On TV

If the Duluth Classic were a bike race with TV motorcycles, I would be one of those poor suckers who goes out in front all day just to get caught. But you know what, that is just fine with me, I am getting some really good efforts in, and hey, one of these times it should work.

Day one: TT
I have not been doing so well at TTs the past few weeks. Friday evening was better then they had been, limiting my losses to 3:30ish rather then 8 minutes. But still not even close to putting me near GC contention. I was hoping this would set me up to go off un-chased in a break the following days.

Day two: Wisconsin RR
Another beautiful day up north, with little wind and open roads the 42 riders in the open field were off. 4 laps totaling 72 miles on a relatively flat course, although there was a long not so steep uphill that did make me hurt. On each lap there were points for either KOM or Sprints on the line, after coming through on the first lap and the field being broken up I took the chance and struck out into the open. After about 1/4 lap of blasting away solo I was joined by two companions and we hammered along for the rest of the lap, the field never letting us get to far away. Coming through the line again the field broke up a whole bunch and a group of 8 or 9 of us ended up up the road, a group that size was deemed to much a threat and halfway through the lap we were caught. Break attempt one over. I spent the rest of the race just chillin in the pack enjoying how easy it was. The final 2km were pretty dang fast with a good size crash included. Rolled across with the field.

Day three: Home turf (Lakeview RR)
I finally got to ride my bike to a bike race. The course was on my usual training roads, only about 20 minutes bike ride for me. A perfect warmup. Up the large hill known as Strand Rd. 6 laps of racing, but 7 times with the "neutral" roll-out. I know these roads well, and knew when the best place to attack was. 15 minutes into the race right about where I wanted to go a group went off and I got on. 6 of us total, and for the next 2 hours 20 minutes we worked well together over the challenging course. It hurt a lot. Our lead yo-yoed quite a bit, going from 1:15 down to 10 sec. then back up to 1:55 before the field caught us on the top of the hill with one to go. To make things interesting we even had some redneck shooting at us with a high powered pellet gun. Luckily he only hit aluminum, but still, that makes me nervous to ride out there. Crazy people with guns are bad...
Anyhow after being caught I just sat in and recovered so I would not get shot out the back on the final climb. I by no means stayed up front, but managed to keep it together and not loose any more time.
All in all it was a good day, I tried my best to make it happen at home, but it just was not going to be.

Early onLater in the day. Things starting to hurt...

Day four: Cloquet Crit
New course this year. A short lap, with a punchy little hill and a nice fast downhill corner, besides the corner not technical at all. It was just windy enough for that to be a factor.
Last night I had talked with Lance Bruening and Mr. Casper and figured that Lance and I may as well try a sprint from the gun to try and get away. However, that was not to be as everyone had the same idea. I was right at the front and tried a few times to make something happen. Nothing was going that soon. For a good 15 laps things were fast and together, a few small attacks for primes, but nothing that was going to stay away. shortly after the halfway point Hollywood launched off on the hill and brough Rod Raymond (teammate for the weekend) with. They got a good gap very quickly. The next lap saw another 4 or 5 guys get a gap. Timmer deemed the chase group to dangerous and I went back up and put in a bit of work. We caught them shortly and the lap after that Casper, Brian Crosby and I just kinda rolled off the front. I just sat on and let them pull up to the break. The 5 of us had a pretty good gap, but with Crosby threating and Casper right in front of Timmerin GC there was not any point in Rod or I working too hard. Kinda disappointing, but racing is not all about you when your on a team. We stayed away until one lap to go. Easily rejoining the group. Timmer was set up perfect coming into the final hill and he just blasted off and in for the win.

Round and round we goHollywood goesCasper pulls at a nice clip. It looks like I am trying to flap my wings and fly away...ha!Hopefully I don't always look like that.

By my best estimates I spent slightly over 4 hours in breaks during the weekend. With 7 hours of racing being pelotonable and 35 for a TT. Kind of entertaining to know that most of my time was spent away.

After four days of racing, and being out front a whole bunch I feel great. I am ready for more. With my low standing on the GC I was able to race super aggressively and not really worry about my overall time. Had I been dropped after getting caught so what. But I never was which is encouraging. Next weekend is another qualifier for NVGP and I need to race smart there, big change in tactics...
Hopefully this weekend will set me up fitness wise for Nature Valley. That is the plan at least...