The
weather was nice and warm for the race and the course is a two
turn flat course with a slight bend down the back straightaway.
I live near Folsom, so it only took about 15 minutes to get
to the race site, which did not give me the normal 1.5-2.5 hours
of mental preparation I was used to. I got to the race in plenty
of time, I got to see the juniors and women 4 race. I have been
feeling fine not warming up for the races, so I continued with
that strategy and it seems to work (no injuries so far). The
womens and juniors race was over so I headed out onto the course
and road around a couple times. Looking at the course and trying
to note and problem areas. I found two decen potholes that could
be a problem, but that was it. I got up to the front of the
start line and they announced there were 5 primes (quite a few
for a cat 5 race). They set us off and I was sitting near the
front of the field just going along. The course is 1km long
and very fast with only having two 90 degree turns in it. After
a few laps I did what people said I should not do, I went off
the front. It just worked out that way that I was carrying so
much more speed than the rest of the pack and I ended up rolling
off the front. I stayed out there for about two laps with the
pack chasing pretty hard. I had a gap of 10 seconds coming around
the start/finish line until they rang the prime bell. I kept
pushing hard and stayed off the front until the last corner
were they caught me, but I still had enough power to stay in
front to take the prime. After that I rolled into the middle
of the field and just hang out for a bit. I noticed a lot of
people that were very sketchy and did not like my position in
the overall pack. I just moved back and to the outside to avoid
these people. It turns out most of them had only done one or
two races, if that, along with a group of five triathletes.
There were two decent crashes and one that a UC Davis guy saved
from falling, but ruined his front wheel. I just hung out in
the pack watching people staying on the outside trying to live
through this crazy race. People would get all crazy for the
primes and ride more recklessly (if you could imagine that).
The last three laps I started making my way up the field to
get into position for the sprint. That was the advice of my
friend Chris who said I should podium this race. I worked on
moving up, but was getting boxed in by people and had problems
just being afraid for my life. I made it up to about halfway
through the field and that was as far as I was getting. The
last lap the paced slowed a bit since no one was wanting to
pull, so I just sat in and waiting for the last corner. We go
around the corner and people are up out of there saddle going
like crazy. I stay seated and push hard and go past a couple
people and just protect my front wheel. Not a great placing,
but I am just happy I am alive after this race. I am going back
to my race tactics of staying up at the very front and off the
front. I think my next crit I will just pull everyone the whole
race and treat it like a hard trainging day. This race was just
worse than any other race I had been in, but that will not stop
me from racing.