Its been a month or so since I had a serious bike race. After the Ballard Crit in early June I had a sinus infection that took me out of racing for most of the rest of the month. I would say its been 2 weeks now where I have been able to really get back to riding and training. I really had set this race on my calendar back in Feb as a race I wanted to really do well in. Getting sick and being off the bike for almost 2 weeks really set me back a bit.
My week leading up to this race was pretty good. I raced at Pacific Raceways Tuesday night and felt real good. My legs felt like they had come back. We did a team ride yesterday with a couple of teammates and the legs felt okay but not great. The race was at 8:00 am so we would miss the hot weather which I was happy with. The course, I must say was fantastic. The pavement was new, smooth and by far the best pavement we have raced on when racing criterium's. There were roughly 50 riders lined up for the start. The start to the race was fast as most crits are and I was at the back of the group, which I need to stop doing. It takes alot of effort to work your way through a pack of 50 guys who all want to be as close to the front as possible. Our race was for 30 minutes of non stop pain! I was doing ok and was feeling comfortable with my pace. I didn't really have any advantage with the corners as I was hoping for. The course was your basic .6 mile lap with 4 corners. With about 8 minutes remaining they start counting us down via laps. My plan at this point was to start moving up to the front of the group. I was having good success moving past people on the outside of the track. We came around the start finish line and got the 3 laps to go sign when I saw a couple guys leaning on each other a few feet in front of me. This usually means there is about to be a crash and once again I was in the wrong spot at the wrong time. Next thing you know there are bodies hitting the deck and bikes flying. With the line I was using on the outside this placed me in a bad spot. I had the rear wheel locked up and sliding straight towards one of the guys that went down. I came to a stop before hitting the body that was in front of me and had to get off the bike to get around him. Once I got going again I had to put in a serious effort to catch back up to the group. It was painful but a lap later I was back on. This gave me 1 lap to rest and catch my breathe before the final lap. I tried to stick with my plan and get towards the front of the group for the last lap but I was pretty spent at this point. I managed a short sprint on the finish straight and passed a few guys before the line but atleast I finished in the group.
I was a bit disappointed that I again was in the wrong position when a big crash happened but alteast I wasn't in it and I was able to catch back up to the group. All in all it was a fun race and our average speed was just over 24 mph.
Thanks to Shawn, and Jon, for coming out and racing. Also thanks to Lindsay and Shawn's wife Amy for the support. The next race is 7/18-7/19 in Bellingham which will be another Omnium.
Enjoy the weather and Happy 4th!
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