On 7/29 I rode my last Tuesday night training crit put on by my club, the South Chicago Wheelmen. These have been a mainstay of my training since I moved to Chicago 6 years ago. Because we only have an A (Cats 1-3, some 4s) and a B (4 and 5s) category, the A races are invariably faster than any weekend USCF Cat 4 races. I almost never finish in the points in these races, and sometimes don’t finish at all. I do, however, get a wicked hard workout.
This week being my last, I was determined to make a good showing and in the first two races worked as hard as I could, staying near the front, and chasing as many breaks as I could. In the last race, word must have gone around that it was my last night and the pack magnanimously allowed me and 3 others to get away. Now, I know the guys were being nice to let me finally get in a break and further to make sure it was a successful one by riding tempo rather than chasing, but man, was it painful. Eventually, we lapped the pack — a first for me, again something of a parting gift from the group. To make the situation even sweeter, I was pretty sure I could outsprint my breakaway companions. The pack rode together for two laps and I marked the other three riders on the lead lap. Then disaster struck — with 4 laps to go, both A & B packs wound up together in the same corner, with the Bs on the inside as they were setting up for a sprint and going faster. I wanted to maintain my position and tried to go wide in the turn; unfortunately at that very moment a lapped B rider was in the corner, following the rules and staying as far outside as he could; my supposedly fast line took him directly into him. I tried to readjust, but grabbed too much rear brake and slid out. My teammates Joe Bippus and Steve Feehery tried like mad to chase me back on, but I was pretty gassed and we quickly ran out of laps.
So, I rolled in with 4th place secure, my best ever finish in the A group, and a nice case of road rash to remember the night by.
Now, it’s on to Crozet, VA, in the shadow of the Appalachian mountains and not a flat road in sight. Something tells me in a few weeks, I’m going to be missing those pancake flat training crits, however painful the last one might have been.
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