Some Race Reports

Darin; applying the hammer

Here are three race reports from Darin;

Baraboo Sharks Road Race - Sauk County road race was as bad as it was last year with one steep climb and many other long but not so steep climbs. It was cold, windy and drizzly. My goal for the day was to hang on to the main bunch and watch the climbers go off the front. Five guys that made up three different groups got off the front. A new guy in our class did a 30 mile solo break and climbed with an 11/21 rear cassette, my guess is that he should not be in our category. We could see the other groups ahead from our pack of about thirteen. I suffered like a dog not to get spit off the back on the big climb. At one point Russ turned around to see who the guy behind him was that was breathing so hard, it was me. On the first big descent I tried to bridge the gap up to the second chase group, they pack let me go and I made it about 2/3's of the way before I gave up knowing that I had a big climb ahead. In the end we had a bunch sprint and I had nothing left in my legs and finished 13th overall in the race. This was way better than last year's results.
 
Wheel & Sprocket Crit - The next day was the Wheel and Sprocket Crit up in Neenah. The weather was nice but windy. The course was in a neighborhood and flat and fast. Today I felt great, if there ever was a day I could of won a race today was the day. The entire race I felt great and kept myself in position for the sprint finish. On the second to last turn some guy stood his bike up and gave up right in front of me, so I had to chase to catch back onto the train. Going into the last turn I had to move around some guys and I sprinted to catch a few at the line. I finished 7th overall. I was happy with my ride and couldn't do anything about the guy who gave up in mid turn.
 
Muskego Park Criterium - Today (May 12th) was the Muskego Park Crit/Roadrace. A lot of the races we do are called crits but they are more like Nascar short track races, just one big circle. Muskego has one fast right turn at the bottom of a big hill. There is a 100 foot climb each lap and that is where the finish line is located. Muskego has a bad history of crashes that includes a death, a guy that almost died two years ago, and Barry and Mike and Elvis all crashing there. This last week my legs did not feel good all week and no matter what I did my heart rate was low, this is not a good sign. Today when I woke up I didn't want to go racing and every time I walked up the stairs of my house my legs felt very tired. The race once again had a huge field, 64 guys.
 
The entire race went like this...fifteen guys across the road trying to get to the front, guys going off the road and coming back on and almost taking everybody down, your sitting in 10th place one second and 50th the next, your climbing the hill and dodging guys all the way up who are slow/almost hitting someone else/dropping a chain/blah blah blah.
 
So on the last lap I'm in lets say 15th place when everybody goes around the outside and now I'm stuck in the middle with no where to go. Coming into the final turn I make up some spots on the brakes and start the run to the uphill sprint finish, or so I thought. Once again right in front of me at 30mph guys start going down, some guy smashes into my right side causing my foot to unclip, and while I'm trying to stay upright a guy is on the ground sliding in front of me so I have to try and veer around him and I miss hitting his head by about an inch, at 30mph. I clip my foot back in and sprint to the finish to get 24th overall. I'm not happy about all of this but it could be much worse, I could of been in one of the three ambulances that took the crashers away. I'm taking the next four days off the bike to rest up my legs, we have a double weekend again this week. I'm still in second overall in my class, the guy who is ahead of me is getting a bigger gap as we go along. 

Whipped after a race