Tour de Bloom Stage 3 - Crit - Cat 1/2

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Nick
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Joined:Thu Mar 16, 2017 8:47 am
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Tour de Bloom Stage 3 - Crit - Cat 1/2

Post by Nick » Tue May 09, 2017 5:33 pm

Stage 3 of Tour de Bloom was an evening criterium in downtown Wenatchee. Surely this race was the most exciting thing to happen all year in this town. Being the apple capital of the world can't bring in THAT many tourists, can it?? I did see a couple decent looking taco trucks I regret not checking out, however.

With the numbness of the hill climb from the morning lingering in the legs, and the nose still dribbling from the cold descent down the snow covered mountain, it was time to light up downtown Wenatchee. 8:30pm brought a number of firsts for me: first time racing bikes in the dark, first time racing a cat 1/2 crit, first time racing around a 1km loop with 90 guys, first time experiencing why Americans have the reputation for being good at crits. I thought the previous weekend was hectic at Race the Ridge, but all the aforementioned variables made me feel like I smelled a few too many smelling salts by the time I had finished (just because of the adrenaline rush - I didn't actually use any smelling salts of course - just some Stinger gels with caffeine).

The course was a nice rectangle with left hand turns, an uphill on the first short side, and a down hill with "cobbles" on the last short side on the way to the last corner. The pace was fast right from the gun and I was scared I could be dropped early if I didn't make it to the front of the pack sooner than later. I used Jackson's advice from the cat 3 race: to go wide into the first corner and take more speed up the little kicker climb we'd face at the beginning of every lap. I quickly found myself up there with some familiar looking BC racers, and some scary looking Americans (and one German who'd eventually win pretty much all the money on the table that night). I felt better up front staying out of trouble, although I'll admit it is a little stressful to maintain position up there for the bulk of the race. After not seeing Duncan for a little while, it appeared that I'd have to try to make it to the finish on my own. With 3 laps to go (2:57ish minutes to go) I found myself in 5th wheel position - right behind the German. I thought this was perfect. On the next lap, I maintained my position, but going into the final downhill cobbled section I got nudged out and found myself in the wind with no wheel to grab. I fought hard until the end, but faded to 15th.

Not a bad night! I'm happy to have stayed in there and to have been so close at the end. Onwards and upwards, as they say.

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