Spring Prairie Road Race (42 miles)
June 9, 2007 – Harvard, IL
Cat 4/5 – 44th
261 watts – 21.6 MPH
Whether you are a pro in the European peloton or a beginning Cat 5 racer, getting stuck behind a crash really sucks. Depending on the size, it can either break your momentum or ruin your day. The pros have the luxury of teammates and a mile-long race caravan to help them get back into the race. Us amateurs usually aren’t that lucky. What are we to do when the main group actually attacks when there’s a crash? More on that later, but let’s get to the prelude of the situation.
The Course
The Spring Prairie road race is one of the nicest courses I’ve raced in the Midwest. I don’t have a ton of race experience, but I have been driving, riding, and running on Midwestern roads my entire life and this course is a gem with its hills and road conditions. The course is a nice big 6.5 mile rectangle with 90 degree corners. There is one short, steep climb right before the finish with a longer, gradual climb before Turn 2, followed by a blazing descent. The roads are narrow, but in pristine shape with little gravel and no potholes.
The Start
The race is staged at a “farm” about 1 mile SW of the start on Potter Road. There is a ton of parking there, but I opted to park up by the actual start/finish. I don’t think there is an advantage either way, but I didn’t have to wait in line for the bathroom at the starting line. Online registration made packet pickup a breeze, since I didn’t have to fill out a waiver. The organizers ran out of pins (you should bring your own extras anyway), but I was able to score some from the XXX women who had just finished (thanks, ladies!).
This was the first year in which there was a rolling start from the staging area to the start finish. Considering the size of the fields, the narrow roads, and the steep hill before the start, this was not a bad idea. The Cat 4/5 field was split into a WI group (it was their state championships) and an out-of-state group. You’ll hear advice from seasoned riders to always try to get to the front of the group at the start of the race. I wasn’t too worried about this since we had rollout. Wrong! Many riders in front of me had trouble clipping in on the incline from the farm to the road and the road wasn’t wide enough to easily navigate around riders, especially with the centerline rule. In fact, I got warned by race officials about the centerline rule on the hill to the start because I had to go around riders who were nearly stalled on the hill to avoid hitting them.
The bedlam broke once the officials gave the green light for the race to begin. The group was followed by an official on a motorcycle to ensure the centerline rule was enforced. After my warning, I was nervous about trying to pass other riders and move my way up. I hung in the pack about 2/3 of the way back for most of the first lap. The group was your typical 4/5 pack with lots of accelerating and braking. One of the things I can never figure out is why people push the pace on the downhills and slow to a crawl on the uphill. FYI, for those folks who wonder why there is a centerline rule, you never know if you’re going to meet a combine head on when you a crest a hill (it’s Wisconsin after all)!
The Crash
On the long uphill on Lap 2, a few riders touched wheels and caused a good size crash. I don’t know the total number involved, but I saw a few guys head into the ditch Jan Ullrich 2001 Le Tour style. Unfortunately, I was stuck behind the mayhem and had to slam on the brakes to avoid hitting the guys in front of me. Although I was only held up for a few seconds, you could see the pack in front of us attacking. I was hoping a quick group would form and we could hammer back to the main peloton. Hah! I saw 2 guys immediately launch into a hopeless catch group followed by a Team Mack rider, then myself and a bunch of guys behind me. I have to admit I thought about dropping out at this point. My legs felt like crap after a 270 mile week of base miles and wondered if I should be doing this race.
The Broomwagon
After about a mile, I saw that my group had basically become just me. I caught the Mack rider and we worked to catch the other 2 guys who had finally run out of gas. I was happy there were 4 of us and was hoping we could get a good paceline going. Ironically, nothing materialized. The unattached rider in our group kept attacking and trying to pull away. Huh? It’s not like we were the lead breakaway. He and the Team Mack rider eventually dropped out after another lap leaving just me and a Colavita rider, Jeff.
Jeff and I realized that with half the race left we had no chance to catch the main pack, but we had the opportunity for a good workout if we worked together. As he put it, we had already paid $30, driven a couple of hours, and it was a gorgeous, sunny day, so we might as well get out money’s worth. We took turns pulling and soon realized I was the stronger rider, but he could still relieve me and get a good ride in to help him improve.
With about 20+ miles to go, it was great having someone to work with and chat with. It made the second half of the race more enjoyable and we were able to average about 22 MPH the rest of the way. We tried picking up a few more riders along the way, but no one joined our train. We ended up finishing a few minutes behind the main pack where I got the good news that XXX had cleaned up in the Top 10!
The thing that frustrates me is that the four of us after the crash couldn’t work together. Had we been able to, we might have caught the peloton. Yes, it would have hurt, but that’s bike racing. The moral of this race report is to remind you to stay towards the front of the pack and if you get stuck behind a crash or get dropped, try to work with guys from another team to finish the race. You might be out of a podium finish, but It’s stupid to drive for several hours and not get something out of the race.
