The Cat. 4's at Monsters of the Midway

I guess the cliche you always hear is that there are good days and bad days on the bike. Boy is that true. The difference between last week's USCF Cat 5 race in Vernon Hills and yesterday's Cat 4 Monsters was night and day for me.

Summary last week... rode in front during the first lap, blew up, and rode off the back for 5 laps. Bad day of epic proportions. The bright side of course was the ABD Victory by Jay Corgiat and top finish by Ryan 'Coop' Cooper. Nice job guys.

As a result of my bad day last week, I went into the Monster's Cat 4 with sub zero confidence. My only goal was to keep rubber side down and hang on the best I could. Well, apparently Mother's Day "All you can eat brunch" is a good way to fuel up for a race. I was able to ride a good position throughout the race even after starting the first lap in the back. The race was a bit shakey from the start, due to the off the start crash, but it evened out pretty well after that. Thanks to Ryan Cooper who let me ride his wheel and keep pace in the top 20 for a good portion of the race. I can also second Tim's observation that not having to deal with the yo'yo effect conserved energy like Al Gore.

Back to the race, after 30 mintues in, I felt a bit squirely, so I thought about trying something into the wind but thankfully Tim went crusing by on the outside just like he stole something..... ffeeww, i'd probably blown up and spent the last 20 mintues getting lapped by the field. I'm glad Tim was strong enough to go out front and recover. Nice work Tim. No one really controlled the action yesterday. There was one Apache guy who was off the front for a lap or two mixed in with a mish mosh of folks feeling the field out and fighting for prems. XXX had the numbers and took some good top 10 spots, but didn't really do anything tactical but just sit in. Between Brandon, Ryan, Tim, and Ben, ABD had a great showing in the field. Thanks for letting me hang in there guys. I think some real good stuff lays ahead for the ABD 4's this year.

Take Care,

Chris K.






Because I am pretty new to racing every time I write a report it is
like a map of what I learn so I hope ya'll don't mind. So what was it
this time? No matter how well you do at conserving energy through out
the race it is for the birds if you are not in the right spot at the
right time of the race to use it all and finish like an all-star. For
instance this race was very easy stay out of the head wind try to
corner smooth and coming out of that turn let someone pull you up the
field and repeat. I stayed up towards the front to monitor for a
break and watch people barrel away at the wind. So on the final lap
out of turn 2 I knew that before that next turn break away. As this
plan ran through my head, too late, another rider voiced his same plan
to another rider. I thought this was great another free ride but no.
Instantly I was over taken by a wave of riders from the back, totally
boxed in. I eventually made it out, cut the corner sharp, very sharp,
actually is table toping a corner illegal or bad form either way it
somewhat worked. Out of turn 4 I ended up being 20 back because of
being boxed and sprinted up to finish 8th. So I learned also not to
wait for someone to break away, just do it. Hmm did that sound like a
Nike add? Anyways thanks to Chris for handing me a mid race water
bottle because mine fell out and Jeff awesome break away and fantastic
job on the sprint!

Ryan