Tour of KC, Longview Crit

Wowww! That was way harder than I anticipated. This Tour of KC will go down as my first official road race! I have raced in Cat 5 and have done some other training type races (Perry Lake), but nothing like this. It was hard, it hurt a lot, I blew up, I got lapped.... It was flippen Awesome!!!!!!

All I kept hearing over and over is how dangerous or how scary crits are. Cornering at speed really is not that scary, other people though... They are very scary... I think in the Cat 4's we had 3 go down in the first lap or two. One of which was 3 feet away from me.

Darrel and I, 35 people deep (Thanks Mark Breeding for the pics)

I was only out on Saturday on their figure 8(ish) crit course, which seemed more like a circuit race to me, but what do I know. I enjoyed the course quite a bit actually. It was hard and I thought pretty technical. It had one punchy little climb, but I found the straight away to be the toughest part due to the constant headwind.
 
Our field was really deep, 50 ish and I got started way too far back. In my head I was not worried (because I don't know what I'm doing) just thought that I would work my way up to the front in a handful of laps.

Yah, not so much... Before I even hit the first corner the field was spread out 100 feet and had to about come to a stop before I got to it. It was 100% full gas from that point to try and make it to the front. I asked Keck to go up there and tell them to slow the crap down, but he apparently does not have the influence I thought.

 After about a couple laps I found myself about 4 guys back from what would become the break from the lead group. Once I realized the split was being made I jumped and tried my best to close the gap.
Unfortunately I found myself alone in no mans land chasing like a mad man. I was so close, like 6 seconds back but just couldn't close the gap. I tried to get on for 2-3 solid laps before I realized there was no chance. Especially when I have had my heart rate maxed for 4 to 5 laps and see there are 13 left.

Think this is about lap 2 as I can see my yellow
helmet like 200 yards back.

I hoped I could sit up and wait for some guys to help, but when they did they were about more gassed than I was. Found one guy with some legs to trade pulls with for a little but the rest of the race was about the same. Just hanging on for as long as I can.

From what I gather, if your racing all weekend, when you don't make the selection you bail and save your energy for the next day. Not me man, I drove over an hour and race one day. They are going to have to tackle me on my bike to get me to quit racing. So after plugging along, the second to last lap was the lap of shame... I got lapped. Bummer.... On a brighter note, its the best spot to see the race unfold. My cross rivals were out killing it, which was awesome to see. Gregory took 2nd on the day and John W. took 3rd. Sucked that I was not there, but I liked to see guys I like to race against do well.

Which leads me to scoring. I don't know if they do this at all the races since I am new to to the road scene, but I guess they don't score folks that get lapped which really sucks. I don't agree with it at all. I tough it out for an hour in in 20 mph headwind in 95 degrees to look at the results and see guys who threw in the towel after 20 min placed higher than me. I understand that in the grand scheme of things it really does not matter a DNP (Did not place) is a DNP. But it is still a competition right??? Anyway...

Get all the results etc... Local Cycling .com

Good write up over at .. Prologue Cycling Magazine

See you in Lawrence!!

Robidoux Roundup!

Was waiting until I got some pics to post, but still haven't seen any. I know I saw somebody taking a bunch of them.

Anyway, the fellas put on yet another great race. I don't think folks are going to see trails that manicured for a race the rest of the year.

Krug does not offer a lot of rocks for you freaks that actually enjoy riding technical sections. But more than makes up for it in flowing dirt and some good climbing. The course was FAST! GWiz put in a hard to believe 32 min lap.

Lined up down on the first turn on the road up to the top of Krug and I was surprised to see a bunch of Cat 1's out to play. I hung in with the best of them at the start on up the hill and on into the singletrack. Had a moment or two when I thought I was going to be able to keep pace for a little while. That lasted about as long as 1/4 of a mile in the race where it became painfully obvious that perhaps I should have rode my MTB more than a handful of times in the past 6-8 months. My focus switching to the road has left my handling skills absolutely horrible.

Kinda funny looking back on it. I would catch a guy or two through some of the climbing sections and then they would drop me on the downhills. And whats rather ironic is that this is my home course and I should know every rock and root out there.

Kept within myself for most of the race. I have figured out when I am red-lining and need to cut it back a bit. Its better to choke your motor a little bit than going way past it and blowing up, which have been done on many occasions.

After the first lap I needed to fuel up, I had accidentally dropped my water bottle halfway through the first lap. At that time Craig had already caught up to me and passed me. I guess I can't make too much fun of his camleback after that.

Last two laps were pretty uneventful, just out doing my laps in my usual place. All by myself in no mans land, slower than the faster guys and faster than the slower ones.  Makes me miss cross where you can see how far folks are ahead or behind you. Was able to get all three laps in under 40 min, under 2 hours altogether, which I was happy with. I did have higher aspirations of placing a bit better, but that's racing man.. We had some stupid fast guys out there that day, just on another level altogether.

RESULTS

It was a great day for racing and I am super impressed with Horizon Cycling. These guys are getting fast! Don't really know how or when it happened, but they got my attention now. Amazing how getting your arse handed to you on the MTB will do that to you. I'm back on the road bike, so I will see you Travis and Blake come cross season & hopefully not just the back of your jersey's.