State Games Crit Write-up

Mitch, Todd, and I did the State Games Crit in Mooresville, NC today. We raced in the men's cat4 at 2:30PM. It was very hot and slightly windy. The course was fairly long and had four left-hand corners. There was one uphill leading into turn four that lead to a flat finishing stretch. There were probably 30-40 riders (I guess). The pavement was somewhat rough, especially in the corners (more to come on that). There were a few teams with more riders in it than us. I am so used to racing first and at the buttcrack of dawn that I had a hard time figuring out what to eat throughout the day.

The race started and I missed my pedal. I was last off the line. Mitch and Todd were up front and looked good. The race was fast from the beginning and for the first 15 minutes I thought that banana I ate 30 minutes before the race was going to come up. The race was a little on the unsafe side. Mitch was leading a few laps and Todd was up there as well. In the third turn two guys in front of me touched wheels and then leaned on me. We were going up the hill and I had to jump up on the sidewalk and ride to the top of the hill on the sidewalk. About a lap later there was a crash on the backside in the long straight. We all dodged it and the race continued. Mitch was in the back with me and Todd remained up front. Somewhere in the next 15 minutes Mitch got off the back because of some slow riders got gapped in front of him. I moved up into the middle of the pack and with ten laps to go Todd and I were still there. Three riders had attacked and had 20 seconds on the field with 10 to go. With 9 to go the field (not the breakaway) sat up some at the finish line. I got some water and decided to attack. The bad thing was I did it way too close to turn one and was going to fast. I skidded into the turn and heard the aweful "BANG"! My rear tube blew and my tire came off. I rode the corner on my rear rim! The field managed to dodge me and I stayed up. Mitch was back on and stopped to offer me help. I was done by then.
Todd hung in there like a champ and with a few laps to go he went down in turn four. He was at the top of the hill and had the inside line and someone cut in on him. He is ok except for some scraps/bruises. I tried to get him to arrest the guy but he declined. Good thing I am not a cop. I would have clubbed the bastard! Anyway, 3 PVSers started and none finished. Good thing is we are all ok.

Later!