07-09 June 2013 Tour of Galena Omnium

2013 Tour of Galena Women's Omnium podium.

Over the weekend I headed to the Tour of Galena in Galena, Illinois. As the returning two-time Omnium champion, I had an even bigger goal this year: to sweep each of the four stages. In its third year, the Tour of Galena was run as a three-day four-stage omnium, where placement in each stage is awarded by points. The rider with the highest accumulation of points at the end of the tour is the winner. Put on by Chicago-based xXx Racing, Tour of Galena is one of the best races in the Midwest. If you haven’t done this race, you’re missing out!

Sunset over Galena. Photo by Ryan L. Williams

 

The perfect location for a cycling tour, Galena is located in the far northwest corner of Illinois. A popular tourist-destination, the town is home to 3500 permanent residents. As part of the Driftless Zone, the area escaped glaciation during the recent ice ages resulting in an abundance of hills, valleys, bluffs, and large amounts of exposed rock in an otherwise flat region of the US. The race organizers made full use of the varied terrain to create an interesting, exciting, and challenging tour with beautiful views of a gorgeous part of the country.

Galena has a unique historical past complete with haunted destinations.
 

The city is named for the mineral "galena", the natural form of lead sulfide. Native Americans mined the ore in Galena for use in body painting. In the 1690s French trappers discovered the area and began mining the lead. By 1845, Galena was producing 80% of the lead in the US. In the early 1900’s, lead demand dropped and the population dispersed. The downtown area was boarded up and Galena became a small rural farming community. In the 1980s, a tourist campaign rejuvenated the downtown district, transforming the town into one of the most “Charming Small Towns" in the US.

Beautiful downtown Galena. Photo by Paul Chase

 

The Tour started on Friday afternoon with undoubtedly the most challenging stage, a 30 mi (48 km) circuit race – four laps of a 7 mi circuit that was either up or down, including a significant climb with a grueling two-part 15% section and semi-technical descent. By lap three the hill had whittled the bunch to just three riders. The final climb up the ‘wall’ I tuned off the signal from my body to stop pedaling and fall over on the spot and pushed hard against the gradient. Carrying an advantage at the top of the climb, I was able to extend the gap over the final 6 km to finish clear. Win number one.  

Nearing the top of the 'wall' in the circuit race. Photo by Aaron Delabre

 

Saturday morning we faced a brutal 6 mi (10 km) time trial. The out-and-back course was rolly with a steep sweeping technical decent, up a seemingly endless 13% gradient to the turnaround for a screaming fast descent into a leg-zapping 400 m 14% climb. Oh, and an uphill finish. In the two previous tours I’ve finished second in this painful stage so I knew that a win this year was going to be challenging. The trick here is to go hard enough to put in a fast time but not so hard as impart vulnerability in the taxing afternoon stage to follow—a difficult balance. I’m not so sure that I accomplished the balance, but nevertheless, the main goal was there. Win number two.  

Showing off my Kask bambino helmet in the TT.

 

Stage 3 Saturday afternoon (after a hot shower and rejuvenating nap) was three laps of a 22-mile course for a smidge over 100 km. Five substantial climbs and long exposed ridges each lap added both challenge and beauty to the race. By the final lap we were again down to three. With several climbs remaining and warnings of cramp twinging in my muscles, my fitness was all used up and I was reliant on finesse to get me through the race. Familiarity with the windy, technical finish played to my advantage. Keeping my suffering undercover just enough to hang on through the last climbs, I jumped at just the right time heading into the final turns to take the sprint for win number three.

Me and superstar Nick Ramirez, Women's and Men's road race winners. Photo by Tim Special

After a very long day on Saturday, one win remained. The final stage Sunday afternoon was a 60-min crit on a flat, 1-km course in the heart of Galena’s downtown district. Several new riders with fresh legs lined up, adding extra challenge to my goal. The race was aggressive off the line, with a number of riders keen to win. Then the rains began. Slick roads added an additional level of challenge to the race, necessitating a more cautious approach. With a burst of speed in the last lap, I was able to gain the advantage going into the final and most slippery corner for a clear sprint to the line to complete the sweep for four stages and the overall omnium win.

Wet roads in the crit strung out the field in the finish.
 

Thank you to xXx Racing for once again doing an amazing job putting on an outstanding tour, Rob Curtis at PSIMET Wheels for providing neutral support, Molly & Josh Shough for feeding, Leah Sanda and Cathy Frampton for being awesome travel companions, and my dad Eugene Kuhajek for sitting through terrible traffic to lend much appreciated assistance with travel plans. I’m grateful for my Wilier Triestina bicycle, which tackled the diversity of terrain (from flat to nearly vertical!) beautifully, and my Kask Bambino helmet was definitely an advantage in the TT. To receive a notification whenever I post a new update, be sure to enter your email address into the ‘follow by email’ box on the top right corner of my blog page.

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