The entire crit season has been pretty disappointing to me so far. I had more success as a Cat 5 last year than I did this year. Only 1 podium in more crits than I did all of last year (which was 14). I did a 33- emergency consultation with CDR, and he gave me some very useful pointers based on my race videos.
Anyway, very windy day yesterday. 22mph from the South. I wasn't sure I wanted to race in those conditions. But I did.
The C race has a few dangerous young guys. With about 3 or 4 laps to go, one of those guys does a solo attack. And no one is chasing. Then his teammate bridges up to him alone, and it's two of them. That's trouble. Then with 3(?) laps to go, the entire front splinters as some start to chase in the crosswind. I wasn't on the front, but I knew it was time to go or die. I yelled to my teammate, our best sprinter, to get on my wheel and I would bridge him up. I buried myself into the 22mph headwind and bridged up to 4th on the road. But no one had been able to stay on wheel. Then I rested and hoped this guy could help me get to the leaders. 3rd place fell back to us. I did take a pull on the last lap, but when we hit the headwind, I flicked the elbow and the big strong guy came around. He wasn't hammering, but he was on the front snaking around the road. I sprinted out of the final turn or so and finished an easy 3rd, two seconds back from the leaders. Maybe I should have tried to bridge up to the first 2, I don't know, I second guess myself about this.
In the B race, I started off super tired. I was working hard just to be the caboose. At a couple of points, I got gapped off the back with small groups, and had to be one to bridge us back against that 22mph headwind. One the 2nd time, I was escorting our best Cat 3 in this race up to the main group. Others of my teammates were attempting breakaways the entire race, unsuccessfully. I was dying. I was just hoping for a successful breakaway with a teammate and the group would just exhale. Nearing the start of the final lap, I yelled back to my teammate if he wanted me to burn a match to move him up. He said no. But once we hit the headwind on the first turn, I told him to get on my wheel and I would take the inside line to move him up. Which I did. The group had slowed down, no one wanted to be in the wind. I had two teammates already on the front, and now I was on the front. I wasn't sure what to do with a half lap to go, I had done what I wanted in helping my teammate, so I decided best thing was to keep the pace high into the finish. We don't have a formal sprinter, but the guy I had helped moved up usually does fairly well in a sprint. As I gradually increased speed, I kept trying to look back to see who was on my wheel. I couldn't tell. But it didn't seem to be a teammate. Once we hit the final turn, suprisingly I was still on the front. So I started to put in whatever power I had left (I had been in the wind basically an entire mile). I thought, I'm on the front, there's a chance that I get on the podium just by virtue of being ahead. Neared the finish line, and then suddenly another team's sprinter clips me on the line. 2nd in the B. My first time to finish better than 6th in a B crit. I'm still a little shocked that I got that result, given my legs and fatigue in the race, and how I was in the wind for so long. If you watch my video when I post it later, you will never for a second believe that I will end up on the podium as the race plays out.
So after all the mishaps and poor performances, feels good to get my first B crit podium, and a double podium at that. Even more weird, in both races I decided to completely sacrifice my results for my teammates and in both cases I ended up on the podium. Thanks CDR for all the time you take to coach up nitwits like me!