The Burlington Road Race, which usually takes place the Friday before Snake Alley is usually a good time for everyone there to just sit in and enjoy the weather. The race just usually turns out to be a 3 hour recovery ride at 30 mph. Then when the race starts heading back onto the main road running into the finish, there is about 15 miles of people jockeying for position, good practice, before a very fast downhill run into the finish.
The race this year turned out mostly the same, however the breakaway had a little more firepower than usual containing the reigning Ukranian national champion and one of AeroCat’s stronger riders. Towards the end of the race Texas Roadhouse set pace at the front of the group for a while in an effort to bring them back but it was too little too late, and our team decided to sit in to save our legs for Snake Alley on Saturday.
The run into the finish was as hectic as usual, with everyone being completely fresh, everyone felt they had a shot at front of the race. I managed to find Paul’s wheel going into the last kilometer. We somehow ended up on the front and Paul sprinted up the last climb dumping me out with about 500 meters to go, I jumped onto the lead out swarming around us and was in a perfect position to sprint. I even got onto Eric Marcotte’s wheel, who usually win’s a race or two in this weekend. I kept on telling myself to not burn my matches too early, be patient be patient. As the sprint opened up we could see the victory salute of the winner about 20 seconds up the road. This time however I was a little bit too patient as we covered the last 500 meters very quickly and really only stuck my nose out into the wind over the last few seconds of the sprint, ending up fourth in the field sprint and seventh overall.
This weekend Vince and I headed up to sort-of northern Michigan for the West Branch Omnium, which consisted of a 88 mile road race on Saturday morning and a criterium Sunday afternoon. The road race was four laps of 22 miles, with a fairly challenging ~1 mile climb at the end of every lap. The first trip up the climb I hit it hard, hoping to create an early selection and to reduce the numbers advantage that the bigger Michigan teams held over us. Nothing really came of it though and most of the field caught back on on the descent. This left me thinking that the climb was not a very good place to try to make a selection, which in retrospect may have been a bad call. In any case, the remainder of the race consisted of lots of short-lived attacks with not-so-fast riding in between. At one point Vince was up the road in a very promising looking group, and I bridged up, taking only one other rider with me. I think we were both pretty certain that this was the selection, but it was not to be and was eventually brought back. Right after that a group of three rolled off the front, never to be seen again. Bissel, probably the strongest team in the race, was happy with the break’s makeup, and they were successful in killing any attempts to form a chase group. A couple kilometers before the finish I found myself off the front in a small group; looking around they all looked pretty tired, so I jumped and was able to get rid of them. I built up a decent sized lead before the finishing climb, but two riders jumped up from the field at the last minute and came around me, so I ended up finishing 6th.
This past Sunday I rode a whole 5 minutes from my mom’s to race in the Chippewa Creek Road Race. Growing up in the area, the race has a really special place in my heart and was actually the very first event I entered as a junior….back in the day. Paul also lives very close to this course, so he definitely mancrushes on it as well.
Normally, the race is 9 laps long and covers about 36 miles, but it was slashed to 7 laps this year, making the race much shorter and faster. Right off the line, many of the teams in the race began to attack. I tried my best to cover as many moves as possible just in case something was to slip off. As usual, there were small groups here and there that rode away from the field, but they would quickly be brought back before the courses 1 mile climb. With about 2 laps to go, Paul got away with Dan Quinlan of Carbon Racing. The duo managed to stick it out to the finish with Paul getting the win. With the field about 20 seconds behind, we were fighting for the final podium spot. Kirk decided to pick up the pace on the final climb before the finish, managing to stretch the field out and allow for me to sprint in for the 3rd. Good team work to everyone on the squad.
After the race, we went to Paul’s house for a cookout. Got to checkout the old Daniel Boone cabin on the Martin property and watch the family dog swim around in their pond. I could not have asked for a better day.
Last Sunday, the team headed to southeast Michigan for the “Paris Roubaix of the Midwest,” Cone Azalia. 70 miles on a dead flat 10 mile course with 4 miles of dirt and gravel roads each lap; think rocks between a half inch and an inch in diameter over the top of rutted dirt roads. The only good lines are in the tire tracks where the traffic has pushed the rocks to the side. Add a 20 mph wind and no trees for shelter and you have a tough race.
After some early moves and countermoves, Kirk and Derek Graham from Bissell got away and built up a several minute lead that looked certain to stick to the finish until Kirk suffered a puncture. With Kirk back in the field, the team went into full chase mode and brought Derek back on the last lap. Kirk and I took turns attacking and covering moves from what was left of the field. I rolled off in a group of three and was able get away for the win in the last cross/headwind section. Kirk was 5th and Andy Clarke 12th. Ridley bikes and Easton parts absorbed a beating and came through with flying colors.
The final Race at the Lake was the day before Cone Azalia; we were treated to a repeat of the foul weather from the first week, wind driven rain and high 40 degree temps. We were aggressive, with Moskal and Erik in an early break that didn’t stick, then myself in a break with two Carbon Racing riders and Jeremy Grimm, a strong sprinter. When that came back, Kirk went on the attack but the field was still eager to chase. It all came back together with 2 laps to go and we started to line up for a sprint. With Kirk on the front and everyone fighting for his rear wheel I took a flyer from behind, got clear and held it to the line. In the sprint, Brent was 5th and Moskal 7th. Panther also won the team overall in the 4 race series.
The Joe Martin Stage Race is the hometown race for the Arkansas team members. We’ve raced it since we were category 3 racers and have worked our way up the ranks, usually crediting Joe Martin on our upgrade resume to USA Cycling. This year we maxed out with the eight allotted riders. Noah Singer, Kris French, Zach Spinhirne-Martin, Wade Wolfenbarger, Ryan Knapp, Chris Uberti, Dan Campbell and guest rider Troy Wells filled the roster.
The four day race includes a 2.6 mile opening hill climb prologue, a 110 mile stage, a 92 miles stage, then the 90 minute crit on the final day. I ended up posting my best time and the team’s best in the TT, a 9:02. I was closely followed by my teammates Dan, Wade and Troy. Zach missed his start which gave him a time in the 15 minute window. Luckily for him, they didn’t hold true to the time-cut rule of 125% of the winner’s time and he started the next morning, legally.
Friday’s 110 mile stage was fast and hilly. It had 5,400 feet of climbing and for the first 66 miles our average speed was 27.8 mph. On one of the descents I found myself behind Floyd (yes, that one) and witnessed something truly incredible. He has the smallest descending tuck known to man. I swear I’ve never seen someone get any lower. His entire chest on his TT, his knees damn near above his head. From toes to head I bet he was 24” high. I gave him compliments at the time, and he opened up to conversation immediately. Speaking of, I think he is the only guy in the entire peloton to willingly have a conversation on the bike. Just about everyone else out there is so in the zone, and into their own team alone they can’t spare a few words. Not Floyd. He’s always willing to chat, and a pleasure doper (updated 5/20/10) to chat with.
A break was up the road for the 2nd half of the race so our trip up Mt. Gaylor made the 6 mile rolling climb more tolerable than usual. It was steady tempo, and a strong headwind also helped to keep it at bay. The break eventually finished just 25 seconds ahead of our main pack, down from their three minute gap 25 miles earlier.
Day three was the 92 mile lolly pop style road course. Head out 11 miles, do three laps of the 23 mile loop then we head back to Fayetteville. Again, there is a steep climb each lap that usually knocks guys off the back. Last year I was dropped here, and had to abandon the race. For 2010 I was sitting in the top 10 at the top of the climb, what a difference a year makes. Zach had an untimely flat and never caught back on. Kris was also put under pressure and had to abandon. The rest of us survived what I consider one of the diciest final five miles in bike racing, to finish with the front group. At 50 MPH the downhill sprint finish is a quick one to say the least. The most dangerous part is maneuvering around the guys who have completed their leadout and are falling back. You come up on them at nearly twice the speed, and surrounded by other riders.
Sunday’s crit course is known for being one of the hardest on the NRC calendar. The course was made even more difficult this year when they added four more turns, for a total of twelve 90 degree turns. With no time cut in the TT this year, many more people started the crit than ever before. It was a race to hold on as long as possible. After 45 minutes you were given a pro-rated time for the finish. If you did not finish before that cut-off, it is considered a DNF for the entire week. From lap number one there were crashes every lap after. Broken collar bones took out guys from Bissell, Ouch-Bahati Foundation, and United-Health just to name a few. Wade from our team also fell victim to one of the corners as shown in the video below. He was able to walk away with no major injuries, but wasn’t able to finish the day. The rest of us made it at least to the 45 minute mark and were given a time for the crit and completed the week at last. Also, check out the street art that Lucky Mortenson and his wife chalked up the night before the race. Pretty cool, thanks ya’ll.
To top things off, as if nearly 300 miles in 4 days wasn’t enough, some of the guys motor-paced both to and from the race each day.
The weather was pretty bad for the 82 mile race. Temps in the 40s, rain, and wind gusts that nearly pushed me off the road. I was shivering at the start and got into an aero tuck for the downhill start. I inadvertently got a gap and kept pedaling… mostly to stay warm. No one jumped up to me and the field kept soft pedaling, so I just kept going. I ended up riding the first half of the race solo before 3 riders bridged up. I was hurting pretty bad in the last 10 miles and didn’t have the snap to go with the attacks on the last hill. Ended up 4th.
The first thing I heard when I woke up at 6 am on Sunday morning was rain. I’m not too sure what conditions everyone else has being experiencing this spring, but my weekends have mainly been loaded with tons of precipitation. Eventually, the rain would pass and leave a wet road with plenty of grit and dirt to cover both me and everyone else for our 9 am start of the “Covered Bridge Race”.
After many attacks during opening laps of the race, I found myself in a four man break. We had a decent gap, but it did nothing to stop a small group containing both Andy Clarke and Paul Martin from bridging up to us with a lap and half to go. With about ten of us all together, Andy C decided to throw down a few times to tire out our breakaway companions. His moves worked perfectly and set Paul up to lead me out for the win.
This was without a doubt my favorite win at the Covered Bridge Race. My feelings do not stem from any event during the race, but after. For winning the race, I received a coveted Pyro Apparel Jersey. Nice.
The Race at the Lake spring series has been a fixture in Northern Ohio for as long as I’ve been racing. It’s a perfect course to test your legs, a closed course of 1.2 miles with an uphill sprint finish, a few tight corners and plenty places to launch attacks. Not quite a crit, not quite a road race and no cars to get in the way. We had a team of five at the race, myself, Kirk and Moskal from the elite team and Brent and Erik from the regional team. Our plan was to try to get numbers in a break and only fall back on a field sprint as plan B.
The race took off quickly and Brent found his way into a break which included local strongman Jeremy Grimm. Kirk bridged up to the break, and soon another group of 7 trickled away with Moskal, leaving a lead group of almost fifteen riders. It looked like a good group for us, with three Panther riders up front. However, no one wanted to drive the break and with 9 laps to go the field regrouped. Kirk, Andy and I each launched attacks but none of our moves gave us a combination we were comfortable with. With two to go, a sprint was looking likely and we start to line up behind Kirk, myself, then Andy and Brent. Kirk gave it full gas from about 800 meters out, railing through the last turn before the uphill sprint and giving me a clean shot out of the last right hand bend at 200 meters. I am not known for being a sprinter, but with a leadout like that I was able to hold it to the line, Moskal was 2nd and Dave Chernosky (CCF) edged out Brent for 3rd, keeping us from a sweep by the smallest of margins. Another great team effort, getting it dialed in for the heart of the season.
The Winona Lake Criterium was on a flat, fast, 4-corner course in a nice little area called the Winona Lake Village. It’s kind of like the town in the Truman Show… Anyway, I lined up for the crit solo since Greg and Chris had decided to head back home and do real world things like graduate from college or something. I started in the front row and when the gun went off I got into my pedal pretty quickly, but I was in a pretty big gear. I took a few hard pedal strokes to get on top of the gear and dove into the first corner. When I looked back to see what was going on behind, all I saw was John Puffer from Texas roadhouse and then about 10 bike lengths back to the field. I decided to put the hammer down just to test the waters. Puffer and I rotated together for a few laps and our gap to the field was growing and at the same time a few of the critical team sent riders up to the move and we were outta there.
At one point there were as many as 8 of us in the move, but after some attacking before we lapped the field, we were able to trim it down to 5. Myself, Mike Sherer (Verizon), Rolf Eisenger (RGF), John Puffer (Roadhouse) and Erik Hamilton (Nuvo) made up the group that would eventually lap. I didn’t really want to lap since I didn’t have any teammates in the group, but on such a short course (1/2 mile) it was hard not to. Once back around to the field, I tried to get away again without some of my breakaway companions, but their respective team weren’t having any of that. I found Ben Renkema, former Kenda pro and very fast finisher. Since he hadn’t lapped with us, he was going to work for me at the end. With 3 to go I found his wheel and we were fighting for the front. Coming into the final corner he was in 3rd wheel and I was right behind in 4th wheel, pretty solid positioning for the long-ish sprint. I was queued up and ready to go, when the next thing I know Ben crashed coming out of the corner. He slid out and I tried to get around him on the right but his bike bounced up and literally landed on my handlebars and smacked me in the side. I went crashing down and so did my chances of grabbing another win for Panther on the weekend. I picked up my bike with the wheels wobbly and shifters dangling off the bars and rode it the 300 meters to the line to claim my 5th place. Bummer.
The races at Winona Lake have always been a good way to kick of the summer season of racing before nationals, they’re typically a pretty hard set of races. The road race is a rolling rectangle around some more corn fields of Indiana (as if we don’t have enough) that’s usually plagued by stiff crosswinds and echelons.
We went into the race thinking we would have 6 guys and some serious firepower in the field. However, plans changed and it ended being just Greg, Ryan, and Me. In addition to this, the field that turned out being really really good, Texas Roadhouse Showed up with a good squad, along with the Bissell cycling team, Nuvo, Chad from the Kenda Pro
team, and finally the Verizon U25 cycling team. Going in, our plan was to not let the race come down to a field sprint as there were a couple pretty quick guys including Ben Renkema who used to be a teammate with Greg and I.
"3pm start time and located in Oxford, Mississippi makes for 117 degree heat index!"
-Zach Spinhirne-Martin before the road race at The Oxford Endurance weekend.
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