Circuit de Bonk (Sauk)

I heard a lot of good things about this race last year (mostly that it was hard) and wanted to give it a shot this year. It was a 3 hour and 15min drive from home and I wouldn’t have any teammates but that wasn’t enough to keep me away. (It just meant that I could follow more moves, right?)

The conditions were perfect- sunny and about 30 mph winds with gusts that almost blew you off your bike. The terrain was a little less than perfect as most of the course was either up or down. There weren’t mountains but it certainly wasn’t flat. The race started and after the first five miles things got going. At first there were multiple attacks but they were chased down fairly easily. Then it appeared to turn into a game of lets watch Cole House from the BMC team attack and then chase him down and wait for him to attack again. I felt good, even on the tough climbs and countered off of almost all of his attacks but no one wanted to go with me, and i admit that not even I was ready for a solo 60 mile TT.

After about 15 miles I countered Cole and a couple of guys came with. We had a group of 4 which soon became 6 and we were working pretty good. The field (Cole) however was chasing hard and they were splintering apart. After about 10 miles guys were coming across and we then got disorganized. So at about mile 30, what was left of the field came back together. I wanted to attack instantly but was slightly boxed in. Frank Dierking and Jordan Roessingh (ISCorp) attacked and I thought if I could join them we would have a chance because the field was tired of chasing. So I had to to do a little push/shove – offroad – almost crash Cole out of the race-action but I ended up with a gap over the field and a screaming cross wind. The duo was not far ahead but in this wind it seemed like miles. I had the hammer down full gas and peaked back to see the field tearing itself apart again in pursuit. That bridging effort was probably one of the hardest efforts of the season thus far. It took about 6-10 minutes (I have no idea) but those guys didn’t give me an inch. After the race I asked Frankie “hey you guys couldn’t slow a fraction to let me catch on?” His response was “Jordan told me ‘this guys a horse we should wait’ but I said ‘if he’s a horse, he’ll catch us’”. Well, I did catch them and the three of us stayed off the front for the next 40 or so miles. Unfortunately, those two stayed of the front for 45 miles.

So now time for the excuses: First I didn’t eat enough or really at all and I felt it going into the last lap. I tried to eat but it was too late. My other dilemma was that a chase group of 8 was not far behind and if I sat on I was worried we would be caught (coaching point: its not your responsibility for the group to stay away) so I kept working. The second to last climb my body had nothing and as I tore myself apart to stay on their wheel the lights faded and the legs seized up. The other excuses: They are tiny, meaning no shelter from wind and easier time going up hill (yeah I know, just lose some weight. I’m trying…sorta). The list goes on but who has time for that. The good news was that there was a chase group of 8 not far behind and so I latched on thinking we may catch them. We ended a few seconds short and I took 5th (I think) of the group sprint. Lesson learned: EAT (on the bike that is).

At least the team would help make up for it at Vernon Hills the next day and I would notch my first ever field sprint win.

- Freund

Comments RSS You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.