Masters 30+ 1/2/3

Monsters of the Midway is a classic Chicago race, a rectangular 4-corner crit on the Midway Plaissance of Hyde Park/Univ of Chicago. It tends to attract a solid field, and the races seem to play out in predictable, competitive fashion.

My first year racing, I came into Monsters on a high, having recently won Baraboo and finishing 4,3,2 in my races before that. The Masters 30+ was an eye-opener then, with the heavy-hitters attacking the field nearly from the gun in an effort to establish a break, a break that I wasn't strong enough to get in. The next year was similar, and while I tried to help in a leadout for the pack-finish, I ended up 23rd or so.

This year, I lined up to see some of the same faces. Mark Zionts talked with me before the race about establishing an early break. He was in the winning breaks at Sherman Park and Monsters every time he's raced, so I knew he was both savvy and strong.

Michael Zellmann has a huge engine, won Hillsboro and would certainly play along. And most dangerous was Mike Heagney, one of the nicest dudes in the field, who also whooped me last year at Monsters, Sherman Park, Evanston, Fox River Grove and Nationals.

The typical efforts rolled forward for a lap or two, and we (Randy, Morrissey, Stocky, Pankonin, Jared, and 2 or more others) marked them as needed until 2-3 laps in I saw Zellmann hanging off the front ready to roll. I came by him, nodded and said, "Why don't we see what happens..."

He laughed, but pulled hard, and soon we were off in a break of 7 or so. Knowing that being committed is essential to establishing a break, I worked hard for 2-3 pulls, and then started to look around to judge the composition of the group. Randy had noticed the numbers and names in the break, and bridged up, pulling Jeff Wat with him.

I saw Zionts, Zellmann, and Heagney, and with me and Randy I knew that we had enough firepower to stay away, especially with the blocking we could count on from Morrissey, Stocky and team in the pack.

We quickly established a rotation and worked to build a gap. It stuck, and at the appropriate time, Randy and I turned out attention from beating the guys in the pack to beating the guys in the break. He attacked with 1 1/2 laps to go, trying to get away for a solo win, a superb strategy with 2 of us. If the group let him go, he'd win, if not, they'd used energy to chase while I'd just sat in.

They caught Randy a lap later, and we shuffled the deck to get ready for the finish. I stayed on Randy's wheel, and he moved forward, ramping up the pace to clear the way for a sprint. I knew we wanted a long sprint with a heavy tailwind, so I called for him to ramp it up earlier than normal. He did, masterfully, and I jumped about 50 meters before turn 3. Thankfully, I surprised the group, who had to navigate Turn 3, Turn 4, and still try to get by Randy before they were able to sprint. The tactic worked, and we were able to get the win. Experience, for sure, paid off.

P1/2

The P1/2 race was actually slower, average speed, than the Masters. But it was harder due to the accelerations and the variety of attacks that needed to be covered and defended against.

Again, we fielded a strong group with Randy, me, Shane, JT, Matt Moran, Mike Kirby, Chris Riekert and more. Per normal, attacks went hard for the first 25 minutes or so, tiring the field and setting the stage for the break that would stick.

Chris R got in it, with a few strong men from the area, like Andy Daley, Chris Mosora and Brian Haas. Shane saw the danger in that crew, and while I blocked, he bridged.

I was happy to be in the pack, helping out, sitting near the front. I knew that when I was actually on the very front, I should roll at a pace high enough for folks to not want to pass, but slow enough that the break should be able to move away. When someone else was on front, I should sit 2-3 wheels back, and follow any bridge attempts. If I followed a successful bridge, we'd have better numbers in the break, if it failed, no skin off my back, as I wasn't doing the work anyway.

The break was off by about 15-20 seconds, and felt close enough that folks kept trying to bridge. Thankfully, Matt Moran, Randy, JT and Kirby all saw the danger posed by the bridge attempts, and covered them one after the next until the field had exhausted itself.

Now, had we wanted to, we might have put together a bridge attempt ourselves, but we had good men in the break and decided that we liked our odds. Chris Riekert is an incredible time trialist who could sit in the wind for minutes, and Shane is a tactical master and superb sprinter. We had what we wanted.

Shane got the best placing, finishing 3rd in a tightly contested sprint. Chris did good work, and finished 8th. Randy again did a huge turn into the wind, delivering me up the backstretch into the wind, allowing me to win the pack sprint.

We talk over and over about tactics, and how to navigate different scenarios. In the span of a day, I saw so much that we can learn from and how the experience of folks like Randy, Shane and even JT can help us get better.

Shane knew that the move would stick, but decided to wait until the right time to bridge up with another solid rider. JT saw attacks going one after the next, and worked to keep them in check, or even benefit from them if they were to turn into a successful bridge.

And Randy, he knew that we should take multiple risks in the Masters race, so he attacked early, then covered the next attack, stayed near the front and ultimately delivered an intense leadout.

Those guys have been racing a lot, they know what's happening, and take action to make things stick. We can all learn from them.

ED