Wente Crit Reports

Rob skipped the RR Saturday and used the saved energy for 2 races on Sunday. He first lined up for the 35+ 1/2/3 race then did the P/1/2 race a couple hours later. Following are his reports from both races:

Wente Crit, 22 April 2007
Field: 35+ 1/2/3
Placing: 5th of 86
Teammates: Paul Debacker & Bob Parker

This sweeping course is more fun than the normal 4-corner crit. Winds are usually high but don't have much affect, except on the front straight where it blasts a rider in the face and sends them groveling for shelter in the pack. Breaks don't often stay away here, but that doesn't stop people from trying.

At the gun I clipped in fastest and found myself at the head of the pack. I led most of the 1st lap till the blasting headwind, at which point the air brake effect put me back in the pack. Soon after, I followed a breakaway with a promising combo of Granshaw (Morgan Stanley), Hernandez (Safeway), Nolan (AMD), and one other. It took maybe a quarter lap of hard pedaling to bridge. We went around for a couple laps and got pulled back, for which I was thankful because my legs were killing me and I wanted more warmup in the pack. Each time I pulled through was agony, especially in the headwind.

I recovered a bit in the pack and started feeling normal. I took off in chase once or twice more as big splits were occurring frequently. Paul and Bob made frequent visits to the front to help as well. They definitely made a difference in keeping things together for our team. With about ten minutes to go I remember one really big group off the front (20+ guys) and not much chasing going on. I still wanted to be in the finale so I went to the front and made one pretty big effort to close the gap. After that, I tried to recuperate and surf the pack in preparation for the pending pack sprint.

It really heated up on the last lap, I did a pretty good job with positioning. I actually tried to hang back a little thinking that the guys up front would jump too early on the long headwind straight and I'd try to sprint around them as they faded. That's pretty much what happened except I couldn't get around the 4 guys in front of me. First place was definitely out of reach with my positioning strategy but I was close to 2nd, shoulda jumped a fraction earlier. Note to self: remember that for the next race, which leads me to...

Wente Crit, P/1/2
Placing: 16th of 81
Teammates: Matt Beebe (AKA BB)

This time BB led out from the gun while I tried to find the sweet spot in the pack. After a lap, he was relieved from pace setting and did the same. This was BB's 2nd crit in the P/1/2's so the strategy for him was to get some experience in the new category, get some race intensity, and make some efforts if he felt up to it. He did a great job while looking comfortable and smooth. He made one really big chasing effort at about 40 minutes into our 60 minute race. This was during the hardest lap in the race, which had me on the rivet for sure.

During the race lots of breakaways with horsepower and mix of teams went off but didn't get very far before being chased down. I was convinced another sprint would happen so I didn't bother wasting energy getting in breaks. Seemed like the safe bet considering our small numbers with a team of 2. So, I just sat in and went around in circles.

The last couple laps were dicey and fast. Pretty fun though, I enjoy that stuff. Last lap, I was in good position through the S/F and through the back side. A couple teams were in full lead out mode with guys pulling off after doing their job. Into the right hander after the back straight, one rider pulled off and went for the outside curb through the primo racing line, which is where I happened to be heading at much greater speed. Being pushed into the curb, I had no options. Reacting fast, I went wide and I hopped the curb onto the sidewalk, avoided a hay bail, did a full sprint for about 100 feet on the sidewalk, looked over for a gap in traffic, then hopped back onto the road to rejoin the peleton before the sidewalk ran out. That cost me about 20 spots, putting me 30-40th on the road into the last sweepers and right hander. I pulled around guys, made up some spots, rode the headwind straight through the left gutter in a lot of traffic, then started sprinting in spurts while avoiding more burned off leadout guys and other traffic. All that got me 16th, which I was actually sort proud of considering a quarter lap earlier I was offroad flying toward a hay bail. That's racing though. Good times. Seriously though, I should've been on the inside line through that right hander. It was a tight squeeze through that corner every lap and I should've planned better. Easy to say but tough to execute while riding the wave. Next time...

Thanks for reading,
Rob