Whitefish Bay Classic (Super Week Day 8)

8 days of racing in the past 9 days is finally over. I enjoyed the experience and learned a lot. Today was the last crit of the series. It was relatively technical with two sketchier corners. I think everyone was pretty tired from the past few days of racing. Originally there was some talk of a mid-race break away attempt. But by the time it was all over and discussed, the entire field knew about it so there was no way it would work. A few people attacked, and my break-away partner from the other day was off the front for a few laps. Nothing stuck though. The pace stayed somewhat high - 22.7mph. I still didn't feel comfortable with the pack. I tried to stay near the front, but kept getting swarmed around. I just don't like it when 3 people ride up on both sides of me heading into a corner. I don't know if there were any wrecks in our race or not. There were several close calls though. The end of the race came and I made my way to the front with 3 laps to go. On the 2nd to last lap I was swarmed around again and was at the back of the pack. On the last lap I decided I was just going to go to the front and pull. Who cares if it wastes energy, but I don't want to crash. My strategy played off. I was able to grab the wheel of whoever attacked, I think it was the overall wheel. In the last corner I was sort of screwed because I had to take the very inside and it was pretty rough. The sprint started from the corner and it was one of the longest sprints of the series. I ran out of gears and started spinning pretty fast at 36mph. I came across 2nd, barely. I knew the overall leader had first, but I had to throw my bike pretty hard to get 2nd. I didn't even know there was someone on my left until I saw there wheel at the finish line. The 2nd place finish bumped me up to 4th overall. Not what my goal was coming into the race, but oh well. It was a good time and I'll definitely try to squeeze it in next year. One thing I don't understand is why not very many Iowa cyclists show up to this. It was only a 4 1/2 hour drive from the one of the Southern most parts of the state. I realize RAGBRAI was going on the same week. But Super Week lasts for 3 weeks or something like that. The competition is amazing. The races are the best organized I've been to. The crowds are huge. The races are long. What else could you ask for? That's all I have for now. I'm in the process of getting some pictures posted. Leaving for Colorado Saturday. Have a good day!
-A