Downers Grove National Criterium Championships

This past Sunday was the National Criterium Championships, held in downtown Downers Grove, IL. It seemed like a good time to finally get out to a USCF race. I raced Cat. 5 with Ian while Andy and Meredith acted as our photographers and cheering section.

Although my day started way too early and the better part of my mind was probably still wrapped up in the sheets, arriving early afforded us lots of time to ride the course. It was mountainous for a crit! The circuit was about a mile long and consisted of 8 corners. Turn 2, a narrow 90 degree left, was one of the hairiest and was the site of several crashes throughout the day. Between turns 3 and 4 there was a short, steep climb leading to a super-fast downhill section.

At 8 AM, the race began. From the gun, Ian surged out in front of the race and led us through the first two turns. I fumbled with my cleat even worse than I usually do and wound up in the back of the pack. At only a little more than 20 minutes in duration, the pace remained quick throughout the race. Ian looked strong throughout, remaining in the top 5 positions as far as I could tell from my rearward perspective. I never really found my legs and was generally too terrified by the constant cornering to venture forward in the pack. The yo-yoing took a harsh toll on me (especially turn 7, which the pack handled excessively shrewdly) and although I tried to gain position a few times by riding hard up the finishing stretch's moderate grade, I couldn't make it stick.

up the hill, somewhere in back

By the end of the race there wasn't a whole lot of snap left in my legs, but the pack was down to under 20 and it looked like Ian had a great shot at winning the field sprint. Unfortunately, on turn 2 of the final lap, Ian was crashed out by "an asshole" and sent into the barriers. In the mass panic that ensued, another rider and I became entangled, and although we both managed to stay upright, lost contact with pack. I chased hard for the rest of the lap, but following the kicker between turns 3 and 4 there wasn't much left in my legs. When I turned onto the finishing stretch, it was with one other rider that I'd been dragging since the altercation at turn 2. I tried to sprint all the way to the line, putting a gap on the other rider, but embarrassed myself when I decided that the agony I was experiencing wasn't worth it and sat up with about 25 meters to go. I wish I hadn't, 16th sounds a lot better than 17th for some reason.

oops

After a second breakfast, we watched the races for the rest of day. Notable occurences included a drama-heavy crash on turn 2 during the women's pro race. Without getting too specific, some choice accusatory words were uttered by a rider who, by all of our accounts, had crashed herself out. The finish of that same race was apparently quite exciting; too bad we didn't see it. Confused about the number of laps remaining, we merely heard the jubilant shrieks of an announcer as we blindly wandered through an alley. Will and Seth's race found itself in a monsoon. I'll let them tell the story.