I’ve done this crit all three years it has been around. This year’s course was almost the same course as the original except just a touch longer in the section that has the small climb, which was extended by a block for 2011. I like this race quite a bit, a little better pavement would be nice, but, all the small town crit roads are starting to show their age and these small towns don’t have a ton of money to dump on these little side streets, so it is what it is. It’s still fun. Wish more Chicago racers would show up, it’s really not that far. xXx had a large contingent as well as Bike Heaven, Psimet, and Half-Acre. MEADS Bike Shop from Sterling has a team as well now and they had a couple guys with decent fitness in my race. It was nice to see some familiar faces I haven't seen this season yet, or at least since CX ended.
I worked in the morning so I only had one race option, 35+ 4/5s. We had 30+ something guys line up. I had a plan for the race going in and it wasn’t just to sit in and wait for the end. I made it to the line just as Kenny announced last call for riders…oops. Oh well, whistle blew, I clipped in and moved up to about 5-7th wheel by turn 2 and the start of the little climb. I had ridden a pre-lap so I had a gauge of what was going hard on the climb and what wasn’t as far as effort goes. We hit it the first lap at a moderate pace single and double file. Pace was decent on the first lap but nothing I would consider fast, just elevated. Soon into the 2nd or 3rd lap I took over the point to open up the legs a little and get feel for the corners at speed. After a full lap or so, I settled back in. About that time, one of the MEADS guys came to the front and set pace a bit and tried to sneak off the front a couple times over the course of a few laps. The pack wasn’t really letting it happen and it was keeping the pace high enough to quell any counter attacks for the most part.
After a number of laps of this and a little help from his teammate they finally gave up and settled in. I sensed the pace dropping now, so next time as the pack slowed (quite a bit too) one hill, I swung to the inside of the climb about half way up and hit it, out of the saddle and pretty hard. I stayed on the gas all the way to turn 5 while glancing back a couple times. A half-Acre guy I didn’t know was all over me, which was not a problem. The problem was the entire pack was single file about 3 bike lengths behind him. Not enough separation for us going into the long gradual downhill after the next turn. I let up and just started rolling along, no one would come around…..for awhile and had to slow wayyy down before anyone would come around.
After this, the pace picked up a touch every time up the hill and then settled. It was obvious the pack wasn’t going to make the same mistake twice. We had 9 to go next time across the line. I decided to just go back, recover, and wait for it.
Bell Lap:
Pace went up after the hill. Moved up to what I thought might be far enough before turn 7. It would have been too sketchy with all the cracks, divots, bumps, sunken manholes and vents in the apex of the turn to dive into the turn harder. Going into turn 8 (final turn) I take a decent line that should allow me to carry speed and throttle it. But, the guy in front of me decides he wants to move further outside and right into my line, causing pause number one. Instantly I re-direct to his old line inside him. The guy right that he was behind then clips his pedal and bobbles a second, causing pause number two. That was it, the line was 50m after the turn, and top 5 was out of reach now. Hit the gas once more, took two more guys. Rolled across 10th. All in all, it was a good race for me. Tried some new things, did a few things I set out to do so at the end of the day it was a success, for the most part. You always want to win though.
