Louisville Crit - 05/06/07

The curse of the Cat 3s reigned (and rained down) upon the field at our 4:30pm start time for this 60-minute criterium on a closed off, wide open but technical 0.7-mile loop. From 3:45 - 4:15, the temperature dropped from the upper-50s to the low-40s, and hail, sleet and drenching rain persisted until the end of our race.

To me, this is heaven on two wheels! Adversity separates the men from the boys like nothing else, and only the heartiest of racers toed the line. Plus, thinking back to 1990 and then fast forwarding, I could not think of any race result in shitty weather that was anything but top notch for me. And yesterday was no exception.

In the morning, the 4s kicked things off right. Andy Johnson was his usual workhorse self, chasing down every break and keeping the team "in the game" to the end. Then, Tim Malton led the charge and won the bunch sprint for 2nd overall. The lone breakaway artist nearly ran out of real estate. Tim is one of the most explosive sprinters I've seen and I can't wait until he moves up to the 3s. We'll then have a cadre of sprinters and be very, very dangerous in crits and the flatter road races.

But I digress . . . back to yesterday's action. As stated above, Mother Nature decided to go on the rag by the time the 3s race began. Fucking bitch! The efficacy of the warm up was thrown out the window and I was shivering uncontrollably by the time the race actually started. I contemplated taking off my wind vest, but just couldn't. Every stitch of clothing was essential. Then the race starter said to me, "Hey, you, I can't see your number. The camera needs to see your number, Number 722." WTF? So, I responded, "Sounds like you can see my number just fine." Riders laughed; she did not. No fucking way was I taking off my vest. I'd deal with the repercussions of my actions later.

The first lap was controlled as everyone tried to find their place, a rhythm and essentially thaw out. Diran and Jeremy were at the front, looking smooth and frisky. I was a few people back and feeling surprisingly great. Coming across the start/finish line for the first time, the bell sounded, signaling a prime lap. I decided to move to the front, knowing someone would come by me to win that prime. When that person did come by, a Rocky Mounts rider, I jumped on his wheel and stayed on it until he sprinted for the prime. I had no interest in it, but the tactic served its purpose - I gained a small but nice gap on the main field. As the prime winner backed off to reintegrate, I blew right past him and took off.

On a day like this, being alone is an advantage. I never used my brakes through the tight corners, whereas the pack had to continually brake to stay safe. I felt possessed, like I wanted to tear the race apart, attacking coming out of every turn and up the uphill finishing curve. 20 minutes into it, Derek Hutton from MixOne bridged up to me. Afterwards he told me he cursed me the whole time because he tried to go with me from the beginning, couldn't and then fought like hell to finally catch on. Nice compliment.

Once Derek caught on and then sat in to recover, we quickly agreed that the primes were for shit and all we cared about was turning this into a 2-man race. Still, I managed to win 2 primes - 2 pairs of socks. All right! We worked very well together and by the 30-minute mark, we could see the peloton up ahead. We were about to lap the field!! And we did just that before the 35-minute mark. This felt like an awesome accomplishment and it felt even better to sit in and rest a little bit.

I found Diran and Jeremy, who were both riding smartly within the group. After a few laps within the group, I (of course) got antsy again and, wanting to remain safe and rubber side down, went back to the front. Derek marked me and was right on my wheel. From our laps together, he was stronger going up the finishing hill than I was most laps. I knew if I wated to the very end, then I ran the risk of losing the sprint. I tried a couple of fake attacks to see what Derek would do and each time he grabbed my wheel. He did the same and I was right there. We marked each other like a cat stalks its prey.

Finally, with three-quarters of a lap remaining my complete lack of patience took hold. I took off in the hopes of catching Derek off-guard, thinking that maybe he was thinking I would wait to sprint it out with him. I figured if I hit the final corner alone - and, thus, without having to brake - and he was still integrated in the group, I'd get the daylight I needed to win. Alas, that was not to be. I charged up the hill with all I had left. Then, with about 75m to go, riders started to come by. They were racing for 3rd so it didn't matter. Then, with about 30-40m to go, Derek came by. Dammit! Still, 2nd on the day. Not bad! Jeremy ended up 7th and Diran 13th. A great day for Feedback's 3s squadron!

Afterwards, I wondered if going that early at the end was the right thing to do. Is labeling myself as a "non-sprinter" unfair? What would happen if, just once, I waited to the very end to wind up a sprint? Well, I don't know. But I should give it a try. Especially on an uphill finish. I just might surprise myself at what sort of power this 140-lb. body can generate.

Or, I might get my ass kicked. But I won't know until I give it a shot. So, next time, I'll give it a shot. I won't say I did the "wrong" thing here. Had I waited for the final sprint, I could just as easily finished 2nd as 1st. I'm very happy with the effort and result. Especially since I hadn't even decided to race until about 3 hours before the race. This was a celebratory weekend for my wife, Lori, as she graduated with honors from her Masters in Education program from Regis University on Saturday. Family from both sides was in town for the celebration and I had happily written off racing and training for the weekend. Sunday around lunchtime she came to me and said that after missing the race I really wanted to do on Saturday - the Lookout Mountain hill climb - if I wanted to race the Louisville Crit, then I could. And so it was decided.

Hats off to Lori, my kids and my parents for standing in the crappy weather to cheer me on. I think I need to invite Lori and the kids to more of my crits. The 3 they have attended, I've placed 5th, 1st and 2nd. My good luck charms for sure! And hats off to the members of our 4s crew, other Feedback groupies and significant others who were there to cheer us on as well. It made the race more enjoyable to slog through for sure!

Till next time . . .