WV State Champioship Criterium 4-13-2013

CAT 4/5 WV STATE CRIT

CHAMPIONSHIP

CLARKSBURG, WV

Me leading out the field on the first lap

     Where to start? This was my first race back for 2013, even though it should have been my second, but do to an untimely back injury I was forced to sit that one out. We arrived at the race 3 hours ahead of time so everyone would have plenty of time to get warmed up, that included my wife and Heather for their race. Matt Adams was already on site, since he raced in the morning, and Rik showed up about 2pm and then Chris got there about 3pm. We chatted for awhile and watched the women race and then it was time for us to start our warm up.
     We hopped on our trainers about an hour and fifteen minutes before our race and watched the 40+/50+ masters race while we discussed our tactics for the day. We settled on getting to the front with 2 laps to go and playing some team tactics for last two laps and if anybody wanted to make a break for it to try and slow the field to increase their chances. I must admit, I wasn't sure how Matt A. would do, during our warm up he was admitting to being tired still after his morning race. As for myself, when we first arrived I was nervous but after watching some racing, especially my wife, I was excited and looking forward to getting out on the course and hammering it. I wasn't to worried about Chris's performance, he's always a strong rider and has gotten better with every race. When the masters finished we rode the course for a couple of laps, a flat, fast four corner (counter clockwise) course, and checked the best lines for hitting the corners and then lined up for the start.
     We got our final instructions from the race director and then the referee blew the whistle and we were off. I got clipped in right away and had a good start. I was sitting in the top 10 going through corners 1&2 and as we were on the long back straightaway someone tried to make a move off of the front and I was having none of that! I jump up to him and then passed him and figured what the hell, while I'm here let's see if I can breakaway. I wasn't able to breakaway but I would find out later from my wife that my time on the front strung the field out and broke the field into three groups! After 10 minutes on the front, I thought, I had better fall back into the group and recover or I'm going to pop! So I did and to my surprise I got a "nice pull" from one of my fellow racers.
     I tucked in at the back of the pack not knowing if I could recover before someone else put in a strong effort, but to my surprise I was able to recover pretty quickly and I found myself shutting down moves off the front, leading the train several times again, and even winning a $60 container of energy drink mix in a preme lap!

Chris and I with our Prizes from the Preme laps

     After we passed the finish line with three to go and I kept tabs on my team mates, and when we approached the it two to go Matt A. was on the front and Chris was moving up on the left side of the field and I was moving up on the right, perfect! We went around turns 1 & 2 with the three of us on the front and as we approached turn 3, someone jumped on my right, Matt A. and I both matched the acceleration through the turn. Approaching turn 4, I quickly realized I didn't have the legs to stay on the gas anymore. As we went through turn 4, Chris came around me on the left, I sat up to slow the field down and hung on the back until the final straight crossing the finish line in 12th out of a 28 man field. Chris and Matt fared much better, putting in solid efforts to come in 2nd (Matt) and 4th (Chris).
    
All in all, I had a great time, and had fun putting the hurt on the field for a little while. If I can perform close to this the rest of the season, I'll be ecstatic! After last year, I'm just happy to maintain contact with the field for the entire race! Wish me luck!