I ended up not going up to the first schedueled race of the year due to weather.  It was 29 and raining up there.  No Thanks.

So the first race of the year ended up being Hillsboro.

Going into it I was very nervous and had high expectations of myself.  Too high, too keyed up.  

The first problem of the day started when lining up.  We lined up at the back thinking this is a 65 mile race no need to get to excited and try to get to the front right away.  WRONG.   The cat 3 field was 105 riders, way too big for the roads they are racing on.  The roads are very narrow and 105 cyclists three wide makes for a long pack, especially when you are at the back.  Right off the bat a group of 9 went up the road without much resistance from the pack.  When they had about 30 seconds on the pack the race director stopped the pack and threatened to DQ us all because we were violating the center line rule so badly(we were taking up the whole road at that point).   Now the break had 3 to 5 minutes on us.

At this point Zink and I got to the front and tried to get away to bridge to the pack.  Wasn't gonna happen.  We towed the bunch around for 5 or 6 miles.   No one else was really interested in helping pull back the break, so we dropped back for a while. 

Going through town I tried very hard with 2 other guys to get away.  The group wouldn't let us go though.   I continued to work hard up front for the next half lap and then started cramping pretty good.  At that point the race was over for me.  I could not get rid of the cramps the rest of the race.

I ended up 40th after I lost contact with pack on the last hill into town with a mile to go.  Very disappointing day.

I learned a few lessons that day.  

1.  In a big field, you must be up front from the gun on roads like that.

2.  Eating and Drinking is a must even in a nervous pack(isn't that obvious?) .

3.  Huge field on narrow roads are not a good combo.

Stats for the day:

 Time: 2:57:40

 Avg pwr: 255 watts

Norm pwr:  301watts

Avg HR:  167

Avg speed: 22.6

 

 

My first race back after letting my ribs heal was the State RR champ in Oak Brook.  On our way up to the race Mr. McCombs was screwing with his new GPS that wasn't working and didn't notice the construction zone we were heading into at 70mph.  Hi Mr. State Trooper...  Whoops.  Better get some primes to cover that ticket.

The race started pretty hecticly  after the registration process was screwed up by some pissy computers.  No warmup for anyone.  

 Aaron and I helped push the pace the whole time.  Being very vocal and spending ALOT of time at the front.  Aparently that was a good thing.  

The final stretch was a wide open 2 lane road about 600m long that you could see the finish line from the whole time.  When we turned onto it on the last lap I was 3 wheels back.  Well aparently none of those guys wanted to lead out the sprint.  The pulled off quickly and I found my nose in the wind with 500 meters to go.  I guess I better go.  That was the most painful 500m I've ever done.   Somehow, I managed to hold off everyone including Aaron who I barely nipped at the line.  We went 1, 2. AWESOME!!!  

  Me on the left, Aaron on the far right.

Me after realizing Aaron and I had gone 1,2.  

 

Stats for the race :

Time:  58:12

Avg mph: 26.2

Avg Pwr: 274

Norm Pwr: 327

Avg HR:  179

 

 

Drove up Saturday morning with the family, got there plenty of time to register, warm up and actually warm up on the course since the Cat 5 race was the first race. The course was basically 1 big sweeping turn followed by a TIGHT left hander a little zig zag and another semi tight left hander.

To start the race they call us to the line, official starts giving his speal and says: " Don't look behind you it just started lightening... We may shorten the race." It was supposed to be 35 min.
Whistle blows and we're off. With the official saying that I kept a close eye on the lap counter and stayed near the front. I tried breaking away a couple times, but there were 3 teams that had over 5 guys each and they wouldn't let anything go. About 2 laps in it started raining and gradually rained harder and the lightening was crashing all around. After it became a deluge they stopped the race, but kept the clock running.
After it stopped raining(10 min) they lined us back up and sent us on our way. I got up front right away, not wanting to be behind anyone in the corners and have them take me out. Came around 1 lap and had 7 to go, so I sat in until 1.5 laps to go and took off. I got a good gap and held it through the tricky backstretch until I came up on some lapped traffic. On the last turn some of the lapped traffic cut me off and I had to almost stop completely(no worries, that's racing). One guy got around me in the turn. I was able to jump on to his wheel then and with 300m to go I started passing him and with about 50m to go I was barely passed him and some dude freight trained out of no where and nipped us both at the line.

2nd place. 1-3 were separated by .07 seconds.

Numbers:
1st half of the race:
Time: 10min
Avg Pwr: 325w
Norm Pwr: 345w
AVG HR: 183

2nd half:
time: 11min 45sec
Avg pwr: 353w
Norm pwr 372
Avg HR: 182

22 mile race.
I was pretty confident going into it that I could do well.
BUT I road stupidly. Was on the front the majority of the time. I attacked about 5 times, one I had a big gap, but no one came with me. Should have went for it, but I went back to the pack.
I knew that there was a hill right before the long sprint finish and thought I could get a gap there. When we got there my legs were semi tired and I was hanging on the back of about 5 riders going up the hill when a dbag came from my left, clipped my front tire and I lost all momentum and the front group. I know that's racing, but I was pissed.

Ended up 12th/36. Then to make matters worse, I end up getting taken out after the line by some guy that thought it would be a good idea to take a hard right 100m after the line. Nice.

Numbers:
Time: 1hr 1min
Avg Pwr: 271w
Norm Pwr: 323w
avg HR: 175

After West Lafayette, I started loading up the calendar with races. Quad Cities went much better prerace than Lafayette. Got there early, got registered and had plenty of time to warmup and even saw most of the course!!

Small field, short race. Twenty racers, 20 min + 1lap.

Started out on or near the front. Chased down a few little attacks. Then a guy from the Mack team took off on a strong attack, took a while for me to pull him back. Right as I got him pulled back his teammate took OFF! I had no energy to chase him down. I started grinding to keep the gap small, but couldn't pull him back and no one was helping. After 2 laps of that I look back and the only guy behind me is his teammate. He wouldn't pull through since his buddy was up the road. So it turned into a time trial for the last 10 minutes. Guy stayed on my wheel the whole time. I don't know if I outsprinted him or if he let me get 2nd since I pulled him the whole time.

Either way, doesn't matter. I got 2nd.

Numbers:
Time: 23:20
Avg Pwr: 325 w
Norm pwr: 331w
avg HR: 188

After little bike training I decided to throw myself into a weekend of racing. Got down to West Lafayette with an hour of extra time after checking into the hotel, or so I thought. Hadn't eaten on the way down, so I ran acrossed the road to Subway. While in line I get a call from my frantic wife: "Dan it's 2:45, not 1:45, we forgot the time change. Your race is at 3:15." SHIT!!!!!

So I run back to the room throw my biking gear on, get in the car get to the parking lot of the race, throw bike together, ride to registration, it's 3:05. Get my number pinned on, roll back to the lot to make sure wife and kid are ok, sprint back to line. First crit ever, Cat 4/5 field, no warmup, no clue what the course looks like, 35 min race. This should be fun.

We go off, I have no clue what to expect, try to stay mid pack. Course is under 1k, with a very steep hill in the middle, followed by a steep downhill and a tight turn since the course was not completely closed. The first 10 minutes I was on edge. Then right in front of me a guy touched wheels with another dude, and they both went down right in front of me. I rolled over one guy and flipped over the bars. Rode back around for a free lap, got my breath and got back in it.

When I got back in it the group had dwindled considerably, started with 47, probably down to 20 at that point. Stayed towards the top ten the whole time. Didn't really pay attention to where I needed to be on the last lap, the race was really for the top of the hill on the last lap since the last turn was so tight. Should have sprinted the hill, instead of waiting for the sprint.
Ended up 10th, not bad for the first crit.

Numbers:
Time: 37:45
Avg Pwr: 287w
Norm Pwr: 330w