Fitchburg Crit

[swawersik]

Honestly, I wasn't all that eager to race today. Two hard days of racing where I was decidedly the nail and not the hammer didn't make me want to do it again. But I also knew that if I ever want to race at the front in the 3s, I'm going to need to improve on the big weakness that the last two days of racing exposed: my tendency not to be aggressive enough going into turns, especially in the pack.

So I raced, and tried (sometimes more successfully than others) to be a little tougher in the pack. Just like the prior two days, the pace was no joke, and I only barely managed to keep convincing myself not to stop. Somewhere around 6-7(?) laps to go, there was a crash near the start/finish line, which I managed to avoid, but i lost momentum and had to close a sizable gap. That kind of effort when you're only marginally committed to the race isn't easy, and the lack of focus had me tail gunning. When I narrowly avoided two guys who got tangled up in the turns going into the final lap, I just didn't have it in me to chase back again and ended up rolling across about 10 seconds behind the main field.

This was a really great weekend of three challenging crits against stacked fields. After all the success I had early in the season, it's a bit discouraging to spend the whole weekend taking my lumps, but i need to do these if I want to be a better racer.

[NCgaron]

Today was the first time I felt good all weekend. Was riding toward the front of the pack almost the whole race but with 6 laps of so to go I was moving up on the left with a few guys when someone decided to swings left and take out our whole paceline. That sucked I tried to chase back on but couldn't make it back. Ohh well I was hoping for a good result and I was feeling really confident with only a few laps to go..

[swawersik]

Today was the first time I felt good all weekend. Was riding toward the front of the pack almost the whole race but with 6 laps of so to go I was moving up on the left with a few guys when someone decided to swings left and take out our whole paceline. That sucked I tried to chase back on but couldn't make it back. Ohh well I was hoping for a good result and I was feeling really confident with only a few laps to go..

I wondered what happened to you: you were sitting in very nicely, then you disappeared after the crash. I had to leave right after the race, but was worried you'd gone down. Good to hear you're at least OK.

[NCgaron]

Thanks man. I managed to stay off the ground but was unclipped and had to start chasing. Never made it back on.