Wheels of Thunder Criterium
May 7, 2006
I had done this course at least twice before, but this time
they were running it in the opposite direction. I think this was a good choice,
though it makes the finish slightly downhill and very fast. The course is a
1.3-mile loop on top of
My only teammate was my loyal wingman, Kris Thompson. Since
he beat me at
There was a significant crosswind for this race and we climbed 285 over the ten laps, so there was definitely an incline on one side of the course. I queued at the very front and held my position near the front of the full half a lap. Dang it! This has been my problem in crits: slipping back in the pack. I vowed right then to maintain my position at the front. I had just read Thomas Prehn’s book on tactics where he had a good quote from a professional crit rider: “I try to pass five people for every one that passes me. I figure if I do that, I will maintain my position.”
I fought my way back up to the front by halfway through the
second lap. At the start they announced a $250 gift certificate to a chiropractor
in 
The sprint was lead out by two guys on the same team. We had a strong wind coming from our right, so the lead-out man should have been way to the left, so that only his sprinter was given a draft and anyone else would have to come around into the wind. But he didn’t do this. He rode way to the right and three of us had some draft. The lead-out man faded at 300 meters and his sprinter took off, with me on his wheel. Another guy was to our left, out of the wind, so I couldn’t move there. With 100 meters to go, I moved right into the wind and powered by to take my very first prime.
I immediately sat up and coasted to catch my breath. The rest of the pack soon caught up and I tried to catch my breath. I worked to stay within the top 20 riders at all times. Our field was probably 70 strong and we started shedding some riders at the first prime. Each prime would burn off another couple of riders. On the second prime (4th lap), I was ready to contest that one as well when someone took a great leap from 300 meters out and really gapped the field. It was a great move and we all let him go.
On the third prime, a guy went early again, but someone chased him and I was on his wheel. The chaser sat up, but I kept going, futilely. I wasted a lot of energy here, but I caught the guy and another rider bridge up to us. We were all pretty wasted, but had a gap, so we worked it for a bit, but my heart (and lungs) weren’t in it. One of the others took off on a solo break-away, but we caught him before the end of the lap.
On the seventh lap an unattached rider broke away. I would
forget about this guy, since I thought we had caught him before the prime
on the eighth lap. On that prime I wondered why things were bunching up so
much as we approached it. I figured everyone was waiting for someone to lead
it out. I snuck by on the inside and took off to win the prime, or so I thought.
The escapee was still off the front and had already won the prime. That guy
would stay away clear to the finish.
We almost caught him on the last lap, where things went very hard on the uphill section. Two Pine Sports riders did most of the work on the last half of this lap and I just sat on their wheels. At 400 meters an ICCC guy named Mark launched and it was another great move and wasn’t countered. At 300 meters Peter Lucke of Louisville Cyclery took off and I went after him. He was too fast for me, but I gapped the field as well and went on to finish 4th – my best finish in a crit. With more teammates this would have been more fun, but with Kris falling out of the front just a couple laps into the race, I was isolated and didn’t have many options. Kris didn’t finish the race, along with a number of other rides, since they list only 58 finishers. I don’t know why Kris didn’t finish. I suspect riders about to be lapped would be pulled, but I doubt we would have lapped him. Our category had the third most finishers. The Cat. 4 riders finished with one more rider at 59, but the Cat. 3’s finished with 83 riders. That’s a big field.
I won a $25 gift certificate for Bike Source and that would be much valuable than my chiropractor visit which states that he’ll “figure out what my health problems are.” What if I don’t have any health problems? I mean, besides a few extra pounds and a serious coffee ice cream addiction. Anyone want to buy this off of me? I’ll sell it cheap.
The race was just 13 miles and I finished in 34m45s for an average speed of 22.5 mph.
Flagstaff
Sunday afternoon I rode from my house over to
