Rocky Mounts- Izze Criterium
June 3, 2006
This was our team race and everyone was out in force to volunteer.
Greg Keller, Jerome, and Dan Franklin did an incredible job organizing everyone
and these races went off extremely well. The course was the same as the Lousiville
Criterium of last year. It is a 0.6 mile loop with a long rise for half the
course. They kept thing interesting with a number of primes during our race,
four to be exact. These tantalizing morsels are my downfall in crits.
I warmed up with my team before the race and we devised a strategy of attacking after 20 minutes. We just didn’t want to sit in the pack all 40 minutes and sprint it out. We needn’t have bothered with a plan because the primes and some adlibbing was sufficient to keep the race interesting. Riding with me were Gene-o Palumbo, John Guillame, Shawn, David Kutcipal, Kris Thompson, Rich Zirk, and Ed Messman. Eight Rocky Mounts riders in a crit! As usual, we had the biggest team of any Rocky Mounts category. DR HORTON also had a big team at this race and they are our main competition in the BAT (Best All Around Team) competition. They have won it for the past four years, but we lead the standings going into this race by about 20 points, because of last week’s Omnium.
When the bell went off, I went right up to the front, sitting within the first five riders, as I like to do. I didn’t lead anything, but rode the lead wheels. At the end of the third lap they rang the bell for a prime on the next lap. That’s awfully early, but I was interested. Simply Green Steve led us up the hill to the start/finish at a fast pace, stringing out the field. With 400 meters to go, I took off and went hard. Steve reacted but only for a bit. I had one guy with me and the peloton let us go, figuring that was too far out to bother with this early. I went hard hoping to get away from my trailer and I did open a gap, but then started to fade. I had to dig deep to hold him off at the line, winning my second prime of the year.
We had a sizeable gap, but I had just pegged my heart rate and it was way too early. Yet we traded half-hearted pulls for lap and the peloton caught just after we rolled through the finish the next time around. I slipped way back on the next lap as we went up the hill, just trying to recover my heart rate a bit. When they announced the second prime for a case of beer, I wasn’t interested or ready to go. Teammate Gene-o took that prime!
Two DR HORTON riders attacked and got a break, which they held
for a lap or so. Kris Thompson and I chased that one down. Simple Green Steve
went off on an attack with another rider, but dropped his companion. When
we got close, I jumped across the pack and worked with him a bit before we
got caught. Yet another effort wasted for no gain. The third prime was won
by Ed Messman! Rocky Mounts had taken the all the primes so far.
Near the end of the race they announced a final prime. I was back at the front going up the hill and thought that this prime could provide an opportunity for a breakaway to victory, since we’d only have five laps to go. One guy went early for the prime and only I followed. I rode this guy’s wheel for 200+ meters and tried to come around too late! I missed the prime by inches and it even took the officials some time to decide who won it. Dang. I put out a lot of effort there and came away with nothing. I was fried and knew I couldn’t make it to the finish. I foolishly tried and stayed away another lap and a half. Now I was dead and we had only three laps to go.
With two laps to go, I was dead last in the peloton. I wasn’t
that worried though; I had been able to move up pretty easily throughout the
race and needed as much rest as possible. I was back into the top ten with
one lap to go and perfectly positioned going into the hill the last time.
Everyone was going hard as suspected, but then Sam Linzell
of DR HORTON took off with 400 meters to go. He’d never beaten me before and
was finishing out of the top 20 all year, but it was a strong attack. Everyone
chased and I assumed I’d get him. With a hundred meters to go, I knew I was
going to get Sam, but I was still in 3rd, but fading fast. I kept
slipping until I crossed in 7th place. Dang.
That’s the second crit in a row where I’ve finished
out of the points and had a horrific final hundred meters. I’ve had excuses
the past two weeks, but I’d rather have results. Sam held on to win for DR
HORTON and another of their riders past me at the end for 5th.
Simple Green Steve was the other guy to get me at the tape for 6th.
Gene-o finished 9th. Ed Messman in 12th,
David K. in 14th, Shawn in about 18th, Kris Thompson
at 27th, John G. 28th , and Rich Zirk DNFed with a flat.
I averaged 164 bpm for this race, which is quite high, but it was spiked by the primes I went for. I hit 179 on the first one, 175 falling just short on the 4th one, and then only managed 174 when it really counted. I made the race interesting (for me at least), but I burned a few too many matches on this one. Oh, well, I still netted $35 dollars on the day – $15 for the prime and $20 gift certificate to Boulder Cycle Sport for 7th place. Paying out $20 down to 7th place in the 35+/Cat. 4’s is very good prize money. Awards-wise, this was one of the best races of the year. I still haven’t seen the promised money from Deer Trail. What’s up that? They have my address and they know my position? It’s almost like robbery. These guys putting on a race need to come through with their commitments. The Rocky Mountain Omnium just sent me my check for 3rd place overall last weekend it was a surprising $135.30. That’s nice! They pay a percentage of the total entry fees and I think this is a great way to do it. Matt should have taken home nearly $300 for winning the overall.
Below is the altitude and heart rate profile for this race. It’s easy to see that we did exactly 22 laps and the race lasted just over 39 minutes.
I marshaled from 11 a.m. until 1:30 p.m. and watched the Cat. 4, 45+, and 35+ races. The latter included Matt Vawter in his debut. He was hanging tough in this rade until a crash put five riders on the pavement, but ten more got held up and had to stop, including Matt. Everyone but Matt knew that they could soft pedal to the start/finish and get a free lap. Matt tried to chase the lead group, which was futile and he got lapped. The guy who won this race was a former European pro that raced on the Motorola team. He won at least two of the primes in addition to blowing away the breakaway at the finish. No one was in this guy’s league when it came to the sprint. Greg Keller and Greg Pent hung on for most of the race before getting dropped and then dropping out. Kris Thompson jumped into the Cat. 4 race, but was more tired from the first race than he thought. He got dropped about halfway into the race and dropped out. Greg Harrison went off the front at the start of this race and stayed away for two laps before his heart nearly exploded and he dropped from the race about ten minutes into it. I found him under a tree and asked if he was okay. He said he was, but it looked a bit scary. Mark Copeland, of the Excel team, was in a breakaway in the 35+ race, but it eventually got caught. His brother Jim then got in the winning break and finished second to the Euro-pro. Immediately after finishing the 35+ Open race, Mark Copeland jumped into the Pro-1-2 race. He had someone pinning his number on as he staged. That guy is impressive.