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.
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