Crosswind Heaven

Race: Ken Woods Road Race

Plan: My plan for the race was to sit in most of the race and get into any attacks that looked promising, and if that was to fail then to attack on the final hill going into the finish to hold off the sprinters.

What Happened: The race rolled out with a crosswind of 15 to 20 mph so I knew it was going to be a long day of racing ahead of me. The first couple miles were very quiet with a steady headwind but the second we turned into the crosswind, the speed increased and everyone was thrown into the gutter. After about 5 miles of riding in the cross wind the first attack went and I latched onto it, me and 3 other guys opened up a promising gap of about 20 to 30 seconds but a couple miles later were pulled back and one guy from the field counter attacked. No one went with him and he soloed for a good 13 miles and going into the climb I attacked to bridge to him and had three others come with me. Eventually we caught up to the solo leader and we pried a gapped of around a minute but going into the last lap no one wanted to pull anymore so we were caught. Coming back into the pack I noticed that there were only 8 of us now and everyone else had been dropped. That last lap was very slow and I sat in the back and waited for the right move. Nothing was really getting away and people were playing cat and mouse; so I knew that if I had a shoot at winning I would have to go on the climb. Going into the climb someone was already taking a flier so I knew that I had to get him before the end of the climb if I had any shot. The second we hit the climb I made a small move to gap myself from the field and two latched on to me. The rest of the climb was cat and mouse of the three of us trying to gap each other meanwhile the guy up the road was gaining on us. Eventually we began to work together but could not catch the leader. Going into the sprint my legs were already toast so I knew that I had to try and give it one last go to try and gap them but I couldn’t, so they outsprinted me for 2nd and 3rd. Overall I was still happy with a 4th place and am looking forward to the La Crosse road race next week with even more hills.

Overall Results: 4th Michael Keller