Gambier Crit

I traveled up to Gambier today with John to do Tym's ABR State Crit.

A simple 4 turn crit, one side going down a hill, and the other side going up. I thought it was going to be pancake flat the hill wasn't as bad as it looked.

John went first in the Master's race and looked pretty comfortable the whole race. He pulled off a nice W!

I followed soon after. We had a piss-poor field of only 5 guys. Might as well make the most of it though. The other 4 guys were not so motivated to go hard so I hit a nice hard tempo going up the hill and often sprinting up at the top to the start finish. I guess our race was so boring, Don pulled out a $5 and put up a prime. The other guys were saying why should they get all fired up for 5 bux and we should all split it 5 ways.

Anyway I gunned it at the top of the hill to grab the prime (which I never collected since I paid reduced entry fee, a nice gesture) and kept on going. I wanted to see if I could distance myself and get away. No such luck so I sat back into our field of now 4.

I tried several time to push it hard and try to drop another person but it didn't happen. At least one of the guys looked like he was in the serious hurt zone but never came off.

At the end, I was getting a little paranoid that someone might jump me. I had shown all my cards to the others but none of them have. I expected someone to attack me in the closing laps but no one ever did. So coming around on the last lap, I decided to jump a little earlier than I did in the previous laps to hopefully catch them off guard. I also got stuck in the little ring and one guy came around me and held it to the end. I was the first to lose.

I know I shouldn't dwell on it too long, but I pretty much had that race in the bag. But a simple tactical mistake cost me the race. I should have stuck to my original plan of jumping up near the top of the hill, cutting inside on the turn and sweeping out and ride in for the win. But it just didn't work out that way.

But my power has gone up considerably since the last time I raced in Atlanta. So I'm really happy with that. I guess doing a 100 mile mountain bike does wonders to your power.

I should be ready for the USAC Ohio State Road race at Ceasar's creek next week. The following week I'm working Neutral Support for Tour of Ohio. It looks like I will be able to still ride during the week, before or after the stages so I'll definitely make the most of it and probably do lots of intervals. Two weeks later, its Hyde Park and Grandview.

Miles 223
YTD: 3586