yeah, if i had more time i would have less intensity. i also need to be more consistent with core/strength training. such is life. i will be in good form late april early may, burn out mid June before the family vacation, then re energize around superweek, then burn out in August, then....... at least that is the plan.

looks like HR reg opens 2/1. later.

Indeed. More importantly, who is going? I'm planning to make my non-triumphant return. As long as it doesn't end with me standing in the middle of the road, holding my leg and wincing in pain, though, it will be better than last time.

Don't plan on cross ending the first week of December next year. Could go all the way to New Year's. You may have to adjust your training.

Thanks for throwing together this list! I'm diving into racing this year (uh oh), and this list is good to see since I'm not horribly far from the IL border.

For those racing up this way some, I'll be the slow guy on a white Planet X. Say hi when you lap me

Nice!

FYI- There is no way to get into it other than diving in. It starts with a "I want to do a race or two" and ends with you freezing your tail of at a CX race wondering how you managed to start 45 races. There is no "dabbling" in road racing.

Yeah, that's what I hear, so that's what I'll do. My wife is 100% behind me and has been driving me to give it a go. Also will try to fit in a few MTB races. And, to start in CX my ST400 would do the trick with different rubber. 2011 should be a blast!

Bad things happen to those who DNF.

I think you got that backwards.

Bad things happen to cause DNF's.

Ha! just being cute about your choice of words.

If the comments on the Leland Kermesse blog don't scare you just a little bit, then you really must like pain.

https://lelandkermesse.blogspot.com/2...4-16-2011.html

Awwe snap! ToAD schedule.

They added a TT, hmm.

No Road America. Bummer! That was the most enjoyable race of 2010 for me. I don't have anything to say about Greenbush, except it's not a crit. Eddy Merckx TT - bring it on!

Thoroughly well-organised (crit) series.

My completely biased opinion is that TOAD seems to be moving from what was originally a "midwestern" series to a series with less draw unless you live in southwestern Wisconsin. I consider this schedule to be a bit of a step back. Road America was the only real TOAD race I figured I may hit this year (again). I skipped Cobb Park to race RA last year (even though they weren't on the same day). Looks like I'll be at Cobb Park this year.

Downer Ave and Glencoe (an NRC race) on the same day less than an hour and a half apart, too. I don't think there's anything either race can do about it, but it seems awfully cannibalistic for midwestern racing.

I'm not trying to knock TOAD. Both of my experiences there have been great. It just seems that some of the "specialness" of the last couple years is gone.

^^What has changed to take the "specialness" away for you? Just curious.

The ability to be a part of a series with some of the most interesting and unique racing going on in the midwest at the time... even a single day or two of racing somewhere like the proposed olympic road race course, or the internationally regarded Road America was enough in my mind.

Granted, I've never done Grafton, although I'd like to. I have done Downer Ave, which is fantastic, but not altogether unique. But taking out some of those "bigger" event has moved it down a notch or two on my "must try" list (for this year, anyway).

Yeah, those are two courses I had hoped would be back for 2011. Especially the proposed olympic course. My guess is that the surrounding community just wasn't willing to put up with another bike race given collegiate road nats and the three non-usac events held there.

Grafton is a great race, great atmosphere.

I see what you're saying though, a TT in Ripon probably won't have the same pull as the novelty of racing the famous RA.

I am excited about the capitol crit, more for the fact that I can pretty much walk out my front door and be at the race, than the course itself(not a fan).

Apparently Road America is not back on the schedule due to a conflict with a motorcycle race there.

I'm cool with a TT in the mix, but Ripon is quite far away and it would have been a lot better if say the day before (which is currently Schlitz Park) was a road race in Ripon to fill Road America's RR gap. Schlitz Park is a terrible venue. There's absolutely nothing on the the course as far as shops, restaurants, etc. Yea it's got a big ass, lung searing hill, but it's really more about the atmosphere.

The Thiensville race is also having a course change for this year. I'm not totally happy with the course, as it's starting to venture outside of the downtown area a bit, with only a small stretch touching, but we couldn't secure last year's course with the Village Officials. the course is going to be 5 corners, one being a little left right chicane into a slight uphill. It's going to be tight and awesome as it's going to allow for animated racing with breaks.

It may just need some time to grow yet. They are still in their early stages of developing the series and some venues are bound to come and go in the next couple years. Which I think is what is needed to find the unique races that everyone will want to do.

And you should do Grafton, MJH. It's sweet.

I'm gaming up for Leland.

I thought registration opened 3/1 last year, but keep checking almost everyday....

Dave was mentioning that he would open reg soon. The flyer is on the blog site and once it's approved by USAC then they'll open Reg.

As for Road America - got a email through different contacts - someone was asking me to help layout a crit course. It was a small road car race track. I suggested some changes, etc. I find out later it's at Road America somewhere - like some sort of small side course. Interesting. Not ideal from what I saw but who knows.

Feeling cranky about this year's ICA racing calendar. With the Masters races now broken down into categories, I have far fewer races to race on any given race day. Super Spring was a great race for me previously because I had four different races I could race ( I usually did 3). Generally the start times were spread throughout the day so I had some flexibility in scheduling. The race is far but it was worth it because I'd get in a solid day of racing.

Generally speaking, I repeated this same plan at every race.

Now that's all changed. Of all the flyers I've seen so far, there are only 2 races for me per race and these are generally earlier in the day and sometimes back to back. With my work schedule, it's all but impossible to make the first race of the day if the drive is over 60 minutes. No way I can make Super Spring.

Then there's Sherman Park, which is very close to me. Certainly I can make the Masters race but it would be the only race of the day I could participate in. Previously, if I could only race once in a day at any given race I generally didn't go. It didn't make much sense to me to get all the gear in line, load up the car, drive to the course, deal with work schedules, to only race 30 or 45 minutes.

My first race of the day was generally crappy because I can never figure out how to warm up correctly; that, and it takes me one race to get my rhythm going and kick out the butterflies. I'm pretty good at beating myself up and if I get to a race and miss a clip in or flat or get dropped and end my day abruptly, I'll kick myself for hours and hours. Makes for a very unpleasant drive home.

I had a secret little goal I was working towards this year. I wanted to race the 30+, 40+, and 50+ races on a single day and finish strong in each one. I was eyeing Sherman Park for this goal.

I don't want to piss and moan but I'm upset about it and don't see myself racing nearly as much this year. The loss of a full racing calendar to play with really hurts. I love going to the races and will miss not being there.

There's a number of people that are also upset about this and I have made contact (politely) with the people at ICA. I don't intend to "boycott" like some have suggested but I've been following the ABR website closer than before. Racing in Indiana and Wisconsin is also something I'm considering.

I'm pretty blue about the whole situation...

It seems like there are always tradeoffs. I was the one who petitioned to have the 30+4/5. We loved it when it was there 2 years ago and greatly missed it last year. The ICA was dead set on combining the the 40+ and 50+ as it was. That one was DOA. Having sniffed each other's asses in plenty of 30+ 4/5 racing you know as well as I do it's the largest demographic coming into the sport and much friendlier for newer, older racers than a straight up 4, 5 or Open Masters. That combined with needing to break out some women's races.....

Totally understand your point though. I think we just need to make every race a 2 day deal .

...actually it just sound like you need to upgrade....

Based on slightly different reasons, my race year has changed a ton this spring, too. I think Leland was my 6th race last year. It's going to be my second race this year. I'm not doing any racing in March.

For some reason there seems to be this weird correlation around here between cost of racing and available minutes per race day. Look at Dixon, for example...

I think the Illinois Cup made a huge step in the right direction by standardizing classes and the schedule. It wasn't relevant before and seems to have gained some legitimacy. It's just too bad that some opportunities were lost in the process.

I figured as much for RA, I actually didn't expect it to be on the schedule this year. Regardless ToAD should be fun.

You racing any road this year speedster?

Couple of well-timed injuries made an upgrade impossible. Now I'm starting at zero and don't know if I have the desire to chase down all the points needed. I was looking forward to racing people my own age. I did a few 50+ cross races and there's a calm, gentlemanly quality to the category. The guys are fast but super smooth. I was looking forward to spending the summer racing with them.

I accept that things need to grow and change. Bummed me out that the ICA change affected my goals for the summer.

Actually, at this point none of it makes a bit of difference, with my kitchen rehab I've been off the bike for weeks and have missed all my spring training. I couldn't out sprint the neighbor kid on his trike if I wanted to.

So you're telling me I have a chance...


You know you just want to hang with us pesky 30-somethings who like beer and mayhem just as much as you....