That was a battle, swords were drawn, and nunchucks flying. Kudos to Jeff for putting in a huge effort at the front with 2 laps left to go. Roland was up there right with him, and occasionally I was also, except I kept losing wheels on the turns. It was really tough to hold position, twice I was bumped into the grass.
Like most crits I've done so far, this race was really a battle of positioning. The pace was fast enough that no moves got very far off the front. But slow enough that the field was constantly bunched together. With half a lap left, I was in the top 10-15, but got swarmed coming down the riser and I couldn't move up again. I felt great, I had a ton of strength left in my legs, but alas, no where to go.
It seemed that the main challenge was a field of 66 riders bunched up on a narrow course. There are no long straight sections at the fitness park, and it isn't very wide. That meant that there were no good places to move up through the field and as a result there was a lot of diving into the insides of the turns, and consequent bunching.
Watching the Masters and Cat 3 races, they played out very differently. The field was strung out, breaks were going, gaps were forming, moves were being made. I think Cat 4 races would benefit greatly from some more attacking and driving the pace up to stretch things out. As long as I'm not going to be contesting the sprints anyway, might as well have some fun. Make a race of it.
No pictures of videos this week, boring post for posterity.
Marten
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