2012 Sunny King Cat 3 Criterium, 7th Place [strava]

The last week has blown by so quick. With projects getting up to speed at work and Hanh getting ready to take her first medicine boards exam, stress was at an all-time high.  However, Wednesday of this week I was notified that my Cat 3 upgrade had been approved, and by Thursday I was accepted to Tria Cycling.  This came as a huge relief because I was really counting on having the support of strong riders like Justin Bynum, Jacob Tubbs, and Timo Stark in the weekend’s races and my first weekend as a Cat 3.

So let’s talk about the crit.  By now I’m come to realize that if I don’t win criteriums because I make stupid decisions, then I don’t win them because $&*@ just happens.  The Sunny King crit course reminded me some of Dothan, but with less climbing and narrower streets/turns.  Thus, it favors some of the wattage-happy powerhouses.  If you get a chance to read Brian Toone’s blog, he explains it best.  The biggest pain for me was the slinky-effect.  Only, in the cat 3’s handling skills are NOT quite up to par with the best in sport, so the smell of burning carbon/rubber appeared in all but the first turns, and the out-of-the-saddle sprints ensued leading into every straight.

About 3 laps into the race, I was hanging near the back just trying to conserve energy when a crash on the wheel right in front of me (I would later find out it was Jacob Tubbs who was dragged into it by another rider, costing him his front wheel).  For some reason, this coincided with the field picking up the pace and after negotiating the wreck I had to light a few matches to bridge back up pulling a whole lap solo to catch the draft of the back of the group. There were maybe 3-4 riders behind me when the wreck occurred, and I don’t think they caught back on.  I spend the next several laps recovering before trying to move up again. Luckily, Jacob was able to rejoin with help from neutral support and he proceeded to work the front of the race for quite a while.  About 2/3 of the way into the race, two junior riders representing Hot Tubes/Cervelo broke away and had a huge gap that only came back in the 2^nd to last lap with Timo Stark doing most of the work to pull them back.  Going into the last lap we were averaging 30+ miles per hour with the front of the race single-file and myself on 8^th wheel.  As we went into turn 4 (the last turn), the rider in front of me lost his front tire and slid all the way across the road dropping bottles/wheel bits essentially blocking the field behind him. I was able to barely get around him by using the bid of gutter/sidewalk on the far side before the barriers started up again; having lost my draft however, I was unable to participate in the final sprint and finish where I was, in 7^th.  Timo came in 2-3 spots behind me, and Jacob finished mid-pack as well (this was his 2^nd HARD race for the day, too!).

2012 Foothills Classic Road Race Cat 2/3, 3rd Place [strava]

I’m tired, so this will be short.  This was my chance to redeem myself for yesterday’s mishaps. The 2/3 race started uneventfully (just the way I like it), and at the first climb we hit, 2 guys broke away (Krystal/Warp 9 rider Anders Swanson & the taller of the Hot Tubes juniors).  They quickly put a minute on us, but sitting at the back of the peloton, I didn’t find out until half way through the race until the motorcycle referees started giving us splits. I remember saying “1’15” to what?! A break?! After this I figured it was going to take a break to bring back the break, since nobody up front wanted to push the pace and chase the eventual winner.

I tried to get to the front and ride a downhill on my toptube and got a little gap, but nothing worth committing to.  Thus, the race continued smoothly with only a few surges on the hills until we completed the lollipop of the course and turned homeward.  At the 33 mile mark I started dreaming of a 20 mile solo breakaway. I don’t know why, but knowing I have teammates in the bunch gives me so much more confidence that before, so I gave a break a shot.  On one of the long flats into the headwind returning I sprinted out as hard as I could and surprising got off alone for a few minutes until two riders bridged up – I only recognized Nate Robinson.  It looks like the bridgers caused quite a stir, though, as the field started gaining. When we hit the first of many climbs on the way back, I advised our 3-man group to take it easy and brace ourselves for the counter attack.  I looked back and didn’t see my teammates ready to attack, so we sat wide allowing only enough room for a single lane of bike traffic to pass us. Essentially, we blocked the field to get a little rest and not get dropped in a counter move.  If you’re ever in this position, it’s a pretty good recover technique!

Moving on…, as soon as I recovered from this we were about to crest the top of the first of the big climbs heading back when I saw a nice rotation forming up front. I slid into position and when I came to the front I just launched with everything I could over the top and down the back. I looked back at the bottom of the hill and noticed that nobody came with, so I jumped out of the saddle and climbed as hard as I could through the next few rollers until I was almost out of sight.  I guess the 3rd time is a charm.  Amazingly (and fortunately), a Subaru rider decided he wanted to get away too and he bridged up to me.  A little pep talk and we were giving it all we had up every climb, chip-seal flat, and downhill.  The dream of staying away started to become more and more real, and on the last climb we even saw the 2 breakaways, the 2^nd of which was in the process of getting popped.  At the base of this climb I stood up to climb and my right calf/hamstrings seized completely.  I immediately sat down and went back through my ‘empty’ bottles and emptied every last drop out of them, ensuring I could rely on just my main bottle to finish.  At the 5K mark in the road we experienced some horrific crosswinds, such that the person drafting was almost right beside the person pulling.  At the 3K mark, I informed my riding buddy that I could be of no more use as my calf had seized, and amazingly, he pulled!  At 100m he stood up to sprint and I came around with everything I had, almost falling into him as my right size refused to work.  I finished 3^rd place, about 20 seconds behind the popped breakaway, and exactly 1’01” behind the winner. I would have been stoked with 4^th in my first 3 race, let alone a 2/3 race, so I was screaming with excitement before I even crossed the line.

My breakaway compadres got back to the start and watched the field come through in its entirety to a 6-wide sprint.  Justin Bynum took 5^th in the field sprint, but I think they scored him incorrectly giving him 10^th on the day.  Timo had gone in the first sprint move with the other Hot Tubes rider, but the kid sat up early, boxing him in.  From what I could gather, Justin tried to muster up a break on the last climb, playing out similar to last year, only it appears nobody was prepared to work with him.  All-in-all, Tria Cycling ended up with some respectable results for the weekend, including a few top 10’s and a podium.  See you at Athens Twilight!