Rockford Crit Recap

So close, yet so far! This is a fun course, from the start you go out for a block, left hander, little hill, right-left, up the hill, it kicks up at the end, left hander crset the hill, left…right….left, long straight away, sketchy left, into the two block long finishing straight.
The obvious hard part of the course is the hill. It hurts the sprinters and it helps the strong little guys….like me. The three turn downhill section too is interesting. If you have a gap, you can keep your gap. Its fast enough that everyone has to go single file and, if you’re really good, you could actually gain a second or two through he turns. But the long three or four block straight away is just enough that the peloton can close a small gap, go around the sketchy left hander, and end up in a field sprint.
At the line, there were a lot of the usual people, Me, Scott, Doug, Dominick, Other Doug, Brent, you know, the Ann Arbor gang. From “go” I clipped in and went to the front. I wanted to make the first pull up the hill to get a feel for it, and to put others in a little bit of pain, because in the words of Darrell Anderson, “It’s fun to make people suffer”. The race started pretty tame, the pace picked up, but every time we hit that hill, the pace slowed, and riders like me could move up easily. Early on, coming around the last corner, I took it too wide, and ended up a half inch from the curb. I didn’t make that mistake again. A few minutes after that close call, Eric and Scott’s friend (I didn’t catch his name) went down in that corner. Scott and I avoided them, but called out to make sure they were alright, they were. A little road rash, but nothing more….that we know of. That was the extent of crashing, that I know of. The rest of the race was pretty typical, the hill hurt, the downhill was fast, people went for primes and then came back to the group, and others tried to get off the front and were pulled back in. With 30 seconds (plus two laps) to go, a Wolverine rider went off the front. When we came to the hill, with two laps to go, I made my move, passed and dropped the Wolverine rider. I was now free to fly, solo. I flew through the corners and into the finishing straight, everyone I knew, and anyone who knows the Velo Club was going crazy, with one lap left, the bell lap, I was 7-10 seconds off the front, with a hill that I am capable of flying up, left. When I hit that hill I dug as deep as I could and then it happened, my calves cramped for a second. That hurt, and I lost momentum. By the time I got back up to speed, the peloton was right on top of me, and they caught me on the top of the hill left turn. From there it was a mad dash to the line, I got in at 4th wheel, but in the long straight I got pushed back to 7th. In the sprint, I got passed by 3 people, putting me at 10th.
Man was I mad. Had I waited until the last lap, on the hill to make my move, I could have potentially won the race. Oh well.
I would like to thank Scott, Dan, and Eric. I could not have gotten the gap I had, without your guys help. As soon as I was off the front, you were there to block the group. So thank you, very much.
Next I would like to question Pothole’s warm up theory. Doug, wouldn’t it be cheaper if you didn’t pay to warm up. I mean, $25 to complete 3 laps seems like a waste. Ha-ha, but I’m sure you have your reasons.
James, nice save. You almost lost it in that first corner, but you stayed upright and finished the race strong. Good job out there, I hope you got your position figured out
Well that’s what I have for Rockford. I’m a little disappointed, but I will live.