Cyclocross Training at 11,053

dblomme

KOM

But......

Here's the KoM leader after 50 meters past the finish line.

Someone lapped wheels and went down right in front of me. Took me with him. Broken right collar bone.

Signing off from GMSR.

Eric and Mike
Sent from my iPhoneReport from Green Mountain Stage Race.

Stage 1 - 6 mile TT
Meteyer was sitting in 7th only 3 sec out of third and 30 sec out of first. Decent position. Knuth was off his A-game and was 50 sec behind Meteyer.

Stage 2 - 53 mile road race
Trek Midwest strategy was to minimize wasting matches as we'd had done in previous years that we paid for in the mountain stage the next day. Meteyer took maximum KOM points on both rates climbs. It wasnt the going in plan but the opportunity was there so i took it. I was fourth wheel at 500m of top of the first climb and feeling really good. I jumped at 300m. One guy came with me and pasted me at 100 m to the line but i fought back and got him by half a wheel at the line. The second climb jumped at 500m and went uncontested. The race finish came down to a field sprint and we finished in the pack.

At the finish line of the stage here is the KoM leader.

Shannon!

Great job to Shannon who’s been making it on the podium quite a few times this road season, finishing it up with another at the state time trial championships!

 

Stage Race?

Stage Race?  Eric, you never said anything about a stage race.   I thought we were going to Vermont to collect prized craft beers? 

 

 

 

 

 

We won!

Well, technically the stage race does not start until tomorrow, but if you look closely in the picture you will see the jar of salsa we scored at the supermarket!

Oh yeah, we did also happen to score some of the country's finest adult beverages - beer from Hill Farmstead, Heady Topper (Alchemist Brewery), and Sip of Sunshine (Lawson's Finest Liquids) as well as two other local wonder beers! And as you can tell from the picture, we will be carbo-loaded and ready to roll in the time trial tomorrow morning.

Green Mt Stage Race Take 3!

Mike and I are off to the Green Mt stage race in Vermont, a 4-day race held over the Labor Day weekend. This will be our third consecutive year of making the trip - we are both hoping the third time will be the charm! Our first stop before heading out of town, of course, was to get caffeinated at Colectivo - good coffee is a road trip must! And Mike doing his best impression of a Trek / Colectivo advertisement model!

Race the Lake 2015

         The day started at 4:30 AM.  The alarm buzzing.  Normally on any other given day, this would be annoying and I’d slam the snooze and go back to sleep.  But not today.  This day was different - I was ready to knock it out of the park.  Michael and I were going to crush Race the Lake.

TMT at the start of Race the Lake 5:45 AM

It was only a month ago that Michael Mayer and I started planning for this event.  An event that hosts 1300 people, where you can ride your bike for 90 miles around a huge lake and not stop once.  Race the Lake is a road race for some, but a bicycle ride for most others that starts and finishes in Fond du Lac Wisconsin every August.  There are twelve waves of rides whose experience levels vary from the pro racer to the hybrid recreational neighborhood rider.  I even saw people riding fat bikes! Wow.  The grand depart takes place at Walleye Weekend's Lakeside Park at the very early hour of 5:45 AM. Hence the alarm clock.  The route takes you up the flat west side of the lake through the cities of Oshkosh and Neenah before making your way to the only category one climb on the parcourse at High Cliff State Park.  You continue south to finish the last half of the ride back into Lakeside park for the finish.  Side note: Make sure to scout the finish before you actually finish (Mayer).  So let's get started with a quick race report.

Michael and I started in the Pro Wave 1. About 70 riders.  By the way Michael is my Trek Midwest Cycling teammate, a cycling advocate, and a generally nice guy.  We were ready to rock.  Usually the 17 miles to Oshkosh is pretty laid back.  Smooth roads, a good warm up.  Well my skepticism showed as 300 meters into the race, a young, eager kid who was trying to get to the front fell and hit the tarmac.  My heart rate spiked as I watched him roll and then stand up as if it was one motion chasing after his bike.  Michael had to lock the brakes up as he narrowly escaped running over the kid's head, simultaneously turning around shaking his fist in the air and yelling something that sounded Italian.  I’m still not sure what he said. Thankfully the rest of the pedal strokes to High Cliff were relatively easy and unmarred by crashes. 

High Cliff State Park marks the half way point in our adventure.  The climb is an average 7% gradient for about a mile.  The race organizers also put a KOM point on the summit.  We had read our race books, so we knew about the KOM prize going in and figured the run-in to the climb was going to be fast and then full gas once we hit the hill. Michael was ahead of me working his way up the peloton when there was nearly another crash. In every race, there is always at least one “guy” who you need to avoid because of his sketchy riding. Today’s “guy” liked to ride from left to right and then right to left again.  In other words, all over the road!  Well the guy clipped bars with his teammate no less, and almost crashed Michael and five others. I had to break hard to avoid touching wheels with the rider ahead of me.  Luckily no one went down. But this did open up a gap within the group and we desperately had to catch up before the climb started.  We caught the tail of the group but the chase proved unnecessary in regards to the KOM, because, as we ascended High Cliff State Park Road, the cream rose to the top and the peloton was scattered up and down the road.  I’m not sure who won the KOM but it unfortunately wasn’t a Trek Midwest Team rider. A little bit further down the road…gruppo compacto.

Let’s jump ahead forty miles and talk about the last 3k.

The last stretch of the race is flat with 2 hard 90 degree turns approximately 400m before the line.  Forty of us were still packed together with people fighting for position. Mayer tried to do a solo flyer, Hammer Time he says… Maybe he figured he could get away since he was the only one riding a Race Shop Limited Red Madone 9 Series with Aeolus D3 5 wheels. Ha! I mean, why not, right?!  He was brought back by a team of mid 30 master’s dudes, but not without a fight.  I heard people talking among themselves; “Why is he so hard to bring back?” “That guy is fast!”  Was I supposed to counter?  We hadn’t talked about it but NO way was I going to attack.  I was sitting about ¾ of the way back navigating the last two corners and planning on just finishing with what I had left in the tank.  But I realized that I’d carved out those last two corners so precisely that I’d moved up to about 20^th!  Numerous spectators were amazed.  And it is at this point in the race where knowing the finish is handy.  200m to go, time to crush it, give it all. I went for it, out of the saddle, sprinting.  Ahh! That hurts, to far yet I said to myself.  Sat back down.  Ok now time to go full gas!  Quickly passed Mayer like he was on a Sunday cruise on his Town bike and dashed for the line.  87.7 miles at 25.2 average speed, Race the Lake was over and I finished 13th. 

Beer IV's

The race part was over but often the best moments in cycling come after the race.   Beer IV’s in place for recovery, sitting on the grass chatting with fellow participants, sharing stories, laughs, and soaking up the sun…that’s what it’s all about. I soon realized I’d just ridden 90 miles in 3.5 hours all before 10 AM.  Not bad, not bad at all.  A great day in the saddle.  I finished 13th overall and Michael was quick behind, in at 21st.

Next year I challenge you do join in on the fun. The people and atmosphere at Race the Lake are phenomenal.

    Michael Mayer was quoted:

 “Race the Lake is an incredible organized race. I want to do it every year!”

A shout out goes to Gloria West for directing the race and making this ride possible.

Bonesaw getting 13th overall; 1st in his age group

Flying the team colors in Xi'an, China

 

Our rider Tony Lemke pictured with Jens Voigt at the Trek 100 this June!  We had a couple riders from the Trek Midwest Team that were able to ride with Jens this Spring and summer. Look for their stories soon!  Ride on...

thanks to Gordy and Diane for double corner-driveway guarding last night!

thanks to Lisa for taking caring of the registration/volunteer signup
with David Davis
to Barney for doing set-up, double corner-driveway guarding and take-down
to David Blomme for corner-driveway guarding, taking photos, and only missing one car while multi-tasking!
to everyone who corner-driveway guarded
and to Jason, for officiating, of course

another beautiful evening, with some impressive clouds, all around....

thanks everyone

Mini-cross course at Ride the Drive, in Madison Parks

Showing off the team colors on the Onomichi to Imbari bicycle route in Japan

Practice crits

‎B crit

With an attack, on the horizon...

Dairy Roubaix 2015

‎Many TMT riders enjoyed the weather and scenery at this year's Dairy Roubaix.

This unsupported gravel road event, starting at Wyalusing State Park, had one water (Korbel) stop 26 miles into the 54-107 mi ride. Mike and Greg fueled their last 40 out of 92.63 mi ride‎ with their own water stash on CTY HWY P.

And as a bonus we also celebrated Greg's birthday!

Heidi

TMT riders: Seth Eckert, Brian Fosler, Lisa Harms, Glen Jones, Mike Meteyer, Jay Moss, Diane Ostenso, Gordy Paulson, Heidi Ploeg, Nick Roecker, Diane Schlipper‎, David Studner (sorry if I'm missing anyone!)

Riding leads to eating!

Last Day in SC/NC was perfect

Fast (or Fat) over 50?

Big G showing the trick to staying fast (or is that fat) - three plate loads of crepes and several cups of caffeine. And that is his pre-ride preparation!

Rain day

The Secret to being Fast after 50?

After 5 days in a row of riding in the mountains of NC and SC, here is how masters' riders stay fast after 50 - two of the team's best preparing for another day of riding!

SC TMT Trip Photos

Training camp

South Carolina style

TMT Spring Break Training Camp

Just waitin' on a friend...