A few weeks ago, Jenette and I decided to make a road trip up to Illinois, the day after Iron Hill, to take part in the legend that is ……..Superweek!.
Superweek or the International Cycling Classic is actually a 2 week series (Super Fornight doesn’t have the same ring I guess!) of criteriums and road races through Illinois and Wisconsin. It used to be a huge series but the prize money has been dramatically reduced and now that there is a similar series held up here in June, Superweek hasn’t attracted the same numbers as in previous years - there are about 35 to 40 women racing this year. Yesterday was actually day 4 of super- week, but the first day for us!
It’s a pretty long haul up here– (12 hours from Lancaster where we stayed with Michele the night after Iron Hill…..she set us on our way with omlets, coffee and snacks! We love our wee Mama!). We joked and laughed the whole drive and the time flew by, so we weren’t feeling too wrecked when we arrived at our host house in Downers Grove.
Duane and Shaun had hosted Jenette and Michele to stay last year, so they were so excited to see Jenette again and we have made our little nests in their sun room….which, coincidently has a huge flat screen television in order to watch the Tour de France – magic!!
Traditionally, it is like racing on the surface of the sun at this time of year in Chicago, however it is defiantly a bit cooler this year which is great! The race itself was aggressive from the get go with Jenette launching the first attack from the gun and a whole series of counter attacks going from there. We were both continually off the front making the sprinter teams work, until it became clear nothing was going to be allowed to get away. I told Jenette to sit in and wait for the sprint and I would continue to instigate breaks and cover any other breakaway attempts.
With 11 laps to go I was away off the front and really starting to feel the effects of all the work I had been doing. I got caught by the bunch just before the sprint lap and the group of 6 riders that were contesting a mid-race sprint prime got a small gap as they sprinted for the line and the rest of the bunch, who weren’t interested in the sprint sat back and conserved energy. Normally, things come back together after a sprint as the sprinter recover from their effort, but this time they had a reasonable gap and they kept on going! I was so exhausted but knew I had to get across as it was a good representation of the major teams– so off I went chasing, chasing, chasing. I dug and dug but just couldn’t close the gap before I ‘blew to bits’. I was so frustrated and angry and knew I hadn’t left enough fuel in the tank to deal with this final effort and it was my own fault! So off the break went, with the other individuals or smaller teams that weren’t in the break seemingly not that interested in chasing. For the last 5 laps I was hanging onto the back of the bunch for dear life and was no help at all in leading out Jenette for the bunch sprint, however she still managed to sprint to take 10th overall. Great effort!
While a frustrating day, we did learn a lot about the style of the racing is going down this week, so can go into the race today with a more informed game plan and hopefully come away with a win! We had a lot of compliments after the race from other teams and also the race commentator who said that we had really made the race and it seemed like we had a whole team racing, not just two riders, so it was really nice and very sencouraging to hear that!
Ok, that’s all for now. I am rambling as I procrastinate from my school work!
Ciao
Dale :-)
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