging in on the front (he took 4th in the race). Each time a teammate rode by they offered a wheel and I couldn't hang it. Last 2 laps or so and began to collect myself and rode the rest of the race by myself. For the majority of that time Eric Schaumberg and Steve V. were 100 meters in front of me. Eric Schaumberg, Steve V, and I took 22, 23, 24.

Overall the weekend was great. Amazing courses with good money and good turnout. This was a first year event and hope it sticks around.

So coming up it's back to some hard workouts. I've gotten away from riding bigger miles. The last several weeks have been short workouts but high intensity. Not sure if that's put me in some hole or not. But I'm planning on a 55 mile group ride on Wednesday in Lawrence with some teammates. Hopefully heading to Omaha next weekend to race. Car pool up and split the hotel with 3-4 guys. Racing on a budget.


Photos are from the Tour of KC weekend, and courtesy of Kim Morris.