Tour of Kansas City

KCK Crit:
I skipped this race and put in my volunteer hours by helping with course set-up and tear-down. I also held down a piece of pavement in turn four during the races. It gave me a chance to actually enjoyed spectating by not having to worry about racing that night.

Cliff Drive:
This was one of my favorite races last year and I was looking forward to it again this year, until it started to rain. The women, 4’s and 3’s were treated to a super slick mud coated course. The weather gods were kind to the P/1/2 field and it stopped raining about an hour before our race. There were only two spots that had not dried by the time we rolled and they were slick as gravy. Constant attacks for the first few laps made goose neck hill kind of a bear. Jensen made a break with three others less than half way into the 18 lap race and that calmed things down a bit. I settled into a rhythm, kept toward the front of the group to minimize rubber band effect and tried to conserve energy. A chase group of six with the right mix got away with about five laps to go and that ended most of the attacks. Phil attacked on the hill with just over two laps to go. Three of us went with him, got a gap and traded pulls trying to put some time on the field. After half a lap and no sign of a chase I figured we were away clean. We gradually decreased the time gap to the chase group in front of us but they were never really within reach. We came within 100 meters of them at the base of the final climb, but that’s as close as it got. Last time up the hill and my quads were talking to me, but I knew this was it, so I attacked a third of the way up the hill and held my gap to the finish line for 10th place. Sweet!

O.P Crit:
It was on from the gun. The first 20 minutes was nothing but constant attacks. The accelerations were killing me and I started mind-fucking myself by questioned my sanity for entering this race and guessing how long it would be before I got shelled out the back. Again Jensen and three others rode off the front less that half way in. A largish chase group went up the road too and that let the pack settle into a more even pace. Pain fries my short term memory, so I’m not real sure on the timing or order of events in the last half of the race, but here it is, as close as I can recollect. Some time before the hour mark we reeled in the chase group and got lapped by the break. Things got real crazy with about 15+5 to go. Jensen shot off the front and there was a frenzy of attacks from guys trying to get up the road with him. I though I was in a stock car race, where if you aint rubbin’, you aint racin’. I went with one attack and it was promptly caught. I was gassed and watched the next one from ten back. It was caught too. Somehow I found the strength to jump with the next attack and made it into the final group of nine. I was totally stoked that I made the split, but I was totally cooked at the same time. Now I just had to hold on for dear life over the next twenty minutes and not get spit out the back. I tried skipping a few pulls but that didn’t go over very well, so I took my turn when I got rolled to the front. Jensen +1 attacked with three to go and they stayed away. Dan jumped off the front with one to go and he stayed away as well. That left six of us to duke it out in the final sprint, but by that point I could not have fought my way out of a wet paper sack. Two crossed the line behind me, but they were a lap up so I scored 9th place. Super Sweet!