I hear there were some pretty awesome snowdrifts on the boring lakefront path back in Chicago... luckily for us, we had clear, well-paved, beautiful roads to ride on with excellent topography. After living in Chicago for too long, I don't have the vocabulary to describe the extent of hills we saw in Pittsburgh, but Carly suggests the term "soul-crushing".
Carly and Apsen were the first to embark on the hilly adventure. As I was huddling in the car with the corgis, I did not see much of the race as it zoomed by the start/finish, but they both arrived back to the car with impressive results!! Carly broke away from the field in a group of 4 after the first set of "soul-crushing" hills. They rode a lap together and established their gap on the rest of the riders. On the second lap, the break split apart but Carly held on strong for a 3rd place finish ahead of all the midwest riders (apparently they are used to hills on the east coast). Unfortunately Carly's Garmin decided that the hills were too much and scampered off her handle bars after the first climb (it was too much elevation for the Garmin to handle... luckily it came back with the race car) Aspen's field dwindled away throughout the race, but remained a big group out in front. He had several attempts to break things up, including a solo effort up the steepest of the monster hills, but the group held tight together and wouldn't let a break get away. It ended up in a big field sprint... and despite not pedaling through the finish line, Aspen finished well in the top 10.
I headed out next with a shortened race (4 laps to 3) due to the threat of hazardous weather conditions coming our way. Similar to Carly's strategy, I stayed in front on the first hill and managed to stick with a break of 4... which turned into a break of 3 on the next hill... and then a break of 2 by the final hill. I worked with the girl from Columbia for a lap and a half and we stayed away from any chasers. Then on the last lap, I went hard up the hills trying to break away and was able to open a gap. At this point the follow van was right behind me so I couldn't see anything down the road and I had no idea where the Columbia girl was.... so I had to keep pedaling hard for fear that she was hiding right behind the van. In the end I managed to stay away for a win.
The next day, we headed to downtown Pittsburgh for the crit. The race went over two bridges which was pretty cool and also made for some more climbing - the little ups and downs over bridges really add up throughout a crit. I decided to join Aspen in the men's B race again. Neither of us got a great start in the race. Aspen was near the middle of the pack and I was pretty much stuck in the back (ideally we'd both be near the front). The pace was pretty furious. We would turn onto a bridge and the whole pack would sprint up to the top and then slow into the turn... then on to the next bridge for another sprint to the top. I was struggling just to hang on to the back of the pack. I thought the pace would ease at some point, but the continuous sprints up the bridges never seemed to fade. I managed to hang on and finish with the main pack (at the very back) and Aspen strategically moved himself up into a good finishing position to get another top 10 for the team!
I was pretty beat after the race, but the women's race was on the line... and I had signed up... so I decided to hop in. I managed to hang on to the front pack, but had no gas left in my tank. I didn't have much of a sprint at the end, but finished with the field somewhere in the top 10.
Carly started out strong in her race although the Garmin decided to boycott once again (perhaps it had enough hills for the weekend). A break went early in the race and Carly was in perfect position right behind the leader of the breakaway. Aspen and I awaited eagerly for the break to come around on the next lap, but as the racers came through, there was no Carly :( Unfortunately her hamstrings had enough climbing and one decided to curl up into a big knot (ouch!!). Cramping and a bit bummed, Carly pulled out of the race. She will eat more bananas before her next crit!
Aspen, having had a bit of a rest and a super long coooool down... then waaaaaarm up, also raced the USCF mens cat 4/5 race in the afternoon. He raced the first half of the crit with air slowly seeping out of his back tire. As Carly and I cheered him on, he yelled something that sounded like "neeed... a... wheel..." so we went running off to the car (ouch!) to fetch our wheels. We had the wheels ready to go, but it took Aspen a few laps to convince himself that his wheel was truly flat enough to warrant a free lap. Finally he veered off the course and changed his wheel and got back into the race. A couple of laps later, a PEEPS Prime was announced... meaning the first person through on the next lap would win PEEPS!!! (truly a worthy prize to sprint for). As Carly and I wondered if anyone would actually sprint for sugar covered marshmallow chicks, we saw Aspen barreling down the hill going all out towards the start/finish line. He didn't raise his arms in PEEP-winning victory, but we did see a small smile on his face as the announcer declared him the PEEP winner. The finish was only a few laps later... still full of adrenaline from his PEEP win, Aspen placed himself in a great position for the finish. However, the $75 cash prize did not have quite the same appeal as the PEEPS and Apsen was not able to come around the front guy for the win, but had a dominant second place finish on the field - quite a good day!
Overall, a great weekend for the UCVC, but we were sad that we had such a small crew to help consume all the PEEP winnings.
1 comment:
p.s., just downloaded my Garmin data from the race (poor thing--it took some serious abuse over the weekend, but has hopefully now been revived). 3 laps on the road race came to 3,350 ft. of vertical climbing over 30 brutal miles (Aspen had one more lap than me and Devon). Ouch! But judging from the strong UofC finish, looks like our poor midwestern hamstrings were heady for the hills--must be all of those times we sprinted the 47th st overpass :)
Post a Comment