Crit, Endurance race, Crit

Tacoma Twilight Criterium

SCCA/Starbucks came into this race with a good squad, we had Aaron G, Sam, Richie, Anthony, Sarah (Anthony's wife who is a cat 1 who raced back to back) myself, and Chris A (who raced masters and cat 3's back to back). This would be our first crit race all together with the updated Cat 3 squad. Jeff Reed, Tony Blazejack, Mike (faster) Foster, and Peter all upgraded to form our first Cat 2 squad. Congrats to them and it’s awesome to watch our guys fight it out with the pros.

The plan was to have one of our guys go off the front with 2 laps to go and let the field chase them back. Then we would send another and then sit in for the bunch sprint. Plans are always good to have going into races but most the time they don't work especially in short criteriums. This course doesn't really allow you to do a lot of moving as the straights are only 2 blocks long, and the course is fast. I stayed at the front the first half of the race and at one point went exploring on my own. We just brought a guy back that was off the front so I decided I would go next and 1.5 laps later I sat up and melted back into the pot of cyclists. It felt good to be off the front taking the corners alone and picking my line however when I re-joined I let too many people in front of me. For the second half of the race I tried working my way back to the front. Sam performed his duty with 2 to go and strung the field out. Aaron G moved my up to about 15th wheel on the last lap and I was able to finish 13th in the sprint. Chris was a monster and was off the front several times in our race. He finished 6th in Masters as well as 6th in Cat 3's. Good showing by the team as we always kept it animated.

Avg Speed 26.6 mph.

Chris and myself pic via Tawny Strong

 

Lovely to have Lindsay and Ridlee there cheering us on.

Little 150

My teammate Travis has wanted to put on a race for a few years now. We were co-captains at Cycle U and both moved over to SCCA/Starbucks this year. He had a great opportunity to rent Pacific Raceways for a day and jumped at the chance. The little 150 was born based on a similar race known as the Little 500. Read about it here. The Little 150 would be on the flats course at Pacific Raceways which is 1.9 miles long and we would be doing a total of 150 miles. This event was pretty different to the one that the idea grew from but the concept was similar. For an inaugural event I think we had a good turnout. Especially since endurance racing on a racetrack is not a common event in cycling. I did several of these when I was racing motorcycles and they were always a great time. It was a long (5:45 hrs) and hot day with an average temperature of 97 degrees. I could feel the heat through my shoes and we stuck to each doing 1 lap for most of the day, then drinking as much water as possible. We lost a teammate earlier in the day as he was heading out to catch a flight later that evening so it was down to 3 of us for the last 30 laps, Jesse, Francis and myself. Our team lost touch to the top 3 teams but we clawed our way back to catch the 5th place team with a dozen laps to go. Our plan now was to sit in and rotate with the 3 other guys until the end. Our plan was to have Jesse do 2 laps, come in, and rotate with Francis who would do 3 laps. Then I would take over for the finishing sprint and hopefully moving us up to 5th place. As we came around I was in perfect position with 2 other guys in front of me. Chad from Hagen’s Berman is a fast guy but was left on the front with about 300 meters to go so he was forced to start his sprint. I sat behind the guy from Cucina Fresca who was behind Chad. He started his sprint and it was the perfect lead-out for me. I was able to come around him to take the bunch sprint and move us into 5th place. We almost caught the 4th place team who was 10 seconds ahead of us. This was a great event. The tactics are so different than normal racing and it was a lot of fun. I look forward to next year’s race. For only each racing 40-50 miles we were all destroyed following the race and consumed a few adult beverages thanks to the promoter. With an avg speed for 150 miles of 26.9 mph it’s no wonder we were exhausted.

The teammate exchanges to place in the pit lane and we had to ride next to our teammate who was going out for it to count as an official exchange. pic via Tawny Strong

All by myself, working on closing the gap to 5th place. pic via Tawny Strong

Giving the 1 more lap to my teammates before I come in. My glorious Fuel gloves. pic via Tawny Strong

Joe Matava Crit (Burien Crit)

This is my home race with it only 1.3 miles from our house. The course is downtown Burien and it follows a portion of the route the parade takes later in the afternoon. Last year I was caught out behind crashes and finished in the pack. Short read here. This year I was determined not to let that happen and I had the support of my teammates who were there to assist. We all met at the house and Lindsay put together some go fast food for us. It was nice to all warm up in the garage then ride down to the course. Our plan was formed in the garage. We would all get together with 10 laps to go or when the official moved the timing to laps. Again we had a very strong team with, Todd, Aaron G, Jesse, Cameron, Wes, and me. As is almost customary for this team, Todd went off the front in the beginning and was able to collect himself a prime. Wes also was off the front for a bit too. There are always crashes in criterium racing and this day was no different. I was able to miss the first crash that happened towards the front of the race which post-race I found out it took up most of the back straight. As we came around for the next 2 laps there was a steady stream of riders joining us, some with bloodied elbows and knees but getting back in the fight. Its good to see them getting back in but not so cool getting behind one of them with half their butt showing. It is like walking on a tight rope when you are crit racing. I was on the front when a guy was moving past me on my left but decided he was ready to move over before he was clear of me. Standard procedure of yelling at him and hanging half my body off my bike to keep my balance as my front wheel was rubbing on his rear wheel. Thankfully I stayed upright and decided this dude should be behind me and promptly got back in front of him. There was another crash in turn 3 but thankfully I was in front of it but could hear the carbon snapping and bodies hitting the ground just another reminder to always stay at the front.

 

When the official switched to laps with 8 to go, Jesse came up to the front to do his work. It was awesome to get on his wheel and be 1-2 for the next 3 or so laps as he pulled the pack around single file as the picture below shows.

 

It was stagnant for a lap after Jesse was done throwing it down. I was starting to worry as I was sitting on the front and started to be swarmed. Then out of nowhere, its a bird, its a plane, no its a rocket, close, its Aaron G hauling a$$. I jumped on his wheel as he put the field back in its place of single file behind us. Aaron held steady for 2 full laps on the front and with 1 to go he pulled off. The junior team of RAD racing took over at the front and I promptly jumped on their wheels. I was sitting in 3rd place on the back straight when I heard a loud clanking; stuff breaking and my rear wheel get a bit loose. It felt like my wheel was coming apart but as I looked back it was the guy directly behind me whose front wheel was totally destroyed. He apparently road into my rear skewer (axel) which ate up his spokes like the cookie monster would if you place a freshly baked cookie in front of him. That hesitation on my part was the exact moment a handful of guys went around me. Ugghh... I stood up and sprinted to get on their wheels but that was my chance at victory or a podium. I finished in 7th place so a respectable finish but with all the work the team and how we controlled the last 10 laps it was a little frustrating to lose the race 500 meters from the line. The positive thing we showed in this race as a team is we can get together in a crit in the final laps and really put our stamp on the race. I look forward to the State Criterium Championship this coming weekend at Boat Street (Brad Lewis Memorial).