10 Turns- Yeah, it worked pretty well.

Last weekend I was planning on heading up to Wisconsin and do the WORS race at Sunburst. I am sure that it was fantastic, but my plans ended up falling through for a number of reasons. Aside from the fact that I am looking for more starts at MTB races this summer to get upgrade points, I really wasn't too disappointed (particularly considering that I probably would have entered the "Comp" category and not gotten a top 5 anyway).

The main reason I wasn't really heartbroken was that this Sunday was the Tour of Soulard. People had been telling me how awesome this race was for quite a while now. Honestly, if it weren't for the lure of a WORS race I don't think anything else would have kept me away.

So I show up having no idea what to expect aside from the awesomeness everyone had described. Needless to say, expectations were high. At first there was the confusion that the course was said to have 10 turns and was run clockwise. Fwiw, it looks like this:



Needless to say some preriding would have been useful. Unfortunately my recon consisted of that map and the knowledge that one bit was a "climb" gleened from message boards. I was running a bit late due to the fact that I am not at all used to racing as late in the day as 1pm. Additionally, I was kind of confused by the race running late then mysteriously getting back on track. To add fun and excitement, I noticed my front tire was flat on the startline. Luckily I was able to get my spare on right before the gun. This resulted in a poor start position, but whatever.

The race itself was a lot of fun. I would like to be more descriptive, but with 10 turns I was largely clueless as to when anything was happening. All I know is that somewhere around halfway through the race I was caught behind a crash (I think) and a group of 6-10 depending on the point in the race got caught out. I felt really strong and led the chase group for quite a while. Word on the street was that we were pretty much holding on to a 10 second deficit to the lead group. This also made me feel pretty good about myself.

At some point I dropped to the back of the chase group and held on for a couple laps. My one highlight was when a $50 prime was announced for our group. I attacked the group going up the hill on the back part of the course and shot past everyone from last position. I had about 20 feet at the top of the hill and didn't look back again. Somebody passed me after the last turn before the finish... oh well. After chasing for so long it felt good to actually race a bit.

A note. I was told much later that I came in 15th or 16th. I rode the whole race thinking a huge group was up the road. As it turns out it was only about 20. The main group, and in turn us ended up dropping additional people. That was a nice surprise.

Anyway, one of the amazing things about this race was that there were people (drinking booze) around the entire course. Seriously, Soulard appeared to use this race as an excuse to get Sunday day drunk. It was great... having people cheering you on over the entire course makes you feel very PRO- good times.

Theoretically I am going to the "Chicago Criterium"- where there are going to be actual pros- next weekend. I still haven't worked out the logistics yet unfortunately.