Lots of races in the area thanks to New England Race Week. Between Heartbreak Hill Grand Prix, The Twilight Criterium, and Longsjo, I’m getting in six races in eight days.
Twilight Criterium started at
The ¾ field went off with 37 starters. With the track being so flat it was easy to sit in but there was wind coming out of turn 4 that played a slight factor. Right from the start there were two or three racers that launched attack after attack looking for a breakaway. Each time they did, the entire field would respond and shut down the move. I figured with Mike Norton in the field that Cyclonauts would be the only team to potentially shut things down and make something stick. Fortunately Mike had just finished being in a break in the Masters race and I think he was saving his legs.
With no intentions of trying to establish a break, I sat near the back for the first 10 minutes or so to warm up a bit more. At the 10-minute mark, the first prime bell rang. I considered making a go at it even though I was way too far back (starting from the very back), but gave up after getting to the front and seeing how much of a gap the front guys already had.
Shortly after the first prime, the prime bell rang for the second time. This time I was near the front and in much better position. Just like on the first prime lap, a handful of riders attacked off of the front. I did not jump on their train but instead stayed back on third wheel. The two riders in front of me pulled off by mid-lap, and as soon as the second rider did, I went full-throttle (1,325W) and sprinted off of the front. There was a three-man group about 100m up, and another rider maybe 50m in front of them. Sprinting quickly brought my speed up to over 30 mph, and I quickly caught up to the group of three going into turn 3. As I overtook them, I again came out of the saddle to accelerate by and ensure I didn’t take someone along. The lead rider was now in my sites and he was hugging the inside line coming out of turn four. I kept the hammer down as I came around turn 4 and went to the outside. I caught the leader with about 100m to go and stayed strong to win the prime (30s @ 760W). Michelin Pro2 Race in the bag! The field didn’t catch up for almost another lap which gave me nice recovery time.
Another prime lap or two also went off before the finish, but fully committing to the prime that I won hurt a bit and I couldn’t see myself making another big effort before the finish. It was only a 30-minute race and there were probably 10 minutes or less to go at this point.
With two to go I moved up from the back of the field to the front third or so. I wasn’t able to take shelter too quickly and spent more energy pedaling into wind than I would have liked. As we approached the final lap, things really began to wind up and I think it was Cyclonauts/Nor’East Cycling driving the pace. We were fairly stretched out as we came down the back stretch and I was already suffering due to the pace, sitting about 15 wheels back. This was further back than I wanted to be, but I was hurting too much to gain any position. On turn 3 I found the wheel of Frank Leija (Diehard/Think Racing) who was a bigger racer that I had seen making a few fast-looking sprints during warmup. He pulled me up on the inside of the track until we came out of turn 4.
This is where things got hazy. I thought that I popped around Frank with about 100m to go and threw my bike across the line in 8th or 9th place, but the results show otherwise. In the Velocityresults.com photo finish I am difficult to see, but I am about a half bike length behind Frank who was even with two other racers. Either Velocity Results took a photo of the wrong place, or I kicked to the wrong line. I’m guessing that it was the latter. Either way I wasn’t in the money, and I didn’t make a very strong sprint at only 800W or so for the last 10 seconds. Some day I’m going to have to learn to do a proper 1300W+ sprint at the finish.
No comments:
Post a Comment