4/5’s
I know I said I was only going to do Evanston, I changed my mind on Saturday ;-)
Race started pretty smoothly, not too fast but fast enough
to thin it out just a bit. Not ToAD fast, which is what I had prepared myself
for mentally. Field size was about 50, some familiar faces and some new ones,
there’s always new ones in the 4’s. Relatively uneventful most of the race, A
TATI guy goes right across the manhole while turning, ummm ya, wet tires and
hit a manhole with a lean angle, you’re gonna slide dude! He slides the rear
across the cover, it catches on the asphalt, pops him upright, he doesn’t eat
it, thankfully. But jarred it hard enough to drop the chain, off to the side he
goes. A xXx and Mack guy took off early. They each had a teammate on the front
blocking for a couple laps and I was slotted right in behind them. I was solo
so I wasn’t chasing anything down. And like 98.9% of 4s races, they died after
while and came back to the group. A couple more attacks went here and there, I
just let them go and they came back. With 2 or 3 to go the fight for front
positions picked up, I just kept grabbing the next wheel that came by and held
pack position. A weird reshuffle hit on the home stretch as we got the bell. I
moved up a couple times and after we cleared turn 2 and 3, the most technical
and mentally demanding corners the torch was lit. We cleared the final corner
single file, I was probably 15th coming out. We pointed it towards
the line, into a headwind, and gave it everything. I faded a little bit at the
line. I went a little sooner than I should have, but not much. Took 12th,
in the money.
35+
It was HOT at race time of 1:00 pm, this was my 2nd
crit of the day. We had 45 at the line. A few had raced earlier in the day with
me, only a couple though. So I knew there would be some fresh legs and I made
sure I was ready at the whistle for whatever may come. Quite a few guys I knew
and a couple I would come to know, several friends from SCW. Big advantage of
already having raced earlier, you know the lines and you have the course dialed
in already. Disadvantage, the legs have been used a little already; you can
make up for some of that by knowing the course and lines though.
Race started off smooth, once we got a couple laps in the
pace picked up. Road still has trickle water streams across it between T1 &
T2. There were some moves here and there, MACK had numbers as well as SCW but
there wasn’t much organization it seemed. I sat in about 10-15th
wheel, just far enough back where I wasn’t having to effort the surges too much
and up far enough that I was out of the true accordian effect. Basically, its
where I consider the “sweet spot” of the pack to be. I ended up on the point a
couple times, no biggie, just made sure to stay soft on the pedals. There were
a few hard accelerations here and there coming out of the last turn into the
homestretch headwind, I just marked them and tucked in.
At two and three to go the pace elevates as expected, we
line out up front. On 2 to go, I sit and maintain about 10th wheel,
right with the same wheels I have been with most of the race. It was kind of
tricky the last few laps because we had to keep negotiating the same lapped
riders some of whom were REALLY slow and didn’t get pulled like they were
supposed to. But, that’s Superweek for you. Fortunately a big crash didn’t
happen. It was close though and if would have happened I guarantee you the
officials would have heard about it from me. It will be mentioned the next time
I race with this officiating crew.
Pace jumps just before we hit the line and we go single
files through 1 & 2, then it eases just a touch, I set up for my inside
line through the 2nd of the two sketchy corners (turn 2 & 3).
Once we hit 3-5 to go I started taking the inside lines. Right as I follow my
wheel through the inside of 3 and we’re right about at the apex, kerPOW, a MACK
rider blows a rear and drifts to the outside. He along with another one or two
guys go over the curb and out of bounds. A small handful of guys had to grab a
lot of brake I’m sure. Those of us on the inside immediately throw a little
coal on the fire; we still had a little ways to go so it wasn’t full throttle
yet. We line through the next turn and I hear guys go off the road behind me. That’s
it, 2nd crash on the bell lap, I know the gloves have to come off
and go WFO NOW! I’ve no idea how many guys are on the good side of the crashes
with me now. There is one guy about 5 car lengths off the front going into turn
5, I have about 4 or 5 guys in front me, that’s it. I hear someone yell from
behind “go get him go get him.” I stayed within myself a little bit longer but
full gas. I have done the whole go too early and die coming out of the final
corner to passed by 15 guys on the final stretch. I wasn’t letting that happen
to me today. I come out of the final turn with 2 guys right in front of me and
the one guy up the road a bit. I carry full speed through that final turn
taking the inside of those 2 guys on the exit of the turn. I stay seated and
patient just a touch longer and then my internal timer went off and I jumped
with what I had left; 2 gear shifts through the sprint. 1st place
(VEE-PAK) was gone and Aaron Hampton (PSIMET) came by me pretty fast in the
last 50m for 2nd place. I took 3rd!! P5 gets a SuperWeek
podium!!! I just missed a jersey in that last 50m, I had no idea. Aaron came by
pretty fast though, not sure I would of held him off anyway.
Its the only one I have right now and I was goofing around at this point! My friends were making faces at me! lol
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