Disney (and 70.3), TTs, crits, politics and more

I am due for some updates. Let's see, there was Florida 70.3, Disney World, road racing, politics, and a whole lot more. I won’t hit all these topics in this post but I do plan to cover it all over the next week or so. So sit tight.

City Park

My first crit of the year turned out to be a crash filled race with no less than 5-6 separate incidents. Anytime you mix 80 egos with super high octane aggression and a technical course, crashes are inevitable. Some crashes are the result of the aggressive riding, some a result of carelessness, and one or two just an act of God.

As usual with any crit the three elements it takes to win, especially technical crits like City Park, are positioning, fitness, and luck. I had most of those elements in the race but lacked in the fitness department to really impact the race and could have used a little more luck.

Fifteen minutes into the 60 minute race after a prime sprint, I jumped off the front. When the pace slowed a bit I took that as an opportunity to make something happen. I was joined a short time later by Delaney (eventual winner) and a rider from Spine and Sport. This attempt netted the three of us nothing more than a several minutes of being clear of potential crashes in the pack.

Tucked in the back in the early break.

For the rest of the race, I just tried to stay near the front and hope luck would keep me out of trouble. With a couple of laps remaining, I saw Diran moving up to the front with Jeremy in tow. Once I saw this, I too moved to the front to help drive the pace the final two laps and hopefully setup any one of our capable sprinters. After drilling it at the front for about a minute, I eased up hoping someone would pull through to keep the pace fast. That’s when a rider from Horizon Organic pulled around and said something like “Let’s go.”’ I turned back and saw a gap had formed so we punch it. Unfortunately the fuel tank was flirting with Empty and once again my attempt for glory in a break failed.

The remaining lap was about recovering as much as possible for one last dig for the inevitable sprint finish. Approaching the final turn I was sitting 5th wheel. That’s when Delany streaked by on the outside to preempt the sprint. I knew when he passed by that was the winning move. We all scrambled for some wheels and as we came out of the final turn, a rider in front of me we down for no apparent reason (this was one of those crashes that had to have been an act of God as I saw nothing to bring him down). Although I was able to avoid the crash, it was enough to disrupt my sprint causing me to lose 4-5 places. That’s where I could have used a little more luck. Regardless, the winning move had been made and we were all just sprinting to slide into a money spot. In the end I crossed the line in 10th place just good enough for the last money place. It took a protest and a review of the finish video to actually get my result. Initially I was scored as not having finished.

Revving it up for the sprint before the act of God

The kids then took their turn for racing glory in the kids race. Although it appears Megan was ready to stick it to the rest of the field (including big brother), don’t be fooled. Immediately after the start, the deafening screams from obsessed parents froze her in her tracks like a dear in the headlights. I managed to get her to ride the one lap. I think we will need to check the photo finish as I am pretty sure she pipped the last rider on the road to be the 74th out of 75th rider. It was all in good fun.

All systems go!

TTs

There is no other race that hurts more in my opinion than a TT. I jumped into the Bouder TT series last week to work my upper limits more and I did just that. It was the first time on the Javelin since Florida and I hadn't quite put the bike fully back together. Unfortunately I didn't remember this until my handlebars started sliding around and my seat post started dropping on Hwy 36 about a quarter through the race. Regardless, I posted a decent time and succeeded in working my upper zone.

That was last week. This week I took cover under the shelter of a nice glass of red wine instead of showing my grit in the rain. There is always next week.

Ride hard,

J-Rod