Season of surgeries

Instead of racing our bikes this year, Forrest and I have spent our time on the sidelines due to injuries and surgeries. First, surgery for my ACL and recently, Forrest had surgery on one of his hands for carpal tunnel which has been bothering him all summer. Next week he gets the other hand operated on. 

And now, the team's very much admired, Dave Blomme is the next orthopedic patient. We sure are bummed to hear that news and hope for a lightning fast recovery Dave!!
Hopefully next year we can all be back in the swing of things with our repaired body parts!

-Shelley Smith

Watch those slippery leaf piles!

dblomme
While on a quick road ride the day before the Thanksgiving feast (wanted to be ready for the last half of CX season), I wiped out on some slippery leaves and dislocated my left forearm from my elbow – not good. Been a rough week. I go in to the OR tomorrow to see if I’ll need surgery. Either way, I‘ve got some months of recovery ahead of me. I’ll still ringing the cow bells and talking smart, so race hard!

Masters Champs!

TMT members picked up a bunch of awards tonight at the WCA road banquet,
including the Masters Team Championship - nice work team!

How to Win, by Greg Ferguson

Submitted by Mike Meteyer...

Last year in the WCA 45+ races it was the same old story where JW Miller would walk away after the first lap and win, Greg would chase and finish in second solo, and third was up for grabs.   This year after the first 2 races, the race has been up for grabs with  2 to 3 guys together going into the last lap.  Estabrook was no different, but for the 6th time it has ended the same. Ferguson wins. 

I have been around racing of various types most of my life.  There are some people that know how to win and Greg is one of those guys.  He has the knack.  It’s been great experience to race with him this year and to see him make it happen on so many occasions.  That has really been fun and motivating for me.

The following is my race report on the 45+ race at Estabrook. Greg and I have been employing team tactics or at least attempting them in cx this season.  Our pre-race conversation was the same as it has been all season.  And it goes something like:

Greg – Mike, I think we should try and get you the win this race.
Mike- sounds good to me.
Greg- I’ll get the hole shot, you be on my wheel.
Mike- sounds easy enough (not)
Greg – I’ll need to slow down after the first lap,  you take over if you are there; if you are not, I’ll make JW work to catch me
Mike – ok
Greg, you understand that you need to be on JW’s wheel or whoever is chasing me down?
Mike – understood, I’ll be there don’t worry
Greg – thinking to himself – wonder how many crashes he’ll have to recover from or if he’ll get clipped in at the start, or have air in his front tire, …..
Greg - once we get to 2 laps to go  attack / counter attack until the end
Mike – ok
Greg – be in front before the corner on the ball field.

Gun goes off, Greg gets the hole shot.  I’m not on his wheel but I’m sitting 4th going into the first corner … until some other really tall dude cuts the corner and pushes me into that mud hole on the outside of the first corner.  In a heartbeat, I was sitting about 10th place and several sets of groups behind Greg and his chasers. 

After a couple of laps, I eventually  caught up to JW in second place and sat on his wheel until he caught up to Greg.  Greg with 2 laps to go (I think) attacks.  It takes JW the entire lap to close the gap just at the start of the last lap.  I counter attack just before the first left hand turn and get a good gap with Greg’s help. 

JW pulls me back and passes just before the spiral and gets around lapped traffic coming out of the spiral that ended up in our way briefly.  Had to go like hell to get back on his wheel just prior to the barrier in the woods but my left cleat didn’t release and I found myself on the ground. I thought it was over and was settling for 3rd.  I also thought Greg would not get to JW and our streak of winning all the 45+ (except the one neither of us attended) was coming to an end.  

Well, Greg had other ideas and bridged up to JW and attacked him and dropped him before the corner on the ball field to win his 6th WCA 45+ race this season.   His experience and knowing what to do is part of it.  But there is a huge gap between knowing and doing. He just knows how to find a way to make it happen. Impressive to witness up close. 

Greg, thanks for ANOTHER learning opportunity.

Estabrook Cross - A Lesson Learned

I am beginning to like these Milwaukee-area cross races.  Get up, get dressed, ride to the race.  It couldn't be simpler, except of course for the fact that one actually has to race.  The Saturday race at Estabrook Park proved something of a challenge for me in that regard.  I ended up finishing the Masters 35+ Cat.4 race in 10th place, which would not have been a bad result if not for some tactical mistakes that cost me about 4 spots.

The day started well enough, though cold. The ride to Estabrook was a good way to get an early warm-up started.  I did not have a chance to pre-ride the course, but managed to ride nearly the whole thing outside the caution tape.  The course was fast and flat with a couple of long sections where you could open it up and go all out.  The County opened up the Estabrook Park beer garden for the race and had a German polka band for the occasion.  Though difficult, I managed not to enjoy a liter of Hofbrauhaus before race time.  The Hampshire team had ample course marshals and ran an organized event.  

After registering and warming up, I felt pretty good going into the race.  At the start I managed to stay with the front pack and was in 6th position for the first lap.  When I hit the straightway to the finish line on the back of the first lap, I realized the unpleasant fact that my warm-up was inadequate (too casual).  I blew up and could not keep up with the pace on the long, fast flat section.  On the road, I am usually a strong rider on the flats so this was particularly demoralizing.  I lost a couple of spots but managed to stay with a group of three riders and was in 9th place.  We ended up catching a rider from our age group at the first set of barriers on the second lap, but I took a spill when I didn't get my left foot out of the pedal in time.  Second week in a row.  This has to stop.

After the barriers, the three riders I had been with pulled away.  The rider we caught stayed tantalizingly close, never getting out of my sight.  By the third lap I seemed to recover and managed to pick off two riders who caught me shortly after my crash at the barriers.  On the last lap, I actually put a significant gap into these two and started narrowing the gap to the 9th place rider.  I went full gas on the long back stretch and finally felt like I had some power in my legs and executed a flawless mount after the run-up, but there just wasn't enough time to catch him before the finish.  

I cannot complain too much because I was outside on my bike racing in a classic setting along the Milwaukee River.  That being said, it was frustrating to feel like I was physically capable of a much higher finish had I been adequately warmed up before the race started.  I am learning that cross is markedly different from road racing in that regard.  Cross has no pack in which to hide while you get your legs and lungs comfortable with the effort.  I noticed that the second lap was just a gut-wrenching disaster because I had to work through the final stages of my warm-up on that lap.  Once I recovered I went pretty well and finished the last two laps faster much faster than the second lap, and felt strong at the end.

I stuck around for the Cat. 4's, but was unable to stay for the rest of the races.  Hopefully any Trek Midwest Team members who raced did well.  I for one learned a valuable lesson, if nothing else. 

Patrick Callahan