Well, today felt like a step back.
We lucked out yet again with another unseasonably beautiful day for mid-March. Temps were in the low 70s with plenty of sunshine. Plenty of wind to go along with it, too, but I suppose that is a given.
Just like last weekend, I raced both the Masters 30/39 race and the Cat race. My plan for the Masters was just to sit in and get a respectable finish while keeping myself as fresh as possible for a strong finish in the Cat 4.
MASTERS 30/39
The 25-rider field started out a lot mellower than last week, but was surprisingly squirrely for an experienced field. On the 2nd lap a Velocause rider almost took me out when he made a quick move to the right without even looking. I had to swerve to the right, and fortunately my path was clear. But, yeah, I swore a little bit.
At 10 minutes in the attacks started coming fast and hard. I stayed with them, and at about the 26 minute mark I ended up in a 2-man break with a Velocause rider. That lasted a couple laps, and then we got absorbed. Instantly some more attacks came, and at that point I was just hanging on for dear life. At the 32 minute mark I got popped but got absorbed in a group of 6 or 7 other riders. With a few laps to go we caught back on to the field, but just barely. I blew up hard on the last lap and ended up dangling off of the main field. I ended up taking 17th out of 25, and could only hope that I had saved enough in the tank for the 4s race.
CAT 4
After a nice between-race warmup, teammate David Ross and I rolled to the line to find ourselves in a 10-man field. I am not kidding.
Seriously, what is going on? Here it was, an unbelievably warm, sunny day, with good racing a mere hour or so away from Chicagoland, and we had 10 guys show up for a Cat 4 race? Hung over from St. Patrick's Day? Afraid of being involved in a bad crash like last weekend? I don't get it.
But I digress. The official sent us off for our 35-minute race, and two KV riders led us around the course for the first lap. When lap 2 came around I did the gentlemanly thing and moved to the front to take a pull. I led for the entire lap, at which point I moved to the right to let someone else pull through. No one did. So, I figured "what the heck, lets do another one" and led for the entire 3rd lap. As we turned out of the start/finish, I moved to the right yet again. And no one came through. No matter what I did, or how much I slowed, I could not get anyone to pull through. I could almost here the pack say "no thanks, we like you right where you are."
After another lap of this, Dave came to the front and relieved me. Still, I was never further back than 3rd wheel. Eventually a Colavita rider came around, and we spent the better part of the race working together at the front. No one else did a thing until with about 8 minutes to go a Team Plus rider spent a few laps at the front.
With two to go, it was me and Colavita marking each other. We were still in the lead halfway through the last lap. About 3/4 of the way down the backstretch, he jumped. The riders that were just biding their time started streaming past me on the left. I was tapped out. I fought as hard as I could but had nothing. A Pegasus rider came around me shortly before the line, and there I was...the lantern rouge. A top 10 finish feels pretty cheap when you finish DFL in 10th.
Dave had another strong showing, though, taking 2nd, so another great result for him and the team. I'm betting we'll be seeing him in the Cat 3 field before this season is over.
So, it was a disappointing day, but lessons were definitely learned. Family is coming in from out of town, so I won't be able to make it up for the 3rd and final weekend of these races. Up next is the Burnham Super Spring Criterium at the Blackhawk Farms Speedway in South Beloit on March 31. I missed this race last year, since it was just days after our son was born. I'm looking forward to being out there again for the morning Cat 4/5 race and the afternoon Cat 4 race.
No comments:
Post a Comment