Montrose Harbor - Race Report

There are three really great things about the Illinois State Champtionship race at Montrose Harbor: 

1. It is only 20 minutes away from my apartment

2. Racing in front of friends

3. It is the last race of what is usually a hard season for me

There are other reasons of course (great course!), but it really hits home how much work it is to race up in Wisconsin every weekend (remember I am not a morning person). 

Getting to the race at around noon it was pretty cold, but really not that bad compared to Hale’s Corner.  The Turin people had impressively shoveld out the course which I first thought was kind of lame, but then I remembered how awful the race was last year with all of that ice.  So good job Turin keeping it sloppy!  I missed my opportunity to pre-ride the course before the Cat 1/2/3 Men raced so I stood around and watched the racing abit and checking out the course.  Other than a few sections it was exactly the same as previous years.  My prediction is that I would straight up crash 5 times, wipeout at least 10, and get 2 mechanicals.  My goal was to minimize those stats.

After sitting in the car trying to keep warm I rode out on the road around the course for awhile warming up with Jacques right up until the everyone was lining up at the start.  I picked a spot in the back knowing that with how I’ve been feeling it wouldn’t really matter that much.  This being my first Chicago race this season I was shocked at how many men were in the 4A’s.  I sort of figured it would be this large with the 4’s being split into the A’s & B’s, but there were at least 50 racers.  It was also really cool seeing so many xXx-ers like Luke, Jacques, Kirby, Jason, Ben, Max, Andrew, and everyone else I forgot.  

The start was nerve wracking with a lot of elbows getting thrown for positions and pretty soon the race was strung out singlefile.   Even with the course all dug out it was single track the whole way.  If you wanted to get around someone you had to ride around them in the chunky slop which took a lot of power.  Maybe I’m doing something wrong, but whenever I stand up in the slop I always seem to lose control of my steering so instead I power through seated.  This actually suits me well since I’ve been practicing climbing from the saddle ever since my leg got broken. 

The hardest part of the race was the long run up Cricket hill which ended with a 3 pack barrier, then you turned aorund and had to run again.  Every lap I would run slower & slower, but one thing I noticed that was that as tired as I would get running it had almost zero effect on how hard I could pedal.  How is that possible?  Are those muscles really that distinct?  Maybe I should learn how to not drown & try a triathlon sometime?

There were lots of people on the course.  A group of xXx-ers were hanging out by the chicanes shouting the right line to take to xXx-ers (I think I heard/saw Brit?) and at the top of a short steep hill was Ansgwar (Formally xXx, Currently Metlife) taking pictures.  When he was there I was able to pedal to the top no problem, on the last lap he disappeared and I faltered and had to dismount.

The results are still not up to answer the mystery of what happened next.  As we came into the finish I was behind Jason and in front of Ben with some small gaps.  I heard someone yell “One more lap!” when I crossed so I kept going.  I kept asking people if I was done, but never got a good answer and when I looked back I saw Jason was done.  I still didn’t know what to do so to play it safe I did another lap.  The entire time it totally felt wrong and so I’m very curious if this will be reflected in the standings.  I should’ve stuck around to check the results, but instead I went home & Lucas & I got Chipotle.