ID3 Race Report: Crit

My first criterium!!!!!!!

Crash in turn 2

Maybe the picture tells it all. My first crit. I was real excited about racing and also a little nervous. Although I have done several Road & Mtb races, I have never done a crit. Crits are really fast and furious. If you have never watched one, then you need too. Way more exciting than watching generic cars go around a track. And there are no caution flags to regroup the field. Pit stops? Forget about it. Don't have time to stop!!!!!!!! Not to pick on you NASCAR fans but. . . OK, one last jab. I'll even use a Indy Car quote instead.

Ah, now that is racing--Indy style!

"If everything seems under control, you're just not going fast enough!"

Mario Andretti

My Cat 5 race consisted of about 25 riders. We line up for the start and the gun sound. My objective is to hang with the stronger riders and DON'T CRASH. After a few laps, I was feeling confident and at ease in the corners. I'm around 5th place and hanging on Gordon's wheel. I knew Gordon was one of the strongest. I begin to pedal a little more in the turns trying to get a feel of the pedal clearance. I knew as the race went on, I would have to increase my speed in the turns and wanted to be as efficient as possible in and out of the turns by getting in a few extra cranks before and after the turns.

I guess I tested it a little too much. I went down in turn 2. My pedal hit really hard sending the rear of the bike out from under me. All I could think about was get the heck out of the way of the other riders. Once everyone passed, I quickly mounted my bike and took off again. Below is Ron on another guy's wheel in the same turn. That is exactly what happened to me.

SLIDESHOW

After getting back on the bike, I took off to try and catch the leaders. Remember there are no caution flags. If you are dropped, then too bad.

Donnie and I worked together and picked off several riders.

Notice the above photo. Check out the little bit of clearance my right pedal has. ahhhhh. Actually, the pedal hit pavement again but not hard enough to throw me off this time. Gordon and the leaders were lapping the field and caught up with me. That was OK. Besides, I wanted to see if I could hang with the stronger guys. My goal of not crashing failed so lets see if I can hang. We take a couple of laps and I'm hanging on. Alright, feeling good, keep it up. Then we hit the main straight and I flatted. AHHHHHGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't believe it. A flat tire. I was now ticked. Wreck. Hey, that's ok. Now I'm out of the race because of a flat. Oh well. Good news is I really enjoyed my first crit and look forward to another one.

Here's a slideshow of this day.