Velochimp: Astrochimp on Cycling

The Rochester Twilight Criterium just keeps getting bigger each year. This year the race moved up to a UCI 1.2 grade event. The crowds seemed bigger and the action in the pro race was fun to watch. The Downtown Rochester course is one of my favorites with the various twists and turns. Its just plain fun to ride through.

My race this year was the Master’s Men 35+ whch included some very tough competition. The Maxpowercycling contingent featured Scott Grimshaw, Rob Walters and myself. At the start line I heard the pack was something around 80 riders. My other choice to race was the Cat 3/4 race which I found out was closed since they reached the 100 rider max.

Before this race I broke out the trainer. It was the first time in all my racing that I warmed up with the trainer ahead of time. Usually I would spin around various areas and try to get a decent warm up. This never had a great effect since I would cool right down at the start and not be ready to jump at the gun which most races such as Crits require. This time the warmup seemed to be very effective. I was able to spin up and get my legs going while doing sprints and such.

Last year at Rochester I raced in the Cat 5 and the announcers described the pack as “first timers” getting into racing. This year with the Masters Men 35+ and we were described as the veterans, guys who have been around bike racing for a long time. I must be one of the younger members at 36 years of age, but age does not matter since most of the guys racing there are fast period.

Brad/Turbo is number 621, ouch nasty crash.

One advantage of racing most Master’s races is when they limit the field to Cat 1-4 only. This cuts out any newbies and usually makes for a safer race. Add to the experience of the racers and it is a much better race overall. Racers handle their bikes better, they don’t get into crazy crash inducing situations since they are a little older. Hence the comparison with the Cat 3/4 race which had around six crashes to the Masters race which had no crashes that I know of.

The Masters races started fast. The first lap had an average speed of 27mph. Guys were unable to keep the pace and gaps formed everywhere. Before I new it I was gapped off the back of the group and chasing frantically to get on. Once you have a gap it is very difficult to get on especially in the windy conditions. As I raced to get back on I was able to work with another racer and do a paceline. I did not like how he went through some of the turns since it seemed that be braked too early. I was trying to go flat out in the turns and sling shot around them and not lose any momentum. I would rarely touch the brakes. The road were wide and if you picked a good line you would not have to touch the brakes much at all. My favorite part was slinging through the Baush and Laumb double turns.

So I chased and chased and could see the gap to the field growing slowly. After I don’t know how many laps a Preferred Care guy comes up. I thought that he was gapped at the start and I raced to get on his wheel. For some reason a motorcycle ref was with him, but it did not click with me since I was in oxygen debt trying to get back on. After all in bike racing you never give up. You never know if a crash or some slowdown may occur that would bring the race together. So I kept fighting.

Turns out the Preferred care guy was in a break, and the moto-ref was signaling me to back off and not work with him. So I backed off, gave them a few feet but enough to use them as motivation. Like a carrot to the bunny, I kept the motorcycle in my sites for as long as I could until the pack finally caught me for a lap. As they raced by I felt the effort of pushing in the wind for most of the race and did not have the extra speed to latch on. Gradually they passed me until I was through the pack.

In the end I was placed 42nd out of 60 or 80 something racers. Rob Walters stuck in the main pack for most of the race until he was gapped after a preem sprint. He decided to bag it after that since he was way over the redline for most of the race.

The first Crit of the year is out of the way, but I think I may be in a good situation to do well in upcoming races. I have the speed, but need to make sure that I don’t get behind gaps that form to the main group. Starting near the front of the field is key to avoid the extra work of working through the shredded remnants of racers with their tongues wagging. I am probably in that group anyway.

After the race I hung out with my brother and watched the other races. The pro race was exciting to watch as pro racers would get shelled off the back of the pack. Many of them looked spent from the all out effort at the Crit. A breakaway of six racers featuring defending champ Hilton Clarke lapped the field. The end of the race had a one lap shoot out between the six that was won by Clarke after his Navigators team helped to set him up for the win.