Pedalling Squares

Fremont Freewheelers Criterium, June 12, 2004

Description:
Flat four corner, 0.8 mile, roughly square course. Some botts dots all around and it was windy - the finish was into the wind.

How it went down:
Kevin wanted to hang for the sprint, I wanted to try my legs in a few attacks or maybe a prime, and Rob, well he's from Canada, so pretty much anything goes. We get the speech about this being a 60 minute crit, and then off we go.

I'm hangin' in, just trying to stay near the front looking for an opportunity. The bell rings for a prime lap, I'm too far back, and not interested just yet.

A few laps later, we're coming through the finishing straight, the group mushrooms a little, I decide to launch it - hoping someone will join me for some lactic acid burning joy. As I do, they ring the prime bell - what timing!!!

It seemed like it took forever in the headwind, but I made it to the first turn with a little gap and kept it going as hard as I could. Halfway through the next straightaway, I look back, and I've opened up a nice gap. If I don't completely blow, I should be able to take the prime solo. I keep it going as hard as I can, knowing the next turn will get me to a nice tailwind. In the tailwind section I look back and I still have a decent gap. It looks like there is some movement in the group, but I've still got nearly 10 seconds.

Now I'm on the last crosswind section and I know I've got it wrapped up. I take the prime solo and just try to maintain it, hoping maybe somebody can bridge up to me. Not happening yet, but I'm not just going to stop pedalling so I keep it going. Well I start to tire and nobody wants to bridge up, so right at the beginning of the next lap, the group catches me. Oh well, 2 laps of solo effort for the sponsors!

Nothing much else happens for awhile. Nothing sticks, but then hardly anybody tries either. It was a little windy, so it's tough to get motivated for that kind of pain. Soon they ring another prime bell, and I'm at the front, so I decide to stay attentive and see what happens. There's a little surge and things get strung out at first, but nothing major. I'm in the front four or so in the tailwind section and when the leader pulls off, I decide to make it interesting. So I put my head down and go for all I'm worth. Maybe I'll soften 'em up for Kevin a bit.

I pull through the crosswind section and make the turn to the final straight. I just keep it going into the headwind as hard as I can. I'm expecting to be swarmed any minute. But nothing's happening. They're just sitting on my wheel. At 200 meters, still nothing, I push it as hard as I can... 100 meters, still nothing. So, I decide to go for it and launch my "sprint". Right at the finish someone challenges me and I can't tell if I got it or not. Photo finish for the prime, I guess you'd say.

It was a little bit before this that we noticed the lap cards were now counting down from 9 laps to go. But it was way too early - at this rate we would finish after 40 minutes. People in the race are whining a little but there's not a lot that can be done.

With a few laps to go, we start winding things up for the finish. I see Kevin out in the wind and move up to help him get to the front. I do the best I can, but I'm not feeling so strong with the wind and my previous efforts. So I peter out and leave Kevin on his own. Rob is near, but looking pretty gassed.

I see Kevin trying to fight it out, but looks like he had to scrub some speed for some reason and he's too far back to make anything happen. Damn. I finish right by Rob - roughly 30th?

The good news is I did win the second prime. So two primes for Pegasus / Allegiant: $20 and some gloves and booties from Bergamo. Not a bad showing for the day. The bad news is the crit turned out to be only 38 minutes. The chief ref goofed up the timing and shorted us 20 minutes.

Avg HR: 170 bpm.
Avg speed: ??? mph