Cyclonauts Crit

[swawersik]

I'm smart enough to know that Kilington would be the end of me, but still wanted to get some racing in. So who wants to do a crit on a crappy car racing oval in backwater Connecticut? Not really this guy! But I did it anyway.

Actually, I did two races: the Cat4/5 40+ and Cat4/5 fields. Back to back. I needed to be home in the afternoon, so the Cat4 and 3/4 fields weren't a possibility for me. This is admittedly a little sandbaggy, but the upside was that I got to race with some of our up-and-comers from the Cat5 team.

The course was at least a little more interesting than an oval, as we cut through some sort of pit stop lane to give a mostly pedal-through-able right/left/right chicane. The main challenge of these turns was a few cracks in the pavement, which were a little unpleasant if you hit them at the wrong angle, but otherwise, this was a very non-technical crit.

Race 1: Cat4/5 40+. 40 laps. Kevin Teves joined me for this one. This started out pretty hot, with a few attacks out of the gate. Mike O'Donnel from Blue Hills rolled off the front a few laps in, and everyone started looking at each other to figure out who'd chase. One or two people did stints at the front, but the combination of nobody wanting to work and Johnathan Doller (also Blue Hills) doing a great job of blocking meant that Mike ended up with at least half a lap gap. Worried that this gap was going to get TOO big, I ended up contributing more work to help bring things back together than I really wanted, but we got it done. After that, the race felt a bit like a parade, and at times I'd look down at my power meter to see me pushing only about 130 watts. At some point, I realized we had 15 laps to go and I was bored. But I still had signed up to do another 40 laps right afterwards. Ugh. Thankfully, things did get more interesting and by 6 to go, the jockying began. I was in good position until somewhere on lap 3 to go, I got boxed in when I huge swarm came up the left side, and went from 10th wheel to 30th in about 5 seconds. I didn't panic, though, and used the wide straight sections to get back to about mid-pack by the last lap. Being that far back actually favored me, as I could move up in the last half lap but still be on wheels. Coming around the last turn, I was in the top 5, and ended up getting 3rd at the line. Worth $50, so I made back my entry fee for the two races.

Race 2: Cat4/5. Scott Conchieri and Mike Westberry joined Kevin and me for another 40 laps. This one started off quite gently, which was fine with me. The whole race was slower, actually, but it felt harder because, when the front of the race would accelerate, people would blow up trying to follow, leaving a gaps to close. Eventually, Scott and Mike imposed some sanity on the front. For too long, really, as Mike was on the front for at least 5 laps before 1.) I first attacked to make other teams come around them to chase. Scott chased me down, so that didn't work (sigh), so 2.) I eventually just took over for him (I got off the front pretty quickly). With about 8 to go, I wanted to practice doing a leadout, so I told Mike to stay on my wheel. Based on my first race experience, I was figuring I'd hang in the mid pack until the last 2 laps. I got too complacent, though, and didn't factor in the lousy handling skills of some of the juniors in the race. Going through the chicane the last time, the kid in front of me took a monumentally stupid line and hit his brakes, forcing me (and Mike) to slow drastically. We now had a big gap to close and had lost a ton of speed, and when I looked behind me on the backside of the lap, Mike was no longer on my wheel. Now sprinting for myself, I managed to make up a bunch of places and still managed to finish 8th, but I was kind of annoyed at myself for what was, honestly, a pretty lousy leadout. Sorry Mike - I owe you a better one next time.

[JeremyC]

Nice 2 top 10s in one day

[jraguin]

Nice job Stefan. Maybe we should call you "Crit-man Stefan".

[Jacob]

Back-to-back is tough, nice job.

[cbusick]

Nice Stefan!

[Mkidd3]

Well done!

[scottc]

Stefan's description of the course is spot on. It has been the first race for me this year with no crashing going on. My plan of attacking the chicane with two ta go didn't materialize because I got provoked with 5 to go and had no legs for 2 solo laps, so plan was downgraded to sitting in and recover for bunch sprint. Didn't account for surging on last two and didn't recover enough and got dusted by nearly everyone. Killer workout with almost 300W average and 167bpm, which is reminiscent of a cross race. This crit was a lot of fun and my two takeaway lessons: 1. Don't chase a team mate when 2 other team mates are on the front; 2. "Patience" is needed to win a crit.

Kudos to Kevin and Stefan for completing 80 laps!

[JeremyC]

1. Don't chase a team mate when 2 other team mates are on the front;

After the power class tomorrow night, maybe we should have a tactics class

[mfwestbe]

Sorry for the delay recap - but congrats to Stefan on two good results

It was fun, especially to be able to race with teammates, which hasn't happened much for me this year. To throw on to Stefan's recount, the time on the front didn't feel too bad, but definitely had its wear on me by the end. I felt comfortable staying on Stefan's wheel (see his note about shady handling of some other riders), and did so for probably 4 or 5 laps. Through the last chicane we got botched, and jumping back up to Stefan's wheel took out the zap I would have had for a solid sprint as there was no chance for honest recovery at that point. Had that not happened, I do think we would both ended up in an even better spot. Still managed to slip in to 12th, though.