Downers Grove Day Two

Orthopedists and mechanics should be busy this week.

Sports psychologists could expect a few calls, too. Looking through my photos from Sunday, I see few happy riders. Instead, most bear the stressed, drained expression of one who asks, "What am I doing here?" And as the crackle of carbon fiber and crushed components came to punctuate what seemed like every single lap, it became difficult just to watch this carnage.

The rain was even harder on Sunday than it had been Saturday, but with so much more on the line, racers doubled the intensity and halved the caution. Nothing stayed off all day, and sloppy conditions caused no end of violent crashes. I don't know if any of the four races ended with half as many riders as they started with.

I overslept and missed the men's Cat 2 race, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say that there were a lot of crashes and the top five riders heading into Turn 5 were also the top five riders across the finish line. This much I know: Mark Olson (Priority Health) took the victory, and it isn't until lucky 13th that one finds the top local finisher, compliments of St. Charles' Ara Oggoian (Bicycle Heaven).

As for the races I did see ...

Photos by Luke Seemann

Several riders were already in slings and street shoes by the time the rain started in earnest a little more than halfway through this 50K sufferfest.

Only a few riders tried getting off the front, but the field, led by four-time champion Tina Pic's Colavita squad, wasn't letting anything get very far away.

As the pace quickened in the final laps, Turn 8 became especially treacherous. Two riders slid out with three to go, but an even bigger pileup with two to go started about 10 riders back and cascaded to take out a half-dozen well-positioned women, local Debbie Dust (Team Kenda Tire) among them. Star sprinters Brooke Miller (Tibco) or Kelly Benjamin (Cheerwine) soon limped past, Miller having tumbled over behind a crash on the climb, and neither would not be able to take part in the sprint. (Miller would fight hard in an unsuccessful bid to catch the group, sprinting her way past every last straggler, well after first place had been decided.)

Thanks largely to Allison Powers (Colavita), who led her away from danger the last few laps, Pic entered the final turn in third place but turned on the jets to close a gap and overcome Anna Lang (Karl Strauss) and Jen McRae (Advil-Chapstick). She'd be followed by teenager Samantha Schneider (Mesa Cycles) and last year's champion Theresa Cliff-Ryan (Verducci).

From the very first lap the men's elite race strung itself out across several city blocks. That wouldn't last long, however, not because the pace let up but because crash after crash dwindled the pack to a sliver of its original size.

Abercrombie & Fitch in particular had a trying day. It would start with with by far the largest teams present, but only two would survive to the end of the day. When its riders weren't crashing, however, they were attacking and animating the front of the race.

As was the case all weekend, the front was the safest place to be, and that's where the eventual top five could be found nearly the entire race: attacking, covering and doing whatever necessary to defend their positions.

Kirk Albers (Texas Roadhouse) said he had intended to start a leadout for national elite road champion Paul Martin when he sped over Summit Street, but when he found himself with a gap, he had no choice but to go for it. The pack, led by downstate Illinois' Josh Carter (ABD), would catch Albers in time to follow his wheel out of Turn 8, but then it was young Dan Holloway (VMG) who outsprinted Carter for the jersey.

Third- and fourth-place finishers Steve Tilford (HRRC/Trek Stores) and Tom Saladay (Kelly Benefit Strategies) both reported late mishaps. Saladay crashed with six to go, barely in time for a free lap and leaving him unsure about his bike. "I had to bend a few things back." Then Tilford fishtailed in the final corners and hit the curb, but he kept it up. As for all the crashes, the 47-year-old veteran told CyclingNews: "It wasn't really slick. People were falling from making stupid moves."

Despite the mayhem, this may have been the most exciting race on the day. "Not so bad for a bunch of working guys," as Albers put it from the podium.

It's 4 a.m., and I don't pretend to be able to match the reporting of the USPRO race done by VeloNews and CyclingNews. But a few quick notes:

• » Congratulations to local product Reid Mumford (Kelly Benefit Strategies) for being part of the six-man leadout that propelled Martin Gilbert to victory. The train made the last 10 laps look like a team time trial, and it no doubt will be talked about for years. It was a predictable strategy from team director Jonas Carney, but after 50 laps only Kelly Benefit Strategies still had the firepower in the race to pull it off. A good plan, well executed, and beautiful to watch.

• » Also amazing was the fact that Alex Candelario (Jelly Belly) and Tony Cruz (Discovery) were caught up in a crash just before they were shown five to go. Unsure of whether they were eligible for a free lap, they chased back on and despite the dangerously fast pace set by Kelly Benefit Strategies and Health Net were able to get 4th and 5th respecively.

• » Last year's elite champion Kayle Leogrande (Rock Racing) went down hard in the same crash. There was some initial confusion, but since he had not yet seen the five-to-go mark, he and his banged-up shifters were given a free lap. Three laps later, however, it appears his chain came undone on the finishing stretch, thus ending his day, as captured by Matt Smith (Big Shark) from the sidelines.

• » Emilie Abraham (Priority Health), who joined us at the track this week (as did elite champ Holloway), won the day's sprint challenge but was among the dozen or so who got caught up in the homestretch pileup. (Defending champion Brad Huff (Slipstream) went down in this as well.) In order to win the $1,000 prize he had to finish the race, so he did -- walking.

That's all for now. As always, I'll soon have blog and photo links galore.

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