I am way behind on race reports so I am going to give a brief summary of each. I haven't been on blogs lately. I blame Face Book. You can all friend me on Face Book if you use it:).
Belterra Circuit Race 3/28I believe there were about 70 racers. The race was a hilly 2 mile circuit and I knew that there would be a quick selection. I made sure to get a slot at the front of the field at the start line. I got a decent start. I hammered the first lap to stay with the front. As expected, on the 2nd lap the selection happened. I went away with 3 other riders. All were from different teams. We worked together very well. One of the riders was struggling to stay on and was skipping a lot of pulls. We opened up a considerable gap. The finish was a steep uphill and I could only manage 3rd.
Driveway Criterium 4/2The day was extremely windy and we only had about 35 riders at the start. I felt decent, but not great throughout the race. I felt like I did too much work early on. As we approached the finish I was charging up on the left. There was a boble inside and the guy to my right veered over and we rubbed wheels. I didn't go down but it killed my momentum. I soft pedaled across the line for maybe 20th.
Driveway Criterium 4/9We had 60-70 riders at the start. We ran the full course - 2 miles. As the race got underway, I wasn't feeling very strong. I took some early pulls, but then decided to sit in and try to regain my mojo. I started to feel a bit better as the race wore on. On the last lap I jumped on a wheel coming by fast. He pulled us into first and second. I stayed on his wheel a bit too long before pulling through and got swarmed by a group coming through on the left. I jumped on, and then sprinted for the line. I finished 10th. This one came down to me missing my opportunity and waiting to long.
Fiesta Grande Criterium 4/11We had 50-60 riders at the start. The course is a police academy driver training circuit - ie flat with lots of corners. I got a great start and was sitting in 3rd after the 1st lap. I felt good and decided to push up the pace. I opened a gap of about 50 meters which lasted 3 laps, but nobody would come across. I was bummed out because a few good riders could have easily gotten away. So I made the decision to go back to the pack and let things play out. I won a preem shortly after that (6 pack of Tecate). For most of the rest of the race I stayed in the top 5 or 6. There were some accelerations, but nothing super hard. About 500m out on the last lap, I charged right and a few others charged left. We came into the last corner and I was in 4th. That was were I finished - 4th. This was a failure on my part of letting it come down to a sprint when I am only a mediocre sprinter. A local San Antonio bike racer R. Mercado took some pictures at this crit.
Coming back to the pack after my break.
Going through the 180.
Somewhere along the route.
The difference between winning and not winning. He is elated with his arm up. I am disappointed with my head down.
