shovelhd

USAC Masters Road National Championships M55-59 criterium, 13th place. The rest is long, so you have been warned.

I basically dedicated the last three months of the season preparing for this race. I wanted that jersey real bad, but I also wanted to know where I stood at the national level outside of the East Coast. I didn't get the former, but I did get the latter. I flew out on Thursday, spent Friday doing openers and a recovery ride and course recon with Cleave, and had dinner with RacerEx and his UC Cyclery team on Friday night. Great day. I woke up rested on Saturday morning with my body clock just starting to adjust. I went down to the course to pick up my race packet and watch some early racing. On the 3rd lap of the W40-45 race there was a horrific crash right in front of me, basically from stupid riding, that put a rider down hard, knocked her out with seizures, and a compound fracture of her right shoulder. Best of luck to you, Jenna. It would become a story line for the whole day.

My warmup routine went exceedingly well. I had tons of power on tap. I went straight to the staging area early and staged on the front row. Then the Chief Official made us roll out for a warm up lap. I still managed a front row slot. The start was clean and fast, and I settled into the top ten. I had scouted my main threats, and sure enough, things started to go as I figured. There were non-stop attacks on the front early. I held back and watched, ready to bridge if one looked serious. They all got reeled back in. Meanwhile, after a few attacks and catches, the riding started to get really sketchy. This was a tight, 1km 6-turn course with a chicane, an off-camber 140 degree turn, and a very short sprint. At around the halfway point, a rider in front of me got too close to the barriers in the chicane and hit them hard. I got around him, but carnage ensued behind me. There would be five crashes, two serious, in just my race. I could not believe how poorly a lot of these riders rode. These are not beginners, these are Cat1's and 2's all at the front. A lot of them really struggled with this course at speed. So on the lap after the crash, I was right up front behind a World Champion who had been attacking like mad. He attacked again, I went with him. We got a nice gap, about a second or two, which was a lot on the day, but even though we were both drilling it, they caught us after two laps. I was faster through the technical sections than him and only got one chance to take us through it. I went with him again a little bit later, same result. With about 10 to go, a rider took off solo, too fast for me to latch on to. He got his 3-4 second gap, so I took to the front and reeled him in. With 2 to go I was 5th wheel, knowing that I could not beat the sprinters but I had a chance at a top ten. In the course of one lap, I nearly got wrecked out four times. A guy chopped my wheel after slamming on the brakes, another guy checked up so hard my rear wheel skidded out, I got bumped pretty hard within inches of the barriers, and two guys wadded it right in front of me in turn five. I got through it, but I fell back to about 12th or so. The speed on the last lap was high enough to cut down on the antics, but I wasn't where I wanted to be. Going into the final 300m, I had a clear way on the right if I wanted to start my sprint early. I had a choice, try and gain a few places at the risk of hitting the final turn too hot and crashing out. I saw that exact thing happen in two early races, so I just made the decision right then and there not to be That Guy. I passed one guy in the sprint but was passed by another. 65 riders started, something like 22 finished. As I crossed the line, it felt like a huge weight had lifted off of my shoulders.

Am I satisfied with 13th place? No. Not at all, but put me in a field with some of the best criterium sprinters in the country, and I'm probably not going to win. I did what I could, it just didn't work out. I know I belong with them, though. I know I can win at this level. I spoke with a bunch of them afterwards. I ended up on the same flight as a podium finisher from Florida, and we had breakfast at Newark Airport before we took our connecting flights. It was these conversations that took the sting off of the finish.

Two more M40+ crits left, White Plains and NCC/Boston I have great fitness and speed. We shall see.