Superweek Day 5: Pharma Pacific Tour of Holy Hill

Getting back on the bike and committing to go head to head with the wolves was a bit nerve-racking. A bad crash can always make you “over-think” things and lose much confidence, causing you to race with anxiety rather than calm and collected relaxation.

Nevertheless, the Tour of Holy Hill has historically been a race that is well suited to my strengths (long with some power climbs). It is always easier to show up at a race that you know you’ve done well at. In the past, I have hung with the front field as long as I could. Eventually, due to the characteristically hot conditions and 160k length, the field would shatter and resemble more of a point-to-point mountain bike race rather than a road race with groves of racers dispersed throughout the course. My strategy had always been to “just keep riding” and picking off guys. For two years in a row I was lucky enough to finish in the money.

This year, the field at Holy Hill was quite big containing about 180 riders. There was also quite a pool of talent represented, my only hope was that some of these guys have to be tiring out after 10 days of racing and perhaps my two-day rest has aided in fresh legs.

The race was running late and at the line the official announced that it would be shortened by about 20miles. At the time, I wasn’t sure if this was to my advantage or not.

As the race rolled out a few early attacks went off stringing out the field and setting the pace high. Again, I tried to segment the race. Luke Cavender was working feed for me and I kept telling myself just get to Luke with the lead group. The laps started ticking away and I continued to hold position in the main field. On lap five, at the base of the steepest climb, a crash occurred right in front of me causing me to have to ride off the road. I watched the field ride away in panic as I skateboarded my bike back onto the course and started the climb from a dead stop. My heart was pounding and my adrenaline was coursing. I could not let a bit of misfortune knock me out of this race after making it this far. So I put my head down, grabbed onto the drops, and proceeded with the biggest effort I could muster up. Another rider caught up in the crash looked at me at the base of the climb and commented, “This is going to hurt!” He was exactly right, but that was the last time I saw that guy. After about 5 minutes of turning myself inside out I was able to make contact with the lead field. Exhausted and frustrated I conceded to not worry about position and sit in for the next lap and focus on nothing but recovery.

Here’s the reality of this race, if you are not on Rock Racing, Kelly Benefits, Columbia, or Virgin Blue you cannot make any moves in the race. The heads of state will shut you down faster than you can say “allez”. I accepted that my roll was to sit closest to the front without stirring the pot too much. Eventually, we came down to our last lap. I was sitting in about the same position I had stayed in the majority of the race. However, as I glanced over my shoulder there were only about 10 riders behind me. I hadn’t realized it yet, but we had shed over half of the field and I was still in the front field. A break of 5 had formed earlier that looked to be the winning move. As we rolled into the last corner I tried to move up as much as I could. I rolled through the line with the field tired but extremely gratified that for the first time, I finished with the lead group at Holy Hill.

Being the mileage obsessed junkie that I am, I convinced a few other people to roll around for another 20 miles after the race to cool down and get a hundo in. Unfortunately, I flatted on a tubular and by the time we got back to the start the promoters had already left and I was unable to see my finishing place. Nonetheless, I considered the day a success.

Superweek Day 3 and 4

Day 3:
Sometimes the hardest decision to make in bike racing is knowing when to throw in the towel. I’m not one to follow horoscopes too much but recently my horoscope read: Be sure to finish the quest you have started. However, do not feel you have to complete every single part of it. Try to segment your tasks and give them your all.

I felt pretty sore yesterday after my misfortunate rendezvous with the asphalt. Greg Christian had told me on Friday that if I was going to take a day off, the Wakausha Crit was the one. The course contained eight turns and was no place for anyone but the heads of state. After taking one look at the course and heeding the advice of Greg, I decided not to race. While I watched notable Michigan racers such as Derek Witte, Zach McBride, Chris Uberti, Nathan Williams, and Ben Renkema get blasted off the back within the first 15 laps, I knew I made the right decision.

Day 4:
Alan and I hooked up on Friday after the Ripon Crit with good friends and Michigan natives Kelly P. and Jay Moncel (new International Territory Manager of the Trek Bicycle Cooperation). The two recently relocated to the hip and picturesque town of Madison.

Before going to bed on Saturday night, Alan and I conceded that spending a day with Jay and Kelly riding around Madison sounded much more appealing than driving two and a half hours to Evanston.

We spent Sunday rolling a physically and mentally therapeutic ride through the beautiful rolling hills of Madison.
Tomorrow is Holy Hill, my wounds are healing and I have high hopes for a good finish…report to follow.

Tales from Superweek Race Reports 1 and 2

Day One-Race Report # 1: The Tim Hart DDS/Rainbow Jersey Shorewood Criterium

After arriving Wednesday night in Mequon, I awoke Thursday morning eager to race my bike. The pro race was not until 6:00 that evening so I tried my best to conserve as much energy as I could throughout the day. I watched a few races earlier in the day but for the most part, stayed out of the sun and even took a midday nap.

The race was running a little late due to a severe crash in the women’s field and as a result, our race did not roll out until 6:30.

No matter how many years I keep coming to this self-injurious tour of mayhem I never quite get acclimated to the extremely overwhelming feeling of lining up with some of the best crit riders in the world, representing 20 different countries.

This year, some of the notable teams and riders included the Rock Racing team, Kelly Benefit Services, Jittery Joes Cycling, The Columbian National Team, The Virgin Blue Pro Cycling Team, a handful of Olympic Medalist, Jonathon Page, Jelly Belly, South Australian National Team, IS Corp, and many other accomplished riders.

I say it every year and I’ll say it again…there is something strangely gratifying just knowing how “over your head” you really are. It’s a beautiful thing that cycling can offer. Who am I? A schoolteacher from Michigan who loves to ride his bike copious amounts of miles. And now I am lining up with guys who are literally at their 9 to 5s.

Before I left, a friend of mine sent me a quote from Percy Cerutty that read:
“You only ever grow as a human being if you are outside of your comfort zone”. The quote was quite applicable for this situation.

The Shorewood Crit was a fairly easy course. It was essentially a flat course with six turns. However, this simply meant it was destined to be insanely fast.


The field contained about 150 riders. As the race started I did not get good positioning. I ended up about 100 spots of the back in “the danger zone” where riders have a high probability of getting dropped and pulled from the race.

The first 30minutes was brutally fast. A few instances occurred where the fleeting thought of throwing in the towel passed through my mind but thoughts of “you don’t know how to suffer” and “you only grow as a human being if you are outside of your comfort zone” enabled me mentally to get my focus back and realize that I did not drive this far to get dropped.

The next 30 minutes of the race was also brutally fast. I kept thinking to myself that any minute this race will let up. Each time I rolled through the start/finish line I glanced at the lap counter and watched roll down. I tried to segment the race and keep myself getting to lap 30, then lap 25, and so on. Eventually we rolled down to 10 laps to go and the pace from there on out was the fastest the race had been the whole day. From there on out everything was a blur. The race finally ended and I rolled in with the hardest 71st place I ever had to work for and the gratification that I finished my first 2008 Superweek race.

As I rolled around the first corner on my cool down lap, I was disillusioned and in a bit of a fatigue induced euphoria. I then saw an angelic figure in the distance reached out and handed me the coldest, best tasting beer I had ever had. It was an excited spectator who said to me, “This ones for you man, you earned it”. The whole situation had classic beer commercial written all over it.


Day Two- Race Report # 2: The Ripon Red Hawk Criterium

Joined by my teammate Allen Smith who slept in his car the previous night in true W.C.I.F. fashion we headed up to the campus of Ripon University for one of the craziest courses I have ever saw.

The Ripon course consisted of three significant climbs with four downhill turns jammed into a 0.6 mile course. The course was initially supposed to be 1.6 miles long and winding through the downtown area but after the business owners found out that the streets would have to be shut down they pulled out and made the promoters shorten it. So the Pro field was required to jam 150 riders into a 0.6 mile course…the situation was a true recipe for cataclysmic disaster of epic proportion.


*Side Story* As I was warming up a girl from the Hub Racing Pro Team ran up to me frantically and said, “See that guy with the yellow hat, he just rode of with my bike”. Being the heroic man I am I chased after him. However, being the non-physically-confrontational man I am, once I caught up with him I asked the guy if that was his bike. He seems startled and quickly responded, “yes”. I replied, “Well, it’s a girls bike and it doesn’t fit you…I tell you what, I’m going to ride next to you for awhile…you can either give me the bike now, or you can deal with the four really angry team director guys who are chasing you right now”. He made the very bad decision of continuing to ride off. He most likely regretted this decision when the team director grabbed him from behind, threw him off the bike onto the cement and held him in a headlock as I grabbed the bike. For an instance, I thought I was in the special lycra edition of Cops. The guy eventually broke free from the headlock and booked away yelling “Take it easy man”.

Back to the race. Unlike day one, I obtained great position off the gun in this race sitting in the first third of the field. We had 100 laps to endure. I rolled the first 7-8 and continued to hold position. I actually felt better in this race initially than I did at Shorewood. However, coming into the downhill turn four at 35mph or so I felt my bike leave from under me and found myself sliding about 15 feet. I immediately curled up as guys started toppling over me. Everything happened so quickly. Fueled by adrenaline, I jumped up, ran to the pits and waited for my shredded bike to be rendered ride able again by the mechanics. After about 3 laps they got it back together. However, when I crashed I was in the lead group, but the official made me jump back in the third group back; the group destined to be pulled. I argued with him for a few seconds, all the while losing more and more spots. By the time I was pushed back in I was way out of contention, our group only lasted about 5 more laps before we were pulled. My race was over and I had very little skin left on the left side of my body.

I went from elation to defeat…and that’s bike racing.




I always knew I looked good in fishnet.

Leap of Faith

No real plan...no exact lodging arrangements...small fish in a very large pond..."Who cares? I'm Flying"...Tomorow the 2008 Superweek adventure begins, reports to follow.

Masochism

Warning: This entry was composed while in a state of delirium induced by a 6hr solo night trail ride. The thoughts and expressions, while open and truthful, are a little more revealing than that of most entries.

It’s 2:00 am in the morning and I just got out of the shower after a 6hr night ride in the trails. With the looming 24hr event around the corner I thought it would be beneficial to sharpen my night lap skills.

Let me begin with a brief description of the events leading up to this evening’s endeavor. I spent the day with Angela’s family celebrating her birthday. I had ridden to her parent’s house in the morning (45 miles with some ancillary trail stops). The goal of this ride was to get the system adjusted to riding in a state of exhaustion. The day consisted of a barrage of beer, sun by the pool, consumption of three different animal meats, and an ice cream cake with some coffee to wash it down. Essentially, it was a recipe for an epic bowel battle!

At the end of the day as I rolled out to begin my excursion, I kissed Angela goodbye, wished her happy birthday and explained that 97% of the time I love riding my bike. However, this ride was not going to be one of those times.

For those of you who have never ridden trails at night, it is great! Get a few of your friends, roll to your local trail head with some lights and you can make any memorized mundane trail system feel like a completely new experience. The best part is, you can ride the trails backwards whereas during the day it would normally be a big MTB no no.

So riding with your friends at night=fun; riding by yourself at night=a bit downright frightening. That’s right, my first lap was terrifying…I’ll admit it, I’m man enough. The nighttime in the woods is incredibly quiet. Your sight becomes complete tunnel vision and things come up on you very quickly. Couple that with the reflective eyes of assorted night time woodland creatures (raccoon, deer, fox, sasquach, etc.), and the ever present looming threat that there will be some misguided teenagers under the influence of whatever inhalants and pills they were able steal from there local Walgreen’s having a bonfire at the top of Mescaline Mountain and completely lacking sensible judgment. If that is not enough, your thoughts of different scenarios that could happen consume you. For instance, one of my biggest fears is paranormal life. If I told you that the thought that I could rip around a corner and whoosh right through a transparent haunting image of Tara Grant and have her chase me the rest of the lap was not running through my mind constantly, I would be telling a lie!

Before I left for the ride Angela’s mom asked me, “Aren’t you afraid of riding in the woods at night?”. I conjured up the quickest tough guy response that I could think of in my deepest voice, “Not really, I am most afraid of going into this 24hr race unprepared” than I puffed up my chest and walked away on my tiptoes. Although my response was arguably award winning, whom was I kidding, I was terrified.



Perhaps it was nerves, or pre-race anxiety, or the eclectic collage of food dancing around in my gut, but after a few laps in the trails, something happened. My stomach started making noises similar to a clogged garbage disposal. Severe abdominal pains started consuming me and every time I stomped on the pedals I took a risk of a sharting (i.e. combo of shiting and farting) blow out! I tried my best to dismiss the pain and mentally overcome it. Mind over matter can only go so far; at a certain point your intestinal discharge will become involuntary! I began to realize what action was in the cards. Luckily, in college I read the literary masterpiece How to Shit in the Woods by Kathleen Meyer. I was prepared and knowledgeable of how I could make this move go effectively smooth. So I rolled off to the side of the trail, found an inviting tree to lean against, striped down, and began my business…it was not pretty. As I squat, and looked around for the most optimal leafs to complete the paperwork with, the true reality of this entire 24hr tour of duty/vision quest started to really sink in. Call it masochistic perhaps?

In the film 24hr solo, Chris Etough explains that there is no where to hide in a 24hr race, at one point you become face to face with your soul. Well, tonight I caught of glimpse of my soul and left a pile of it lying in the woods.

Always a Bridesmaid…never a Bride.

“You guys raced a great race, it seems like you did everything right in the break and made the Essex boys work to catch the front break…so how did we finish” asks Ray Dybowski. “Ummm…Danny took 3rd, and I took 5th…Cruise took a flyer with two to go, then Danny went, and after he was caught what I should of done was…” I replied. Ray abruptly rebutles, “I don’t want to hear about what you should of done…just do it next time, get it done next time”! Tough love.

So it seems that since Michigan road racing has swirled straight down the toilet for the month of July, racers are beginning to view Thursday night Waterfords as our best opportunity to go head to head with each other. This was reflected in this Thursday’s record 64 racers in the “A” field.

Race Cliff notes:
-Break stuck about 30min. into the two-hour race.
-We had Cruise and Cory represented
-Chase break formed with about 50min. left of racing; initially we had no one represented in the chase
-Danny and I bridged to the chase.
-Tim Saari gets dropped from the front break
-Bruce, Gilboe, and Terry P of Essex are represented in the chase break and the only team without a rider in the front break so the chase falls on their shoulders.
-After much hard work, the Essex boys manage to bring us up to the front group, which now has more WSC riders than any other team.
-With two to go, Cruise and Danny throw down back-to-back attacks that are both brought back in.
-Brian Adams takes a crack at it last lap and is caught by the sprint pack on the last turn.

Top 15 Results:
1. Bruce Rivera - Essex Brass
2. Terry Palmer - Essex Brass
3. Dan Klein - WSC
4. Jeff Weinert - Team Giant
5. Tim Finkel - WSC
6. Christopher Bogedin - WSC
7. Bob Hokin - Team Giant
8. Vince Roberge - South Lyon
9. Tom Archer - Lathrup Industries
10. ??????
11. Jame Bruce - Lathrup Industries
12. James Ignash - FRCC
13. Bill Gilboe - Essex Brass
14. Brian Adams - Lathrup Industries
15. John Sammut – WSC

It seems that this season I have definitely stepped up my game and effectively learned to read a race and consistently put myself in the breaks and in the position to win. However, my finish is a different story. I can truthfully say that I own the 4th and 5th spot at Waterford…I don’t think any other rider has more 4ths and 5ths than me this season. I am not proud of this; it is simply a reflection that I have to develop an effective and highly potent finish.




On another note, I have to give credit where credit is due. I haven’t given out a W.C.I.F. award in awhile and one rider in particular has stuck out to me in the past two weeks. Two weeks ago, Bruce Rivera won out at Waterford; we were in a 6-man break and he out sprinted the group. (*It is worth noting that I flatted on the last lap after 2 hours of breakaway efforts, also, a pack of push pins were found in Bruce’s car after the race…hmmmmm.JK) At the time I thought it was a good win but he sat on the break the last 5-6 laps and did very little work, if any. However, this past Thursday was a different scenario. Bruce was required to race a very defensive race and cover several attacks and put his nose to the wind, all the while still managing to snap around us. So reluctantly I have to give Bruce Rivera, a member of a WSC nemesis team, this week’s W.C.I.F. award. So lets all raise our gratuitously (arguably gaudy) vinyl sticker adorned, Zipp equipped bikes to Bruce…although you are our nemesis, you are this week’s recipient of the W.C.I.F. award.

It’s not just the Motor City, but the Velo-City!

Once again, I have to prelude this entry by extending my sympathies to all those who have to work in the summer. The weather is so nice, the days are so long, the trails are so perfect, and no one should have to be cooped up all day working and missing out on the fun. That being said let me continue with how great my life is.

Next week I am going to head out to the Superweek Pro Tour. It’s my annual pilgrimage to all things fast, furious, and waaaay above my head…I love every minute of it! This year we decided to somehow signify on our team kits that we are from Detroit for just these occasions. After some interest developed by Made in Detroit, we threw their logo on the kit. In the past, whenever I have been racing out of town and people have asked me where I reside, their common response to my answer is one of a bit of shock and dismay. “Do people actually ride bikes in the Detroit area…I thought it was just crime and cars”.

I grew up in Michigan but never thought I would of actually ended up living here in my adult life, the resources are simply not the most optimal for my passions/interests. However, with the emergence of my interest in cycling I have come to develop a family within the velo-world and even more, a pride in where I live.

For instance, recently my Tuesday/Thursday two-a-day training days (track in the AM, Birmingham Worlds/Waterford PM) have morphed in three-a-days; track for breakfast, MTB trails for lunch, and a wholesome road ride for dinner. So it got me thinking…where else can you ride a world-class velodrome in the morning, receive world-class coaching, ride a new MTB park (new Stoney Creek skills park), ride well maintained single track trails in the afternoon, and then meet up with 70 of your best friends for a skinny tired slugfest through the streets of Birmingham/Auburn Hills or Waterford Raceway at night?


I’ve even heard testimony from fellow friends who have moved to places as extravagant as Boulder, CO but reported that although the riding itself is much better, the camaraderie and fellowship amongst the culture is not quite where our scene is.

The thing is, none of this is new. This has all been going on way before I got into riding or before I was even born, Detroit has rich cycling history. The Walden’s, the Young’s, the Andreau's, the Obermeyer's, the Wolverine Sports Club, the Olympic Medals, and the National Champions…the list goes on and on and continues to grow. The Dodge brothers were even cyclists!


I live in Royal Oak, and on any given night I can meet up with my choice of 2-3 different group rides of varying ability levels…and these rides have been going on for years and years!

Earlier this week I ran into an individual on the Clinton River Trail who had just moved here from Germany. He asked about some group rides and I found myself rattling on an on explaining the wealth of opportunities we have to offer. He explained that he was quite amazed that we had so much to offer.

So for all of those riders who like to dwell on what we don’t have here in the Motor City, take some time to dwell on all the things we do have. MADE IN DETROIT: The Velo-City.