Morgul Bismark Crit, 45/4's.
~30/~60
[I didn't do the other 2 stages of the omnium since a) I don't have a TT bike; and b) the RR was very hilly, which is not my gig]
So the crit course is a really interesting course - it's very short, 2' or so long, with turns 1 and 2 being sharp lefts into a narrow alley, followed by an S-turn made up of closely spaced 90-degree turns, which exit on top of a long steep downhill with a fast corner at the bottom followed by a 500 yard wide-road climb to the finish.
First, it's a crit...why put the finish 500 yards up a hill? This is not a hill climb.
I looked at last year's results, and calculated that I don't have the power-to-weight to win a 20" sprint up the hill.
This was very liberating, because it meant that saving my energy for the last sprint would be nonsensical. So, I went out to have some fun.
Pre-race plan was that I thought if I could just get to the S turn first, go through quickly, let my 200 lbs fly down the hill, and take a good line through the turn at the bottom (maybe 50% or more of my competitors are just horrible at this), then I could possibly get away.
Warming up, I set up my trainer at the S turn, and I actually watched a guy in the race before mine execute my plan, and he solo'd for the win.
So I raced aggressively. I rode at the front a few times, and attacked a few times. Twice I got about a 100 yard gap at the beginning of the the narrow alley, but was brought back just before the S-turns. I think I just wasn't strong enough to make it stick, but I was close...
By the last lap, as everybody else was ramping up, I was spent, and I finished off the back.
This was a very fun crit for me. It was really fun being aggressive. It was also really fun when every now and then I could get clean lines through the challenging corners and close/create gaps. I learned a bit, and though my finishing place sucked, I think I was not too far off of getting the glory...
I have a good sprint, so the obvious beginner tactic is to conserve until the end, but I'm pretty sure that's not the most fun way to race, at least on interesting courses.