Masters State Crit

This weekend in Spokane was a blast. Some of the best racing of the year on some of the best courses I have ever raced. I will post my RR report later today but here is a brief report on the crit.

Criterium
The crit was in beautiful downtown Cheney. It was a pretty darn technical 8 corner, 1 mile loop that included a 3 block gradual climb that came after corner #1. The race started off at a decent pace. I honestly don't remember whole lot besides trying to come up with some sort of a plan since my only knowledge of the course was 1 warm-up lap just before the race start. I could tell that position at the top of the hill was extremely important. Once a person was at the top much of the rest of the course was either flat or downhill and included 7 corners. Pretty early on Andy Luhn from BRI attacked and stayed away solo for much of the race. We often pulled within 15 seconds of him but he would always make time up on the corners and downhill and it seemed he might stay away. With 3 to go I decided to punch it and bridge up. It was just in time since we finally caught him on the last trip up the hill. I had settled into the pack just before the start of the last lap but must admit was not thinking well at this point. Most of us had the same idea of position at the top of the hill but 6 of us created a bit of a gap on the rest of the Field. That is were my preconceived plan ended and I was not aggressive enough-- a HUGE mistake! I felt really good at the top of the hill and should have jumped right then! I waited and got on the wheel of Alistair Leigh who was on the wheel of David Hecht (both from IJM). It "seemed" like a good idea until Lynn Pilant attacked on corner 6-- the steepest downhill section just 2 corners from the finish. While Pilant's move was a very well timed and took us all off guard, it was a sketchy move that nearly took out David Hecht and in-turn started an accordion effect that decided the finishing order. The 4 of us were close at the end but each just held their position-- Pilant, Hecht, Leigh and me.

I have to admit I was frustrated for a few, ahem, minutes after the race. Not with the sketchy move (that's just crit racin') but with my failure to be aggressive enough on the last lap. I should have made my move and made the others match. I had the legs but was simply not aggressive enough. In the end 4th still earns me good BARR points. Did I mention it was like 86 degrees?

RR report to come this afternoon.