After the last two races with a bit of hills, this week I will be racing in Marty. It is called the "Sprinters Race". I will be riding in a combined cat 4 and 5 field this week. So I am looking forward to see what difference the cat 4 riders will make in the race itself. The whole week the weather predictions for Saturday did not look very promising, but luckely the farther I drive away from the Twin Cities, the farther North I go; the less rain I encounter and the sunnier it gets. A lot of worries for nothing. It looks like it will be sunny and dry in the race. Arriving in Marty it looks like the registration is in a little school right across the Church; that's about all there is in Marty, a little town. Like always the organization is a little chaotic and I have to look out for where they will stage the riders. I get recognized by some fellow riders from the last 2 weeks which is always nice, asking me if I would go for the tripple today. I wasn't so sure before the race, having in mind the fact we were racing cat 4 aswell.
The first lap goes at such a moderate pace that it makes me really nervous. Again riding in a peleton of more than 30 people ( There were 35 riders registered for today's race) with alot of crosswinds and a lot of touching breaks. But I survive the first lap deep in the belly of the peleton; with wasting no efforts whatsoever.
Again I was able to put myself in positions so I would not catch too much wind. I could feel the difference in riding with cat 4 riders though. Although the pace was moderate, it is let's say at least 3 mph faster than a cat 5 race.
In the second lap ( there are 3 laps in total; The race is 48 miles long this weekend) I keep on hiding out in the peleton waiting for the right moment to break away from the group. When the peleton starts making waivers in the crosswinds; as a Belgian rider...This is way too tempting... to ride past the waivers and start my break away right there. I ride to the head of the race and start driving on the complete right side of the road. I start driving just a little bit faster and immediatly I have a gap on the peleton. 1 rider decides to join me in my break away. It is a rider from the U of M; we immediatly understand we need to work together and that is what we do. After taking a few turns I realize I can easily drop my fellow rider and go solo from there. My guts tell me to do so, but my brain decides to not drop him and eat his plate first before I drop him. We finish the second lap and there is a 10 mile headwind ahead of us. We still work good together; although I do way more work that he does . Still I see no peleton and I decide to not drop him and keep on riding together. It is way easier this week to stay ahead of the peleton, or maybe my legs reached absolute top shape this weekend. With 5 miles to go there is no peleton near us. We have more than 1,5 minute of a gap. My fellow rider talked alot to me during the race to keep the pace down, but with 5 miles to go, I felt I should break away, he would be able to take second place that way, and I would like to finish solo. There I go in the tailwind. I easily top 35 mph and ride to my 3rd US victory.
Time now for some decompression, vacation in California with my dearest friends from Belgium; this to be ready for the 2nd half of the season which will start in July.
Oh the price....45$ :) Cash!!!!! And when I got home delicious chicken prepared by my lovely wife.
Euer,
Joris
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Results Ken Woods and Durand Road Races
Blog fellow racer from Durand:
http://www.twinsix.com/team/reports/durand-road-race/
Results Ken Woods Road Race:
http://gopherwheelmen.org/KWMRR2011/kwmrr-results-men-cat-5.pdf
Results Durand Road Race:
http://www.cvccbike.com/node/87
http://www.twinsix.com/team/reports/durand-road-race/
Results Ken Woods Road Race:
http://gopherwheelmen.org/KWMRR2011/kwmrr-results-men-cat-5.pdf
Results Durand Road Race:
http://www.cvccbike.com/node/87
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Ken Woods Road Race
One week after Durand, typically all riders go to Ken Woods, for the second race of the season; including me.
I kind of felt a little tired this week the whole week and was not sure if i lost some of my top shape or not.
Vince is not riding this week; so I am going to the race all by myself; and while going I realize I lack some cash for the registration; and need to make some stressy errands to get some cash. But all goes well further and at Noon I arrive at the track in Ken Woods. This track has 1 hil in a 21 mile loop; we have to do 42 miles today or almost 70KM. The hill in the loop is for riders with alot of power.
As my race strategy today, I will try and wait until after we did the first loop; so half race, and then place an attack. When the race starts; a bigger peleton today with almost 50 riders strong. We start with a tail wind and the peleton immediatly breaks into 4 pieces. I decide to not want to be trapped and jump to the first group. The legs feel pretty solid; maybe after a week of worrying about my shape, I will be in for a strong performance after all. After my first win last week, I start to make a name in the peleton. The moment I ride to the head of the race; riders start to yell: TIE!!! TIE!!! He won durand, don't let him go :)
The first lap goes at a real moderate pace. 10 years ago in races in Belgium, I was not able to ride through the peloton, to save energy from the wind, today it worked just fine. I was able to not waste any energy at all for the first 21 miles.
Then we take a right uphill, and I decide to attack on the hill, to see who are the better riders in the pack, since the pack is still 20+ riders strong at that point. My legs feel really strong and I am able to power up the hill with a 50x14 as a gear. From the peleton; only 1 rider can keep up with me. So it is the 2 of us from there on. The group however is not far behind and I again have to make my best educated guess about what I should do. I decided that I don't want to be this sprinter that only calculates on his sprint and I start riding at 100% from there on. With the tailwind though I feel I can develop way more power than my fellow rider and I drop him right there, I am alone with 20 miles to go. Again a moment of internal debate...It is far alone. But I decide to keep going. Suddenly out of nowhere 1 rider is able to make the jump out of the 12 man strong chasing group, it looks like he will be able to ride with me. However after a few turns, it looks like the jump from the group to me; was the only real bullet in his gun; and in the backstretch which is a strong headwind; I need to drop him to, since he starts to hold me up, and the chasing group is getting organized.
From there on; I start my time trail; I don't look back and try to keep the pace up to 22 mph on a strong headwind; I figure the chasing group will not be able to keep up the good organization and I keep going.
There is a motor rider; who keeps me updated with the number of seconds I have on the chasing group. First time he comes, I have 25 seconds. Second time 30 seconds. Still 12 miles to go and the headwind is really a heavy duty. However my legs still feel very strong and the group is not coming closer 1 milimeter.
The motor rider comes again, I have 1 minute on the chasing group with 6 miles to go. From here it will be a tailwind to the finish and a 2 mile uphill. I start to drop my pace a little bit since I figure 1 minute is a nice gap.
Towards the end I don't slow down anymore and I win my second race with a solo of 20+ miles. This is what I needed for myself to be able to have enough confidence to move up a category. Next week in Marty I will have to ride with cat 4 and cat 5. So that will be a new challenge. I will keep you posted. And oh yeah.. the price this week: An airbomb for on training rides and Pearl Izumi socks :)
See you next week for the race blog of Marty. :)
I kind of felt a little tired this week the whole week and was not sure if i lost some of my top shape or not.
Vince is not riding this week; so I am going to the race all by myself; and while going I realize I lack some cash for the registration; and need to make some stressy errands to get some cash. But all goes well further and at Noon I arrive at the track in Ken Woods. This track has 1 hil in a 21 mile loop; we have to do 42 miles today or almost 70KM. The hill in the loop is for riders with alot of power.
As my race strategy today, I will try and wait until after we did the first loop; so half race, and then place an attack. When the race starts; a bigger peleton today with almost 50 riders strong. We start with a tail wind and the peleton immediatly breaks into 4 pieces. I decide to not want to be trapped and jump to the first group. The legs feel pretty solid; maybe after a week of worrying about my shape, I will be in for a strong performance after all. After my first win last week, I start to make a name in the peleton. The moment I ride to the head of the race; riders start to yell: TIE!!! TIE!!! He won durand, don't let him go :)
The first lap goes at a real moderate pace. 10 years ago in races in Belgium, I was not able to ride through the peloton, to save energy from the wind, today it worked just fine. I was able to not waste any energy at all for the first 21 miles.
Then we take a right uphill, and I decide to attack on the hill, to see who are the better riders in the pack, since the pack is still 20+ riders strong at that point. My legs feel really strong and I am able to power up the hill with a 50x14 as a gear. From the peleton; only 1 rider can keep up with me. So it is the 2 of us from there on. The group however is not far behind and I again have to make my best educated guess about what I should do. I decided that I don't want to be this sprinter that only calculates on his sprint and I start riding at 100% from there on. With the tailwind though I feel I can develop way more power than my fellow rider and I drop him right there, I am alone with 20 miles to go. Again a moment of internal debate...It is far alone. But I decide to keep going. Suddenly out of nowhere 1 rider is able to make the jump out of the 12 man strong chasing group, it looks like he will be able to ride with me. However after a few turns, it looks like the jump from the group to me; was the only real bullet in his gun; and in the backstretch which is a strong headwind; I need to drop him to, since he starts to hold me up, and the chasing group is getting organized.
From there on; I start my time trail; I don't look back and try to keep the pace up to 22 mph on a strong headwind; I figure the chasing group will not be able to keep up the good organization and I keep going.
There is a motor rider; who keeps me updated with the number of seconds I have on the chasing group. First time he comes, I have 25 seconds. Second time 30 seconds. Still 12 miles to go and the headwind is really a heavy duty. However my legs still feel very strong and the group is not coming closer 1 milimeter.
The motor rider comes again, I have 1 minute on the chasing group with 6 miles to go. From here it will be a tailwind to the finish and a 2 mile uphill. I start to drop my pace a little bit since I figure 1 minute is a nice gap.
Towards the end I don't slow down anymore and I win my second race with a solo of 20+ miles. This is what I needed for myself to be able to have enough confidence to move up a category. Next week in Marty I will have to ride with cat 4 and cat 5. So that will be a new challenge. I will keep you posted. And oh yeah.. the price this week: An airbomb for on training rides and Pearl Izumi socks :)
See you next week for the race blog of Marty. :)
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Durand Road Race 2011; April 16th
Almost 3 months of hard training, this morning at 7AM finally the day was there for my first road race in the US for this year. At 8 AM my bike buddy Vince comes to pick me up and we are heading towards Durand, Wisconsin. After a scenic drive of 2 hours, and the realization of the extreme cold of today (32 degrees F) or around 0 degrees Celcius....It is going to be cold in the race....Brrr. Glad that i stopped by REI to buy myself some extra gear against cold weather and snow. Luckily it looks like it will stay at least dry during the race. The registration center is just a table in wide open field...those US organisations are for me just hard to get used to. After registration and preparation time for a very brief warm up, since i don't want to freeze before the race starts at 11AM.
I start my first race in the lowest categorie ( which is 5) There is also Cat 4,3,2 and 1. (1 and 2 are the PRO riders) I told myself to try to ride a smart race for the first race of the season and not to waste to much energy in the beginning of the race. In the beginning of the race; the pace in the race is moderate, but still from the 35 riders that started, after 10 miles, we are only left with maximum 15 riders. The course has 2 steep hils in a 14 miles loop. ( we have to do 2 loops, good for around 28 miles).
When we hit the first hill i have noticed, there is 1 rider that constantly is riding before the pack, initially i thought he would bounce back to the group by himself, or the strong wind that was present today on the course. However, a few miles further on top of the 2nd hill this rider is still a few hundred meters before the 15 man strong group i am riding in. On my right sight, a more nervous spanish speaking person, that touches his breakes a little bit too much for my nerves, i decided to jump to the leader figuring he must be not that bad of a rider after all. After a 10 minute chase, I am able to just reach for his backwheel. This was riding at my complete maximum for over 5 minutes, with my hart rate going up to 190 bpm. Once we are with the 2 of us we understand each other very well, and in no time the peloton is riding for the 3rd place only.
The other rider and i keep on taking good turns and it seems we have several minutes ahead of the peleton when we take a last right to the finish line. From the moment i reached the top of the second hill, I knew that I would be able to win in my sprint. So I am hoping my sprint of 10 years ago is still the same now I became 30 years old. With 200 meters to go I start the sprint with a 50x15; and after a few seconds of sprinting I realize my opponent is not even starting to sprint for the victory; and so my first victory on US soil is a fact.
The reward is a bontrager outer tube :) Which I am pretty happy with!!!
Up to the next race in Ken Woods.
I start my first race in the lowest categorie ( which is 5) There is also Cat 4,3,2 and 1. (1 and 2 are the PRO riders) I told myself to try to ride a smart race for the first race of the season and not to waste to much energy in the beginning of the race. In the beginning of the race; the pace in the race is moderate, but still from the 35 riders that started, after 10 miles, we are only left with maximum 15 riders. The course has 2 steep hils in a 14 miles loop. ( we have to do 2 loops, good for around 28 miles).
When we hit the first hill i have noticed, there is 1 rider that constantly is riding before the pack, initially i thought he would bounce back to the group by himself, or the strong wind that was present today on the course. However, a few miles further on top of the 2nd hill this rider is still a few hundred meters before the 15 man strong group i am riding in. On my right sight, a more nervous spanish speaking person, that touches his breakes a little bit too much for my nerves, i decided to jump to the leader figuring he must be not that bad of a rider after all. After a 10 minute chase, I am able to just reach for his backwheel. This was riding at my complete maximum for over 5 minutes, with my hart rate going up to 190 bpm. Once we are with the 2 of us we understand each other very well, and in no time the peloton is riding for the 3rd place only.
The other rider and i keep on taking good turns and it seems we have several minutes ahead of the peleton when we take a last right to the finish line. From the moment i reached the top of the second hill, I knew that I would be able to win in my sprint. So I am hoping my sprint of 10 years ago is still the same now I became 30 years old. With 200 meters to go I start the sprint with a 50x15; and after a few seconds of sprinting I realize my opponent is not even starting to sprint for the victory; and so my first victory on US soil is a fact.
The reward is a bontrager outer tube :) Which I am pretty happy with!!!
Up to the next race in Ken Woods.
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