Glen Ellyn (written by Leo):
Highly technical course with lots of challenging corners. I tried my best to move up on the corners, but overcooked it several times and almost crashed once. I wasn’t quite acclimated to the heat and humidity. I ended up logging my highest heart rate for 20 minutes, getting dropped, and having to lie down on the grass for a while to recover. Overall not a great start to the series.

Winfield (written by George):
This was a pretty straightforward hotdog course. It was my first day out so I wanted to get some efforts in the legs but wasn’t expecting much out of myself. I staged early enough to start front row. I was expecting it to be pretty hard out of the gate so I put in a small effort getting off the start line, and to my surprise it was enough to establish a bit of a gap. I ended up going solo for about 7 minutes, and honestly I felt pretty good after getting my first effort in the legs. The rest of the race I just sat in mostly. Leo got a flat halfway in so I was alone for the second half. With one lap to go I jumped from the back of the field all the way to the front, but I went too far forward and ended up ON the front, so I was stuck pulling. I decided to pull most of that last lap hoping I’d have enough legs at the end to at least get a minor placing, but I was totally cooked when the sprint started and ended up finishing midpack.

Mundelein (written by George):
I have a good history with this course, having won the cat 3 race here last year, so I was looking forward to this one. It ended up being quite hard, with lots of attacks and counterattacks, and the hill was more significant than I had remembered. I tried going for a prime halfway in but got outsprinted by Jack Heier, who had won at Glen Ellyn a couple days earlier. A strong break went a bit over halfway into the race, and with about 15 minutes left in the race I bridged up with a couple other guys, forming a group of 7 in total. Staying in the break was really hard, and I was fighting off cramps by the end. I ended up finishing last out of that break, but still 7th place isn’t too bad.

Lombard (written by George):|
I’m a big fan of this course. This race also was quite dynamic, and both Leo and I ended up in a few different moves over the course of the race. We were working really well together and it felt like one of us was in every move. That is, until the one move that actually stuck went and neither of us were in it. That’s bike racing for you. I shuffled back a little too far in the closing laps but still managed to sprint well and ended up just outside the top 10.

Brookfield (written by George):
This was the first day where the 3s were mixed in with us, so I knew it was going to be a lot bigger and probably more chaotic. Boy was I right. The race was really argy-bargy and the lower overall experience level did not make things feel any safer. I was having a pretty hard time moving around in the bigger field and ended up sitting in the back third most of the race. With a few laps left I started moving up aggressively, but it was challenging. The part that sticks out to me the most was with 2 to go, when I was moving up through a closing lane only a couple inches away from the barrier, and a rider on the other side of me made some pretty hard contact into my hip; that spiked my adrenaline levels for sure. Overall though, I was just a little too timid moving up (this will be a theme), and I ended up kind of midpack.

Northbrook (written by George):
You thought Brookfield sounded sketchy? That was a nice, relaxing spa day compared to this one. I ended up either right next to or right behind 5 different crashes. No, that’s not an exaggeration, I literally counted them. Most of them were in the sharp left-hand turn 3, but one of them was on the start-finish straight with like 20 minutes left in the race, which was dumb enough that sidewalk footage of it made it onto critdrama. I don’t think I have ever been more frightened during a race, and this is where my Grit stopped being about results and started being about not dying. I was hoping to have a somewhat dignified midpack finish, but I got caught behind a crash on the last lap (I put a foot down, so I was ok) and finished a minute or so after everyone else.

Elgin (written by George):
This course was technical and hilly, so I didn’t know how people were going to react after the day before, but it was actually a surprisingly clean race. I got more and more comfortable throughout the race, and was making some decent positional moves, but that hill just kept sapping my legs. I was hoping to have a decent finish, but I was pretty cooked by the end and finished near the back of the main group. Which was actually not a bad accomplishment, as only half of the starters ended up finishing with that main group. But still, not the result I was looking for.

Lake Bluff (written by Leo):
An highly technical course with many off camber corners. The most challenging part about this one was the bumpy off camber corner going straight into the uphill finishing strait, this killed my legs every single time. Even though my legs were pretty fried after a week of racing, this was the most confident I felt during the entire series. I was moving up during corners, and maintaining good positioning throughout the race. However, about ¾ of the way in I got caught behind a crash and got shuffled all the way back to the peloton. From there it was a fight to stay in the race, taking advantage of all of the corners and opportunities I had to stay in it. In the end I didn’t contest the sprint and finished at the back of the peloton, but I was proud that I didn’t get dropped

Fulton Market (written by Leo):
Rectangular hot dog style course. Narrow with poor pavement qualityDue to delays earlier in the day the race started late. Immediately the race was chaotic. About 10 minutes in there was a crash I was caught behind. I put my foot down so I was able to take a free lap and rejoin the race. I tried my best to move up in the corners but I overcooked one of them and slid out and hit the curb and broke my arm. I was trying to collect myself while the Chicago El train was passing overhead, it felt like a fever dream. After, going to the first aid tent, I ended up going to an urgent care that was on the course where they confirmed I had indeed broken my arm, ending my season. George had a lot more fun. He was kinda hanging out in the back of the peloton collecting high fives.

Alto Velo

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