Oyster Point Crit

Sunday, May 13th, 2007 - Mother's Day.

Sorry Mom, I didn't win.

I like this course- a 6-turn criterium around a city center (Lakefront Commons, right on Canon, right on Town Center, around the bends, right on Merchant's Walk, and right on Lakefront Commons to the finish.) Unfortunately, it's likely this will be the 2nd and last time it's used. Too much traffic when there's a neighborhood that has one entrance and one exit, being the same road, on the course (Lombardy Ave.)

I have been sick for two days with a cold, so I wasn't expecting much from this race. There was a lot of money at stake, and originally I'd put this one pretty high on my list. Instead I had to hope that I could breathe with minimal difficulty instead.

The first few laps were fast, but it settled down after about 3-4. There were a few attempted breakaways early, but nothing that ever got very far. More substantial breaks started forming after about 10 laps, getting a little further away from the field, but still nothing was sticking. I went with a JRVS guy on a break that seemed to get a decent gap at first, and we were joined by another guy- we traded pulls, but once the rotation was done I saw that the 3rd man had brought the field with him. I sat up and got back into the field.

A few laps later a 5-man break formed that contained at least one guy I wanted to watch, and I went hard to chase that one. I took the field with me, which was fine- I wasn't expecting to make that gap and have anything left to work with them, anyway.

With about 7 to go I started moving up to make sure I was close to the front for the sprint- that's what it looked like it was going to come down to. With 3 to go I had moved up, and was on the wheel I wanted to be on. Going into the first turn, however, the field separated a little and I lost that wheel. I continued moving up on the outside, though, and stayed in the top half of the field.

On the last lap, I was a little further back than I wanted to be, and I wasn't close to the guys I was watching. I found myself in the middle, but I saw an opening to the inside going into the last turn. This was a good thing because it allowed me to move up about 10 spots easily, but also bad because I had no wheel to follow, and I did the full 200 metre sprint into the headwind.

Anyhoo, I still managed to move up in the sprint to take 11th, which, considering my non-riding, lazy, sick, couch-riding ass yesterday, I consider a decent result.

Thanks to B-Mar for stopping by to chill for a few. He gets more thanks for taking pics and bringing my wheels back.