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Spring Super Criterium, 4/28/2009

The weather aside this was a great day, just as last year, a smooth and highly organized event. The slight issues with sorting out results in a few races was caused by poor resolution with the finish line camera. Nevertheless, Burnham Racing and Dave Fowkes were right on it and professional, so no one can walk away unhappy as long as they followed the proper protocol for correcting the possible errors.

Cat 4/5: Pack finish/60ish
Race # 17

Oh, man. This race was slow. (I'm really not complaining...)

So how did I finish in the middle of the pack? Well, the answer is simple and it is one word: tactics. In my case, poor judgment; on the other a race win.

When we were kids and our parents told us not to rush to a decision, they didn’t tell us that this adage does not apply to bike racing.

In the bell lap, after poking around at a slow pace for 40 min, I chose the wrong position to be in. I was on the inside lane and boxed in. Then xXx jumped and the 5 guys in front of and around me waited. And waited. And waited…I yelled, and then things eventually began to move. Or at least that’s what I’m saying. Honestly, all this happened in like 1-3 seconds (or faster?). But that confusion, that “what do I do now?—‘cause I don’t want to be on the front!” mentality is exactly what a good jump is supposed to play upon. By the time we got up to speed they had created a gap up to 3-4 seconds. Yes we took some of that back, but you don’t need anywhere near that time gap for a win, and Dave was able to hold that for his teammate.

After freeing myself, I got on the front and chased hard. I know that with ~1k to go into a headwind I was pulling at ~30mph, then as we turned out of the wind I tried to recover a bit before the sprint. I slowed and waited for someone to come around. Eventually they did and I jumped their wheel just before the final turn but, at the last second, I chose to take the inside on the final turn and in this case it can also be called the wrong side, and suffered the wind, and then exploded.

Anyway, I gave it my best 3 min chase effort on the front, and as my wife can tell you…that’s all I’ve got. I blew up at the top of the pit area and rolled in mid pack.

Bravo Dave Moyer! He gave an amazing 2k lead out, it was a hell of a jump and ball buster to the finish. He deserves those points.

Cat 3/4: 10th/60
Race #18

This was my first 3/4 race and I was very pleased with seeing what effect experience has on the dynamics of a bike race.

After the two man break was let go and no one was terribly interested in working too hard (except Dave Moyer who bridged the 30sec gap and eventually won.) I saw some strange things happening at the front of the field. A few times there were sudden movements in the lead, with riders moving quickly to the left or right side. I thought “shit someone crashed!” but no, that may have been the case for a 4/5 race, but this was something else.

Magic word: strategy. Burnham was up front controlling the pace and chasing down almost any attempt to bridge. And just after the final turn into the finishing straight, into a head/crosswind, riders would attempt to attack from either side and their reaction was quick and caused the sharp lateral shift to either side of the road. It was very interesting to see this from midpack, and pleasing to be in the same race as racers who know this whole strategy thing,

Anyway, I stayed tucked in, just happy to be along for a nice and smooth ride with riders that are confident and competent using their bikes to accomplish a goal. In the last turn, the field bunched up for the 400 yards to the finish and I was in a good position on the leeward side of the field. I accelerated out of the saddle and began to move up, then someone cut into my lane and I had to slow and change my line, it happened again and by that point we were about 100m and I shifted and sprinted. 32mph into the wind was good enough to let me clip those that started too soon and finish 7th in the field sprint and 10th overall.

As my training has been crap over the last month, it is great to know that what I have done has yielded me this much. While I was disappointed with he 4/5 result, I walked away with a keen awareness of my positioning and little more drive than I had previously. Training this drive will be fun and I’m really looking forward to racing later this summer.