'2008 Pepper Place Criterium'
by: Tim Regan
This was a race I couldn't miss. This course is non-technical and favors top end speed. Nice crowds, nice payout and good competition make for a great event. I did it last year with Scott, my teammate, and we did very well. We both came away with close to $600 each in prize money.
This was a race I couldn't miss. This course is non-technical and favors top end speed. Nice crowds, nice payout and good competition make for a great event. I did it last year with Scott, my teammate, and we did very well. We both came away with close to $600 each in prize money.
The plan was for Scott, Woody and myself to ride aggressive. It's
been my experience that while aggressive riding pays off a lot of the
time; it really pays off at the end of the year when most riders are
backing off the training a little bit. By the end of the season,
riders seem to be less reactive to attacks, etc. We never had a chance
to employ our aggressive strategy, because by Saturday morning, I found
out I was going to be by myself. Both Woody and Scott couldn't make it
to the race for various reasons. Although I was a little bummed that I
wouldn't have any teammates with me, the race goes on, right?
The crit was fun, but I know better than anyone that crits are a
gamble. This one was no different. My only option since I didn't have
teammates was to ride as aggressive as I could and try to get in as
many breaks as possible.
The race started off fairly fast, a good bit faster than the Master's race I raced earlier in the day. Immediately, Matt Winstead was trying to ride off the front and was doing so successfully, but Eric Murphy ans a couple of others were keeping him in check. Still Matt had a few seconds on the field. Various people in the crowd had cow bells, so on one of the early laps while Matt was off I thought I had heard the bell for one of the many prime laps. On the finishing straight, while Eric and a couple of others were drilling it at 30+mph trying to chase down Matt, I attacked them and blew past Matt before the start-finish line. That's when I heard them ring the bell for the prime lap. I thought to myself, 'you idiot'. Although it was ill timed, I let off just a little so Matt could latch on, and we drilled it for a lap, but the pack was relentless and chased us down for the prime.
The race started off fairly fast, a good bit faster than the Master's race I raced earlier in the day. Immediately, Matt Winstead was trying to ride off the front and was doing so successfully, but Eric Murphy ans a couple of others were keeping him in check. Still Matt had a few seconds on the field. Various people in the crowd had cow bells, so on one of the early laps while Matt was off I thought I had heard the bell for one of the many prime laps. On the finishing straight, while Eric and a couple of others were drilling it at 30+mph trying to chase down Matt, I attacked them and blew past Matt before the start-finish line. That's when I heard them ring the bell for the prime lap. I thought to myself, 'you idiot'. Although it was ill timed, I let off just a little so Matt could latch on, and we drilled it for a lap, but the pack was relentless and chased us down for the prime.
One lap later, I launched another attack on the back stretch and just soloed for a few laps. I was thinking to myself that it would be nice if one or two other riders had come with me, but I was committed and was feeling strong. I just kept drilling it hoping that someone would bridge up so I would have someone to work with. Next thing I know I see someone on the back stretch closing in. You have to keep in mind that there are some really dark spots on the back stretch, so you can't make out who anyone is unless they're right on you. As the rider got closer, I noticed it was Matt. I thought this was the ticket. Matt and I pushed it for several laps sharing half lap pulls and kept a pretty good gap. Matt was encouraging me when I was taking pulls telling me to give it all I could (as if I wasn't already doing that). I knew that if we were able to hold off the onslaught of the pack I would be a long shot still to win. Matt was just that little bit stronger and it would show at the end. Eventually Myogensis, Tria Market, etc started to work really hard to bring things back together.
As the race went on, I initiated breaks and followed moves, but nothing seemed like it was going to work. Nearing the end of the race as I drifted back in the pack a bit after one of my many efforts, a counter attack went off the front with Stuart Lamp, Cleve Blackwell & Matt Winstead. This happened with 4 or 5 laps to go. Three more riders tried to bridge to the break with 3 laps to go and although they weren't successful in doing so, they were successful in creating a sizable gap between them and the pack. My options were to sit in and sprint for 7th or give it one more effort and try to bridge. I attacked and everyone that had been sitting in for most of the race suddenly decided they wanted to race. With the pack on my wheel, I chased for over a lap and pulled back the three chasers. I dropped to the back at the beginning of the last lap, and then fought my way through riders getting dropped on the back stretch and caught on coming into turn 4. I started my sprint right out of the turn and picked off a number of guys, but only for 20th place overall.
My results for the day were 2nd in the Master's race and 20th for the Pro 1,2,3. Looking back on the day it is hard to say what kind of effect positive or negative the master's race had on my legs for the night race, but I do know my legs felt better in the Pro 1,2,3 race than in the Master's race earlier that day, and the Pro 1,2,3 was a much harder race.
Tim
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