May 2009 Archives
Over the weekend, Woody Boudreaux (Woodreaux Boudreaux) and I stopped over in Mobile to pick up Jacob Brewer for a quick weekend visit to the house of pain, the NRC Criterium series. We headed up to Anistion, AL to do the Sunny King NRC Criterium. Woody and Jacob would warm up earlier in the day by doing the cat 2 race with a possible last minute invitation into the main event with me against the PRO's starting at sun-down. Well, they did so well and were so active in the race, that their inclusion into the bar-fight that would start later in the evening was a given. From the Start, Woody was off the front with a couple of different rider, whom he quickly dropped. These riders were replaced by new horsepower bridging up to Woody. However no one would pull through at the pace Woody felt was necessary to stay away. He drifted back and this is when Jacob took over. Jacob was constantly off the front for the rest of the race. Either chasing an escapee or 2... alone, or being chased by the entirety of the field. Franky Andreau, the announcer was getting tired of speaking Jacob's name and was starting to make up stories about things other than racing. The course was lined with HDTV cameras which projected the entire lap on the JUMBO TRON at the start/finish. Franky was so exhausted from saying "here comes that guy in blue again" that I believe he started drinking. With about 8 laps to go, the Tour de France star never got the lap count right and it had the strong field of Category 2 riders completely confused. With-in a few laps, you could see the riders making a special effort to look at the lap counter. Six laps to go and Jacob attacked, gaining about 10 seconds on the field. He held this for the next 3 laps, but people were foolishly chasing him down, allowing a very fresh Chris Pic (It's hard to name a pro team he hasn't ridden for) to counter Jacob with 2 laps to go. Woody did the smart thing, expecting the not-so-smart field to chase Pic, which they never did. Woody sprinted in for 5th place, only a few seconds behind winner, Tina's husband Chris.
Later in the PRO/1 race, 99 racers lined up on the uphill Start-Finish line of the .8 mile course. This course is a perfect rectangle, lifted sharply at one end. This is to say that the entire front length of the course was uphill and the back side of the course was 38-40mph downhill. At night. Looking around at the parking area was a study in your familiarity with Velonews. All the big, U.S.-based pro teams were hanging out near their team cars, Bissel, Ouch, BMC, Kelly Benefits, Colivita... You name it. We were wondering why none of them were warming up. From the opening bell it was just plain fast. Sprinting out of the saddle from the last corner all the way up hill, past the finish line to the first, I was expecting it to slow down a bit. Glancing at my computer, we were heading uphill at 31-32mph every time. I got a good start and went into the first downhill turn in about 5th place. I held this position for the next several laps, waiting for it to slow up a bit. But it just got faster. Many laps later, I found myself in the rubber-band section, about 25 riders back. I knew this was bad because even though I tried, I couldn't move up. It was hard enough to maintain my position where I was. Trying to get out of the draft on the downhill and pass a bunch of guys was quickly becoming a bullet I couldn't shoot. But I gave it a try anyway and got my wheels into some clean air. Heading down into the very fast, dark and bumpy turn 3, I got myself a little squirrely and into the gutter. Even at the limit of adhesion, I'm fine with that. But at the next off-camber and narrow corner, if your line isn't perfect, you'll be out in the wind for a couple of hundred meters until you can muscle your way back in line. That's exactly what I did and it's exactly what did me in. I got back in line about 20 places behind where I first attempted this boneheaded move. The next lap, I was suffering so bad that I really wasn't paying attention and in my old aged dizziness, got bumped off course and into the loose stuff. I guess they caught this on camera because when I crossed the line, off the back, the officials told me that I had a free lap coming to me. Who am I to argue? I got back in once more and lasted a little more than 3 laps and I was done. I was disappointed to see pretty much every category 1 that I knew, already standing on the sideline watching. Matt Davis stayed in for a few more laps than most anyone else (of the cat 1's), but hanging at the back of a field that has competed in 8 professional criteriums in the last 14 days is an exercise in humility. That's why they weren't warming up, you race this much... warming up is for amateurs. Woody and Jacob did as well as any cat 1's in the field, but they had already fought a battle today. This was my first NRC criterium since Katrina and I have to say that the mood at the car was pure disappointment. We're better than this, but it's hard to be competitive in the NRC if you sit out for a few years. We've got a lot of work to do. Knowing that only 30 riders finished was no consolation.
Here are some pictures from the really fast Cat 2 race.
See you later,
We were on the defensive all weekend. We've decided to employ a new tactic this weekend, however when most of us are just trying to not get dropped, tactics are as useful as tits on a bull. We did have some moments of greatness, but I told Frank that I felt like we brought a knife to a gun fight. It was by far the fastest racing I've done in Mississippi since the hey-day's of the Tour le Fleur when there were 200 pros there.
Anyway, the Friday night crit was just insane. I felt like I was in Athens. We were staying near the front, but were still a long way from being at the front or off the front. I took a couple of fliers, which didn't even last a full lap (except the first one) and Bain, Tim, and Jake were about the same. I got positioned well in the final few laps but got bumped really hard with a couple of corners to go and sprinted my brains out for 14th. As hard as we were going in the pack, Michael Olheiser was off the front, towing a guy that did the tours of California and Georgia last year. The guy sat his wheel for 10 or more laps and won the sprint @ about 25 seconds in front of the pack.
The RR was an exercise in humility. We were at the limit the entire time and got ourselves handicapped pretty early due to some really unfortunate blunders. First, we took on Clark Butcher for the weekend. Clark flatted about 10 miles into the race and Scott stopped to help. The roads were wet so there were flats everywhere, so they never caught. Then at about 45 miles, there was a 6 man break that blasted past me as i was off the front. I never got on, so as the pack came up, I was screaming that we need to chase. Bain said something to me and I thought he said "go to the front." Anyway, there we were, Frank, Jake, Tim, and myself chasing our brains out to bring the crit winner back for about 10 miles. The whole time Bain was off the back with a flat with Chris A and Woody. We had no idea. Bain finally caught, but his race was basically over. Chris gave Bain his wheel and Woody was done. I never knew he flatted until the race was over. We did our very best to screw ourselves. Jake and Frank finished in the front group, but there was a small gap in front of them.
The TT was slower than this year for most people. Bain was not feeling his best and neither was Frank from the morning RR, but Jacob was the suprise of the day rolling a 8:06 for 10th place.
Then the final Crit at the Co-lin college was really epic. As they called out names it started storming. Only for about 10 minutes, but the roads were wet. However these riders were as about professional as you will find and there was a really gentle pace in the corners and an insane pace on the straights. The streets started to dry after about 40 minutes and every lap was faster than the last. Nothing would get off the front and last and Tim was really one of the strongest guys there. For a while some of us just felt like "also-rans". But with about 5 laps to go, there was a dangerous 6 man break off the front and Clark and I wnet to the front and gave some last ditch efforts. This evidently destroyed the field becuase only about 25 riders came across the line the final time (they were pulling dropped riders). One lap to go and Micheal O asked Tim to get on his wheel, making a deal, but one of those Metro VW a-holes hooked Mike hard putting Tim on his head in the gravel and mud. Hotel San Jose finished the crit 1-2-3 and Tim finished in the golf cart with a concussion. I think Tim might have pulled something off. He was riding that strong.
We didn't ride bad, but we really had no luck, no opportunities to capitalize on. It was a long drive home. And San Jose just dominated everyone except Mike O.
