State Road Race

Recap by Colm Flannery...

Saturday was the Illinois State Road Race Champs in Willow Springs. I spent most of the day there. Results aren't available yet and were only partial on the day - official placings may change.  Here's a recap - I hope I haven't missed anybody.

The short version:
6 Proctor riders: 1 win, 4 top 10s.

The longer version:
Congratulations to Bev Enslow! The IL 45+ Open Womens master's road champion. Bev outkicked her pursuers on the final hill and used her superior W/KG to power home for a convincing win and add yet another size XXS champions jersey to her extra doublewide champions jersey closet.

The course: If you're of the opinion that State championship races should be long and hard and that those fighting it out at the finish need to have earned the right to be there, then you're probably not from Illinois.

Tower Racing pulled out an amazing effort to find the only hill in Chicagoland longer than 30 seconds and then get permission to partially close roads, organise a plethora of volunteers and place a fully staffed Irish Pub, with a patio and serving drinkable beer, on course.

Parking and registration was a breeze and there was a big emphasis on safety on course with plenty of marshals and officials at all points of interest. The course itself consisted of a mile-long, quite steep, three tier hill in the 2.5 minute range incorporated into a triangular 10 mile course. Surface was in very good condition but with narrow roads that made moving up or organising a breakaway very difficult.

The hill wasn't hard enough to cause a separation. The order of the day was to tootle along merrily chatting amongst ourselves for nine miles and then put in a big effort for one. It was enough to take the edge off the bigger sprinters but those who did well were those who did no work, got well-positioned on the last lap and then could crank it out in surges over the last couple of minutes.

Master's 4/5 race. 75 starters

Todd Hetzel and I lined up with a full field of 75. Just over the top of the hill someone went down and the field split in two. Todd made it through and after a painful few minutes I was the last one who managed to bridge up after being caught out.

Nothing much happened on the next three laps, Todd rode very strong near the front but I think he miscounted laps and put in too big an effort on lap three and didn't have anything left for the last lap. I was badly positioned and got boxed in halfway up. I felt great on the uphill but wasn't prepared to risk passing some of the extremely sketchy riders in front of me, many of which decided that riding diagonally was preferable to holding a line. I was some daylight with 100 yards to go and went for it, just in time as the guy I just passed went down spontaneously, broke his carbon bike and wheels and took down 10 others with him. I got past quite a few riders before I ran out of space but managed to sneak into the top 10 for ninth place. Todd avoided the carnage and was somewhere in the thirties.

Elit Cat 4/ 56 starters

Ryan Michels was one of the favorites for the Elite 4 race. I decided to race a second time and, at least, give Ryan some moral support. Went to the front a couple of times on lap 1 to keep the pace honest and avoid the catastrophe of the previous race. After which I retired gracefully to the back. Second last time up the hill I put in a big dig to get good position near the front, Ryan followed suit on the downhill and slotted into the top 10. We both fought hard to maintain position and hit the hill with Ryan about 6th wheel and myself 20th. I got swarmed on the first tier by a bunch of riders who were overgeared and then blew up. Another guy spontaneously wrecked and went diving over the handlebars, sending his bike skidding my way. I braked and rode for the ditch, avoided the bike, lost all momentum and pulled a hamstring muscle trying to catch back up. Got to the back of the pack but then had nothing left for the final hill. Cruised in for a place
 in the thirties.

Ryan meanwhile maintained excellent position, was in second wheel for the final uphill dig and finished fifth in the frantic sprint. In the money and hopefully with enough points to seal his cat 3 upgrade.

Masters 50+, 50 starters
Dan Hill and Mike Vonnahmen, probably Proctor's most consistent racers this year lined up for more of the same in the masters race. Course wasn't hard enough for a natural uphill rider like Dan to shine like he can and he finished fourth, Stan W gave Dan a nice leadout but he wasn't able to overhaul former pro Tom Doughty for a spot on the podium. Mike rode strong and finished with the pack.

Cat 3  ~55 starters
Proctor looks to have a stellar squad of Cat 3s this year, so main rivals XXX and Burnham Racing breathed a huge sigh of relief when they found that only Aaron McCombs made the arduous journey north.

Aaron did what he could, getting into and driving the only breakaway of the race, only to be caught because the other riders wouldn't or couldn't work together well. The final lap he hit the hill in third place and went for a Dan Hill-style death or glory effort. Previous exertions took their toll and he got swarmed halfway up and finished mid-pack.

I can proudly say that the Proctor jersey showed prominently and aggressively at the front of each race; each rider turned up to race their heart out. For the effort we have one state champion and three other near-podium misses. That's a pretty good ratio - let's keep it up.