From the standpoint of the Tuesday Night Crit, last week was a good week to take vacation. There was no race, so I didn't miss anything. Fortunately, the hiatus seems to have allowed me to continue to fly under radar despite my win at the last race. Suffice it to say, I am REALLY liking the new setup on my bike - and enjoying not yet being a marked man (unlike my friend Hobgoblin who leads his weekly crit series by wide margin).
I decided, again, to try doing the A race as well as the B race. Cat4s are the only category that can do both - either race with the 4/5s, or with the Pro1/2/3/4s. The B race is first and I've been doing well there; this night's test would be whether I could leave it all on the road in the B race and still race with the As right after - and still finish. Last time I tried, the As shelled me after only a few laps. I hoped this week would be different.
Consequently, I decided to race as conservatively as possible. Not too exciting or crowd pleasing, but smart at least. Only problem is if a break goes - and sticks. Then you have other decisions to make (chase it yourself and try to get in, or gamble that either somebody else will bring it back or it'll die on its own). Fortunately in the B race, and especially given the windy conditions Tuesday night, none of the breaks stuck.
I think I've mentioned before that a field sprint is one of my favorite things.
The last 5 laps played out fairly predictably. The biggest concern, for me at least, is just to make sure I don't get tangled up in a crash as the speed goes higher and higher - esp. in the corners. This - along with wanting to be in a good position for a sprint - means I needed to be near the front. My fitness and bike fit must be dialed in pretty good now since I was able to get within 5-6 guys from the front by the last lap. Teammate JoeP (sporting incognito kit since his team jersey was still in the wash after racing Tokeneke the previous Sunday) was in good position and I knew he'd be itching to sprint - and I hoped he wouldn't mind doing a leadout. When he jumped going through the last corner, I was on his wheel and was able to come around him for the win - no easy feat given his strength (he's currently 3rd ranked Cat4 crit racer in the state).
So two wins in a row at the Rentschler Field Crit. Only 2 races left in the series so it'll be interesting to see how those go.
But next, I had an A race to do.
After taking one cooldown lap, I lined up with the As. Friend SDC was there and I was looking forward to racing with him (as a Cat3, he can't do the B race) - and hoped I wouldn't get dropped.
Like last time, it was pretty fast from the gun, but I felt pretty good considering my hard effort in the B race. "Good" enough so that not only was I able to stay with the pack, but was able to *lead* the pack in chasing down a break!
Once we caught that break, there was another attack. All I could do at that point was hang on and try to recover. Unfortunately, that attack was joined by a couple of other guys and before we knew it, 8 guys were up the road in what turned out to be the winning break. And there was nothing I could do about it.
For a more detailed - and much more informed - summary of this race, click here.
Despite this turn of events, I was more than happy to be able to keep up with the As and actually finish with them this time, even after having done some pulling as well - I wasn't just sitting in.
The last few weeks of racing have been really great and a huge boost to my confidence. But before you think I'll get a big head, know that I know these are only training races. No upgrade points or large prizes here (though my two wins did pay for the two races). The real test will be my next actual race this coming Sunday in Fall River. It'll be one of my earliest races ever (8:30a - yikes!) and the furthest away. But we have some wonderful friends who live closer to the track and have generously offered to put us up for the night before.
So I'll have no excuses for a poor performance come Sunday (ok, I can ALWAYS come up with an excuse, but it'll just be much tougher to...). It's a straight Cat4 race and prizes are a percentage of the total fees collected so the competition will be much stiffer than I've been used to lately. And I've never raced Fall River before, so I'm sure the track will take some getting used to. (If you know anything about this race and are willing to share info/tips/etc. I'd appreciate it.)
But if I can do well - even if I'm not in the money - maybe I can get some upgrade points and get closer to my goal of becoming a Cat3 racer.
Stay tuned to find out - and keep your fingers crossed that it's at least a safe race!
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The new Garmin continues to work well, so be sure to check out the data under "Races" in the right hand column of the site. I post links to the race stats there when I can - and this week's races are up.
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A Bike for Racing