Mixing things up in a Criterium is probably the diciest form of bike racing there is. Except of course if you are Lucas Brunelle, but that is a whole ‘nother category of craziness. For the Weekend Warrior such as myself a Crit is as close as you will get to total chaos. The speeds are usually very high, corners make for some interesting changeups and the pack usually stays together for most of the race. Sometimes the pack is in a bunch or strung out depending on the speed. Most of the time spent racing a Crit you are thinking about various things such as how long you can hang on to the speed, or when to attack. You are always watching for a shift in speed or potential crash.
I’ve been racing Crits here and there for the past couple of seasons. While I theoretically know what to do and can stick in the pack technically, my legs/weight/fitness would not allow me to stay in the group for long. Other situations could cause me to lose touch with the pack and eventually get lapped or pulled. All of this Crit stuff started well back in 2004 when I tried out the Syracuse Race Weekend Crit and placed third. First time luck did not translate well. I’ve been trying to get things right ever since.
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(pic from http://www.buffalophotocd.com/)
The Ascension Crit in North Tonowanda, NY was my latest escapade. Two consecutive weekends of racing in criteriums brought about similar results, all not great. I have to figure out how to do this crit thing. The biggest problem I have is the constant accelerations which wear me down after a while. The .6 mile four coner rectangular circuit was a nice course. The corners were fun, some of the the road conditions weren’t ideal, but it was manageable. The Buffalo Bicycling club put on a great event overall. I was even able to bring the wife and baby to the race followed up by a trip to Niagara Falls.
I was able to sign up for two censecutive races since I arrived in plenty of time for the 3pm start of the Masters Men 35+. I figured I would ride, get blown away and be warmed up enough for the next race. At the start the commentator read off the names of some of the competitors. There were a few guys that would race in the Cat 1/2/3 race later on including Todd Scheske who has been racing with the pros in events allover the Northeast. My name was mentioned when the announcer rattled off the names of the Colavita team. I was thinking there was an issue with my registration, but it was just recongnition, for what I don’t know. Woody Woodford and Rob Walters (winner of the Concrete Crit a week before) were my teammates in this race.
The race started much easier than normal the pace was manageable for a few laps. Woody was telling me how much slower this race was compared to the Men’s 45+ which was averaging over 30 mph. With each lap I tried to get into a good position and stay in the pack keeping up with the accelerations. I would lose spots in some coners, but make it up on others. Eventually, I found myself off the back and time trialing to get back.
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