Memorial Park Criterium #4 2011

What a great race! After raining hard all day, the rain broke about 4pm, leaving the Houston area very cool (relatively) and the streets had just enough time to dry out before race time.  After 2 races where things more or less fell apart for me (here and here) I was determined to have a better race this week.

I also had a problem with being a little dehydrated last week, so before the race I concentrated on taking lots of fluids and small bits of food.  It felt a noticeable difference with being fully hydrated!

The strategy for me was to be more patient.  My racing style is really aggressive, and I sometimes go for moves that put me into the red zone too early.  At this race, I would try to wait on some attacks, but still ride at the front, waiting for the big move to come.  This wasn’t as simple as just sitting on Kevin Kremke’s wheel and waiting for him to attack.  If strong guys were up the road, I knew I would have to bridge.  The race started as usual with attacks going off around minute 5.  I was patient enough to not go with the first move of the race, started by Wally Groda of Bike Barn.

When Kevin attacked the first time, I couldn’t help myself.  I had to go with him.  I was watching him out of the corner of my eye as he sat mid pack while the peloton caught his teammate.  As soon as the catch was made  everyone in the front sat up, and Kevin rocketed around the right. I was right on him.  It was a good strong move but it was too early in the race. There were too many fresh legs ready to chase him down.  The field quickly came back together.

After this move was caught (around 20 minutes in?) I think 2 Bike Barn guys (including Wally?) and Chris Lowry of Vellossimo attacked and went up the road.  For me, this was an interesting situation where I could take a risk.  Kevin seems to be the strongest guy in the group, but there are strong guys that could really work together and stay away up the road! At any rate, I felt the race was up the road, so on the back-side, I attacked hard and tried to bridge up to the leaders.  It took about 1 minute of hard effort with my legs screaming. Only one person came with me: Kevin Kremke.

I thought this would actually be really great!  I had finally got in a break with all the big names in this crit, and we were all together with about 20 seconds on the field. This was the race.  But for me it was not to be. When I caught the leaders, I sat up, even braking and slowing to their pace when I should have pulled around and kept going to ensure the break stuck.  Kevin rocketed around me to the right with a few people following. I stood and sprinted to match his pace, but he had too much momentum and I could not hold on.  I had lost my momentum by braking and slowing to the breakaway’s speed.

Now I was caught in no-man’s land between the 6-man break and the field.  I kept the pace high, but could not gain time to catch the break by myself.  Two racers dropped back from the breakaway and got on my wheel. I was interested in catching, but I think the two were a little tired (having just been dropped from the break) and were not as motivated as I was in catching the 4 up the road.  After a couple minutes of trying to catch and slowly losing time, I sat up and we were quickly caught by the main peloton.  It was about half the original size, and it was obvious that the high pace had caused a lot of damage.

No one was interested in catching the breakaway.  I attacked a couple more times with the obligatory Bike Barn rider on my wheel.  Their tactic was if someone was strong enough to bridge to the break, they would have one on their wheel, but they were not interested in helping.  This is a good tactic to use, but I really think that after a chasing break has been formed and there is a gap from the peloton, there is no reason for the Bike Barn rider to continue to sit in.  He at that point could help to bridge up, and the break would still contain 50% Bike Barn riders.  I’m not saying that their tactic was wrong, but that I would have played it another way ( but I am biased, wanting a chasing breakaway to stick!).

At this point, I was a little bit lost on what to do next.  Do I sit in and sprint for 5th?  Go for a prime? Continue to chase and work hard just for the fitness gain?   It ended up  where I rotated to the front and started to pull, and everyone else sat up.  I found myself with a 20 second gap!  They group was not interested in chasing for 3/4 of a lap until we came through the finish and a prime was announced. I looked back to see the peloton go from cruising to on the rivet, highly motivated to catch me and not let me get the prime.  I put my head down and kept my power output at the max I thought I could hold for 1 lap, or about 2 minutes.  The gap came down to about 15 seconds around the last corners as I tried hard for the prime, but I didn’t quite make it.  Two or three riders sprinted across the gap with about 300 yards to the line, taking the prime.  I was spent at this point and finished the last 3 laps by myself, about 20 seconds down on the field.

At the end of the race, I felt really good about the way things went.  I was aggressive and worked to animate the race, and I can feel my fitness improving.  I learned not to sit up after catching a break because I will lose all momentum!

Congrats to Kevin Kremke on the win.  He edged out Chris Lowry for the win.  I thought the finishing laps were really interesting, as Chris and Brian (bikeSports) seemed to be working together against the two Bike Barn Riders ( Kevin and Wally).  They attacked Wally and Kevin to try and get someone besides Bike Barn to take the win.  I love how alliances are made between teams in cycling.  It made for an interesting finish.