This was my first sanctioned crit and set in the cool town of CastleRock, Colorado. I signed up for the Cat 4 Open division thinking it would have less-experienced riders like me but I learned the hard way on this race. The course was a tight .7 mile route through town with eight 90 degree turns where bike handling was at a premium.
Race Ready with nephew Ben
I arrived about 30 min prior to my race and was unable to get a great warm-up but not that it would have helped very much because when I was on the start line I realized that of the 30+ riders in the category I was likely the oldest in the bunch. The whistle blew and in a matter of 45 seconds I was DFL and spit out the back so fast it had me wondering what I was doing here.
I worked my tail off to catch a few riders and then latched on with two other riders and we worked together for most of the race. We were so far behind the lead pack that they lapped us about halfway through the 45 min event. Normally the officials would pull lapped riders but because we got out of the way and were not interfering with the leaders we were able to stay on the course. I was able to keep a steady pace and averaged 22.2 mph but it did not keep me from being lapped a second time by the top 5 guys. I finished up about 2 laps down from the podium guys and 1 lap down from the main pack.Very humbling and I need to learn to NOT brake in the corners..........
JOCMO: Passing a guy in the last 200 yards that had lapped me about 10 min earlier.
View from the Balcony
After the race my sister Macey and her son Ben met me for lunch and we were able to watch several races from the balcony of a quaint Italian restaurant.
Macey and Blondie Ben
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