Just as everyone has been blogging about this past weekend was the state champs crit and road race in Norfolk, NE. The road race was on Saturday and was comprised of two 32 mile laps on a rolling course. The crit was Sunday in downtown Norfolk. I've ridden both courses before and new both were tough.
Before I give my run down let me preface it with this. Coming into this last weekend, my results since upgrading to cat 4 last spring have been fairly lackluster with only a top 10 placing in the time trial at Branched Oak this spring. I know I can do better but just haven't been on form or ridden any race well yet. With that in mind my objective for the weekend was to do my best, watch for splits and try and get some top 10's and hopefully finally some cat 3 upgrade points. Coming off a great week of training at high altitude back home in ABQ..my legs had felt really good since returning to Omaha I was hoping that would help...so here's the run down.
Saturday Road Race:
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| MWC Cat 4's |
At roll out I found a spot mid pack and settled into a day of being patient. We had a NE wind which meant the south bound section of rollers would have a nice tail wind and would be fast, but also our west bound section on the 2nd half of the course would feature a nice head cross wind and a selection would likely happen there on the second lap. With that in mind I decided stay middle of pack and out of the wind for the first lap. Mike soloed off the front early in lap 1 though. Jim W. and Rich Pearson went to the front to bring him back...I decided to insert myself into their rotation and not really work just to see what would happen. Mike sat up after a short stint and was back in the pack. I stayed up front and put in a couple hard efforts to test myself and was able to gap the field easily over a hill. With that in mind, I settled back to mid pack.
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| Strung out on lap 1, Photo Courtesy of: Lois Brunnert |
As soon as we caught the guy from CPC, he attacked again but we quickly caught him. I noticed him and a couple others making plans to attack again. On the next hill they went, I marked and countered and gapped the field. The guy from CPC, Richter, and two others caught up to me and we had a break. We started working hard but as soon as we got organized Rich Pearson was pulling the peloton back to us. So failed break.
As we turned onto the headcross wind section it was do or die. The same guys were on the front. I was sitting about 8th wheel behind Jim. Everyone was going full gas pinned to the yellow line. On one of the first hills it happened...Kaboom peloton ripped apart. Winkelpleck cracked in front of me and all 3 BP boys went backwards. I had to jump to get to the lead group of 8 now. Just at the crest of the hill I caught on and that was it. We started rotating and putting time between us and the rest of the now crushed field.
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| Norfok Road Race Cat 4 Overall Podium |
With 4 to go we all settled down and the pace dropped a lot we were visibly marking each other. With 1 to go both EVCC guys attacked, we all countered and dropped them. With less than a mile to go the pace picked up. I didn't have it for the sprint though and finished 5th on the day. Good enough for 2nd place in the state champs 30-39 and in the money for the first time.
Sunday Crit
Now I love this course. Its fun, flat, and FAST. Going into it, I was thinking I just want to finish on the lead lap. I figured the day before may have worked me over and wasn't sure how well I'd do. At the start I slipped a pedal again and ended up in the back which was where I stayed for the first 20 minutes.
After 20 minutes something happened and for me it was probably the best thing possible. Our race got neutralized do to a train. While we were stopped Mike came over and asked where I had been and I explained slipping a pedal and ending up almost tail gunner.
His response: "you got to be aggressive man."
Duh! Jeremy you're here to race...
On the restart pace lap, I was still in back but for some reason there was 5 feet of daylight for me on the s/f straight. With that, I gassed it and went right to the front and pushed my way into the line. I led one lap and swapped with mike for a couple of pulls making the pace nice and hard. We now had 11 laps to get it done.
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| FTW! Photo Courtesy of: Lois Brunnert |
Next lap was a preme lap and I decided to go for it. I led around on that lap and gassed it down the s/f. Got third in that sprint behind Richter. I reinserted myself and had to start jockeying for position. With 3 to go I head Mike say to Greg from BP that we need to be at the front now. I waited 1 more lap and then kicked hard on the s/f line to advance to 5th wheel. With 1 to go we were flying I held the 5th place spot through the last corner. The guys at the front opened the sprint early and before I knew it I was going full gas with a long ways to the line. I made up one spot. Mike Kicked hard and went rocketing by me. I crossed the line in 4th place. Mike got the big W. The result got me another state champs medal (bronze in the 30-39).
Wrapping it up
I learned a bunch this weekend:
1) I don't sprint well
2) I should try to attack
3) Being patient also helps
4) But also be more aggressive
All that said it was a great weekend. From the personal side, I exceeded my expectations. I brought home two state medals, I was in the money both days, and finally I earned 5 upgrade points.
For the MWC team, it was awesome to see Mike get the win on Sunday. In the 1/2/3 categories we had a great showing sweeping the crit podium and a few state champ crownings as well. In cat 5, Kevin had a great race after having already raced Masters just a little while before. Oh and Leah took both the road and crit 1/2/3 womens state champ titles. Well done boys and girl!
2 comments:
Get a single speed and ride in in ridiculous hear like 48x16 or 15 then you will be able to sprint like a champ
You think you've got to learn how to sprint? Get in line.....
Great write-up, though. Nice job last weekend.
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