04.13.13 Lincoln Park Criterium
Category 3 / 3rd Place
My race
almost ended a few minutes in.
There’s a 180-degree turn in the course where you have to slow way down
and then stand and sprint out of the turn to get back up to speed. On the second lap as I stood to come
out of the turn my pedal clipped the ground – sending my rear wheel into the
air and drifting to the right toward the curb. Slam! My wheel
came down with a fury three or four feet to the right of where it took off and
I narrowly avoided crashing. Relief
that I hadn’t crashed overcame the mild embarrassment for my error and I jumped
back in as though nothing had happened.
After
missing out on the breakaway the previous week in South Beloit I was intent on
getting it right this time around.
With Konrad, David and me representing ABD I knew we would have a good
shot as long as we were paying attention.
Sure enough, three riders attacked and formed a decent gap just a few
laps into the race. I rolled to
the front to make sure things didn’t get away from us and upped the pace a
bit. Looking back to see who was
ready to rotate through I’m shocked to find a 30 or 40 meter gap has opened up
behind me as we come up a short incline.
I realize that David and a XXX rider have slowed at the front, content
to let me sneak away. I figured it
was probably foolish to go but I also figured if I got caught David or Konrad
would be able to counter and make something happen. I sprinted hard out of the hairpin turn and hammered until I
made contact with the breakaway group.
I was joined along the way by another rider so we had five. For the next several laps our lead grew
ever so slowly. There are points
on the course where you can see across to where the other riders are so each
time around I was looking to see how much our advantage had grown. It wasn’t growing as quickly or as
easily as I’d hoped. In fact, I
was quickly beginning to wonder whether I was going to be able to hang on to
this breakaway group. My companions
seemed to be motoring along with ease while I was hanging on for dear
life. The thought of having to
explain to my teammates why I got dropped from the winning breakaway, however,
compelled me to do whatever it took to hang on. I took weaker pulls. I passed on rotating to the front a
couple times. I knew full well
they would try to crack me later but I just wanted to survive. With three to go, the South Chicago
Wheelmen rider attacked hard up the incline trying to shed us but I was able to
claw my way back. Things settled
down as we came back together and everyone marked each other as we took the last two laps easy. Thankfully
this gave me a chance to recover a bit, though I was still pretty well
cooked. As we came into the final
stretch all five of us were content to let a pretty straightforward sprint
determine our fates. I held on to
the third podium spot by what seemed to be about a tire-width. And it’s been a while since I was on a
podium so I was glad for it.
Konrad
picked up 6th place with another devastating field sprint and David
brought home 11th. The
benefits and enjoyment of riding with and as a team became clear today. Really looking forward to the rest of
the season.
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