NVGP part 2

Stage 4 Minneapolis Uptown Criterium
For the past several years the Friday night criterium has been was located downtown. This year organizers moved the race to Uptown, one of the coolest parts of Minneapolis. The new course this year was awesome. Six-corners, nice roads, great restaurants and beautiful people three deep all around the course. After yesterday’s beating I was worried about staying in contact w/the group long enough to be allowed to continue to stage 5 in Mankato (my “home” town). Anyway, I tried to stage in a decent place but  the big names get the calls up and I never get to see the front (yes, this gets old watching from 140th place everyday).  The stage low point came before the race even started. As always, the main field rolls forward into position for the start after the top GC riders get their call-up. I went for the same spot that Mike Creed went for and we tapped bars for a moment as we were putting a foot back down. We were both lining up in the back so it was totally insignificant. Much to my surprise he flips out and shoves his bike into me. I was shocked at the look on his face. This guy was on the edge and about to completely lose control. Totally uncool and waaaaay unprofessional. I told him to calm down and he moved away to another spot. Some of the professionals have attitudes toward us “mere amateurs” but this was not only pointless, it was immature.  I was reminded of the mean, spoiled kid on the playground. Luckily, he moved away before the start and that was it. If you’re trying to make a living racing your bicycle it might be a good idea not to act like a tool, especially in front of a huge crown over such a little thing. You never know who’s watching… Determined not to let this ruin the day I shrugged it off on got on with racing. The Friday night crowd was totally awesome and really got me motivated to hang on.  “Go BK, Go, BK” was heard a thousand times and I ate it up. With 12 to go I was involved in a crash in turn five. I didn’t fall but I had to slide to a stop to avoid getting tangled up. Luckily, we were able to take a free lap right there (there are multiple pits on the course) and the Shimano tech crew sorted us out.  A lap later we were all back in the action. Turns out, the free lap was the perfect time to have a gel and finish my last bottle.  With 9 to go the pace started to get really fast and riders started popping at the back. I was getting gapped a little, especially out of the last turn down the long straightaway were the group was moving close to 35 on each lap. Crazy!  In the closing laps I started to feel really good again and I enjoyed the finale. There were a few small gaps in front of us but I was happy just to be riding safely to the end. After a cool down lap with Jens I stopped about 20 times to thank people for cheering. I felt like a rock star. Everyone I talked to loved the new course and it seem like the new venue might be a bit more spectator friendly with all the restaurants, shops, close proximity to the Greenway, the Lakes, etc..
Result: 113th, 29 seconds down
Stage Winner Lucas Sebastian Haedo (Argentina) Colavita/Sutter Home

Stage 5 Mankato Road Race (The Queen Stage) 92 miles
Mankato is always a special stage.  Racing on the same roads that I’ve trained on for the last several years is always nice. The roads I know so well that I could ride them with my eyes closed. Roads were I’ve ridden in every possible weather condition. Roads that go by familiar farms and friend’s homes. The course itself isn’t overwhelmingly hard. The closing circuits, however, are feared. The finished circuit is over 2 miles and includes the very difficult Main street climb. I’ve done repeats up this hill and know every inch. Coming in to the hill with fresh legs is one thing. Coming at it four times after having completed 80+ miles of racing is entirely another.  Prior to starting I went to my favorite coffee shop (another nice benefit of racing on familar turf) and Steve Tilford dropped in for the same. Nice.
With many of the large pro teams deciding not to chase early breakaways, the day became an open race. About 15 miles in the race teammate Andy Crater joined a large break up the road.  Despite not working too hard, the break gained several minutes and the field sat back and rode easy for a long time. I was happy to sit in thinking the pace would eventually lift and the break would be reeled in before we got back into town. At the same time I knew that Andy was up the road thinking maybe, just maybe, he could stay away (there’s always a change, right?) About an hour later I heard the gap was over 8 minutes and I knew were were getting close to town and I started to think that this early break just might succeed. I think everyone thought that Bissel or OUCH would know exactly how far the gap could extend before they sent their horses to reel in the break in short order. The pace definitely increased  as we came back toward town the end and the closing climbs were very hard (they are even if you’re going super slow) but it was not enough.  The original break of 15 or so was now down to 3, including teammate Andy Crater, Chad Hartley (Team GearGrinder/Amore & Vita) and Mike Northey (Land Rover/ORBEA).  The finale was pretty crazy and I lost contact with the front group the very first time up the hill. I rode as hard as I could the rest of the loop and managed to keep the front group in sight. I figured I was only about a minute down but, for some reason, I was pulled with one lap to go (the officials later admitted they made a mistake in pulling a lot of riders out too soon). I rolled over to S/F and watched Andy finish. We were all super excited for him to get the win. He’s been talking about the Mankato stage all year and today he delivered. He ripped it. It was perfect. There is lots of press on the day about an amateur taking the day and even a spin from the local paper here: http://www.mankatofreepress.com/archivesearch/local_story_165005959.html

Stage note: Prior to our start we all got a very serious warning from the head official about throwing waters bottles into farmer’s fields. We were specifically told to drop them in either of the two feed zones or within the city limits of Good Thunder, Lake Crystal, St. Clair, or Mankato. The bottles that are thrown into fields get chopped up by farmer’s plows and eventually mixed in with the feed for their cows. Water bottles contain a type of plastic that cows cannot digest. In fact, ingesting this type of plastic is fatal for cows. We were also reminded that we are guests here and to take this warning as quite serious.  Much to my chargin, at the midpoint of the race a rider tossed his bottle directly into a farmer’s field then joked, “Oh my God, I just killed a fucking cow!”  Nice work, jackass. May you choke on plastic someday. Obviously, this was the stage’s low point.

Stage 6 Stillwater Criterium, final stage
Chillkoot Hill is a crazy 11% or something silly. It’s known as one of the hardest criteriums in the US. I’ve done well here as an amateur (2nd, 1st, and 3rd) as a cat. 2 a few years back.  I had no illusions about placing today, I just wanted to race as long as possible before getting pulled by the officials (at least 5 laps are required in order to be listed as finishing NVGP). The last time I raced here with the pros I was lapped three times by Chris Horner (now on Lance Armstrong’s Astana team). It’s pretty ridiculous really. Most of the amateurs are blown and so far down on GC and just going through the motions.  If you start in the back, your race can be over within a few laps.  I warmed up on the highway north of town and got called an asshole twice by dudes in big pickup trucks then found a steep climb to see what the climbing legs might feel like.  I headed back to start ready to go. I told Kennett to get ready for 20 minutes of racing, at best. As expected, most everyone got shelled pretty quickly. I kept “racing” solo for close to 10 laps (about half the race) and had a blast climbing Chillkoot through the tunnel of noise. I was expecting to get pulled sooner but the officials must have felt bad for pulling me early in Mankato so they let me keep going. It was a great atmosphere on the climb. I got a few pushes and the fans were amped. Super cool. After I was eventually pulled, I watched part of the final laps. Micah Moran (GrandStay Hotels) hung in for the entire race, only losing contact with a lap or two to go.  Bravo! After, we gawked at Floyd Landis and the OUCH team camp with all the media and rode what seemed like 100 miles back to Jen & CJ’s. There I took a shower, went to Lucky 13 for a burger then a short walk with Patty at the Sibley House historical site in Mendota Heights. We even found an awesome tree swing under a big ash tree. It felt really good to lie in the grass and stare up at the clouds knowing that I didn’t have to worry about recovery for another race the next day.

Monday was back to work and the real world. I spent Monday afternoon getting sicker by the minute. By Tuesday, I was back in bed with a killer cold and some very sore, exhausted muscles. Turns out a lot of guys that raced were sick. Something must have worked it’s way through the peloton. Today is Friday and I am finally feeling a bit better. I’m glad that I’m not racing until Wednesday. I still need some time to recovery.  Next up Tour of America’s Dairyland and a visit to dad’s in Oshkosh.