Turning Pro?

OK, well maybe not. Last night was the first practice crit of the season. After probably the worse work day I’ve ever had I decided I should do some crit action. I did ride 32 miles at lunch at a pretty good pace (right around 20mph) so I thought maybe I rode a bit hard to have an effective crit. I decided to do the B race and then maybe do a couple A race laps. The B race was full of Brazen Dropouts, I think they started 8 of the 30 rider field. Throw in 3 Atkins and 3 UW riders and team tactics were full blown. It was the BD strategy to get someone off the front. So they continued to launch riders non-stop, we’d bring them back and then the next one would go. After a few laps, I had enough of this and when we caught the BD rider of that lap, I attacked. I held it for over a lap but got absorbed. There were some good riders in the field. The UW guys and some Endeavour guy pulled a lot back but basically no one had the strength to make something solo. The laps winded down and I sat in the middle. With one to go, we caught yet another BD attacker. The Endeavour guy led the pack down the second to last straight. I started my sprint about 50 yards from the last corner, had a decent lead around the corner. Sprinted about half-way to the line, got passed, grabbed his wheel and held it for second. Finally! A tactically perfect race for me. I think next time though I would get in 2nd wheel coming to the line but I wasn’t sure which BD rider would sprint so I decided to bury them as soon as I could. I think I raced as well as I could.

So feeling all confident…what the hell, let’s do A’s! Well right from the start Rybarik attacked and my legs were dead. I preceded to get dropped about a half of a lap in. I went over and talk to the Tank. He told me to try some more so I jumped in (it is a practice crit afterall.) Awesome! I did like 8 or 9 straight laps in the field before getting dropped after a series of hard accelerations (thank you Hertz!) :) I figured at this point I was fried, but Hertz told me…jump back in. So I did and I was able to hang for the final 10 laps. With about 4 to go there was a 3 man break ahead including Jordan. I figured, what the heck I didn’t expect to be here so I’ll try to chase them down. So with Hertz on the front, I attacked. I gained some ground and got about halfway between the two groups. I also maxxed out my heart-rate (199BPMs) and a half a lap later I got absorbed. But this is the part I am ecstatic about. I didn’t get dropped when getting absorbed, I was able to get back into the group and hang on and even be there for the sprint finish! The finish was almost awesome as Jordan shredded his breakaway companions and Rybarik bridged up, the held it until right before the last corner, but alas they were caught and some random won. But nothing could wash the smile off of my face, nothing like over an hour of riding with a heartrate averaging in the high 180’s and getting experience and seeing surprises on people’s faces when I was in the pack at an A race. Despite my crappy day at work, I was all smiles last night! Also props to Kelson for not only finishing the A race but being a key participant, chasing down breaks, getting in a couple of his own and being in the top half of the field all race. Renee took alot of pics so I'll have to hope she posts them soon! :)