The Cyclonauts Racers Crit takes place on some sort of nascar-esq race track. It's a half mile loop featuring three of the oval's corners, and a chicane (quick, narrow, right-left-right). Each loop was half a mile, and we were doing 40 laps (20 miles). It was sunny and hot on the tarmac for yesterday's race.
Knowing Scott and Stefan had raced this last year, we had a few insights which proved to be helpful on the day.
Men's 4/5:
I car pooled down to CT with new(ish) MRCer Tyler Riegel and we lined up in the 4/5 together. We had discussed working together, with the intention of driving the pace hard and leading out for the final sprint as we didn't see a breakaway sticking on an oval race track where you could see the riders the entire time. Very shortly after the race started, about 4 guys went up the road, and quickly gained half a lap on the field. Nobody seemed to care, and we were all content to let them go.
Fast forward to lap 20 - the gap wasn't getting any smaller and I was getting antsy, so I started calling for an organized chase. There was no interest in this. A few more words were exchanged, and I decided to go off the front to try and bridge up at lap 17. Nobody came with me (after the race, a few guys mentioned they weren't feeling optimistic about my chances, and were happy to see me go up the road and blow up). Tyler and I hadn't discussed this scenario, but I was really happy to see that he sat up on the front blocking and refused to push the pace once I had left - this was the right team move, and greatly appreciated.
It took me two laps to close the 22 second gap. We were now 5 riders in the breakaway, with 15 laps to go. The peleton decreased our gap to 15 seconds with 6 laps to go. At this point, our breakaway was committed to making it stick, so we uped our pace from 24 mph to 27 mph for the remaining laps, and dropped 2 of the guys in the process, leaving three.
Prior to the race, the official had indicated we weren't supposed to go through the chicane on the final lap - or at least that's how I (incorrectly) understood it. In fact, we were supposed to skip the chicane after we finished the final lap. In any case, I thought we still had one lap to go - so when the guys in our breakaway kicked, I was thinking they were just trying to attack with one lap to go to break up our group - so I was sitting in on the winner's wheel, being towed right to the line, and didn't make a move to come around for the win. I ended up finishing 2nd/36 This was a pretty embarrassing mental oversight on my part but good learning experience!
This was the first time being a break that actually pulled away and stayed. I burnt quite a few matches bridging up, but it certainly made the race more interesting.
Men's 3/4
The Cyclonauts Racers Crit provides many options to double (or triple) down on racing - so I reg'd up for the men's 3/4 as well.
This race was less exciting - although faster. Constant attacks for all 40 laps creating plenty of accordion-like surges, but nothing got away.
Fast forward to 3 laps remaining - Cyclonauts sends 4 guys to the front - two on the nose, Mike Norton (designated sprinted), and one behind. I knew Mike's wheel would be a good one so I pushed my way in. Their leadout train wasn't well executed, and sort of fell apart in all of the swarming at the end. I ended up taking a wide line on the outside, without a wheel and a lot of wind exposure. I think I might have been 6 or 7 wheels back as we exited the last turn in a chaotic bunch sprint. By going wide, it sort of seemed to open up for me, and I punched through some guys to take 2nd/37 in the race.
These races were more fun than Tyler and I were expecting. Perhaps they lowered the lap numbers this year - 40 laps seemed to go by pretty quickly. Memorial day weekend probably isn't the best one on the calendar, but if you're free next year, it's worth making the hour drive to mix it up in CT.
