I carpooled with Kenneth and we met up with Milaud, Alberto, and a few of the older racers, (sorry I've forgotten their names, I do remember Scott though). We started late due to a crash in the Women's field (I'm not sure which category, but a PenVelo Woman did go down, and I hope she is doing okay). So our schedule was mixed up, we had a warm-up plan in which we would end at 3:30, but in turns out our race didn't start until 4ish, so we had a long cool-down period. My warm-up was a small pattern, 5min zone 1, 3 min zone 2, 2 min going into zone 4 and 5, and reversed and repeat twice. I thought it was a pretty effective warm-up.
Going to the start line, I felt very neutral, as in, I wasn't nervous or anything and I felt cool and collected. We began with a neutral lap, which I was thankful for because it took about 5 chances to clip in. I sort of felt the neutral lap was pretty fast, but it was alright as I still had a lot of energy. The first few laps were typical of a Criterium, people in the front started off hard and so the pace tired out a few in the back, including Milaud who fell out of the pack with another rider. My objective was to stay in the left of the field so that I wouldn't get stuck in the inside of the turns since most turns were left turns. Our plan was to protect Kenneth our sprinter. He was doing a great job hanging on to my wheel, while I was trying to find a position at the front. During the 4th lap he flatted, and although officials allowed him to return once the whole field passed the start/finish, he was unable to catch the fast pace that the peloton held.
The rest of the race was pretty calm. There weren't too many sketchy riders, and I didn't experience a near-crash situation. On the super long stretch after turn 2, towards the end there was a headwind which caused the peloton to slow down, I used this as an advantage to recover and it really did help. Also, no matter how many times the mentor kept saying "Don't brake in the turns" someone still did it so when I was behind guys who did that, I wasted a lot of energy exiting the turns. But when I wasn't behind the brakers, I noticed that you can really fly through the corners without braking, conserving momentum and energy, that being said, my new objective was to stay in the front to avoid the braking.
There were a few unsuccessful breaks, I noticed two Tieni Duro guys trying to pace it up, one of them who caused me to take the 1st corner really slow during the 3rd to last lap because I learned that he had already been lapped, and he tried to help get his teammate up the pack, so when he did, he just slowed down and I had to go around him.
During the last two laps, I was feeling great so I moved up to the front of the pack during mid 2nd to last lap. During the bell lap, I led the field and tried to keep my great position in the front, but by the 3rd corner, the sprinters were summoned out of the pack and they took over so I just sat back. I wanted to attempt to lead out some of the PV guys but I was drained from lead earlier in the lap, as well as being unprotected during the headwind.
I finished 17th, but I was feeling really good and I think racing the Sea Otter RR changed how I perceive criteriums. I almost felt that I could contest the sprint, and I think I could have if I saved more energy. I want to say that my effort here was outstanding, and I could feel I improved; I've never been able to stay at the front for the last lap, and I made less energy-wasting moves and I drafted much better here.
I felt really great today and I look forward to more criteriums. This was also officially my 10th race, which means I'm eligible for an upgrade to the 4's now, but I'm waiting on that until after the Berkeley Hills road race. Also, there was a crash in the CAT 4's race which was right after ours. I hope everyone is okay.
Place: 17th out of 38.
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