Racing | Steve Tilford

I rode a local stage race last weekend. Many times, local races are much harder than NRC races. More time in the wind, lots more jumping and such, is usually what occurs in a local race. This was the case last weekend.

The race went fine. Brian Jensen won the hillclimb, I was 3rd in the criterium, Brian was 2nd again yesterday and ended up 2nd overall in GC. It isn’t what we, the TradeWind Team, is usually happy with at a local event, but the field was much better than just a normal, local, 30 rider PRO 1/2 field.

My race was interesting, at least personally. I totally blew the hillclimb, which I might not ever understand. The criterium went just okay. We all rode alright, but knew it was going to come down to the 90 miles road race, which was yesterday.

The race was interesting because I felt so bad yesterday morning. Like I posted yesterday, I rode back from the criterium and fell apart on the way home. I got super overheated and had to stop for 30 minutes at a convenience store, and just drink and rest. I never felt the same that night. My legs muscles were continually firing and I felt sick at the stomach.

I woke up yesterday morning sort of nauseated. I instantly had to go to the bathroom. I didn’t really digest much dinner it seemed. And I kept doing that for the next 2 1/2 hours, over and over again. I got to the race feeling bad. Really weak and a little dizzy. I thought it was most likely caused by overheating. I was pretty worried that it was going to heat up quicker in the morning than it was forecast, which was a high in the mid 80’s.

The race started from the gun. Bob Cummings attacked as soon as we clipped in. I was at 1000 watts 10 seconds into the race. The next 2 hours, it was bad. I tried to fake it pretty well, but was really at my limit. Sometimes, I was barely hanging on. It was only on climbs that I seemed to be recovering some.

I thought I was maybe weak because I didn’t have any nutrition from the day before. I tried to eat and drink as much as I could stomach the during this time. Right about 60 miles in, I started coming around. It was probably a combination of the rest of the guys getting worse while I feeling just a little better. But, I was coming around.

I really did get back completely. Eventually, on the last 30 mile lap, the field split and I missed it. Brian made the split and I could have made it just then, but Jacob White, who was leading the race by 7 seconds was back with me and I didn’t want to drag him up. A few miles later, I jumped on a hill and bridged 80% of the way up to the 11 guys up the road, with Jordan Ross, Team Kaos, but we didn’t quite make it. Anyway, I got feeling better and better, maybe because we were out of contention and riding easier, but whatever the reason, I was going pretty good at the end of the race.

I really love the aspect of the sport that you can ride into a mass start bike race. Drafting allows you to stay in contention while your body is trying to get itself in order. Knowing that your body has an adaptive process and having the patience to wait for it to kick in is something I rely on constantly. I knew, from past experience, that there was a fair chance I’d feel better a few hours later. We’ve all experienced it, but it always surprises me.

Brian, Bill and I rode the 25 miles back to Lawrence after the race. I talked them into riding on gravel, hoping it would be a wind block, but it was just hot. I kept feeling better and better and at the end of the 110 miles, felt just about normal again. Go figure.

Brian grilled us some chicken and had cold beer in the fridge, so all was good.

This morning, I had to get up before 4 am and drive Trudi to the airport. She was flying out to Santa Rosa, CA, for the Tour of California prep. Being under slept is not great for recovery. I drove her the 80 miles to the airport and was back in bed by 6:30 am. I am a little tweaked this morning, but hope that will pass.

It is going to be in the upper 80’s, lower 90’s the next few days. I am going to try to get acclimated to the heat some this week. I figure I’d had heat issues the last few years and it is only going to get hotter. The best way I’ve found to do this is just ride, slow, very slow, during the heat of the day, for hours. I don’t really need the hours, but I need to spend the time in the heat. Hopefully it will work out.

Lee Bumgarner won the race yesterday over Brian. 11 guys started together at the bottom of this hill and it shattered.

The podium, Lee in the middle, Brian on the left and Skyler Mackey, Think Finance p/b Trek Bike Stores, who moved up to 3rd overall on the final climb.

I’m pretty skinny right now. The veins seemed to be coming out with the heat. Kind of creepy looking.

Brian wasn’t so happy I talked him into riding on gravel on the way to Lawrence, he flatted.

Brian had a full refrigerator of FreeState Beer.

I was a little apprehensive about driving over 500 miles round-trip to race for an hour in Houston yesterday. But, like always, it turned out to be a good decision. I very rarely regret a race day.

The race course was pretty much up and down a parkway on the edge of downtown Houston. The course was just challenging enough, but there was a fair amount of wind that added to the action. I thought the race was pretty fast the first half. I don’t really have the rhythm of the racing down here in Texas yet. There are a bunch of strong guys, but it’s a little hard to read the race. These guys really know how to promote a nice race. At registration, they gave you coupons for free mexican food, cupcakes and smoothies. Everyone got a t-shirt and there was ice cold beer at the finish. Plus, a good prize list.

I pulled up to the race and I saw Bret Crosby and he said something about the “big money” brought me down. I actually had no idea of the prize list, I just saw that 80 guys were registered and only 20 something the day, before for a 90 mile road race. It turns out there was 3K for the race, plus a $1000 prime. I’m not too big on giant primes in races. I’d rather see 5 – $200 primes than one 1K prime. There is too much riding on the one lap and it encourages combines and mischief.

It was pretty hot, but not as hot as it could have been. I’m not used to the heat. That is my #1 priority right now, trying to get comfortable riding in extreme heat. I’m going to do it until it becomes a non-issue.

Anyway, the race was good. Pretty safe. I only got really winded once and it took a couple laps to get recovered. Eventually Bret Crosby and Heath Blackgrove rolled away. There were a couple more guys with them initially, but they got shelled pretty early on. I was right behind Bret when he was going and I made an intellectual decision that I didn’t want any part of that. I never felt good enough to think that I was going to be able to ride off the front, especially with Heath and Bret. They were going for the thousand dollars and were rewarded with it. I don’t know who won the prime, but I’m pretty sure they just split it. That is normally what would have happened.

I guess Heath was ripping Bret’s legs off and even though they were way off the front with just a lap to go, they started dicking around and next thing I know, they are just a couple hundred meters ahead, looking like they were going to get caught. Neither one of them wanted to commit, so they just started playing cat and mouse and it didn’t work out well for Bret. That is because Heath had at least one teammate, Michael Sheehan, who is super fast, so he didn’t have as much to lose as Bret.

The last lap was screwy. Everyone fighting for the front and once they got there, they didn’t want to necessarily be there. Lots of bumping and elbowing, even though the road was huge. There was too much wind and the circuit was too long to be at the front so early. The sprint was a long one, tailwind, not my favorite.

I blew it at the end. I had to hit my brakes a few times and lose a bunch of speed. Plus, we were sprinting into Heath and Bret and a lot of other guys that couldn’t get all the way to the finish line because they started it way too early. So, I was buried, which is how it should have been, riding it the way I did. I finished 16th, and they paid 20, so I made a little gas money back. Michael Sheehan won the race. He is riding super well this year and is still U-23. He just got back from Gila, after doing Joe Martin, so he has a lot of quality miles on his legs for early May. If he plays it right, he should be really good the next couple months.

I’m not judging myself too much. I can’t say I’m very pleased with how I felt, but it wasn’t horrible. These guys didn’t seem to be affected much by the heat. It definitely affected me, but it wasn’t the deciding factor to having a mediocre result, which is nice, not the result, but the heat tolerance.

I’m not sure what is going on next weekend race-wise. It is supposed to be really cool everywhere that I might be this whole next week. Even in Texas tomorrow, the highs are just supposed to be in the lower 60’s. In Topeka, the same, with low’s in the 40’s. Nice riding temperatures, but not good for the heat acclimation.

Here at the start with Lauren Stephens. She just won the women’s race and then came directly to the start for the Pro1 race. I was asking her about losing the $1000 woman’s prime she lost by an inch. She is riding crazy good this year. I got into a little tussle with her husband, Mat Stephens, on the last lap. I probably overreacted a little, but am pretty tired of all this silliness at the end of races. That is Carlos Vargas to my left. I haven’t seen Carlos for a long time. It was his first race of the season.