Evanston Grand Prix, or, how the "BK Stacker" earned its name

ICC: Evanston Grand Prix, 7/20/08, Cat 4/5
Race #12

30th/75

Firs off, Nate I don’t like your kind of counting. A racer like you probably already forgot how to count lower than “second” or, god forbid, “third.” A guy from the crowd said 8-10 seconds and I’m sticking with his take because I like it better than yours.

…to business.

Race started shitty. Moshe and I started at least 50 riders behind the line. As we were warming up we were admiring how hard the volunteers had to work to string up the barriers and how much work they still had left. Then we look up to see everyone lined up. Whoopsie.

We wait long enough for my mom to take dozens of pictures of me standing there trying not to look frustrated about having to work so hard just to move up the field so early in the race.

The field took the corners pretty well but turns 4 and 5 caused the field to spread out and unless you were in the first 10 or 20 riders to make it through you were only going to loose ground as the race progressed. I knew that before the race started. So in the first few laps I looked for ways up front by following this guy and that, and slowly I begin to get there. But…it was too late. Exactly what I though would happen had happened. The Cat 4 all-star team separates from the field. I was sitting perhaps 20 back when a xXx rider (I didn’t and still don’t know his name, but knew he is strong) made a move up the outside and I jumped on his wheel and followed him off the front. Dave (xXx) joined us and we become the chase group of three.
Here we all are feeling tough at the start of the short lived chase. I'm about to pull through on this stretch of road at about 28mph. Whew. The second lap of this kind of effort hurt pretty bad and it was not nearly as fast. Thanks for the photos Ken!

It is funny what you don’t think about when racing – especially chasing. I didn’t think about the riders in the break being strong enough and smart enough to not allow themselves to be caught. I didn’t think how great it was that the other two riders in the chase were xXx and that they had several more riders in the field hat will probably block for them. I didn’t think about what I would do when I eventually blow up for trying to push too hard on my pulls. I didn’t think about my parents and brother seeing all this. I didn’t think about what an exciting race we were creating. All I thought about was pulling and recovering.

I heard the announcer say the break was ~20 seconds off the front. Next lap I heard someone else in the crowd say we were 8 to 10 seconds back. After the race Nate said it was more like 15 seconds.
Here I am in the middle/end of a pull. Just after this point we started riding race tempo (25mph) and catching the break was still the goal, just not a very realistic one.

After only two or so laps off the front we pass through the infamous BK stacker with people waving at us to slow and I saw Nick Gierman and another rider are on the side of the road. I immediately think ‘ok, now the break is down two riders.’ We keep going. Then the officials at the next turn wave us down. The race is neutralized because the rider who crashed at the BK stacker ON THE PREVIOUS LAP remained on the course and this caused Nick to crash into him on the subsequent lap. I don’t understand why a guy can lay on the tarmac for 2 full min in the middle of a bike race and no one immediately helps get him out of harms way.

WTF? (insert several tons of apt criticisms here) Anyway…

The race stopped. We stood as instructed on the start line. The lactic acid in my legs just sat there doing what lactic acid does best. At least everyone else was in the same boat – well, almost. The race officials gave the break their 20 sec lead and then they restart us back with the field.

WTF??? (insert several more tons of apt criticisms here) Anyway…

Instant frustration. And the chase group? I guess we didn’t exist. Chase eliminated. Ok, fine at least I was right up front for the restart. It wasn’t too bad.

When we restarted, I missed my pedal and slipped. I must have bumped the chain because I also slipped gears. When I got back to speed I was once again at the rear of the pack with 5 laps to go (what happened to 7? or at least 6 laps???). I moved up but mentally was done. Frustrated, I didn’t have any race left in me. I placed 30th.

Other monkeys did great: Cat 4/5s: Moshe finished just behind me in the middle of the pack; Cat 4: Nate 2nd, Alex 4th, and Ernie 11th , Ken pack finish; Masters 40+, 1-3: Brian 12th (I think).

They stopped the pro 1/2 race that evening too. So, the officials were consistent and did their job the best they could. It wasn't perfect, but it really wasn't all that bad either.