ABD Memorial Weekend Masters Races 30+ Open (Monday)

For those that haven’t ridden it, Monday was the combined course, 1.7 miles in length. 60 minute crit. The course consisted of approximately 9 turns, 2 of them being right hand sweepers and a chicane to finish out the lap. It also has what I consider a 2 section gradual rise and when you turn at the top you turn into a 25-30mph head-cross wind. I really dig this course, especially the fast right hand sweeper after the hard left. 

Monday was not the brutal heat that Sunday was, but it was very warm none the less at the 2pm start time. We had the usual suspects that have been racing all weekend at the line. Tomlinson, a couple PACT guys including Rentas, Pearson, Jostein, and about 4 or 5 Burnham’s today. 

My plan for the day was simple:

      1)      DO NOT ride off the front solo early in the race (like Saturday)

      2)      Hang on and cover strong when the attacks hit

      3)      Position myself high up in the pack when we hit 3 to go and hold it and be no less than top                                  10 when we get the bell.

First lap was pretty mellow, everyone wanted to gauge the course and exactly how the wind was going to hit us at the different parts of it. We finish the first lap and the gloves come off and the pace shoots up…here we go. Some gentle attacks go but they are all kept in check. Tom “Burnham Monster” Driver chases EVERYTHING. The whole time I’m waiting for him to push the big red button but it never really happens. About half way through the race we are in the gutter in the head-cross wind every lap, guys (myself included) are scrubbing the lip where the asphalt meets the gutter and the cross wind is bouncing us into each other a little, no one hits the deck though. With about 25 min left in the race Pearson starts his barrage of attacks (he got away the day before so everyone knows that is what’s on his mind today), he attacks up the rise to the turn into the wind for 3 or 4 laps straight, no success. The headwind was simply too much for an attack to work. Regardless, 3 to go and Mendoza throws down a hard attack that lines it out. 

As soon as I see it, I grab Vic’s (PACT) wheel and hang on. We get the bell and I’m sitting 5^th or 6^th wheel, right where I wanted and planned on being. I just sit and tell myself take any wheel that tries to come over the top. We rail through the hard left turn and right hand sweeper at 33-34mph all the way to the bottom of the rise. I hit the last turn before the head wind only losing one position. We come up the rise to the chicane and Mendoza pinches me to the gutter and I had to check up, we bump a little and I lose a spot to him and a couple other guys that come around but I don’t panic and keep driving…continuing my steady ramping up. We clear the chicane and the sprint is on, I hold steady and wait a touch maintaining my position, then I let go. I take a guy and then there’s Mendoza next, I take Mendoza 20m from the line and ran out of real estate before I could get the next two guys, Tomlinson and Rentas. Not sure if I could have taken them too but boy was I close and right there! 

Finished right behind them; literally. Took 9^th in the field sprint and 12^th for the day! This race is a big win for me in that I feel I have come of age with these fast guys and have proven to myself that not only can I hang with them but I can also contest the race right there with them!