Proctor Cycling Classic : Culver's Butterburgers

Proctor: State Criterium Championships (Cat 4), 6/28/09
Race #25

8/40

It’s funny how little I know about racing. I know how to be a fan; I know how to ride a bike in circles, really fast, and sometimes really really fast. But I don’t know how to race with a team. That is why I was thrilled to head to Peoria with Eric, Julian and Tim (Burnham Racing). So, I shut my mouth and soaked in as much as I could. Thanks for the ride Eric!

T1Report: I prefer racing in the morning. It’s so much easier to control my bloodsugars that way—sitting around all damn day waiting to race just sucks. My BGs were alright, I was a little high before the race and afterward I was very elevated (perhaps the sprint?). Nothing so out of the ordinary that it affected my performance.

Welcome back to summer racing!

Tough race. I worked hard—sometimes very hard and hardly any of it on and none of it off the front. Working on someone else’s terms takes more energy for some reason and so this was the hardest crit of the year so far. Well, for me anyway. Our average pace was a normal 25-26 but there were nutty gusts of wind, and it was hot, and I felt the heat way more today than I did last week at Cobb Park.

There was lots of action from the start and I was feeling all of it in the first 5-8 laps. As usual, I started in the back. Some riders tried to separate right away, stringing out the field and causing a gap—with me at the back! A few bridged up to it, exploding the field in the process. And at one point, I wasn’t sure what group I was in. The second? Third? I saw the race start to slip away from me. I knew didn’t have the legs to make any moves let alone bridge--I just held on wondered how much more of this I could take. Luckily the break was soon caught and the pace settled down.

This is where individuals and teams started to come into play. There were a few teams with a few riders but as usual: xXx (10) and Wild Card (5) were the most well represented. Individually xXx started to go off the front and Wild Card chased a few times, but then their workers were soon worked over and it was left to individuals—who were all, like me, looking for a bunch sprint. In other words, no one willing to do much work. A perfect time to separate from the field.

I missed Liam going off the front. I couldn’t have done anything about it anyway. Man, he earned the title with that effort! There was no chase behind him.

I wanted to do well in this race, and, overall, I did. Though, I didn’t do as well as I would have liked and that burns. Well, what can you do? Some days you have the legs, some days you just don’t. In the last lap I was actually surprised to be near the front. I took the outside lane through turn 7 and 8, got on a wheel and waited to start my sprint. I finished 8th.

Brighter days are sure to be ahead...