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Chris Hinds Memorial Criterium |
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Team Bikeman -
Race Reports
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Written by Steve Morse
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Wednesday, 16 April 2008 |
Chris Hinds Memorial Ninegret Criterium
Charlestown, RI
April 12, 2008
Ahh, another lovely day for a race down at 'ol Ninegret. I had pre-reg'd for the Pro-123 race a week earlier, and the weather reports all week had predicted downpour for Saturday. I was figuring that I probably wouldn't race because I don't feel like getting sick, and blowing all my nice early season fitness I've accumulated. Well, Saturday rolled around, and I woke up to the sight of rain and a few minutes later - sunshine!
I threw all my racing crap in a bag, put the Salsa Campeon on the roof of the car and sped down for my 11am start. I won't bore you with too many details about a road crit that takes place on an old airstrip, but I will say it was FAST. The first few laps we came through at around 35 mph. Average speed over 90 minutes was over 26 mph. About 45 guys started the race. I think around 39 finished.
The sun stayed out for most of the race, but then it started clouding up a little bit. Rain drops would later fall.
I have to say I felt pretty good, and even tried to mix it up after about an hour into the race, when I was fully warmed up. A lot of other guys got blown off the back, I could see them on the opposite side of the track, pedaling solo into the wind...ouch. That's the thing with Ninegret, if you fall 5 feet off the back of the group and the wind hits you, you may as well just put your bike back in the car and change up.
Jonny Bold and some wicked fast junior dev. team kids were in the winning break that stuck. A lot of guys tried to bridge up for the 2nd half of the race but got nailed by the wind and had to abandon. They had a minute gap and that was basically the race. I gave it a shot with about 8 laps to go but nobody came with me so I pulled the plug. Even Mark McCormick couldn't make it across, so that tells you how hard it was.
Something that almost never happens, is that I had reserves left for the field sprint at the end. I attribute it to really fitness and following the plans of my coach this winter. I passed a ton of guys in the ensuing mayhem, sprinting from the back of the field after the last turn. I felt like I could have ripped the handlebars off the bike, thats how good I felt. I must have passed about 20 guys before the finish. Maybe a good sign?
I made it back to my car, and when I was changing up, it started ouring, and lightning bolts hitting the side of the old airfield. I could see the officials waving their arms to stop the 45+ race which had just started minutes earlier. Guess we were the lucky ones this day.
Steve
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