Keith Berger Criterium, Kevin Hetherington-Young, June 11th
I signed up for and raced three crits today for a total of 75 miles of racing. What a workout!
Cat 3: My first ride on a my new frame. :) A fun little course with four pedal-through corners, though still quick enough that you can occasionally clip a pedal – as I did twice. The wind today was quite strong. We had a right-side headwind up the finishing straight and a strong left-headwind after the first turn. The backstretch was very fast with the strong tailwind and was key to setting up the sprint.
About halfway through the race, they announced a two-place prime. On the backstretch, a couple people made individual attacks, though only one rider seemed committed to taking it to the line. I countered through the weaker attacks with Scott on my wheel, though he didn’t seem to like my line. ;) I did manage to almost get the guy for the 1st place prime despite a 50 foot lead out of the last turn. Oh well. He won the bragging rights and I sprinted for $5.
From there on out, there were many one and two lap breaks, but it really came down to a field sprint. The challenge was the surge/pause/surge of the pack. Anthony put in a good pull to hold things together with three to go, but it was too far out. With one to go, I lost good positioning on a surge but found Adam. On the backstretch, the front punched it hard and we were probably about ten to twelve riders back. Too far for the win. Too bad too, as I felt fast, sprinting up to sixth – one out of the money.
When setting up for the sprint, we had some miscommunications and, more importantly, tactical disagreements. I really wanted us to make a presence up front from two to go on in and try to keep the pace up. Others felt it was too early, which might’ve been the case. The challenge here is that it’s too early until it’s too late and this is exactly what happened. We let other teams take the initiative and failed to get ourselves into position before the inevitable final surge. On the other hand, these things are always hard to manage and I’m just learning to ride with this team. These things take time and I had great time riding with you guys.
Masters 35+: Jim had this covered. I’d just like to add that a little patience goes a long way. I mixed it up a bit much during the race and just didn’t have it in the sprint. After five races in two days, Jim smartly sat in until the sprint. I had his wheel with two turns to go but he managed nine places better than me. He looked quick taking off out of the last turn.
P/1/2/3: 35 miles in 1:14. It was quick and I rolled in at the back of the pack in 37th. Adam?
Reins Deli: Adam, his parents, Dave Chiu and I hit Reins Deli (Exit 65 on 84) for a great meal after racing. Certainly a highlight of day!
All in all, a great day of racing.
Kevin