Dirty Thirty

ALL EYES ON BARRY! ALL EYES ON BARRY!

It is important to remember, the races I've been doing are just practice for Barry in April. There aren't a lot of gravel roads I know of around Kzoo, so these races are what I have to practice on. I'm looking for a big result in the biggest gravel road race in the country up in Hastings. WE will see how everything goes, but these races won't define the year; at all.

Ugh. Yesterdays race in Saranac (?) was by the far the most muddy and most wet race I've done yet. This clearly did not play to my advantage. Not only was I super caught off by the climbs in the first mile in the race, but the ground was very loose and I don't think there is too much I can take from today. I have a fleeting suspicion that I don't have any brake pads left and my brakes are metal on metal, but I'll confirm that tomorrow.

*If you haven't noticed, my favorite face to make when I'm trying to jump on groups ahead of me is that of desperation

I don't really understand how it is happening, and no offence to anyone, but these 50+ year-old men are coming around me and just riding me right off their wheels. I can't really tell what I'm doing wrong or what I'm not doing right, but I certainly need to be a little more efficient with just about everything. I've been able to just about stay on top of homework, but it's been tight. I don't know how other people are so good at time management, tips would be appreciated. I always find myself wasting a lot of time either playing solitaire on my phone, watching Netflix, or writing blogs, and I need to be more intentional with my time.

I really think I need to add some sort of stretching routine to my day. For being a 22 year old young man, I'm very inflexible. I often come off the bike pretty sore in places you wouldn't expect - back, thighs, neck, things like that. It's annoying and it slows me down, I think I learn how to stretch and maybe do some yoga.

3/16 Waterloo G&G, Grass Lake, MI (Gravel) 34th Overall (221) / 4th AG (6)
3/23 Melting Mann, Vandalia, MI (Gravel) 61st Overall (255) / 17th AG (31)
3/30 Dirty 30 Gravel Grinder, Saranac, MI (Gravel) 81st Overall (215) / 9th AG (24)
4/6 Lowell Classic, Lowell, MI (Gravel)
4/7 Ann Arbor Spring Training Series, Ann Arbor, MI
4/13 Barry Roubaix, Hastings, MI (Gravel)
4/14 Ann Arbor Spring Training Series, Ann Arbor, MI
4/20 Marian Cycling Classic, Indianapolis, IN
4/27 Yankee Springs TT, Gun Lake, MI (Mountain !!)
4/28 Ann Arbor Spring Training Series, Ann Arbor, MI
5/5 Fort Custer Stampede, Battle Creek, MI (Mountain)
5/11 Hammond Region Riot, Hammond, IN
5/25 Twilight on the Square, Akron, OH
5/26 Newark Center Classic, Englewood, OH
6/1 Deaconess River City Bicycle Classic, Evansville, IN
6/9 Dirty Donut, Martin, MI (Gravel)
6/16 Vuelta a Porta Sheldon, Grand Haven, MI (?)
6/22 Athens Brick Criterium, Athens, OH
6/29 Port City Crit, Muskegon, MI
6/30 Great Lakes Classic Road Race, Marne, MI
7/13 Detroit Cycling Championship, Detroit, MI
7/14 Corktown Crit, Detroit, MI
7/28 The Divide (Gravel) / Muncie Grand Prix, Muncie, IN
8/10 Rose City Crit, Jackson, MI
8/18 Gaslight Crit, Grand Rapids, MI
8/25 Debaets-Devos Crit, Detroit, MI
9/8 Uncle John's Dirty Ride, St. John's, MI (Gravel)
11/2 Iceman, Traverse City, MI

Ah, so not a fantastic result. Not as bad as I thought it would be, but again not great. We must all remember, it is still early, this is my first year taking my cycling more seriously, and the results will come. I'm really looking for that top-10 finish in one of these gravel races. I know the results don't really point towards that, but it is a lot closer than it may seem. I know the bike fits well, I've had good races before. I'm a little suspicious of my fitness, but I know what I need to focus on, which is important.

I'm super excited to race on the pavement next weekend. My road bike is dialed, and I feel very quick on the road. My plan is one of attack. I want to stay towards the front and get back any attack that goes off the front. If anyone is strong enough, it'd be great to make a move and hold until the end.

It is the final two weeks of tax season and we are all super excited about that. I've got a solid grasp on all my classes I think. I'm not sure the 4.0 is going to make it through this semester, but that is OK. I'm hoping today is the last of the real cold weather, and we will have a big week of riding. I refuse to take Thursday and Friday off before a race; that is too much time not doing anything, and I think that hurt my race this weekend. We'll get them next weekend with some nicer weather, I'm expecting a couple podium pictures.

Cheers! CE

Melting Mann

Disclaimer: I am having a fantastic Spring. I know sometimes my posts can come off as a little negative, but that is just me being hard on myself and having huge expectations. I'm super happy with how my Spring training and racing has been going. It is early, this will lead to a big year.

Ah, Melting Mann. There's nothing like ringing in the first weekend of Spring with a gravel race down in Vandalia; the air is chilly, the wind howling, expectation fills the baseball field where the race kicks off. I came into this race with about the same expectation and strategy as any race this time of year; hold the first group until I get shelled, pick people off one at a time and finish pretty alright.

This is exactly what happened. Started the race in a solid position, a lot of people in front of me but only about 4 rows back. In the future, may even want to start a little closer to the front. While I was with the front group for about the first 20-ish miles, I was never really at the front. I was about mid-pack, maybe a little further back, just hanging on. I was popped at one of the bigger hills, no surprise there.

I was very impressed with my positioning today. While maybe not positioned towards the front where I would have liked to have been, I wasn't giving up position easily, I wasn't falling further back every time the group bunches together; which in the past I have been guilty of getting a little complacent and letting riders come around me as the race slows (bad). Today I was a little more brave. I would follow wheels that I could tell were moving up, a very good thing. Only being able to see out of one eye slows me down in instances like this, I'm hesitant to change lines quickly because its pretty hard for me to tell if anything or anybody is on my right side. Ugh. Today though, I was following wheels and not losing position, something that will probably translate to future races well. This is a huge positive, and I'm excited to be learning about races since I've been doing so many.

Another positive, my body feels great after racing today. Last week, I really couldn't bend too much for at least a few hours. I'm not sure why I wasn't sore after today, I think it may be a combination of better pedaling form, better conditioning, getting used to riding at a fast-pace, etc. It's hard to tell, but I feel super fresh, ready for a nice long ride tomorrow with friends.

3/16 Waterloo G&G, Grass Lake, MI (Gravel) 34th Overall (221) / 4th AG (6)
3/23 Melting Mann, Vandalia, MI (Gravel) 61st Overall (255) / 17th AG (31)
3/30 Dirty 30 Gravel Grinder, Saranac, MI (Gravel)
3/31 Autobahn Spring Criterium, Joliet, IL
4/6 Lowell Classic, Lowell, MI (Gravel)
4/7 Ann Arbor Spring Training Series, Ann Arbor, MI
4/13 Barry Roubaix, Hastings, MI (Gravel)
4/14 Ann Arbor Spring Training Series, Ann Arbor, MI
4/20 Marian Cycling Classic, Indianapolis, IN
4/27 Yankee Springs TT, Gun Lake, MI (Mountain !!)
4/28 Ann Arbor Spring Training Series, Ann Arbor, MI
5/5 Fort Custer Stampede, Battle Creek, MI (Mountain)
5/11 Hammond Region Riot, Hammond, IN
5/18 Weekend at WLSR, Muskegon, MI
5/25 Twilight on the Square, Akron, OH
5/26 Newark Center Classic, Englewood, OH
6/1 Deaconess River City Bicycle Classic, Evansville, IN
6/9 Dirty Donut, Martin, MI (Gravel)
6/16 Vuelta a Porta Sheldon, Grand Haven, MI (?)
6/22 Athens Brick Criterium, Athens, OH
6/29 Port City Crit, Muskegon, MI
6/30 Great Lakes Classic Road Race, Marne, MI
7/13 Detroit Cycling Championship, Detroit, MI
7/14 Corktown Crit, Detroit, MI
7/28 The Divide (Gravel) / Muncie Grand Prix, Muncie, IN
8/10 Rose City Crit, Jackson, MI
8/18 Gaslight Crit, Grand Rapids, MI
8/25 Debaets-Devos Crit, Detroit, MI
9/8 Uncle John's Dirty Ride, St. John's, MI (Gravel)
11/2 Iceman, Traverse City, MI

Further, another positive, once I got popped, boy I was cruising. I'm a huge fan of riding my own race when it comes to this gravel nonsense. After losing the front group, all that happens is I'm going close to the same speed as them, and I'm just picking up one group at a time, sitting on their wheel for a moment to get some rest, and moving to the next group, it is wonderful. Occasionally someone will hop on my wheel and I'll drag them along for a while, but I'm pretty quick when my heart-rate is under control, so I'm able to leave most people.

I did notice today while I was cruising by myself towards the end of the race, a large group, maybe 10 to 15 riders came past me, and I didn't grab their wheels, this was a mistake. I think I get a little distracted when I'm coming into a finish after a long race, and they just stayed about 30 seconds ahead of me the last 3 miles of the race. In the future, when I'm riding by myself in these races, I want to be grabbing every wheel that comes past me. Like Ryan says, 'that 15 seconds of all-out pain to grab a wheel will lead to an easy 5 minutes of drafting'.

Good day in the saddle. Another learning experience. Probably didn't ride enough this last week, between questionable weather, a weird stomach bug last Sunday, and mountains of homework, I didn't get out as much as I should have done.

It's a new week, I'll ride a bunch, and hit them again next Saturday up in GR!

Cheers! CE

Waterloo Grit and Gravel

Good afternoon everyone!

Guess whose hopes just got a little bit higher after the first race of the year? You're right, it's me! The legs are feeling super fine, the mental aptitude for suffering is present, I'm having a lot of fun, and I feel very Belgian. The perfect mix for a Spring full of racing!

'How on earth do you make a huge mistake before the race even starts, Charlie?' Well let me tell you how. So of course I'm just wandering around the start area, talking to friends and wasting time (my specialty), and the 100k racers go off. Great, that is fantastic. Little do I know that as soon as the 100k racers are off (the longer of the two races today) the 50k racers immediately push up into the start area to line up for our race. I mean kind of obvious OK? Of course that is what is going to happen. I saw a bunch of TCL racers chatting before the 100k went off and instead of joining them I just kept riding laps around the parking lot to warm up. I make no exaggeration that as soon as the first race went off everyone in the second race began to line up. Darn. Now I am stuck in the very back of the massive pack of people racing the 50k and I have no option but to stay there.

As we all know, I'm not usually one for too much confrontation, like I'll be happy to talk to people but I'm certainly not one who is going to go out of my way to cause issues. So of course I just sit there, thinking, 'I'll just make a quick move as soon as the road widens out and I'll be fine'. Well that didn't happen. The front of the massive group took off very quickly and I was so far behind I would never touch the front racers. I figured this out pretty quickly as we took a corner and I could see pretty well ahead that the front of the group was probably a mile and a half off. That's a total exaggeration but I wasn't going to make up all that ground. So I decided pretty early that my race was going to be a series of catching people ahead of me, passing them, and moving onto the next group ahead and it worked very well!

As I mentioned, the legs felt very nice! There is still some work to be done and that is expected as it is still so early in the season, but the signs are pointing to a good Spring for me! Throughout the entire race and because I started so far in the back, no one ever passed me during the entire ride. I'll take that as a solid positive and look ahead to next week in Vandalia.

I should probably mention the insane mud today. Before the race everyone was talking about, 'Cassidy road' and how bad it is going to be and that hopefully everything is frozen. LOL, it wasn't frozen. I don't really know where 'Cassidy road' is, the entire race was just one big mud pit, ruts in the dirt roads were massive and very quick to catch a wheel and throw you off a nervy bike. Speaking of which, I DIDN'T CRASH TODAY! Another huge positive to take from today is that we stayed on both wheel the entire time! Now let me be clear, there were multiple times where I would have to put a foot down to keep me from falling, but I think this could be a sign of more confidence to come. Overall, I'm very happy with today and I'm very much looking forward to races for the rest of the year! We will look to get a little quicker, I need to stretch and ride. It looks like the weather might be turning for the better this week and I hope that trend sticks for a while (:

3/16 Waterloo G&G, Grass Lake, MI (Gravel) 34th Overall (221) / 4th AG (6)
3/23 Melting Mann, Vandalia, MI (Gravel)
3/30 Dirty 30 Gravel Grinder, Saranac, MI (Gravel)
3/31 Autobahn Spring Criterium, Joliet, IL
4/6 Lowell Classic, Lowell, MI (Gravel)
4/7 Ann Arbor Spring Training Series, Ann Arbor, MI
4/13 Barry Roubaix, Hastings, MI (Gravel)
4/14 Ann Arbor Spring Training Series, Ann Arbor, MI
4/20 Marian Cycling Classic, Indianapolis, IN
4/27 Yankee Springs TT, Gun Lake, MI (Mountain !!)
4/28 Ann Arbor Spring Training Series, Ann Arbor, MI
5/5 Fort Custer Stampede, Battle Creek, MI (Mountain)
5/11 Hammond Region Riot, Hammond, IN
5/18 Weekend at WLSR, Muskegon, MI
5/25 Twilight on the Square, Akron, OH
5/26 Newark Center Classic, Englewood, OH
6/1 Deaconess River City Bicycle Classic, Evansville, IN
6/9 Dirty Donut, Martin, MI (Gravel)
6/16 Vuelta a Porta Sheldon, Grand Haven, MI (?)
6/22 Athens Brick Criterium, Athens, OH
6/29 Port City Crit, Muskegon, MI
6/30 Great Lakes Classic Road Race, Marne, MI
7/13 Detroit Cycling Championship, Detroit, MI
7/14 Corktown Crit, Detroit, MI
7/28 The Divide (Gravel) / Muncie Grand Prix, Muncie, IN
8/10 Rose City Crit, Jackson, MI
8/18 Gaslight Crit, Grand Rapids, MI
8/25 Debaets-Devos Crit, Detroit, MI
9/8 Uncle John's Dirty Ride, St. John's, MI (Gravel)
11/2 Iceman, Traverse City, MI

Tax season is almost becoming a little fun! I'm getting good at preparing returns, the people I work with are super awesome, and I'm really enjoying things! School is weighing on me, but I'll get through it! I have a lot of papers and projects coming due pretty soon that I haven't started, but I'll get everything done I'm sure!

Cheers! CE