James rode Solo at the Carrera de San Rafael and scored another top ten against a very competitive field. Below is his report.
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Race: Carrera de San Rafael
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Race: Carrera de San Rafael
Date: 7 July 2007
Placing: 9th of 92
This was my first year racing the Carerra. The race is promoted by Pilarcitos and I am starting to learn that Pilarcitos promotes some of the best races in the area. It was also a twilight criterium with an 8 p.m. and 90 minutes of racing to be had.
The course was in downtown San Rafael, a short 4 corner criterium with the start/finish on a slight uphill straightaway leading into a right hander where the road pitches up a little more for one block into a right hander where the road starts to go slightly downhill for a long straightaway leading into the 3rd right hander where the downhill got steeper into the last corner which was really fast.
The lap times were just over a minute each. There were plenty of strong teams represented like Priority Health, Nerac, HealthNet, BMC, Cal Giant, BPG, Lombardi, Kovarus, and Metromint. The field was more stacked than any other field I have ever raced in. 92 riders started the race and only 50 finished.
The race stared out and continued to be insanely fast. For roughly 80 of the 90 minutes of racing it was single file and difficult to move up through the pack. This was definitely the fasted crit I have done all year. Again for the first half of the race I was not feeling very strong, I was not able to respond to any of the many attacks and accelerations up the steeper section of the hill. Right at the midpoint of the race I my legs started coming around and started feeling much stronger. I started working my way up through the pack and spent the second half of the race in the top 20. I didn't go for any of the large cash primes opting to save my legs for the finish. A BMC rider was off the front with 3 laps to go the pack started chasing and everyone was strung out single file. The BMC rider was caught right around the time we heard the bell for the last lap, at this time I was sitting about 20th wheel. I put in a hard acceleration up the last steep section of the course and gained a few spots. I went into the last corner in about 13th or 14th place and started my sprint right out of the corner. During the sprint I passed some riders all the while gaining on the leaders. I ran out of road to the finish line and ended up 9th place.
I was more than pleased to be inside the top 10 in such a stacked field. My finishing speed was as fast or faster than everyone out there. Some day soon I hope to put it all together and have the right positioning going into the sprint where I can bring the Green Team a win.
Thanks for reading.
James
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