The Cone Azalia Road Race is a race that truly exemplifies Michigan; a grid of flat, notoriously horrible roads, and farmland all around. Except for the terrible potholes in 2011 that snake-bit my tire after 6 miles, I have always had a reasonably good ride at here. 2012 was my fourth visit. The mood at the start line was very positive due to warm, sunny weather and road conditions that were remarkably good by Cone standards – maybe the best conditions in race history. At any rate, I was very confident of seeing the finish, riding my Bontrager Race 25-mm All-Weather tires. The durable casing and the tread pattern were perfect for the gravel roads, but still allowed for low friction on the paved sections.

Bryan Kuyper and I were the Leadout representation in the 5 lap, 50-mile cat 3 race, including 20 miles of gravel. We talked about our options before the race, with a plan for one of us to get into a breakaway, and then have the other bridge to him, either solo or in a small group. We did a quick run-down of who was in our field, including good sprinters and good breakaway companions. Luckily for me I did not have to do the hard work that Bryan did.

After two relatively uneventful laps, BK attacked near the finish line starting the third lap, and brought a few other riders with him, including Luke Oostindie of East Hills Velo. I noticed a gap forming, and I was quick to make the short bridge up to them. The front end of the field was about to capture our brief escape just before we crossed the RR tracks into gravel. True to form, BK put in a big attack at this opportune time. Only Luke was able (or willing?) to go with him. The gap was immediate, as the rest of the field looked around for someone to work. Shortly thereafter, a few riders took up the pace, but Anthony Prentice of Priority Health, one of the strongest and most aggressive riders in the day’s race, suffered a tire puncture. We would not see him again, and this shifted the odds in Leadout’s favor.

BK had pulled away from Luke Oostindie after a couple miles in the breakaway, and was left to ride the final 27-or-so miles by himself while Luke rejoined the main field. By picking out landmarks in the distance, I gauged his advantage at anywhere from 15 to 45 seconds throughout the race. Never out of sight, but always just out of reach. Once I saw BK reach the final corner with a 30-second gap, I raised my fist to cheer because I knew he had won it.

This cat 3 field had a number of strong riders. However, various chase attempts stalled due to a lack of cooperation and consistent effort among teams and individual riders – just what we had hoped for before the race when we planned to get in a breakaway. I did my best to position myself near the front of the group to disrupt the rotation of the chase, and ended up being fairly well rested for the final sprint to the line.

On the final straight 1.5 miles, our speed hovered around 15-17 mph between a few brief surges as everyone had given up on the chase and wanted to save every ounce of energy for the sprint. As I expected, the sprint started too early, into and headwind, so I picked a wheel and wound up my speed patiently. I was worried for a moment about being over-geared, but I soon sped up to a comfortable cadence. Just past the 200-meter sign, I made my final acceleration and didn’t look back. I crossed the line first from our diminished field, for 2nd place overall. I circled back soon after the finish line and congratulated BK for all his hard work that allowed us to finish first and second on the day.

Winning the field sprint - photo courtesy of Scott Kroske, WSC

Admittedly I have neglected my blogging duties over the past few weeks. I was supposed to write Part 2 of our Kentucky training trip. That was 6 or 7 weeks ago. Old news. In short, we rode lots of hills and twisty roads, saw lots of dogs and trailers, and managed to find 7000+ feet of elevation on our 91-mile day. It was an excellent weekend of riding our bikes and telling stupid jokes.

Last weekend (April 21-22) Lori and I spent the weekend in Chicagoland. April 21 is Lori’s birthday, so it was quite a treat for her to spend 2 nights in a ghetto hotel in the western suburbs. We did enjoy a classy dinner at a nice Greek restaurant Saturday night, so all is well on the domestic front. Saturday was Leland Kermesse, a gravel road race on a 25 KM loop of flat farm roads. Fellow Leadouts Ben Groenhout and Bryan Kuyper joined the fun, getting to the hotel at about 2 AM. The race totally blew apart from the very first gravel section, and I was disappointed to find that I could not keep the pace of the front groups. BK (also in the cat 3 race) suffered a similar fate, and we both dropped out after 100 KM following intense muscle soreness in the “saddle area” from all the rough gravel road jostling. Ben represented well for Leadout, placing mid-pack in the cat 4 race. He also did 100 KM, but that was his full race distance. Results can be found here.

Mark, Ben, and Bryan discussing the savagery of the Leland Kermesse.

Sunday was the Lincoln Park Criterium on Lake Michigan on Chicago’s north side. WIND was the story of the day here. With temperatures in the low 50’s and mostly sunny, it should have been a decent day, but 20 mph winds off the fifth largest lake on earth make it feel very frigid. Joined by BK again and Mike Vandenberg, we would put on extra layers and crank up the heater in the car between races to stay warm. Since the event had a masters 30+ race and other combined category fields, I was able to do 3 races on the day. Early in the day, Mike raced the cat 4’s and finished respectably despite field fragmented by increasing winds.

I picked up a cash prime in the first race (30+) and was able to ride near the front pretty easily the entire race. Only a poorly timed late bridge attempt to the winning pair scrapped any chances I had for a good sprint finish.

In the cat 3 race, friend of the team Eric Blankenship (Rhythm Racing, Chicago) made a bold solo breakaway attempt from the gun. Despite a chase that came within 20 feet of him after a few laps, he persevered and extended his lead again. I was in the right place and initiated the flurry of moves that soon allowed 3 or 4 people to catch me, drop me, and bridge up to Eric to form the winning move. I was caught in no-mans-land for a few laps of frustration before resigning myself to the field. Guess I should have done more intervals in the winter. BK and I both finished mid-pack again.

The 1/2/3 race was really a non-event for the Leadout boys. I think the first 2 races combined with 10 minutes of shivering at the start line really took me out of it mentally. I was back to my old ways of tailgunning the field. The race was not a whole lot faster, but the jumps out of the 180-degree turn were certainly more consistently aggressive. Not good at the back of the pack. BK and I both DNF’d about a half hour into the race. Full Lincoln Park results are here.

Although I’m not quite happy with my race fitness at this point, I was pleased to be riding pretty aggressively during the crits, and doing so without a ton of struggle. My spidey senses…err…race awareness was pretty strong, I just need to make the body execute better. Good early weekend in a long season.

Accelerating out of the 180-degree turn

Wow I can’t believe I forgot to add how grateful I was to have my Soigneur embrocation for my pasty white legs on this chilly spring weekend. Warmth without bulky tights or leg/knee warmers is fantastic. If there was ever a time for it, this was it.

The course was laps of an 8 mile loop with 4 miles of dirt roads. My race was in the second wave of races so the dirt roads had some try to dry out a bit more without getting dusty. There were eight Marian riders, seven Lindenwood, and four Purdue riders at the start. The rest of the field consisted of teams represented by one or two riders.

The first two laps were continual attacks instigated primarily by Lindenwood and Marian riders. The first two times through the dirt section saw gaps open frequently in all areas of the field so there was a lot of welding gaps and chasing.  The frustrating part of being a one-man team was being unable to follow all the moves; going with a select few, and letting others go without being able to put up a fight. After two laps of  racing a break finally formed and the field slowed to a casual conversational pace for the next couple laps. The casual pace was probably a good thing since I had lost a bottle of Infinit in the dirt section on the second lap and only had a water hand up during the race. The race picked up a bit on the last lap, and I tried to get good positioning for the sprint, but without much knowledge of the other riders it was a lot of gambling. I didn’t end up picking a good wheel, and ended up rolling across 8th in the sprint, 16th for the day. It was a day that left me a bit frustrated and looking forward to the next day.

UofM Criterium

Being outnumbered was the story of the weekend

Drove in with Thomas from our “host housing”, to meet both our bicycles and the Calvin College Team, bright and early in time for the first races of the day. I enjoyed snapping some photos of the Men D, and C races and then it was off to the McDonalds up the road for oatmeal, coffee, and a live feed of the Tour of Flanders. After getting caffeinated, fueled, and giddy watching Tommeke win in Flanders, it was time to get back to the course to get ready and have some of Infinit’s Mud to top off my pre-race meal. I broke the rule of not messing with equipment before a race by changing my tires from the puncture resistant tires I used for the road race to my Bontrager R3s for the crit. Also, with the Madone being new I hadn’t nailed down the perfect saddle position so I made a few adjustments there, but it  finally felt PERFECT. Topped the perfect pre-race prep with some Soigneur and I felt good.

The road was 95% dry by the time we started which helped assuage any concerns about wet corners. The first lap there was already a move by Marian and in my excitement I followed the obviously doomed first lap move. The race was then a series of attacks primarily by Marian and Lindenwood. Purdue, Northwestern, Notre Dame, and myself stayed active ourselves, and with the continual activity the field eventually split and I was on the front side of the move. After a short period without too many attacks and a lot of distance to the rest of the field a trio with one Marian, Lindenwood, and Purdue made it off the front and managed to stay away and close the last bit of distance to lap the field. Our move still had a few attacks but nothing that stuck, and then with the closing laps it settled. With one Marian making a flyer with 1.5 laps to go and nobody chasing, the sprint was on for 5th. I had to gamble again on sprint positioning but being in a break and having a little better feel for the other riders I had much better positioning from the day before. The downhill sprint made for a sustained sprint and I had a good wheel, but wasn’t able to close on the last Marian who started a couple wheels up. I was pretty content ending the day 6th overall. Having to race with no teammates against a few strong teams and individuals it makes me look forward to racing this summer with teammates.

Next race will be Purdue which should be an interesting event with Linsdsey Wilson back from spring break to add some variety to the inevitable attacks by pairs ofMarian and Lindenwood.

Full results for the road race can be found here, and the results for the criterium here.

Another great write up on the racing can be found here.

Once we arrived at the start, it was all business as Geoff and I attempted to look calm and relaxed.  We decided to ride the first part of the race as our warm-up and it was really cool to see all the big names out and about.  I felt like a little kid as Geoff and I would pass someone then laugh and talk about how good they are.  Everyone started lining up about 15 minutes early and we were able to secure a fairly decent spot towards the front.  The really fast guys covered the front row and we were right behind.  The next thing you know we are off headed down the street at 30mph.  The pace was crazy, but I was able to hold my position.  As we neared the end of the pavement it got a little hot as guys tried to move up at the last second.  I placed myself right in the middle, held my ground and was happy to be sitting about 20th.  The first 2 track was pretty uneventful with no big issues.  Once onto the first single track gaps started to open up and I was getting nervous.  Once back on double track I put in a big effort and was able to latch on to the end of the lead train.  It was about 20 guys and we already were getting a decent gap.  Everything was going well then we came to a little hill with a turn at the bottom.  I could see guys slowing way down and tried to cut the corner and shoot by, but the guy in front of me unclipped and I ran right into his leg.   I had to unclip and run the hill and the lead pack was now gone.  I had a little while by myself, but a few guys came back from the lead group and a couple caught me and we continued to clip along.  The rest of the race we stayed pretty much together as a group of 7 and were really hammering.  Mike Simonson and Derek Graham were killing it and setting a blistering pace.  I stayed with the group up Anita’s Hill, up Icebreaker, but lost a little ground on the final single track and then lost a lot of ground up Woodchip, although Dan McGraw did his best to try and make me faster by yelling at me all the way up.  I was able to finish 5th out of the group and 20th overall.  Geoff came across a few minutes later and just missed being in the top 50.  I was stoked to see that I finished so high and had to keep looking at my computer to confirm my time of 1:37.  I know the course was fast, but I never thought I could go under 1:40.  It was an absolutely awesome race and I am very thankful to have the ability to ride with guys that are some of the fastest around.

Keegan and Laura also did well and had very respectable times of 2:19 and 2:35.  Keegan ended up 22nd in his group, but was the first 12 year old and even the first person under 15.  I hope that he continue’s to love racing and if he keeps improving he will win this race someday!

Dan K