Tour of Hermann has come and gone and my knees are still there. I was very excited to do this race. The country side is gorgeous and I did very well here last year as a 4. This year I was a 3 and didn’t do so well.
I just want to say that Jeff Yielding is the man for putting on primo race after primo race. It doesn’t matter what type of race it is… If his name is on it, its going to be good and I’m going to be there. Thank you Jeff!!! But man…. you must have been mad as hell when you put these routes together because they were punishing!!
The TT - Stage 1.
Last year I did this race on a standard road bike. It was my first ever tt and had no Idea what the hell I was doing and averaged 22.5 or something like that. This year I had a little better set up with some deda clip on TT bars and a new seat position to match, I was going to have a better time for sure. My “no idea what I’m talking about” goal was a average of 25. After the TT was done I went and check the result and saw that I had a 24.5 average. I was cool with this…. It wasn’t the 25 I was looking for but it was still 2mph faster than last year. SUCK!!!!
The Crit - Stage 2.
Crits seem to be my specialty on the road bike and this was my best chance for making some bucks and some omnium points. That was until I saw the devastating course that Jeff had put together which had a hill in it bigger than Alton.
Scooter up the hill in Hermann
As the crit started I wanted to make sure I was near the front for the 50 MPH down hill. I came through the first lap near the front only to fade on the hill. And then fade a little more the next lap…. and then a little more the next lap. Until I found myself in probably the last group of the bunch which was where I stayed for the remainder of the race. We never got lapped and I finished a dismal 22nd… IL take it. There were others who would have loved to finish on the lead lap so I shouldn’t complain.
The Road Race Stage - 3!
I woke up Sunday morning to the sound of Rain. Knowing I was going to be wet I had to throw on my Belgium knee warmers (embrocation for those not in the know). We rolled down to the start of the race and basically waited for them to say go. GOOOOOO!!!!!!
We started with a cruise through town just like last year and the race actually started on the first hill out of town just like last year. I pretty much got dropped on the last part of the hill where it kicked up. I suck at climbing…. something that has been brought to my attention about 10 times this year on non Illinois rides!!! When we got to the top Jason from our team was right there with me… dropped. I told him we needed to start kicking and get back in there. When we hit that first down hill at close to 50… we were able to hammer along pretty good and get back in there easily.
It seemed the hills just kept coming.
When we got to the second hill I got popped off the back again near the top. After I got my legs back I started to chase to get back in the peleton and made it. Then we came to the third big hill and I got popped off the back again near the top. After my legs came around I chased and caught back up to the peleton. At the fourth big hill we came too I got popped off again… about half way up the hill. After my legs came around I started to chase again for the fourth time this day. It seemed to take longer this time….. my legs where fading like neon green in 93…
It took me about 2 miles this time to get back into the peleton. As soon as I did(and lucky me) the attacks started. It took a couple attacks but eventually a breakaway formed with about 6 dudes in it. I started to relax as we were now in a slightly flatter (when I say flatter, I mean not mountain sides but still rolling county side) section where you could kinda just cruise along in the peleton. The gap was opening fairly quickly to the breakaway and I was having nothing with it. The group I was in came off a slight down hill and I hit it…. I was near 40 MPH on a slight down hill trying to bridge the gap but fell short on the next little rise where I blew the F up. I got close to them but never made it close enough to grab on.
The peleton I had just attacked from rolled by and I was done. My legs had been reduced to wet waffles which are not good for riding in Hermann, MO. I finished the lap with a couple other guys who had been dropped earlier and were probably all in the same boat I was - not good at climbing. I called it quits back in Hermann. I didn’t feel like going back out for 30 more miles in the rain by my self…. I’m a pussy, sorry.
So I DNF’d the RR but for some reason…… I had a blast. Maybe because It was my first super hard race of the year….
Maybe it was because It was one day classic-ish.
Maybe…. I don’t know. It was just cool.
When Suffer fest oh-10 is announced, you will see my name on the pre-registration page.
Holla atcha boy…..
Here is the source on my blog…. http://atowncycling.blogspot.com/2009/0 … est09.html
_________________
http://www.atowncycling.blogspot.com
