Avondale Crit #1
1/19/2014
Cat 4/5 30+
DNF/50
Summary: Kept good position, top-10 into final corner, rolled a tire mid-corner in the last turn and crashed out.
This is an 800m, 3-corner flat and fast course with a long, 400m slight curve to the finish. I went in to this race with the intention of being patient, and waiting to make any move within the last 5 laps. The only real key to this course is the last corner. If you stayed to the inside, you were in good position to get good shelter from the cross wind around the home stretch, but everyone seemed to slow down around that corner when you didn't need to, and it was much harder to move up on the inside. If you stayed outside you could avoid having to touch the brakes and make up a handful of positions on momentum alone. You were more in the wind, but it was easier to move up on that side with a little effort. The race stayed relatively boring. No one really made any hard attacks. I don't know if people were waiting for me to open something up (I've heard from a few others that I've gained a reputation), but I wasn't going to make any first moves. There were a few hard laps where the pace got driven pretty high. With 5 to go I was stuck on the inside and started focusing on moving myself to the outside so I could make sure I didn't get pinned in. With 2 to go the pace started really ramping up. I was holding a top 15 position, which was right where I wanted to be. No one was making up significant ground at this point. I was in the top 10 for the bell lap and feeling well within myself, I railed the last corner on the outside ready to make my move, and then.......POP!.......my tire blew out mid-corner. I went low-side and not over the top, but I still came away with a few good-sized patches of road rash. No one came over the top of me, and I don't think anyone behind me had any serious injuries. So it was kind of a bad day, but I still felt good that I executed a plan well and put myself in the position for a good placing, even though it didn't end up that way. Time to heal up so I can get back on the bike.