Wendy's International Cycling Classic

The Wendy’s Grandview crit has always been known to be one of the hardest crits no matter what shape or form you are in. So I went into this race, not really knowing how I would feel or if I would be able to finish the race at all. I took one last late warmup lap just minutes before the start of the race and took to the starting line in the back row. I knew not to worry about it much because it is not all that hard to make up positions on the climb if you relax and just ride it tempo. My plan in the beginning was to move toward the front and then sit in and try to see how things would feel after a couple of laps, and of course after a few laps I did not feel all that great. I had enough to sit in and mix a few efforts in now and then, but that seemed to be all I had in my legs. There was a small break early on with about five riders, none of which were Savage Hill, so I bridged up to the break on the hill but it was brought in within two laps. Shortly after the winning break got away and with five laps to go they had more than a one minute gap on the field. At that point all you can do, is sit in and go for forth place. Luckily for me and unluckily for Jeremy Grimm, who was in the three man break, he flatted. That left the field sprinting for the final podium position. With about two laps remaining in the race Steve Paletti jumped to the front so I figured that I would let him handle the front of the group and I dropped back to pick a guy to follow for the sprint. On the decent a few tri tech guys jumped and got a little off the front of the pack, and of course the two guys I picked were not the ones that I wanted to be following. By the time we hit the last turn to the finish I was sitting in about 15th place and could not see the leader of the pack. Since I was so far back going into the sprint, I figured that I had better start it at the bottom of the hill. I dropped down about two or three gears and then started my acceleration. In my first initial acceleration I got stuck behind a few slower guys, but once I was around them I knew that I was going to take the sprint finish even though we were still 100 meters from the finish line. Once I broke from the main part of the pack I passed Indiana Joe, who I did not even see up in the front of the pack in the confusion of the last lap, and then set my sights on the lone tri-tech riders a few seconds up. In the end I took third for a podium finish and flowers for Michele. The race did not feel all that great and there were a couple of laps that I felt like dropping out. Steve Paletti had a very strong race and Indiana Joe set himself up in a good position for an even better sprint finish. Joe later on did an excellent job on hand-ups during the Pro 1-2 race for Tim Swain’s 13th place finish. Overall I feel that the team was well represented in the Wendy’s race series.

This was a tough race. I felt good going into the race, but I really struggled with the cornering. It seemed like I was losing a bike length on every corner except at the bottom of the hill. It was depressing. Soon, I found myself on the back of the field trying to work out the corners, but that didn't even help. About half way through the race, Shave Dave fell at the bottom the hill rounding the corner and that almost did me in as I had to fight back up the hill and chase all the way around corner #2. I couldn't even think about chasing the leaders.
On the last lap while I was recovering for the final push, I over heard one of the Tri-Tech guys offer to lead out his teammate. I stayed close to them hoping to catch a free ride. When they jumped on the down hill, I jumped too, but a little too late. They were riding fast and about 15-20 in front of me. As soon as I felt the breeze in my face, the pack started passing me on both sides. I almost gave up, but I had that corner nailed and maintained my momentum to carry me back into the middle of the pack with some speed to spare. The sprint started right about that time and that benefitted me as I was already riding at their pace. I had enough gas to drop them, but I couldn't reach Chris and the Tri-Tech guy. Because of the hill, that ranks highly on my 'Hardest Sprints' list.

Random observations

From Jo-May before race: "Did you bring a second set of skin?"
Jeff Hobbs at the start line: "I thought you never raced crits, you picked this one?"

Sounds at final turn, lap three: scrape,grind.

Encouraging yells from familiar voices on the climb and several corners.

Smell of beer wafting across the road from keg situated halfway up the climb, Lisa's sister and brother in law conveniently camped out there.

Both brakes rubbing from severely out of true wheels was enough to finish me off.

Cleaned the dirt out of the road rash and found the beer keg.

Still sore two days later so I must have worked as hard as I thought I did for less than half a race.

Appreciation to J. Baumeister for putting on the race as a loss leader. I can get used to $12 entry fees.