Common Crit Re-Cap

What a finish to a great weekend! This race was just a ton of fun to participate in. Fast course, great surroundings and a big field. The threes and fours were combined today which meant we had sixty riders line up. Another big bonus was that I was re-united with my buds from last year which was just awesome. Scott Gifford, Zach Maino, Roger Bowser and Doug "The Cat" Gatto. We weren't on the same team but since Doug and I were the only riders from our team it was nice to see some friendly faces.

Saturday I rode harder then I had planned but it was just something I had to do. We got rained on all day and I was riding with Mike Sackett who can really light it up on his new Madone so that all added up to a high tempo seventy five mile ride. We really just wanted to get the ride over with and get on with life. It ceased being fun at about mile forty. From there on it was a run for the barn. We got in around 1145 am so that gave me over twenty four hours to recover. So, Jean and I took a nap in our dorm room before grabbing drinks and dinner with Scott and isa Turner, (MS 150 buddies from way back.)

Sunday morning we missed the awesome dorm bfast and opted instead for Brueggers bagels and coffee. We needed to find a church so we hopped on the internet there and found one nearby. After, we bagged lunch at Panera before going over to the capitol.

We watched the women's 1,2,3, masters and cat 5 which were all exciting races. Especially exciting was the performance put on by Tony Bruley and Rob Iser in the master's race. They got away very early and just rode away from a very strong field. They put up a thirty four second lead before the finish. This is fun to watch because you have to admire the skill it takes to orchestrate a break like that in a field like that. These guys are mostly cat 1 and 2 racers using this race as a warm up for their main event so getting away and staying away is really an accomplishment. Tony attacked Rob on the last lap a move that Rob was unable to counter so they finished 1, 2.

Joe Lekovish kept us rolling during the cat 5 race with his occasional dig on the guy in the baggy pants or warning spectators to stay clear of the corners lest an out of control cat 5 rider smack into them. As usual, Joe did a stellar job with the announcing.

Jean has made it her goal to make sure Joe gets all of his comment completely accurate when it comes to me. I managed to get into a break with a very young rider and Joe said that, "They could be father and son as Darrell is in his upper forties." Jean got into an agrument with Joe about the legitimacy of such a proposisiton, (which I believe Joe soundly won) and also she made sure Joe knew I was on the "downside" of forty five.

The 3/4 race was fast from the whistle. My plan was to watch the favorites and do my best to cover their moves. My thinking was that the most dangerous rider was Nate Williams. He had at least four Coasties with him which clearly made them the ones to watch. Early on they sent riders off down the road. The field would bring one back then the next one would go. I didn't bother covering these unless someone else was bridging up to them.

I can't remember exactly when but early on I bridged up to Nate on one of his attacks. I asked him for ten seconds before I pulled. It was way early for a break to succeed but here was the state TT champion and the runner up in a break together. Could it get any better than this? I was just licking my chops at the prospect of staying away from that sixty man field for the rest of the race. I felt like we were working well together but they reeled us back in. Where were Nate's team mates? Why didn't they slow up that field for us??? This was just a golden opportunity and they had the muscle to totally wreck any attempt to chase. Oh well, that's racing.

Somewhere early on while chasing down a break away, the rider next in line wouldn't pull through. I yelled back for them to get it moving. It was then that I noticed it was Scott Kroske! When I saw it was Scott I told him he owed me one and that he should get with it and pull through which he did. I told him I was just joking about "owing me" but I still wanted him to pull through. He is a good guy and it is nice to have him with us in the three's, (not to mention he is strong as heck.)

We had a one "opportunity" prime after a half hour, or so, of racing. You all know how I feel about primes. They are just tactical opportunities to me. If I can take one without working too hard then fine otherwise I like to use them to try and form a break. As the field slowed after the prime I attacked with everything I had. I mean it, I just hammered away and I held that sprint for a longer time than I might otherwise have done. It was just bang, bang, bang as hard as I could so I could get some separation. Several riders responded and followed me and we were able to gap the field. This was another promising moment as we now had several riders in the break including Nate. Sadly, the break did not work well together. We were all over the place. Our pulls were erratic. Some riders pulled through and it felt as if they were blocking they slowed down so much. It was a nice try but like the first attempt, this one failed. We did succeed in absolutely freaking the field out though. It was a couple of laps of panicky bike racing as riders were strung out single file trying to stay in the race. I tell you, the possiblities were there it was just so close to being really special. I guess that is how I saw this race today. Lot's of moves that had potential we just needed a couple of pieces to fall into place and we could have been racing like the big dogs. Throwing down nasty attacks; forming successful breaks. Timely blocking back in the field. I suppose that is why this is cat 3 and not 1/2.

The last three laps were definitely exciting. I knew I had to stay near the front or it would be a pack finish. My positioning was not good on the second to last lap. I knew I needed to move up but it was all clogged up. I screwed up...I should have paid more attention and worked harder to stay near the front. I found myself on the last lap trying to improve my position. On the first turn I nearly took out a barrel that marked out the course boundary. I did get to move up a few places on turn number three. This was my bread and butter turn all day. I found I could pick up ten or fifteen places each time I came through this turn. I just took an outside line into the gutter. That way I didn't have to touch the breaks while the others a few feet away had to slow way down. Oh, I almost forgot, the crash. That last lap got a little crazy. Everyone was just bug-eyed and the field was really sketchy. On turn number two a number of riders went down behind me. I didn't see it but it was pretty nasty. One rider was still lying on the ground when I cruised by on my warm down. He eventually got up. I don't think he went to the hospital but I know he is going to be feeling it tomorrow.

So, I hit the last turn several meters from the leaders knowing that I wasn't racing for top three. I came up sprinting and closed down several riders to take eighth place.

Scott Gifford had and awesome day out. He was in the top fifteen. I just passed him at the last turn but he was in there swinging. Roger was there too. Zach had some mechanical issues but he gets the "Ironman" award for not giving up. He dropped his chain twice and ended up riding TT style for twenty minutes trying to get back on to the group. Well done Zach. You have the heart of a champion!

Someone rolled a tire on that last turn but kept his bike upright. It sounded like a crash behind me but it was just the sound of his rim of his tubeless rim rolling on the ashphalt.

All day long I just couldn't shake this one particular rider. He always seemed to be right next to me. I wasn't really very happy about this because he seemed to be having trouble holding his line in the turns and it made me, well, nervous especially after the crash at Dexter. Riders around me were noticing it too and we were warning each other to watch out for him. Nothing personal, but when someone is having trouble holding a clean line in a crit you just need to stay away. Problem for me was this guy was always near me. Well after the race, he found me and told me that he was making it his goal to stay near me! He was very friendly and kind in his remarks but I thought it was kind of funny. Here I was wondering why he was always there only to find out it was intentional.