Duluth Classic stage race
Coming to you from Tone Coughlins house. The last 3 days have been busy racing and then getting ready for the next one. I just finished stage 3 of 4. so here is a recap so far.
Stage 1- 16.2 mile time trial. My start time Friday evening was 7:26. I was trying out some tt bars and wheels for the first time but I think it was kind a bad idea since I haven't had much time in that position. I only averaged 24 mph which is the slowest I've done. The course played a factor in it to. Going east off the start for a few miles was quartering into the wind until I hit hwy 23 south with a tailwind. 23 was rollers all the way to county 1 which was the turn around point and the headwind really took its toll as it was uphill all the way with open fields. The wind was 20+ mph and everyone suffered. my calves started to cramp up at the finish when I got out of the saddle which wasn't good. And my glutenous was hurting to the maximous. I finished way behind GC like 4 min so. The guy that won put up a time that would have put him 3rd in the 1/2 field. It was a late night because I didn't leave the race venue until 9:00 and I got to bed at midnight.
stage 2- 54 miles in Superior WI. Flat course with a tail wind on a mile or so 4% grade uphill going south and a headwind on the downhill. Start time noon. Nothing got away. Big surges here and there but there was nothing that could stick and beat a 32 man field. One UofM guy had a break for almost a full lap but was brought back with 1 or 2 laps to go. I sat in the back for the last lap and kind of spun the legs out. My muscles were kind of sore from the time trial.
stage 3- this was the major stage with a big climb that was 1km or so long and kicked up pretty steep the last 200-300 meters. We did 5 laps on a 12 mile course so that meant we went up the hill 6 times because we started at the bottom. The finish line was at the top of the hill. The pace was on and off the first lap and I think 2 guys were off the front about a quarter mile or so in front of the pack and they took the first KOM points. I was somewhere around 4-6th I think. On lap 2 I think Dave Schueller (the #1 cat 3 racer this year) broke away with another guy and we let him get way out there. I think at one point it was over 2 min. Some of the long straight aways I couldn't even see him. It was either on this lap or lap 3 that we caught the cat 1\2 racers (They started 10 min before us. yeah, the pace stayed pretty high). We toyed around with that group for a good lap or more passing each other about 4 times. Schueller stood strong and was still out of sight. Eventually the 1\2 group slowed when they caught their solo break away rider and they let us keep chasing Schueller. Right before we hit the big climb at the end of lap 4, 4 or 5 guys got about a 100 meters on the field. I was on the front of the pack and this guy from Manitoba Canada (wearing the polka dot jersey) who happened to be just killing it on the hill each time, went to close the gap. I jumped on his wheel cross eyed but lost his wheel when the grade kicked up at the top. I was so close to connecting but couldn't quite make it. I thought that was going to be the move for the day. Once we hit the top me and a couple other guys chased hard with the pack in tow. I gave up and had to recover at the back of the field for a while. The pack did start to work however and we slowly closed the gap. Everyone did get back together with under 5 miles to go. Note- its starting to rain at this point. To our amazement we also caught Schueller about 2 miles from the finish. I don't think you could have timed it any better, just like the pro peleton. The final climb was chaos. At this point we just caught the 35+ group which started 5 min ahead of us and were on their sprint/leg shattering finish too. This had to be interesting for the officials, there were 2 classes spread out all over the hill and coming across the line simultaneously. I had nothing left and couldn't contest a final sprint but just stayed seated and pushed as hard as I could. I just happened to cross the line about a wheel ahead of Hollywood. I picked him out as my vegetable to catch before I crossed the finish. Right when we crossed the line it started pouring rain out with lightning. It was going to make for an epic last lap for the 1/2 race. It was another 10 min before the 1/2 even came up hill hill after we finished so they must have been taking it easy today or we were were just that fast. I do know that they did go allot harder yesterday than we did and they have about half the field size that we do. There is no hiding in the pack when the numbers are that low.
Tomorrow is the final stage in Cloquet, which is a 45 min crit. With 3 races already in everyones legs, who will have that explosive power to make the accelerations around the corners? We will see.
Stage 1- 16.2 mile time trial. My start time Friday evening was 7:26. I was trying out some tt bars and wheels for the first time but I think it was kind a bad idea since I haven't had much time in that position. I only averaged 24 mph which is the slowest I've done. The course played a factor in it to. Going east off the start for a few miles was quartering into the wind until I hit hwy 23 south with a tailwind. 23 was rollers all the way to county 1 which was the turn around point and the headwind really took its toll as it was uphill all the way with open fields. The wind was 20+ mph and everyone suffered. my calves started to cramp up at the finish when I got out of the saddle which wasn't good. And my glutenous was hurting to the maximous. I finished way behind GC like 4 min so. The guy that won put up a time that would have put him 3rd in the 1/2 field. It was a late night because I didn't leave the race venue until 9:00 and I got to bed at midnight.
stage 2- 54 miles in Superior WI. Flat course with a tail wind on a mile or so 4% grade uphill going south and a headwind on the downhill. Start time noon. Nothing got away. Big surges here and there but there was nothing that could stick and beat a 32 man field. One UofM guy had a break for almost a full lap but was brought back with 1 or 2 laps to go. I sat in the back for the last lap and kind of spun the legs out. My muscles were kind of sore from the time trial.
stage 3- this was the major stage with a big climb that was 1km or so long and kicked up pretty steep the last 200-300 meters. We did 5 laps on a 12 mile course so that meant we went up the hill 6 times because we started at the bottom. The finish line was at the top of the hill. The pace was on and off the first lap and I think 2 guys were off the front about a quarter mile or so in front of the pack and they took the first KOM points. I was somewhere around 4-6th I think. On lap 2 I think Dave Schueller (the #1 cat 3 racer this year) broke away with another guy and we let him get way out there. I think at one point it was over 2 min. Some of the long straight aways I couldn't even see him. It was either on this lap or lap 3 that we caught the cat 1\2 racers (They started 10 min before us. yeah, the pace stayed pretty high). We toyed around with that group for a good lap or more passing each other about 4 times. Schueller stood strong and was still out of sight. Eventually the 1\2 group slowed when they caught their solo break away rider and they let us keep chasing Schueller. Right before we hit the big climb at the end of lap 4, 4 or 5 guys got about a 100 meters on the field. I was on the front of the pack and this guy from Manitoba Canada (wearing the polka dot jersey) who happened to be just killing it on the hill each time, went to close the gap. I jumped on his wheel cross eyed but lost his wheel when the grade kicked up at the top. I was so close to connecting but couldn't quite make it. I thought that was going to be the move for the day. Once we hit the top me and a couple other guys chased hard with the pack in tow. I gave up and had to recover at the back of the field for a while. The pack did start to work however and we slowly closed the gap. Everyone did get back together with under 5 miles to go. Note- its starting to rain at this point. To our amazement we also caught Schueller about 2 miles from the finish. I don't think you could have timed it any better, just like the pro peleton. The final climb was chaos. At this point we just caught the 35+ group which started 5 min ahead of us and were on their sprint/leg shattering finish too. This had to be interesting for the officials, there were 2 classes spread out all over the hill and coming across the line simultaneously. I had nothing left and couldn't contest a final sprint but just stayed seated and pushed as hard as I could. I just happened to cross the line about a wheel ahead of Hollywood. I picked him out as my vegetable to catch before I crossed the finish. Right when we crossed the line it started pouring rain out with lightning. It was going to make for an epic last lap for the 1/2 race. It was another 10 min before the 1/2 even came up hill hill after we finished so they must have been taking it easy today or we were were just that fast. I do know that they did go allot harder yesterday than we did and they have about half the field size that we do. There is no hiding in the pack when the numbers are that low.
Tomorrow is the final stage in Cloquet, which is a 45 min crit. With 3 races already in everyones legs, who will have that explosive power to make the accelerations around the corners? We will see.
posted by Eric O. at 11:13 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home