Jeff Cup 2013 -- Absentee Dad Report

Jake's racing season started 2 weeks ago at Black Hills Circuit Race, but that ended mid race when his chain broke, causing much cursing.  So, no report from there, but here are two videos from the first few laps

Yesterday, April 7, 2013, Jeff Cup.
The first really big race of the year.  Everyone gets all worked up for this race.

Jake would be in the Men's Cat 3/4 race (he's a 3).  BUT, the management at my firm scheduled a firm retreat in Arizona for that weekend.  So....someone else would have to step in to play the role of SoigneurDad.  Jake's race was not until 2:30.  George Schultz and Dan Klaussen both offered to take Jake down, but G and Luke were doing the 15-18 race at 12:30.  I didn't want Jake to go down there hours before his race.  So, Loren was tagged.  It would be "SoigneurMom."

I gave Loren & Jake detailed directions, in multiple emails: Lists of what to bring (lunch, bottles, clothes, etc), directions to the course (this was probably Loren's biggest concern).  Then I flew off to Arizona, to "retreat"

Ok, so I went for a bike ride on Friday and Saturday while other people had spa treatments or played golf.  So shoot me.

Sunday was nervous for me.  I was able to talk to Loren and Jake very briefly as I was on the way to the airport and they were getting out the door.  Otherwise, I would be on a plane until 4pm Eastern Time.  On the plane, I got wifi for an hour and saw a few pre-race posts by Loren, so I knew they got there on time.  Otherwise, I didn't hear anything again until 6:30.  AT&T's wireless signal is non-existent at the feed zone (as I now remember from last year), so I couldn't reach Loren or Liam.  I did talk to Doug Graham (Verizon subscriber) when the plane landed.  Otherwise, I sat at home worried about crashes.

Loren passed the "pin on numbers" test

Loren & Liam in the feedzone

Jake well positioned at staging next to Jake Sittler

So, the race itself....Here is what I can piece together from Jake.

First, this is the email I sent Jake in the morning:

"This isn't rocket science. Watch Dave miller and jake sittler. They have won the first two races in breakaways. Go with them. Mark them like you did jimmy Pickard."  That last comment was a reference to Jake's breakthrough second place last year when he followed former Div. 1 college runner Jimmy Pickard's breakaway move [reported at this Link].  

Jake was well positioned in the front of the group for the first few laps (according to Doug Graham).  

If you look closely Jake's 2 guys back in the middle (photo by Doug Graham)

Coming into the end of the 4th lap (out of 6 -- 62 miles total), when the group made the right hand turn to head for the start/finish, Jake Sittler went, and Jake Thompson went with him.  this is a profile of the elevation from the right hand turn (so at mile 0).

According to Jake, Sittler proceeded to ride 3 other guys off his wheel, probably in the course of a mile to the finish line.  According to Loren, when they came through the feed zone they had a 30 second gap on the field.  The feedzone was probably about mile 1.5 on this elevation chart.  Jake was holding on for dear life.  Sittler asked him to pull through once and Jake had to decline and ask for time to recover.  But then Jake did pull through.  But, after the long climb past the start/finish (basically it's a slowly increasing climb for probably 3 miles), Jake popped.  He had gone too deep to stay with Sittler and he blew up.  He lost contact with Sittler, and I gather was fairly quickly overtaken by the group.  He got back in the group.  Now, this I'm confused on, but apparently they were pretty much immediately neutralized (ie forced to pull over) so that the 1/2/3 group could pass.  According to Jake they then pretty much immediately sprinted up the main "hill" on the course, which was too much for Jake immediately after going so deep with Sittler. So, he and Andy Fleming finished out the lap, and were pulled off the course by the officials at the finish (not being allowed to finish the final lap).  I gather that Shane and Ben Dinapoli (new teammate this year) finished in the group, but Jake didn't know where.

It was the right move.  Jake Sittler solo'd away to win by who knows how many minutes (he's a Cat 1 for cyclocross, but god forbid that the USAC officials upgrade his road category until after he adequately rides away from enough Cat 3/4 races).  Jake was disappointed, but he certainly read the race right.  He just isn't in a place in his training cycle to go that hard and recover.  But the effort was good training and will hopefully help him for Battenkill next weekend. Oh, that's right, big road trip this weekend.