Duke of Kent

I raced today, too. Monster's of the Midway, on the University of Chicago campus. Pro/1/2, a rather feminine 45+2L.

Teammate takes off, right from the gun, has 10s before we're halfway around the first lap. He's a freak of nature, by the way, so the other 4 of us get to the front and follow moves. Don't work.

Eventually, 3 guys take off, and it looks like my boy up the road might be losing ground to them. So, I take off, shed any would-be taggers on. Make the 10s gap to them, teammate has another 10s. I tell them that I will not be working to pull back my teammate, two of them don't seem to like this. One says "Let's just drop his ass". Two laps later, he tries to gap me off. I let it open, then come around hard and gap HIM off the back.

Another lap or two later, and we catch my teammate. I now work, give him a respite. Get done pulling, am second in line in the backward-moving side, and I see ANOTHER teammate moving up to pull through. We now had 3 of 8 in the break. Good odds.

However, now people are starting to skip turns, and we're only 25min into the race, if that. Teammate who was originally up the road decides that he does not approve, and takes off, solo AGAIN. The break eventually becomes disorganized, and with two of us (myself and other non-solo teammate) sitting at the back, we're losing ground to the field. Little groups of 2 and 3 start bridging, and people launch half-ass attacks. Eventually, it's gruppo compacto, with the exception of my teammate, up 30s or so by now.

We all keep on bridging and sitting on, or blocking at the front of the field. It becomes obvious that unless my teammate crashes, has a mechanical or just blows up, he's winning this race. At the start of the last lap, I'm somewhat near the front, when a local legend Masters racer who is a pretty hard dude (won 15+ races last year) in his own right decides he's taking a last lap flyer. I put in a seeing-stars effort at the front, ramping it up as hard as I could go, and the field eventually is dragged up to him, in bits and pieces at the front. I try to come around and reload to give it a go of my own, but my legs just don't have it, and I'm dying. I almost swerve into the curb on the outside of the turn, due to fatigue. I latch onto the back end of the field as they hammer down the back straight, I'm toast but maybe I can move up and get a top-10 somehow.

Well, I had little to nothing left in the tank. I sit up 200m from the line, 40+ back, and coast in. My teammate raising his hands in victory, and my other teammate raising his hands for the win plus his 2nd place are good enough for me.

I love bike racing. Especially when it all goes right.

John Wilke

Nice race and you guys pocketed quite the $$$ too, I might add!

Edit: oh, here's one of you guys ... dunno if that's you or not:



More pics later tonight ... it was a long drive back to Milwaukee.

waterrockets 

Great report -- sounds like a perfect race.

ElJamoquio

NICE.

Good job, Duke.

Duke of Kent

Thank ye kindly, sirs.

Tomorrow we're doing a more technical race in Madison, WI. We lose one guy from today, who is doing a TT, and we're gaining two guys fresh off SpeedWeek, and a guy who has been top 5 at Athens Twilight in the past. It'll be cool to race and learn from these guys.

JohnWilke: I'm the only guy in the regular ABD kit in the P/1/2, long sleeves. I'm not on the Elite team.

Nickel

Nice recap.

WCroadie

Sounds like a great race, well done

king-tony

I think this dude would be well protected if he needed to weld something after the race.

Duke of Kent

Myself and the race winner at the front of the break. He's on the elite team, I'm on the regular club team. Also one of my best friends. Note the similar jersey design, many of the same labels, but different colors.

Duke of Kent

Yeah those glasses are pretty sweet. I don't know if he got them from his girlfriend or a resale shop. He was my partner in blocking/chasing crime later in the race.

MDcatV

very nice D-o-K.

I keep saying it, but racing = fun, winning = more fun, racing and winning as a team = awesome. You guys did all 3, that makes for a good day.

botto 

correct.

cmh

Nice race Duke. Sounds like an awesome time. Good luck in Madison today - are you racing the Capital course?

Duke of Kent

Nope, we'll be north and east of there on Williamson. Wheels on Willy.

Two more pictures:

1) Me not pulling through in the break after my teammate left again, and 2) me riding a nice 25mph tempo and getting ready to hop onto anyone with any sort of plans other than sitting behind me. Note another teammate several wheels back getting ready for the same.

slim_77

Well played!

Your man up front was amazing! You guys did an great job of ensuring the win, but hell, that guy is a machine.

next time, I'll look out for you.

Snuffleupagus

Nice write up. Good to see the other side of the "First CATV Race" thread every once in a while

merlinextraligh

good job,and a good report.

Bob Dopolina 

Winning as a team is pretty sweet. Nice ride.

All you youngin's take heed. This is how it's supposed to work.

bostongarden

Very exciting and intense; I enjoyed reading your terrific description and about your great effort!!

John Wilke

Congratulations to ABD / Gear Grinders for their victory in Madison as well!!

Chicago:



Madison:



You guys are smokin' !!

(I've been providing PWeaver with the good pics, so contact him for more. )

Duke of Kent

That first shot from Chicago is me.

The second shot would be my three teammates, who did a great job today working at the front. I was ineffective throughout the entire race today, and only made it to the front in the last 3 laps. I lost a contact 30min in, and as I'm very close to being legally blind in that eye, I had to let a gap open up in every corner, and GUN IT up the climb every lap, basically losing and gaining the same amount each lap. That was not a fun way to race a big field crit. I opted out of the money, as I contributed nothing to the team's results.

And yes, my teammate (1st yesterday, 2nd today) is an absolute machine. The team is doing very well right now.

JohnKScott

Great report and nice work!

dpr

Great race report and well done! I really enjoyed reading that. Thank you.

By the way, is that a Trek Madone 5.5 Pro you or some of your team mates are riding?

MDcatV

does cinelli make that "dingey gray" color of handlebar tape you and your boys use?

Duke of Kent

Me? I'm on a silver Cannondale CAAD9. My teammates are all on red/black LeMonds, with the exception of one, who rides a Specialized.

The guys on the Treks are Burnham Racing/Vitamin Water-Trek...the guys on the yellow bikes.