MOAB Downtown Crit

Sunday, May 27^th, 2012

Murfreesboro, TN

Sunday I traveled up Murfreesboro, TN to race in the MOAB Downtown Crit.  MOAB is the local cycling shop in downtown Murfreesboro and I must say they put on a great race.  The hospitality and amenities were great and this is a fun course to say the least. 

My strava of the course can be found here.  The course was a 5 turn up and down course with a 150 degree hairpin at the far end of the course.  The first .5 miles of the course involved 4 turns and was all downhill with swooping wide turns.  After the hairpin, it was a .25 mile long uphill that provided a brutal serving of punishment to anyone brave enough to launch an attack there.  One last turn at the top of the climb and 250m to a downhill finish.

The weather was hot, I saw a bank sign thermometer reading 101 degrees so give or take a few, it was pretty hot.  I went through 2 bottles of water for a 40 minute race, that’s how humid and hot it was.  Luckily Cahaba Cycles provided us with their shop vehicle and tent to keep us cool and out of the sun so we did have some respite on the day but it only added to my otherwise pronounced cycling tan lines. 

The race started at 12:30 and after a good 45 minute warm-up I was ready to go.  The field was in the mid 30’s and the roads were fairly wide so I wasn’t that concerned with getting a good starting position.  With the course having a good uphill on the back side, I didn’t expect any breaks to stick so I went in with the mentality of sitting in top 10 and not chasing anything all day.  What a difference it made, when your not up front chasing or attacking, it is a lot easier to just ride along with the group.  It was really hard for me not to launch an attack but in retrospect I should have when I felt it.  The problem was, Harpeth Cycles had 3 guys sitting and BPC was chasing everything that moved, as well as the Tree House Cycling guys who were well represented.  I knew if I went, I would have to do it alone and I didn’t want to go that hard when I knew I was one of the stronger sprinters in the group so I just sat in and waited patiently. 

With 2 to go the pace kicked up and finally the field got a little stretched out.  I moved from back 20 up to top 8 through turns 2 and 3 and coming up the back stretch I sat second wheel on 5 guys spread out across the road, just waiting for the jump.  BPC went mid way up the hill, I swung wide in turn 5 to keep my speed and stayed top 10.  We were pacelining it and we hit the finish with 1 to go.  Turns 1,2, and 3 came fast and hard and we got a gap on the back part of the field.  On turn 4, the hairpin, I went to the inside as not to have anyone come under me and my rider to the outside almost lost his front wheel but recovered, this gave me just enough to come hard out  of the turn and take 7^th wheel in the paceline.  BPC was still hammering hard and we started to ascend the hill.  Now came the counter attacks, 4 guys came to the outside hard and I jumped on their wheel and weaved my way up the hill as hard as I could go.  I railed turn 5 into the uphill and came down hard to close off the inside line then stood to sprint to the finish.  I managed to get 2 spots and was gaining on 2 more when 3^rd and 4^th place hooked bars and both went down, sliding across the finish line.  Luckily I was able to pull up and went off the course as I went through the finish line, while the rider I was chasing I believed ran over one of the guys who fell. 

Overall I ended up 6^th place and had a good time racing with everyone and watching some of the faster races.  I ended up with the fastest average speed for a crit so far this year so I can only image what the 123 race was doing but it looked fast.  

 Thanks to Cahaba Cycles for their shop vehicle and tent!  What a great sponsor to work with.