Bike Forums - Race Report - 8/19 River City Crit, Williamsport, MD

River City/Williamsport Criterium – Age Graded championship. Great crit course with 4 right hand turns, and a left hand sweeper, with a very fast back section and uphill finish.

30+ - small field but had most the MABRA masters racers and the over 30 y.o. members of one of the local eilite squads. After flurries of attacks, two heavy hitters went off the front about 1/3 of the way in, I was with them, but was hurting so instead of fighting for it, gave it up as I figured that the local elite squad and another team that wasn’t represented but had numbers would keep things in check. Big mistake on my part, even though I dont know if I'd have had the legs to stay with winning break, I should have dug deeper and tried. The field rode never got organized and no concerted chase ever materialized. When I realized this, I tried to jump across or at least go away on my own a few times, but this wasnt happening, so I planted myself on who I thought to be the best sprinters wheel thinking it was a good place to be. Anyway, we got lapped by the 2 man break on what turned out to be the last lap, apparently when this happens, we all finish on their lap - I didnt know this and thought it was the breakaways last lap, and the field’s bell lap. I was in 3rd wheel and feeling pretty comfortable coming out of the last turn with what I thought was 1 to go, all of a sudden people start sprinting and I got called out. Finished 11th, but should have been better. Weird finish and 2 big mental errors on my part, but a fun race none the less. It pays to know rules.

Immediately following the 30+ race, I did the 3/4 even though I was pretty tapped. Two team mates looking for upgrade points to go to Cat 2 were in the field, one already has the required points, the other is going very well (Sprinter), won the day prior, and needed just a few more to pad his race resume. We were planning to keep things set up for our Sprinter. I took a few big digs mid way through the race, just to make the field chase, and see if I could get lucky. 3 to go, I attacked hard - to keep if fast and so that the remaining two could position themselves without having to lead. The field chased and caught me with 1.5 to go, I was tapped, sat on some wheels, lead out team mate was on the front driving it for our Sprinter (that was hurting me big time). Lead out dropped our sprinter off at on a left hand sweeper prior to last turn, Sprinter came out of the last turn flying and took the win! I sprinted like a broken freight train for 8th, the last spot getting any cash. I feel really good about our team work on this one and am happy for a team win.