Huntsville Criterium Races- Cat 1,2,3,4 Crit

Sunday July 15, 2012

Huntsville Crit- Cat 1,2,3,4

Okay so when I woke up this morning I didn’t think I would be doing the afternoon crit with the 1,2,3’s but what the hell, why not.  It’s just 60 minutes with elite riders in 90+ degree heat at 2pm in the afternoon, sounds like a good idea?!?  Well I wanted to see if I had what it took to hang with those guys so I went for it.

To my surprise I actually felt really comfortable racing in this race.  The surges came fast and made me feel a level of pain and exertion I can’t say I have ever felt before but it was nothing I couldn’t handle.  I learned really fast that if you lose a wheel at these speeds you will not get it back.  I had to bridge a couple times when riders I was following began to fall off the pace line and I had to come around them to get back on the pace.  And it was as soon as you saw a bike length open you had to go or it was going bye bye.  We started with around 35 riders and only 23 finished.  I sat in most of the race and a couple times wound up on the front but just kept pedaling and maintained while waiting for the attack to come around me.  Brian Toone and Chris Brown had at it back and forth, attacking constantly until they finally got it to stick and then they were never seen again by the field.  For most of the race the group stayed in a strung out pace line and only when it slowed to bunch up did the speed drop to low 20’s only to have someone come out of the back like a bullet and then everyone scramble to get in line and chase. 

Start of the 1,2,3,4 Crit

This was a fast paced race but nothing I couldn’t handle being my goal was just to finish in the pack.  With 5 to go I was hurting but knew there was only 10 minutes left in the race so I gritted and stuck it out.  I got caught 3^rd wheel with 5 to go and stayed there until the last 400m.  Not the position I wanted to be in but then again I wasn’t about to give up a spot to a bunch of 1s and 2s, I needed all the advantage I could get. 

 Sitting on Andrew's wheel from Fairhope Cycling Project and letting him lead me around all day

Me and Mark were the only cat 4's that hung in until the finish and neither one wanted to give up a wheel

The sprint came in corner 3 and it went hard, turn 4 and 5 were railed at 30+ while pedaling the whole time and the last turn came at the bottom of the hill.  I was still 3^rd wheel and I stood to attack when several riders came roaring by.  By the time I grabbed a wheel I was now sitting 7^th wheel.  I was able to hold that position until the sprint at the top of the hill and then crossed the line 11^th overall.  I was really happy to compete at this level for the first time and be able to finish strong.  This gave me a lot of confidence in my training plan this year and now I know what it takes at the next level to compete. 

 Me leading out the group, haha, yeah right.  But if you notice that's Chris Brown and Brian Toone to my inside. 

Railing corner 3 and trying not to lose a wheel

With that said I sent in my Cat 3 upgrade request and it got approved this morning so now I can race with these guys from now on.  Really excited and grateful for the year I’ve had with ST3 Cycling and look forward to carrying it on into the fall with the 3 remaining road races. 

Here is a link to my Strava

Huntsville Criterium Races- Cat 4 Crit

Sunday July 15, 2012

Huntsville Crit- Cat 4

After a good night of sleep and Mike being nice enough to give me his entry for the crit, I was up and ready to go at it in the 4’s crit Sunday morning.  We got to the race early and setup and with a start time of 11am I had plenty of time for a big breakfast and a good warm up.  If Saturday was hot then Sunday was teadering on being close to the center of the earth hot.  It seemed like as soon as I drank a bottle of water I immediately sweat it out.  While I was on my trainer warming up the sweat coming off my forehead was like a leaky water spout, yeah it was hot.  So water and endurolite pills were my best friends today and they kept me feeling good enough that the sun and heat didn’t bother me. 

Me and Alan warming up on the trainer while Mike tells us it's really hot outside

For this race ST3 had 5 guys racing as Mick was able to make it up for the day and get some time in the saddle with us.  The race took off at 11am and went hard from the start for the first 2 laps.  It seems like whenever you race and one of the 3 tours is on TV, people all the sudden feel like they have to act like the pros, and today was no different.  People were attacking and jumping, coming around hot through corners, it was a sketchy race to say the least.  I think the field had to be around 35 deep. 

Start of the 4's Crit

Once the field settled down Alan and myself started attacking and working the front to keep the pace high but didn’t work for too long at any one time as not to get caught with our pants down by some of the stronger riders waiting to launch their attacks.  Well eventually it came and Fisher went off the front and who would have guessed, it was immediately right after I had done a pull on the front.  I didn’t have the legs to chase so I sat up waiting but no one went.  Whatever, I said to myself, I can bridge once they get out there later in the race and plus it was early so maybe someone else would do work to pull it back and I could save my legs for the sprint.  A couple laps went by with no one wanting to do work, speeds crept to high teens and I knew the break wasn’t going that slow so I waited for my mark and hit it off the front with about 20 mins left in the race.  I hammered and pedaled through 3 turns and looked to see if anyone was coming and they weren’t, I was on my own.  Deep breath, I can do this, now let’s go! And I was off to chasing.  I hit my tempo and focused on breathing and keeping my speed up above 25.  About a lap later I heard a free hub spinning behind me and I never looked back to see if it was the pack or an individual, well it was 2 riders bridging to me, Jamie and some other guy that only stayed for about 30 seconds then he fell off. 

I knew Jamie was strong and we could work to bridge so we started taking 20-30 second pulls and trying to get the group of 3 back.  We chased for 3 laps and got within about 5 seconds but just couldn’t get that last 75m, Jamie fell off and dropped back to the pack and I stayed chasing for another 2 laps solo.  I wasn’t gaining any time and I looked to see there was only 8 minutes left in the race.  I knew I would not be able to hold that pace til the end so I began to rest my legs and ease back into the pack. 

ST3 Cycling riding strong at the front (Alan, Stewart, and David)

I was absorbed by the pack and fell in about 5^th wheel with 3 laps to go.  I sat there until the final sprint and was able to go hard the last 300m and take 3^rd in the field sprint and 6^th overall.  Overall I was pleased with my courage and ability to go after the break and try to bridge when I knew it would be tough as hell but I did it.

Here is my link to my Strava

Huntsville Criterium Races- Road Race

July 14^th, 2012

Huntsville, AL

So yeah it’s been a while since I’ve raced and haven’t really updated my blog since Bump N’ Grind this year but over the last month I have taken some time to rest and recover and work on getting some base miles back in my legs.  I did go over to South Carolina for their State Championship Road Race last month and despite having my first road crash ever in a race I was able to pull out a 2^nd place with a hell of a sprint finish jumping from 25+ places back to the front over about 250m.  Here is a link to my Strava from the race.

South Carolina State Road Race Championship

This last weekend I went to Huntsville to do the Huntsville Criterium Races and raced the Cat 4 road race on Saturday.  It was a 4 lap, 40 mile race over really flat terrain with rough roads and a little bit of wind.  To say it was hot was only a minor understatement.  We went off at 8am and over the next 100 minutes I went through 3 bottles of water and still ran out, so yeah, it was hot. 

For this race ST3 wanted to work to get John Soto and David Gotlieb on the podium so they were the protected riders on the day, there job was to sit in a look pretty, well sit in at least.  Alan and I were to work and dicate the pace while not letting anything go.  With a handful of strong riders lining up for this race we both knew that it was going to be a busy day to keep anything from going off the front but we felt up to it. 

The first lap came in fast with a 24+ avg mph with Alan and myself doing a lot of work up front to keep it high and dissuade anyone from trying to attack early.  After mid 2^nd lap things began to slow a bit and the attacks started coming.  Alan would work to control the front and I would jump at anything that moved, we had a good system and John and David were able to sit in the pack and keep sharp for the finish.  Laps 2 and 3 were attack to slow slow pace, to attack to slow again.  Very frustrating so on the start of the 3rd lap I got a gap and a rider bridged to me, I looked back to see we had 150m on the field and they weren’t chasing so I said “you wanna do this?” and dude just smiled so I hit it, 30mph head down and legs pumping at 100 rpms.  I pulled through to let him go and just then the field came up on us, WTF!  I was a little upset but whatever, after that it got a little lively and more people started attacking and finally people were starting to hurt a little. 

With about 6 miles to go the pace slowed to sub 20 and everyone was saving their legs for the sprint which was a long 1 mile open road with a head wind and slight uphill finish 200m past the bottom of a slight downhill.  Mark Fisher decided to go with about 2.5 miles out so David chased his wheel and I went on David’s wheel.  Awesome, Fisher is strong enough to pull us to the finish and with 2 of us there it’s a no brainer, well….no.  I fell asleep at the wheel and forgot I was racing.  Fisher kept the pace high 25-30 for the last 2 miles with Jamie to his side at the 300m line Jamie jumped to go, for whatever reason I didn’t and Fisher sat up as the field came by, I scrambled to get off David’s wheel and around him and was able to launch my sprint but never even got up to speed for it, man was I pissed off.  Yes I yelled profanity and apologized to everyone but I mean really, I’ve never blanked like that before so maybe it was just a fluke but for whatever reason it happened and I’m not proud of it. 

Still wound up 10^th place and felt good about my chances for the following days crit.  Didn’t really feel like doing the time trial so I skipped that Saturday afternoon and drank beer in the parking lot with Mike but we had some good results from the ST3 guys and everyone raced hard.

Here is a link to my Strava of the race.