Eagle Creek Traditional Crit

Myself, JR, and Slattery were looking super fast in our brand-spankin' new uniforms at the Eagle Creek Traditional Crit on Saturday. This crit is held within Eagle Creek park (as if the name didn't already give that away), and is a one mile loop with a small hill that leads up to the start finish line. We didn't score any impressive results, but the three of us did manage to ride a strong, smart aggressive race. A small break of about four of five riders got a quick gap on the pack about 1/3 way through the hour long race - Hand Center, Mesa Cycles, and MOB squad were all represented, and the horsepower was there to make it stick. I attempted to bridge solo - but was not able to make it across. I did however give a Nebo Ridge rider a free ride up to the break. As soon as I started to fade he jumped around me and easily made it to the break. Next lap around I give it another go, and this time am able to make it up into the break. But, is was all for not, as we were caught about a lap or two later. Everything stayed together up until about 6 or 7 laps to go, when a Hand Center guy just rolled off the front - no one reacted, figuring he would not be able to stay at alone, but the dude went into TT mode and held on for the win. Things kinda gotta dicey in the spring in the end - Myself and JR were both sitting in the top 10 at the base of the climb, but JR got boxed in when he tried to shoot up the outside gap, and the guy directly in front of me pulled out of his pedal about halfway up the climb, swung all the way across the road, and miraculous held it up and avoided a massive pileup.

For a little extra training, I also did the CAT 1/2/3 Crit later in the afternoon, and finish at the back of the pack.

On a side note, big contrats to MJ and Jason, who both skipped the Eagle Creek Crit and instead were in action at the Mission 18 Hour Adventure Race (Versailles State Park), where they scored an awesome 2nd place finish (out of 46 teams)!

Village of Winona Criterium

I was the sole representative of our team at the Village of Winona Criterium, held in the quaint little artsy town of Winona Lake near Warsaw in northern Indiana. With it being a three hour drive from Indy, not too many other Indy riders made it up, but there was a good contingent of riders from Chicago, Michigan, and northern IN. The race was a tight 1/2 mile course through town (and along the shoreline) - rather uneventful race with a number of riders making an attempt to get away, but everyone was pretty determined to not let anything get away. It all ended in a pack sprint, and I was somewhere between first and last - still waiting for my thunderous sprint to kick in. Ha!

Race Recap - Ceraland & Mooresville Criteriums

April 19 - Gray skies, wind, and damp weather welcomed us at our fist race of the season, the Ceraland Classic in Columbus, IN. Advertised as a crit, the course rides more like a short circuit race, as it winds through a gently rolling, 1.4 mile loop through Ceraland Park, a semi-private corporate recreational facility owned by Cummins Inc - overall, a great venue for bike racing.
Unfortunately, we did not start the season of to much of a ' bang' - both races saw numerous attacks, but the fields were determined to not let any breaks get up the road. Both races ended in pack finishes - Jourdan & Romain , both finished safely within in the pack of the Masters 3/4 race, and I repeated the performance in the 3's, also finishing mid-pack.

April 20 - The Mooresville Criterium, another circuit-race like course held within a park setting , is known mostly for the short gradual climb (aka ' the pack splitter') that we tackle each lap. Like yesterday, there were attacks right from the get go - I went with a small four man attack that lasted for about a lap before being absorbed by the pack. We were caught at the top of the climb, and immediately, a counter attack was launched by a Lucas Oil rider. Before we new it, five guys had established a quick gap, and another Lucas Oil rider bridged solo to make the breakaway 6 strong. They put a quick 20 sec gap on the pack that held for a number of laps - we had no one in the break, and made a somewhat unorganized & unsuccessful effort to bring the break back. MOB Squad and Indiana Hand Center were both represented in the break, so their riders in the pack had no reason to do any chasing whatsoever, and after a few laps the gap has blossomed to 45 seconds. At that point, the chase was over - the top six places were safely up the road, and we were stuck racing for 7th place at best. Jourdan, Romain, Chris Jolivette (our newest rider) and myself all unglamorously finished mid-pack. Not the kind of results we were looking for, but it was great to be out racing again!