Posted on April 5, 2008 by johnkcoyle
September 2, 2007: Race report #20, Tour de Villa Italia, Canada. Failure.
The last race of the season – and my favorite.
I drove the RV pell-mell from Chicago to Detroit Saturday night, arriving in Canada at nearly 1am for the race the following afternoon. All the sights and sounds of Erie Street or “little Italy” in [...]
Filed under: 2007 Race Reports | Tagged: 2007, bonking, criterium racing, cycling, Detroit, john coyle, john k coyle, overtraining, Tour de Villa Italia | Leave a Comment »
Posted on April 5, 2008 by johnkcoyle
August 18, 2007: Race report #19, Downers Grove “nationals”, Illinois. My birthday.
I woke on my 39th birthday to leaden skies and cool temperatures. I had not had a lot of sleep the week prior, pulling an all-nighter, and a couple other late nights for project “Mythos” at work. Nonetheless, this race… Downers Grove Nationals… this [...]
Filed under: 2007 Race Reports | Tagged: criterium, criterium racing, cycling, downers grove, fast twitch, john coyle, john k coyle, Masters, rain, slow twitch | Leave a Comment »
Posted on April 5, 2008 by johnkcoyle
August 11 & 12, 2007: Race reports 17 & 18, Elk Grove, Illinois
Somehow this quiet little Chicago suburb has developed cycling fever with major dollars to be won here over this two day series – one of the only races series besides the nationals to separate the pros from Cat 1/2’s, and the highest purse [...]
Filed under: 2007 Race Reports | Tagged: bandages, becoming a roadie, crashing, criterium racing, cycling, elk grove, Frankie Andreu, gauze, john coyle, john k coyle, scrubbing, the feeling of crashing | Leave a Comment »
Posted on March 7, 2008 by johnkcoyle
August 5, 2007: Race report #16, Elgin, Illinois
There was a Pro 1/2 race in Elgin only 3 miles from my house.
I started it. It had a hill.
Despite that fact, I finished… barely.
I did win the field sprint though…
Filed under: 2007 Race Reports | Tagged: cycling, dropped, Elgin, field sprint, hills, pro 1 - 2, sucking | Leave a Comment »
Posted on March 4, 2008 by johnkcoyle
Saturday, July 28th, 2007: Race report #15, Whitefish Bay, WI
Eyes open. Dust flecks flap their brilliant wings in the rays of light escaping underneath the crack of the flimsy plastic window shades. It is morning and I am alive… barely.
I took a moment to register the location – low ceilings, the surround of cheap laminated [...]
Filed under: 2007 Race Reports | Tagged: 2007, Ben Renkema, bike racing, bridging the gap, crashes, criterium, death march, finish sprint, getting dropped, international cycling classic, john coyle, john k coyle, lying to myself, milwaukee, October, peleton, suffering, Superweek, U2, Whitefish bay | Leave a Comment »
Posted on February 23, 2008 by johnkcoyle
Friday July 27th, 2007: Race report #14, Downer Avenue, Milwaukee: Suffering
Flashforward: October 18, 2007. I’m sitting in a hospital room, where I have spent a good portion of the preceding 3 days. Hospitals are a lot nicer than I remember them – my only strong memories of hospitals were visiting my grandmother with cancer at [...]
Filed under: 2007 Race Reports | Tagged: bike racing, bridging the gap, crashes, criterium, dehydration, downer avenue, finish sprint, getting dropped, international cycling classic, john coyle, john k coyle, lying to myself, milwaukee, passing out, peleton, St. Euxpery, suffering, Superweek | 1 Comment »
Posted on February 23, 2008 by johnkcoyle
Race report #13, Friday, July 27th, Kenosha, Superweek Stage 15 Pro/Am Criterium, Kenosha, WI: Courage and arrogance
Hands down Kenosha is the best course at Superweek for my limited talents. At exactly a kilometer long with four corners, the course is very short and hence, no acceleration lasts for more than 10 or 20 seconds before [...]
Filed under: 2007 Race Reports | Tagged: bike racing, bridging the gap, crashes, criterium, finish sprint, international cycling classic, john coyle, john k coyle, kenosha, lying to myself, suffering, Superweek | 1 Comment »
Posted on February 23, 2008 by johnkcoyle
Race Report #12, Thursday, July 26th, Superweek Stage 14 Pro/Am Criterium, Sheboygan, WI, 100K.
Waking in the RV Thursday morning it is a glorious dawn – sunny, warm but not hot. The creaking of the trees and fanning of the leaves have kept us company all night. After lolling around in the feather bed in the [...]
Filed under: 2007 Race Reports | Tagged: bike racing, crashes, criterium, finish sprint, getting dropped, international cycling classic, john coyle, john k coyle, peleton, quitting, racing in the rain, suffering, Superweek, winning a field sprint | Leave a Comment »
Posted on February 22, 2008 by johnkcoyle
Race Report #11,, Wednesday, July 25th, Superweek Stage 12 Pro/Am Criterium, Green Bay, WI, 100K. The post-race vibe…
The race report is secondary here, but here goes the short version…
Warm, swimmingly humid, the race was 100K or 62 miles, 50 laps on a flat, speedway course – wide open and flat – right up my alley. [...]
Filed under: 2007 Race Reports | 1 Comment »
Posted on February 22, 2008 by johnkcoyle
Race Report #10, Sunday, July 22nd, Superweek Stage 9 Pro/Am Criterium, Evanston, IL, 100K. Flashback, Friday, July 20th:
Scene: standing undressed again in front of the scale. Again I inched forward, my toes wriggling across the tile floor in our new bathroom in the new house in Chicago. The LED lights began to whirl, and again I [...]
Filed under: 2007 Race Reports | Tagged: bike racing, crashes, criterium, endo, evanston, finish sprint, international cycling classic, john coyle, john k coyle, peleton, skittish pack, spectator problems, Superweek, thwarted | Leave a Comment »
