Tuesday, July 22, 2008

7/27/08 Tour De Burg (Ohio State Criterium Championships).


















I raced this course last year and really enjoyed it. Fast and technical with a really good crowd and a family fun atmosphere. I love the bleachers…that were present at both Troy and Burg (bleachers for Hyde Park Blast?) Anyway, my legs felt pretty good considering the previous day’s race in Troy and I was anxious to put this race behind me, unscathed. A smaller CAT 3 field size today compared with yesterday but still around 40 riders.

The Burg course is fast but the corners are a little slower in comparison, requiring a bit more power. There is one lazy “S” turn (obstacle course) coming out of turn one, before hitting an old brick road section, which continued to make things interesting. Coming off the brick into a left hand turn, riders face a decent head wind. Coming out of the wind, riders take a short left and right turn, before heading down the back stretch into a fast left before making one more left before the final 200 to 300 meters to the finish.

Ryan V. from Team Abundance was present, which meant his modus operandi would be in full affect: fast start and multiple early break away attempts. I considered this, I was a little concerned that this race was going to be a little hectic from the start. McCoy from Olympus was present along with several of his “homey’s” from the Olympus Homes crew (no pun intended). I recognized several that raced yesterday and was hoping there legs were sore. There was not a lot of banter, just steely eyed stars from afar. Some one from Dayton waved and said “Hi Chip.” What’s that about? It was nice to see Todd Frye, from Team Dayton, however. They’ve really been racing well as a team this year and have been producing some good results.

When the race started, a rider on the far left lost his chain immediately. Things were reportedly dicey behind me, as a gap opened, forcing a small group of riders to chase from the start. There were at least two crashes that I’m aware of. One was about halfway through the race, two turns after the bricks. I was behind the spill and had to go wide left to avoid it. I was able to stick to the back of the main group and avoided spending too much energy. The second incident occurred on the final turn before the sprint finish. I saw in my peripheral. I didn’t have quite the positioning and lead out I was hoping to bogart but managed to get behind this really big man who was really cranking it up with about 50 meters to go. I whipped around him on the left and shot past him, catching view of Todd Frye on my right and about 2 bike lengths in front of me. Todd’s a hell of a sprinter and I was lucky to close a little distance on him but never had enough to beat him. He finished 12th and I came in behind him at 13th. Fun race and again, just glad to keep the rubber side down. Lots of bad mojo out there lately and it’s starting to get to me. Hope to find some cool pics, and will add them later. Peace.

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