Oxford road race report, 2011

It is good to have the road races back in Lancaster. I really liked Rich's series the first summer I raced in 2009. Fulton was my first Cat 4 race, and I did Oxford and Mt. Nebo as well. I was quite disappointed to hear they had lost their USACycling license for 2010. The courses were very good, the racing fun, the distances better (40 miles instead of the usual 25 for 4/5 race), and Lancaster county is just plain beautiful.



(Photos from 2009, as I haven't found any from 2011. Anyone know of any galleries?)



Two years ago, we got hit with a brief torrential downpour, and John Cutler soloed away for the win.





Oversized helmet? Check. Baggy Nashbar jersey? Check. Commuter pedals and walking shoes? Check.



It poured.



I dropped my chain on the last climb, couldn't chase back on, and finished 20th.

Fast forward 2 years to 2011. I wanted a good result here, but mostly I was looking forward to getting back to some good road racing. Especially after a week of solid rain, and when Saturday looked perfectly clear, I was just glad to be out in the sun again.

Roland and I left early to make the two hour trip down to Lancaster county for our race at 8:45 am. We made good time, and got there with plenty of time to get ready, and check out the finish.

The final turn certainly looked bad, it came after a slight down hill and was covered in loose gravel as the road transitioned to a fresh chipseal surface, the kind that chews up skin and flesh.

We rolled out with a neutral start and I settled into my usual spot at the back of the field. The six laps were relatively uneventful, a few break attempts, some chasing, and one guy managed to get away solo for a couple of laps. I took a few short rotations at the front to keep things moving, but mostly just tried to ride as efficiently as possible. Overall the field rode quite well.

We did spook a horse and buggy that came to the road from behind a tree line. The horse took off charging across the plowed field on the other side of the road, with the Amish guy bouncing all over the place, the buggy wheels locked up, and plowed dirt flying everywhere.

But 2011 was not the year for a solo victory here, in the last lap the gap was down to less then 30 seconds, but he was still dangling up the road. Some guys from NCVC (and a few others) did the work and pulled him in.

Coming to the final turn down the finishing straight, there was plenty of communication within the field, and it was apparent that nobody wanted to go down on that chip seal. We rolled around the corner smoothly, much to everyone's relief (I'm sure). The pace slowly ramped up, and I sat back about 7-10 spots, right where I wanted to be. Coming up to within sight of the finish line (300 meters?), I saw someone jump hard from my side and I managed to just barely grab his wheel. He was really flying, and when I was finally gapped, I looked behind me and the rest of the field was still pretty far back. Very satisfied, I sat up and rolled through in second.

Beautiful race, perfect weather, placing in the money, couldn't ask for much more then that. Kudos to NCVC for the chasing, and congrats to the winner, that was a mighty jump.

Smoketown Airport crit race report 2011

Bike racing is a funny thing, I had high hopes for the hilly Tek Park Circuit race last week, but finished at the back of the field. This week at an airport-runway-flat criterium (at a whopping 135 lbs, that is not exactly a course that suits me), somehow pulled off a third place finish.

I almost didn't even do the race, it had been raining all night and morning, and the forecast looked like nothing but wet for the rest of the day. The last thing I wanted to do was a flat, rainy, crit with a tight 180 turn. My only plan was to stay out of trouble and if things got sketchy, call it a day.



Two years ago I doubled up here in the 5 and 4/5 race, in order to get in race #10 and upgrade to cat 4. I was 10th in the 5s, and 15th in the 4/5s (video), so I wanted to at least improve on that finish.

A couple of attacks, but in typical 4 fashion, everything was chased down right away and nothing even had a chance. About half way through the race, I was coming down the backstretch on the runway when I felt myself run over some rubble. It didn't feel like I flatted until I started rolling around the 180 degree turn, then I had that unmistakable wishy-washy feeling of my rear tire sliding out from under me. I exited the turn, and put up my hand to try and get over to the right side of the course, as soon as I was clear of the field, I jumped into the grass and booked it back to my car to grab a wheel. I had decided not to put my spare wheels in the pit, thinking that my chances of flatting were low, and if I did, I'd take that as an opportunity to bail from a rainy crit. Well, racing meant racing, and I wanted back in, so I took my free lap and the official helped me back in on the next time around.

The last lap I started moving up towards the front, trying to prepare for the final trip around the 180. With everyone getting anxious for the finish and fighting for position, that last corner had the potential to get very messy. We all bunched up on the approach like an accordion, I slipped around the very inside, and started accelerating. I saw a Philadelphia Ciclismo rider going hard and managed to get on his wheel which turned out to be the perfect place to be. He absolutely railed it down the entire length of the finishing straight and only one Breakaway bikes rider managed to get around for the win.

Positioning was so important for the finish, and I definitely got lucky in that department. Conserving efforts helped as well, I took a few turns at the front, but nothing more then just rotating through to help keep things flowing. For a wet crit that had the potential to get ugly, the 4/5 field handled it quite well, honestly better then I expected.

I had previously thought that my only chances for upgrading to cat 3 relied upon the hilly races, but managed to squeak out a couple more points.

Airplanes, free massages, free food and drinks, Smoketown is definitely a good race to get to, even if you don't like flat crits. Maybe especially if you don't like flat crits.