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!
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