Timpani Crit, P/1/2 Report

Timpani Crit, Pro 1/2 (65 minutes)
Date: 5 August 2007
Teammates: Rob MacNeil, Greg Davis, Bob Parker
Result: 11th of ~75

This was my first time racing the Timpani crit. The course was definitely to my liking with the flat profile, long straightaways and corners that you can pedal through. There was large representation from BPG, Cal Giant, Metromint, and others. The team plan for the day was simple, save James for the finish.

The 65 min. race started out fast and stayed that way throughout with multiple attacks happening frequently. After the 1st lap the prime bell rang. I slid into a good position and took the prime with moderate effort. After the prime I was off the front for a lap with Brian Bucholz who was encouraging me to try and open up the gap. I wasn't feeling the 62 minute breakaway so I sat up and we were absorbed by the field. From then on the attacks kept coming and the chases shortly followed not letting anyone get away. I covered more attacks than I should have during the first half of the race, the only reason being I didn't see any green jerseys near the front for the first 30 minutes.

After about 30 minutes Greg, Bob and Rob all started putting some time in near the front of the race and helped with covering attacks. At some point I dropped my water bottle and was out of fluids, luckily Bob had an extra bottle and gave it to me. It is great having teamates in the race!

Bob put in some good efforts chasing down some attacks and sitting on. With 5 laps to go there was one guy off the front so Rob went to the front of the pack and drilled it for a lap (he told me after the race he knew the guy OTF was a TT specialist and didn't want to let him get away, good judgement call on Rob's part). I was in decent position with 3 to go when Greg attacked and got a sizeable gap, he was caught after about one lap and the field started to swarm a little. This is when Rob came along side of me and told me to get on his wheel. Rob started getting me through the pack and closer to the front. On the bell lap going into the second to last corner two guys did the squeeze play on Rob causing his front wheel to slam into someone's skewer cleaning out a few of Rob's spokes from his William's wheel. Unfortunately this left me boxed in with nowhere to go. I hit the brakes, went around Rob, avoided Brian Bucholz locking up his rear wheel and sliding sideways in front of me and started my sprint into the last turn, I passed a few people but at the line it was only good for 11th place.

Rob, Greg, and Bob did an awesome job during the second half of the race. We definitely could have communicated more at our pre race meeting about early attacks. Hats off to Rob for having some great bike handling skills and keeping the bike upright during the squeeze play. Greg rode aggressively and I was impressed with his ability to recover after doing the full 104 miles at Ft. Ord.

Thanks for reading

James