Northern Indiana Fat and Skinny Tire Festival

Eric Hinderager, John Rigdon and I ended up racing this weekend at the Northern Indiana Fat and Skinny Tire Festival. Here's the report I wrote for the team Sunday night:

Grabbing a good position at the start line, I looked to my left to see our very own John Rigdon lined up next to Steven/Sven Howard and Mackenzie Woodring. My nerves began to waver. I had a feeling it would be a tough race.

At the start, I followed John's wheel as he crept towards the front of the pack. Charging through the cross winds, an echelon quickly formed. The empty corn fields provided no relief. Riders could be seen leaning sideways as gusts of wind blew them across the length of the road; it looked like we were riding with a bunch of sketch-balls. I stopped riding up the left side of the road when I realized it wasn't safe.

As Steven went for a little solo into the wind, John followed. He took to the wind but was soon slowed. After the rest of us joined them, John made his way back into the mid-pack, salvaging some shelter from the 30+ mph cross-wind gusts. Another gust blew a couple of riders towards John, forcing him off the road into a ditch. John found himself lying in the grass. He got back up and began chasing. The winds proved too powerful for a successful time trial effort.

I too had bad luck. I was disappointed shortly after John's mountain bike adventure by a blown front tire. I slowed and looked to the guys in the follow car. Since I didn't have spare wheels (rookie mistake) they told me to throw my bike in the back. Inside, I found Mackenzie with a long face; she faced the same issue. We found out ten minutes later that the wheels were supposed to be used for neutral support...I at least got to ride a good couple of hours with Mackenzie since we couldn't re-join the race. I learned a lot about her adventures as a professional for Colavita/Sutter Home.

Meanwhile, Eric raced away in the pack. Eric tore up the field with the main pack for part of the race as a breakaway of two went off the front. He eventually fell off from the main pack but worked with a chase group. He ended up crossing the line 14th, representing for South Lyon as John and I watched in our warm clothes. He missed the money by one place. Eric looked great out there.

John peer-pressured Eric and I to stay for today's criterium. The weather changed drastically for the better. A Sunny, blue sky made up for yesterday's wind. We raced a four corner crit covering around about a half mile. Two of the corners consisted of a slight rise onto a bridge with a quick down slope onto the other side of the road. This made for some interesting positioning at the start of the race.

The ford GT pace car set a quick pace. The bridged corners funneled the pack into mostly single file lines, making it difficult to move up. Eric and John lost position at the start. They were forced to suffer through slinky like pace changes as the strung out peloton singled up through the corners. They eventually abandoned.

Lucky initial positioning seemed to help me. I battled in the front third of the pack for most of the race. I bridged a few gaps, but spent most of the time resting in riders' drafts. Chris Uberti, again, tore up the field. He launched a little break, taking a couple primes in the process.

After we regrouped, riders continued to attack. The pack was unrelentless as rider after rider jumped. The shorter than usual crit seemed to encourage aggression.

Into the second to last lap, I got out of the saddle trying to rip up the right side. I only got about halfway up the main pack before jutting back into the draft over one of the bridge corners. As we neared the last straight away, people began to sprint. I jumped around into different riders' drafts but didn't have a chance since I wasn't even in the top ten into the sprint. I crossed the line for 18th place.

Over all, it was a successful weekend in Indiana. We had a great time both racing and hanging out. Hopefully the season will bring plenty of more fun team moments, especially as we get together for Kensington.