Team Dayton / Renaissance Park Criterium

This was thankfully another novice-friendly course with four 90 degree corners (the 3rd corner was off-camber) and one very short grade before the finish. By the time the women's race rolled around after lunchtime, temperatures had soared well up into upper 80's, but a persistent breeze coming out of the south made the heat tolerable. The women's 1-2-3-4 field consisted of only 10 riders: two from Kreitler, two from Revolution, one from Montgomery Cyclery, four from Team Dayton, and one from SHC. Since I was the only one in the field from SHC, I tried to sit in on a wheel as much as possible and keep a low profile. We started one minute before the Master's 50+ group, but were quickly overtaken during the first few laps. The women's field surged when they first passed us. There was maybe another attempt or two at splitting the field during the remainder of the 30 min + 3 lap race, but the group held together until turning the last corner. At that moment, the Master's field passed us again, resulting in total chaos during the sprint to the finish.

My legs felt great, but I kept messing up turn #3. It seemed like each attack I made was foiled by my poor cornering skills. Eventually I just gave up and sat in the pack, focusing on not getting gapped too badly in that turn. I definitely need to work more on cornering before I can be effective in a crit.

The "Parking Lot Crit" is always a good time! Those Team Dayton guys sure know how to put on a nice race.

My goals for this day were to have fun,be safe and finish all three races.The 40+ race was the fastest of the three.On the last lap I made sure to follow Woody and Mitch, which put me in 7th place in the field.In the 4-5 race we peeled off 10 riders by the halfway point,the Savage Hammer would come down and there they go.This made for a safer finish,which gave me a field finish.The 3rd race was the 50+,this race was all Team Dayton,where was Todd when I needed him.A 6th place finish and I won a bottle of Hammer Gel for a prime.Team Dayton put on a great race.Team Dayton also informed me that I won the bronze medal in the State Road Race,I checked with Glen and its in the mail.Three races,no crashes,finding out about the medal,thats a good day for me.

I showed up at Renaissance park at 7:45 am and it was already hot and muggy. I think this was the first time I raced at 9:00 am. I've stopped drinking coffee before races on the belief is does more harm than good. All I know is I still felt asleep when the gun went off and the race started fast due to two Texas Roadhouse boys from Kentucky who were rumored to be Cat 1s. No way to wake up. After softening the other 20 or so of us with three or four fast laps the Texas Roadhouse boys road off. My heart rate was way up for me-in the 170 range consistently-and my head felt like it was going to pop.Woody and a big Dayton guy tried to get a chase group organized but nobody else, myself included, felt up to the effort. My 6th puts me 4th among the main pack-maybe I shoulda drunk the coffee.
After a 45 minute break, I rode the 4-5 race. Much easier start. Took a prime by chasing after some guy who made a break for it and then passing him on the slight rise before the finish line-did my usual bad impersonation of a sprint and beat the guy by a wheel to the line.

Same old song and dance as last year. Open course, shot "hill" at the end of the loop and hot weather. Started out up front and wanted to control the race, hoping that Will was going to break at some point and I would either control the peleton, or counter his move. I quickly realized I was feeling quite sedated up front so I slipped back to sit in for a little bit. Once I made this decision, a break was attemped by Dayton guys (I think), and the pace quickly picked up, by this point I was just holding on to the back of the peleton. Once things calmed down with about 8 minutes to go, I started to make my way up to better position. I had good position with 2 laps to go, but got swallowed up because of my sub-par cornering skills. By the time we got to the last two turns I was too far back to sprint (and had lead in my legs), so I sat up and watched the sprint from behid. Overall a good race, only wish I was able to be more of a threat/help in the pleton.