The temperature read 97 in Lincoln Square, the wind was clocking in with gusts upwards of 25 mph, and the air was so thick no relief was to be found... Legs were heavy from the prior day's race at Grayslake and late-season nerves were coming undone.  The field was tense on the start- it hardly seemed that this would be a gentlemanly race and the heavy prize purse, premes, and IL Cup points just stoked the furnace. 

Burnham Racing took the start 5-strong with Masters 1/2/3 winner Jason Knauff, Jeff Wat, Eric Goodwin, Nate Iden and myself.  Our goal was to win.  From the gun the racing was full-on with an IS Corps rider attacking off the line.  His attack was short lived however as he crashed out in turn 4; a declining radius acute turn that would plague the field all day.  I too found myself in the pit on the first lap with a soggy rear tire.  A quick wheel change from Jose at SRAM Neutral Support ensured that I lost as little time and energy as possible. 

From then-on-out the racing was plagued with aggressive surges, chopped corners, and countless breakaway attempts.  I found my first attack covered by WDT's Waylon and Ricardo, who thought putting two WDT riders in a three man break was viable. It wasn't - the pack snuffed it out in under a lap.  In another failed attempt A WDT rider, Luke Seemann and I were again off the front, but the break had no chemistry and kept losing speed around turn 4

For some odd reason the field allowed Jason Knauff to roll off the front solo and amass a large gap.  Perhaps they were unaware that at Grayslake he took 4th out of the day-long break he instigated, or that earlier in the day he sprinted out of a two-man break for the win in the Masters 1/2/3 race... In any event Jason stayed solo for quite a few laps until the combination of panic and premes brought him back.  The organizers had assembled a healthy and tempting list of premes and threw them out at us almost every lap.  Coming up to the line amidst a sprint for a 2-man wine preme I found myself in perfect position.  After we rounded the 1st corner, with the field scattered all over the road as a result of a forceful sprint I attacked.  When I looked back a lap later I found that I had taken a XXX rider along and that we had 30 seconds on the field. We were in the perfect situation as with the Burnham Boys and XXX in the field the odds of this break going the distance was all but certain.  The XXX rider gave a few pulls but was almost instantly gassed and with 5.5 laps remaining I left him.  I knew that it would be at least 30 seconds before XXX realized that they had been shut out of the move and would now be forced to burn themselves out chasing.  I put my head down and drilled it. 

Behind me Brian Hill of Get A Grip had attacked out of the field and had taken State Criterium Champ Jeff Wat with him.  Jeff declined to work until the very end and in the field Burnham and Aspen Gory of Get A Grip shut the race down.  With every passing lap, the effort grew harder and the wind from an approaching storm fiercer.  I heard splits from the crowd and determined that I was holding about 30 seconds.  4-to-go, 3-to-go, 2-to-go, I was crossing the line solo come hell or high water and as I passed the wheel pit I knew that I would do so uncontested. I was ecstatic that the win came over a field full of talent and just a block from the training roads where I've logged more miles than a non-cyclist would believe.  Behind me Nate Iden catapulted past the field to take second as Jeff and Brian were caught at turn 3.  Last year I was second out of the break by an inch, I wanted more.  Earlier in the day my teammate capitalized on a great opportunity with Andrew Rizzo from Comcast and out-foxed the Masters field... I wasn't to be upstaged.
Burnham Racing showed up to the Glencoe Grand Prix and had a fantastic day taking two wins, 3 podiums, and a ridiculous amount of premes.

I would also like to take a moment to extend my deepest thanks to the organizers of the race and the amazingly generous sponsors who make the racing thoroughly exciting.  AT&T, Alberto's Sport, First Bank of Highland Park, Copia Capital, MS Socuety, Illinois Bone and Joint Institute, Imperial Motors, EJ's Place, Scott Byron, Shelle's Jewelers, Hannah Banana Bread, Good Grapes, H. Marion Framing, Marcus Opticians, Embassy Suites, Walgreens, Grand Foods, JD Kadds, Wells Street Popcorn, Louis Glunz Beers, Gatorade and of course John Knouse...