Not only is this easily the longest criterium I have done, but with Logan Owen and Morgan Schmidt (local Pros, Logan was recently crowned the national Crit and Road champ for the 17-18yr Juniors, and Morgan has been with Jelly-Belly for a few years), we were sure to have a fast and difficult race. Throw in a huge paycheck for the winner ($1000!) and it was a who's-who of WA cycling (and some added firepower from Oregon and I think some Canadian riders too).
Right off the bat, things were going fast, but unlike the Ballard course, Redmond has pretty wide and manageable corners so the race held together. This doesn't mean there were not attempts to break things up though. Both Pros, as well as some of the aggressive locals, all put in big attacks to try to gain ground and/or split the field. The big $$ primes were just added incentive to push the pace every few laps and keep things running full tilt.
After the initial rush of the first laps wore off, it was just a game of staying up front (to stay out of the mess of the pack) and making sure no one dangerous got going off the front. With 90 minutes of racing, not many people were dangerous in the breaks (especially since most were shut down within a lap or two), but there were definitely a few times when the dangerous guys got up the road and I had to make sure we had someone up with them or drag the field back.
Our initial plan for the race was to put Robson or Barrato into a place to sprint for the win, but the main goal was to make sure that they were ready when it came time. My job, as something of a crit specialist, was to keep things working into that direction; get into breaks if they happen to make sure we are represented, but work to bring things back together for the sprinters to do their job. I would definitely say that I did that pretty well. Andrew, Doug, and I were up front for the majority of the race, with added assistance from Munson, Alec, and Mark to make sure things stayed together well. Meanwhile, Joe and Robson just had to surf the field and stay safe for the finish.
As we moved into the second half of the race the attacks had a bit more staying power, with longer escapes initiated by Morgan, Logan, Max O'Neal, and Steve Fisher (Steve actually had an impressive amount of primes too, making his attacks at the right time to capitalize). I managed to stick to a few of these, but Andrew did an impressive job to pull quite a few back as well.
As we got down to about 15min remain, the pace ratcheted up and the pack started getting a little crazy as we approached the finale. Doug, Andrew, and I were still working the front and I know Alec and Munson were both running in great position as well. Time to start setting things up! I made sure I moved up to the front so that I could be in good position for the end and hopefully drag someone to the line.
Disaster struck with about 2 laps left, as a rider clipped Doug's wheel a few riders to my right. I saw the bikes start clipping and braced but managed to squeeze past before bodies started moving luckily! I jumped onto the wheel in front of me again and worked forward again.
Turning onto the final lap I was in roughly the top 15, which is right where I wanted to be. I moved forward a little more as I could and when we hit the last corner, I jumped into a higher gear and turned out the pedals with everything I had left, managing to pass a few people and cross the line in 12th! Ouch did that hurt, but it did pay off. I ended up the highest placed rider on our team, as unfortunately everyone else was stuck in that crash and slowed down, pulling them out of contention. Not the result we were hoping for, but at least it was a great workout and experience for the next race.
The next crit in the area is in two weeks, down in Georgetown. This will be the first time this course has been used, so I hope it is a good one. Maybe I can finally get that elusive top-ten in one of these races down there.
