I finally have something to write about in the Weekend Warrior section as I completed the Concrete Crit and Circut Race in Rome, NY today. While Giuliano Figueras won the Giro de Lazio on the outskirts of Rome, Italy I was racing in the outskirts of Rome, NY around the former Griffis Air Force Base now a technology park with heavy miliatry presence.
The Concrete races are a low key event. Not a huge turnout for a day that had several other bike related races going on all over upstate New York. The flat natureof the course tempted me to come out and stretch my legs. I have not raced at all in the month of July. The last race was the Rochester Twilight Crit way back on June 24th. The low key nature of the event was a perfect place to test out the legs and see how the fitness has improved.
The Team:
Noel Bonk, Matt Howey and Andy Ross were some of the other Colavita guys present for the races. Rob Walters came by later for the Crit with great results.
Race Options:
The choice of which race to compete in was interesting as the races were broken down to the A race which contained Cats 1 through 4. The B race which contained Cats 4 and 5, the C Race, Master men 45 + and women and fnally the D race which contains Cat 5 citizens. As I’m still a Cat 5 the first thought would be the D group, but the distances were very small and competition not so challenging. So I signed up for the B races.
That race was probably the largest field of the whole event with 18 riders, half of them were from one team, the Schuss Ski team who are local to Rome and the Mohawk valley. A few Dick Sonnes guys were sympathetic to the cause too. Noel and I were the lone Colavitas as Matt and Andy raced the A race with five other guys.
The Circuit Race:
Race started off slow, much like a club ride. I took to the front expecting the pack to turn up the pace around me, but nobody was anxious to go. The slow speed made me want to take a flyer, but I decided to wait a bit. After a corner a Schuss guy took off and I immediately got on his wheel. Racing finally started and I felt good. Noel and I were mixing up attacks in the first lap to shake up the field. We quckly noticed that since Schuss had almost hal the field, they pretty much controlled the pack and raced defensively most of the time. Noel and I would either attack to get a break going or if a break going, but did not get much room as we were marked by the Schuss guys. A few breaks went up the road and got a few seconds, but Noel and I had to chase them back down since Schuss was riding a very defensive race. During one chase I found myself out front for too long, as I tried to pull to the side to let someone else chase I found that it was only Schuss guys behind me and they did not get off my wheel. I had to zig zag across the road to try and shake them off. This was so frustrating that I said to one of the Schuss guys “Hey, anybody got some Draino? We need to loosen this clog” Not the wittiest comment, but I was frustrated.
Eventually on lap 2 of 3 I decided that I am using too much energy and tried to cool off for a bit. That was tough since if a break went with a Schuss guy, then the pack slowed down and Noel and I were the only ones able to get a chase going.
All of this chasing of breaks made it difficult to mount a counter attack since we were tired from the chasing. On lap three two break were up the road. We caught the second one, but the first group of two were able to get enough daylight. I was pulverised from all of the attacks and chasing and eventually blew when I was caught between a few accelarations. I limped home near the back.
The race finished in about an hour with around 25 miles completed. That was at 11am. The Crit did not start until 2pm, so there was some waiting around.
The Crit:
The.6 mile crit was basicaly a rectangular course with a cross wind making it tough. Pancake flat with some sand in the corners.
Crit result
Rob Walter took the win in the Crit which was raced with a combined A and B group. Colavita had five guys in the group. Schuss only had five since half the team went home. The race started OK. I jetted up to the front to get in the front group. My legs were feeling a bit tired and I felt a slight cramping in my right hamstring just before the race started. As the paced kicked up I was slowly drifting back through the group as I could not keep up the accelarations in the corners. I was too pooped from the morning’s effort. Eventually I was able to establish a good rythm going at about 22 mph.BTW, I was way off the back. Eventually I got pulled. The pace was pretty high for most riders and the field broke up and quite a few others either ditched or got pulled.
Luckily I was able to videotape the last few laps and capture Rob Walters great sprint victory.
Overall I am glad that the team got a win. Andy Ross and Matt Howey did a great job of blocking in the crit to help the break keep its advantage.
My fitness is better since I was able to animate the Circuit Race instead of simply surviving. Two more races underm y belt and two steps closer to upgrading to Cat 4. Most of my training and racing is now with an eye to next year, but I will get a few other races in during August. Some possible races are Owsego’s Tour de Loop which has some short hills. Chris Thater a huge Criterim in Binghamton, NY and possibly the Ascenson Crit next Sunday in Buffalo.
Abs Diet:
The Abs diet os going well. The results have not been as dramatic as originally expected, but my belly fat is going down. I am getting compliments from folks saying I look thinner and my parents think I am just thin enough. I still want to lose about 10 to 20 lbs, but I think if I do this gradually it will stay off.
There were a few photographers on the course today. I will have to see what I looked like on the course compared to the earlier pic from the Syracuse Race Weekend that prompted me to get more aggressive with losing the belly fat.