Raw Seafood Crit
Posted: Sun Aug 27, 2017 7:32 am
Went down to Fall River for the resurrected Raw Seafood Crit. Note to self - when race registration is at a business that distributes seafood, don't park close to the rear of the building (unless of course you really enjoy the odor of low tide..)
Got there early to preview the course and check in with the 4/5 guys. Able to catch their finish to see Robbie take his 3rd podium in 4 weeks!
1st up, 50+. 35 starters and a strong field, with a handful of guys also prepping for GMSR.
A fairly mellow start as everyone got the feel of the course and hill. Hill on this crit is legit! Some solo attacks but nothing anyone is chasing down or bridging to so I stay patient near the front to watch for the right group. Sometime shortly after the 1st prime (lap 5 or 6?) Jay Trojan (Arc en Ciel) gets off the front and Joel Brown (Cliffbar/Pactimo) follows. Curley from Spin Arts also jumps so I grab his wheel and we've got 4 with a gap. We struggle a bit to get organized when two others close in. At first I thought it was the field, but turns out it was just 2 bridging (Bruce Diehl from Buchikas and Marc Cesare from one of the CRCA teams). This appeared a very promising group as Jay, Paul, Bruce and Joel all had solid teammates back in the pack. We got more organized, although on the hill it was tough to keep things together. Not sure how many laps exactly but we were still clear at the next prime (lap 12?) which I thought I had (since it was my turn to rotate up..) when Jay came around me yelling the field was closing. He took the prime but I got on his wheel but nobody else with us so the break was done.
I then made a stupid mistake and relaxed too much, filtering way too far back. Sure enough, a split occurs and nobody is working to close. I get to the front of the chase group and try to get a couple others to help but everyone seems intent to follow. So I just go to into flat out TT mode and it takes over 1.5 laps but I close it down (pulling the split, although did drop a couple). Unfortunately during that time Jay Trojan rolled off the front with 4 or 5 to go and I never saw it, and he stayed away (barely). I had burned my final match closing and was just hanging on for the final lap. I did manage to claw past a few but couldn't quite close for top 10.
One hour later in the 3/4 with Robbie, Mike, Rees & Jacob. Jacob the only one not doubling back. Pace is very briefly mellow so I take advantage to get right to the front. I decide to just stay aggressive for as long as I can, even going off the front and trying to get a break going. But by the first prime reality set in as the pace is staying quite high and I'm in yo-yo mode to continually close gaps to the main field. Jacob and Rees were off in a break and I really wanted to patrol the front of the main field but I just struggled to hold position and that got closed down with I think 3 to go. Survived with the field but just barely.
Back at the car, there were delivery trucks being hosed down and puddles were forming. That just added to the atmosphere although I really felt bad for the couple with what I think was a Tibetan Mastiff (mastiff looking but very furry) who was obviously trying to cool off in the water pooling from the hosed-down truck beds. That must have been a fun ride home!
Got there early to preview the course and check in with the 4/5 guys. Able to catch their finish to see Robbie take his 3rd podium in 4 weeks!
1st up, 50+. 35 starters and a strong field, with a handful of guys also prepping for GMSR.
A fairly mellow start as everyone got the feel of the course and hill. Hill on this crit is legit! Some solo attacks but nothing anyone is chasing down or bridging to so I stay patient near the front to watch for the right group. Sometime shortly after the 1st prime (lap 5 or 6?) Jay Trojan (Arc en Ciel) gets off the front and Joel Brown (Cliffbar/Pactimo) follows. Curley from Spin Arts also jumps so I grab his wheel and we've got 4 with a gap. We struggle a bit to get organized when two others close in. At first I thought it was the field, but turns out it was just 2 bridging (Bruce Diehl from Buchikas and Marc Cesare from one of the CRCA teams). This appeared a very promising group as Jay, Paul, Bruce and Joel all had solid teammates back in the pack. We got more organized, although on the hill it was tough to keep things together. Not sure how many laps exactly but we were still clear at the next prime (lap 12?) which I thought I had (since it was my turn to rotate up..) when Jay came around me yelling the field was closing. He took the prime but I got on his wheel but nobody else with us so the break was done.
I then made a stupid mistake and relaxed too much, filtering way too far back. Sure enough, a split occurs and nobody is working to close. I get to the front of the chase group and try to get a couple others to help but everyone seems intent to follow. So I just go to into flat out TT mode and it takes over 1.5 laps but I close it down (pulling the split, although did drop a couple). Unfortunately during that time Jay Trojan rolled off the front with 4 or 5 to go and I never saw it, and he stayed away (barely). I had burned my final match closing and was just hanging on for the final lap. I did manage to claw past a few but couldn't quite close for top 10.
One hour later in the 3/4 with Robbie, Mike, Rees & Jacob. Jacob the only one not doubling back. Pace is very briefly mellow so I take advantage to get right to the front. I decide to just stay aggressive for as long as I can, even going off the front and trying to get a break going. But by the first prime reality set in as the pace is staying quite high and I'm in yo-yo mode to continually close gaps to the main field. Jacob and Rees were off in a break and I really wanted to patrol the front of the main field but I just struggled to hold position and that got closed down with I think 3 to go. Survived with the field but just barely.
Back at the car, there were delivery trucks being hosed down and puddles were forming. That just added to the atmosphere although I really felt bad for the couple with what I think was a Tibetan Mastiff (mastiff looking but very furry) who was obviously trying to cool off in the water pooling from the hosed-down truck beds. That must have been a fun ride home!