Mystic Velo Criterium, cat3

I’ll be on vacation in Europe for two weeks starting Friday, so the Mystic Velo criterium was my last race of the first half of the season. I’ve been really tired the last two weeks or so and feel due for a break. Haven’t taken a rest week since early May because I haven’t felt the need, and with a two-week break coming up I wanted to just ride and race as much as I could.

Ken and I headed down to Ninigret in time for the cat4 field, so it was an early morning but at a nice slow pace, just like I like. Watching Ken race was inspiring. He was off the front every chance he had, didn’t rest until there were 4 to go, then practically ripped the crankarms off of his bike as a he sprinted for second place. His acceleration in the last 100 meters was ridiculous, and he came up just short of a Mystic Velo rider that made a very long Haussler-like sprint.
The cat3 field only had 15 or 20 pre-regs, but the weather turned out better than predicted and we ended up with 37 starters. A lot of the older but very strong crit specialists showed up including Norton and his gang, Curley, and Yabroudy. I haven’t really raced against any of those guys this year and wasn’t sure what to expect. NEBC had three in the race including Mike, Brian, and myself.

I got a better position than usual at the start, thanks to unintentionally lining up behind the Mystic Velo guys that ended up getting a callup. Clipped in quickly and there I was in the front 5 for the first 2 or 3 laps. Victory! Actually, it was mostly useless seeing as everyone has fresh legs at the start and no one was going to get away. I just took a lot of unnecessary wind chasing wheels that had a 0.0001% chance of staying away.

Ninigret is pretty easy to move around on, especially compared to the New Britain course. After spending time near the front I could float to the back of the 37-man peloton and rest up without having to fight for a wheel. When the time came to move back up, it was no-problemo.

Somewhere in the middle of the race the first prime was called. A break of 3 went up the road and the rest of the field seemed like they just wanted to let them hang about 100 meters up. I was able to get a free ride to the front, and as we came into the last corner I was on the front. The break was still just dangling up there teasing me to chase them down. As we came out of the corner I waited for just a second to see if anyone would try and sprint after them. No one did, so I punched it for 5 seconds or so. Two of the three in the breakaway weren’t going very fast, and for a second I thought I might be able to do it, but then I noticed one guy had sprinted off the front. I sat up before burning too many matches and it was a good thing.

The rest of the field countered very hard coming over the line. I was crawling compared to them and had to sprint my butt off just to get my speed up enough to catch a wheel. Two sprints in about 30 seconds time. The pace continued to punish me for the next two laps or so. I just sat on praying that we’d ease up soon. After digging super deep, we finally bunched up and I can’t tell you how relieved I was.

That little effort really spent me. It took a good 10 laps of resting before my headed didn’t feel like it was going to explode. By that point we were at 4 to go and it was time to get position for the finish. A bunch of break attempts went off during this time, but it seemed like we were keeping a fast and smooth pace that kept all attacks under control. Nothing seemed to stay away for more than a lap or two.

Once again, moving around in this race proved to be really easy and I was able to catch a wheel to take me to the front. With 3 to go I found myself in the front 5, which was actually a little bit closer to the front than I would have liked. I followed wheels for the next two laps, but we were really ramping it up and I felt like I was taking a lot more wind than I should be. The pace with 2 to go felt like a typical pace on a finishing lap. I even made a rookie mistake and clipped my pedal on the pavement trying pedal through a turn.

That being said, I was hurting when the bell rang. Things also got pretty hazy for me, so I’m not sure how accurate this in. I think I was second wheel when the bell rang, but instantly got swarmed on both sides. Going through the first turns of the final lap I was in the drops and it felt like we were absolutely killing it, elbow to elbow. On the back straight I was in the middle, and the middle was shooting back while the sides were moving up. I couldn’t get on the moveup train, but then again I don’t think I had the legs anyways.

With one turn left in the race I was still around 15 wheels back, which normally is a position that I wouldn’t consider terrible. The trouble was, my sprinting legs were already cooked and the best I could have done was maintain that positon. I spent too much energy too early trying to stay in the top 5 and contend for the win. This field was too strong for me to race like that. I sat up on the finishing straight and rolled through with the back of the field. Results are up here.

This race was a satisfying end to my pre-Europe season. I really enjoyed racing with some very strong cat3 masters and experiencing their approach to racing. Even though I didn’t have a good result, I felt like I really tested myself by getting into a position where I could have done well if I were stronger. These June criteriums have been good fun.