Stazio Criterium

Photos from Last Week's Stazio - Pro Race

2007 Racing results here.

Last I was lazy and intimidated to start racing in the 35+ Open division, so I procrastinated enough to miss the start. I went down and watched the pro race. I talked with Davis Phinney and saw his son Taylor race in the Pro division (I think he is Cat. 2 this year – at 16 years old!). Moninger won, again. Apparently he is nearly unbeatable at the Stazio crits. He attacked often after the field split into two. There are only three race divisions at the Stazio this year: Cat. 4, 35+, and Pro-1-2. Hence if you are a Cat. 3 racer and under 35, you have to race with the pros. I should have done that. It would have been hilarious. Some guys were dropped in the first lap! But it mostly stayed together for about 20 minutes or more and then the field split with probably all Cat. 1’s and Pro’s in the first group and some Cat. 2’s (like Taylor Phinney). Then Moninger attacked a bunch of times, going away with 1 or 2 other guys, only to get caught. But he was working over the field and with two laps to go he went away with one other guy for good. The lead pack was worked over thoroughly. Moninger led the 2-man break through with two laps to go and the other guy led them through with 1 lap to go. At the finish, it was Moninger all by himself. I guess he didn’t want a sprint finish. Why risk it when you can drop the guy and solo in? That guy has to be in his late 30’s and he is so fit! Also at this race, though not racing was Jason Donald (2^nd in the prologue at the Tour of California). I didn’t get a chance to snap a photo of him, though. A few other guys from the Tour of California were there and racing, though.

I later noticed a couple of ex-teammates in the results. Chris Busacca and Matt Vawter raced in the 35+ field. Matt finished 12^th, which is a great result in this stacked field. A lot of the guys from Rocky Mounts 35+/4 team left and formed a new team called Boulder Velo Racing (BVR) with title sponsors iMix and Concept 3D. Their captain is Bruce Polderman, the former captain of our Rocky Mounts squad. I have issues with him. I don’t think he’s ethical, having cheated my brother in-law out of his rightful place in last year’s Horgan Hill Climb. Their new team site lists their “ethical code” under their Mission section. I find it quite apt that you will find absolutely nothing to do with ethics in their ethical code.

This week I ponied up and entered the race. But first I had to get my excuses in order. Every racer will tell you that is the most important thing about racing. Training is definitely important, tuning the bike, having the right tactics and mental attitude are all key, but without the essential excuses to explain a poor result you’ve not even getting to the starting line. I was well covered here. I had ridden less than 300 miles in the last three months and less than five miles in the last two weeks. I was moving up to a new race category. I ran nine miles the day before and then played three hours of tennis with my boys. I warmed up for exactly nine minutes before the starting gun. Talk about preparation. In the most important category I doubted anyone was more prepared.

I don’t know this field well, but Charlie Hayes was in it and that is a clear indication that I shouldn’t be in it. He’s in another league compared to me and one of the big reasons I was so reluctant to race this category. Later in the year I’ll race the 45+ division. I’ll get spanked there as well, but the fields are smaller. Later I’d recognize a bunch of names from the 35+/4’s of last year. These are guys that all upgraded, like Peter Lucke, Steve Young, and Carter Faber. BVR had Chris Busacca and Kris Thompson, both former teammates and still friends. Both are class acts and strong riders. I avoided them a bit before the race, mainly because I was hoping to be completely anonymous. If I got dropped in the first few laps, I wanted to be able to slip away without any noticing I even started. They spotted me though and we said hi quickly.

I queued at the back and hung onto the barrier so that I could get both feet clipped in. The field was large, 60+. The Stazio is a 1.3 mile loop with a very significant hill that starts after a 90-degree corner. The course is a great one and lends itself to breakaways a lot more than a flat crit. Each time you head up the hill, it goes really hard. Sometimes the leaders don't go really hard, but then it's the tailend of the field trying to move up. Near the top, breakaways are launched.

I hung in the back half for the first few laps and then moved up a bit to smooth things out into and out of the corners. As with most crits, it seems you have to constantly be passing riders in order to maintain your position in the pack. Early on three riders broke away and stayed out there for many laps. They never got that far and others tried to bridge up. I was tempted myself, but knew the effort would completely blow me up. I closed down a few gaps when chasers went off and even that effort left me sapped for a lap or two.

I never really saw Kris Thompson, but Chris Busacca likes to be near the front and I saw him a few times. I was following him through the start/finish area when I saw him flick his left elbow out, like riders do when they want a rider to pull through. He was on the left edge of the course, up against the barriers so I wondered what the heck he was doing. When my left arm banged hard into something, I knew. He was trying to warn me, but I didn't get it. Thankfully I didn't hit whatever it was very hard. It startled me, but I didn't go down or swerve.

Charlie Hayes was off the front a bunch of times, animating things. He is a constant attacker and was using the race to just get a good hard workout. I was doing the same, but just staying in the pack was giving me all the workout I could handle. I was doing okay until about four laps to go. From then on I was on the rivet. I was just trying to conserve as much energy as I could without getting dropped. My plan was on the last lap to use the hill to move up as far as I could to a respectable spot, then ride a wheel down the hill and into the finishing straight, where I'd try to move up again.

With two laps to go a group of six or seven got away, but not very far. The pace increased on each lap and the pain was building. The final lap up the hill, I moved up and was probably 7th or 8th wheel in the peloton, chasing the break-away. After the last 90-degree turn, with just a easy, smooth turn to go and then a long finishing straight, I started to lose the wheel in front of me. We're all strung out single-file at the front now and a gap is opening. Dang. I'm on the edge of blowing up and I can't close it. I start to look for help when I hear from behind me, "You got it. Come on" and then I get a nice push from behind and I close the gap. The rider was unknown to me. I guess he did it because he didn't want to come around and cose the gap.

I stayed tight on the wheel in front and then the sprinting started. My pusher came around me and I couldn't follow. We were now catching the breakaway and blowing by some of those riders, though I think the winner came from the break. I was probably in 10th position at one point, but had nothing in the last 400 meters. I kept slipping back. I haven't worked on a sprint in a long time and I need work. Still I drove for the line with everything I had, trying to hold off one last guy, which I failed to do. Upon crossing the line I felt sure I was going to hurl and rode to the side to keep it off the course. I held my cookies, though just barely. At least I was in a position for a high finish. I just didn’t have it. I crossed the line in 16^th and am quite pleased with that. Initially I was just trying not to get dropped and if I could hang on, then I was just hoping to finish in the top half of the field. Yet, despite the relatively high finish, I wasn't a factor in this race and was just pack filler. It would have been much nicer to be able to race like Charlie Hayes races, but in this field, at this time anyway, that is beyond me.

After the finish, I caught up with Jon Barclay, a rider I knew from racing a couple of years ago. He won the 35+/4 in the 2005 Boulder Stage Race and has been racing Cat. 3 and 35+ since. He’s a nice guy. He passed me with about 200 meters to go and ended up 5^th. Kris Thompson finished around 35^th and so did Greg Pent, a Rocky Mounts Cat. 3 rider. Chris Busacca finished 50^th. Charlie Hayes finished 36^th, but he wasn’t the slightest bit interested in his finishing position. He didn’t even know it was the last lap and didn’t bother to move up.

We did 19 miles in 42:40 for an average speed of 26.7 mph. With the hill each lap, this is moving on pretty good and I definitely felt it. My average heart rate was 157 and hit 173 in the final sprint. That isn’t very high, but it was all I could do. I did a running workout on the track on Friday and hit 176. I should have been near 180 here, but just could muster anything else. I think riding might help. To that effect I went for a ride after my warm-down laps.

I headed out to ride the reverse Nelson Road loop. I hooked up with some Boulder Performance Network (BPN) riders. One of them I recognized. His name was Eric and I had met him at a couple of races last year. He remembered me and that I won the Boulder Roubaix. He was one of our main competitors that day. They asked me if I was interested in joining their team and I was. They seem like a nice group of guys, they are based in Boulder, and they have a 45+ team, which is where I’d prefer to race this year. We’ll see. It was great weather and we had enjoyable ride. By the time I got back to my car, I’d done almost 45 miles on the day.

The bike racing season has started for me. We’ll see where it leads.