Soulard

I haven't raced a crit since Joe Martin so I was a little anxious before the start of a 10 turn high speed crit. Add in the fact that 70+ cat 3/4 we're entered I knew it was going to be an interesting day. Emory met ICC, Super G & I @ the race. Skip was supposed to show but I think he's dodging USCF officials who have an upgrade notice for him so just the 4 of us toed the line.

As soon as the course was open for a practice lap 70 guys toed the start line ala mountain bike style. ICC, Super G, & I took our lap & our position @ the back of the line up was ensured. Being the seasoned mountain biker that I am I weaseled my way up to the 2nd row with a straight shot @ the inside line of the first turn. Having Norba National race start flashbacks I hit it super hard from the start & hit the first turn 5th wheel diving in hard hoping no one would clip me from behind. I then dug deep to get on or near the front as soon as possible. The first 5 laps hurt! My speedo hardly dropped below 28mph on these early laps with me either on the front or 2nd or 3rd wheel. I figured the best way to avoid crashes was to be up front out of trouble.

ICC, Super G & Emory didn't far so well & had to battle up. Emory got caught out & rallied on till being pulled with over 1/2 of the field. ICC & Super G kept picking off people till ICC missed a gap & had to soldier on in the chase groups till getting pulled with less than 3 laps to go. Super G made it into the front group of about 25 with me. I got some bad info & thought the two of us were in a small group of the front so I tucked my head & kept the tempo fast. I figured if the pace was really hard no one could get free & Super G could easily win the field sprint. Well it worked in a way. There were more people than I thought but breakaways were kept to nill.

Super G snuck up & won himself a lovely prem of a CD that won't play. He later went for another one & kept going with 2 others in which would be the deciding break. Once he had a gap I got on the front & slowed things up enough to keep him away. Super G then pulled up a little in the sprint so as not to look greedy & win twice in two weeks(no sense upgrading this late in the season unless your Skip). So he pulled out a nice 2nd & I sat up my job done for the day & coasted in the group. Things are looking good for State Crit.