Fourth of July weekend. Independence Day. The national day of the US, commemorating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. My first year in New Zealand, it snowed on the Fourth of July. I was living in Christchurch. I’d been in the country about a month. The snow started late afternoon, as the muddy afternoon sky turned a deepening gray. I walked home several blocks through about three inches of fresh slushy stuff accumulating on the footpaths while soggy misshapen flakes streaked like mini comets through the darkening evening. While rare for Christchurch, snow in July has absolutely no chance of happening in the Midwest of the US. Hot and humid. That was the forecast for us. Brian and I decided to celebrate the holiday weekend with the inaugural West Michigan Stage Race, a three-stage, three-day tour in southwest Michigan, not far from Brian’s hometown of Holland. As an added bonus, our friend, Jon Cox—whom many in Nelson will remember from his visit to NZ a year ago February—decided to fly out from Washington DC to join us for the tour. We got Jon into racing while he was in NZ and he’s been obsessed ever since! Before telling you about the stage race, however, I need to fill you in on my adventures over the two weeks between Nature Valley and the West MI Stage Race, a bit of necessary background to the stage race.
20 Jun – 01 Jul (Tour de Health)
After a viral infection (probably oyster virus for those of you familiar with my last several weeks at Cawthron before heading to the US) that was countered by a secondary lung infection followed by an allergic reaction requiring an emergency room visit, the weeks following the Nature Valley Grand Prix were filled with further health challenges.
Following the completion of Nature Valley, where I wisely choose to abandon the tour in favor of recovery, I drove 5 hours east from Stillwater Minnesota to Pewaukee Wisconsin, just west of Milwaukee. The intention was to have a couple day of rest before joining in on the final four days of the ten-day series Tour of America’s Dairyland, affectionately known as ToAD. Monday I went for a gentle recovery ride, still feeling pretty smashed from my long night at the ER. Tuesday, my energy levels plummeting and my throat sore, I took the day off. On Wednesday my throat was swollen and sore enough to keep me from sleeping. By Thursday getting out of bed was a huge effort. Unable to swallow without serious discomfort, I lost five pounds (2 kg) in five days, putting me in excellent hill-climbing form. (Too bad I could barely hold myself up on the bike let alone ride up a hill.) Saturday morning, my health still plummeting, Brian and I made the decision for Brian to abandon ToAD and head home to my mom and dad’s, an hour-and-a-half drive directly south. This time it was Mom’s turn to take me to the doctor (Thank you Mom!). Another dose of (a different!) antibiotic, and in less than 24 hours my sore throat was gone (and I could eat!!). I was on the mend once again.
 |
| Holland Michigan during Tulip Time (May) |
Tuesday we headed four hours around the southern tip of Lake Michigan to Brian’s hometown of Holland, MI, to visit with Brian’s family. After arriving, we went for a gentle ride Tuesday evening, Brian pushing me most of the way to help me keep pace with him. Wednesday he needed to push me somewhat less frequently. By Thursday, I was keeping on his wheel the whole ride. Still a ways to go to full recovery, I was ready to gingerly push my fitness on the weekend with our next scheduled race, the West Michigan Stage Race.
Stage 1
The tour started Saturday morning with a 14-km time trial on a gently undulating out and back course, full aero-equipment allowed. We were feeling quite worried with the plethora a flash TT bikes and disk wheels, a real advantage on the rolly course. Although less aerodynamic than a time trial bike, a road bicycle can be made more aero by the addition of clip-on aerobars, which attach to the normal handlebars allowing the rider to crouch down low on the bicycle, out of the wind. A special aerohelmet, with a sleek, narrow profile and tapering tail which extends over the rider’s back, gives a further aero advantage. A stationary trainer is also useful to ensure a thorough warmup for a TT where being completely warmed up and ready to go 100% from the start is critical.
Other than the early start times (we had to get up at 5:30!), and perhaps the uncomfortably hot, humid conditions, the biggest drama of the day was gear. Brian and I share one TT helmet, one set of clip-on aerobars, and one stationary trainer between us. Normally this is a nonissue. The original schedule for the race gave sufficient time between our starts for Brian to warm up on the trainer, complete his time trial while I warmed up on the trainer, and return in time to hand over the TT helmet and bicycle with aerobars (since we ride the same size frame, we only need to set up the aerobars on one bike). A quick adjustment of the seat height and I’m ready for my start.
Unfortunately a last minute change to the start schedule by the race organisers moved my start to six minutes after Brian’s, putting us on the course at the same time. Plan B. After weighing the advantages and disadvantages, we decided that I would get the aero gear and trainer to warm up on and Brian would go Merckx-style (no aero-gear) and warm up on the road. Fortunately there were plenty of good roads nearby for warming up.
Having had not much of a lead up training-wise, I was uncertain as to just how hard I could handle. If nothing else, I look wicked fast in my brand new Giro Selector time trial helmet. Like all aerohelmets, this one has a pointy tail that projects behind the head for maximum aerodynamics. A special feature of this helmet is a built-in visor for eye protection. All black, the helmet gives the impression of something out of the movie Alien.
 |
| Time Trial helmet and Alien similarities? |
Alien-inspired, I got off to a good start on the gentle uphill slope. Almost immediately, though, I started to experience a rather uncomfortable (and disconcerting!) feeling of suffocation, soon accompanied by claustrophobia. Beginning to feel a bit panicked, I put serious thought into stopping on the side of the road to catch my breath. Fortunately, after a minute or so, I was able to calm myself down and I got over it.
The problem was the new helmet. Not having ridden with it before, I was unused to the effect that the visor has on exhaled air, keeping it in close to one’s face. Once I figured out how to breathe differently to accommodate the visor, all was much improved and I was reeling in riders ahead on the road.
After the turnaround, the return journey seemed much shorter than the way out. Before I knew it, the finish was looming. I had way too much left in the tank. I got out of the saddle and sprinted the last kilometer (at least). With my health on the edge, better to go too easy than too hard! Amazingly, the results sheet listed me as finishing second, within striking distance, 33 s back from winner Meghan Lapeta (Smart Racing). Woohoo!
Stage 2
Stage 2 on Sunday brought a 45-minute criterium on a fast, 1-km loop. With three 20-s time-bonus primes up for grabs and 30-, 20-, and 10-s time bonuses for first, second, and third on the finish line, potential for movement in the standings was huge. At 33 s down, I was keen to get some of those bonuses. Unfortunately my body and my mind were not on the same page.
 |
| Women's Criterium Podium |
Not having done much for two weeks, my body was pretty grumpy about anything requiring effort. I gave it my best, (unsuccessfully) going for all three time-bonus primes and even putting in two attacks, but I suffered through the entire race. The Miller Energy Team did an awesome job organising themselves and leading out a rider for each of the primes, with the leadout rider successfully pulling off right in front of me to block my sprint each time. I had it sussed by the finish though and won the race by the skin of my teeth with an enormous bike throw at the line. Tour leader Meghan, who put in a big attack heading into the finish, lost position near the line and finished out of the time bonuses. With me receiving a 30-s bonus for first, the gap was down to just 3 s. I paid for me efforts though, spending the evening completely smashed.
 |
| Men's 40+ Criterium Podium |
Brian had an awesome race as well, attacking with 3 laps to go and going for a solo flyer. He got swallowed up with about 500 m to go, but with the assistance of an ever so slight downhill finish, was able to hold on for third, moving up from seventh after the TT to sixth overall.
Stage 3
Stage 3 on Monday (another early morning) was a 50-km road race, one loop comprising a series of rolling hills heading out and a flat 20-km run-in to the finish. The original race was scheduled to be 100-km, but the decision was made to shorten the race—which suited me just fine. Health-wise, I wasn’t quite ready for 100 km!
The first attack of the day came at about 8 km in to the race. Putting in an effort to match the increased speed of the peloton, boy did I feel terrible—and very glad for the shortened race! Things settled down again as we approached the start of the hilly section. No one seemed to have much interest in climbing and our speed reduced to a crawl. Not able to restrain myself, I attacked on the next hill. My breakaway was cut short when the pace car was slowed by a car on the course, and I in turn by the pace car. As the field brought me back into the fold, tour leader Meghan countered with a powerful attack, immediately establishing a good gap. Resisting the urge to jump (I’m uncertain that I could have!), I let the field bring me up. With perfect timing we caught Meghan just coming upon the next climb at 20 km. Meghan and I pushed the pace up the hill and we were away.
 |
| Women's Overall Podium |
Immediately we started working perfectly together, lengthening our lead on the field. The bunch gave chase for a while, but with the hills making an organised chase difficult, the riders behind us soon sat up, content to race for third. Meghan and I reached the sharp turn onto the main road, the halfway point of the race, with the peloton out of sight. From there it was a two-up time trial to the finish. My body was much happier with the even riding pace compared with the torturous stop-and-go effort of the previous day. As we reached 1 km to go, the finish banner in sight, Meghan pulled alongside me and our pace slowed as we prepared to duke it out in the sprint. I jumped first, attacking with about 700 m to go. I took Meghan by surprise and she wasn’t able to grab my wheel. I flew through the finish with a good buffer, Meghan several bike-lengths behind and the bunch 3 min back. The win gave me another 30-s bonus, and, more importantly, another 10 s on Meghan for the overall tour win!
 |
| Men's 40+ Road Race Podium |
To make the day even more exciting, in the 40+ race, Brian also broke away at about 20 km into the race. He was joined by another rider and they stayed away for the remaining 80 km of the two-lap race. He wore down the other rider in the run-in to the finish and won the sprint(!). The pair finished a whopping 5 min in front of the field, launching Brian into second overall for the tour.
