For the second year in a row I travelled over to the in-laws
for the weekend and raced the River City Bicycle Classic. Last year was the event’s inaugural running
and with first year events, you’re never quite sure how they will turn
out. Well, it was a proper criterium
with a great atmosphere. The whole
family had a good time, and though it was a hot day, I won the field sprint for
last money spot – not too shabby.
This year the promoter jacked up the purse to $7k for the
day so with the good start they had last year, I knew it was an event I had to
attend this year. All the things they
did well last year were carried forward but this year they added more money, a
beer garden, live music, and more spectators.
The kids did the children’s “race” and my boy made the local news. Plus, the weather was 15-20 deg cooler so it
was much more pleasant for spectating.
The grandparents walked the kids around the lake (looking for bears
according to my son!) and had fun chasing ducks and bugs.
The 1/2/3 race had a larger and deeper field this year, most
notably including hometown fast man Jonathan Jacob (ABG-Bissell-Giant). The Louisville teams showed up
Wayne/Clarksville Schwinn/others and of course TX Roadhouse brought a very fast
contingent of masters. Fortunately the
pro development guys were at Tulsa.
Whew.
JJ attacked at the gun and we were off and running. I admit I took a small pull at the front in
pursuit of my friend but only to maintain position looking to bridge as I
thought it was the move of the day.
Maurice (Korte/Bike Surgeon) told me to calm down and not crap myself
because I was quite eager to join JJ. (Thanks
Mo!) After 15-20 minutes the field
reeled in JJ and little attacks and counters ensued. I was involved in a fair number but once a
little gap would open nobody wanted to do the work of pulling through to
establish a real break. This went on for
the next 35 minutes.
JJ went to the front for the last 4 laps to keep the pace
up. It seemed the teams with 4-6 guys
were unwilling to do the work of keeping the race organized at the front. Perhaps it was inexperience, perhaps lack of
fitness. Anyway, TXRH and Clarksville
set up leadout trains. I inserted myself
into the Clarksville train, which was a mistake. It didn’t really go anywhere. They didn’t put the effort in to get up the
road, so I surfed for a bit and sprinted from too far back to take 7th. TXRH took the top 3 spots. It’s kind of a slap in the face.
Oh, and there were at least 4 crashes in the 1 corner that
required driving your bike. Turns out
some of the guys in our field were unable to manage this one turn at speed
without grabbing brake, striking pedals, or otherwise looking like cat 5’s in their
first race. It was pretty lame to have
to chase back up to a lead group a few times but shame on me for being behind
the Team Squirrel p/b Sketchers riders.
This season hasn’t gone too well for me and I wasn’t sure
how Saturday would turn out. I’ve
eschewed the “rest week” concept this year since my volume has been so
low. Well, last week was a forced rest
week with my business trip to Dallas for 4 days. Turns out it’s what I needed as I had pretty
good legs. Unfortunately, I didn’t play
my cards properly, since I would expect a podium with those legs. C’est la vie.
Well, I’ve got one or maybe two more weekends of racing
before calling it a year. I think the
last time I shut it down this early was my first cat 4 season (yes, I had 2)
when I only raced like 6 times! But the
baby is coming soon and traveling all over on the weekends for bikes doesn’t really
make sense. This fall looks pretty busy
on the work front (like crazy crazy busy), so between a new baby and work I
doubt I will race CX much but we’ll see.
Next up: O’Fallon RR + Crit (State Championship RR)!
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