VINCENTVERGARAFITNESS

TOB Day 2: Road Race (42mi) Second Place The Cat 3/4 race was a three lap, 14 mile loop including a final climb involving peak gradients of 18%.  Leading up to the weekend, there was a lot of buzz about this final climb, and to prepare, I spent a good amount of time at the Crown Hill Cemetery to work on my climbing technique. Map of the Bloomington RR course.  It's 14 miles, but the deciding factor was the last mile. PRE-RACE: One of the disadvantages of being a solo rider is getting the race number on, especially when every rider needed two numbers, one on the side and one on the back.  When I saw a team passing by, I asked them if they could press my number on my jersey (I had already applied glue), but to my surprise, they rejected me and told me to go to registration.  I had to wait another 10 minutes until I luckily found a spectator walking by to press my number on. To make matters worse, the start/finish line was literally about four miles away from registr

Day 1: Criterium Almost DNF to 6th Place The course was a 0.7 mile, clockwise, 6 corner circuit with a gradual climb out of the final corner, reaching its steepest grade between corners one and two.  The start/finish was located near the intersections of Kirkwood and Lincoln Streets. The entire course itself was riddled with all sorts of road hazards like potholes, uneven bricks, untapered sidewalks and incomplete pavement.  The most dangerous corner was the final corner.  The apex of the final corner had bricks about a half inch above the pavement which would cause the tire to bounce during hard cornering.  I was just glad that they remembered to at least sweep the corners to remove as much loose dirt as possible. The 3/4 race I signed up for was 45 minutes long and had about 57 starters. RACE SUMMARY The First Half: Riding Through a Mechanical I unfortunately started towards the back of the pack and only gained a few positions before the first corner.  Since someone h