Barry Roubaix and C.O.U.G.A.R

Last weekend was the kickoff for my 2010 season.  It began Saturday morning South of Grand Rapids MI at the Barry Roubaix (Killer) Gravel Road Race.  The course consisted of 2 x 32 mile loops making 65 miles of gravel, some pavement roads, and a touch of some wide mountain bike trails.  I raced on my cross bike, which was the right call in my opinion, but there was a good mix of mountain bikes and cross bikes.  We rolled out in one large group with a 3 mile neutral start and then the race started.  I hadn't done this race before so I had no idea what to expect.  It was good until we made a left turn onto the mountain bike trail with lots of sand patches, and guys started falling down all around me.  I got caught up behind some of them and had to dismount and run before it cleared enough to get back on.  I spent the next few miles chasing back the lead group, but eventually caught up, which is good because that would have been a long day not in the lead group.  There were about 20-25 of us in this group, slowly losing riders as the race went on.   Two guys rolled off the front early in lap one and would stay away until the finish, putting 5 minutes into our group.  The rest of the lap was mainly good gravel roads and nothing too technical.  The race was pretty uneventful the rest of lap 1.  Lap 2 I tried a move off the front and one guy came with me.  We were building a sizable gap when we both took a wrong turn into a driveway, and then proceeded to get caught.  I navigated the mountain bike trail better this time, placing myself second wheel going into it.  I was going to try a move late in the second lap, but by this time I was just hanging on.  My legs were so trashed and my body hurt from all the vibrations of riding off road for 3+ hours. In the sprint I tried to give my future teammate Jimmi a leadout, but quickly realized that would be hard too do with both hamstrings cramping up.  I limped across the line for a 13th place overall. I really liked this race, but the finish and one intersection out on the course were not nearly policed well enough and it was downright dangerous with cars.  Thanks to Jeff and his family for the pizza and the place to stay!

"Oh look, Ryan is Attacking again, better chase"

Sunday's race was part of the C.O.U.G.A.R. Series (Chicagoland Omnium Using Great Area Racetracks), awesome acronym I know.  It was at the Joliet Autobahn country club, which is a formula one type car race course.  I did a race like this last year in Austin with Colt when I did my training week in Texas.  I like racing on these types of venues because the turns are nice and gradual and the wind usually plays a factor.  The race started fairly low keyed, but then Mike Ebert (ABD/Verizon), put in a big effort and lined out the whole field.  When he pulled off Ryan Freund (ABD/Verizon) put in another huge effort and took 7 guys with him, including me.  That was the race, as our group of 8 started to rotate immediately and build our lead.  We worked fairly well together after everyone calmed down a bit and the gap grew even more.  Ryan put in a couple of attacks, the biggest one with 7 to go, but we slowly reeled him back.  I tried a few times as well, but nothing really stuck.  Then with about 3 to go, a guy slowly drifted off the front and built a gap on our group.  Our lack of interest of chasing him down let him build a lead that eventually he would hold for the win.  With 2 laps to go a XXX guy did the same thing, this time a bit more deliberately than the previous guy.  Again with no one willing to chase he would hold out for second.  The final lap was pretty slow and after a few attempts by Ryan to get away, I went for it with about 400m to go.  My jump was decent, but the last 30 yards my left hamstring was in a knot and I got nipped at the line as I was basically coasting to the finish, not able to pedal.  

It's been a long weekend for my hamstrings.  I need to stretch.