Leadout Racing » Crit

DeBaets-Devos Pro-Am Criterium Cat. 3

Leadout Racing — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 18:54:23 +0000

This was the first of three races that I had planned on doing for the day. Mark, Mike, Peter, and myself lined up and had our normal plan ready. The plan was to see what happens and react. The race was pretty uneventful as many people tried to get into breaks, but everything was shut down fairly quick. Leadout put in their fair share of chasing and the field seemed to be willing to work also. The one break I thought would work was when Mark and an MCG guy went off the front. Zack from MCG and I patrolled the front and it seemed like no one wanted to go around us. A couple of guys bridged up and the field finally decided that was enough and put in a decent effort and brought them back. On the 2nd to last lap the pace really slowed as people were anticipating the sprint. On the last lap Mike and I found ourselves on the front. We quickly decided I was going to sprint and he began the leadout. Just as we were getting up to speed, Mark rolled by and took over at the front. Having Mike in front of me was good, but with Mark and Mike I felt we already had the win. Mark took us up to the last 180 turn and left it up to Mike and I. It was still a long way to go and I could see that Kevin Collins was on my wheel. As Mike was climbing the incline to the finish straight I became nervous of the field and came around Mike. It was a looong way to the finish and I had started my sprint. I gapped Kevin a little but let up a little in hopes that someone would come around and lead me to the line. No one came and I hammered down the whole straight. Kevin stayed behind me until the very end and squeeked out the win as I finished second. Second place is good, but I really hated not crossing the line in first as I felt like my teammates worked hard enough for me to win.

Dan K

Cherry-Roubaix Old Town Crit Masters 35+ & Cat. 3

Leadout Racing — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 16:45:47 +0000

All week the forecast for Traverse City was cold and rainy. Come Saturday morning the weatherman was perfect, as it was in the high 50’s with lots of precipitation. The course was great, but the weather was going to be the biggest factor. There was a stretch of road that was bricks and looked to be quite slippery. As the masters race began a lot of guys were being extremely careful. A small group of riders willing to take some chances with the slippery conditions started to form at the front. The group didn’t really breakaway as much as they just slowly left the overly cautious people behind. I think we had 6-8 people in the lead group and most of the race was pretty uneventful except some unknown rider made a little break in the middle of the race. He went off all alone for a few laps and appeared to be quite strong. We pulled him back and then with about 4 laps to go he broke away again. He continued to extend his lead as I and the group thought we could bring him back. The last 2 laps were pretty frantic as we put in big efforts to chase him down. On the second to last lap I lead around the last corner about as fast as I could. I heard the unmistakable sound of bike on pavement and looked back to see the rest of the group was taken out. Second place was all mine, but now I had to chase all alone. He had about 20 seconds on me and I gave it everything I had. I ended up in second place by 2 seconds and I am sure we would have caught him had the whole group stayed upright.

At the start of the Cat. 3 race I was feeling rather miserable. I was soaking wet still from the masters race and was freezing. It was a very similar start to the masters race as there was a division between the cautious riders and those willing to push it. After a few laps 2 guys, Brian Hill and Adam York, began to break away. I was toward the back of the pack and had no chance to go with them. I quickly moved to the front and began to pull in an effort to bring them back. I had no intension of trying to bridge by myself, but that is what it turned into. I had made up about half the distance when another rider went flying by, I put in a huge effort to get on his wheel and we worked our way to the 2 leaders together. The guy that helped me bridge up was pretty cooked and he soon fell back to the pack and the 3 of us rode the rest of the way. Brian was pulling extremely hard and Adam wasn’t much of a help, as he was sliding all over the place and worked to catch up on almost every straightaway. On the last lap Brian motioned for me to pull through and I decided it was time to start setting up for the finish. I sat in behind him and he realized I wasn’t going to pull. He quickly resumed his pace and pulled Adam and I the whole last lap. I guess he thought he was strong enough to take it the whole way. As we rounded the last corner I started my sprint and didn’t have any trouble going around. I was sort of suprised that I didn’t see Adam and as we crossed, it was me in first and Brian was able to hold off Adam for second.

All in all, a good day of racing. It is too bad the weather was so miserable because the coarse was pretty fun and fast.

Dan K.

Tour de Gaslight Crit Masters 35+ and Cat. 3

Leadout Racing — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 00:26:46 +0000

I had registered for both races and wanted to focus on the masters race and just help out in the Cat 3. The masters race went as planned as Dan S. and Jimmy made constant attacks for the first part of the race. I take a little longer to warm up and didn’t make any moves until about 15 minutes into the race. Dave Baar made a big attack and I thought now would be a good time to go. It was! We formed a break of 8 riders. Dave and I did most of the work and I even felt good enough to get on a few guys who weren’t doing any work. Our lead continued to climb throughout the race, due mostly to my great teammates killing the pace in the field. As the race neared the end I continued to feel awesome and was pretty sure I could out sprint the group. As we rolled around turn 2 on the last lap Dave Barr put in a huge effort. Houston Peterson was on his wheel and I was comfortably in third. Dave carried his lead into the last corner, I jumped just before Houston and took it all the way for the win.

The Cat 3 race was quite a bit different as no break got away and I sat back for most of the race. Once again Dan S made some attacks in the beginning, but nothing was working. About halfway through the race I was feeling pretty good and made my way to the front to patrol for my teammates. Mark put in a few attacks but this group would not let anything go. Dan S and Mark had some great efforts toward the end to try and breakaway, but this race was going to come down to a field sprint. With 2 laps to go I placed myself toward the front and with one left I moved right to the front. As we rounded the 2nd turn I backed off to see what was forming. Right away 2 MCG guys went by and I decided they were my leadout. The guy in front carried us to the last corner. The other MCG guy and I started our sprints, I got the lead, actually sat down and shifted, then stood back up to finish off the sprint to the line. I had guys on both sides of me , but I was able to hold them off.
Dan K

BTR Crit Cat 4

Leadout Racing — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 12:37:35 +0000

Paul Havens and I rode down to the BTR Crit in Kzoo. When we left we were a little skeptical as it was 6 am and pouring down rain. Our race started at 8:40. At about 8 am it stopped raining and we were able to get a couple of practice laps in before the Cat 4 race. By the time our race started most of the puddles had disappeared but the road was still completely wet. The announcer said we were starting with 47 riders, gave us our guidelines and we were off. I went right to the front and took a full-lap pulll to get things started. My goal was to make sure we started off at a good pace and also to set an expectation that we weren’t going to be sitting up the whole time and waiting for a sprint. After the first lap I slid back a few spots and went around the first 90 degree corner right on the inside. I got pushed into the far inside of the corner and had to go right over a wet metal drain cover. My wheel slid as soon as I hit it and that was the last time I was going anywhere near that! For the next 30 minutes everything was pretty “typical cat 4.” Someone would try and go off the front of the group and everyone would chase. We’d regroup, then someone would put another effort into getting off the front and get caught. Paul was probably the most successful breakaway. He went by himself with about 4 or 5 laps to go. He got out probably 100 yards and some people behind me started griping. Heard stuff like “he’s not going for the prime, he is going for the win, we better try and catch him.” Paul took the prime and let himself come back (with a brand new pair of SRAM socks, a $19 value!). Leadout has definitely made a reputation for itself because I heard people saying to “watch the leadout guys.”

Going into the last half of the last lap I found myself getting pushed out of position. I needed to move forward so I went to the inside and road the concrete curb up to 5th or 6th wheel. The last corner had been giving me problems all day and the last lap was definitely the worst. As we went into the wet last turn my wheel slid out from under me. It caught about a foot later but killed my momentum. I got my bearings and jumped out of my saddle to regain my speed and try and get a position. I sprinted past a couple of guys but couldn’t get to the top 3 since they had accelerated through the corner. I finished 4th overall. Paul got blocked in right at the end and finished in the field just behind me.