Leadout Racing » Podium

Superweek Race 6/Chase Food Folks & Spokes(Cat. 3)

Leadout Racing — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 00:31:33 +0000

Today’s race was a straight forward four corner rectangular criterium with no elevation change at all. There was one corner that was a little tight, one that was a sweeper and two 90 degree corners. The only other distinguishing feature was a small chicane on the back stretch, but it wasn’t big enough to really cause the pack any problems. Mark, Peter, and I were finally reunited with Dan K who was back after going home for a few days. Due to the strange lack of organization in the field and the general feeling that we were supposed to do the lions share of the work because we were the most cohesive team we decided it was a good day to weld any gaps that opened up and keep things together for a field sprint so we could set up a train and hopefully get a win. There were a few moments when I was stuck on the front to long that I doubted our plan but with everyone chipping in it soon became easy to control things and bring everything back. Inside the last 15 laps I stayed in the first 10 places almost all the time and just stayed in position for the coming sprint. With between 5 and 3 Peter, Mark, and Dan materialized at the front and with two to go we lined up a wheel off the front and prepped for the last lap. Mark brought things up to speed shortly after 2 to go, Peter upped the pace and as we dove into corner 1 on the last lap two guys jumped in front of Dan K. At this point I got a little worried but he handled it awesome and pulled us back up to them easily. Dan dove into the last two corners with me on his wheel and as we sped onto the finishing straight the two guys in front of us pushed outside and toasted Dan’s momentum. I had the choice of braking and hoping he got it back or starting my sprint early, and opted to jump from about 250 meters into a headwind. As in Evanston I was worried about riders coming out of drafts but never saw anyone in my peripheral vision and took my second win of the week. This was another great effort for the team and they made the win seem far too easy. I owe all 3 of them a huge thank you. Dan managed to hang on for 10th, with Mark and Peter just sitting on the field and getting credit for the finish after their work was done.

GBK

Superweek Race 3/Whitnall Crit(Cat. 3)

Leadout Racing — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 21:32:53 +0000

We had our first race of the week without Dan K as he decided racking up points for the season at Grattan was a better idea than duking it out for a couple extra days in Wisco. Thankfully he will be back for the last couple of days. Mark, Peter, and I figured that today would be a pretty easy day and didn’t have a problem with that considering tomorrow is the Lakefront Road Race. We were right to a certain point as the field took it easy around the rolling 1.1 mile course. With a 120 degree turn and a climb following the finishing straight a small group rolled off the front with 20 or so laps to go. It swelled to about 10 riders, including Mark, before I decided the gap was big enough to cross without dragging anyone with me. Catching the break was the easy part as no one wanted to cooperate for the first 5 laps I was there. 3 or 4 of us did all the work and trimmed the group to 7 riders that worked pretty well together. The gap inched up slowly until 3 laps to go when we had almost 2 minutes on the field. The last lap didn’t go as planned as no one in the field would work with us and I got stuck on the front for too long. No gaps opened up as I rolled off and I got stuck sprinting from the back as Mark lead the sprint out. I ended up 3rd with Mark taking 7th and Peter rolling in for 11th and a good placing in the field sprint.

GBK

Superweek Race 2/Whitnall RR(Cat. 3)

Leadout Racing — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 00:48:51 +0000

With Peter borrowing a pair of pedals for the rest of the week, we were able to bring the full team of Peter, Dan K, Mark, and myself out to play at today’s road race. The course was closer to a circuit race being only 14 laps of a 2.5ish mile circuit. We had decided to keep the race animated, and after some shadow boxing early on I attacked on the power climb to the finish at 2 laps in and ended up riding mostly solo for the next 3+ laps, although midway through Peter bridged across and hung in for about half a lap before going back to slow things up. Eventually the strung out field brought me back and of course Dan K was patrolling the front so I rolled straight off the front with a group of 4 and stayed out for a few more laps in a break that wasn’t overly motivated to work together. Upon getting reabsorbed riders kept making small little attacks that only resulted in the pace staying decently fast and no one getting away. In the second half of the race a decent break got away without any Leadout representation, but 3/4 of a lap with Dan, Mark, and I whipping up the pace brought them back and served as the crushing blow to the field as no one ever attacked us again. With 3 laps to go Mark kept the pace fast on the hill, and the field rolled around at a decent pace as Dan and I rolled to the front. I sat up and gave Dan a gap and it kept opening up. Sean Piper, Nick’s friend/roommate, rolled around me and up to Dan, and just like that the winning break was formed. No one including Dan and Sean thought they had a chance as it all happened at low speeds, but no one chased and the gap grew. They rolled around for two laps as Mark, Peter, and I discouraged chasing and bridging efforts. Coming into the sprint we could see Dan taking 2nd to Sean just a little bit in front of us. I was a little to far back in field and asked Peter to kill himself for me on the steep bottom part of the hill to get me in place for the last 100 meters. Peter did more than enough work to pull me even with the very front of the field and I was able to take the field sprint with a pretty comfortable gap to the next racer and 3rd place on the day. Peter pulled the pin on any effort to sprint and rolled in near the tail end of the field, while Mark got boxed in on the many racers unable to keep their speed on the hill, but did manage to crack the top 20.

GBK