Michael and I headed north today for the Humboldt Park crit, the penultimate event in the Masters 4/5 series. We wouldn’t be heading up to Ripon for the final event, so today was the last chance we had score any points towards the overall. Not that we had a chance of coming out on top; Voytek Glinkowski had that wrapped up, but a top five was a possibility. The course is a triangle, with one leg a steady climb on some pretty rough pavement and the long twisting descent with the finish at the bottom.
Two guys attacked from the line. Of course, conventional wisdom said that was doomed, especially since one of the riders in the break had tried the same move at Bensenville and had been brought back. Shows you what conventional wisdom gets you — we didn’t see those two until we were cooling down.
Another rider I knew to be strong (Michael Boals) tried to bridge after a few laps. He stayed enticingly close for a lap or two, but again, I didn’t take my chance and soon he was away for the die. Finally, I did try a few digs myself, but all I managed to do was string out the pack as no one was willing to work with me to get away.
Going into the last lap, I had decent position, but the last time up the hill, my bottle popped out, got caught between my leg and frame and scare the crap out of me. I sat down, let the bottle roll away (shouting the obligatory and somewhat redundant warning “bottle”), and restarted. In the end I lost 3 places, took 8th in the field sprint and 11th overall.
A satisfying end to the Masters 4/5 series — 6 races, 6 money finishes. Now to see how I do in the open Cat 4s.
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