Philly Phlyer Crit

This unbelievable weather continues, and we had 60s-70s with sun, awesome for March, and perfect for a crit. Continuing my string of screw ups for the weekend, I pinned my number on the wrong side, and didn't realize it until it was too late. Ah well, on this course, with this field, it was just going to be a matter of hanging on as long as possible anyway. Three weeks in, time to get my act together.

After a neutral lap, we were off in earnest. Like usual, I staged myself towards the rear, and spent the first few laps tail-gunning. I quickly realized that was a bad idea on this course, as the the pace was really high, the accordioning around the turns was really tough, and as riders were popping, I was trying to close gaps. Ouch.

I was too cross eyed to know when it happened, but at one point a break went, and I popped off the main group. I figured I was done at that point, but soon drifted back to a sizeable chase group. We were definitely out of contention, but at least it was a group to ride with. Back here, it was a completely different race, felt like the pace was half as fast. I took some turns at the front, it was definitely much easier and faster riding a clean line through the turns. With a couple to go, the lead pace car came through, and we got over to let the leaders through. I think that technically we were allowed to mix it up as lapped riders, but I had no interest getting into a group that I didn't belong.

Coming into the final lap, we still had a small group going, and I was hoping to at least get a chance to sprint it out, if even for only twenty-umpteenth place. However, approaching the final turn, more riders came through to lap us, and I considered my race pretty much neutralized, so just rode it in.

I still felt like I had a bunch left for a sprint, but not going to happen when you're lapped.

Oh, and I did charge my camera today, but apparently didn't hit start. Oh well, next time.