Superweek: Blue Island

the amateur part of superweek started on saturday with a simple crit in Blue Island, nothing too exciting: four turns all about 90 degrees. Dan Pollard, Bryan Witry and I (andrew zens) decided to race in our first superweek race of our careers. the race was a 4/5 level and would test out legs.

the race started fast and i finally had a good clip in on the start line, xxx and the south chicago wheelman took control of the race, which was fine with me. i spent most of the first couple laps dangling around the back, i seem to do this in every race, but as the pace quickened and riders started to get dropped of the back i decided i needed to move up. this would be the longest race i had ever done (25-1 mile laps) and i didnt need to waste energy trying to hold on to the pack. there were a couple attempts to break in the first 6 laps, but nothing really stuck. about 7 laps in i finally settled in the middle of the back with bryan and dan, i am always comfortable around my teammates.

with either 14 or 15 laps left i decided to test the field and went off the front on the back stretch, i wanted to see if the pack would react. they didnt so i sat up on the front stretch and let them gather me back in.

with 4 laps to go bryan skidded out in turn two, and i had to go off the course to avoid joining him on the ground, i yelled to him to see if he was okay, he was (just lost a patch of skin on his left leg). luckily dan waited for me and we worked hard to bridge back to the pack using a two man rotating pace line (thanks for coaching us every wednesday ride on the rotating pace line bryan merrill) and somehow we accomplished this in about a half to three quarters of a lap. our efforts even got us a compliment from the official on the motorcycle "nice recovery spidermonkeys"

with three to go i decided it was time to make a move to the front of the field. dan had just dropped off the back of the pack, he did a lot of great work getting us back to the pack. for the next four laps i settled in with the front part of the group, the pace didnt quicken until the last lap, i stayed in the top 20 until the last turn. then boom another crash in front of me in the last turn. i stayed up and then i attempted to sprint to the finish. i passed a couple guys on my way to the finish and crossed the line 22nd, dan finished with the next group. a pretty good race for my first 4/5 race in chicago. i felt really good in the race, went off the front once and have gained a ton of confidence in my racing ability-especially my cornering ability. all in all a good race, and i look forward to a more superweek races in the coming weeks.

A Prefect Homecoming

Lawrence, Kansas is a great place to go to college and this weekend I discovered it was even a better place to race a bike. This past weekend myself and six of my fellow spidermonkey’s made the nearly 600 mile trek (each way) to race in three distinct disciplines. Friday night kicked off with street sprints (which was drag racing on a bike), Saturday we raced the 8 turn downtown crit, and Sunday concluded with the KU Campus circuit race with nearly 500 feet on climbing per lap.

The street sprints were fairly uneventful and were delayed starting, and quite frankly at about 10pm I just wanted to make my way to free state brewery to sip on some beers. The only upside of the street sprints was it allowed me to practice a bike throw across the finish line, this would come in handy the following day.

The highlight of Friday was riding with Bryan through campus after our ten hour drive. Being on my bike riding up and down the Kansas hills put a smile on my face that stuck all weekend, it was so peaceful and beautiful on campus!

Saturday morning starting with the Tour De France, Ken, Dan, Jake and I turned on the tour as soon as we got up. I got up with a splitting head ache, I think closing down the bars in my old college town the night before had taken its toll. I immediately began operation re-hydration, I downed waters, gatorades and any fluid I could get my hands on. After my hydration session Jake and I went to a local bakery, Wheatfields, to grab some food and a coffee. I watched a little more of the tour and then got ready to race.

Bryan Witry and I got out to the course before the kids race and took a couple pre race laps to get to know the course. I took a longer warm up than normal. I figured I could probably use a little extra warm up after my late night. During our warm up Bryan and I hatched our game plan for the race. Our goal was to get Bryan the win and find a podium spot for me. The course had eight turns and we knew we had to try and make a break at some point, we decided that with 1 ½ laps to go I would throw some dynamite on the race and try to break it up as best we could. With this in mind we made our way to the start line…..

The race started quick and I proved again that I suck at clipping in! I missed twice and had to look down to finally get my foot in the pedal, at this point the pack started passing me and I ended up having to do a lot of chasing out the turns on the first couple laps. The pace was faster than expected and the slight incline on the back of the course into the wind really made things tough. The pace and the hills slowly spit riders off the back, and by the last four laps the main field was down to about 20 or 25 riders (the race started with around 40). With three to go I made a move to grab Bryan’s wheel and hung there, its always comfortable to be behind a teammate. With two to go Bryan and I had found our way into the middle of group, I made the game time call not to go for the break on this lap but to wait for the last lap and attack up the hill into the wind, but I think I forgot to tell bryan.

With ½ a lap to go and going up the slight hill I started to make my move, I flew up the left side of the field putting everything I had into my pedals, I passed Bryan and he jumped to grab my wheel, a dude from Tulsa grabbed Bryan’s wheel and we were off. The three of us flew through the next two turns in the middle of the course with me on the front. I had never taken turns like that before!!!!

As we made our way through the turns four and five I was gassed I pulled off to the side and told bryan to go as we approached turn six, as he and the Tulsa dude passed I somehow mustered enough energy to grab a wheel and continue our three man attack. The three of us bombed the next four turns with Bryan hammering the pace.

I got really wide to the left out of the last turn onto the downhill finish, Bryan the guy from Tulsa took the turn tight and we on the right side with the Tulsa dude in front who was starting his attack about 400 meters out. As Bryan went to pass him on his right the guy swerved and tried to take bryan out!!!!!! WHAT AN ASS!!! I saw the wheel bang and hoped my teammate could stay up. As I saw this happen I knew an opportunity had presented it self. I jumped out of the saddle and put everything I had into bike. The next thing I knew I was crossing the finish utilizing the same bike throw I practiced the day before just beating a guy that was flying from the pack to take second. I had won my first race! What a feeling it was, as I cooled down on the course I road to jake, dan and ken who had been cheering us on all day (a big thanks to those three your support was awesome). Bryan rolled up and he told everyone what had happened with the guy from tulsa. Ken told bryan that he should protest the guys move, the protest worked and bryan ended up with third place. We had come to Lawrence, our college town and taken two podium spots! It was a great day and a great race!

Big thanks to the following people:
Dean and Vanessa - thanks for doing all you do for the team
Ken, Dan and Jake – you were great cheering us on from the fourth turn
Bryan Witry – you came up with the plan, and we executed!
Bryan Merill, Chip Grey and Nate Iden – you guys are always there to answer questions and provide racing advice and it is really appreciated.
The entire spidermonkey team – I love being on this team and I appreciate all the thank you emails and support I received after my win.
Tour of Lawrence Volunteers- they are the people who make races happen
Team High Five – you know who you are, thanks for the celebration after the race!

Jakes' Race Report KU Circut Race (7/5/09)

Tour of Lawrence – KU campus Circuit Race Report

When the Tour of Lawrence was announced I knew I had to race it. I lived there 8 years and had climbed the hills on the circuit race too many times to remember.

Friday night was 200m street sprint scored bracket style. It was amazing to see the jump of the pro 12’s take down that sprint. Winning times were around 17 seconds.

Saturday was a crit in downtown Lawrence. It was the same course used for three years for the collegiate nationals. A figure 8 with about a 40 foot climb up half of it. My goal was to finish safe with the pack. I almost got dropped in the first few laps but eventually warmed up and spent some time in the front. I finished 31/56, good enough for me.

Saturday night was quite an evening and I made it back rather late and got about 4 hrs of fitful sleep. There was a lot to take advantage of in my old stomping grounds to say the least. Sunday morning I had a lot of nervous energy getting ready for the circuit race. It was to be 5 laps of about 4.5 miles with a total of 2500 ft of climbing. There were two big climbs and a few smaller hills on the course.

At noon the race was on. After the first turn was a long descent. I knew the race could begin to break here as it got strung out on the descent with speeds of around 45mph. With that in mind I went to the front to ensure my position. I led on the front the whole first lap amazed to see how many spectators from my past had come to cheer me on. I was about 3^rd position on the second lap last hill (which went through the Chancellors driveway!) when some rider falls down for apparently no reason. He grabs at me almost taking me down. I reclip and gather my balance to rush and catch up to the riders ahead of me. His strategic fall really disturbed what was left of the 46 starters (I am guessing about 30 people left). As I caught back on the lead pack I shouted “Come on guys, lets work together and lock up the top ten right now”. I heard somebody respond, “Then get up here and do some work”. I made way to the front making good on my suggestion, as I didn’t just want to sit in on that race.

The next few laps seemed to slow just a bit and we shed a few more riders making our group size to around 15. I stayed near the front the whole time feeling like I was on control. On the last lap I made sure I was at the front on the final climb. The first part of the climb was rather steep, then it flattens out a little into the Chancellors driveway, then there is about 500 meters to the finish. I went into the climb first and let two people pass me but I hung on right behind them. As we crested the steep section into the Chancellors driveway, I attacked without even shifting as to tip them off. The two guys in front of me must have been gassed or just expecting everybody to stay together. As I shifted into the big chainring, I looked back and I had a huge gap that was just getting bigger as I turned on to the finish straightaway. I drilled it the remaining 300meters towards the finish, crossing the line arms in the air with about a 9 second gap on the remainder of the field.

My finish attack went exactly as planned and I felt like I was in control the whole race. Another first place for the season and victory for Spidermonkey Cycling.

The Lawrence Top Ten List

10) Driving across state lines with Ken requires the ability to open four car windows quickly! It became the rating system, Ken only produces four window farts!!!!!!

9) Wheatfield's breakfast is the breakfast of champions (http://www.wheatfieldsbakery.com/)

8) Dan Pollard can eat and he loves a good turkey leg

7) Kansas is not flat

6) Dehydration after a race allows for limited rest stops on the 9hr drive home (ride there 4 stops; ride home 2 stops)

5) People in Kansas are very nice; they will just start a conversation with you, its a bit weird but kind of cool too.

4) If you drive roughly 1200 miles you better pick up some podiums!

3) When you can not find 312... Free State Beer is a great substitute. (http://freestatebrewing.com/) We loved all the Free States Beers.

2) If you win a race it entitles you to the first 'smile' from Mystique... more to come at jj peppers...

1) The last man back to the hotel room wins the next day (night 1 zens stumbles in at 2:15, night 2 jake arrives around 3:15, both claim victory the following day)

Rain .. rain .. Bike to Work Rally!

Hey Everyone,

Great time riding with the 2 media personalities this morning .. weather was great, police escort was awesome, the blackhawks/blues brothers car with the blackhawk girls was pretty cool and the winner of the "race" was pretty cool too.

Pic from the United Center, before we got started .. free dunkin donuts coffee and assorted donuts, yum. Blackhawk cheerleader girls, yum.
Here's some video of the group near the end of the route turning from Lake onto Clark (I think) - a little wobble in these videos, hope you don't get sick ..


Here's another video of the group entering Daley Plaza .. listen to what Dean has to say to Vanessa ..


Once the morning program wrapped up, it was pretty chill, did some yoga and then just before the beer started flowing, the rain started coming down, first a little, then in sheets. The bmx'ers stopped doing their backflips on the ramp and started doing some flat land tricks, but then they even called it quits. The brave souls that ventured out were treated to some free 312 and mini vienna beef hot dogs.

Here's some pics .. Anna from Goose Island putting the vienna beef hot dog umbrella to good use.
Can karate chopping at the rain drops ..
Dean and Vanessa strolling in .. the rain.
Overall, good time, unfortunately it ended early, but they're rescheduling the event for July 24th, the Friday before the Chicago crit.

JPC

Blue Mounds Road Race

Here is what Jake said about the race, and his epic third place:

When the America's Tour of Dairyland announced they would add Blue Mounds to the lineup, even making it their "Queen Race", I knew I had to do it. Ive done most of the route, and I knew how fun and challenging it would be.

The morning of, Uwe and I rode to the start. It was only 6 miles from where we stayed the night before, but it included one mile of the three mile finish climb - the steepest part at that. It was not quite as bad as I remembered. At the registration it had a very proffessional Super week feel to it. I slammed a Red bull and did a few flat loops to stay warmed up.

About 35 of us qued up for the start of the mixed 4/5 field. The race rolled out nuetral down the big hill, into the town of blue mounds and even over some gravel road work. Out of town the race was on. I stayed at the front from the begginning keeping a high pace on the first rollers, hoping to thin the field.

With the first big(ish) climb at around mile 7, I drilled it to the front. Luckily 7 other people followed. At the top I continued hammering and even found myself solo. I waved the other 7 guys up and they joined. We had at least a 100m gap after that climb. I encouraged us to work together and taked turns pulling. It sort of worked, however I found about only half of us doing any work. The pace was very fast and the rest of the field wa sno longer even in view. As we were finishing the first loop with a 2 mile climb, I was on the lead. A UW madison guy takes the lead and puts down a decent gap. Following him, a Fuel guy from Portland bridges up. I cant exactly put out any more effort at that point and I assume I will catch the 15 meters or so on the downhill. As I crest the downhill I am picking up some distance between them. Turning out of Blue Mounds, I actually take a slight wrong turn, the corner marshals yell at me and I get back on course. This gives a chance for 3 more guys to bridge up to me. The four of us try to work together to catch the two off the front. At the first climb it is now just me and one other guy trying to catch the two off the front. The gap goes from about 15-20secs, never really able to catch, even though my breakway buddy and I are working together really well.

At the first big climb, where our original break formed, I drop the guy I had been chasing with. I put about 10 or 15 seconds on him. Now that I am solo, my chances of bridging to the 2 guys off the front diminishes, but chances of locking up third place rise. I stick it solo in no man's land with about 15 miles to go. What describes the rest of the race is fear of being caught by the guy behind me and hope of catching the two guys in front of me. I say to myself, as long as I dont flat or cramp up, Ive got third locked up. Cramp. Violent cramp in my calf. I manage to shake it off by pedaling with the other leg for about 30 seconds. Coming into the three mile climb to the finish, I still have the two guys in my sight. I manage to make up some distance, but never quite catch. Third it is.

Skipping work and crossing state lines, I am glad I did not have to settle for anything less than a podium. - what an epic race.

jt

Soldier Field Criterium #1 - June 17

After mentally and nutritionally getting prepared for the race all day, I still wasn’t registered when I left work around 5pm. I was nervous because my knee was bothering me for the last couple of weeks and I had to take a week off the bike, besides this was going to be my first race of the real season.

Once I got to the race area, the first thing Andrew asked me was if I was registered. ‘Of course, no’, then he said ‘they are already full’. Well, good news for me; I was really nervous, wasn’t sure if I was ready to race and didn’t know if I wanted to do this. I put my name on the waitlist and went to ride off the Lake Front with Big John. We got back and almost all of the team was there, so many people were registered getting ready for their races, this made me ‘wanna race!’, but I still had time to hear from that waitlist. So we went to warm-up at Northerly Island. It was less than fifteen minutes before the start, when they told me I was in and hand me out my bib-number. After a couple laps on the race course we were in line for the start.


I was in the second row just behind Dan at the start, after the start I was probably fifth or sixth wheel. However I lost ground so quick, after the first couple laps I was riding in the midpack, considering a pack of 75 riders that wasn’t really good. My weakness was the turns, I’m not quite sure if I was trying to take the wrong line on the turns or slowing down too much or what else? But I know ‘more the turns are, the worse the race is for me’. Halfway into the race I was at the back of the big bunch probably 30-40 riders in front of me. I was able to gain position on the beck stretch but then lost it in the last two turns before the finish. Once I was riding in the drops on the final stretch and couldn’t handle the bike quite well into the first turn and ended up taking it unnecessarily wide and lost a few seconds. Another poor cornering was happened in turn five somehow I exit the ~180 turn really wide, people behind me (people I passed on the back stretch) passed me on my left, where I should be riding, even worse; I was too fast and too inside for the last turn, so I slowed down more going into turn 6, let a couple riders pass me. All these bad cornering made me work harder on the straight portions of the race, I was strong enough to hold on to the main pack as every other team member was getting droped, but due to poor handling I couldn’t do better than the back of the main pack. I believe I finished somewhere around 20th.


All the people cheering up for me; that definitely helped, a lot. I felt lot stronger when I heard Vanessa, Bryan, Nate, Mike, Dean and those others I couldn’t remember now, yelling my name. Thanks a lot guys and it wouldn’t be such fun without you around.

Not racing for three and a half months, taking a week off the bike recently, skipping a lot of weekend training, I cannot complain about how I finished the race, also my first race of ‘09 as a Spidermonkey.