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The Course
A 65 mile out and back course from Superior to Winkleman.
There is a neutral course start from bustling downtown Superior, and the race begins for
real after you climb out of Superior and cross highway 60. The route is rolling to uphill for
the next 6 or 7 miles when you hit a 1 mile, 10% climb to a KOM bonus sprint.
A high speed, 8 mile downhill begins with about 2 miles of 10% grade, slackens to 5 or 6%,
and includes about a 1/2 mile flat section in the middle. The next 20 miles is on rolling,
twisting terrain - a breakaway here can easily stay out of sight of the peleton until the
turnaround at Winkleman. On the return you (obviously) have to climb the 8 mile ascent
(which includes another KOM sprint bonus about 2/3 of the way up the climb)
where the race is usually decided. However, there is time on the downhill/rollers back to
the finish line (which is a couple mile outside of Superior, and NOT the same as the
starting line) to catch a racer if the gap over the top of the climb is not too large.
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The Master's Road Race :The 30+ and 40+ group raced together (scored separately) today at Superior.
Total group of maybe 50. Big group of CZ racing 30+ (including DJ Fernandez and Troy Love)
and a big group of Team RPM racing 40+. Since we were racing with the 30+ group,
I was very concious of staying at the front of the peleton, figuring the group might split
into a strong 30+ group and everybody else.
I went with the lead pack on the KOM sprint on the way out, and hit the summit just off the
back of the lead 5 or 6 guys. Nearly the entire peleton regrouped on the big descent, and
(in spite of a wicked headwind all the way to Winkleman), CZ started throwing attacks at
the peleton. I was determined to go with any big moves, but not to get caught up in a
3 or 4 man breakaway, figuring they had no chance in that wind. Finally, a break containing
CZ and 3 or 4 other guys (including at least a couple of 40+ racers) got clear. I didn't respond,
and sat in. After about a half and hour and a few halfhearted attempts by racers to bridge up,
Corky Kurtz put Team RPM on the front of the peleton to chase. He burned his guys out
pulling hard into the wind, and brought the break back into sight by the Winkleman turnaround.
After the turn, more riders went to the front to try to bring back the break, including Trever,
who put in two massive pulls, one of which split the peleton in half. The peleton regrouped
once Trever backed off. When we hit the base of the climb, the breakaway was still probably
about 2 minutes up the road. I'd been careful to stay near (but not at) the front of the peleton
up to that point. But when we hit the hill, I didn't worry about being in front. I figured I had a
half hour climb in front of me, and set a good, hard pace that I thought I could sustain for that
length of time. I passed the 2 or 3 riders leading the peleton in front of me, but continued at
the same pace. As I closed in on the first of the breakaway riders succumbing to the hill,
I looked back to see how many riders were holding my wheel. None. Zip. I was alone, with
probably another 5 or 6 riders in front of me, including an unknown number of 40+ racers.
I had a realistic shot at the podium. The breakaway guys must have done a LOT more work
than me up to this point, so if I could just get them in sight...
I caught two more racers at the very start of the only flat/downhill section of the whole climb.
One of them was a 40+ rider, who told me he thought there was only one more 40+ racer (Landis)
ahead of us. The three of us took turns pulling until the road turned up again, where I dropped those
two in pursuit of the remaining 40+ racer. I had him in sight when the "KOM 200M" sign appeared
by the side of the road. Those bastards put the KOM in the middle of the hill, not the top! I had
no chance to catch the Landis rider and bag the KOM money, but I still needed to catch this guy
and get some space before we hit the downhill/flat and a possible sprint finish.
The road tipped up hard near the top of the climb, and I blew by two 30+ racers, then bagged the
final 40+ racer. He caught my wheel on the way by, so I stood and put in a 30 second hard effort
to shake him. No dice. I sat back down, recovered a little, and tried again. This time he broke,
and I stayed out of the saddle for the rest of the climb to open up some space. I crested the
summit (thinking I was in 1st place, but not totally sure), got into a tuck and flew down the other
side. The new bike is ROCK SOLID on descents, by the way...
The road flattened out, but I stayed in TT position and continued to push. When the rollers hit,
I stood to hammer over the first climb, and my right quad cramped and didn't release. I looked
down and could see a crease running the length of my quad where the muscle was in spasm.
I pedaled with the left leg and massaged the right quad, and it finally relaxed, but I could not
get out of the saddle for the rest of the race. I stayed low and concentrated on using my
hamstrings, and hoped everybody else was in as bad a shape as I was. I began searching
for the finish line, but it always takes forever to get from the summit to the finish in Superior.
I didn't want to know what was behind me; I was at max effort anyway. Finally the finish line
appeared, and I risked a look back to see if I needed to try to stand and sprint
(well, at least my version of a sprint). Nobody in sight; I was clear. I sat up and coasted
across the line for the win. Although we were scored separately, they recorded times for both
30+ and 40+ fields, and I found I beat both groups. A great start on my new bike, and a huge
dose of confidence heading towards Bisbee.
-Craig Long
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| if you seriously want to read that again |
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The Cat 4 Road Race:The Cat. squad landed two top 10's (Suj 6th, Rick 9th) in Saturday's Superior RR.
The highlight of the race for me was seeing the squad really gel as a team.
Craig S., Josh & Tyler worked their butts off to contain the days on major break and
keep Rick & me protected. Mark Ahn made a very respectable (at least top 20) cat 4
debut and helped out also. Paul Wright made a great effort too.
Here's the play by play...
The race started out together coming into the first climb, where it split. About 15 of us
crested first, then began our 50+ mph decent when some idiot in a van was sitting
on the wrong side of the road! At 50mph we whizzed by, but I had the scrary
experience of having to split between the van and another car that was (albeit slowly &
carefully) coming on the opposite lane. Talk about freaky!
At the bottom of the decent it was me an a handful folks, mostly Flag Velo, who were
out in force. They had at least 10, maybe more, to our 7. While the rest of the field
was chasing, Flag Velo sent a guy up the road. I patiently watched and waited and
was relieved, when Craig & Co., caught back on and pulled up next to me. Then Craig
began his relentless work with Josh & Tyler to contain the break. Unforutunately it
pretty much became Procon vs.Flag Velo as no other team really chipped in to
help catch the break. We came close a couple time to reeling it in, but with
only three guys trying to drag the peloton vs. Flag's 9 trying to block, they made a
good move that hurt us.
Everytime the peleton let up due to Flag's blocking, Craig jumped to the front to get things going.
And everytime I thought he was going to hurl, he went right back to the front again...awesome effort(s).
Right behind Craig came Josh & Tyler. All three sacrificed themselves to catch the
break and deliver Rick & I to hill rested.
The break lasted something lik 30 miles until the a couple miles before base of the
climb back. Once we caught the guy, I believe he tried to jump again, and I heard
that Craig said something like, "You're not going anywhere bitch!".
There the peleton started the climb together. At the top of the feed zone
Dan Naef from Flag & Ryan Z. from Waste Management made a move. 4 others
and myself made the split, but it quickly disintegrated. Before I knew it, 4 were
scattered up the road and I was in a group of three. Our group of three worked
together for a while until the second climb back. There Gordon, an unattached semi-
pro mountain biker, dropped me and I dropped Ron from Revelotion. I then turned
it into TT mode, and started catching all the carcasses left from the damage
Craig Long & Gerard did in their races. I had Gordon in sight, but could never catch on.
I then crested and rolled through the rollers the rest of the way to trickle in for 6th,
Rick then came a few minutes later for 9th.
Awesome work everyone!
-Sujeet Karna
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The Master's Crit
The crit course is COOL!.
I really had a lot of fun, although my day was a comedy of errors.
The Course: the start finish line is a steady uphill grade, but not too steep (2 - 3%??).
A 90 degree left takes you up a short, steep climb to another left. A very short downhill
leads into a right turn and another short, steep climb. A left at the top of the climb puts
you on a gradual but high speed downhill where you hit the tightest corner of the crit;
a 90 degree left turn into a narrow alleyway. The alley is sharply donwhill to the start/finish
straightaway and an extremely high speed, but plenty wide left turn. A very challenging and
somewhat technical loop.
At registration they told me to go ahead and use my number from yesterday (509),
so I pinned it on and went to warmup on the road. I got back about 10 minutes before the
start, and notice Carlos was wearing (yeah, you guessed it) #509. So I had to switch numbers
at the starting line.
But no big deal. Again, the 30+ and 40+ raced together, but this time the field was tiny -
6 40+, 5 30+. Unfortunately, Brian Lemke (former Az Pro/1 State TT champ) was one of the 30+ racers...
The whistle blew to start the crit, I stepped on the pedals - nothing. Somehow my chain had
come off. I put it back on, and sprinted to try to catch up with the pack that Lemke seemed
intent on blowing apart. I chased for almost the whole first lap before I caught on. Unfortunately,
about when I caught on, the last racer in the group gave up - I was gapped again. So, I spent
another lap chasing. I caught on again; this time a @#$!!! Landis rider broke right as I caught on.
Gapped yet again! By the time I chased on again, the peleton (such as it was) had been split in two.
I ended up in a group with Don WIlliams, Rob D, and some other Landis guy. There were 2 40+
racers with me, and Carlos off the back, so there couldn't be more than 2 40+ guys in the lead group.
Hmmmm, the payout was 3 deep; I could actually make some money in a crit!
After the Lemke group got away, the pace slowed considerably. I went to the front - after all,
I was supposed to be getting some intensity work. I led for a lap, then they announced a $10 prime.
Great timing, thanks alot. But I thought "what the hell" and attacked up the hill. I dropped the group
and stayed away for the prime. A few laps later, they announced another prime, and I did it again.
It was becoming apparent I was the strongest of those of us that had been shelled early, so I should
have at least 3rd place sewn up.
Don and I traded turns at the front for the next few laps. We dropped the Landis guy, so it was just me,
Rob (30+) and Don. And I know I was stronger than Don, who was struggling with his pulls. My strategy
was to have Don in the lead with 2 laps to go, then take off. I figured I could stay away for 2 laps.
We came to the start/finish with 2 laps to go, and I took off. I was just starting to get a gap when
I flatted. !@#$!!!! I limped around to the start/finish and ended up in 4th place. Carlos was 6th.
I'm not sure what place Gerard got amongst the 30+ group; he held onto Lemke for about half the race,
then dropped off. I am guessing he got 3rd or 4th in the 30+.
This crit was a gas. It's really fun racing the crits without the crazy ass Cat 3 idiots,
and without 104 guys on the course ;-)
-Craig Long
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