The 2008 season 'officially' began for me this morning in Kenosha, WI - I did the Masters 40/49 (yes, with the men) criterium held courtesy of Kenosha Velosport in an industrial park off Hwy 158. I'd have to say that air temp at race time (10am) was maybe 20 degrees. Maybe. But that's just a sidenote to an otherwise truly Midwest too-early season race. There wasn't much wind, just a little bit coming off the lake and right in your face between turns 3 and 4 which made for a nice cross/head wind on the back stretch. It wasn't a hateful wind but I made sure to keep my nose out of it.
Let me tell you a little about the course....pretty much flat 1 mile loop with various "hazards" to negotiate - I have to give credit to the American Bicycle Racing crew and Kenosha Velosport for doing what they could to make the course race-able. Some of the snow had melted so what water had found it's way to the pavement was frozen in a few areas that were nicely marked with some orange traffic cones. Then there were a few other icy patches that were large enough that there was just no need for traffic cones... There were lots of bumpy stretches with dicey pavment seams and most of the smaller potholes had been filled. Gravel and debris were out in force in all the corners and the larger potholes were covered with cut-to-fit pieces of plywood and held in place with duct tape. I'm not kidding. You better believe there were guys running those things over every lap.
Things got off to a reasonable start and after a few laps some hard attacks starting happening, though nothing that really hurt me much. Right after closing down a gap on the right side of the road a hard attack went up the left side. I saw that MetLifeGuy was on it so I sat in and let it go. With a hard effort I probably could've gotten over too but staying with those guys would've been supremely difficult - they're a bunch of friggin' beasts and I'd have likely gotten spit out sooner or later. Turned out the break held and MetLifeGuy ended up 3rd in the 40+. Ansgar took the field sprint for 4th and I was close behind taking 5th. In retrospect I should have registered and also done the 30+ race that followed. In that race the guys did a fine job of representing again with MetLifeGuy getting into a late break good enough for 4th and Ansgar again taking the field sprint.
It ultimately turned out to be a good day, even with the freezing coldness and course "features." Next time I'll be sure to do two races - I'm not remotely tired today and I can surely use the work.
Thanks for reading. 4 more days to NC....
