Tour de Hills
Cat ¾
Ryan Toedebusch
Harrison Arkansas
April 18, 2015
I made my way south to the Ozarks for my 2nd go at the Tour de Hills road race. Last year I raced as a cat 5 and ended up getting 2nd to Zach Cobb from SBC-racing. Coming back as a 3 and racing the ¾’s, I was hoping for stiffer competition and a large field. The weather was not looking good with clouds and rain in the forecast. Seems this may have scared away many riders for there was only 16 in my category.
The course is deemed the Jasper disaster, in reference to the 3 major climbs that it contains and Jasper is the town where the climbing fun begins. 10:10 am start and it looked like the weather would hold, at least for the start. The first 20 miles out of Harrison were flat and I used these to warm up the legs since I was late to register. I pulled to the front for a few miles and opened up the fuel lines (ie: capillaries). Hit the first climb, Pruit climb (1.2 miles 6.2%avg) and (what felt like to me) screamed up it with the pack of ~30 still intact (cat ¾ started with Masters). This was just enough to open the legs up before Mt. Sherman climb (3.2 miles 7.1%avg). This climb started hard and quickly there were only 6 of us left. One dude from Panda Racing Dev got up the road and stayed away until the finish to win. I narrowly hung on for the duration of this climb. I was dropped but never lost sight of the group and fought like hell to regroup just before the dope and bomber descent that was to come. I find these moments in racing to be very rewarding. I take opportunities like this to really test myself – mostly mentally. I didn’t want to lose sight of them, my legs were telling me otherwise but I rode my pace and my tempo and was able to latch back up before the descent – cool!
Since the ¾ cat started with Masters – we had these guys intermingled with us, which made keeping track of bib numbers important for me. I was 3rd/4th on the road at all times after the first climb. Coming down from Mt. Sherman I took some moments to slam some calories before the real descending started. The last climb was Ponca (2.7 miles 7.5%avg) and I recall this one hurting last year. Awesomely for me this year, while it was painful, it was over much faster than I remembered, with mostly uneventful riding up with a group of 4 riders. Now that the deciding terrain was out of the way, I just had to hold off a few chasing riders in my race to secure a podium spot.
The last 20 miles were false flats and some more bomber descents. I worked hard with 3 riders, 2 were masters and one dude was in my cat, who had bridged back up after Ponca. He told me that he was 2nd last year in the ¾, so I knew he was capable. He was cramping and asked to get pulled in but wouldn’t contest me for 3rd. Being a skeptic – I wasn’t sure, dude seemed nice but I didn’t take any chances. These last miles I was teetering on full-gassed and as we pulled into town, I made sure to save enough juice to out sprint my guy, even if he made a truce. I was able to outsprint both Masters guys and the other cat ¾ to get my last spot on the podium. All in all – great day of racing and it was great prep for Joe Martin this weekend. I have to say that this race is legit and suits me well.
Thanks SBR Quantum Racing and all of our sponsors.
Tuesday, April 21, 2015
Monday, April 20, 2015
Hillsboro Roubaix
P1/2
Jesse Siemen
This year was my first Hillsboro race and come to find out my last. It sounds like after 14 years of putting on the event, it will be no more. It is really unfortunate to lose another opportunity to participate in a local road race, but it’s pretty easy to understand why. The great folks who organize and put on these races have to really have a love and passion for the event to go through all they do with little tangible benefit. With that said, it was a top notch event that was run incredibly well and I’m glad I had the opportunity to participate. Thank-you Hillsboro crew!
BJ and I did a couple recon laps of the final loop with the cobbles around town before the race started. While the bricks looked pretty tame and smooth, it was enough to rattle you. I find riding on bricks like that similar to loose gravel or sand, where you have to keep the power down and coasting is not an option. BJ gave me some tips on what to expect through the feed zone and heading out of town (i.e. it will be fast).
A pretty good field of 60 some riders lined up at the start with some quality riders. The race started out pretty calm after the neutral roll out. It wasn’t a leisurely pace, but it also wasn’t too crazy. Within the first few miles, several people flatted, including BJ. Nick and I got together to discuss the option to drop back and try to pull him back up, but we knew he had some company back there to chase with from other people that flatted and opted not risking losing a couple more guys in case we weren’t able to make contact again.After many attacks and failed attempts to form breaks, a good looking move formed on the back half of the first lap. A bunch of people split off the front. Grant was the only one in the move. By the time I found an opportunity to join them, they had a decent, but manageable gap to bridge across. I made a hard attack and found myself solo coming across. It ended up being one of those situations where they were right there, but I couldn’t quite make it. I just dangled for a while. It’s a terrible feeling to know you are that close to being able to get back in a draft, but your legs just don’t respond. I latched back on to the pack with my tail between my legs thinking the race was over.
However, surprisingly the break wasn't gaining much ground on us. I made a couple attempts on the
second lap to try to bridge, but was finally able to on the third lap. Shortly after I made it, the group
really slowed and everybody that was left in the race was back on. We cruised through the last lap with some small moves being made, but nothing was sticking. Overall, the race was pretty fast paced, with a lot of surges, so everybody was starting to feel it as we approached town. I followed a strong move from Korte Hammer Down up the hill into town. We formed a little gap with one other guy, but nobody wanted to commit to leading it out through the first turn onto the bricks. I ended up being the one to do the honors. I was not going full out with the hopes of trying to slot in a few guys back. Grant decided to drill the downhill and buzzed by me at mach speed. I slotted in third into the 2nd to last corner. I gave Grant and the other rider a cushion to make it difficult for someone to come around me and latch onto Grant. One guy passed me (eventual winner) and I came 4th into the last finishing stretch hitting the wind. It was a long drag to the finish line. I lost a handful of spots and ended up 9th.
Grant again was on the podium in 2nd. Overall, a good hard race that was good prep for the upcoming Joe Martin Stage Race.
Jesse Siemen
This year was my first Hillsboro race and come to find out my last. It sounds like after 14 years of putting on the event, it will be no more. It is really unfortunate to lose another opportunity to participate in a local road race, but it’s pretty easy to understand why. The great folks who organize and put on these races have to really have a love and passion for the event to go through all they do with little tangible benefit. With that said, it was a top notch event that was run incredibly well and I’m glad I had the opportunity to participate. Thank-you Hillsboro crew!
BJ and I did a couple recon laps of the final loop with the cobbles around town before the race started. While the bricks looked pretty tame and smooth, it was enough to rattle you. I find riding on bricks like that similar to loose gravel or sand, where you have to keep the power down and coasting is not an option. BJ gave me some tips on what to expect through the feed zone and heading out of town (i.e. it will be fast).
A pretty good field of 60 some riders lined up at the start with some quality riders. The race started out pretty calm after the neutral roll out. It wasn’t a leisurely pace, but it also wasn’t too crazy. Within the first few miles, several people flatted, including BJ. Nick and I got together to discuss the option to drop back and try to pull him back up, but we knew he had some company back there to chase with from other people that flatted and opted not risking losing a couple more guys in case we weren’t able to make contact again.After many attacks and failed attempts to form breaks, a good looking move formed on the back half of the first lap. A bunch of people split off the front. Grant was the only one in the move. By the time I found an opportunity to join them, they had a decent, but manageable gap to bridge across. I made a hard attack and found myself solo coming across. It ended up being one of those situations where they were right there, but I couldn’t quite make it. I just dangled for a while. It’s a terrible feeling to know you are that close to being able to get back in a draft, but your legs just don’t respond. I latched back on to the pack with my tail between my legs thinking the race was over.
However, surprisingly the break wasn't gaining much ground on us. I made a couple attempts on the
second lap to try to bridge, but was finally able to on the third lap. Shortly after I made it, the group
really slowed and everybody that was left in the race was back on. We cruised through the last lap with some small moves being made, but nothing was sticking. Overall, the race was pretty fast paced, with a lot of surges, so everybody was starting to feel it as we approached town. I followed a strong move from Korte Hammer Down up the hill into town. We formed a little gap with one other guy, but nobody wanted to commit to leading it out through the first turn onto the bricks. I ended up being the one to do the honors. I was not going full out with the hopes of trying to slot in a few guys back. Grant decided to drill the downhill and buzzed by me at mach speed. I slotted in third into the 2nd to last corner. I gave Grant and the other rider a cushion to make it difficult for someone to come around me and latch onto Grant. One guy passed me (eventual winner) and I came 4th into the last finishing stretch hitting the wind. It was a long drag to the finish line. I lost a handful of spots and ended up 9th.
Grant again was on the podium in 2nd. Overall, a good hard race that was good prep for the upcoming Joe Martin Stage Race.
Sunday, April 19, 2015
Tilles Park
P1/2
Grant's report
It was a rainy April afternoon at the start of the P/1/2 race in Tilles Park. With only about 25 riders starting because of the weather, and three teams with 4 or more riders we knew who to watch. Being on one of the teams who had 4 riders we had the upper hand and were able to dictate most of the
race. Our plan was to have two of our guys Nick and Shane who are our sprinters sit in and wait for the sprint or a late break to roll with. Myself and Jesse where going to attack often, scoop up preems, and try to make a break happen. This is harder than it sounds traditionally because the course is very flowy with no real turns. At the get go I knew I didn’t want to be in the field long because of the rain and spray from the tires made it near impossible to see. After only a few laps a Gateway Harley Davidson rider attacked and I was able to cover the move getting a gap rather quickly. The two of us started taking some hard pulls extending our gap to just over 7 seconds and counting I was a bit worried about this only because of how early it was in the race and not knowing how motivated the rest of the field was to chase. After 3 more laps a teammate of my break partner bridged up to us. This made me panic just a bit because we now had an established gap but I was also out numbered in the break. This was not ideal but I was willing to work with them because we were quickly putting time on the field. Now at +30 seconds I knew we were away and was motivated to try and lap the field. With a few words of motivation to my new friends in the break we successfully lapped the field with 18 laps to go.
Now in the field I took a sigh of relief knowing that I was guaranteed a podium spot. I moved up to a better position not wanting to be back to far incase one of the two from the break decided they to attack again. One ended up attacking but Nick was quick to cover and roll with him. I watched as he just flew away and Nick blowing up from the effort. I do not race for second and when Nick fell off his wheel I launched my attack to bridge up to him. I got a gap quickly but looking back soon saw that I not only brought the third member of the original break but another one of his teammates. This was not at all good because neither would pull naturally not wanting to chase their down teammate. I was left to bridge up to him myself or just sit up and let him ride away. That was not an option so the chase resumed I knew that right when I would make the catch his teammates would attack me hoping I would be gassed. I was right, the second I got on his wheel, boom, attack. I responded quickly and covered the move only to be attacked again. Luckily I had my wits about me and let the new member of the break roll off, he was still down a lap and didn't matter. Back to the three amigos from the original break; the duo began to attack me one after the other. I was against the ropes at this point. They both were determined to drop me and ride away. I hung in, stayed focused and covered every attack the two threw at me. The two riders were at this point, wasted. With just 5 laps to go I sat at the front of the group taking the inside of every corner and straight away to keep an eye on them. We were losing time rapidly now and the field was gaining fast. With 2 laps to go a random rider bridged up to us, I forced him to to sit in front and pull, telling him I would not work with him because I was worried about the win. Entering the last lap the new break member kept the pace up which allowed me to sit on his wheel and position myself for the sprint. Still trying to keep an eye out for a late attack from the other two riders. Entering the last 200 meters I began to wind my sprint up just sitting and waiting for the two riders to go. Right when one jumped I went.
Taking the inside line to keep the second rider from coming under neath me I stayed in the saddle then jumped hard a second time opening up my sprint taking the win. Im very happy with this win because of all the work that I had to do to get it. The odds were against me but I was able to fight through all that and pull out a strong victory for the team, sponsors and myself.
Nick's report
Rain had been on the tap for this Sunday all week. Everyone was glued to to their phones checking the radar every few minutes. Tilles is a fairly safe course with no real turns to speak of, mostly gradual bends. Probably the best course for an early season rain soaked race. With the rain we were down a few riders, we have some guys who have had some really bad luck racing in the rain and they opted to play it safe. With Joe Martin coming next weekend and all of the guys opting out I was okay with that. Tilles is a fun race, but nothing as big as Joe Martin.
We lined up with Grant, Shane, Jesse, and myself. There were two other teams lined up with the same numbers, Gateway Harley Davidson, and DogFish Racing. The field was small, only 20 guys showed up, but there was plenty of firepower. One of the Gateway Harley guys had already raced in his collegiate race earlier in the morning, and he was in a break that lapped the field. All of them are beasts! DogFish was no slouch either so we would need to watch them. And there were plenty of single guys like Devin Clark to watch out for.
Our plan for the day was simple, two of our guys were going to be on break away duty, and two other guys were going to try to sit in and be fresh for a sprint if it came to that. Normally this race ends in a sprint, but with the small field and wet weather, a break was a pretty good bet.
That bet paid off in just three laps. Grant and two Gateway Harley riders, Connor Brown and Micah Engle, went away quickly! The field tried to chase pretty hard but no one was able to organize enough, no one else was able to bridge, and the remaining Gateway Harley riders and our riders sat near or on on the front making things hard for other teams. To tell the truth Dennis Ramirez of Gateway Harley was on anything that moved, and had plenty of power to do way more, as he showed later in the race.
About halfway through the race Grant and his party lapped us and moved to the front. We all moved up and set up right behind the Gateway Harley guys. Fairly quickly Micah took off and I was on his wheel, that was not easy! Quickly we were out of sight of the field. He asked me to come around a few times but I was not able to at first, I also really didn't know if I wanted to come around. It was not helpful to Grant for me to come around, but finally I did and tried to pick a good easy spot for me to hit the front. I made sure to put out as few watts as I could to maybe slow Micah down a bit. He came through pretty quick after I hit the front and I had to work again to stay on his wheel. He pulled almost a full lap before asking me to come around again, but again I waited. He asked again later and I finally came around and slowed. At this point we were coming through the start finish and I was being told to sit in, I knew I should probably just be doing that so I nodded that I understood and then Micah took off HARD! I knew he was probably going to do that to me but I also thought I was going to be able to handle it, I was wrong. I need to remember that I am racing guys who are working to go pro, and they are on another level than I am, and to handle that accordingly. So I blew it! Now my team was going to have to chase, Grant was now sitting 2nd and 1st is riding away up the road with nothing to slow him down. I kept my speed up and got ready for the pack to catch me where I would pull on the front with the rest of the team. I was really pissed at myself.
Grant knew what he was going to do though. He took off! Unfortunately Gateway was glued to his wheel and not just one rider but two. This was not good odds for Grant this time. If he caught Micah he would be outnumbered 3 to 1. When he was up the road with two other guys early on I knew for a fact he was going to have no problem, but 3 guys worried me. Grant however, is becoming a pretty smart racer and he has power to spare, I didn't need to worry.
With Grant going up the road the race lit up. Guys were attacking left and right and it looked like there was going to be two more groups on the road. Jesse, Shane, and I were not looking good for making the 2nd group. Shane hit the front and did a great pull, he came off and dug hard to come in behind me and Jesse turned on the afterburner. He was able to close down the gap to the group ahead of us and we were back in the game. I am not sure how long between us catching back onto the first chase group and 6 laps to go but when we hit 6 to go DogFish put all their guys on the front.
While all this is going on with us, Grant was up the road covering every attack Gateway Harley threw at him. He finally got a bit of a break when Dennis Ramirez took off. He was a lap down so Grant did not bother to follow him. This meant Gateway could not attack anymore as they might pull Grant up to Dennis, so their speed went way down.
Meanwhile DogFish is pulling on the front, they quickly went through their first three riders and John Straub took the front and he pulled for almost 2 laps. Finally I hit the front and I had Shane, my sprinter on my wheel. In my low oxygen state I was trying to keep things moving smoothly but not catch the leading group. I forgot that those guys were going to win no matter what....... low oxygen remember. While I am pulling Scott Ogilivie attacked and was able to bridge up to Grant. I thought this could be good for Grant as it changed up the dynamic, Grant would for sure be able to use Scott to his advantage. With half a lap to go, the rest of the field decided I was going too slow for them now and everyone went flying by, my day done. Shane was positioned well, Jesse was pretty smoked and on the back. From my position on the course I could see the sprint open up. The field was closing very quickly and Grant decided to start leading things out. The field was coming around the final bend and the leading 3 were opening up the sprint. Grant kept the two Harley riders on his left and watched them to make sure they stayed just behind him. Grant was able to out power them and take the win. It was an amazing result from our point of view!!!
It was an exciting day, the rain made things interesting and thankfully the race was quite safe. It is so fun to race with some guys who will hopefully be doing some big things very soon. Great job team!!!
Thanks Reid for the great photos!!!!!!!!
Grant's report
It was a rainy April afternoon at the start of the P/1/2 race in Tilles Park. With only about 25 riders starting because of the weather, and three teams with 4 or more riders we knew who to watch. Being on one of the teams who had 4 riders we had the upper hand and were able to dictate most of the
race. Our plan was to have two of our guys Nick and Shane who are our sprinters sit in and wait for the sprint or a late break to roll with. Myself and Jesse where going to attack often, scoop up preems, and try to make a break happen. This is harder than it sounds traditionally because the course is very flowy with no real turns. At the get go I knew I didn’t want to be in the field long because of the rain and spray from the tires made it near impossible to see. After only a few laps a Gateway Harley Davidson rider attacked and I was able to cover the move getting a gap rather quickly. The two of us started taking some hard pulls extending our gap to just over 7 seconds and counting I was a bit worried about this only because of how early it was in the race and not knowing how motivated the rest of the field was to chase. After 3 more laps a teammate of my break partner bridged up to us. This made me panic just a bit because we now had an established gap but I was also out numbered in the break. This was not ideal but I was willing to work with them because we were quickly putting time on the field. Now at +30 seconds I knew we were away and was motivated to try and lap the field. With a few words of motivation to my new friends in the break we successfully lapped the field with 18 laps to go.
Now in the field I took a sigh of relief knowing that I was guaranteed a podium spot. I moved up to a better position not wanting to be back to far incase one of the two from the break decided they to attack again. One ended up attacking but Nick was quick to cover and roll with him. I watched as he just flew away and Nick blowing up from the effort. I do not race for second and when Nick fell off his wheel I launched my attack to bridge up to him. I got a gap quickly but looking back soon saw that I not only brought the third member of the original break but another one of his teammates. This was not at all good because neither would pull naturally not wanting to chase their down teammate. I was left to bridge up to him myself or just sit up and let him ride away. That was not an option so the chase resumed I knew that right when I would make the catch his teammates would attack me hoping I would be gassed. I was right, the second I got on his wheel, boom, attack. I responded quickly and covered the move only to be attacked again. Luckily I had my wits about me and let the new member of the break roll off, he was still down a lap and didn't matter. Back to the three amigos from the original break; the duo began to attack me one after the other. I was against the ropes at this point. They both were determined to drop me and ride away. I hung in, stayed focused and covered every attack the two threw at me. The two riders were at this point, wasted. With just 5 laps to go I sat at the front of the group taking the inside of every corner and straight away to keep an eye on them. We were losing time rapidly now and the field was gaining fast. With 2 laps to go a random rider bridged up to us, I forced him to to sit in front and pull, telling him I would not work with him because I was worried about the win. Entering the last lap the new break member kept the pace up which allowed me to sit on his wheel and position myself for the sprint. Still trying to keep an eye out for a late attack from the other two riders. Entering the last 200 meters I began to wind my sprint up just sitting and waiting for the two riders to go. Right when one jumped I went.
Taking the inside line to keep the second rider from coming under neath me I stayed in the saddle then jumped hard a second time opening up my sprint taking the win. Im very happy with this win because of all the work that I had to do to get it. The odds were against me but I was able to fight through all that and pull out a strong victory for the team, sponsors and myself.
Nick's report
Rain had been on the tap for this Sunday all week. Everyone was glued to to their phones checking the radar every few minutes. Tilles is a fairly safe course with no real turns to speak of, mostly gradual bends. Probably the best course for an early season rain soaked race. With the rain we were down a few riders, we have some guys who have had some really bad luck racing in the rain and they opted to play it safe. With Joe Martin coming next weekend and all of the guys opting out I was okay with that. Tilles is a fun race, but nothing as big as Joe Martin.
We lined up with Grant, Shane, Jesse, and myself. There were two other teams lined up with the same numbers, Gateway Harley Davidson, and DogFish Racing. The field was small, only 20 guys showed up, but there was plenty of firepower. One of the Gateway Harley guys had already raced in his collegiate race earlier in the morning, and he was in a break that lapped the field. All of them are beasts! DogFish was no slouch either so we would need to watch them. And there were plenty of single guys like Devin Clark to watch out for.
Our plan for the day was simple, two of our guys were going to be on break away duty, and two other guys were going to try to sit in and be fresh for a sprint if it came to that. Normally this race ends in a sprint, but with the small field and wet weather, a break was a pretty good bet.
That bet paid off in just three laps. Grant and two Gateway Harley riders, Connor Brown and Micah Engle, went away quickly! The field tried to chase pretty hard but no one was able to organize enough, no one else was able to bridge, and the remaining Gateway Harley riders and our riders sat near or on on the front making things hard for other teams. To tell the truth Dennis Ramirez of Gateway Harley was on anything that moved, and had plenty of power to do way more, as he showed later in the race.
About halfway through the race Grant and his party lapped us and moved to the front. We all moved up and set up right behind the Gateway Harley guys. Fairly quickly Micah took off and I was on his wheel, that was not easy! Quickly we were out of sight of the field. He asked me to come around a few times but I was not able to at first, I also really didn't know if I wanted to come around. It was not helpful to Grant for me to come around, but finally I did and tried to pick a good easy spot for me to hit the front. I made sure to put out as few watts as I could to maybe slow Micah down a bit. He came through pretty quick after I hit the front and I had to work again to stay on his wheel. He pulled almost a full lap before asking me to come around again, but again I waited. He asked again later and I finally came around and slowed. At this point we were coming through the start finish and I was being told to sit in, I knew I should probably just be doing that so I nodded that I understood and then Micah took off HARD! I knew he was probably going to do that to me but I also thought I was going to be able to handle it, I was wrong. I need to remember that I am racing guys who are working to go pro, and they are on another level than I am, and to handle that accordingly. So I blew it! Now my team was going to have to chase, Grant was now sitting 2nd and 1st is riding away up the road with nothing to slow him down. I kept my speed up and got ready for the pack to catch me where I would pull on the front with the rest of the team. I was really pissed at myself.
Grant knew what he was going to do though. He took off! Unfortunately Gateway was glued to his wheel and not just one rider but two. This was not good odds for Grant this time. If he caught Micah he would be outnumbered 3 to 1. When he was up the road with two other guys early on I knew for a fact he was going to have no problem, but 3 guys worried me. Grant however, is becoming a pretty smart racer and he has power to spare, I didn't need to worry.
With Grant going up the road the race lit up. Guys were attacking left and right and it looked like there was going to be two more groups on the road. Jesse, Shane, and I were not looking good for making the 2nd group. Shane hit the front and did a great pull, he came off and dug hard to come in behind me and Jesse turned on the afterburner. He was able to close down the gap to the group ahead of us and we were back in the game. I am not sure how long between us catching back onto the first chase group and 6 laps to go but when we hit 6 to go DogFish put all their guys on the front.
While all this is going on with us, Grant was up the road covering every attack Gateway Harley threw at him. He finally got a bit of a break when Dennis Ramirez took off. He was a lap down so Grant did not bother to follow him. This meant Gateway could not attack anymore as they might pull Grant up to Dennis, so their speed went way down.
Meanwhile DogFish is pulling on the front, they quickly went through their first three riders and John Straub took the front and he pulled for almost 2 laps. Finally I hit the front and I had Shane, my sprinter on my wheel. In my low oxygen state I was trying to keep things moving smoothly but not catch the leading group. I forgot that those guys were going to win no matter what....... low oxygen remember. While I am pulling Scott Ogilivie attacked and was able to bridge up to Grant. I thought this could be good for Grant as it changed up the dynamic, Grant would for sure be able to use Scott to his advantage. With half a lap to go, the rest of the field decided I was going too slow for them now and everyone went flying by, my day done. Shane was positioned well, Jesse was pretty smoked and on the back. From my position on the course I could see the sprint open up. The field was closing very quickly and Grant decided to start leading things out. The field was coming around the final bend and the leading 3 were opening up the sprint. Grant kept the two Harley riders on his left and watched them to make sure they stayed just behind him. Grant was able to out power them and take the win. It was an amazing result from our point of view!!!
It was an exciting day, the rain made things interesting and thankfully the race was quite safe. It is so fun to race with some guys who will hopefully be doing some big things very soon. Great job team!!!
 |
| The power is in his hair. |
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| Tough ride but we had a great time and worked great today |
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| Grant still fresh as a daisy |
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| Shane did some great work today |
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| Lack of oxygen |
Boulder Roubaix
Boulder Roubaix 2015
By: Sarah Lukas
The first race of the season. The first race since your legs really screamed in pain last season. The first race to gauge where your fitness is. The first race to light the fire. My first race this season did all of that and more.
I am beginning my second full season with SBR Quantum Racing and couldn’t be more thrilled than the first race I ever did with the team. With a new season ahead of us brings a lot of new sponsors,
teammates, and experiences. Since relocating to Boulder, Colorado, I am psyched to still have a connection to Missouri where I felt like I started living my life again. I am so appreciative to be working with Nick again and the rest of the guys associated with the team. Not only my direct teammates, but to have the support of sponsors Swim Bike Run – St. Louis, Federal Ag Supply, Town Square Pub and Grub, St Louis Tattoo Company, Precision Health Group, The Cup, The Olinger Insurance Company, LLC., and some awesome returning sponsors including Quantum Solutions and Peak Nutrition, 2015 is shaping up to be insane. I mean, come on, we have St Louis Tattoo Company and The Cup supporting us…tattoos and cupcakes?! Hell yea!
Boulder Roubaix had been screaming my name since I moved out to Boulder. The 56.1 mile Roubaix road race consisted of three 18.7 mile laps with 43% paved roads and 57% gravel. I was going into the race overcoming being sick that week prior, but with some solid base miles in my legs. At the same time, my expectations were relatively mellow with the hopes that I will have a better judgment of how to structure my next couple months of racing and training.
The weather was perfect – very little wind, sun shining, temperatures in the low-70s, and a great group of women in the Pro ½ field. It was primarily made up of two teams, Evol. and Stages. Having the field ultimately dominating one of the two teams can make it tough to be a part of the tactics, but we would later find out that the teams wouldn’t be our only challenge for the day.
Lap 1 was quick tempo. I felt comfortable; the gravel sections were fun and I definitely thrived there as I have always been most comfortable on dirt and technical sections. I surprised myself with my
consistency on the climbs. The group stayed together a majority of our 18 mile lap. Small attacks here and there, accelerations occurred, and as we came through on lap 2 we had one rider from Evol solo off the front. We didn’t begin a solid chase until the rider began to fatigue on lap 2 and we could get her in our line of sight again. This was the beginning of quite an interesting lap. I found my legs starting to twinge here and there. Little spasms of muscle cramps on-setting, typical early-season fatigue, and so it goes. The field has split a little as we dropped riders the first lap. The peloton grouped back together and we were comfortably cruising. About half-way through we were rerouted by our moto due to a fire that had spread on our race course. We weren’t quite sure the cause of the fire, whether a controlled burn got out-of-hand, or some brush fire started. Nonetheless, we had to tack on some extra mileage (about 4-5 miles). The turns got confusing, the group split even more, then the field was stopped completely at a stop sign along with a men’s field that was in front of us. The delegation of rerouting back on course occurred and we were neutralized. While stopping and getting off the bike is never ideal mid-race, it did allow us to regroup and get some much-needed hydration. After the neutralization led us back to the race course, we let a couple of the riders who had a slight gap gain that 15 second advantage back, then we were back at it! It was a quick restart and my legs were not ready. I was red-lined on the back of the group until the end of the strange, detoured lap. Leading into the 3rd lap I was alone and dropped off the back. I wasn’t the only one in this case. A few riders didn’t find much enjoyment carrying on riding alone and DNF-ed. A DNF was not the way I wanted to start my season. I pressed on and finished the lap, slightly slow and cruisey, but finished.
A lot of things were pulled from the race, one being a huge motivation and confidence. While I would’ve loved to have finished in the bunch sprint, I was really happy with my fitness leading into it, how I felt that day, and what I accomplished in the race (it is only early-April, after all). Tactically, it was refreshing to get back into a road race and remember what racing feels like. I am left excited for what is to come and cannot wait to meet up with some of our men’s team and show people what we can do!
By: Sarah Lukas
The first race of the season. The first race since your legs really screamed in pain last season. The first race to gauge where your fitness is. The first race to light the fire. My first race this season did all of that and more.
I am beginning my second full season with SBR Quantum Racing and couldn’t be more thrilled than the first race I ever did with the team. With a new season ahead of us brings a lot of new sponsors,
teammates, and experiences. Since relocating to Boulder, Colorado, I am psyched to still have a connection to Missouri where I felt like I started living my life again. I am so appreciative to be working with Nick again and the rest of the guys associated with the team. Not only my direct teammates, but to have the support of sponsors Swim Bike Run – St. Louis, Federal Ag Supply, Town Square Pub and Grub, St Louis Tattoo Company, Precision Health Group, The Cup, The Olinger Insurance Company, LLC., and some awesome returning sponsors including Quantum Solutions and Peak Nutrition, 2015 is shaping up to be insane. I mean, come on, we have St Louis Tattoo Company and The Cup supporting us…tattoos and cupcakes?! Hell yea!
Boulder Roubaix had been screaming my name since I moved out to Boulder. The 56.1 mile Roubaix road race consisted of three 18.7 mile laps with 43% paved roads and 57% gravel. I was going into the race overcoming being sick that week prior, but with some solid base miles in my legs. At the same time, my expectations were relatively mellow with the hopes that I will have a better judgment of how to structure my next couple months of racing and training.
The weather was perfect – very little wind, sun shining, temperatures in the low-70s, and a great group of women in the Pro ½ field. It was primarily made up of two teams, Evol. and Stages. Having the field ultimately dominating one of the two teams can make it tough to be a part of the tactics, but we would later find out that the teams wouldn’t be our only challenge for the day.
Lap 1 was quick tempo. I felt comfortable; the gravel sections were fun and I definitely thrived there as I have always been most comfortable on dirt and technical sections. I surprised myself with my
consistency on the climbs. The group stayed together a majority of our 18 mile lap. Small attacks here and there, accelerations occurred, and as we came through on lap 2 we had one rider from Evol solo off the front. We didn’t begin a solid chase until the rider began to fatigue on lap 2 and we could get her in our line of sight again. This was the beginning of quite an interesting lap. I found my legs starting to twinge here and there. Little spasms of muscle cramps on-setting, typical early-season fatigue, and so it goes. The field has split a little as we dropped riders the first lap. The peloton grouped back together and we were comfortably cruising. About half-way through we were rerouted by our moto due to a fire that had spread on our race course. We weren’t quite sure the cause of the fire, whether a controlled burn got out-of-hand, or some brush fire started. Nonetheless, we had to tack on some extra mileage (about 4-5 miles). The turns got confusing, the group split even more, then the field was stopped completely at a stop sign along with a men’s field that was in front of us. The delegation of rerouting back on course occurred and we were neutralized. While stopping and getting off the bike is never ideal mid-race, it did allow us to regroup and get some much-needed hydration. After the neutralization led us back to the race course, we let a couple of the riders who had a slight gap gain that 15 second advantage back, then we were back at it! It was a quick restart and my legs were not ready. I was red-lined on the back of the group until the end of the strange, detoured lap. Leading into the 3rd lap I was alone and dropped off the back. I wasn’t the only one in this case. A few riders didn’t find much enjoyment carrying on riding alone and DNF-ed. A DNF was not the way I wanted to start my season. I pressed on and finished the lap, slightly slow and cruisey, but finished.
A lot of things were pulled from the race, one being a huge motivation and confidence. While I would’ve loved to have finished in the bunch sprint, I was really happy with my fitness leading into it, how I felt that day, and what I accomplished in the race (it is only early-April, after all). Tactically, it was refreshing to get back into a road race and remember what racing feels like. I am left excited for what is to come and cannot wait to meet up with some of our men’s team and show people what we can do!
Thursday, April 2, 2015
Sunny King
Race Recap
John Pratt
Sunny King Criterium
March 28, 2015
Sunny King Criterium was my first race for SBR Quantum. I am so excited to be a part of the
team. Our support we have received from BMC, SBR, and teammates, like Nick Grigsby, who
made all the team meals has been nothing short of humbling.
Sitting at the start line, I realized that I had plenty of nerves. I was trying to play it cool, but it was hard to fake it sitting up there was a herd of professionals and seasoned amateurs. My only other professional race had ended with a throw-up DNF after just 20 minutes, so I had plenty to be nervous about.
The opening laps saw Grant, Shane, Matt and I up towards the front of the race. After 7 laps, I made it up to the very front of the race and was up far enough to consider sprinting for a preme. As soon as I hit the front I had this weird sensation that I was really tired and that I couldn’t figure out why I’d want to be at the front. After 20 of 60 laps, my stomach turned into a knarly knot of undigested food and nerves. Big races get me anxious and I just can’t keep my stomach quiet, so now I was racing around near the back of the peloton trying to keep my gut quiet. I wasn’t having much success. Thankfully, the winning 7-man break got away at this time, and the overall pace of the race slowed down. I was sitting near the back, just biding my time and trying to recover from my upset stomach. With about 30 laps to go, I realized that I was starting to find a groove and I started moving back toward the front.I got really excited when with 15 laps to go I was still feeling strong and felt I could sprint the race out. I was sitting around 30th-40th in the field. It was pretty fantastic to be pushing the limits behind UHC and Hincapie. Totally exhilarating! As the laps ticked down, I found that I was stronger than lot of the guys around me because gaps kept forming and I had to bridge across them. With 5 to go, I got gapped for good and missed out on the lead 33-man group. I tried bridging, but I don’t quite have the horsepower of UHC, so that didn't happen.
In the finale, I finished 4th in the second group with a strong 37th place finish. After the race, the announcer, Brad Sohner, gave me a big smile and told me that he had gotten an awesome pic from my ND teammates watching the livestream. I have to say, it was so cool to have family, friends, teammates, and sponsors all watching the race. Mostly, I was just out there having a blast. I haven’t smiled that much racing in a long time. Even with all the pain, it was one grand party. I can’t wait to keep racing for Swim Bike Run, BMC, and all my teammates. The support has been unreal.
Sunny King report
Nick Hand
This weekend the Domestic Elite guys, Grigs, Austin, and I headed down to Anniston AL to race in the Sunny King Crit and the Fort McClellon road race. Because of a cancelation earlier in the year the Sunny King Crit was now the first race of the NCC series. The team was really excited as this was the first time we were going to get most of the "pro" guys together and race against the best in the country.
For years I have been trying to pull together a team like this. I have never thought I would be a top level rider, but I have always loved to manage teams and building one from scratch with Quantum Racing has been a blast! So taking the next step and building this elite domestic squad has been really exciting for me. I could not have have done any of it without a LOT of help from a ton of people. First of those is my wife, I could never do any of the things that I do without her behind me, taking care of me and propping me up when I am down. Next is my team of guys who all have a desire to improve and be something more than what they could be on their own. A few of those guys are now helping me to manage the team as we grow which has been great since there are plenty of aspects of team ownership and management that I am not great at. Last is our sponsors, the people who pay the bills. We have a lot of new sponsors this year who are excited about being a part of something new with a desire to make it to the levels we wish to go. However there is one sponsor who has been there since the very start, Mike Rickey and Quantum Solutions has been there since day one. Not only as a sponsor but as a great friend and mentor. In another post I will go over all our great sponsors but for now back to Sunny King.
Sunny King is hosted in Anniston Alabama. A quaint little town with a lot of amazing history. The host housing we were provided was actually a very important building in the history of equal rights for African Americans in the 20th century. The team headed down Friday in order to get a good start to the day on Saturday. Grigsby did an amazing job with food for the team and had some amazing food for us before the guys got on the bikes to get the 10 hours of driving worked out of their legs. I had to head down to registration to set of a booth for my company TW Carbon and advertise my new product Race Care.
Austin, Grigsby, and I all had races early in the day. Austin had a great ride and looked strong in his race. Girgsby and I didn't do as well as we had hoped, but we were there to help the pro guys set up. When I got back from the 2's race the guys were all in their own stages of getting ready. Some were sleeping, some working on their bikes, others just relaxing. Grigsby got started at dinner for after the race and we got all the ducks in a row for the night's final race.
With the most of the team being NCC virgins we really wanted to see how it would work out. We went in with a plan but we were trying to not have too high of expectations. Mostly we wanted to see the guys give it everything they had and have fun. It is a long season and the key to it going well is all the guys jelling.
The race started off fast with Uhc sending a rider off the front from the gun. It only lasted a lap but the attacks did not stop. Grant and Shane were sitting pretty good up near the front, Brophy and John were about half way back, and Jesse looked to be struggling from the beggining. He was still recovering form a bad crash the week before so this was not unexpected. Jesse was the first out and John looked like he was starting to struggle. I was starting to worry this was going to be an early night for us. About 20 minutes in Shane was all of a sudden gone from the race. After starting so well the cold weather plaid havoc on his lungs and he wasn't able to continue. Soon after Grant started to have some serious mechanical problems which saw him go to the pits twice, once having to do a cx bike exchange and chase the field for 4 laps. He was able to catch back on but the effort put him too far in the red and even sitting in the field he couldn't recover. His night was over. Brophy and John were the only riders remaining. Now Brophy hanging in there was pretty amazing considering he can only see out of one eye!!! He looked like he was sitting pretty comfortable in the first quarter of the field for most of the race. Unfortunately his night was over with only about 10 laps to go, but I was pretty impressed by what I saw from him. The last man standing was John, as the race had progressed he seemed to get stronger. He was farther and farther up the field every lap. And when UHC went to the front of the field to destroy everyone, John just missed the front group by feet. Just a split second delay he made when he looked behind him while going up the front stretch could have been what did it. But John played it smart and slotted back into the group that did not make the split, which was still a sizable group. He was able to sprint to 37th place, just outside the money, but a great result for his first crack at the NCC.
When we all got back to the host housing Grigsby already had dinner ready. A huge amount of pasta and veggies. A few of us walked down the block after dinner for a couple drinks, and then it was time for bed. We had to be up at 6:30 the next morning for the Fort McClellon road race. This was not going to be fun for me at all.
Grigsby again made a great breakfast in the morning and Jesse had the coffee going when I rolled out of bed. He seemed like he had a lot of pep after last night's ride, a lot more than I had seen him have the last few times I saw him even. Once everyone had eaten their fill the guys got ready and headed out the door to ride over to the staging area of the race, about 5 miles away. I drove over as I was planning on leaving right after the race.
The course was a 20ish mile loop that featured 2 climbs on it. And from a Midwesterner's point of view, they were mountains! The first climb came at the end of the neutral roll out, and that is also pretty much when my race ended. The climb is only 2km long but near the top it gets steeper reaching close to a 20% grade. Even with my 28 tooth cassette that was too much for me. I was able to make it over the top with a couple other non climbers and we chased for a good while, but there was no use really. When we hit the second climb of the lap I pulled the plug and just hit my own rhythm. When I reached the spot where you turned to go to the first climb again, I asked the marshal there which way to get back to my car. I packed up and headed to the feed zone to help feed anyone left in the race.
When I got there it looked like Brophy was between a chase group and the main pack. John and Jesse were in the pack and looked good. Grant was out. I did not get a chance to talk with the other guys about their races as once the race was over Grant, Austin, and I headed home. But Grant struggle from a lack of sleep the night before. He was so pumped from racing he couldn't relax. He was able to hang with the strong climbers the first couple times up the climbs but his energy didn't hold. Austin had a good ride again but was pulled with one lap to go when he was not able to stick with the lead group over the harder of the two climbs. He still had a great showing and placed high in the standings.
It was great to see how we stack up in the big races. We have a lot of work to do, but when you just start out you have to work hard. I know we are going to see a lot of improvement this year. The team is pumped and eager to get in sync with each other. It will just take some time.
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