Race Report: Bethel Training Crit 3-8-09

by joe

Let me start this off by saying that only a Thresholder would drive 350 miles round trip to do a 12 lap, 11 mile training crit. Just saying.

5:00AM – Wake up. Start hydrating and fueling. Stumble around in the dark to put my cycling clothing on, then my normal clothes over that.

5:30AM – Pack the car with all my stuff for the day. Camera, bike, jacket, yada yada yada.

5:45AM – Exit the driveway and head to Bethel, CT.

7:15AM – Arrive in Bethel, CT. Make my way to the registration table, then back to the car to pin my number on and warmup.

7:30AM: Pull my trainer out, attach bike and climb on. Commence warmup.

7:55AM - Finish warmup. Down a power gel. Hit up the porta-potty. Do a couple laps around the course and then line up at the start line.

8:02AM – Race official tells me that I am going to be in the second heat because I have an odd number. WHAT??? I asked the guy at the registration table what time I’d be starting and he said 8!! Does anybody want to switch numbers? Are you serious? I just rushed through everything to get here for 8 and now I have to be stale for 40 minutes while this hea finishes?? Crap.

8:03AM -  I get over it.

8:40AM – Time for my heat. I get stuck at the back of the pack at the line as a result of me doing another couple laps around the course. There’s a little chatter about the warm weather, the wet ground, the sandy corners and everyone’s new shoes.  Whistle blows, and we’re off.

I muscle (haha) my way to mid-pack and stay there just trying to get acclimated to riding in this pack. It started off as sort of a double paceline and was fairly uneventful in the beginning laps. After about 4 laps a group of 7 or 8 mashed up the hill before the start/finish line and was able to breakaway from the main pack. Another 3 laps later, the main pack strung out with the exception of 4 or 5 riders who were at the front (I was part of that group). We tried our best to catch the break, working what I thought to be a fairly efficient paceline, but we had no luck. The closest we could come was seeing the break finishing the 2nd turn as we were coming around the first. Then seeing them finishing the 3rd as we came around the 2nd, and so on. On the last lap, we lost sight of them completely. My little chase group eventually lapped a couple riders and I ended up with a 12th place finish out of what appeared to be 25 riders.

I consider this a success in my book as last year at this time I wasn’t even able to keep up at all at Wells Ave and was one of the unfortunate few who were lapped. Looks like this year is going to be different.

Next week, Wells Ave Training Crits start. Time to redeem myself there.

- Joe

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 8th, 2009 at 4:35 pm and is filed under training . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

5 Responses to “Race Report: Bethel Training Crit 3-8-09”

  • leo Says:
    March 8th, 2009 at 5:14 pm

    so. so proud. I mean it. this makes me so happy.

    congrats Joe. J-lo is here!

    -L

  • Jason Says:
    March 8th, 2009 at 5:57 pm

    Great job JLO!!!! Nice work

  • ken Says:
    March 8th, 2009 at 6:49 pm

    Nice Joe! Congrats on getting this first effort of the season under your belt with a solid finish.

  • Cory Says:
    March 8th, 2009 at 7:05 pm

    Joe–SO GOOD BROTHER! THIS is the essence of racing…incremental but SIGNIFICANT improvements. You SHOULD be happy…this year will be different, no doubt. Couldn’t be prouder :-)

  • Shane Says:
    March 8th, 2009 at 7:36 pm

    Good work Joe! Honestly, getting people organized to chase something down is often half the battle. Looking forward to Wells this weekend!

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