Claremont Crit M35 & 3/4 7-22-08
Claremont Crit
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Technical, 3-corner, 0.45 mi downtown course
M35+: (24 starters)
Barry Greenberg – 8th
Before the start, the officials promised to stop the race if lightning threatened—promise kept, not once, but twice!! Only 5 minutes into the planned 45 minutes, a sudden gale force wind burst came across the road and blew everything everwhere – race stopped. We spun around a few laps while they cleaned up debris, then restarted with the 4-man break being given their 15 sec back. 5 minutes later, the skies opened up – race stopped. Stood around under a tent for half hour. They restarted for a 10-lap sprint on wet roads with a couple manhole covers that needed to be missed. Throughout all 3 “races” I road up near the front of the field, missed a tire preme by a wheel, and took 4th in the field sprint for 8th overall.
Men ¾: (51 starters)
Peter Chiu – 5th
Joe Jussaume – ?
?????? – ?
Barry Greenberg – 19th
The race from my perspective . . . sorry I didn’t get Joe’s placing – he raced strong at the front of the field – and the name of the 4th NEBCer. Results aren’t online yet.
Stopped at the car to get a dry jersey with my other number, a bottle, and rode back to the start, but the ¾’s were all lined, so I started at the back. Spent the early laps passing cornering-challenged riders getting gapped on the still-treacherous-but-drying course. By the time I got to the “front”, the winning 6-man break was long gone, with Peter in it. I hung out near the front, went for a field preme and got it with a big gap, and . . . DING-DING, Back-to-Back preme!! I thought, “A lap is only a minute, why not?” Head down, took the corners fast, another preme in the pocket. With the finish only a few laps after those premes, I was a bit far back and didn’t feel like risking a bunch sprint for 7th.
Sadly, Peter was feeling great and perfectly positioned for the win when he was taken down in the final corner. He picked himself up and limped across the line ahead of the field for 5th.