Exeter Classic Crit

[Bradford]

Tuesday night, Chris Pare and I headed up to Exeter NH for the second race of New England Crit Week.

This was a pro- 1,2,3 field featuring some pretty stacked teams, dealer.com, ENGVT-UnTapped, BikeReg Elite Team, CCB, GLV, and US Men's cyclocross champion, Jeremy Powers. I joked with Chris about getting a superfan picture with Powers, but he emphasized this wouldn't be a very pro move.

I knew the race was going to be a hammerfest, and as my first P123, the goal was to try and hang, make it to the end.

Chris executed a pretty veteran move, sliding up in the start corral behind the pace car - so we had a nice position on the line. Unfortunately, as I do, I fumbled for my clip on the whistle and found myself pretty far back right away. The pace was high, and it took quite a bit of effort to move back up. Although tough to gauge from where I was, it seemed like there were several hard attacks right off the bat, causing the pack to surge.

I immediately noticed how much harder these guys drill the corners - I was constantly losing ground on every turn, forcing efforts up the sides to advance. I started to try and take them a little bit faster. I took one turn a little too hot and locked up my brakes, sliding into a guy's rear wheel and taking him down (I feel bad about this). He seemed to be fine as we weren't going that fast, but I think that was probably the end of his race. I managed to stay upright through the collision, but lost my glasses in the process - they were never recovered.

At roughly 31 minutes in, I hit a pot hole, hard - and it snapped the tabs off my Garmin - so my computer was now gone as well. Flying blind.

Most of my Cat 3 and 4 crits are in the 45 minute range, so with the additional 15 minutes, I was starting to feel pretty gased. I happened to find myself next to JPow, and thought this was the perfect opportunity to engage in some bicycle fandom, and inquire about the time remaining. Conversation was brief, but almost perfectly on cue, we were at 46 minutes, and had 14 remaining.

At somepoint, a break of 4 went up the road and stayed away. I however, was just trying to hold my place in the pack. There were a few more crashes (that I wasn't involved in), and just like that, we only had a lap or two to go. I did my best to move up the outside on the back stretch. Again - I need to work more on my cornering - I lose too many spaces, and my lock up earlier sort of shook my confidence. Anyways, I feel like if I was ever in a position to contest, the finish would suit me well: downhill banking turn, into a very slight uphill - perfect for a sprint.

I was able to move up to 36th/92, right behind MRC's top finisher Chris Pare, 35th/92.

The P123 race represented a huge jump in intensity. I liked it though, and I'm looking forward to more. Thanks Chris, Jeremy, for advice day of and going it. Felt pretty sweet to finish this one.

I'm out for the rest of crit week (work commitments) - but will be clicking refresh on road-results. Best of luck to MRC - hope you guys kill it.

[pace21]

What he said ^^^^^

Seriously though that is one HARD race. 28+mph average and there is legit elevation change per lap. I had several moments of self doubt after other dudes let gaps open that i had to come around and close. This same race 2 years ago I got dropped about halfway through for that same reason. Managed to hold on this time and was happy to do so.

Well done Brad in your first 123 race! It was great having a teammate there even just for motivation not to mail it in and have to sit next to you for an hour on the way home...

[JeremyC]

Good reports. Wish I was there (not)