Concord Criterium Men's Cat. 4

Anyone who knows me knows that I despise criteriums, this one being no exception. Although Wells Ave. is technically designated as a training series crit, the lack of 90 degrees turn and the threat of immediate bodily harm at any moment do not exist, so I can deal with that stress level. My only reason for doing this race was twofold, one as prep for Tokeneke the next day, and two because I had three friends coming by to finally see me race before I move away so I had to do it.

This was my fourth time doing this race, which is run around White Park near downtown Concord, NH. My experiences have been terrible here, the first year was the only crash I’ve ever had racing, which was followed by a suspension from USA Cycling because I cursed while I was trying to find out from the guy who caused the crash why he chose to ride on my inside as I was nearly on the curb. The next year I was sick and pulled out about halfway through. Last year I finished off the back, which was pretty much how I finished most of my races last year.

The course is approximately 1 mile around, which for years was run in one direction, and only three years ago did they reverse the direction because the city put a small rotary circle in an area of the course that was formerly the only downhill part of the course, so seeing as how this would have been decidedly dangerous they changed the direction of the course. We start on a flat wide road, followed by a soft right that goes slightly uphill for a few hundred meters, then we narrow down into a rotary, going from about 12 to 15 abreast on the road to about 4 riders. This part of the course continues slightly uphill which is only hard because of the speed we are going at. At the rotary we take a hard right and continue along the only flattish/slightly downhill part of the cousre which is about 750 meters or so. At the bottom of the road which tilts downward we head into a sharp 90 degree right, followed immediately by another 90 degree right, then after 150 meters a hard 90 degree left, another 150 meters then a 90 degree right and you are into the straightaway to the finish line about 200 meters or so down the road.

I get to the race with plenty of time, noticing that there appears to be nowhere to park, signs indicate 1 hour parking, I found out later this was only applicable during the week, lots for the Franklin Pierce Law Center and signs that either said no parking or Resident Permit parking only. I end up parking on a street that says no parking which was right off the finish/start area and I was lined up behind several cars. Like any New England bike race, the disorganization was laughable. After I get my number and check in I ask the people at the desk if we can park where it says no parking because there appears to be nowhere to park, and a memember of the NH Cycling Club that puts on the race says pretty firmly that its okay, “the city knows about the race we spoke with them you will be fine.” After pinning my number on and setting up my trainer and getting on, a police officer comes by and tells me and the guy parked behind me now that we need to move our cars because residents have complained. We tell him that our race is about to start and can we move it later, to which instead of just saying yes, he asks how long our race is and then sort of slyly, as if there was a need to be sly, that “he will come back in an hour and half to check.” That would be after we were done so we thought we were okay, until about 5 minutes from the start of our race when a different police officer comes by and says we need to move our cars. We inform him that our race is now REALLY about to start and can we move them later. I run back to the port-o-lets to urinate one more time and inform the same NH Cycling club member that contrary to what he told me before the city has no idea what he was talking about and that cops were asking everyone to move. I could only laugh inside and be thankful that my experiences with racing in New England would soon be over.

As for the race itself, I felt somewhat sluggish because I didn’t get a proper warm-up thanks to the interruptions from Concord’s finest and my hard ride the night before was now starting to come back to haunt me. I rode in the back for the first few laps and after now hearing my friends scream my name, I didn’t have time to see them before the race, I decided to ride to the front on the back end of the course where it flattens out so that they could see me near the start line. This little effort burned a couple of matches, mostly because riding in the wind is just plain stupid in a crit. I promptly went back to the back and just sat on the wheel in front of me, being careful through the turns, too careful at times because braking only makes me waste more energy as I have to dig in a bit through each turn to catch back on to the wheel in front of me. At around lap 13 or so of 20 I went up to the front again, in a minor attack, which amounted to nothing. I then decided to actually try an attack on I believe lap 15 or 16, I can’t remember exactly which one. I took off on the flat section and noticed that a couple of riders were with me as we stormed through the 90 degree turns. As I pull through the start line my friends don’t yell, not realizing that I was now in the front instead of my customary position in the back. The announcer says my name and this informs them to look for me as I’m still first wheel the next lap through. I promptly go into minor cardiac arrest going up the slight uphill, all of my matches burned. I proceed to sit on the back the rest of the way, getting slowed down by the only incident of the day which occurred on the last lap at the rotary, I was suprised more carnage didn’t happen here. I trickle in at the back, a few seconds down on the winner, my day over and my legs toast presumably for tomorrow.

Overall 31 out of 61 starts, with 49 finishers.

Lessons learned -

1. don’t do a hard ride of any kind the night before a race, even a race that you have no chance or hope of winning.

2. avoid crits, strike that because Texas is pretty much 75% crits, learn how to ride crits in the future.

3. next time take a cool down lap or two, don’t stop right after finishing to talk to fans, even if said fans will only get to see you race one time in your life.