Chippewa Creek Road Race

This race was very well organized and run! I was surprised to see so many women here (14) considering the early start time (7am). The purse was larger than usual though, so that gave some incentive to roll out of bed super early, at least for me it did. I recognized the 2 Stark Velo women and the rest of the ladies seemed to be without teammates.

We took it easy right out of the gate with myself and Stark Velo mostly controlling the pace the first lap. We had driven the course beforehand so I sort of knew what to expect, which made me feel better. I tried to sit in on the first time up the climb, just to listen and watch. I kept my eyes on Stark Velo at the front b/c they were looking strong and last time I rode with them they attacked on the climb, but I figured they wouldn't attack just yet. At the top, I felt great and even greater when I heard everyone else huffing...so I tried to make a plan.

I knew I could get away on the climb, but I wasn't sure if I'd be strong enough to time trial the rest of the race myself. I could wait until the last lap and just try to motor up the hill for the win, or I could try to get the Stark Velo women to work with me for an attempted break. I went for the last option. So on lap 2, I let the Stark ladies lead up the hill and then I gave a slight attack just to try to show them that I was feeling good and to drop off anyone I could. On the lap 3 hill, I decided that I was going and just hoped Stark would come with me. Sure enough, Mary Ellen gave me some encouragement for the break and her teammate and her, along with another girl, grabbed my wheel and I got us a nice gap from the field.

On lap 4, my knee started acting up and my tummy started hurting b/c I didn't dilute my Gatorade enough. All I could think about was how Craig told me not to get the lemon-lime flavor and I hate it when he's right. Although, if he would have purchased more Accelerade like he was supposed to, we wouldn't have had this Gatorade problem in the first place. That's the last time I leave him in charge of purchasing the Accelerade.

I tried to tune out the knee throb and tummy ache, and we tried to maintain a fairly decent pace for the next 2 laps, but apparently we were dilly-dallying a little too much. I knew that I was capable of at least another mph or two, but I didn't want to pull any harder than anyone elso. Plus I often have this tendency to try to "save" myself, for what, I'm not sure, especially when the race is so short. So all of a sudden one girl caught us, and a minute later the whole field was back again. I wasn't too worried though b/c we were practically at the climb again and my legs were still feeling pretty good.

So I sat behind the Stark Velo women half way up the cimb, then just gave it my all to the finish line...and it worked! Thanks to the Stark Velo women for working with me. And thanks to my parents for coming out to watch and to my dad for waking up extra early to prepare our pre-race smoothies. Now I have more reason to purchase a Vita-mixer and make that part of my pre-race regimen.

The host family for the weekend was the O'Hara's. Kelly and I decided to try to eliminate some drive time on race day if we stayed in Cleveland. There are a few things I can bank on when I visit....

1. FOOD - Kelly's father (Mike) and I try to see who is the bigger man by who can eat more. And if I think that I am at the point of stopping, mom (The Cindy) is always asking if I want more...."No thanks" The Cindy, "are you sure" Craig "no thanks"...Cindy "are you sure"....for the sake of argument I give in. About 20 minutes later, Mike and I are horizontal on the respectible chairs determining who is more miserable.
2. GADGETS - Mike always has a new gadget. Whether it be the new cornbread pan, grill accessories, or the beloved camping equipment ...this weekend was no exception with the Vita Mix 5000. For those rookie smoothie makers out there, grab the pen and paper because this is like the Ferrari of blenders.

The morning of the race I awake at 5 a.m. As Kelly is making some final touches to the make-up for her 7 a.m. race ?!?! I am in the kitchen chugging coffee so I can open the eyes. At this point, I witness Mike preparing the Vita Mix 5000 (who graciously woke up to make his daughter and I the special power shake) If the coffee wasn't doing the trick to wake me up, watching Mike fly through the gears on this mixer was priceless. With a stiff snarl of the lip, Mike red lines the Vita Mixer to make that perfectly smooth power potion.

So we get to the race. The pre-race setup/warmup went great. Except the gravel driveway to the registration to destroy the 3 hour cleaning session I had on the bike the previous day. I watch Kelly man handle the womens field. Finally she rode like she does on the Tues. and Thurs. rides (where she drops seasoned veterans....not to name names Will).

My group takes off, I clip in and shift to the large chain ring, or try is better. At this point I turn in to that guy with my front derailer cable flapping in the wind, and spinning away. I thought I might have to call it a day, but after the first lap I realized that it was do-able in the small ring. I could not pedal the downhill or bridge any serious attacks. So I sat in and started spinning. Coming into the last climb to the finish I was second wheel and was deciding when to go. As it started to get a bit steeper a guy attacked. I reacted a bit late and could never bridge the gap, but did gap the field and took second.

CCRR: That’s the Cleveland World Championships in Clevelandspeak

On the Elite team today we had Rish and Grimm fresh off the disabled list, as well as Stubna (DUBna) in his Cat1-3 debut

At 35 miles for a Road Race this thing is shorter than me without my heels, so it was super aggressive (like a caged jungle cat)

On the first lap Rish and Grimm were tearing it up on the front and I was wondering if this was the part of the pre-race meeting I A-D-D'ed out.....we got Grimm off the front then I countered, then a whole bunch of other stuff happened, Paul Martin manhandled us, Rish got 4th again, and I grabbed the field sprint for 5th, and DUBna was right behind me on his pimped new bianchi ride for 7th...its going to be scary once we get a few more races in this guy, great job today

I had some family here today, which is always nice, I would like to say there was a little extra pressure from that, but I think the Gamm's handle mediocrity well

Thanks to all the other Savage Hill kids that hung out and were cheering for us....I felt like there were a lot today, but then again I was probably seeing double

I also learned that there is this granola that my parents have (im currently squatting in their basement in Cleveland before the move to Columbus on June 8th, all those in the Group Rides: be afraid) and I have been eating this granola, and after about the 16th time of getting stomach cramps today I think I have to stop, at one point I almost puked on Brian Batke, I don’t think he would have liked that much....Tim Swain is now a Cat 3 on the track, which is great because we have a track in Columbus, wait, no we don’t, any way good for him

Today I felt like I finally have recovered most of my racing fitness after my crash in March. I was starting to get discouraged the last month, struggling in the hills, barely hanging onto group rides and getting attacked by Kelly on Red Bank Rd, wondering why I couldn’t get my heart rate up. Thanks Joe and Blair for talking me into racing. It was nice to feel good in a race again. This was a real confidence booster

Since this has always been a tough little race I decided to play it conservative and not overextend myself. I ended up feeling really good the entire race. I had a go on the last climb to see what I could do. Not too bad: I ended up with 10th overall and 6th in my field.

I was pumped about doing this race because of the tough climbs and the fact that it was my frist race in the Cat 123 field.

All week I had been training hard on only best roads. Hey I wouldn't mind finishing second place even.



Also, I had been eating only the most high power foods, like this spaghetti sauce specially formulated for the italian style bike racer's needs.



Unfortunately it didn't keep me and the rest of the field from getting schooled by P. Martin



Last photo by B. Fraley

Super effort at the end by Gamm to take the field sprint, awesome work by Ryan to make the break, and great work Jeremy to attack early I hope you get better quickly. Thanks to all the teammates who waited around to see the last race and didn't mind shouting every time around the hill to keep me motivated! Congrats to Kelly and Craig and everybody who raced today, it was great being part of such a fun team.

I like this course - short circuit and the hill isn't too steep to break the legs of us big boys. My objective was to finish with the pack today - many weeks without racing and only a few hard efforts since I got sick a few weeks ago equate to a long road to recovery. Yesterday was a step in the positive direction. Riding in the car with Blair and Will makes all the pain of racing worthwhile. Ask will if Doves go to heaven when they die.

Well, I should have listened to everyone who said I should rest! No one told me I should race, but I went ahead and did it anyway. I have looked at quite a few photos of me over the past few months, No I am not vain. Having mono hasn't helped me with my modeling career. LOL

I can see the illness in my eyes and I feel it after every race. I know your tired of hearing about the whole mono issue, and so am I.

I won't be doing anymore race reports until Grandview Street Sprints. I talked with awesome ex professional John Shell, who also had mono, he told me rest, rest, rest. I know everyone else also said that, but I didn't listen. I guess you could say I am stubborn!

Please Lord give me the patience to ride at low intensity and not fast like my whole life has been. I am always in a hurry at everything I do!