We were told by weather.com that we had a 0% chance of showers, but driving down we realized that we might not be so lucky as we encountered some sprinkles.

We arrived in Racine and parked on the lake, the course was a pretty fun 8 – corner criterium, it had a very mild climb also. The back straight was a little bit of a mine field, I have never seen or done so much bunny hopping in a race.

We lined up with the intention of taking it a little easier than days past. I had decided to focus on the sprint today and decided to ride in the field for the day. Mark and Geoff also decided to not go in a breakaway but rather keep the field together for me.

The first break went in the first several laps and was brought back with a lot of work from Mark and Geoff. We then got a little sprinkle which turned into enough to coat the roads and make it slippery. I believe only one rider crashed when he skidded out, although throughout the rain many people got gapped and dropped in the corners and abandoned.

The roads started to dry and the speeds picked up a bit with that. Another break went which Geoff did a lot of work to reel in. A solo rider attacked in the straight and took a couple corners fast and the field seemed lax about reeling him in. Geoff drove the field hard to bring him back but there wasn’t much interest in bringing him back as one rider even said he didn’t want to work with geoff because it would help us win.

Coming into the final lap I was on Geoff’s wheel and we were sitting about 8th and 9th wheel coming into the 4th to last turn. On the 3rd to last turn the rider in front of Geoff let a big gap open up. We managed to close it coming as we turned the final turn but by then several guys had a decent advantage. I came around Geoff and only had time to pass a few riders leaving 2 ahead in the field and 1 up the road.

I ended up 4th on the day just one off the podium, Geoff was 6th, and Mark was 19th.

Good course, I wish the fields were bigger and populated with more teams. Tomorrow is a crit in Kenosha.

Peter

by Mark

I guess since I was on the podium today, it’s my job to write the race report, which I’ll do with pleasure. I can’t say enough good things about the teamwork that Peter and Geoff have carried out so far at Superweek. It feels really good to be the most dominant Cat. 3 team at Superweek.

Day 4 of our Superweek trip took us to Milwaukee’s beautiful Lakefront course, a classic race course that’s been used as a national championship venue in the past, with the likes of Greg Lemond winning here in the past.

Anyway, the ominous “scattered thunderstorm” forecast quickly gave way to mild, humid, and sunny weather for the duration of our race. Perfect conditions.

The course is a combination of two climbs into the historic neighborhoods of northeast Milwaukee, and two descents; connected by a long mostly flat stretch along Lake Michigan that leads to the finish line. The climbing adds to about 240 feet per lap, with just about 4.25 miles per lap.

The field stayed together for the first lap or two until a breakaway of 4 to 6 riders gained a little gap over the top of the 2nd climb, and continued to edge out a lead for a lap or so. We decided this was a dangerous move, so Geoff got to the front and strung out the field, while Peter and I quickly followed up his effort with our own strong pulls. The gap quickly closed, and soon we were all back together.

After a few more laps, another break of 4 or 5 went up the road. We decided we wanted to tighten the leash on this group too, so Peter and I went to the front and took some long intense pulls, helped out by a few guys from other teams. On the first climb shortly after the start/finish line, I continued the hard tempo up the hill. As I started to slow down from my effort at the front, Geoff hammered past me over the top of the hill and bridged a 200 meter gap to the breakaway in about 30 seconds, continuing up another shallow rise through the feedzone.

At that point, Peter and I rested in the field, surprised that no one else took up the chase to a very threatening breakaway that now contained Geoff. Over the next few laps, Geoff’s group extended their lead to at least 30 or 40 seconds as the rest of the field refused to raise the tempo. I commented to Peter once or twice that the race was over. We knew Geoff could win easily from that group.

Much to our surprise, a series of attacks and counterattacks, coupled with the breakaway’s lack of cohesion brought Geoff’s group back. Peter and I managed to cover every move that was made, defending Geoff’s position and hoping for a free ride to the leaders.

With 5 or 6 laps to go, Geoff’s group finally came back together between the first descent and the second climb. After the entire field sat up to recover, I went to the front and continued a steady 18 mph pace. Expecting everyone to be sitting in behind me, I looked back to see a gap between the field and I. Another racer soon joined me and that was it. He actually dropped me on the climb, but waited for me to catch up. I later learned that the pack behind us went up the hill ridiculously slow.

After trading good pulls for about 3 laps, I could tell my breakaway partner was starting to tire. Going up the hill right after two laps to go, I got a gap on him, and decided to go alone. Those hills for the last two laps seriously hurt (I was in the 39×25, struggling, going up the last climb of the race). Luckily I had Geoff and Peter discouraging anything resembling a chase. Once I came over the last hill with no one else in sight, I knew I could hold the lead for the last 1.5 miles with a tailwind. I continued driving hard until right before the finish when I was able to celebrate for a bit. I stuck around to see Sean, our friend from DePaul finish solo in 2nd place. A group of 5 or 6 took the places after him, and Geoff and Peter came across for 11th and 12th respectively, after getting boxed in in the field sprint.

It was a really rewarding day, considering our teamwork, the beautiful course, and the long duration of the race. Our goals for the rest of the week include continuing our streak of podium everyday.

-Mark-

BTR Crit, named for WMU’s Business, Technology, & Research Park, is one of the best crit venues in Michigan racing. It has always been plagued by low racer attendance for some reason, but turnout improved this year, probably as a result of moving the date from early August to early July.

Based on the short 50-minute drive from Grand Rapids, and the reasonable afternoon start times for Cat. 3, I was in a great mood to race.

For the Cat. 3 race, it was just Peter and I, as other eligible teammates were racing either masters or busy for the day. We got a solid warmup on the rural roads near the course, noticing the wind was pushing pretty hard out of the west, straight across US-131 onto the course. This is a common occurence at BTR.

Even though the car temp. gauge read mid-70’s throughout the day, it felt MUCH hotter while racing. Our plan was to cover attacks by other riders, and try to get in a move if something looked good. Given the apathetic racing throughout much of Michigan Cat. 3 racing this year, it’s usually a pretty good bet for a high finish.

Starting out, Peter covered the first acceleration or two, while I covered the next few. After sitting near the front for the first 10-15 minutes, I drifted back in the field to rest a bit – and sure enough the pack strung out due to some hard pace setting. After struggling briefly to hold wheels into the wind, things calmed down again, and everyone recovered a bit.

About 35 minutes into the 65-minute race, a Wolverine rider took a long steady pull into the head/crosswind with me sitting 2nd or 3rd wheel. As soon as we hit the little overpass right before the finishline, I accelerated hard with a high cadence, but not a full-out attack. I looked back and found myself separated from the pack, and happily noticed another racer – John Meyers – up the road. It was a great coincidence that he was there, because I had no idea anyone was ahead when I accelerated.

John soon noticed me closing in on him and sat up a bit to wait for my company. We kept our two-man break rolling along smoothly – I was encouraged by the fact that we were occasionally out of sight of the pack as we worked hard into the wind. Although I did about 2/3rds of work in the break, much of that was on the very fast (and easy) tailwind stretch of the course. John Meyers really helped me out giving me a break into the headwind.

After splitting a couple primes, John let me know that he was pretty tired from racing masters earlier in the day, so it looked like I was in for the win if we could stay away. We kept getting 20-25 second time gap reports, so we kept pushing. On the last lap, a 4-man chase group got very close to us, but we were able to hold them off. John sat up in the last 150 meters, to let me solo across the line for the win – my first this year. It was a great race, a great win and a great payday. Looking forward to BTR 2010!