High Desert Omnium Crit

This race reinforced why I don’t like crits:  too fast, hard to maintain position and s*** goes down REALLY fast.  Even as I was warming up I was asking myself why I signed up for the entire omnium, rather than just the road race (the only event I really care about here).  Then again, there’s the “go big or go home” attitude so if there’s 3 events by God I’m going to compete in all of them. 

I was going to employ my typical crit strategy of fly off the front for a lap and see who comes with me but I started second row and didn’t have the necessary jump so I just sat mid pack.  Over the first few laps the pack worked its way around me and I’m stuck second from last hanging on for dear life.  I proceeded to fall victim to the accordion effect at the back: frantically chasing followed by hard braking.  Turns out a 45 minute crit is really flipping long.  With three laps to go I somehow was able to soft-pedal to the front of the pack.  Just as I got there a Guinness guy on my left took off so I thought “why not, let’s go.”  And the race was one.  With a little help from a teammate blocking we were able to build a decent lead, hopefully enough to hold the pack off until the finish.  Coming into the second to last corner I saw the pack and knew it was going to be close.  With about 150 meters to go I jumped but heard the inevitable sound of deep swirling carbon behind me.  4 guys got past me in the field sprint and apparently there was a break up the road setting me in 8^th place.  I went into this weekend with the intention of learning and using these races for experience, not points.  Well, so much for that plan.

Avg speed:  26.73 mph
Avg HR: 181
Max HR: 196
Ride quality:  place-wise: good; strategically/smart: bad