Attleboro Crit Cat 5, Peter Shapiro, July 8
5th place out of 40 or so
The Attleboro category 5 race was a learning experience for me. I hadn’t fully recovered from the week’s riding and my goal was a respectable finish with the pack. As the race took off, I found myself pulling at the front for needlessly long stretches of time. Looking back on it, I don’t know what the hell I was thinking. Perhaps it was impatience, but in all honesty I just wasn’t thinking at all and my behavior was simply daft. Tom Whitehill talked some sense into me and I eased off the pedals. I did not contest the first prime (which turned out to be a $99 helmet!).
Congratulations to Keith Reynolds for pulling away early to take the second prime with eight laps to go. Like Robbie McEwen, Keith must have a magic coat of Harry Potter of his own, because I never saw him take off. I grabbed the wheel of a Boston scientific rider (Gary Jasdezewski) who sprinted to try to beat Keith to the line. Gary and I had a slight gap on the pack upon cresting the incline after the finish line and so we decided to break away. I believe this was the right decision since the pack usually does not expect a break away after a prime sprint. With the course setup, we were also briefly out of the pack’s sight. After the race, I found out that the NEBC team blocked and slowed down the pack so that our breakaway could last. Many thanks to Lester Bethel, Keith Reynolds, Bernard Tan, Tom Whitehill, Andrew Schmitt, Matthew Hardy and anyone else I may have forgotten. Four riders bridged the gap and, despite some uneven pulls, our break survived to the line with six riders. I did not have the legs for the final sprint and, to make things worse, foolishly failed to take the inside on the last turn. I finished fifth overall, with Gary taking second.
Had I not needlessly burnt my matches so early, I’d like to think that I could have finished higher up in the standings. With the work done by NEBC to make the breakaway last, I should have done better in the end. Still, it is satisfying to have been part of my first ever breakaway. Cheers and enjoy the world cup final!
Peter