Ft. Ritchie Race Report

It's funny how a race can change so quickly. Normally, technical crits are my bag. I pride myself on being a good bike handler and at cornering well. Of course, none of that matters if you make dumb mistakes. And Saturday was the day of dumb mistakes for me.

The day started out OK enough. The cat 3 race was at 1:30 which gave me time to wake up leisurely, feed my face, pack the car, and head on up to the course. I parked in the upper lot per the promoter suggestion but found I was only among a few that took the advice. But, that gave me a nice view of the course while I warmed up on the trainer. I got in a good warmup, which I always try and do for crits. These old bones need to be worked a bit before the start lest I be suffering during the first few laps and risk being popped and dropped.

Rode the course for a few laps before lining up and realized that the wind was going to be a factor. But, stupid me, I didn't think about what that meant in terms of how I'd play the race. Mistake #1. I didn't get to line up with a wheel on the line but I put myself in a position that, with a decent clip-in, I'd be up far enough. Sure enough, at the whistle, I clipped in well and found myself maybe 10 riders back. Cool. The first few laps were fast but I felt VERY comfortable. So comfortable in fact, that I didn't worry at all about position. If a gap formed, I simply rode around the rider and filled it. Soon, I found myself toward the middle-back. Mistake #2. I witnessed some squirreliness here and there but, again, I had no concerns.

Then, after oh I don't know maybe six laps, an NCVC rider blew a tire while making the left onto the back straight (the kinda blowout that sounds like a gunshot) and he tumbled to the ground. Riders near him scattered left and right, some riding into the grass. Well, I and all the riders right behind him got caught in a position of having to brake hard before trying to accelerate. NO, I'm not blaming the crash. It was my fault for being so far back. But five to ten of us were caught out and fighting to catch back on. This is where the wind was a factor. No one could hold the anaerobic pace long enough to make a dent in the distance. We worked as a paceline for maybe half a lap before realizing we weren't gaining. We. Were. Dropped.

I rotated with those around me. After some shuffling, it was me, Eric Marshall from Evo, a Carytown guy, and (I think) Drew from NCVC. I blinked and Drew was gone. Not sure what happened to him. Then, the Carytown guy - with his $12000 bike setup - got impatient and TTed away. That left just me and Eric to work together. I think we managed four laps together, taking roughly one-lap pulls each. It was then pretty clear that the pack was going to absorb us. So I just kept a steady pace until they did. So I just slipped in the middle without much issue. I noticed there was 10 to go at this point. I figured I'd at least get my workout in. Rather than fighting for position, I let myself slip toward the back so as not to impede any of the competing riders. Once again, I had little trouble hanging with the bunch but was definitely annoyed that a couple of the guys back there were letting gaps open up. Is it really that tough to stay close to a wheel through turns? Anyway, the laps simply counted down and, after the last turn, I sat up, made sure I wasn't in anyone's way of sprinting, and rolled through the S/F with only one rider behind me (that I noticed).

Results show me 23rd. Not sure if that's right but I imagine it's close. I thought I read somewhere that there were about 44 starters so that puts me smack in the middle. Normally I'd just shrug off a middle-group result but I was really disappointed about being dropped and lapped. I keep trying to replay the crash in my head and determine what I coulda-shoulda-woulda done differently. Would sprinting have brought me back to the group? Was I still too far back? Did I really need to slow down for the crash as much as I did? Did I really dig deep enough when trying to get back? Was I relying too much on others? All hard to tell, especially given that the decisions were made while in pain.

I did (re)learn two valuable lessons. 1) In a technical crit, being in the front third of the group is key. It's not affected by the accordion very much and, if a mishap occurs, it's much easier to recover from there. Of course, you have to earn your spot there, but that's better than the alternative that I just experienced. 2) You have to rely on yourself to close gaps. If you're on the rivet, and you notice a gap forming in front of the rider or riders that are in front of you, you can't count on them to close it. You have to dig even deeper to get around it. Again, this is especially important in crits. You have to take notice of which riders are comfortable and efficient in the turns and which aren't.

Oh well, yet again a weekend passes and my bike racing leaves me wanting. Time to go fine-tune the anaerobic capacity. Ciao.