Capital Stage Race 2012: Stage 3 Recap

My favorite part about stage racing is the Time Trial - Crit combo that is usually guaranteed to start or follow the start of these weekend events. Perhaps some people hate that crap: TT your heart out for 3-15mi wait around town for 5+ hours, then try to hang on in the suffer-fest that is crit racing. Personally, my body tends to recover rather quickly from these sorts of efforts, I could do the crit an hour after the TT and still feel fresh. Aside from physiological aspects of back to back stages, what I truly appreciate is that 5+ hours of down time to just relax in a city that I hardly ever (if at all) visit. Find the coffee spot and make sure to hit it up atleast an hour before the crit, or, find it before the TT and double up. Coffee is our friend. So are burritos. This combination can often be found in most metropolitan areas.

After the time trial, Jess and I took a nap in Heritage Park along Dechutes. Since a park bench is only so comfortable, it wasn't long (maybe and hour) before we decided it was Burrito o'clock. I remember a pleasant experience from last year at a joint called, Quality Burrito. Basically any burrito spot that can execute a decent vegan meal wrapped in a tortilla is "pleasant" worthy to me. As expected, it was a 4-star experience. I doubt any place, other than my own kitchen, will ever reach 5-star service, so we'll leave it at that. With hours to kill, we walked off our full bellies around the crit course to view the other races. This was helpful because it's basically considered "course-reconnaissance" where I can see what troubles in the road my lie ahead for us. There wasn't much, well... EXCEPT THERE WEREN'T ANY HAY-BALES TO BE FOUND ANYWHERE ON THE COURSE - AGAIN. I already had a problem with this race last year not having any safty measures to prevent catastrophic injury, since this is a 7 corner sloped circuit. Caution tape never saved anyone from a collision.

As the Pro/1/2 race began, Jess and I set up a spot near the start/finish line for her to spectate and for me to warm up on the trainer. So I warmed up for 60 minutes. I still can't decide if that was a good or bad move. Either way, by the time the Cat 3 Men were called up to the line, I was sweaty and ready to race my bike. Gun off and so were we. The thing about crits is that the pace is hot (really fast) for atleast 10-15 minutes before the strong guys get tired. This is when I usually wait to launch my series of attacks to string the field out and instigate a breakaway. This is important to me for 2 reasons.
1) The sprinters get tired so I have better odds against them in the end
or
2) A breakaway sticks and I'm racing against 5 (or so) guys instead of 50+
Both of these options are safer in the long run since less people are showing up to the finish line all at once. My style.

The only thing wrong with this fantasy crit scenario I've laid out for you is that it doesn't always follow the rules. In Stage 3, for example, the pace was about 25mph from start to finish. It never slowed. There was no breakaway. When I attacked, I was immediately chased. A couple teams, mostly Apex Racing, had it on their agenda to make sure their man, Todd Baumeister, crossed the line first. This means shutting down all moves by others while making the average speed fast enough to fatigue even the largest of legs. Fortunately, our Junior, Thorsten Askervold (11th GC) and yours truly (10th GC) are smart crit racers so we knew where to be when the final laps approached. It's not secret, if you want to do well in a crit, you must be in the top 5 wheels in the last 2 laps of the race. If the pace is insane, you better be there in the last 5 laps or so.
We were.

[Pink Jersey - Race Leader, Todd Baumeister of Apex Racing)

Going into the last lap, Thorsten was 2nd wheel and I was 5th, with the leaders of the race right behind me. As predicted, coming out of the last corner, there was a gnarly crash because some people got a little too antsy a little too late in the race. Thorsten ended up out-sprinting the guy in front of him for a couple bike-lengths of a victory and I managed to pass 1 guy for a 4th place. I was maybe a tyre length away from 3rd. That doesn't really matter, he beat me regardless. But wouldn't you know, Big Todd was the poor soul to go flying out of the last corner into a bus-stop bench (where someone went crashing into the year before, and still no hay-bale) where he suffered lacerations to his legs and arms and a cracked helmet (as i recall?). Todd is huge, like 225lb huge (correct me Apex Racing if I'm wrong) so the bench suffered more than he did. But this blog is about me and my team, so I'm going to end this wrap up with a "Fuck Yeah Thorsten! Way to show these punks what PNW Crit Racing is all about! And woohoo to me, I got 4th in my second Cat3 crit."

(Thorsten Askervold - 16yrs old, Herriott Sports Performance)

It was motivating to see my Darling by the finish line every lap since she doesn't get to see what this racing thing is all about very often, so I was obligated to crush it in front of her. Also, I wanted to prove to the team that I can deliver. I can be aggressive and still place well, I can be aggressive and still keep our man protected.

In all crashes that go down during the last lap of a crit, there can be a lot of finger pointing but it all comes down to you in the end. YOU had the whole duration to get into position or make that risky winning move, if you went down because you procrastinated, it's your own damn fault. If you were the shit-head that caused the crash, you know who you are and have to live with that. Both suck, so race smart and know your abilities before 10 to go.