Fall River Crit, 2010 - PODIUM!

Since I upgraded to Cat3, I've really enjoyed working for my teammates.   Since I have no aspirations of becoming a Cat2, I don't have to worry about placing.  I have no real "target" races.  Being part of a team, I get just as much pleasure out of helping my teammates place and win.  Their success is the team's - and my - success.  It's just as fun as getting a good result for myself.

Almost.

Hey, I'm not THAT altruistic.

So, occasionally, I let folks know that "I'd really like to do well" in such-and-such a race.  I've always done well at Fall River (3rd in 2008 as a Cat. 4, 12th last year as a Cat. 3), so today's race was about as close to a target or "A" race as I get.  Evidence: I didn't ride since Wednesday's group ride, resting my legs.  I got not one, but TWO full night's sleep.  I even laid off the sweets (a little).  AND I even PRE-REGISTERED.  So you know I was taking this one super seriously.

I was really looking forward to this race for another reason: Friend MSL is visiting from overseas and would be joining SDC and I.  We'd never raced together before, but I've enjoyed reading his race reports.  Even lowly industrial park crits sound magical when they happen in New Zealand The Netherlands.

When I saw MSL before the race, he asked me what our plan was.  I shocked myself when I actually said - out loud - "I'd like to win it."  I'm not usually that forthright, opting for the typical pre-race hemming and hawing.  But I felt good, and I knew it.  And I figured if we could keep things together for the sprint, I'd have a good chance. 

But things almost got derailed right at check-in.  30 Cat 3s had pre-registered, including me.  But when I got to the pre-reg table, they couldn't find my registration!  Thankfully, they had my name on a list, but my number was still in the box and I had to fill out all the paperwork again.  Apparently, I was the only one that had happened to all day.  "Maybe it's a good omen" they said.  I hoped so.

Pre-Race, Game Face

 

Stealth-Teammate-For-The-Day

 

Inimitable SDC & Mrs. SDC

The final corner is WAAAAAAAAY back there by that white square in the distance.

 

I'm not sure how many of us were at the line.  It was a beautiful day (the previous two years have been Africa Hot), so I suspect there were a lot of Day Of registrations.  They started us off promptly at 1:00:15 (according to Garmin) and - once I FINALLY got my 2nd foot clipped in, we were off!

 

 

For those of you who haven't done this race, the Blount Fine Foods Criterium is a pretty typical industrial park crit.  It goes around the Blount plant and has 4 corners, as you can see in the map above.

 What makes it a little LESS than typical, is the the fact that the track basically sits on the side of a hill.  The entire start/finish straight is flat/slightly uphill; after the first corner you go downhill, long backstretch, then corner 3 starts the climb.  Corner 4 is after the top of the climb, then you have a LONG way to the finish (gotta measure that, but it's long).

 

Today, we had a northeast wind, so tailwind on the backstretch, crosswind on the hill, headwind into the finish.

 

The race went pretty much according to plan thanks in no small part to that wind (tough for a break to stay away) and everybody marking each other.  Of the three of us, MSL did the marking and chasing (as you can see above) . . .

 

And bridging - animating the race so that folks knew it'd take a huge commitment to break the elastic from the pack.

SDC and I sat in, hoping it would all stay together and trying to save our energy for the end.

It was a relatively short race, and I was surprised when I saw "10 laps to go."  I'd done a good job at gaining spots on the tailwind backstretch, and then holding that position on the hill.  Thanks to the lighter wheels I'm using, the hill didn't seem as bad this year.

But there was a trade-off: I noticed that I was still babying that front wheel in the corners - especially corner 2 at the bottom of the fast downhill (where there were LOTS of bumps/uneven pavement for that speed) and at corner 3 (carrying all that speed/momentum to the start of the climb).  In fact, when I didn't have the mental sensation of my front tire going soft in corner 3, I thought my bike would shake apart through corner 2.

Weird.

But I was feeling good otherwise and it was nice to see that I could hold my own in a Cat3 race that included some heavy hitters.

As we wound down to 3 to go, instead of allowing myself to drift back on the hill or through the finishing straight, I concentrated on maintaining position in the front 1/4 of the field.  This worked through the next lap and at the bell lap I was still in that position, about 20 or so guys back.

Oh, that was more like 1/2 way back - not 1/4.

When we hit corner 1, things started to light up.  We went down the hill so fast I was sure that there would be a crash.  But we all got through it (barely - one guy hit his inside pedal, but stayed upright).  Then all practically sprinted along the backstretch to try and gain position.  Again, I thought we were all going to hit corner 3 too fast, but we got through.

As we went up the hill, guys started to blow up.  I was still farther back than I thought I should be, but did my best not to panic and keep a good - but agressive - pace.  When we hit the final corner, I was about 10 guys back.

Then the afterburners started kicking in as guys started their leadouts/sprints.  It's way too far to start a sprint coming out of that corner, and you have to be patient.  Especially with it being a headwind sprint (thanks to SDC for that tactical help!).

Waiting as long as I dared, I still thought I was too far away to get out in the wind on my own.  But there was no wheel to follow, and I didn't want to get boxed in, so I launched with all I had - hoping I could hold it to the line.

I passed everybody but one guy that was too far off the front to have any hope of catching him.  As the line rushed towards me, I could hear a guy coming up my left side.  I dug deeper - and we both threw our bikes at the line.  I thought I had him, but feared I didn't.

No matter: 2nd or 3rd, I was still gonna be on the podium.

But it was awful close:

And here's the video - courtesy Mrs. SOC:

SDC and the Mrs said they heard the announcer mention my name (must've been after the video ended) and the 2nd place guy as too close to call.  I wish I'd heard it - but all I could hear at that point was the blood rushing in my ears.

Fortunately, us Three Amigos reconvened during the cooldown lap and Mrs. SOC got a "post-race" shot: 

We look just as happy as when we started.  But - thanks to their help - I was the happiest of all:

 

Thankfully, Mrs. SOC thought to take a pic of the results.  The top 10 includes some of those heavy hitters I mentioned before.

But today, with some great help from my friends, I beat almost all of them.

And even got a little bit to help show them my appreciation.  Our after-race dinner was especially sweet.  But the Blizzard and brownies would have to wait.

Comments

[Rishabh]

Congrats Chris!

Nice to see MSL out there hitting it out the park for you as well. I wish I was still around so I could have ridden/raced with you guys. Sounds like it would have been an absolute blast.

Keep the momentum rolling!

[suitcaseofcourage]

Thanks Rish! Miss racing with you