2013 Alabama State Criterium Championships

This one’s fresh on the mind, so hopefully no lapses in detail.  The Alabama State Criterium Championships were held at Columbia High School in Madison, AL this year.  It’s kind of depressing when you see the names of the schools surround the arsenal, often named after terrible NASA tragedies.  I grew up going to Challenger elementary and middle school, named after what is probably the most horrific aerospace tragedies of all time.  Our trip started just a little late, meaning to leave town at 10:30 am but not getting moving until almost noon.  Hanh, Jacob and myself drove peacefully until we hit the wall of rain pummeling Decatur all the way to Madison.  It became terribly clear we were not going to enjoy a safe, non-technical course, or keep a dry chamois.  We tried to keep a positive attitude while hydroplaning on the highway, but it was tough.  We arrive about an hour before the Cat 3 start to find the rest of the team huddled under the two tent canopies Kevin brought.  We quickly got registered and found some shelter in the school to kit up and get ready to roll the course.

We didn’t have a terrible lot of time for warming up or pre-riding the course due to our late arrival, but my initial thoughts were that Turns 1-8 were terrifyingly slick, especially #2, and that getting splashed in the eyes from water/mud foxtails sucks.  These perceptions held true through the rest of the evening, with turn #2 proving to be the most troublesome.  The course was in the large drive surrounding the school, a well-paved round with 9 “turns”.  Some of these were really just back-to-back bends of an S-curve that bordered a roundabout, while some were true 90-degree off-camber turns with silt draining at the apex, at the bottom of a moderate decline.

The Cat 3 race started with 15 participants, 6 of them including myself and 5 other Infinity-Donahoo teammates… needless to say, our presence was noticed.  From having entered solo into races with other complete teams, I know this has an intimidating effect.  It’s a standoff and we’re ones with a full clip.  However advantageous, this was a rare treat as our schedules usually never let us race more than 2 or 3 together at a time.  Needless to say, we employed a team strategy…I mean, what else is the point of being on a team if not to race as one?

The race took off with plan A – Jason Kellen take off the front as hard as possible and see if he can solo lap the field.  The idea was however that if another went with him, that we could send another up the road to make it a 2-on-1 fight.  Unfortunately, a 2^nd 2-3 man group formed half-way between, that included teammate Kevin Pawlik, so to send any more up would have meant to bring the rest of the field up to the Jason, so we sat tight and slowly reeled in the mid-group.  Per Jason, he wasn’t getting much cooperation out of his break compadre, so he let up and the whole of us re-gathered at about 5-6 laps in.  Plan B was to send counter-moves when/if Jason got caught, so at that point, Jamie took a solo leap and established good gap fairly quick, however remained in sight.  Alan Laytham (ST3 Cycling), a solid Cat 3 and accustomed to fighting alone, took it upon himself to keep things interesting and put in a dedicated 4-lap effort on the front to bring back Jamie.  The peloton stayed strung out through most of this, with a short bungee effect at some point that allowed a couple riders to set the pace up front until Alan put in the finishing effort to bring back to the break.  Immediately as Jamie was caught we were due to send up another attack, so I gave it 100% starting after turn 1 and got my wheel free.  I only had a 3-4 second gap though most of that first lap, having to stay out of the saddle the next lap to make it happen.  The gap grew to 20 seconds… held, declined, but at some point the elastic snapped and I had 34 seconds.  I did my best to stay out of the saddle springing on the uphill segments and drive the turns hard – the best advantage of not being tight in the peloton.

The race was set up so that we received lap counts at 7 to go, but to be honest, 7 to go seemed like an eternity.  I thought surely I would see everyone catching up at 6 or 5 to go, but it stayed mellow through the finish.  After ¾ of a year racing as a Cat 3, I finally had the chance for a win… and I was happy to do it on a day when we had our team in full presence.  I didn’t know how the fight was playing out in the peloton, but I was hoping things would play favorably for our guys. I had seen Jacob jump in earlier with a bloodied up arm/thigh and didn’t know if there was a major wreck.  As I finished I made sure I got a good pose then looped around to watch the final sprint.  Around turn 9 came a freight train: Kevin, Jason, and Jacob.  For those who remember the crazy days of sprinting to the John Rodgers bridge on Tuesday Night Worlds, these are some of the craziest sprint legs around, and they took 2^nd, 3^rd, and 4^th in style.  Jamie and Doug followed shortly thereafter, with a drag race between Pat Casey (Momentum) and Doug keeping it lively to the end.

I’ve attached most the race photos to a Facebook album, and have appended Jacob's P123 race report, as he actually RACED in that event. I just rode around in a circle for some extra workout time and tried to stay out of their way!

Jacob's P123 report:

"The Men's P123 State Championship started with a small field racing on a course that was still fairly damp from the earlier downpours. Boris started out with a strong attack out of turn 1 that set up what we all knew was coming -- Mike Olheiser dropping the hammer and soloing away. Olheiser got a small gap ahead coming out of turn 2 ahead of Brian Toone on lap 2. Brian, Paul Tower, and I each put in hard pulls that did nothing to bring him back. With the lone pro soloing away, the real race began. Brian Toone was now the man to beat, and Paul, Justin Bynum, and I planned to work together to keep him in check. Unfortunately, Justin crashed in the same corner that claimed me and many others in earlier races, and was unable to continue. That left Paul, me, Will Fyfe, and Ryan Jones of Nashville in a small group to battle it out with Brian for the all-important "first non-pro" finish. 

The pace of our small group fluctuated as Brian made several vicious attacks, with the rest of us trying to keep him in check and not get dropped. Mike Olheiser completed lapping us with only a few laps to go, and almost immediately attacked again. This time, however, Brian reeled him in, and we were altogether with 2 to go when Will Fyfe threw in a surprise counter-move that caught us all flat-footed. After a hard chase, Brian took over to try and dictate the pace going into the last few turns. He controlled the front with the group lined out behind, all the way through the last downhill sweeper to the finish, but Paul powered off his wheel and took the sprint. I got out a little out of position and slipped behind Ryan Jones for 5th, but was happy to see Paul on the podium as the first non-pro finisher, with a well-earned 2nd place in the Alabama Cat 123 Criterium Championship."