Rutgers Weekend, the crit

Following the time trial we left the D riders to their business while we got some early lunch. Apparently, part of being a collegiate "A" rider involves lots of smart decisions about eating between races and lots of waiting around...

The crit course was extremely non-technical, with 3 very wide turns and one mildly challenging left hander around Rutgers' practice football stadium. There was some rough pavement in sections, but overall it seemed like an easy way to hold the first crit of the season. The earlier races were pretty clean, so I was fairly confident about staying safe and off the pavement.

I got a decent warm-up in on the rollers and slotted myself mid-pack for staging. The requisite race instructions followed and we were off. It was decidedly casual, and a strong headwind on one section would probably work against any small breaks, so I was complacent and let myself slide to the back (as usual). I don't do it intentionally, but it always seems to end up that way...

We only made it one lap before the race was effectively ended for a handful of us, including my teammate Cameron. As we rolled through to complete the first lap, someone went down (not sure why or how), which caused some collateral damage to several other racers. I recall a bike flying well overhead before crashing down and releasing a shower of spokes. I was far enough behind this incident that I could slow down and pick my way through the carnage, but the gaps were already opened.

Several of us mounted a sprinting chase before hitting the back stretch where the wind kept us well behind the main field. And that was it. Over the next several laps, our group's composition changed, but remained at a size of 4-5 riders. We would drop some, others would bail, and we would occasionally acquire a rider shed from the main field. The only thing that remained constant was the inability of the group to work together. Cameron and myself pulled a majority of the time, as we seemed to be the only ones with any understanding that we would have to ride faster than the main field to catch up to them.

This continued for several more laps, and despite the group working against itself, we started to pull back the field. I would venture that we were pulling back 10m per lap. Not too bad when you consider the speed changes associated with prime laps. We were probably 150-200m behind the main field when we were informed by the officials that our group had two laps to go. WHAT? We're so close and we're actually making up distance...how could they pull us like that? I put in a little effort and got 2nd in our little group sprint, but it didn't matter since we were so far back to begin with.

Ultimately...the race was really obnoxious. I knew damn well I could have stayed with the field and maybe done some decent attacks, but being behind a stupid crash ended up being the determining factor. Lesson learned...start riding towards the front of the group...