BCSP RR

(first lap when it was still together [for the most part] I'll have more pics soon when the Graham Watson of the midwest, John Bennet [greatest {and most gracious} cycle photographer ever] gets them up.)
Here's a clip of John's description of the course: "...(I thought of) calling the Brown County Road Race 'Death on 2-Wheels' before I went. Wow...This thing was brutal. If you've never been there, I don't even think the pics really tell the whole story. I walked some of the steeper grades to get the shots. Even that was moderately difficult."

I went into the BCSPRR confident. Last year I kind of got boxed in on the first time up the climb (on the first lap tons of riders drop their chains and/or just get totally shelled on the 20%grades). Last year I was on the inside of the road and when people started dropping I had a hard time getting around them due to positioning and was left chasing from lap 1.
This year I made the conscious effort to move to the outside (left side) of the road BEFORE the climb so when the massacre began I could stay up front and make the initial split. It payed off, as I basically rode the front the first time up and the field split pretty much in two; mission # 1 (be in front for climb): accomplished.
That was lap 1/6. Over the next two, between people taking flyers and being chased, and general hard climbing we whittled the front group down to 10 and this was the breakaway; mission # 2 (stay at front/get in break): accomplished.
The break consisted of 5 Turner guys (juniors), 1 older due (who I later found out was the dad of one of the Turner guys, which for all piratical purposes made him the 6th Turner guy), another junior (not Turner), a dude from Ohio I know from cross (named Chris I think), Ernie from Zipp and me. The Turner guys work really good as a team. They'd send a guy up the road, then sit on the front and make us do the work (great tactic for them, pain in our asses). Problem was, only Chris from Ohio and I were doing any real work. The other junior did some work, but he wasn't as strong as us, so it left Ohio Chirs and I to do the bulk of all chasing. (Chris eventually broke his chain or something, so he was out).
So I ended up doing WAY more work than I wanted to do and I was starting to feel it on the fifth lap. We held it together until the final lap, when Ernie from Zipp attacked on the descent, taking two guys w/ him. That left a few of us on the climb, and when they attacked me, I couldn't go w/ them. I dropped the last two breakmates and rode as hard as I could to get to the group ahead, but didn't make it. So I finished 8th. Not too bad. Mission # 3 (win that MF'er): failed. Plan "B" for mission # 3 (ride super hard and leave it all out there): accomplished.
So other than the 80+ deg heat it was a really good day for me. I could feel various cramps coming on in laps 5 and 6 due to non-acclimation to the heat, but I popped some E-caps and toughed that mother out.
This week's forecast calls for back to normal temps. I got out for an easy 50min this a.m. and it's already "hot" today.
This weekend is stop #1 of the DINO MTB series and I'm going to hit it up. First MTB race of the year @ Winnona Lake in Warsaw, IN. One of my favorite trails around. It isn't terribly difficult, but has a few short steep grades to negotiate. It tends to be pretty fast. I don't feel like my MTB'ing is up to par this year, but I normally don't ride MTB much at all outside of racing, so maybe having ridden a few time will make me better than in years passed.
Oh, and weather pending, there'll be a Tuesday night TT @ MMSF. I'm planning on hitting this too, but it may be rainy...