Sussex Criterium Race Report

Hey, Snake Alley, bite this!

After my tube blowout took me out of Snake Alley in the 9th lap, I was pretty fired up to do well at Sussex. Pretty much my entire team was racing the Twilight and National Championship ABR races in Chicago, but my teammate Calvin went with me to Sussex, WI for the inaugural Sussex Criterium in search of some upgrade points and some top-10 finishes. Other than a lone SpiderMonkey rider, I think we were the only Chicago riders there. No worries, it was beautiful day in WI. Even a little warmer than Chicago, lots of green grass and trees, and no trash on the ground.

The course was really nice. Basically a cross between Whitnal Park (a long but gradual hill near the finish and fast downhills) and Burnham's Super Crit course (wide, safe and closed). The WI folks really have their act together with the motor home and race camera they have rigged up near the finish line, and the officials are always friendly. I will definitely be back next year. Thanks, Team Cafe Hollander.

The first race of the day was the Master's 30+ 4/5. There were about 50 guys on the line, quite the crowd for an inaugural Master's 4/5 race at 9:00am. Once we got rolling, the pack reminded me of a little kids soccer game. One big scrum that follows the ball wherever it goes. No one wanted to be in front and in the little bit of wind that was on the backside of the course. Being alone (Calvin's not an old man yet), I sat in the front 5 riders and would shirk as many pulls on the front as possible. I think I only took one pull, and even then I soft pedaled. A lot of the WI racers were itching for KOM and sprint points towards the overall WI series, even though they didn't make a difference to the race that day. I let them go, and always caught up on the downhill. A few attacks went off the front, but nothing to worry about. Not boring, but not exciting either.

Going into the final lap, at the base of the hill, I knew the place to be was on the left so you could sprint up the wide left hand side of the road while everyone hugged the right gutter. As I came around the final turn and drafted for a few more seconds, a rider came up on my left and sat there. "Move up on the left", I said. Nothing, no acknowledgment from the rider. "Move up on the left!" I said, a little more directly. Again, nothing. Uhhh...it's time to go, I think. I finally smack the guy on the hip, and yell "UP THE LEFT!". He moves a tad, just enough for me to thread the needle between him and the guy in front of us. It's on. I bury myself, sprinting about 250m before the finish. As I pass the group, I see a rider in front of me about 20m, and I'm gaining on him. "Holy crap", I think. I might win this. I give it more gas, spinning out my gear as I gain on him. About 50m from the line, I realize it's going to be close, and I end up finishing about half a bike length behind him in 2nd. Turns out, it was Brian Karpen of Mad City Velo. We talked after the race while waiting for the officals to post the results. Nice guy.

Next up was the Men's 4/5 race, and now I'd have a teammate with me. When we go to line up, there's only 23 people (including 2 women and a junior). WTF?! Where is everyone? A few guys mentioned the Brewer's game, some charity rides and of course, it was the nicest day of the year so maybe they were home drinking beer and BBQ'ing after racing the Master's in the morning. Oh well, maybe it will be a good race, although a top-10 finish is out in terms of upgrading (need at least 30 people), so I'm racing for points.

Racing..., yea that's what we did alright. Despite the small crowd, this race was on from the start. Fast accelerations, multiple attacks by a lone ISCORP rider that we always managed to contain, a few near crashes, HUGE attacks for the KOM and sprint points by the WI riders, etc. I can't remember the last time there was so much going on in a crit race you had to keep track of. Good stuff. Going into the finish up the hill, I position myself on the left again, ready to attack up the nice open left hand side. Then it happens, again. Someone sits on my left. I go through the same process of trying to get him to move up the left. Nothing. I finally yell, "IF YOU WANT TO WIN, MOVE-UP-THE-LEFT!". He moves, but just a tad and not fast enough. As soon as he started to move, I jumped hard. As I move past him, we bump pedals. Uh, that was almost a crash I think to myself as I pass. And it would have been my fault. Errr, sorry dude, but I'm here to race and if you won't move, too bad.

By this time, though, the leaders were on to my move and they had started their sprint (how they could not, with me yelling at the guy about moving up the left and winning...?). I move up the hill in about 7th, gaining just enough ground for 5th at the line. Calvin is not far behind in 9th.

Overall, a great day of racing. My wife put some light-hearted pressure on me to get some points and top-10's since I was taking the whole day to race in WI, so I was glad I could deliver.