Duluth

Quick recap of Duluth last weekend:

Time trial - TT'd on my track bike with a 49/15 gear. Averaged 25.3 mph, which put me at an average cadence of 99. If I did it again I would have done 50 or 51/15. I was spinning out on the downhills quite a bit, but never struggled up the uphills too much.

It was my first time time trialing, so it was a new experience. I was fairly comfortable for the first 20 minutes, then I started to get a little muscle soreness in my neck. I was able to keep a fairly consistent effort throughout the time trial, which was good. Heart rate was just above threshold most of the time, and ramped up a few more beats for the last 10 minutes or so. Finished tired, but not completely shot.

That put me at in 10th for the start of the weekend. The field was 45 or so people.

South Range road race - Got off the front with 2 other guys on the second lap. Was reeled back in because one of the guys was just a few seconds off the lead in the GC.

There was a very dangerous sprint finish. The team with 2 of the 3 top 3 guys was blocking up near the front. Everyone was getting twitchy and wanted to get out. I rubbed wheels really hard with another guy, and leaned up on a few people. We ended up finishing safely, but it was super sketchy.

I picked up a top 10, along with a KOM point in an intermediate sprint.

This was the day that Anthony went down super hard. He's still in the hospital in Duluth as I write this.... eight days later. He was in the Cat 4/5 field and got tangled up in a nasty wreck.

Lakewood road race - I started this race feeling good. I didn't want to overdo it in the South Range road race since I knew I had a better chance of doing well on a race with a climb.

Ended up snapping up a couple KOM points on some of the early laps. Had the chance to get in a break with Adam Koble and Alex Meyer, but opted to stay in the pack and recover after ripping up the hill a few minutes before. The break got about two minutes on the pack, met up with another two guys further up, and eventually ended up being reeled in.

I jockeyed for position going into the last corner, and was sitting somewhere in the top ten wheels. I heard someone coming up fast from behind with a little more than a mile to the finish, and sprinted onto his wheel. It was Little Guy. He gassed it a while and I pulled around him. I was about 1 mile out from the finish with a 5-10 second gap on the field. A 1 km climb was still coming up. I looked back a few times and dug in.

Ended up keeping my gap up the hill. Started to die with about 200 m to go, but shifted up and pushed through it. Finished with 4 seconds on the next 10 guys, and 23 seconds on another group. The time bonus from that put me into sixth place in the GC, just 6 seconds of 4th place. It was my first win on the road.

Cloquet crit - I was feeling pretty strong for this one, and sat near the front much of the time. Ended up off the front with 1.5 to go with one other guy. He didn't pull through, and bagged it. I really should have gassed it, but just didn't have the motivation.

I was in a bad position in the last lap, got cut off and had to get on the brakes on the last hill. Managed to sit in for 11th. Lost a few places on the GC, and ended up eighth. Adam Koble, who I roomed with over the weekend after Anthony went to the hospital, stuck out a 22 lap breakaway for the win.

Overall it was a good weekend. I finally collected enough points for my Cat 3 upgrade, and learned a thing or two about racing and pushing myself.