Yesterday’s final Gateway Cup race in St. Louis was held on a new venue. And it was awesome. It was a 1.8 mile criterium that was really a circuit race. 10 corners per lap. And many of them were technical. It was south of St. Louis in the Benton Park district. It crossed I-55 twice and went by the Budweiser factory. It was probably the best course I’ve raced in a few years.

It was just windy and warm enough that both came into play. I knew it was going to be important to ride somewhere near the front most of the day because the course would not allow you to ride too far back. The slinky effect was viscous at the back.

I knew Brian was excited because he hadn’t been off the front all weekend. He started the race super animated and it pretty never ceased. On the 2nd lap he rode away with Chad Cagle for a few laps. This set up most of the other attacks until the final selection was made. I guess Chad was ripping Brian’s legs off, which shows you how well he (Chad) is going right now.

Right around 1/2 way, a strong group got away. Brian jumped up to the break and it was over. There wasn’t a weak guy in the group of 7. Jason Donald, Daniel Holloway, Rob Bush, Scott Monninger, Brian, Nick Frey and Jonathan Jacobs. It was amazing those 7 would be in one break. Most everyone that was left in the field was happy with that mixture. Except Chad Cagle’s team, Park Place and Brad Huff, Jelly Belly. They put a pretty unorganized chase together. It wasn’t organized, but they did do an incredible job of keeping the break at 25 seconds for 5 laps or so. Chad was ripping their legs off too. I’m not sure how many time I heard Brad to tell Chad to ease up. And sitting on behind the two of them wasn’t all that easy.

So the break eventually rode away. The field kept moving along though and it got smaller and smaller. Towards the end I’m guessing there were less than 30 guys left. Pretty crazy attrition rate.

Jason Donald attacked the break on the last lap and won alone. The remaining 6 sprinted for 2nd. Brian ended up 5th. He went into the final corner too far back, but that was still a good result.

The field was reshuffling for position most of the last two laps. It was pretty hard. I felt pretty good all day. Probably the best I’ve felt since Joe Martin Stage Race. With 1/2 a lap to go, David Williams, Bissell PRO Cycling towed Dan Schmatz a few hundred meters off the front. The field started winding it up and I was in pretty good position. Jason Waddell was leading Chad Cagle out with Josh Carter on them. I was a couple guys behind Josh. The sprint was uphill 300 meters from the final corner. And the corner before that was a couple hundred meters downhill. I went to the gutter and moved up to Chad’s wheel just as Jason was swinging off. But, Jason tried to move back in to left Chad go. That didn’t work, but I hesitated enough so I was never really connected to Chad. I chased him the last 500 meters at 2 bike lengths. We never caught the two away and Josh came by me at the line. It was a pretty long and hard sprint. I ended up finishing 12th, which was fine.

Daniel Holloway won overall with Rob Bush 2nd and Jonathan Jacobs 3rd.

The weekend was better from a fitness point of view than I had anticipated. I was in the money all four days and felt better each day. That is always a good sign, leaving the race with better form that coming into it.

Chequamegon is in two weeks. I don’t really have a bike together for that yet. And my butt isn’t probably ready for a 40 mile MTB race yet either. I’m trying to decide if I’m going to race the Texas Tough Criterium on Thursday night and fly up to Minneapolis for Chequamengon on Saturday. It sounds good now, but I know how that goes. Flying with a bike is such a hassle anymore, it takes the fun out of flying with a bike.

And finally, the quote of the weekend, “Road season is over, time for ‘cross.” I don’t know how many time I heard that line spoken the past 4 days. It is pretty cool how much excitement there is transitioning from the summer sport of cycling to the “new” winter sport of cycling.

Pretty nice photo from Philip Wilkerson I took off Facebook. Notice the orange marking paint on all the manhole covers and rough sections. That took a lot of work.

Chad Cagle and Brian off the front early.

This race was in line pretty much the whole hour and a half.

Laura Van Glider was wearing the Leader's jersey into the final day flying solo.

The race went right by the Anheuser-Busch factory. It is giant.

The Gateway Arch.

I’ve received a few emails about why I thought the Benton Park course at the Gateway Cup was good. I’ve thought about it a bit and there are lots of reasons I liked the course.

First and foremost, it was fun. And just because it was fun for me, doesn’t necessarily mean that everyone that raced the course had fun. It was fun for me because it kept me on my toes. There are not that many criteriums, and way less road races, that make you keep your eye on the ball constantly. That is one reason that I enjoy racing ‘cross and MTB’s. During those races, your mind is constantly working to stay ahead of your progress. When your thoughts get behind your forward progress, that is when disaster normally strikes. And this course was a thinking course.

There were 10 corners on the course that came at unexpected times. I can’t think of a race that I’ve done recently that had two corners so close together. The right/left combination on the backside was a blast and made you set up your position quite a bit earlier than you would have thought. The road surface itself wasn’t that great. They had done an excellent job of marking the areas of concern, but that still came into play. The random potholes and manhole covers in the corners just added to the race, ATMO. I liked coming out of the final corner in line and having to decide whether to just follow the wheel ahead of me into the line of orange marked holes, or take my own line and be out in the wind. But, the technical aspect of the corner wasn’t the only thing that made it good.

The ambiance surrounding the race and the neighborhood was great also. The small commercial areas we raced through were unexpected, mixed in with the old houses and huge brewery. The start finish area was perfect. A park for kids and dogs. A 24 hour coffee shop/bar. Nothing missing there. And the music on the backside was a little scary, annoying at first, but then was something to look forward to later on as you got used to it.

If you look at the composition of the winning break, those 7 guys were probably the best for the weekend. It was missing a couple strong guys that missed it and were in the field, but not one rider up there wasn’t a strong bike rider. It is rare that a course selects such a break without having a monstrous hill on it. Or something of the sort. Of course, it wasn’t only the course made that selection, but it was impossible for someone to be in that break that didn’t have the goods upfront. It was too hard of a course not to be riding at the front of the field. And it was impossible to make the selection if you were riding more than 20 guys back.

This course was perfect for the size and quality of field that they had at the PRO race at Gateway. This course was safe, even thought the road condition might of seemed to point otherwise. Having to ride single file makes the races much more safe. The size and quality of the field does matter considerably when judging whether a course was good on any given day. In cycling, the best/stronger guy doesn’t necessarily always win. But, a good bike race course helps make the sport more fair.