Nick, Shannon, Alex, and I carpooled to Troy for a mid afternoon ¾ Crit that promised fast turns, including a fun roundabout. The course did not disappoint and the temperatures were in the 90’s and the humidity wasn’t good. Chip’s presence was a pleasant surprise and provided some much needed cajoling and coaching from the sidelines. 57 riders started, with Alex and Nick on the front row. I was positioned about 2 rows back and Shannon was at an early disadvantage, at the very back of the starting field. Not too many familiar faces today; only James Turner (I Pro) and the usual suspects from Olympus and Saturn of Dayton were present. Jeffrey Renyolds was also there with his camera mounted fore and aft. Everyone else, by virtue of their anonymity, held their cards close to their chest.
From the start, the pace was break-neck and held in the high 20’s-low 30’s. I know I use the word “fast” a lot and it’s probably looses a lot of its meaning (especially in cycling blogs) but believe me when I say that the speeds were fast (think Ault Park A’s). The corners allowed you to hold a lot of speed, while pedaling, which kept the over all average speed rather high. The round about was fun but a little dicey, as many folks clipped their pedals on the blacktop.
From the start, Nick was able to maintain good positioning near the front end of the field. I struggled to move up and had to fight just to maintain my current positioning near the middle (back?). It was a difficult pack of riders to maneuver through, and progress was made in slow increments, unless you were okay unnecessary risky moves (like waiting till a turn to pass 15 guys on the inside…my new pet peeve!).
Eventually, the pack reshuffled the deck and the pace slowed down a tad. I was able to find Nick’s wheel but somehow ended-up passing him and managed to find myself tucked behind the 4TH wheel from the front. This is about as close to the front as I ever want to be, especially with 30 minutes of racing left. Doah!
So, considering where I was, I tried to make the best of things and tried to keep things together the best I could. At one point, I believe myself and three other riders were likely about 20 yards off the front. I was grateful that it was reeled in. After that, I was sucked back into the middle somewhere and pretty much stayed there, trading places with Nick and Shannon periodically, as we tried to avoid crashes while inching are why forward, ever so slowly.
Unfortunately, Alex was seen on the sidelines and had pulled out. So, with this realization, the three of us stayed relatively close to one another and we did a pretty good job of getting near the front and staying together at the end, but with five laps to go, we were just not close enough to the front to really be affective in the sprint. I think everyone in the race felt like they could win and for every rider I passed on my why to what would be the lead out train, two to three riders would move pass me.
I wasn’t as aggressive as I needed to be, for sure and for the most part, the sprint started as we approached the roundabout and didn’t let up till the finish line. Nick did the best with a 16th place. I placed 18th & Shannon 20th.
My max sprint speed was a sluggish 37 mph (need to work on this). We averaged 26.02 mph and overall, I’m very pleased and had the most fun racing that I’ve had in quite some time. The road tripping with the boys was good fun and I’m happy to say, that despite all of us rubbing shoulders, pedals, and wheels with everything out there on the road, we all stayed up right and were able to cross the finish line safely. Now…to do it all again tomorrow (stay tuned for my Tour De Burg blog).
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