Superweek 2011 Wrap-Up Part 2

Homewood 2011

The next day, Sunday 7/10, I made the trip down to Homewood, IL for day 2 of Superweek.  My legs were still aching from the effort the day before but I was determined to put forth another great effort.  The day seemed even hotter than the last and I was drenched in sweat before the start.  At the gun I dropped back and found myself in the middle of the pack.  The pace was fast and the corners were tight. 

At the start line

After only 4 or 5 laps a group of two riders were off the front but I could still see them on the long straightaway.  Seeing them so far up the road I knew that unless I made a move I would never see them again.  On the long straightaway to the finish line I attacked to bridge the gap.  It took almost 2 laps to catch them but I finally was able to make the bridge.  This was the first time I'd ever been able to make such a move in a race.  When I finally made it to the wheel I was gasping for breath.  The lead rider in the break yelled at me to pull through, but I yelled back that I couldn’t.  He was very cool and said OK to just sit in then come help when I could.  I told him to give me a minute then I would work with them.  Unfortunately with the heat or maybe lack of fitness I could not recover from the acceleration and was only able to stick with them for another few laps.  I fell off the pace and was left out in no mans land.  Knowing I couldn’t ride solo I dropped back until the peloton scooped me up.  I recovered and waited to make the sprint for 3^rd place.



On the attack to catch the 2 man break



2nd lap of the bridge.  I caught the break soon after this picture.



Moving up in the pack for the final sprint

Going into the last couple corners I accelerated quickly and took great lines to position myself in third going into the final turn.  On the final turn I accelerated past the two riders in front of me and jumped out of the saddle.  It was an extremely long sprint and as I ran out of gas I was able to shift into a higher gear to get a little extra power.  I won the field sprint but apparently another rider had gotten up the road and I came in 4^th overall.  With so many lapped riders on the course it was really hard to see who was still in the race or not.  Full race data can be found here.

By the end of the weekend I was exhausted but very happy with the last two performances.  In looking at the overall standings after the first two races I was in second overall and beginning to think of going for the overall win.