4/23/12

Gettin' Paid - Yeah Bouy!

The Tour of Hermann was not in the cards this weekend. Instead, Wendy and I enjoyed a leisurely couple of days around the house. After spilling my guts at Hillsboro for 90 miles last weekend and 2 good training days this past week, my legs are feeling stale. This all comes at end of a good training block, so that is to be expected.

Teammate Kevin Severs has been crushing the collegiate racing tract all spring and he was racing in Iowa City. AJ Turner and the Iowa Cycling Club were hosting the event and they added a couple of non-collegiate divisions. Since the course was already set-up for racing, why not?
Josh Wandery and I decided to go over and jump in.

Kevin had already won the road race on Saturday and finished a close 2nd in the Sunday criterium earlier in the day to Tony Olson of Minneapolis.

Set in a newish residential neighborhood, the criteruim course was a short, around .5 mile loop, with a punchy climb and 90 degree turn into the finish line. I told the boys, to win the sprint; you need to go into the final corner on the front.

Several of the Iowa “A list” were down in Hermann, MO including our own Paul Denninger and Chad Bishop, along with many other guys with good early season fitness, so the field at Iowa City was limited, but there were still several perennial favorites like Jim Cocran, Lee “socks” V, AJ and Andy B. In addition, Brandon Krawczyk of Wisconsin and Tony Olson - Grand Performance, Minneapolis were on hand to animate things. All total there were only about 30 guys in the cat 1/2/3 race.

At the start line, I always take a quick scan of the other guys in the race and decide who to mark, who will be pack fodder who will be off the back. When referee Brett Griggs said “go” and Brother Severs shot off like a banshee, I had a feeling there would be few surprises.

Brendon attacked repeatedly – finally getting a good gap on the field; a suitable gap to bridge to. I hit the stick (that’s for Jed), and took AJ Turner and Tony Olson in tow. Within a few seconds we had a 4-man breakaway!

Kevin and Josh did good duty sitting in with the main field, and it only took a few laps on the short course before the four of us had lapped the field.

At the start finish line they started counting down laps – 23 to go! I was worried about chasers catching us, so I asked Kevin to move to the front and keep things rolling. Josh was not in the group of lapped riders and I was worried he’d had a mechanical problem. He was riding so strong. After the race I learned that he was in no man’s land and finished 5th. Nice work for his very first criterium.

Coming up the final climb, Brandon went first and I caught his wheel rounding the final corner – exactly what I said “not” to do. And, in fact, in the short 150 meters to the finish with a headwind, I could not come around him at the line and had to settle for 2nd.

I waited a few minutes to pick up my winnings envelope. Tucked inside was a twenty and a ten dollar bill. I asked the pretty cashier to exchange the twenty for 2 tens so I could split the cashola with my boys - $10 bucks each. I love making a living as a pseudo pro cyclist.

Thanks to The Iowa City Cycling Club, and referees Mark Guthart and Brett Griggs for a very well run event.  

Next up, Squaw Creek on the 29th and then Iowa City Weekend. I’m looking forward to having a full squad on hand for both events!

7 comments:

A.J. Turner said...

Thanks for coming, Lou!

Also, it was hosted by the University of Iowa Cycling Club, not the Iowa City Cycling Club...but that's neither here nor there.

-A.J. Turner

A.J. Turner said...

Thanks for coming, Lou!

Also, the event was hosted by The University of Iowa Cycling Club, not the Iowa City Cycling Club...but that's neither here nor there.

Anonymous said...

Andy Buntz was in your 4 man "lap the field" break, not Turner. Also, Buntz Finished 5th. Not your teammate.

Lou Waugaman said...

Thanks Anonymous. Apologies to AJ and Andy. In my defense, the only way to tell those two apart in cycling kits is to look at their bikes.

I should have been more specific about the final results. I spoke wiith Josh last night to verify and he thought that someone was ahead of him on no man's land - putting him in 6th.

So Andy must have drifted off the back of the break and that chaser must have passed him.

Either way, the basic gist of the story remains in tact.

Anonymous said...

Hey Blaugaman - you're incorrect again. This was not Josh's first crit. Josh has done many other crits. As a matter of fact didn't he win the EVC last year as a 4? You need to be fact checked as most of your stories contain erroneous information.

Signed ~ one of the little people

Lou Waugaman said...

I think Josh mentioned that this was something like his 6th race ever, so your comment about "many other crits" might also be a slight exaggeration. BTW, where did you place?
;)

Lou Waugaman said...

For heaven's sake, the newspapers get facts wrong all the time, and I'm just a blogger.

Thanks for reading ;)