Forest Acres Crits

Day 2 of the local crit racing weekend, brought even worse weather than day 1. I had pre-registered the night before to get a two race discount, hoping that the weather would improve. It didn't. It was 48 degrees and raining. While my wife stayed home sick with the flu, I drove into Columbia to ride my bike around in circles in the rain. Riding in the rain when it's cold seems crazy or dumb, but there were plenty of other racers out there to join me.

36 lined up for the pro/1/2 race at 1:30 pm. I liked the course, because it was wide open enough to be safe even with the wet pavement and there was a long hill up one side. I thought the hill would break things up, so I went hunting for a breakaway once again. Eventually, I found one. Just after the half way mark, I bridged up to a lone Global Bike rider and was away for about 12 minutes, only to be reeled in with about 15 minutes left in the race. In the break, including the bridge up to it, I averaged 332 watts. Once we were caught the pace in the field stayed high as another field sprint became inevitable. I attacked about halfway up the hill on the final lap, but didn't have enough left in the tank to make it stick. I hung on to finish 12th in a sprint that hit 42 mph on a fast downhill.

Normalized power for the 1 hour race was 326 watts. Again I was at my limit.

After the pro/1/2 race I was soaking wet, and got really cold waiting for the combined 35+/45+ race to start. It turned out to be Ladd and I for 35+ and nine guys racing 45+. Eventually I wound up with the 45+ winner, while Ladd and Langston came across next together. So, officially PV finished 1-2 in 35+ and 2nd in 45+.