SIU Collegiate Weekend

So saturday and sunday was another collegiate cycling race only this time in Carbondale IL.

Road race saturday was 42 miles of really nice rolling terrain with a couple decent hills for good measure. Really nice course that wound around through national forest land and skirted a lakeside. It reminded me a lot of the rural roads around Washington, MO. Unfortunately the legs were not there for the RR (least not for the hills). I decided to play it patient, and let the decisive breakaway get off within the first couple of miles. that was frustrating. But, the peloton didn't rest and wasn't controlled by teams working for their mates up the road. Instead there were brief periods when we'd organize and chase for about 10 minutes, catch our quarry, then go back to attacking one another. that's all well and good, but we had a breakaway hovering only about 30' - a minute ahead and never organized fully. i got dropped a climb and just rode around for another lap to get some mileage in. I felt like i was riding pretty well, and had okay fitness, i just didn't respond well to the constant on/off riding we were doing. i've got the top end for a handful of meaningful attacks, but not the recovery for one every couple of minutes.

Sunday's criterium was better. It was a very short (1k) and moderately technical (7 turns including a 180) loop around campus. it had a bit of elevation and rain to make things interesting. looking at it, it looked technical enough to support a breakaway effort and i rode the first couple of laps expecting one of the jumps to stick, but the after familiarizing ourselves with the course, the peloton was able to get through everything really fluidly. So i ended up riding in the first 1/3 of the field primarily and found myself in a couple of moves, but nothing meaningful. coming into the finish i was sitting 4th or 5th wheel and ended up slammed into a marian rider by a careless move from someone else. i watched my front tire slide between his shoe and chainrings, the drift back into his rear der. , then out. we were both fine, but i lost a couple places and lost my nerve to mix it up an a field sprint. truthfully though, i had no legs to sprint on, so i don't think i missed out on much. i probably finished top 10 since the race had disintegrated, but i was at the back of the peloton or finishing group.

the slu representation was great though. Saturday we had 13 riders and they took the C race by storm with Hackett bro's taking 2/3, vince 6th (i think), and mike 13th. nice work guys!

Lindenwood Criterium

Lindenwood Collegiate Criterium was a very warm welcome back to competitive cycling for 2010. The race itself was a 1 kilo flat loop with a section of smooth cobblestones and a couple semi-technical turns. The only thing to slow it down was a headwind along the river.

Race Review: I sat in the first 20 minutes, then found myself a couple seconds off the front with another group of 2 riders some 20 seconds up the road. I hit it. it took me a lap and a half to bridge the gap and when i did, i blew up. In retrospect, the move was too early, too reckless, and had my breakway companions attacked me given up the effort, my race would have likely been over.

Sunday though, it worked. My breakaway companions (Nick from Marian and a guy from Indiana whose name i never caught) let me sit on for couple laps and after we began smooth paceline rotations and were able to make significant time on the peloton with the Marian team chasing anything and everything off the front of it.

I was really committed to the breakaway. I had not anticipated a podium finish and when one was potentially in sight, i wanted to make it work. In hindsight, i really didn't have the mentality to win. I was content the minute i was guaranteed a second place finish. Potentially, i could have won the race - although i doubted my legs, i think i was stronger than Nick, my final breakaway companion. i think it was a case of me being primarily competitive with myself, meeting/exceeding my own expectations, then failing to get competitive with other B collegiate racers.

Today i want to win. its probably less feasible, but i want the top spot.