Project 5 Racing

Once again on October 8, 2011, Project 5 Racing and Chicago Winter Bike Swap will host a ride for all area women’s racers and enthusiasts. At 9:00 am, from Twin Lakes Park (150 W. 59th St) on 59th Street just west of Cass Ave in Westmont, we will head out to the trails and roads of the west suburbs for a conversive, enjoyable 30 or so mile ride before returning to the park for some further chatting and lunch. Pull on your team jersey and bibs, grab your bike and helmet, and come along…
Get the Flyer: Here

This was my second year heading out to Iowa for the trifecta of crit racing on Memorial Day Week-end: Snake Alley (Burlington, IA), Melon City (Muscatine, IA), and Quad Cities (Rock Island, IL). For the women this year, they had W2/3 races each day in addition to the cat 4 and W1/2/3 races. The distance of the W2/3 races was significantly shorter than the W1/2/3 - but for me, with the vacation mindset in place, the shorter distances were perfect.

Snake Alley: Head to You Tube and check out videos of Snake Alley - a brick paved, narrow, steep, multi-switchback climb followed by a swooping downhill - repeat often. This race is a personal challenge for each competitor. The tactics are simple - get up the climb faster than your rivals and be efficient in the downhill. I started on the front line, headed to the snake, and then tried to be as consistent as possible with each of the 6 laps. While on lap 1 I was definitely not the fastest up the snake, on each subsequent lap, I passed a racer or two. All in all ok.

Melon City: The skies were ugly this Sunday morning. The drizzle that started during the warmup turned to cold, large drops along with lightning. The men’s masters race was shortened and our race was postponed over an hour for the storm to pass. Debra and I huddled in her car - with the wind, hail, and rain that came through, it felt like we were going through a car wash. After an hour delay, rain still coming down, lightening in the distance, I saw some of the W2/3 women moving towards the start/finish - could we be starting now? My body now cold from sitting for over an hour creaked out of the car. Shivering from the cold and wet, I rolled to the start line. I could see the standing water along the curb just beyond the start - what did the rest of the course look like? At the whistle, everyone else took off while I was stuck trying to jumpstart my body motor. Dang, getting going without a warmup is hard! I found myself at the very back of the pack at the first turn. OK, so this is how it’s going to be today - settle in and try to warmup. I chased down competitors on the uphill stretch after the speedbump (yeah - quite interesting feature, especially since it is at the bottom of a screaming downhill), somewhat keeping the lead pack in sight. I could feel the body starting to warmup even though the rain was still coming down. Then, after 6 of 14 laps, the officials neutralized the race due to another storm coming through. No one knew how long that delay would be - and now I did not have the warmth of the car to comfort me during the delay. I was stuck in the cold and wet with another car wash cycle coming through. Nope - my body said, “Not today, take me home for a hot shower.” So I left. More power to the women that did stick around and finish the race!

Quad Cities: This figure 8, flat course is fun. Jerel joined me at the line for the W2/3 race. Many teams were well-represented including ISCorp, ABD, and Kenda. I figured to watch their antics and hopefully make the right selection of the break. Well, the break never happened. The pace of the race was quite tame until the last two corners. ISCorp came up the inside with ABD near the middle and the independents on the outside. I got caught watching instead of racing. Debra was soon at the line for the W4 race. She held solid positioning throughout the race and finished in the money. Great job! Shawn also came to the line for the men’s cat4 race, but with a crash in front of him in the closing laps, he was taken out of contention. Jerel jumped into the W1/2/3 race later in the afternoon and held her own for quite a while - very solid. Great fun to see so many Chicago-based racers, men and women, do so well at QC - many wins.

Traveling with local competitors over 500 miles away from Chicago to race, changes the dynamics a bit so that, for a short while, while in the midst of this far-away town, you are sort of like temporary teammates - at least that is what I felt on the trip to the Joe Martin stage race with XXX’ers, Tamara Fraser and Sandra Samman and SpiderMonkey’s Vanessa Buccella. We each had our goals - and together we helped each other try to achieve them. Here’s a brief recount of my races in the W40+ category…

Time trial - 2.5 mi uphill, average 6.8% grade. I LOVE TT’s - not! But I am learning to like them a bit - just a little bit. I went as aero as I could - TT helmet (thanks, P2), skinsuit, no gloves, and booties - with the elfy toes tucked in. I started in the big chainring, hammering as hard as I could the 0.5 mi flattish section. Then I started dropping the gears rather quickly once I hit the grade change.  Solid effort finishing in just under 12 min about 30 sec behind the top two finishers in my group.
 
Road Race - I knew who I had to mark. Thanks to Tamara, I had also done a bit of checking out ”the wall” on the course that in year’s past created the break-away. I knew it was a small chain ring effort. My first goal would be to stay with the break over the wall. 2nd goal - ? I would wait to get there first. I cleared the wall, but not with the lead pack - I was dangling.

On the downhill, another racer reminded me that I had to pedal to try to catch up - then she lent me her wheel - and we did catch on! I was obviously exhausted and the pack didn’t seem to mind having me hang on at the back and not do too much work. Ok - that’s what I needed! 

As we approached the finish, I felt strong and positioned myself to contest the win. I was third wheel behind my two W40+ competitors and unleashed my sprint with about 200m to go. As I closed in on the finish, I thought I might have the overall win until a few inches from the line another wheel popped into view slightly in front of mine. Fortunately, it was the winner of the W3/4 race - so my 2nd place finish put me as the 1st place finisher for the W40+! However, while the bonus seconds moved me closer to the overall stage leaders, I was still 25 seconds out in 3rd place.
 
Crit - The crit course is tough - about 1/3 of it required a small chain ring effort. There is a 3 block long rise to a right turn with a 1 block Fox River Grove type hill to the finish line. I needed to stay with the two leaders as best I could - and from the previous day’s hilly races, I knew that hills were their strong suit. With the whistle, the stage leader tore off the front. The racer in 2nd place chased her down pulling the group back together - until we approached the hill to the start/finish.

Coming off the hill, the break-away had formed - the two leaders and me. We continued our laps with a couple of primes slightly increasing the effort up the finish hill from what they might otherwise have been. If I wanted to change the overall standings, I needed to get clear of my break-mates and try to finish 25 seconds ahead. My couple of break away attempts were feeble. Lap countdown starts with 2 to go - what? I am out of time for the solo break-away. Now it’s time to focus on winning the race.  
As we entered the 3 block climb for the last time, there was a bit of banter amongst the three of us. Before the turn to the finishing hill sprint, the current stage leader said to me, “Just stay out of our way” to which I responded with a smile, “Oh, don’t you worry, I don’t want to interfere with your race, I will stay well out of your way over here on the left.” And with that, I hammered the last hill as hard as I could - staying as far out of her way as I could. She lost her lead position as I crossed as the crit winner, securing my overall 3rd place finish.  Coolest part - as you can hear in the video - is all the cheering going on from my Chicago “teammates” - tres neat! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKumZ3pDpMY

We all enjoyed some level of success at Joe Martin. In the W3/4, Tamara finished in the money with her 7th place overall - great job.
  
Good fun - I would enjoy doing this again next year. Any takers?

Hell is not hot - it is cold, rainy, windy, with a bit of haily snow thrown in. Oh, not to mention mud and slick roads.

Shawn raced the 4’s first with Lance helping in the feed zone. Conditions at start of his race: 45-48F, drizzle, wind out of west 15-20mph. Final 25K Conditions: 35-38F, blowin 20-30mph and gusting much higher out of the west. And it would only get worse as the day went on. As a result, other races were cut short leaving Shawn as the only P5 racer to complete the full 100k scheduled. 

Survival became the new goal at Leland - not the placing on the scorecard. Shawn helped out a fellow racer with some food during the race. Shawn recounted, “The fellow racer came up afterwards and said good riding with you while we did, and thank you for the support out there. That made my day. He finished, and not last! And that’s why this is the best sport on the planet and why we do it. If we can get a result from time to time that’s a bonus. For the conditions we battled and endured at Flatlandia’s Leland Kermesse; everyone who turned a lap out there on Saturday deserves a Jens Factor badge because that’s exactly what it took.” ‘Nuff said.

The Leland course is a 25k lap with 3 gravel sections that make up about 40% of the distance. Well, not gravel today. Two wet-clay slick strips with wheel-sucking mud in-between and on either side of the strips. And while walking the tight rope is difficult enough, the wind was like someone poking you with a stick, keeping you off-balance and wiggling to stay the course. And when you weren’t battling the slick muddy roads, the wind swept you from the asphalt to the muddy edge or just made you feel like you were standing still.

The Men’s Masters 1/2/3 lined up with the Women’s 1/2/3, so John, Pascale, J, and I were together at the start of our scheduled 100k of racing. Even though some at the line commented about cold-numbed fingers and the like, we did not really know yet the hell that lay before us.

At the first left turn, the men went up the road while the women settled into a rotating paceline - although there was concern that one of the women might have been with the men.

Heading into the first gravel section, I moved to the front and laid down a solid pace. At the left turn, three of us noticed we had a gap, so we started rotating and kept the pace high. When we hit the asphalt, a fourth racer bridged up - the racer we thought was ahead with the men. Ahh - so we were the front of the race!

I now had 2 XXX and an unknown racer with me. As we turned into the second gravel section, I again went to the front and pushed hard. After the first rise, we were down to 3 - 2XXX and me. We started rotating and worked together solidly.

The cross-winds hurt us more than the headwind. We would set up on the opposite edge of the road and in a couple hundred yards we were wind-pushed across to the other edge of the road trying to stay on the pavement. Repeat.

On the 2nd lap, at the 1st gravel section, I again went to the front. The mud was much thicker than the first lap, the rain was coming down, and it was colder. I shifted to my small ring to try to keep the cadence up. I still felt bogged down. I had to ask…”Hey - is my tire flat?” To which XXX replied, “You wish!” And I guess I did - it was the beginning of my end. We started rotating again in the mud.

Just before the end of that gravel section, I lost contact with my fellow breakmates. Then my shifting difficulties began - a two-handed effort to get back to - come on! get up there - the big ring. Result? Gap had increased -significantly. Once in the big ring, I went back to work, trying to reel in the 2-XXX’ers that were up the road, but NOT working together! End of Gravel #2 - I’m closer and they are still not working together. While on gravel #3, I see the two-still-not-working-together racers turn right onto the pavement - directly into the viscious headwind - I push.  Before they crest the slight rise, I see them regroup as I turn into the cold wall of wind, alone. At the turn, the Tati 4’s women team is running alongside me, urging me on. In my head I envision one of them grabbing a bike and giving me a bit of a draft. Dillusions…

The survival instinct settled in…the wind was so strong, it became a small ring effort. Then the rain turned to pebbles- hail? WTF! Crosswinds were harder without partners to watch get equally windswept. Shifting gears was almost impossible.

Before entering gravel 1 for the 3rd time, I took a shot of gel and my hand got stuck in my jersey putting it away! I could not get it out. I couldn’t grab the brake with my free hand. The corner marshal waved harder and yelled louder as if that would help me brake, turn, or get my hand free. Nope - I barely missed him as I rolled off course and down the wrong road. A couple hundred feet later I got my hand free and turned around. He looked at me like, “What’s up?” I just said, “My limbs aren’t working.” I pedalled away in my small ring- gravel 1 done, 2 done, and 3 almost done - and I started psyching myself up for another lap.

Then I saw the most beautiful sight - Loch, on his moto, blocking my path to the final lap and directing me to the finish - oh, yes, thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

Wow. Back at the car, I helped John with his keys (I knew what it was like not to get the hand in/out of the jersey pocket), and shivered for a 1/2 hour or so trying to warmup. After congratulating and sympathizing with the other racers, I collected a few bucks for 3rd and visited Casey’s so I could enjoy a hot coffee on the ride home. The simple things.

Looking forward to Leland again next year - what will it bring? Bring it on!

Ladies - Join us for a 30 mile ride in the west suburbs followed by a picnic style lunch. Don your finest riding garb, your team kit, grab your bike and let’s roll! We’ll head out at 9:00 from Twin Lakes Park on 59th St. just west of Cass Avenue in Westmont. Easy access from the Metra as well. More details on the flier found here: click me.

I expected a day filled with rain, thunder, and lightning - but no, blue skies, heat, and humidity were piled on! Great day for racing.

The W3/4’s race had almost 50 racers on the start line - what a terrific showing! Some of the top talent from Wisconsin was down as well as a few unknowns from other states. The race started at a fast clip, with P5 stringing out the field for a few laps. After a couple of attacks, the contenders at the front of the pack were consistent - and would eventually line up as the top 10 finishers. The race remained exciting, though, with many attacks from the many teams represented. When the organizers put us on the longer, PRO course, next year, those team tactics will have much more impact to the race. So cool to see the Kenda team swooping up the inside. On another lap, Cuttin’Crew chasing down a break. P5 being the break that they had to chase, while I sat in. That’s fun racing. 

Unfortunately one of our top Chicago competitors crashed bad at turn 3 about 3/4 way through the race. The race was neutralized for a few laps at that point on the course as well as stopped/started to allow the ambulance to clear the course. I don’t think the start/stop had an impact on the race results - however, what did impact each of us was knowing that a friend was hurt. Our well-wishes go out to her.

The finish of the race was a series of attacks with the strongest riders finding the right lines to position themselves before hitting the final corner and taking it across the finish line. As I was behind them, learning a new lesson, it was so cool to see how easily they could move to get a clean line and surge forward. Tuck that away for next season.

What a great week-end for P5! Podiums, State Championship Jerseys, IL Cup Series Winners - oh, and a new teammate!

Before a recap of the events, with the significant achievements this week-end, a brief reminder of what P5 represents seems appropriate:
The Project 5 moniker was chosen for two reasons. In one respect the name stands for the plan most of us have of graduating up from the Cat 5 racing scene and moving on up until age, health, life or acquirement of a Cat 1 license prevents us from going further in our chosen sport/passion/fetish. The other meaning behind this name is simply promotion of racing in general for those young and old that are looking to participate in this awe inspiring sport. Our hope is to be a sort of ambassador of this sport and the healthy lifestyle it represents

P5 has expanded the roster adding a new teammate that shares the passion we have for the sport, its growth, and the drive to continue to challenge ourselves - welcome Marilyn Powell! A well-known entity within the racing community, we look forward to blending Marilyn’s enthusiasm with that of our own for success both on and off the course. You will hear more about her in the (long - lot’s of good stuff happened!) recap below.

Grayslake: The final race in the Illinois Cup Series, P5 results in the Grayslake events could change the final positioning in a number of categories. While a win is always the goal, today there would be additional layers to the opportunities for success.

• Men’s 50+: John Deifel has been racing well this year and today was one of his finest showings. Up against the Mighty Mack’s and Wayne Simon among others, John had a deep field to contest. Holding his position near the front of the pack for the better part of the race, John came into view of the start/finish in 5th position and at the final turn, with a solid sprint, moved into 4th place. Great job! John secured 6th place in the Illinios Cup Series.       
• W3/4 race: Marilyn, a cat 3 racer, joined Jerel, Ginger and Cathy on the line with 14 other racers. The race started out at a slow pace, noone wanting to do the work on the first lap. Lap 2, the Bouldougue (Stacy) became antsy and attacked. Mack-er Jeanne was on her wheel with Marilyn sitting in 3rd wheel. From then on, many attacks were attempted but no break formed. True to form, Jeanne popped out and collected the couple of primes offered. As we came around on the final lap, Ginger attacked with Stacy and Jeanne jumping to reel her in - and they did - but barely. Had the course been just a bit shorter the end result might have been jumbled. Stacy topped the podium followed by Jeanne and Ginger. However, with her 3rd place finish, Ginger secured 2nd place in the W3/4 Illinois Cup Series while Cathy retained 1st place in the Series.
• Men’s Cat 4: Quentin and Greg lined up. With the gun, the larger teams set a fast pace and maintained it throughout the race. Greg had mechanical issues which popped him out of the race a couple times. Q hung in and moved up through the pack as the race progressed. On the last lap - only the racers know what happened on the backside of the course - but Q was 2nd wheel coming into view of the start/finish and made his move in the curve to come into the finishing stretch in 1st position. Q held it through the finish line for a “V”!!! That victory also moved Q into 1st Place in the Illinois Cup Series!
• Women’s Open: With Pascale joining the other four P5 ladies on the line, we had our entire ladies team racing for the first time since the start of the season. With the whistle, Flatlandia’s Kristen Meshberg hammered it out for the entire first lap quickly dropping many racers. Lap 2 was more of the same with Jeanne (yes, the same Mack attacker!) and Stacy (yes, you got it, that Stacy) trading surges with Kristen. Behind them were a bunch of red shirts - 3 P5’s and an Alberto’s. With the separation from the rest of the pack, we continued doing our circles, trading turns at the front. There were some unsuccessful attempts to try to shake a few racers off this break group. About mid-race, Jeanne attacked and got some clearance. Not too much urgency in the group to pull her back - just kept the gap so she was in sight. After a few laps, the gap started coming down and Jeanne reintegrated with the group. No counter-attacks - how nice for her. With three to go, realizing a break was not going to get away, the pace wound down. On the final lap, Alberto’s Francine moved to the front and pulled - and pulled until she attacked within sight of the finish line. In the end, Francine maintained 3rd position with Jeanne then Stacy, in that order, finishing ahead of her. P5 blocked out the mid-pack finish positions with a 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, and 10th - all in the top 10, cool! Cathy moved into 2nd position overall for the Illinois Cup series.
• Men’s 30+: Tim and Greg lined up and had strong upper-mid-pack finishes. Greg did not have the mechanical issues he suffered in his earlier race and as a result had a much better outing.

Wood Dale ABR State Crit Championships:

• The Women were the first P5 race of the day. With all categories/age groups lumped in together, jerseys on the line for each, knowing your competitors was of the utmost importance. P5 had representation in the 50+ (Marilyn), 40+ (Pascale), 3’s (Ginger), and 4’s (Jerel). A steady rain coupled with a cooling breeze kicked in before the start of the race. A slight delay due to a vehicle on the course had the women shivering. At the whistle, the race set off at a slow pace. Coming around to the start of lap 2, the pace was still slow until Stacy (yup - her) jumped. Guess who followed her? If you said Jeanne Mack-er, pat yourself on the back for following along. They are both 3’s. Jerel was on their heels with a gap between her and XXX’s cat 3 Heidi Sarna. Behind this group was a couple of 4’s then a pack of mixed master’s. After a couple of laps, the position changes included Heidi bridging to the two-some of 3’s -but they weren’t so nice today - and surged dropping Heidi who road out the rest of the race with 3rd place secured. Jerel tucked in with the couple of 4’s. Her race would come down to the sprint. Ginger left the Master’s group late in the race and bridged up to the 4’s finishing with them. Pascale and Marilyn worked together to shake their competition and cross the finish tops in each of their age groups - Illinois State Champions!!! True teamwork - awesome to see.
• Master’s 30+: The rain continued for the men’s 30+ race. Tim raced smart sitting about 6th or 7th wheel throughout the race. While attacks were attempted, nothing got away, so the race came down to the final lap. A couple of maneuvers in the final turns kept Tim from fully unleashing his powerful sprint. Still, he finished a strong 5th - nice showing!
• Mens Cat 4: Q was toeing the line against Rhythm Racing’s Villeno who was bested at yesterday’s race. Very quickly there were 7 riders in a break - Q and a couple RR’s included. The rest of the pack disintegrated. As this race progressed, the pace picked up, so much so that the break would end up lapping the field 3 times! The weather improved at about the same rate. The rain ceased, the sun came out - taking the spectators from 65 to 85 (or at least that’s what it felt like) in a matter of a few laps. On the course, coming into the final laps, the break did not slow - rather the attacks increased. With the bell, it was Q and RRV off the front going at each other. We waited anxiously at the finish line, not knowing what aggressions were unleashed on the backside of the course, until we saw Q come around the final corner out front, hammering. go Go GO GOOOO!!! - Villeno was pouring it on but Q held him off by inches at the line. Q = Illinois State Champion!!!

Whew! What a tally for P5 this week-end:

• Podiums = 6 (Q -2 1sts, Ginger - 3rd, Marilyn - 1st, Pascale - 1st, Jerel - 3rd)
• Illinois State Champion Jerseys = 3 (Q Cat 4, Marilyn 50+, Pascale 40+)
• Illinois Cup Series: 1st places = 2 (Q Cat 4, Cathy W3/4), 2nd places = 2 (Ginger W3/4, Cathy WOpen), 6th place = 1 (John 50+)

Nemesis = something that a person cannot conquer. Evanston is my nemasis - ok, maybe that is a bit extreme, but it feels right after today’s race.

The turnout for the W3/4 race was a bit smaller than I had anticipated. Except for the Alberto’s army (luv ya girls!), and one each from Half-Acre, ABD, Kenda, and Flatlandia, most of the racers were from out of town and unknown to me. I did not know what to expect.

Last year I rode about mid-pack and was pushed into the curb at turn 4 - one witness to that show called it a “spectacular crash”! Well, this year I was not about to allow anyone to do any Phil Liggett-ing of my performance. Stay out front = stay safe.

So - that’s what I did…for the most part. Tibco had 5 racers on the line and kicked off the race with an attack. Alberto’s countered - and they went back and forth a few times. Good thing was that the pace was high enough that there was no pile up going through the corners.

But then fluky things started happening…

The wind blew barriers onto the course in front of the hotel on the back straight-away - we veered to the right. On the next lap, the barriers were still in the street - with a security guard standing there making no attempt to pick them up. Hhhhmmm.

6 to go in our CRIT race - and it is NEUTRALIZED due to a delivery truck on the course! It entered the course near where the barriers went down - Hhhhmmmm.

Ok - so much for the bit of a string out we had going. 1/2 lap later we are let go again, but we are now all in a bunch. The pace never quite picked up to the “not-so-fast, but fast enough to keep racers strung-out” pace we had been going. With the final laps and slower pace, some swarming started to happen on the straight-aways. 1/2 lap to go, I am sitting 4th wheel, on backside straight-away - not too far from the wind-blown barriers or where the truck entered the course - an unattached rider moves up my left side and abruptly shifts to her right - quick/clean move that perfectly set her derailleur in my front wheel and ripped out a few spokes and sent me to the pavement.

I understand there was a crash at turn 5 (BK Stacker) immediately after mine in which the lead girls I was following crashed into a barrier taking 3 of them out - maybe crashing earlier was a good thing?

Well - Evanston. Will I see you next year?

Thanks to all the racers that joined us in Des Plaines. What a day! A plethora of Masters Age Group and category races, combined with reasonable fees, and wonderful weather enticed many racers to not just double-up, but triple up in many cases. And the competition was deep! Also, your generosity resulted in many boxes of food and a sizable cash donation to the Food Pantry.

We truly extend our appreciation to the City of Des Plaines for opening their arms warmly to the racers - the many families that pitched tents in their front yards and watched the races, the many kiddies that participated in the neighborhood race, the good samaritans that distributed sandwiches and water to the volunteers, the policemen patrolling both on bikes and ATVs that expressed interest in the strategy of the crits, and to the Mayor for setting a good example of wearing his bike helmet as he toured the course on his bicycle. We hope that you experienced something new and interesting - and that you may consider welcoming us all back next year for the first annual Tour of da Villas. 

Thanks to American Bike Racing (ABR) and especially Tom Olson for coordinating another great racing event. My teammates and I (Cathy) have a new appreciation for the amount of work involved in coordinating a race - and I only helped out on race day! I cannot yet imagine the amount of effort that goes into obtaining approval for the event, preparing for race day, and the post-race work involved. 

Thanks to all the P5′ers that assisted with the day - including the Scott family! It was a bunch of fun to work with you all in a non-racing kind of way.

Regarding the racing itself, for the women, Alberto’s stacked the line with their team in red for both the women’s 4 and Open/Masters races. They would have 2 red jerseys on the top of the podium for the 4s - great job! For the Open/Master’s women’s race, in addition to Alberto’s, ABD, Kenda, Bouldougue Tout Noire, and Village Cycle Sport each had at least a couple riders on the line. All the Project 5 ladies raced - really cool to have all of us on the line together again! The race played out fairly simple - Bouldougue #1 attacks to the left, we chase her down. Bouldougue #2 attacks to the right, we chase her down. Repeat. Final results were a couple of Bouldougue’s then the rest of us - nice job, ladies!

The men’s races were exciting to watch. For Project 5, John (Masters 50+), Kevin (Master’s 30+), Tim (Master’s 30+ and P/1/2/3), Shawn (cat 4), and Q (cat 4 and P/1/2/3) raced.  John had a solid race, but missed getting in the break that would stick. In the Master’s 30+, Kevin and Tim raced with the biggest field of the day - there were multiple attacks making it also one of the most exciting races of the day. The 4’s race had Shawn spending a few laps well out ahead of the pack when he attacked after a prime. When Shawn re-integrated with the field, Q counter-attacked and was off the front for a few laps. Very exciting. The race came down to a field sprint. The attacks started early in the P/1/2/3 race. Luke Seeman and Chris Mosoro were off the front early and soon joined by about 5 more racers. Nearing the mid-point of the race, the pack grew unsettled. A few racers bridged to the break and a few fell off the break. Q made the break! Tim settled in to do some blocking - except to collect part of a 2-place prime was announced about 3/4 way through the race. Q stuck with the break group until the finish line finishing 7th -FANTASTIC! In the closing laps, Chris went off the front and soloed in for the win.

Again - thanks to all that joined us - racers, neighbors, ABR, P5. Enjoy the holiday!

A few Project 5 Racers headed south for the Peoria Classic, the IL State Crit Championships - John, Tim, Shawn, Q, Ginger, and myself. After racing the week in ToAD, and experiencing Whitney Gagglioli’s utter (or should I say “udder”?) domination, I decided to bail on the last day of ToAD and head to Peoria. Thankfully Ginger was game for that, too.

John and Tim had already raced when we arrived. From their accounts, the heat and humidity of the day would play a factor in the outcome of each race.

15 women lined up for the W3/4. As we looked around at the start, we recognized most of the competition. Great turn-out from XXX and Mack. Then we were off…The first lap was so slow that I could hear spectator’s asking, “This is a race?” before the announcer jabbed us as we passed the start/finish with a “And her come the ladies setting a blistering pace” - but that would be it for the jabs. Attacks started immediately after that. Just before mid-point of the race, an attack stuck with Ginger, Proctor, and XXX-Mia off the front. Mack chased desperately as I latched onto their wheels. After a couple laps, just when I thought the break would stick, something happened and the gap started reducing. So I counter-attacked and Proctor and XXX-Mia joined me in a new break. For the 2nd half of the race, we worked well together to maintain our break. On the backstretch of the last lap, wind in our face, the three of us eyed each other. You could feel how antsy we were getting. About 1 block from the final two turns, I couldn’t hold it in anymore and attacked. As I went into the first turn, I looked and saw I had a gap. From there, it was up the hill and down the finishing stretch, eyes forward just putting everything I had into the pedals. After I crossed the line is when I looked back - yes, I got it - the jersey! Ahhh - it is a good feeling.

After our race, Q and Shawn lined up for the cat 4 race. Big competition in the race, including Kyle Selph of Tower Racing who came with his entourage. Q positioned himself well throughout the race and attacked on the last lap. Q did not leave anything on the course. Kyle nipped Q at the line - so close! Solid 2nd place in the State Championship race - just fantastic.