Masters 35+
20th/81
Final GC: 26th
It’s taken me a while to write this! I guess I’ve been grappling with the disappointment of the road race the previous day and its affect on my final GC.
I felt pretty well recovered after an ice bath and re-fueling the body. I was concerned going into the crit that I may not be able to keep up with the group, but it was apparent from the gun I was feeling fine. The weather was fantastic once again, so no issues there.
The big question was, who was going to win the overall? Johnny Bold who set the blistering TT time (but 2nd place was still only 2 seconds behind him) lost his lead at the road race by finishing 9 seconds behind the 2nd place racer. Crits are Johnny’s specialty, but this field was stacked and he had no teammates while the new leader had several.
Final GC: 26th
It’s taken me a while to write this! I guess I’ve been grappling with the disappointment of the road race the previous day and its affect on my final GC.
I felt pretty well recovered after an ice bath and re-fueling the body. I was concerned going into the crit that I may not be able to keep up with the group, but it was apparent from the gun I was feeling fine. The weather was fantastic once again, so no issues there.
The big question was, who was going to win the overall? Johnny Bold who set the blistering TT time (but 2nd place was still only 2 seconds behind him) lost his lead at the road race by finishing 9 seconds behind the 2nd place racer. Crits are Johnny’s specialty, but this field was stacked and he had no teammates while the new leader had several.
Backside of the course
PVC Elite Team at work
Fellow PVC racer in Cat. 4's
As it turns out, the field stayed largely together, no one was really going to get away. I yo-yoed around the top-20 until the last 1/3 of the race where I focused on staying towards the front. At 1 point I found myself in a little 3-man break and earned some sprint points by coming across the line 3rd. the pack re-grouped with 3 to-go and now I found myself dangling all alone at the front of the pack. Everyone else was prepping for the sprint finish. It’s at this point that I should have made some noise and taken off on a solo effort. Clearly teams were getting organized and I was no threat to the overall so there’s a chance they would have let me go. I knew this was an opportunity, but basically chickened out thinking there was no way I could pull it off. In hindsight, I should have asked myself: What’s the worst that can happen? I get caught and finish with the pack and lose nothing? That would have convinced me to go because there wasn’t much hope of doing anything more than finishing with the pack anyways. Once again, my no strategy and lack of confidence cost me at least a shot at taking a positive out of the weekend.
Oh well. I’ll remember that one for a long time and hope to use it as motivation some time.
I want to be on this podium!
So, I’m disappointed with my final placing based on my unexpected success last year. But, the cramping before the climb was out of my control and was the deciding factor to my end result. It’s back onto the mountain bike from here as I prep for Nats at Mt. Snow.
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