SunnyKing NRC Criterium

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,

Kenny