Four races have come and gone since the last post and the racing has been going strong. Two weekends ago was the Wheels on Willy criterium which is normally held in Madison, however due to construction the race was moved to a business park in Fitchburg. I carpooled with one of my teammates whom participated in the 3's and 1/2/3's races with me. The wide open course offered up fast racing but because of strong winds, no breakaways were able to be established without being reeled in on the backstretch. In the 3's race I positioned horribly going into the final corner and sprinted from anywhere between 20th to 25th position to finish 6th. The 300 to 400 meter sprint felt great and was my best sprint of the year. The 1/2/3's race was also fast and I worked only to survive. Hanging on I was again able to put in a decent sprint but didn't move up any positions. 26th for a result.
This past weekend offered up two days of racing, the first in Hartland with rainy and wet conditions to being the 3's race. The field stayed together the entire race. Any break attempt was quickly stifled. The race came down to a field sprint, soft of. Approaching the final wide open corner (and I mean WIDE), the first two riders crossed up wheels and hit the pavement slowing the entire field, except for one... the person those two were trying to lead out. It worked for them the wrong way but they got the win. Myself and another competitor sprinted it out for 2nd place in which I was able to muster out the battle by a few bike lengths. I didn't even think about racing the 1/2/3's race due to the weather, which ended up to be a wise choice going into Sunday's race in Sussex.
The Sussex course is located in a business park and has a decent climb up to the start/finish on each lap. The 3's race started as usual with a number of futile attacks by individuals to feel out the field. After two repeated attacks by one team, I saw an opportunity to jump off the front and start a break (make everyone race my type of race). I was boxed in but a wide driveway was coming up on the right. I took the gutter through the driveway and sprint off the front of the field into a strong headwind. By the time I reached turn 4 I had over 100 meters on the field. I put my head down and drilled it solo for one lap and then noticed there were 4 chasers coming up to me. I let up allowing the chasers to catch on and we quickly began working together to further distance ourselves from the field. Each lap we continued to gain time. By the final lap our break was down to 4 and had over 1:40 on the field. At the start of the final lap one guy in the break jumped, none of us reacted and he was off. I was sitting on the front and being given the hook. After pulling half the lap I knew no help was coming so I veered to the right quickly and slammed the brakes. The two went on by and I was able to jump on the back and save some for the finish. I shit hooked the two up the final corner when it was an all out sprint to the finish. I was quite tired and pulled of 3rd. Great result for starting a break solo.
I tried the 1/2/3's race immediately afterward but was completely cooked. I hammered out 1.5 laps and pulled the plug. "That was a waste of 10 bucks!"
Great racing though over the last two weekends. Memorial Day weekend races are upcoming this weekend with Snake Alley (epic) on Saturday and the Quad Cities criterium on Monday. Two fantastic races. If you've never heard of Snake Alley, look it up. (www.snakealleycriterium.com)
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