Wente Criterium - 4/26/09 - Cat5 22(41)

I’m not a big fan of crits, but I’ve watched Wente for a few years and came away with the feeling that if there was such a thing as a perfect squirrel race it would be this one at the outskirts of Livermore. The course is about 1.2 miles long, perfectly flat, with excellent pavement, and smooth corners. There’s also the notion that one should at least try to work on weaknesses – to that effect I promised myself a real crit every once in a while. Wente also fell into place because the road race was full by the time I decided to sign up for it. The crit however had quite a few spots open.

Cat5s are the very bottom of the racing ladder, the part that scrapes the dirt below everyone else’s tires. I guess it’s supposed to be some sort of weird motivation to get people to move up as quickly as possible. Wente did not disappoint: a 7:30am start, 3 places, no cash, no prizes, and no primes. Compare that to the Cat 4 Women or the Juniors – yes, they get CASH, 6 places, and a nicer starting time. I must admit that the Juniors had a fantastic and very exciting race!

We started off with a pretty full pack, heading West into the wind which was blowing about 8-10mph. I figured that the wind would discourage any successful breaks. A few times someone would jump and make it 30 yards in front of the pack. Then they’d dangle for a while and fall back. We were destined for a pack finish and my strategy was to come around the last corner on the final lap somewhere in 8th to 10th place. The finish is on a wide road and can easily take six or more riders across. It’s also pretty far from that last corner and you’re going into the wind. Normally, being in the top three is advisable, but here it seemed like a good way to go nowhere. I duly noted that most riders around me probably weighed 15 to 30 lbs more than me, had huge legs (for 5s), and were probably stronger. I would have to suck wheel until the very end and hope for the best.

The first lap was squirrely with most riders trying to figure out the corners and even the straightaway before the finish line became chaotic for a short period of time. Imagine five or six wobbling bowling pins travelling at 25 or so mph. A bit later a dog runs right into the front of the field. Fortunately the road is wide and some of us see it coming, but the little mutt still gets nailed and a couple of riders go down. A few people stop, the pack rolls on at a moderate pace. It’s time to take a deep breath and wonder what we’re doing here. The dog runs off and I’m thinking about the owner. I figure they both have a brain the size of a walnut and keep riding…

The pack gets in a groove, the corners get smoother, and I practice my best Pufferfish whenever someone encroaches. This is actually fun! The pace picks up when the lap card turns to ‘2’ and I’m trying to tuck in. The speed is a bit above comfort zone, but manageable. A guy to my front left gets squeezed into a curb and locks up his front brake. His rear wheel lifts a foot and a half off the pavement, but comes back down. The last corner is in sight and my visions of glory fade as I round it in the middle of the pack. The sprint is chaotic since there are many riders with similar physical ability. I get a serious case of tunnel vision and roll across in 22nd place for the 2nd time in a couple of weeks. I guess my success is still measured by the big three: stay upright, finish, and don’t finish last…

Elmar

Crit Survival - EBC

The EBC crit in PTown is a short affair, 30 minutes, on a course that’s approx. 0.8 mi long, flat, smooth, with three ninety-degree and one gently curving corner. After a couple of squirrelly warm-up laps in the 22-23mph range the pace picks up and we’re consistently cruising along at 26mph (for all those really fast guys who’re laughing, remember that this is Cat5). By the third lap any ambitions (hey, even skinny climber legs have dreams) I may have had for the race are gone and am in survival mode, desperately trying to find a wheel that doesn’t twitch and can actually hold a line in the corners. Unfortunately the good wheels have their own problems and share my predicament. I try the top third, the middle third, the rear third, the left, and the right side to no avail.

At Madera the pack felt fairly consistent, smooth and friendly (everyone wanted to move on to the next stage), here it twitches, intermittently, randomly. Riders are cutting the corners 4 or 5 across, but at different angles and vastly different speeds. Russian roulette comes to mind. I decide I’ve had enough and skirt the side of the pack for a brief moment. Wow, there is a lot of wind out there, better get back in the draft. I long for the days when I would have been dropped after the second lap.

There are no attacks and the speed doesn’t seem fast enough to string the pack into a single or double line. With two laps to go the pace picks up, we’re now averaging low to mid-28mph, still bunched together – it is scary. On the 3^rd turn a guy from POM FD loses control just to my front left. His right foot unclips and he skates his cleat around the corner, MTB downhill style, while his front end wobbles like crazy. Miraculously, the ensuing crash that flashes through my mind doesn’t happen and he pulls it off without taking out anyone to his left or behind him. Last lap - we’re hammering the back stretch, now doing 30mph. One more corner - sparks are coming off a pedal to my front right, but once again there is no crash. I finish 31^st of 47 and am happy, once again meeting my top three goals: 1.) stay upright, 2.) finish the race, and 3.) don’t finish last…

Congrats to Vanessa on a smart race and awesome finish (2nd Cat4, 3rd overall) in the women's 3/4 race. Seems like they had similar problems, but didn't walk away unscathed - there were two pretty hard crashes!