Today were the first two stages of the Tour of St Louis. I volunteered to help set up the crit course. I woke up a little after 5 and walked outside to get the paper and the roads were wet. All the rain was supposed to move late last night so this was a unwelcome sight. Add on the 40 degree temperature and strong winds and comfort was an issue. Conditions got worse as heavier rain began to fall as I drove to the park. Thankfully it stopped just before I arrived. Setup went okay until I had to zip-tie some snow fencing. Wearing gloves didn't work well and my hands immediately got very cold. I was so glad to finish that job up and get my hands back in the gloves, even though they were wet and did not warm much. After setup I hopped in the car, tuned on the heat for a half hour and warmed up.
The sun decided to shine about 20 minutes before I race. Maybe it was a good omen. I started slowly and eased my way up toward the front. About 27 minutes in, I needed to test my legs a little. We moved out of the headwind and I jumped. Nobody followed, unfortunately, so I settled in to a TT mode. The effort hurt but I purposely stayed below level that would blow me up. I rode steady and stayed away for three laps. Longer than I wanted, but the pack was kind and didn't go flying by so I tucked myself in and recovered until my legs felt better. The rest of the race I yo-yo'd back and forth, getting a feel for the finish while an 8-man break snuck away. Carondelet has only sweeping turns but main turn is maybe 250 meters from the finish. Mainly I swung wide and would get pinched at the next gentle right hand bend. With a lap to Joe mentioned that we were always getting pinched. We were thinking the same. The attacks seemed come from the left of the road. I drifted too far back on the last lap but I wanted to setup a position that would allow me to stay tighter on the main finishing turn. Drifting back was the only way for me to get that spot. Through that turn I was probably in the 30's but the tactic worked beautiful. Others didn't seem to have a lot of gas for the slight uphill finish and I began flying by people. At the line I was 4th in the field sprint and gaining quickly on those just ahead. A little better spot beforehand and the sprint was mind. I'm happy, though. Thats the best timed sprint I've had as a three and finished in 12th place overall.
The afternoon was the TT at Greensfelder. I've never ridden this road and got there in time to do a pre-lap. I wasnt fond of the gravelly downhill and then we hit the uphill that others have mentioned. Ouch! It started gradually enough, then around a right hand bend it slaps you in the face. After grunting through the main portion it eases but still goes up at a good percent. After that the road had a couple good rollers. The officials arrived late so we started about 25 minutes late. When my time came I set out downhill better than the warmup. Knowing the turns helped my confidence. When I started the lower slopes of the hill I suddenly saw my minute man just ahead. How did that happen? When the hill kicked I powered by him and left him. Catching the guy so early was a confidence boost. He was a younger rider buy maybe I was having a good ride. I finished in 6:48 which I didnt think was great but Justin had only a 6:39. He's strong so 6:48 seemed not so bad. Six minutes later Ted finished and I could tell by my watch he was in the low 6's. Thats not good for me. Chris, who started early, came back to the line. He had the same time as me. No offense to Chris but I normally kick his ass on climbs so I was disappointed. Then a Mack guy came through saying his time was 5:40. After that, my time was obviously not good enough, and I went back to the car. I never did leave the small ring, even up top and that must have cost me more than I thought. Joe finished a while later and got 6:45. Joe rarely climbs better than me. He said he used the big ring up top so I guess that was the difference. Oh well, I'll see how bad it really was tomorrow morning when I get to the race.
The sun decided to shine about 20 minutes before I race. Maybe it was a good omen. I started slowly and eased my way up toward the front. About 27 minutes in, I needed to test my legs a little. We moved out of the headwind and I jumped. Nobody followed, unfortunately, so I settled in to a TT mode. The effort hurt but I purposely stayed below level that would blow me up. I rode steady and stayed away for three laps. Longer than I wanted, but the pack was kind and didn't go flying by so I tucked myself in and recovered until my legs felt better. The rest of the race I yo-yo'd back and forth, getting a feel for the finish while an 8-man break snuck away. Carondelet has only sweeping turns but main turn is maybe 250 meters from the finish. Mainly I swung wide and would get pinched at the next gentle right hand bend. With a lap to Joe mentioned that we were always getting pinched. We were thinking the same. The attacks seemed come from the left of the road. I drifted too far back on the last lap but I wanted to setup a position that would allow me to stay tighter on the main finishing turn. Drifting back was the only way for me to get that spot. Through that turn I was probably in the 30's but the tactic worked beautiful. Others didn't seem to have a lot of gas for the slight uphill finish and I began flying by people. At the line I was 4th in the field sprint and gaining quickly on those just ahead. A little better spot beforehand and the sprint was mind. I'm happy, though. Thats the best timed sprint I've had as a three and finished in 12th place overall.
The afternoon was the TT at Greensfelder. I've never ridden this road and got there in time to do a pre-lap. I wasnt fond of the gravelly downhill and then we hit the uphill that others have mentioned. Ouch! It started gradually enough, then around a right hand bend it slaps you in the face. After grunting through the main portion it eases but still goes up at a good percent. After that the road had a couple good rollers. The officials arrived late so we started about 25 minutes late. When my time came I set out downhill better than the warmup. Knowing the turns helped my confidence. When I started the lower slopes of the hill I suddenly saw my minute man just ahead. How did that happen? When the hill kicked I powered by him and left him. Catching the guy so early was a confidence boost. He was a younger rider buy maybe I was having a good ride. I finished in 6:48 which I didnt think was great but Justin had only a 6:39. He's strong so 6:48 seemed not so bad. Six minutes later Ted finished and I could tell by my watch he was in the low 6's. Thats not good for me. Chris, who started early, came back to the line. He had the same time as me. No offense to Chris but I normally kick his ass on climbs so I was disappointed. Then a Mack guy came through saying his time was 5:40. After that, my time was obviously not good enough, and I went back to the car. I never did leave the small ring, even up top and that must have cost me more than I thought. Joe finished a while later and got 6:45. Joe rarely climbs better than me. He said he used the big ring up top so I guess that was the difference. Oh well, I'll see how bad it really was tomorrow morning when I get to the race.
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