8-10 Jun Tour of Galena

In our fourth straight full-on weekend of racing together, the Psimet women headed to Galena, Illinois, for what is quickly becoming one of the best races in the Midwest, the Tour of Galena, put on by xXx Racing. Galena is a small town of about 3500 located in the far northwest corner of Illinois. Because the area escaped glaciation during the recent ice ages, hills, valleys, bluffs and large amounts of exposed rock abound. The race organizers made full use of the varied terrain with abundant, leg-zapping hills dominating the first two days of racing. Adding extra challenge to the already testing tour, the whole weekend was insufferably hot with temps in the high 90’s (upper 30’s).

In its second year, the Tour of Galena was run as a four-stage, three-day 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. Riders choosing not to compete in all four stages can participate in any stage independent of the omnium competition.

Sharing the circuit with local traffic.

The Tour started on Friday afternoon with undoubtedly the most challenging stage, a 42 mi (70 km) circuit race – six laps of a 7 mi circuit that was either up or down with flat road, including a significant climb with a grueling two-part 15% section and semi-technical descent. Mia Moore (Les Petites Victoires) started things off early with a bold move off the front on the first lap. The heat and terrain were a bit much to go so early and we brought her back on the next lap, but not before the bunch was whittled down to just five riders – me, teammate Kelli Richter, ex-teammate Jessi Prinner (ABD), Sarah Rice (Spider Monkey) and Mia . We stuck together for another lap before I put in an attack heading into the climb. The pace shattered the group and the entire race was now solo riders dotted over the course. Approaching the climb on the next lap I could see Jessi chasing hard, 30 s back. One more big effort and I had two more laps of clear road behind, granting me a relaxed final lap and cruisey approach into the finish straight to start the tour off with a win for Psimet. Even more exciting, Kelli hunted down Jessi to take second in the stage in a close finish with Jessi claiming third.

All smiles nearing the finish in the Circuit Race.

Tired legs and all, we dragged ourselves out of bed Saturday morning to face 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. The team decided to take a conservative approach to the TT, opting to save our legs for the considerably longer effort of the afternoon’s road race. With time trial-specialist Jessi focused on winning the U23 National TT Champs in a few weeks, I knew from the get go that I was racing for second. And second I was with Jessi taking the win (by a full 50 s!) and Mia backing up her gutsy ride in the previous stage with third. Second was enough for me to hold onto the omnium lead heading into Stage 3. 

Coming into the finish of the Road Race solo.
Rider on the left is finishing the P1/2 Men's race.

Stage 3 Saturday afternoon (after a long hot shower and rejuvenating nap) was three laps of a 22-mile course for a smidge over 100 km—but with five substantial climbs each lap, long exposed ridges, boiling temperatures and tired legs, the course was demanding to say the least. The first lap is best summed up as conservative as we each tried to spin some life into our weary legs. On the second lap, Jessi and I escaped the bunch and battled on together, swapping turns for a full lap. Hoping that Jessi was spent from her TT effort, I did my best to push her limits on each climb. To my dismay, she matched my every effort with full composure and I soon concluded, judging from the pre-cramp twinges starting in my quads, that I was hurting myself more than her and resigned myself to trying to conserve what energy I had remaining for a sprint finish. With 5 points separating us and 6 points difference between first and second place for the stage, the tour lead rested on the outcome of the stage. Heading the final time up the steepest climb on the course, I was out of water. My legs spent, I was suffering. I stood up on the pedals to stretch my legs on the climb and, after a few pedal strokes, noticed that I couldn’t hear Jessi’s breathing. I stole a quick glance over my shoulder and saw her, two bike lengths back, head down, shoulders drooping. Seeing opportunity, I took off up the hill, re-energized by optimism. Aided by the varied terrain, I was quickly out of sight. 15 km left to race. Given Jessi’s TT skills, I didn’t let up until 200 m to go, when I was certain of victory. Jessi finished comfortably in second with Sarah just pipping Kelli on the line for third.     

Road Race podium: Jessi Prinner,
Jeannie Kuhajek, Sarah Rice

After a very long day on Saturday, the tour finished Sunday afternoon with a 60-min crit on a flat, 1-km course in the heart of Galena’s downtown district. With my lead in the omnium fairly secure and Kelli precariously in third, the goal for the team was to secure Kelli’s position. We decided to take an aggressive approach. Kim started things off with an excellent attack off the line. I countered and then Leah got away with Cady Chintis and Mia Moore (both Les Petite Victoires). Mia was sitting fifth in the omnium and one of two riders of threat to Kelli in the overall. She made a crafty move, slipping off the front of the break and powering away. This left Psimet to chase hard to protect Kelli’s position. As she revealed in the TT, Mia showed herself as a strong solo rider and her LPV teammates Cady and Jeannette Rho did an excellent job of interrupting our chase efforts. Eventually, not having made good progress in reeling in Mia and unsuccessful in launching Kelli, I found myself with a gap off the front and decided that a solo pursuit to neutralize Mia would be more effective. Ten laps to go. The gap was 30 s. Six laps, 26 s. I hadn’t managed to whittle away much time. I was starting to feel seriously overheated in the ridiculous temperatures and the efforts from the two previous days were wearing on me. Five laps. I could see her up the road in front of me. Four laps and I got a call the Mia had rejoined the field. Three laps. I could see the whole field in front of me now, so close yet so far. Two laps. Only 15 s to the field. One lap to go. Game over. The field picked up pace for the final sprint and disappeared from view. I had a cruisy final lap and was able to enjoy my third solo finish of the tour to take second in the stage and celebrate the omnium victory. Jessi won the bunch sprint for third in the stage, second overall, with Kelli taking fifth. The point spread between Mia and Kelli on the finish was enough to launch Mia into third overall, bumping Kelli back to fourth.



Tour of Galena Omnium podium: Sarah Rice, Mia Moore, Jeannie Kuhajek, Jessi Prinner, Kelli Richter

I have to say, xXx Racing put on an amazing tour. Huge thank yous to Lami, Wayne, Rob and Pauli for feeds during the circuit and road races. We wouldn’t have survived the heat without you guys! Thanks also to Bill Draper for some awesome photos. The casualty of the weekend was Marne who experienced a bit of trial by fire in her introduction to stage racing. The temperatures were a bit much for even experienced riders to balance to challenge of hydration and performance. Marne fell victim to dehydration and ended up celebrating the completion of her tour by passing out. Fortunately she had the good sense to wait until after she was off her bike!

Next up, Lami and I head south for the weekend for the O’Fallon Grand Prix. Hoping for cooler temps down that way…