Vic's Crit

Vic’s Crit was held out in the Prospect community in Longmont and was my second separate Cat 3 race. After last week’s success and second place, I felt confident and hoped to take the win today. At the same time, I was willing to gamble a bit and decided I wanted to race aggressively instead of sitting in the pack conserving for the final sprint. I’ve been training hard, fitness is good, and this is a more technical course that I heard makes it “easier” to break away from the pack because there are so many turns you can get out of sight.

Last week I played it smart and didn’t go for any primes and saved all my energy for the final sprint. Today I decided to again hold back on the primes but take advantage of them and make attacks right after everyone else had just sprinted for the prime.

The start/finish came at the base of a significant downhill and then almost immediately the course turned a sharp right. Then another immediate sharp right. Then another sharp right immediately following that. Then almost immediately a sharp left and beginning a slight uphill. After that left turn the course went straight for a tiny bit, then right and continuing uphill a tiny bit straight, and finally right onto the longest (only?) straight way of the course, which again was all downhill. I’m going through all this detail to make the point that the straight ways were very short and it was difficult to find a stretch long enough for me to gain a gap. I understand one can accelerate fast out of turns and gap that way, but I guess I was never able to be in a good position after the sprint for primes before all the twisting and turning began. So I made my attacks on the two somewhat straight ways uphill before the long straight downhill. I was patient and waited until about 20 minutes into the race and the fourth out of five primes. There were only nine of us and I attacked from behind and made a gap, but by the time I got going down the straight downhill the pack caught me. I tried a second time after the fifth prime, and this time a GS Boulder was with me (she was third last week) and I think we might have stayed away except her own GS teammate accelerated and brought the pack up to us…this understandably frustrated the girl and me too! Soon after a Primal Treads girl (who ended up taking the win) made a strong attack. I stayed back and watched and she seemed to be making a gap. This was both discouraging and gave me hope, because I didn’t like the distance she was making but I also thought if she can do that perhaps I should try a third big attack and I could stay away this time, now with only 15 minutes left to go. I surged and caught and passed the Primal Treads girl, but again on the downhill the pack caught me.

When I wasn’t attacking, I often found myself in the back and even with a two or three bike length gap! That is terrible and I guess the announcer even commented that I was having to do a lot of work since I wasn’t in the draft. I need to work on that but I think still feel nervous taking turns in a pack. With three laps to go, I got a good position third wheel and wanted to stay there through the last turn to the finish and take the winning sprint. However, by the last lap I was in the back again and the first right turn after the finish my wheels skid under me. We were going fast, and I must have needed to shift my weight more to the outside, plus I think I may need new tires. That was scary, and then the final turn before the downhill to the finish I got cut off a bit, my pedal clipped the ground, and I was in the worst position ever for the final sprint - I came in second to last.
My teammate, Carol Kauder, rode really smart and strong and stayed protected in the pack until the final sprint, taking the podium for her first time as a 3 and winning second place – go Carol! I think I did a great job tiring out the field (and myself) but I could have raced smarter and realized after the first attack, and after watching how the Primal Treads girl got caught (though I was the one to bridge that gap), that I wasn’t going to get away. If I had saved those other two attacks for the end I could have contested in the final sprint. I think the Primal Treads girl who made that one attack played it well, working hard once to try for an attack and then sitting in until winning the final sprint.

It felt good to actually feel tired after the race, but just now I’ve compared my peak power with last week and am shocked that I actually worked harder last week (except for the 5 second peak power)! Here’s the breakdown:

Longmont Crit (last week)
5 seconds 734
30 seconds 520
1 minute 385
2 minutes 297
3 minutes 268

Vic’s Crit (today)
5 seconds 946 (all time high!)
30 seconds 482
1 minute 343
2 minutes 273
3 minutes 253

I believe the 946 was my first attack. Well, this race was about experimenting with riding more aggressively and I know I am learning a lot about cornering from a race like this. Congrats again to Carol – it was great to have company warming up and in the race, and it’s wonderful to share in her celebration!

My next race is in Salida next weekend, both the crit Saturday and the road race Sunday. They put the 3’s in with the 1’s and 2’s, though I think we’ll be scored separately so I hope they won’t pull lapped riders on the course. I’m not saying I’ll be lapped (trying to keep my confidence high here!) but it does make for a tough race when pro racers are setting the pace. Thanks for reading everybody!

Colorado Criterium Championship

The Colorado Criterium Championship was held in Longmont today, and it was my first time racing as a Cat 3 with our own separate category. Many races combine Categories 1, 2, and 3, and last week I tried to hang in there at the North Boulder Crit but got lapped and pulled from the race with 7 laps to go. Racing in a field with pros did take some pressure off because my goal was just to try and not get dropped, but today with a separate 3’s race my nerves were getting to me and I had high hopes to get on the podium. Because I’d never raced with just the 3’s before, my confidence was all based on how City Park and North Boulder Crits went (last place and DNF), but my coach’s advice was to Race with Confidence! so I did go into the race ready to kick ass.

It was so freaking hot, especially warming up on the trainer. I was dousing myself with water and shamelessly wearing my skinsuit topless with just my sport’s bra and still just melting. By the time I finished my warm-up I felt pretty ill. I got on the course with Carol and started to cool off. This course is all flat and so much fun – nothing too technical. There were 17 girls in the field, 4 Pro Design. Those girls worked well together, launching lots of attacks but no one ever got away from the peloton. It was so flat that it was just pretty easy to close any gap that formed.

About 10 minutes into the race, I made a sharp right turn and realized my front tire was completely flat – almost slid out. My first reaction was that I am screwed and the race is over. I’d never had a mechanical in a crit before, and I realized I was in the best possible place for it to happen – the pit with neutral support was right ahead of me. The guys were really helpful and reminded me that I get a free lap, so just take deep breaths and wait for the girls to come back around. It was a long wait! Turned out to not be so bad getting a few minutes to recover mid-race.

I had decided before the race to not go for any primes because I wanted to save my sprinting for the end. My position in the field varied from being up front to the back, and I probably spent a bit too much time with wind on my face. I was a little scared because we didn’t string out single file on the turns, instead staying all together. I just told myself to trust myself through the turns.

With 3 laps to go the pace had picked up and we did string out a bit. I was third and felt good about where I was. Last lap I lost that position though, and not far before the last right turn to the finish I was still in the back – like 12 back or so. Not good. I hauled ass to be up front for the last turn, and then I started to sprint. I was in a bit of a shock as I realized I was contesting for top three, and I may have even hesitated in my sprint out of confusion for what was going on. The two girls in front of me were GS Boulder girls, and I was able to pass one just before the finish, and was about two bike lengths from first. I totally surprised myself. My fitness is really still very good – I didn’t ever feel tired during the race but I still don’t think trying to make a break would have worked. I saw many girls try but get caught, so I think it was a good call to stay in the pack and conserve for that final sprint.

Yeehaw!