national championship weekend

We made the annual trek to Downer's Grove (Chicago) last weekend for some more bike racin' action. I'm still tired from the hectic weekend, so I hope this post makes sense. This was the first time I've raced at Downer's - loved the course, but had another bad race. It wasn't how I wanted to end my crit racing season, but I'm still glad I did it. The best part was that I had teammates to race with and hang out with all weekend!! My teammates Karla and Pdiddily had great races, so that was cool. And my teammate Jenn was there too. Got to watch the old GP guys do the master's race on Saturday - Dale took a flyer with about 4-5 laps to go and almost got the win by himself, but the field caught him on the last lap and it ended in the typical big field sprint (and Petey Pablo got 3rd). Karla also jumped in the women's Pro Am race on Saturday, so it was fun to watch her mix it up with the pros. Then the young GPers did the men's Pro Am race to warm up for the big race on Sunday.

On a side note, the local ice cream shop on the course was replaced with a new wine shop, so I wandered in and took a look around. I found a bottle of wine that I couldn't pass up, so I got that and another bottle to share with the ladies. So we proceeded to get our drink on and kept the GP boys up too late.

Sunday was the big race. I woke up with a killer headache, but was fine once I got thorougly caffeinated. Karla, Pdiddily and I watched Flandarian Shana do the women's national championship race, then it was time for the men's elite national championship. I don't care how you feel about the GP guys...say what you will...but those guys know how to race as a team...and they know how to race at Downer's. They had a plan, they stuck to it, had some bad luck (Dewey crashed HARD), and didn't get the win in the end, but damn, it was impressive to watch. I've seen a lot of bike races...and this one topped them all. You can read the Cyclingnews story here and check out the photos.

Here's my version of the race: The GP guys hung out in the pack for half the race, then with about 15 to go, captain Dale started moving everyone up. The guy's good. He got the whole team from the back of the pack to the front of the pack in about 2 laps which is impressive considering there were about 170 guys in the field. With about 10 to go, GP was at the front controlling the race - again, impressive considering the field size. With Dewey injured and out of the race, and one other teammate no where to be found, Dale, Pellis, Bergmania, Jeremy, Marcotte, and Petey Pablo had their work cut out for them. With about 5 to go, GP was still at the front with Bergmania controlling everything, and there was a prime that Bergmania easily won. I might add that it was at this point that I was about ready to pass out because I was so nervous. The pace started picking up on each lap, and each GP guy was doing his work at the front and peeling off. With two to go, Bergmania was drilling it at the front with Pete and Marcotte in tow...just as planned. As the field rolled through the start/finish line with one to go, a Hincapie guy attacked and Bergmania chased him down. Unfortunately, a lot of other teams had been sitting in behind the GP train, so another attack happened, and Bergmania and Pete both had to chase. Coming into the last turn, my heart dropped when I didn't see the GP guys at the front. But, Marcotte was still there sitting 4th coming through the last turn, and ended up on the podium in 4th...so that was very cool. So while they didn't get the win, they felt pretty good about their effort and getting one of their guys a 4th place finish. It was a great race to watch - those guys know how to race as a team, and it was fun to watch it all unfold. I'm not one to get all sappy and shit, but I was proud.

Moses has some sweet photos up from the whole weekend in Downer's!

SS

p.s. The wine was good...I highly recommend it! No worries mom, I got a bottle for you and dad.