Downer's Grove

After the Chicago Criterium I really lost my mental edge. I took a week off from racing partly to rebuild my fitness and partly to just take a break from racing. It was definitely needed, but at the same time when I returned for the Glencoe Grand Prix as a newly minted Cat 3 that extra edge and motivation just wasn't there. Lackadaisical isn't quite the word to describe it, but it's close, and my result there was far from stellar.

Coming into Downer's I wanted to try and recapture that intensity I previously had. I wanted to come back and be aggressive again, stick myself into the thick of the race and see what I could make happen.

During the week I had two back to back workouts where the legs were uncharacteristically junky, so I wasn't sure what kind of form I'd bring to this race. My eye is on the road race championships next week and I had put in some hard work during the week. Fortunately my legs felt relatively fresh and that gave my a little boost before the start.

Lined up near the front, was slow to clip in or I don't know what, ended up near the back. Faaaaantastic. The first ten minutes or so were the typical faster than normal pace and moving up to improve my position just wasn't happening. In fact I wasn't able to move up at all until about twenty minutes or so into the race.

Not much was happening at this point beyond the $50 prime here and there to make the top ten guys stir things up. Another prime was announced for a bike fit. Hey, I could use that - I think my saddle is a smidge too forward. I gave it a thought of contesting, was still unable to move up effectively. I was sitting fifth wheel coming into the second to last turn, normally not so bad, but the lead seemed too far away and I didn't sprint.

One thing I could be pleased with however was that I was maintaining my position near the front well. Tim Hermanas (vw-Trek) made a move off the front and I wanted to be a part of it. I bridged up along with fellow Cat4 All Star, Ryan Freund (IIT), but I was really hurting at this point - not much gas left in the legs or lungs. There were only four laps left in the race, a fact I neglected to take notice of, and we were promptly shut down.

Coming back up the hill on turn three, with three to go, my race ended. I was stuck behind someone going backwards and lost a good fifteen spots. Meh. I can't blame my bad luck at that point for ruining my chances at a podium because maybe I could have made up those spots if I'd dug deep another level. I definitely tried to, but it wasn't there.

And then I got stung on the forehead by a bee or something while I was cooling down.

Unlike the beginning of the season I'm not beating myself up about a second poor finish. I've had a really fantastic season already so I'm playing with house money at this point. No doubt it's disappointing, but I'm still learning to be more aggressive and get a feel for racing at the next level.